Pool and Shopping day

So Saturday is finally here! My day to sleep- with one problem- they were spackling, sanding, and painting the hallway that my room is on at 8am! Annoying. So I pulled the pillow over my head and was able to sleep in till 11am. I then went right to the pool as it was to be 105 degrees out today.
Luckily I got there before the huge rush at 12:30. I finally have pics of the pool- see above. It was so hot by 1pm I had them put up my umbrella- then at 2pm I was baking so had to go in. Even after 4 dips in the pool and with an umbrella- it was still too hot.
I drove over to Diera to do some shopping. Thought I'd try my hand at the Textile Souk. And did I mention it was 100 at the pool? Well I'm an idiot- cause it was 105 at the Souk! But in the spirit of "Sex in the City 2" I wanted to see if I could find a good shoe place- good leather, slim design, chic- cheap. After about 45 minutes I saw a booth down an alley and low and behold- men's shoes!!! Come to find out a family makes them locally and they were 1/2 the price of what I found at Harvey Nichols this week. Now I did not do the Carry Bradshaw impersonation when they told me only 195 Dihrams, but I was like- I'll take two please!
I actually brought a brown pair of shoes- have not had brown shoes since I was in high school- really- I do not find them to be appealing on me, but with all the white I'm going to be wearing- I need to expand my horizon.
Then I headed over to the Diera City Center to get some diet coke. I was joking with my mom yesterday that I went to TGIFridays because I needed a DC fix. Everywhere I go the cans are 6oz which is like a shot glass to me- and it's usually $5-8 per glass, with no refills. To my delight- the American chain restaurants have BIG Mugs of Diet coke- with free refills! So if I'm having a bad day with no bar to go to- I'll be at TGIFridays or Chili's. :-)
After all that traveling and the heat I had to go back to the pool. It was empty at 7pm which was a nice change of pace. The water was hot as bath water after the heat of the day but still it was nice to "cool off". I took some pics of it at night too because it is so cool with all the lanterns. It truly feels like a resort at night with the ambient music, mood lighting, the sound of the waterfalls.
So romantic :-) lol

Week 2 ending

Pic Left Top: Picture of the Dubai Marina District from the Balcony of one of the Condo's. Pic Left Bottom: The 1st of 2 of the huge fountains at Dubai Mall. Right: The map of Dubai Mall- SO HUGE!

So this week has flown by. Between the house hunting, and the meeting new people, seeing stores, and still keeping up with the US work that I'm doing- I am ready for the weekend!
This week I spent 2 days at the Dubai Mall. It is amazing. Period. It is so large- see pic above- any retailer you want it's there. I know I've talked about it before but never had pics so here they are. In short- not only does it have every store, it has the worlds largest aquarium (which I haven't seen yet! It's to big to get to everything!!) it also has an ice skating rink, a huge Gold Souk (Gold Market), and the big fountain display outside.

I've narrowed my search down to 2 places. I just have to see which one gives me the best contract. Both are two bed, 2 1/2 baths, fully furnished and Serviced, which means they are the condo's in the hotels. After seeing many options I am going with the hotel version because I don't have to deal with utilities, or signing up cable.... or cleaning for that matter because they clean my place for me :-)
The other thing that's nice is all the restaurants in the hotels and room service in the event that I get in from Riyadh or Jordan and it's 2am- I can just order in. I'm going to start contract negotiations on Monday- so I will be moved in hopefully by this time next week!! :-)

Feels like Dubai

So tonight I met up with a friend here and Brenda from the US for dinner at the Dubai Mall. It is her last night here and I wanted her to be able to see the fountains and the Burj Kahlifa at night. We at over at the Souk al Bahar in the main plaza.
As we were walking out of the restaurant we went to the Souk so Brenda could souvenir shop and as we left the Souk we were right dead center to the fountains and the Burj Kahlifa. We walked down the steps and the lights dimmed in plaza. SO we walked up to the large banisters over looking the lake and the music started- Con ti Ponteiro (time to say goodbye) by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bottecelli- my favorite song- and when you put 4000 jets of water to it- it's pretty friggin amazing.
As we stood there in the center of the show- with the music overhead and the most AMAZING water ballet happening in front of us I realized that this is my home. This I can see everynight if I wanted to- because I'm in Dubai.
I don't know if it's because I had seen them when I traveled here before, or maybe because I know the song and it's beautiful, or maybe because I went with my sister Jenny in her wedding gown and Rhett in his Suit down the Las Vegas strip and saw the fountains at the Bellagio on their wedding night- but something about this moment felt right.




"I feel right Brian... I feel right."
for those of you Family Guy fanatics like me :-)

cool things

Chevy has cars here- and this was a shock to me- it's a LUMINA- that's right blast from 1990 when my family had a red 4door Chevy Lumina. They also have Chevy Caprice here- it looks like the new Malibu.

