Running, Dubai style...

Right before I moved to Dubai, I was talking about how I really felt like I could live just about anywhere, as long as it was: a. walking distance to coffee shops and restaurants, b. no yard work and c. walk right out my door to go for a run. Apparently I should have been more specific. There are coffee shops and restaurants at the mall, but the weather just doesn't allow for walking. No yard work, well that's a given, but I didn't exactly mean that I wanted to be surrounded by construction sites. Here's the latest excerpt from an e-mail from a friend discussing how he had finally cleaned his apartment...

"At least we can now sit in relative cleanliness as we watch workers plummet from the surrounding rooftops, warn Jess, an evening of `farcical building and safety practices’ viewing is upon us, so stay glued to your phones just in case the text – `Get down here quick, you have to see this……..’ graces your screens."

Next issue, run right out my door... for the last month I've been running around the track at school at 5:00 in the morning. It's been great fun, I've started to add in loops around the building to make it even more exciting. The other day I thought it felt "cool" so when I got to work, I thought I would check the weather. Right, apparently cool = 87 degrees. Unbelievable! I wanted to do a long run this weekend, so I thought it was about time I ventured out and about, so I went to the, well, let's call it a "lake". Here in Dubai, lake means, a concrete pond, filled with smelly water and surrounded by a make shift dump. Somehow, that is better than the track. The upside is, that the distance is 3/4 of a mile as opposed to the 1/4 mile track. Lovely. It went so well on Friday morning, that I decided I would do it again this morning. What I'm having trouble figuring out is what my favorite part of this mornings run was. Was it running alone in the dark? The foggy conditions? The workers sleeping on the benches? Finishing up my run just in time to run by three of the "guest worker" buses as the men were pouring out and then into the half finished buildings? Really, it's hard to choose. At least it's flat...

This is my life....

So, I'm at work and just got the following e-mail from a friend who works here also. I couldn't resist passing it on for everyone else to read....

"So here’s a question I have never come across in teaching so far, ‘Um excuse me sir, I got a nose bleed during music class and some of the blood went down my throat. I think that means I have broken my fast, so am I meant to go and eat lunch now with all the other kids?’ My response, “Um…………………………(must’ve had the blankest face ever!)”……..what do you think it means?’……So you as student counselor must have had all kinds of briefings on the do’s and don’ts of Ramadan (sense the sarcasm) what would be your advice on handling the situation?"

So, I guess international schools really do have an entirely new set of issues.

Life is improving. This weekend I'm meeting to discuss our travel plans for Sri Lanka, I'll end with one more line from an e-mail that somebody sent about traveling to Sri Lanka...

THE best beaches are in the east. The problem is you could get killed if you go there.

That would be quite a problem...

September 23, 2007
So, I finally started this..... let's see, I'll give you a brief summary of life in Dubai. I arrived in the middle of the night to the most horrific heat/humidity imaginable, a filthy apartment and then told on the first day of work that I was going to be a Pre-K to Grade 1 counselor as opposed to a Grade 3 - 5 counselor. So things didn't start off so great. They are slowly improving. The first week I spent assessing students and the following week the rest of the new staff arrived. We had various "social gatherings" and "orientations" around town which basically meant we were shuttled off to different bars, hotels and golf clubs and given a random amount of drink tickets. The GEMS Orientation was at the Jumeriah Beach Resort.

Notice there are no people.... way too hot!!!
.



Kristen and I


Katie, Syma, Lisa and Kristen

Lisa and Gregg


We also had happy hour at Apres at the Mall of Emirates.


Mall of Emirates ,
Ski Dubai


Syma, I'm sure she'd love the picture... just wanted to show the "view". Season Pass??



We live what qualifies as "walking distance" from the mall, but really, up until the past week or so, when you walk outside you are hit with this wall of humidity that makes crossing the street unbearable, let alone walking to the mall. What's really fun is when you go to Carrefour's (the local version of WalMart) and have about 362 bags of groceries, home items and random other items deemed necessary that you are trying to get home so you grab a taxi and then get screamed at the entire way home b/c we live so close. It's fun. Almost as much fun as helping Jess carry her clothes drying rack home one time. Really, it's been super awesome.

So work, I really can't even get into it b/c it's so bad. Worse than I thought possible with little to no hope of improvement, the best I can hope for is that I can learn to live with a major amount of dysfunction and we all know how well I handle that.
Front of the campus Jesse, Lisa, Cyndi, and Jess

We live in the "teacher projects" across the street from the school. The place is brand new, but watching the way these buildings are built makes me think I'm risking my life getting into the elevator, but the dimly lit, dirty non-air conditioned stair wells are not a good alternative. Yesterday Jess and I sat at her table and just watched the men working and it's amazing that we have not witnessed anyone just falling right off the building. These guys are literally hanging off the sides, standing on moving equiptment, swinging around like they are monkeys, cimbing on ladders with no harnests and all this is happening while the world's largest cranes are swinging around with large heavy walls attached only with dental floss. They bus the "guest workers" in from these labor camps that are unreal. I can't even think about it, if I do, it starts to make me feel sick. These men are over here without their families, literally risking their lives at work every day, wearing these matching blue outfits as if they're prisoners and being bussed in/out of the city to work 12 - 15 hour days for next to nothing. There are all these "Safety First" signs all over the place that require workers to have on helmets, safety goggles, etc. half the time they don't even have shoes.

More later, I have to run to Lulu's the Vegas version of Walmart.