Is hating losing the same as loving to win?

I just got home from soccer and am irritated. It's after midnight, I rarely stay up past 9:30 and I should be exhausted, but no, I'm wide awake trying to figure out why I didn't really bother to play and instead ran around the field doing nothing while the rest of the team worked hard. We lost our first game of the season. The thing is I hate losing, not in a positive, I'm going to try really hard kind of way, but a completely decide it's all about me if we win or lose, because basically, it's me versus the world. When I was taken out of the game, it was of course because I was the worst, most awful player ever, not because I was just having a bad game or needed a break. Maybe that's why I am a much better runner than soccer player, at least if I have a bad run, the only person it affects is me. A couple weeks ago I had a ridiculously awful game and left feeling terrible and actually e-mailed a friend from home something ridiculous asking him to rate me on a scale of 1 to 10 on how hard I am on myself and how personally I take things. How is someone supposed to answer that? It's hard sometimes, I love living here in Dubai, but there are definitely days when you need someone from home to give you a little reality check. Things at home that I could handle on my own tend to make me feel like a crazy person here. I was surprised when my friend called me the next morning to answer my questions. He was pretty  much right on. (spot on for you Australians) Not that it helps to know really, I still beat myself up about the same things. Which is totally healthy, and as a trained counselor, I highly suggest that to others... make a mistake (or in this case, play a bad game), spend copious amounts of times focusing on it, obsess to the point of driving yourself crazy and once you're done with that, write a blog entry on it so you can remind yourself about how bad you did at one thing. Ugh... It's supposed to be fun, and oddly, even though right now I'm hating it, I wouldn't trade it for anything, soccer is honestly one of the best things about Dubai. The people on our team are amazing. Now, for the power of positive thinking...

Top 5 reasons to love soccer (I am American after all)

5. Beautiful blue uniforms with flattering fitting socks

4. The nicest grassy area in Dubai with the calming peaceful sounds of gunfire in the background

3. An excuse to stay up past 10 on a school night

2. Where else is it acceptable to push people?

1. We can always blame it on the ref...

Okay, enough about that. Next week will be better, eh? (That's Canadian...)

You may have noticed a few little translations in there... I'm coming closer to meeting two of my goals for working internationally. When I went to the job fair, way back in February 2007, which honestly seems like a lifetime ago, I had some pretty specific goals about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to accomplish during my time abroad. When I ended up choosing an Elementary position in Dubai, I didn't think it would be possible to meet two of them, I was totally wrong. I wanted to be immersed in a new culture and learn a new language and I also wanted to work at all levels elementary, middle (which I had already done in HR) and high school. So, as far as a new culture, I work at a place that claims it's a "Culture of Kindness" let's just say that it's a whole different culture all right, but I wouldn't say a thing about it being kind. Learning a new language, well that is going well, I am almost fluent in British English, Canadian English and Australian English. I don't mean to show off, but I'll give an example... a lot (American English) = loads (British English) = heaps (Australian English). I know, I am quite talented in picking up other languages. We also have hoodies (American English) = Jumpers (Canadian English). While these may seem like simple languages to learn, you would be shocked to know how many times some of my friends can literally rattle off a sentence or two quickly and I would be looking at them and listening and have absolutely no idea what was said. I apparently am mistaken quite often for a Canadian, again, I'm not sure why, I have no flags or maple leaves anywhere! 

As for goal 2, work at all levels, there may be a possibility to transfer to a high school position. I have no experience, but today (Wednesday) they sent out a late afternoon e-mail saying any internal candidates that are qualified are invited to put in their CV and letter of interest by Sunday and interviews will be on Monday for a last minute high school vacancy. I have no experience at the high school, but since they accidentally over hired for the elementary school, I have a feeling they are hoping they can somehow sort it out (Australian English). Who knows, as far as work goes, it's fairly obvious it's not about us (teacher people) being happy or meeting our goals, instead it is all about what works the best for them. Who knows, I finished updating my resume today and need to write the letter of interest and hope to get it all in tomorrow, I don't want to think about it over the weekend. 

I try to avoid talking, thinking, writing about work. It truly is the only thing about Dubai that I don't like. We actually were having a serious conversation about how it is necessary to have a witness if you are going to meet with administration about anything to help hold them accountable and hopefully stop them from yelling at you. It's so weird, I have never been yelled at in a professional situation before and now, apparently, it's common and acceptable behavior, culture of kindness? Right. I wonder if that's what all for profit schools are like?

