Fruit stand in the Gold Souk

Chris and I walked for hours last weekend enjoying the sounds and smells (well, some of them) in the older part of Dubai. We stopped here for a refreshing glass of fresh watermelon juice. Yummy!

Paint madness

The apartment is almost painted. The colors don't look anything like I thought they would and the bathrooms have some dodgy parts but I am happy with it overall and it of course cost almost nothing to do. Two really sweet young guys from Bangladesh are painting it. They are here all day, they even nap here in the afternoon. I am excited for it to be done and have my home back. There were people in and out all day today between the paint, the shower and the toilets. I am very much looking forward to this phase of my life being over. Our shipment from the US finally arrives on Thursday, I have no idea where everything will look good but it should cut down on the horrid echoes in this place. It will be so nice to have some comforts from home. I am mainly looking forward to things that were wedding gifts and photos. I think it is a great sign that I have been this comfortable without any memories or sense of home around me. It will be great when this place has some personal, nostalgic touches. I had my bridge game today. I am the only one not menopausal so I am a little bit left out as far as age. Some of the ladies also take the game a little too seriously for my taste though- I hope it mellows out a bit, we have a quiz for the next class (I am not kidding)! I might have found a little temporary part time job which will be nice and I am putting together some proposals for programs to present to some American schools. I am also trying to volunteer for the All for One foundation but I am having trouble having them call me back. I might start looking outside of Dubai for organizations that need virtual help (letter writing etc.) Living here has really spawned feelings of needing to do more with my time than relax and teach the wealthy and privileged. It only takes a couple trips to the mall seeing people valet their Ferraris and other luxury cars head to toe in Fendi and Louis Vuitton to make you feel like you have to make a difference in this world because so many people only care about material things. There has to be more to life than that....

Fun Fridays!

Yesterday Chris and I got up and took a good morning swim in the ocean before heading down to the Dubai creek (Old Dubai) to see the Flugtag (a contest where people build vessels with themes and try to "fly" them off a pier into the creek. There were families from all different cultures at the park enjoying the entertaining and silly show. We took a gondola ride that went along the creek which gave us a great view of the older part of Dubai. It wasn't scary until it stopped now and then and I was so grateful one of those times was not when we were passing over the highway...Afterwards Chris and I went to the gold souk and wandered around feeling as though we traveled around the world. One neighborhood would be African, one Chinese, one Indian etc. It was really fun to hear so many languages, see so many colors and clothing and learn to buy many things that are not necessary now but will be useful later on (from textiles to new tires)! Today we spent the whole day at the beach before Chris left for Saudi. The painters were just here to drop off the ladders and paint and they are coming back in the morning to start the living/dining room.

Thanksgiving

This is a picture of us with a local man and a falcon. Tonight we joined some new friends here for a wonderful Thanksgiving on Palm Island. We saw some people we had met before and made new friends. One new friend was Haman, the owner of this falcon. Falconry is an important tradition in Arab culture and lots of money is spent preserving the sport in UAE. So, it was a new type of Thanksgiving but certainly one filled with tradition! Our host's sons played with their rock band and did an AC DC cover so there was some good old American culture served along with the creamed corn as well.

A really frustrating day

Today was a true test of my patience, one I probably failed miserably but now I am finally mellowed out enjoying a cup of coffee before I get ready and fight the masses for a taxi on Thursday night so that we can enjoy a Thanksgiving feast on Palm Jumeriah. For those of you unfamiliar with one of the newest modern wonders of the world you should have no trouble seeing images of it with good old google. Chris came home last night which as always is exciting but unfortunately I had some sort of 24 hours stomach flu so I can't say I gave him the most enthusiastic welcome. We did enjoy a quiet night in, the first with a tv and dvd player so we watched a movie after dinner. Today was just one thing after another and I feel so bad complaining but...our things arrived in Dubai which is great but they day they have scheduled to deliver them is next Thursday which is the day I was meant to go on a weekend trip to Egypt with Chris. I haven't left Dubai since getting here at all and of course the two days I want to go on a fun trip for free (since it is for his work) are the only days they can deliver our things. Oh well. Enough whining! Today was full of other fun things like negotiating for our bank rates and car loans, getting lost in taxis and trying to go to a yoga class but that was such a disaster that I went out and bought a yoga mat and three dvds so I don't have to try to get to a class again! Well, enough negative energy for a post. This pictures is from last night, a wonderful girls night dinner that I hosted in the empty apartment (but easy to clean). I have kitchen stuff and a dining room table so it was just fine. In the picture are Rowena (English), Rachel (English), Kristina (Canadian), Sue and Jennifer, two Midwestern ladies. I met them when I first got here and we have dinner once a week. I only met Rowena last night but she is very nice and interesting. Sue's office building is in our apartment complex so I have seen her quite a bit lately and I love spending time with her.

