I think it'll be more of a beach Christmas this year, unless I decide to head to Ski Dubai! I spent the long weekend in Doha, Qatar for a work conference on the environment and service learning, you know, basically while you were all eating Turkey and watching College Football, I was saving the world. A few of us went to a Thanksgiving Buffet dinner at one of the hotels, where we all ate copious amounts of food and drank a number of bottles of wine. They had all the traditional Thanksgiving items, but I was really stuck on the amazing sushi options.
When I returned from the conference I decided it was time to decorate my apartment for Christmas. Oh, by the way, having someone finish painting the top of my walls was 100 dirhams (less than $30) and worth every cent. So, last Sunday after work, I went home, rearranged my furniture, picked up the mess and started decorating. I also listened to Christmas music and made some sugar cookies, it was great! As I was sitting back and admiring the state of things, I got to see a quick little light show. It was actually pretty funny. I strung up some Christmas lights near the windows and it seemed to be fine, then I was looking over at them and one by one they started sparking and flashing and going out, it wasn't just a small spark, more like a little flame. I calmly walked over to the outlet, turned the switch off and sat back on the couch. I continued to watch all the sparks and thought to myself, well, I hope those curtains are fireproof, if they aren't, at least the walls are cement, that doesn't burn, does it? Then I just started laughing, because at home, if anything was sparking I would be worried and rushing to do something about it, instead I just sat and watched.
It's a little harder to get into the holiday spirit over here with the weather so warm, time just seems to be flying by and it seems impossible that it would already be Christmas! In order to better facilitate the spirit of the season, a friend of mine is hosting a Love Actually part tonight, the ladies of Al Adiyat, the teacher compound or projects as I like to refer to it, are all getting together to watch the movie and do a Yankee swap, which I've never done before, but I'm imagining it's just that pick a gift, steal a gift thing. We have also been requested to bring our favorite holiday snack. I, of course, wanted to bring Hello Dollies, my most favorite holiday treat ever, but.... none of the stores carry the necessary items to make them.
I heard that it was freezing at home these days. I've been cold too; the weather has dipped down into the upper 70's at night and in the morning! What I'm really wondering about... Is it snowing on the mountain?
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Fog delay?
Welcome to my world... I wish I was being serious; there really was no fog delay today, but I risked my life coming to work. The fog was so thick, I was sure I was going to be smashed by oncoming traffic; they haven't quite figured out what to do with the headlights when there is fog. Probably similar to how Portlanders aren't quite sure what to do the first time it snows every year. Yesterday, I got to work to find a number of e-mails reporting that in HR, there was a 2 hour snow delay. Seeing that the only snow I see is in the indoor ski slope, I was excited to hear it still exists in the outdoor world.
The following e-mail was just sent out from the Principal's office:
Due to the fog/wet situations – please keep the children in the classes for the first recess until it clears.
Some of the KG1 classes came back with children all ‘damp’ and the class temperatures are cooler than normal – we do not want to take health risks.
Thank you for cooperating.
It's probably 75 degrees right now. Seriously? The children are "damp"??? I laugh, but the other day I was confused as to what water was falling on my head... uh, rain.
Work, it really isn't great, but there are parts of it that are hilarious, I guess I just have to remember that work wasn't the real reason I moved here. I have made friends at work before, but this is totally different; you realize that you live, work, socialize and travel with the same people. Sure there are some annoying parts to that, but there are some really great parts too. A friend of mine just came down, we made some lattes in the staff lounge and talked for a couple minutes about our upcoming trip to Jordan, it was nice. We were talking about what hotels to book and she said she really didn't care, nor do I. I told her it was on my list of things I can't be bothered to think about anymore. Even my language is changing, the things I hear myself say, crack me up... I can't be bothered to think about that... or I was meant to.... or marking papers... yeah, at the end of every sentence, question or thought? Really?? We have decided recently that there is an Australian/American language barrier. It's English, but way different... American English clearly makes more sense. If, by the way, anyone is wondering, according to most people that I have met, I don't have an American accent, I don't know what that means, or if it's good or bad, but people are always surprised that I am from the good ole USA.
I am one step closer to getting my Residence Visa, which I did not realize would make such a difference. I have no bank account here (seeing that due to the whole card used round the world thing, no access to the one at home), can't get a driver's license, or a car, it just is driving me CRAZY not to have this Visa yet. Also, we can't have an alcohol license, so I can't even buy a bottle of wine to drown my sorrows... the frustrations are endless. But, back to the original point about the Residence Visa, we had to go and get a blood test and an x-ray last night after work. Jess had warned me that the clinic was horrific, but I was definitely not prepared for what we were faced with. I argued with the guy for what seemed like forever to use gloves, he flat out refused. I did see him open the needle, so that was nice. We had to sit there for about 4 hours, it was just a nightmare, the waiting area was divided into Ladies and Men, I sat on the other side for a while, it was very, very frowned upon. There was a sign up that was hilarious along with other things, the sign said in huge letters Speeders are sinners.
