Finally a break

Pictures; I went out to the Palm Jumeriah today. Driving down the palm center you see the Atlantis resort at the end and the mono-rail runs the entire palm. The tunnel is the part at the end where the outer-ring is not connected, so you have to go underwater to get there from the mainland. Picture of the Atlantis Resort, Water view from the end of the palm.

WEll hello there. I haven't blogged in FOREVER! This past week was the busiest week yet. I started the week Sunday at 8am and ended the week last night at 12Midnight with a birthday party for my boss over here. It was a good week overall, so thought I'd blog on some highlights.

Went to the Marina Mall to see "Green Lantern" in 3-d. This was my first time going to the movies in Dubai, and it was 3-d, so was 75D! That's about $22 American. Crazy! Then Diet coke was to be expected 35D, or 10 bucks. I don't know if it was the 3-d part messing with my brain or the fact that we were in the mall for 3 1/2 hrs, but when we went to leave I knew level 5 is where we're parked. Well when we got in the elevator- 5 wouldn't light up. Nor would 5m, 4, or 4m. I was with a friend from my building and was trying to be cool- like- "that's weird- we parked on 5 right?" he couldn't remember, and it was 11pm, so I thought they might have closed parts of the ramp. So we went down to level three and walked up to the four, then 5, and NO CAR! It was also humid- 70 percent humidity and still in the 90's. So... panic, humid, hot as all hell, and embarrassing. SO we got back into the elevator went down, went back up, went down... eventually finding the car on level 2! WTF. I don't know what happened. I have NEVER lost my car in a parking ramp and whenever anyone told me it could happen I was like "ya- if you're stupid!" So I guess it was the worlds way of telling me everyone's a bit stupid once in a while. :-)
(Also- tonight when I went back to Marina Mall for dinner I took out my phone and took a picture of my space number- just in case ;-)

Last night like I said I went to my Boss's birthday party. We went to the Souk Madinat (pronounced ma-deeen-a) It is a cool mall type thing next to the Burj AlArab- the hotel that looks like a big white sail. It has lots of restaurants, art galleries, jewelry stores. Our whole team went and it was our first time really hanging out outside the office and it was a blast. The way we sat at dinner it just happened that myself, and the other two Territory managers (the one for VS and the other for LS) were on one side, the Pres, his secretary and the ops manager on the other and as the night got on the Ops manager goes "we have some really attractive managers here- I mean really! Look at you guys!" :-) The best part of the night was when we all realized we'll be in Riyadh at the same time next month, so we're all going to stay in the same hotel and be able to hang out there and our Boss is going to join in at the end of the week to tour all our stores. But the way we were sitting too made me realize how cool our team is- each of us managers runs a company here, and then our boss oversee's all three companies, and being together like that for the first time I think we all realized how unique it is, and fun our team is.

Today was Friday and being that I worked 12 hr days each day since Sunday, I took today off. Turned off the blackberry, turned on the "Do not disturb" button to my apartment, and slept in till 1:30pm today! SERIOUSLY was sleep deprived. I had US partners in town this week, so not only was I doing my own job 8-5pm, but then 5pm-10pm was entertaining the US team. I do enjoy the entertain piece- show them the city- being social and fun and knowing the cool restaurants (thank goodness I get free time-out Dubai Magazines each week delivered to my apartment to stay up on the happening places!) but after 4 days, I was done with it and sooo glad to sleep in today.

With all going on this week my apartment became only a place to crash. When I was getting in at 11pm, I'd go right to my bedroom, take out my contacts, watch tv for a few minutes (except when Mr. & Mrs. Smith was on- LOVE THAT MOVIE), and then sleep. When I got up this afternoon the gravity of what my week had done to my apartment became all to apparent, thank god today was one of my cleaning days so I turned off the "do not disturb" and pressed the "Service apartment" button and within minutes the team was here to clean. I literally put on my sunglasses, threw a 50d bill on the counter and shamefully left them saying "thanks & sorry". LOL. Two hours later when I returned it was spic and span "brand new". I love this place.

Back to Dubai

Pictures of the main road along the sea in Kuwait City.

Made it back to Dubai this afternoon. It feels so good to be back- even after only 3 days in Kuwait City, I am very much looking forward to sitting on my balcony and sleeping in my own bed. The Kuwait Airport is getting renovated- and the new sections look VERY much better. It is such an experience when you travel in the Middle east; the people, the pushing, the chaos, the languages, and clothes, and kids. Today the majority of the people were from India- I was one of 2 white people on the plan and the kids (maybe 2 or 3 yrs old) could not stop starring at me! As they walked past me in the terminal the kids would just stand there with their hands folded and twirl their feet and look at me until their parents came to get them. It was funny-- until I got on the plan and there were 3 crying babies in my section...