The view from our home office.

We only have a little table and floor cushions in here but this is what I looking at when I call you or when I am working on the computer. It is even better at night when it is all lit up. I am off this morning for some errands, have to deal with some banking issues (of which there are many), find a ticket to Egypt, call the repair link in the building...again. Last night I decided to take a nice lavender bubble bath before going to bed and found out that the drain floods the bathroom. Not so much fun at one am- I only have 2 towels at the moment and now they are really wet and gross! We are still having a problem with sand in the toilets too but I know you don't feel too bad for us, that's what we get for living on the beach I guess.

Yesterday my friend Sue took me to Deira (old Dubai) to help her find her doctor's office. We were escorted by a nice man to the ladies only line and her medical for her visa only took a minute. It consisted of someone asking if she was married, if she had TB and taking her blood. As we left we saw hundreds of male laborers from India and Pakistan in the same lines that undoubtedly are still there now. It is nice to be a woman. Afterwards she took me to a great Lebanese food stand and we had this cheesy bread that I don't know the name of and fresh fruit juice. She knew the place because her husband grew up here and takes her to lots of more local places. The meal was about 4 dollars. Then she took me to buy our tv, not fun to drop so much cash but necessary since we are paying for cable and I think it will help me not feel so lonely at night in here if I can watch a movie. Later I went to Palm Island for dinner at Hanne's. Her husband is also in Saudi so myself and another woman from Finland joined her for dinner. She has her shipping already so has an actual apartment. It was nice. Tonight I volunteered to cook for 7 women to avoid going out for yet another overpriced mediocre meal. I do have 8 chairs, a dining table, tea light candles, place mats and a lasagna pan so it will be rustic but bearable. We also have a stereo so it's actually quite nice in the kitchen area. I hope to also go for a nice long swim and walk on the beach, I can't wait! The water is perfect right now.

Not a vegetarian cook anymore...

Anisah showing off the meat for the osso bucco.

Saying goodbye to the Radisson

Chris taking one last look at our lovely hotel room. There wasn't much to it not in the picture!

Chris enjoying the waves

Our apartment from the ocean

The view of our apartment complexes. They are divided up into six mini-complexes with six towers each (I think). For Chicago people they are a bit like presidential towers, except they are projects on the beach! The complexes are named Murjan, Sadaf, Bahar, Rimal (ours) and two others I don't know yet because they are beyond ours...they are types of coral in Arabic.

Being a good housewife

Today was my first full day in the apartment. We"moved in" on Friday from the hotel. This consisted of trekking by taxi a mile down the road with what seemed like way too much stuff for people who came here with 5 or six bags...It was hard to leave the safe womb like atmosphere of the hotel where any request is just one touch service away (Radisson humor) but once we got here I was so glad to be here, despite not having much furniture. I am all alone right now, Chris just left for Saudi and I hadn't stopped to think about how strange it will be to be in a big, empty apartment all by myself for the first time. I'll be alright though, luckily I don't have a TV or access to Unsolved Mysteries (humor only my family would get). This weekend was great but I didn't see enough of my husband. We did get to go for a nice swim outside of our apartment and walk the beach. We walked all the way to our favorite bar and were excited you could reach there by foot on the beach (no way would it be possible by the streets). So, we can go out for a drink without a taxi. There is a 0 tolerance rule for drinking and driving-any in your system if caught equals jail and immediate deportation end of story. Needless to say we take taxis here for that reason and we don't have a car either... Friday night we went out with some friends to yet another fancy hotel for drinks and dinner but this one had an amazing view of the Burj Al Arab (the sail shaped 7 star or something hotel). At night they do a light show of pretty colors projected on it. We were easily amused. Saturday I organized the apartment, laundry, mopping, putting away clothes and then we went to see a movie with Hanne, our friend from Finland. They have a gold class section of the movie theatre where you can pay 27 dollars for a huge first class airplane like seat and have food served to you at a designated time chosen by you. They also give you blankets and pillows. We did not do that, I am saving it to see Om Shanti Om, an epic (goes without saying really) Bollywood movie that is the talk of the town right now. Today I had nothing except waiting around (toilet repair, dry cleaner pick up, paint quote, water delivery) planned and three people came by for a visit. A friend from Holland, one from the US and one from Saudi Arabia/Singapore/New Zealand. My friend Anisah from from Saudi taught me how to make osso busso which was delicious and made Chris very happy when he came home. Hopefully a picture will be with this but the computer is fussy right now so I will have to try tomorrow I think. Oh, the dry cleaning pick up just came, at 10pm, Oh Dubai!