One more note on the whole bank card experience, I am now officially the training call for all newly employed Washington Mutual telephone bankers. I am honestly embarrassed at what I was saying to them, that being said... their system is ridiculous. They flat out will not send a bank card to a PO Box, the problem is, Dubai only has PO Boxes. It only took 5 days and a couple hundred dollars of phone cards to figure that out.
It's really hard to imagine that it's Thanksgiving tomorrow. I'm heading to Doha, Qatar for a work conference on the environment and poverty, it should be a good conference. Some of my friends are going also; we are having a buffet Thanksgiving Dinner at one of the hotels. Good times.
Lastly, I decided it was an emergency and I NEEDED, not wanted, to paint my apartment. Of course the color is not what I envisioned and seeing that the ceilings are ridiculously high, it's not exactly working out as planned. As we were sitting in the war zone eating pizza last night, I was staring at the walls trying to figure out exactly how much it was worth to me to have somebody else finish it up... we'll see! The goal was to have my apartment looking great by the time my mom gets here in December. The problem is, I have Doha this weekend, Jordan, the following and then the half marathon followed by a swanky Moet brunch, so, maybe my mom and I will be painting instead of lounging at the beach clubs.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The following e-mail was just sent out from the Principal's office:
Due to the fog/wet situations – please keep the children in the classes for the first recess until it clears.
Some of the KG1 classes came back with children all ‘damp’ and the class temperatures are cooler than normal – we do not want to take health risks.
Thank you for cooperating.
It's probably 75 degrees right now. Seriously? The children are "damp"??? I laugh, but the other day I was confused as to what water was falling on my head... uh, rain.
Work, it really isn't great, but there are parts of it that are hilarious, I guess I just have to remember that work wasn't the real reason I moved here. I have made friends at work before, but this is totally different; you realize that you live, work, socialize and travel with the same people. Sure there are some annoying parts to that, but there are some really great parts too. A friend of mine just came down, we made some lattes in the staff lounge and talked for a couple minutes about our upcoming trip to Jordan, it was nice. We were talking about what hotels to book and she said she really didn't care, nor do I. I told her it was on my list of things I can't be bothered to think about anymore. Even my language is changing, the things I hear myself say, crack me up... I can't be bothered to think about that... or I was meant to.... or marking papers... yeah, at the end of every sentence, question or thought? Really?? We have decided recently that there is an Australian/American language barrier. It's English, but way different... American English clearly makes more sense. If, by the way, anyone is wondering, according to most people that I have met, I don't have an American accent, I don't know what that means, or if it's good or bad, but people are always surprised that I am from the good ole USA.
I am one step closer to getting my Residence Visa, which I did not realize would make such a difference. I have no bank account here (seeing that due to the whole card used round the world thing, no access to the one at home), can't get a driver's license, or a car, it just is driving me CRAZY not to have this Visa yet. Also, we can't have an alcohol license, so I can't even buy a bottle of wine to drown my sorrows... the frustrations are endless. But, back to the original point about the Residence Visa, we had to go and get a blood test and an x-ray last night after work. Jess had warned me that the clinic was horrific, but I was definitely not prepared for what we were faced with. I argued with the guy for what seemed like forever to use gloves, he flat out refused. I did see him open the needle, so that was nice. We had to sit there for about 4 hours, it was just a nightmare, the waiting area was divided into Ladies and Men, I sat on the other side for a while, it was very, very frowned upon. There was a sign up that was hilarious along with other things, the sign said in huge letters Speeders are sinners.
One more note on the whole bank card experience, I am now officially the training call for all newly employed Washington Mutual telephone bankers. I am honestly embarrassed at what I was saying to them, that being said... their system is ridiculous. They flat out will not send a bank card to a PO Box, the problem is, Dubai only has PO Boxes. It only took 5 days and a couple hundred dollars of phone cards to figure that out.
It's really hard to imagine that it's Thanksgiving tomorrow. I'm heading to Doha, Qatar for a work conference on the environment and poverty, it should be a good conference. Some of my friends are going also; we are having a buffet Thanksgiving Dinner at one of the hotels. Good times.
Lastly, I decided it was an emergency and I NEEDED, not wanted, to paint my apartment. Of course the color is not what I envisioned and seeing that the ceilings are ridiculously high, it's not exactly working out as planned. As we were sitting in the war zone eating pizza last night, I was staring at the walls trying to figure out exactly how much it was worth to me to have somebody else finish it up... we'll see! The goal was to have my apartment looking great by the time my mom gets here in December. The problem is, I have Doha this weekend, Jordan, the following and then the half marathon followed by a swanky Moet brunch, so, maybe my mom and I will be painting instead of lounging at the beach clubs.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Just breathe...