The other pic is one of the tunnels that they have created when it is just to chaotic up on the land, they make the roads or underpasses underground. Today I was driving home in rush hour traffic and it was going going going and then I get into the tunnel- and we stop. Stopped for 20 minutes- in the longest tunnel I drive through. Fantastic.

Monday and more

Bottom left: Jameriah Beach Residences- Huge residences on the beach.
Top left : the East Side of the highway is Jameriah Lakes Towers
Top right: the west side of the highway is the JBR

Today was apartment hunting and of course it was 95 degrees at 10am, so a sweaty day of apartment hunting. Not only that- I couldn't get to sleep until 3:30am this morning- but oh well, now I know that Tylenol Pm is mandatory after midnight or when I start thinking about things at bedtime.

There are SO MANY apartments available in this city!! You have to pay the entire years lease upfront, so if your rent is 3,000 a month you guessed it- $36,000 is due on the day you move in. It is how everywhere in the middle east works apparently, and they know it from birth that this is how it works, so their families or they save before getting their own place. Luckily I work for a company that pays it for me otherwise I don't know how it would work if you were a foreigner.

There is a huge complex on the beach where most of the people in my company live called Jameriah Beach Residences- or JBR. I saw three places there- I will definitely be getting a 2bedroom but might get a 3bedroom if cheaper. The best place I saw at JBR was a three bedroom, three bathroom on the 6th floor of one of the 14 buildings. Furnished, high ceilings, and get this- has a maids quarters. My Realtor was like "oh- it's just the maids quarters back there as she walked away and I was like "I WANT TO SEE THIS!" It was a seperate hall off the kitchen with a room the size of a bedroom and a full bathroom! So really- in the states this would be a 4 bedroom 4 bathroom place and it was cheap! Only 130,000 dirhams for the year, or $3,009 a month. Now I don't need that much space but after the other places I saw today it was the cheapest!!! So come on over and bring your kids or other relatives- I'll have room!

The other area I looked at was Jameriah Lake Towers, across from the JBR- it is not on the sea, but rather a man made lake system. These places were all "hotel residences". This is a strange concept to me- it's a hotel on the first 10 floors, then from 10 up it's condo's; furnished and un-furnished. They have all the luxuries of a five diamond hotel (literally diamonds- not stars); infinity pools, bars and restaurants, fantastics work out facilities, great lobbies, and underground parking- usually two spaces per condo. You can even order room service to your condo- and they clean it for you once a week like a hotel!!

I had two favorites there- Bonnington Hotel and Liwa Tower. Both were amazing- huge corner living rooms with contemporary furniture- amazing kitchen with walk out balcony dinettes, the appliances all bosch- granite countertops and these are Hotels- so only 2bedroom 2 1/2 bathrooms. But still- great spaces. The Liwa was D180,000, and the Bonnington was only D170,000.

So I go tomorrow to look at residential spaces in the Marina District. Tomorrow will be places that a resident owns but leases it- so furnished by a resident more like a mom/pop rental but again, it's all new buildings shown in the pics above.
I'll keep you posted.

Happy Easter!

So today is Easter- but you would have No idea such things exists over here. I was half way through my day before the Brit in front of me at Starbucks said "Happy Easter" to the clerk who was clearly Muslim and gave him the dirtiest scowl. S
Started the day out at the pool at 10am. It was already 90 and humid, so was thinking earlier the better. I cannot get my blackberry to download the pics, so will have to hold off a few more days till I can get that fixed. Pool was quiet this morning as most people started their work week today- again because Sunday is their Monday. After lounging and getting some color, I drove all the way south to Ibn Battuta Mall which is almost to the Jebel Ali freezone- which is the end of Dubai. I was there for a few hours, and got to actually sit at Starbucks and people watch for a bit.
I realized that most Arab men are 5'10 or shorter. Only once did I see a person as tall as I- and I was looking all day. That could explain why I can't find pants that fit. It truely is a diverse public here though. Many Brits, Arabs, Asian cultures, Germans, Polish, and northern Europeans.
When I went into our store at IBMall, I ran into Brenda C who worked with me in the US office! I had been told all flights were cancelled due to people not getting Visa's to Saudi, however her flight was still on because she was not going there. So that was a big surprise, and a welcome one. We met up at the hotel later tonight and just got back from "Easter Dinner" as we ended up calling it. We went to "The Boardwalk" on Dubai creek- a fantastic place right on the water with views of old and new Dubai. See pics above.
So my first weekend is over. I had some great time at the pool, enjoyed the weather, got lost, (made it back to my hotel today without getting lost "yay") and now heading back to my room to be rested for some apartment hunting and meetings tomorrow- 9am sharp at the office!
Other Pic is of me in the lounge- showing off my new v-neck and my new tan, pics of the hotel- so gorgeous here! Pics of the Creek from the Boardwalk restuarant