So, for the quick recap... Soccer was lame, I learned some new languages, I'm applying for a new job and work is still awful. Also, hating losing is not the same as loving to win... Fortunately it's almost the weekend, 16 hours and counting... Friday we have an early run, then I have a baby shower brunch and then a birthday party the same night that starts at a friends house but ends up at Barasti, huh, a weekend that includes Brunch and Barasti, shocking.

It's interesting to write so much about yourself... I wish people at home had one because I feel like everyone knows what I'm up to, but when I try to figure out what everyone else is doing I get a whole lot of nothing...

At the end of the day, I get to go home 7 weeks from Thursday...

How fast am I driving?

So, at home, I had a really hard time with the whole driving thing. I would go ridiculously slow or exactly the speed limit with both hands on the wheel, well, at least when I wasn't texting, or drinking my coffee... but I could count on one hand the number of times I would actually speed. I've been driving here for just over 5 months and I just realized last week what the conversion was from kilometers per hour to miles per hour... I should have probably learned that earlier and they should definitely lower the speed limits. There is no reason to drive that fast! Cars have this built in thing that beeps at you if you drive a certain speed, probably a good idea.

It was yet another really busy week and weekend. I can't remember if I wrote anything about it, but our soccer game was embarrassingly awful last week, this week was much better. Then I went to a happy hour after work on Thursday afternoon, my friend is obsessing about making the perfect lasagna and we all get to eat her attempts, it's wonderful. Friday I ran and then went to the beach. That night I went out to dinner and by the end thought it was a good and reasonable option to climb up on a lifeguard tower. It was a perfect night, the beach lifestyle is pretty great! Saturday I met some friends to watch the Manchester United vs. Chelsea soccer match at Barasti. We watched the game, ate great tuna burgers and then sat drinking Perrier on lounge chairs staring out at the ocean. Last night we got to sample yet two more types of lasagna, both delicious! We also watched Lost and spent the better part of the evening discussing different scenarios. While many parts of life are annoyingly difficult, some parts, like the weekends could not be better... by the way, my sunglasses are only fogging up some of the time.

Brunch and Barasti, again...

We had another stellar weekend! The work week is not worth talking about, I was writing on my facebook thing something like... if work is making you physically ill, it is probably time to look for a new job. I also said last week that my apartment was a DAA free zone. So, enough about that.

Thursday a group of us played Ultimate Frisbee after work, basically I just run around and try to get in the way of people who know how to play. Then I met a friend for tapas at Al Hambra, which is in this really fancy hotel in the Madinat. I got into the cab, told him where I was going and he asked if I had a map to the hotel. I was completely confused, it is about three seconds from my apartment and one of the biggest complexes in Dubai, you can see it from Google Earth. It was a gorgeous night! We sat outside on this little waterway thing drinking Sangria, eating tapas and solving the world's problems. Friday morning was a ridiculously hard run, not due to the distance as much as the rising temperatures. Then I went to the beach, which is getting really, really hot. We sat around discussing how grown men still "play" and women sit around a talk. These men were out in the water standing on shoulders, splashing, tossing frisbees etc. while we were discussing this, we were also complaining that the InStyle magazines we were reading were just too heavy to hold above your head and read you were forced to flip over... yes the major problems we face on a daily basis here. After a quick nap, which I never have but with the heat was a necessity, I went over to a friend's house that is right in the Marina, their apartment is amazing! It was night time, so you couldn't really see it very well, but they are right on the water and have a perfect view. They also have the word's largest TV. We went to Barasti for the night, it's such a great place b/c everyone just sort of ends up there and it's this relaxed beach bar and some excellent people watching. I ended up seeing friends from school, soccer and the group we were with, so it was fun. I convinced a friend of mine to come out and meet me, she was at another co-workers birthday party at Waxy's (world's most awful brunch, in my opinion) but by the time she got there, they wouldn't let her in b/c it was too late. So, we all decided to leave and head back to the land of the large TV and hang out a bit more, b/c it was only 2 in the morning. Really? So, we went back and some people played this tennis game with remote controls, I don't even know what it was called, then we got home around 4 in the morning. And, it didn't end there. The next day was yet another brunch, this one was at The Cellar, which is a really nice wine bar. It was different than the other brunches I'd been to, but definitely my favorite. It was a soccer team thing and we had a great time. It was one girl's birthday so we continued on to Barasti (again...) for another couple of drinks and to watch the sunset, it was great! Now, it's back to work. I've heard of living for the weekends and apparently that's what I've decided to do. Although, now I'm planning something to look forward to for every night of the week, even work nights, so I can get through another work day. I'm meeting another friend for dinner tonight at the same tapas place, I'm wondering if I've found my 6th Street...