Getting lazy

I have been horrible about writing lately and for no good reason! Things that have happened over the past week: (Sorry for the list format, I can't think in paragraphs at the moment)
1) I have a drivers license and we found a car to buy. All wonderful but it means I will actually have to drive, a task still a little daunting! We are of course still waiting for the bank to call us back about the car loan...hopefully it will be done by next week.
2) I have a residents visa that declares I am a housewife and not allowed to work. Post your comments here, I know they are coming...
3) I have done some more teaching jobs despite the fact I am "not allowed to work"
4) I had a sleepover this week with Becky because her husband was gone too. We went out for sushi, rented a movie and baked toll house cookies in her apartment. Complete bliss...
5) I had my first trip to a Turkish bath, a truly spiritual experience that I hope to treat guests to when they visit. I feel like I have baby skin now.
6) We have Internet and cable now but no TV or furniture.
7) My friend Becky found the fabric part of town and good tailors so I am excited to get moving on curtains and of course clothes that I don't need.
8) Chris is home and gets to stay until Sunday, one extra day which will be nice because we are moving into our apartment tomorrow (I think).
9) I have made some efforts to find meaningful causes to get involved in, more to follow. I just want to be moved in and unpacked before I jump into something.
10) I still haven't picked paint colors for the apartment, big surprise. Indecision is my middle name on that front.
11) We are depressed that it looks like we won't be able to have a dog since they officially outlawed them in our building.
12) I survived my first horrible haircut by Juan, a man with a long slicked back ponytail who wears all black and teases you with a few buttons open on his shirt to reveal his hairy chest. Is it any surprise my haircut was a disaster? I have now retrieved a layer in my hair I spent a year trying to get rid of but it just keeps coming back to me like a boomerang! Oh well, petty problems.
13) Chris is on a new project in Riyadh, the capital and largest city in Saudi Arabia. We are hoping this project is a little less intense in terms of hours from him but we shall see. He had some funny stories this weekend about Saudi. They went to TGIF for dinner. They wondered why it isn't called TGIW since the weekend is Thursday and Friday. He also learned that the malls there have family time to prevent single guys for cruising the malls for women. To get around this inconvience it is rumoured that young boys hang out outside and will pose as a son to create a family for a fee.
I think that sums up this week for the most part. Life is still a lot of running around, trying to get things delivered, installed or set up. We are still waiting for our things so shopping is a bit overwhelming. I am trying to hold off on buying anything until our things come but it is difficult. I tried to grocery shop today but as I stood in the huge hypermarket I got dizzy and overwhelmed when I thought about the fact that I need everything. I bought olive oil, salt and pepper. Good start huh? I have some feta too because I can't ever resist it's creamy richness and the fact that it costs 50 cents for a whole chunk. I think besides things like waxing and taxis it is the only thing that is cheap here!

I love the Radisson but have a love hate relationship with taxis

I do believe I will always feel at home when I see a Radisson from now on. We are still living in a hotel since we are still waiting for our things from the US. It will be another month before we see them but I figure it will be an early Christmas present. I will have a whole new wardrobe! So superficial of me but my clothes are getting a little boring since it has been the same selection since August. There is really nothing new to report except that Chris is home, at work though. We looked at our first car today, big step since the roads still look terrifying to me, more manageable but still intimidating. We are still after that elusive liquor license and my passport. I had to give it over a couple of weeks ago for the visa process and I still don't have it. Obviously without it I can't get a liquor license, cable, Internet or a drivers license. I think by now you can see the pattern. Frustrating indeed but otherwise life floats on very easily here. Tonight is a birthday party of some sort for someone Chris works with. The tradition here seems to be that you invite tons of people out on your birthday and pay for all of them to eat and drink. Luckily I just had a birthday before we got here! Chris's birthday is actually not that far away though...I better start saving my teaching money. I just finally finished a big job yesterday for a university student that I love in Sharjah. It was a HUGE paper on the Enlightenment, a subject I never want to think about again. She is a joy to work with and we spend a lot of time gossiping and sharing cultural tidbits. She has given me lots of insight to the Emirate culture here, how to tell people from different countries apart, about polygamy, what men wear under those long white robes (It's not like the kilt, that's for sure) and other useful information for someone as curious as I am about everything.