Driving Around

So today is "Saturday" in the middle east. They work Sunday thru Thursday, so this was Friday to you all, Saturday to me here. Like those in the US, they sleep in here on their Saturday, so this was the perfect day to drive around and get my bearings.
I visited the Mall of Emirates first- the mall with the Ski Slope inside. The mall is so large, I had no idea, so walked around for a good two hours after visiting the store team. Next, I wanted to go to Mirdif City Centre.
It seemed simple enough- go down the main highway, through the airport, right, right, left, but somewhere over the creek the highway's 8 lanes all broke into twos, and those went every which way. I stayed in my lane, only to be thrown into this area called Port Saed- which was lucky, because I had seen it on the map. Soon I saw the signs for the Airport, and before i knew it I was back on the main highway. My first time getting lost, and I pulled through- no tears, no pulling over. Yay!

Mirdiff is as close to the desert as you get- seriously. It is so far away from the city, and there is desert on both sides the highway. I had been there once already, and luckily remember the route. The mall was super busy, and I got to do a little shopping after the store visit. Got some new sunglasses at this amazing department store called "Saleem" and then got two new t-shirts (deep v of course) and a new polo shirt from Zara. The Zara's here are so cheap compared to what they are in the US- everything is $55 or less.

When I got back downtown I needed Sunscreen and water- so went to the Deira City Centre to go to Carefourre. It is essentially a french Walmart- and they have them in the big malls here. So what else does everyone do on "Saturday"- they go grocery shopping. It was a hot dirty mess. I could not believe the carts and carts and fmailies, and families, and families. Oh my... I grabbed my water and sunscreen and could not wait to get out of there!

Once back to my hotel I went to the pool- again had to search to find sun. Then the sun moves, so I kept moving. By the fourth move I gave up- I was 30' up on a bunker on the other side from where I started. Whereas the british people (and there are hundreds here this week) were all fully clothed cuddling under the umbrellas' eating dinner. And there I was- in my armani swim trunks oiled up looking for the sun. "Ahhh, Americans"- I'm sure they were saying about me.

Here are some pics from my day. Tomorrow is Saturday for me- so I'll be at the pool and have some great pics of the place- THEY WILL NOT BE LIKE LAS VEGAS- for those of you who know what that means- and we all need a laugh right now so yes- I was a mess there- but not here :-) yet.

Pics are of the Mirdif City Centre

Day 2- Much better

So Day 2 started at 2:30am. I could NOT get back to sleep. I heard of it happening, however I was always lucky and slept through the night. Good news of that is that I found an American TV channel and watched Ellen, NCIS, Friends, and Family Guy... and then had to go to work. I drove myself to the office today, then drove to the Mirdiff City Center mall to look around. Amazing I made it back to my hotel then felt gutsy so drove to the Diera City Center and back to my Hotel. I think I only broke one law that I know of, but I was nervous and did a u-turn with the "NO UTURN" sign in front of me.
Otherwise driving is not so bad, I just am leary of getting off the main roads. The side roads are very narrow, with trucks parked all over, and people honking their horns. My rental car is a toyota corolla- it's nice, but compared to all the land rovers and Huge Lexus SUV's, I'm slightly out of place. To make it worse my hotel is the lifestyles of Arabian Famous- so it's vet, lamborghini, Porsche, Jagaur, my Toyota, Mercedes, Porsche, Porsche, etc. :-)
Shopping was interesting. I mainly shopped at Diera, Mirdiff was more work related. The mall was enormous- three story's and the shop assortment was amazing. They had the usual American stores (Gap, Banana Republic, Puma, AE, Sephora) but then had a huge Zara, Woolworths, Burberry, and many European chains like Mango, Tug and Bear, Monaco, Selfridges. Much to my delight at this store called Berkshop I found my "IT" item that I've been scouring the US for- the Deep V tee. I know- Hello three years ago, but over here it's having a re-birth! YAY! It's going to be a fabulous summer!
The weather has been great! Lower humidty and 90's, so it is not unbearable yet. I have gone to the pool the past two days, however, it is not a sun bathing pool. There are palm trees covering all of it- which I'm sure is fantastic when it's 100'+ out, however, I need a tan! So tomorrow I'm going to go in search of a pool with some sun.

Made it in

So made it in last night, great flight, amazing hotel. Will post more later on that.
Horribly Jet Lag this morning, and bad sinus issues- yuck. Going to get my car, phone, and set up my office. Seriously- driving day one- first hour. I'll let you know how it goes...