Just another week in Dubai...

I'm not sure if anyone is following this at all, but Blind Dave was in Dubai this weekend. Blind Dave is this man who is running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents, number 5 was in Dubai at Safa Park. Our running club went out to support him and run with him on Friday morning. We had a laugh because we were talking about how it would be so boring to run 26.2 miles around Safa Park till we realized, he's blind it's not like the scenery really matters... I met a girlfriend of mine to do a loop before we ran with him and then when we got back to Safa, I said I was done for the day we had already run 16 or 17 kilometers and it was ridiculously hot, but I wanted to wait and see Blind Dave run by. So we sat down and were talking while we waited. When they ran by we were convinced to do a lap with him, I was tired, but really, if this guy is blind, running his 5th marathon in 5 days I can probably pull it together long enough to run one more lap at Safa...


We went out for yet another Friday Brunch... I really cannot understand how all you can eat/drink has become part of a normal routine here. Probably similar to how Jacob's Creek wine has become a luxury item. Seriously? It was Syma's birthday so about 20 of us headed to Long's Bar around 12:00, stayed till around 4:00, then hopped in taxi's and went to Barasti where we lounged around the pool and I decided it was a reasonable option to drink Coronas because I just love my beer. Every time I go to Barasti I think to myself, don't fall in the pool. When have I EVER fallen into a pool and why am I so convinced it's going to happen there? We stayed out way too late and I spent much of Saturday laying around my apartment, I did get up long enough to go out to lunch with a friend from work and I also managed to go for a Thai massage....

Dragon Boat Racing?

What is it about Duabi that makes me believe I need to try every random sport? The latest was last weekend, I was at dinner over at a friend's house and she asked if I wanted to join some corporate team and do an all day dragon boat racing event. Of course I say yes, so we end up on this random team. I have never, in my life, been in a dragon boat, I have no idea how to do it but we did have a great day! The other item of interest... Memphis is lame. I was one game away from an American girl winning the whole thing for our school bracket. There was quite a bit of entertaining trash talking. Someone had the impression I was from Canada! Huh, I'm not sure why they thought that, I don't have a single maple leaf or Canadian flag patch.

Hills, Dubai style...

I thought I wasn't jet lagged, but between the long flight and the whole, I can watch ABC shows, I have messed up my sleep schedule. I woke up around 3:00 this morning and finally decided to get out of bed around 4:00 when I realized it was hopeless to try to sleep. Speaking of hopeless, did I mention that the nurse at school told me "I'm sorry, it's hopeless" when I asked her what I could do about the fact that my toe nails are all falling off? Anyways, back to this morning, I decide to go running. While I feel perfectly safe in Dubai, running outside at 4am is probably not the best idea. So, I decide the best option is to head over and do some hill repeats. Where does one do that in Dubai? Mall of Emirates, I tell you, the malls here really do have everything one could ever need. So, as I'm running up and down the ramp to the third level of the parking structure, a little man comes over in his golf cart and starts questioning me. After a few minutes he determines that it isn't safe, I shouldn't really be there and he's never seen me before. I have been doing this for months, anyways, I ask him if I should leave and he says, oh no, go ahead and stay, but if I see you again I'm going to ask my supervisor what I should tell you. Only in Dubai...

US style service...

In true Dubai form, the Vonage service that seems so great has a few issues. For those of you that tried to call... my number was only working if you called from a Vonage phone, if you called from anything else, you called Donna. While I'm sure Donna has enjoyed getting ALL of the phone calls that have been flooding in since I sent out my new number, I did call Vonage and got it all taken care of and have a new number I'll send out shortly. It was quite an experience, I had a problem, called a toll free number, talked to a real person and didn't once have to threaten someone in order to get some help. The guy even offered to credit my account for the number of minutes that I was on the phone with him... I'm wondering if somehow my name is tagged in all service industries after my WAMU incident earlier this year....

An added bonus to this service is that my internet is now routed through the US, so that means I can get ABC.com, which to many of you probably doesn't matter much. But, I'm addicted to both Lost and Greys Anatomy, I've been downloading off iTunes so it'll be nice to have free tv.... "free" is an interesting choice of words.