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...