TV and movies

I only watch TV if I am in the gym on the elliptical and I am so glad that I never watched Scrubs, Friends, The View, Dr. Phil or Tyra at home because that's all there is in the way of programming in English. There is a cooking show with Jamie Oliver that I love because he is just so manly and rustic yet not afraid to show his softer side by calling potatoes "little darlings". He shows you how to do everything from planting the potato to serving it with capers and creme fraiche. Anyway, there is quite a lot of censorship but I think it is only applies the free channels. As far as cable it only covers a few channels, there are not hundreds like we have at home (which is fine, really). I caught Dirty Dancing on the local channel a couple of weeks ago and all the dancing scenes were cut out...go figure. There are a lot of sports channels so you can watch any soccer game imaginable, endless hours of cricket and even European women's volleyball. Chris loves it.

A bit about fashion

So important. I am such a closet clothes freak so I have to mention it. Fashion is very high end here. Lots of Fendi, Gucci, Prada, Chanel and other you stuff normal people don't really buy. There is of course regular clothes and bags here too but there isn't a lot in the middle. It is either really expensive or really cheap. Fashion has a Muslim twist here as well. Since traditionally fashion is more conservative and modest some styles have really stuck here such as dresses over jeans, tunic shirts, pashminas and scarves. The other trend you can't escape in Dubai is skinny jeans. I had to explain what they were to Marc and Christos over dinner. I demonstrated by pulling my pants tight around my ankle and Christos exclaimed "gross" which was confusing because 10 minutes later they ogled a girl that walked buy and successfully modeled the skinny jeans look. For some reason skinny jeans were in style in the states for about 10 minutes but here they are all the rage. It is not a good look on most of society, especially men!

A day late and a week later

It is almost 2am, I just got back from "work" and I am determined to sum up the past week in one blog entry...Chris was very disappointed in me for going so long without writing. I don't know how I can be so busy without a full time job but somehow I am. I have been helping two students with papers the past week and worked 3 days last week when Chris left and started again when he left tonight. The best thing is being able to tell people I can't work when my husband is here and them understanding! Last week I got to go to a Dubai compound villa close to the beach to help a new student and also to her Grandfather's house which is more like a palace guarded by caged dogs. I never see much of the interiors but can summarize the ones I have seen as: aromatic (incense), formal, ornate and full of things that you know are really expensive but don't look all that appealing. There are always a lot of sweets accessible and I feel rude saying no so sometimes it is difficult to stomach the strange candies. The families I have met are very friendly, helpful and gracious. Tonight I went out to Sharjah (another emirate) to help another student with an art history paper. This student is very sweet and happy to explain anything I want to know about Islam, Arab culture and UAE in general. When I got back to the hotel tonight I encountered a prostitute outside my door looking for a room number that is not on my floor. You might be wondering how I knew she was a prostitute...well, the plunging neckline, the glitter all over her face and her tight and revealing clothing coupled by the fact that she was looking for a hotel room she had obviously never been too at 1:30 in the morning gave me some clues. She was very nice but unfortunately I could not help her find the room number that had been texted to her on her mobile. I suggested she call the person whom she was visiting. Never a dull moment around here. This weekend Chris and I got to spend one dinner with Christos and Marc- we are seldom all together anymore but we did manage to squeeze in one night. On Friday Christos and I went to Ikea to get some staples for our apartments while Chris worked. We got lost at least three times and almost ran out of gas. All in all it was about an 8 hour experience that left me exhausted and delirious. Chris was however in the mood to go out so I scraped myself up and we went to the mall for a proper date night- dinner and a movie. It was interesting to see a movie here which leads me to some other posts...