So, right when things seem to be moving in the right direction... maybe it was just one of those days, but I'm starting to wonder if my luck has run out. I can hear friends from home telling me that things seem to always work out fine for me, or I'm lucky, or I always land on my feet. I used to disagree and think life was, well, pretty tough. Someone else used to tell me, think about what the worst thing that could happen and when you do that, you usually realize, the worst thing really isn't that bad. Well, here in Dubai, when I think things couldn't possibly get worse, somehow they do. The most random, would only happen to me, type things continue to happen. My car is not totalled and nobody is going to buy a wrecked Audi, there goes 5 or 10 thousand dollars, who knows..., I got an e-mail from home that momentarily freaked me out and my debit card has been cancelled because it is being used all over the world, Plaino, TX, Kuala Lumpur, Senegal and who knows where else. All the little things are frustrating, taking cabs everywhere, no bank account, no license, no car, etc., but add in any one of the other things and I would be pretty frustrated add in all three and I'm not sure how I'm not hysterical. The only thing I can think of, is that living and working here has lowered my expectations so low that things that would normally destroy me, now just seem like a common occurance that I can't be bothered to worry about too much... And, to top it all off, I think people from home really think life in Dubai is like being on vacation... By the way, we had no internet at work today, supposedly because a mouse chewed through the cable. Right.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
It's officially outdoor weather...
The Dubai that tourists talk about, locals rave about and expats promise will come has arrived. The stores now have BBQ and patio furniture out, camping gear is front and center at every store and advertisements for different upcoming sporting events are featured in all the local newspapers and the Time Out magazine. I was doubtful I would ever say this out loud... but, I can see why people chose to live here.
Work is still not any better, at my most recent meeting I said something like, the actual situation has not improved at all, I have just adjusted my expectations both personally and professionally and am now more able to cope with the work environment. I'm sure that's just what every boss wants to hear.
I hit "the wall" for the first time ever while running this weekend. Our run was 32k and the whole thing was awful, I would like to blame that on the game of Ultimate Frisbee I played on Thursday afternoon, but I'm guessing the random mimosas with dinner did not help the situation either. Anyways, I was literally 400 meters from the end of the run and decided there was absolutely no way on the planet I was going to be able to finish and decided to get a taxi. I think the other runners thought I was crazy, but really, I could not move.
The rest of the weekend was basically what vacations are all about, only this is my real life. A friend and I sat and drank wine while we prepared food for a martini party that night, went out to this outdoor bar after the martini party and sat in the sand and talked, followed by a day at the beach, lunch at Lime Tree (which is this great cafe that I now go to at least once every weekend) and a BBQ at a friends house. The water has finally cooled to a reasonable temperature and we rented lounge chairs and umbrellas. We also sat around and planned our next week and weekend, which now includes a few trips to the gym, Mexican dinner, Thai massages and finally one of the Friday Brunches that are famous around here. So, yes, life is pretty rough around here!
I've all but given up on attaching pictures to this.... they keep saying it'll be all fixed in two weeks... like I said, an adjustment in expectations...
Work is still not any better, at my most recent meeting I said something like, the actual situation has not improved at all, I have just adjusted my expectations both personally and professionally and am now more able to cope with the work environment. I'm sure that's just what every boss wants to hear.
I hit "the wall" for the first time ever while running this weekend. Our run was 32k and the whole thing was awful, I would like to blame that on the game of Ultimate Frisbee I played on Thursday afternoon, but I'm guessing the random mimosas with dinner did not help the situation either. Anyways, I was literally 400 meters from the end of the run and decided there was absolutely no way on the planet I was going to be able to finish and decided to get a taxi. I think the other runners thought I was crazy, but really, I could not move.
The rest of the weekend was basically what vacations are all about, only this is my real life. A friend and I sat and drank wine while we prepared food for a martini party that night, went out to this outdoor bar after the martini party and sat in the sand and talked, followed by a day at the beach, lunch at Lime Tree (which is this great cafe that I now go to at least once every weekend) and a BBQ at a friends house. The water has finally cooled to a reasonable temperature and we rented lounge chairs and umbrellas. We also sat around and planned our next week and weekend, which now includes a few trips to the gym, Mexican dinner, Thai massages and finally one of the Friday Brunches that are famous around here. So, yes, life is pretty rough around here!
I've all but given up on attaching pictures to this.... they keep saying it'll be all fixed in two weeks... like I said, an adjustment in expectations...
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