My date with George...

The Dubai International Film Festival started yesterday and a friend of mine was smart enough to buy a bunch of us girls tickets to an interview with George Clooney; we had a great night! I've decided the Dubai lifestyle is not what I would have envisioned for myself, but I could be into it for a few years. I was very used to long runs on the back roads of HR and days spent lounging around Dog River. Now, things have changed quite a bit.

Yesterday was the perfect example. After work I hired a driver to take me on all my errands, went all over town and had this poor man waiting around for me while I attempted to hook up Internet, stood in line at the Dubai version of the DMV and, I live in Dubai, none of these things were fast. Then to compensate for the annoyance of waiting around for me, I just gave him a tip larger than the fare, because money makes up for everything here. Then, I rushed home in time to meet the first round of girls who were heading over to the Madinat to have a few drinks before the interview/question session with George.

The Madinat is decorated for Christmas with these amazing trees and everything is covered in white Christmas lights.

We sat outside, along the water surrounded by palm trees and drank wine and ate some snacks.

We then went to the thing and George was as hilarious as it seems like he would be. We were super close to him and it was amazing! Afterwards we were heading out and we ran into a few other friends and decided there was definitely time for just one more drink. So, we all found a table outside, ordered some drinks and sat around being amazed at what our lives have turned into.

We all got this random text message while we were sitting there from a friend of ours who lives in the teacher projects with us, that said something along the lines of, can you believe what is happening outside our windows! We were all curious since it was one in the morning, but we figured it must be construction. We eventually made it home and I could not believe the amount of equipment and noise that was happening at that hour. I called the Dubai Police to see if anything could be done, but all the companies have to do is get some letter from the Dubai Municipality and it's legal. Nice.