Kuwait was actually much prettier than I remembered. It is almost a peninsula of sorts, so has a lot of sea views and beaches (which only men can use) but there are no bars, no real "restaurant" areas so I pretty much go to the malls or stay at the hotel. Boring. On a funny note I rode around with the Franchise Dm for Kuwait- and she has a Porsche Carrara. Nice- very nice- but the funny part is me- 6'4" getting in and out of that thing! The rear fender came up to my knee! But I did fit in it- and didn't feel unsafe or anything- I was more worried about splitting my pants of my new suit!

I do have to say I changed it up a bit this trip- went to a REAL Indian restaurant my first night in, and then did Italian, then did Lebanese my last night. It was all good especially the Indian restaurant. So much food, nan, vegetables, sauces, and chutneys, and anything that is simmered in butter and cream and then barbecued is pretty much a winner for me.

And as I read over my previous posts and when my VP was in town last week I realized that I am not a "foodie". When my boss asked where we could go for lunch I was like "Chili's is good!" as he looked at me with disgust. I can tell you where every Zara, D&G, and Harvey Nicols is in the Middle East, and I visit them regularly, know the manager or counter guy and get my picture taken at some of them! But when it comes to food I like it cheap- tasty- and it can't take any time away from my day.
See- look at all this self discovery after only 2 months here! :-)

and on to Kuwait

Made it into Kuwait City this evening. Staying at the same place I did before- very nice staff, a-lot of free food in the room when you check in and a fantastic breakfast buffet which I can not wait to go to tomorrow.
Going through visa/passport control in Kuwait was like second nature this time around, much less anxious and had everything filled out- no problems. I must look like some kinda important business man when I travel because every time I go to get in a line there is an officer shooing me up to the front and pushing people out of the way for me. I have to say it's REALLY nice, and I plan on riding that train till it stops. :-) Have an 8am meeting with the franchise partner at our #1 store and am very excited to meet all the new managers they have been hiring for our Northern Gulf stores!

This past weekend was great- I did NOTHING. I was totally lame and did not leave my building once on Saturday! Since I got back from Riyadh I've had this cold- which is just enough to make me tired- a bit scratchy throat- but one of those things that's just not quite there to make me "sick" so I took Saturday to get over it. Lucky for me there was a ton of good movies on OSN, and the pool wasn't busy when I went down, and then I slept the rest of the day. :-) It was wonderful.
Sunday I had to go to Dubai Mall to do some training with the store managers, so yes- had to work on the weekend, but they appreciate me working with their schedules, and hey- that's what I'm here for.

As I was packing today I got sucked into watching "Elizabeth" on tv, it was such a good movie and one that I hadn't seen in ages. I remember going to see that movie when it first came out with my mom at the Ionia Theater- how weird was it that we went there?? Ohhh- and remember that was the year the Gwenyth won the Oscar for best actress (for being a pretty girl- really! REALLY!!! I'm sure that was SOO hard for her) and they snubbed Kate Blanchett who was so much more deserving of the Oscar.
Alright, well I'm going to head down to this Italian Restuarant that I saw when I was driving in... Yes- Italian again. It's kinda like I'm seeing which Middle Eastern City/Restaurant does Italian the best. I'll have local cuisine tomorrow- I promise. :-)

Lounge at DXB

This is the Emirates First Class Lounge at Dubai International Airport. It's really nice to be able to chill out in comfortable chairs and most importantly- as much free Alcohol (and food) as you want. Most places we travel are dry- so if you come by the tables after about two hours our section in the lounge ends up looking like something of a Frat Party- but always classy :-)
This past trip was kinda funny because the Vp's weren't with us and we didn't hear from them in the airport- so we figured they were off talking. Turns out they flew coach so they weren't allowed in the lounges- oops. But it made for good stories that they will have FOREVER!
These pics were taken early- but the lounge really fills up before the flights. We go early because I like to be ontime- but mostly for the free Veuve. :-)

Cool attraction

So the last night we were in Riyadh we went to the top of the Kingdom Tower. When you look at the pic, there is the huge opening and then a thin span bridging the opening which it turns out is actually a bridge and for 25 Saudi Riyals you can go up and walk across it! It was arched, so in the pic you can see it goes up then the windows are convex so it's a bit disorienting. I'm glad we went at night because it was really cool to see the city lights.

Trip 1 (continued)

I wasn't able to access Blogger when I was there so will only be able to post when I get back to Dubai, which is too bad because I had so many cool experiences EVERY DAY when I was over there and now I'm trying to sort them out and remember the things. But I will try.

First off- Everywhere we went for food, there were "men's" "Family" or "Ladies" sections. In Starbucks Men sit and order in the main store like you would see in the US, Women and Families must sit next door in a separate starbucks that has frosted windows and door (so it is not open to the public), and what looked like Cubicals with doors inside the family starbucks (I couldn't see for sure because I wasn't allowed in there.) Even at McDonalds where they have a row of counter, there is a divider down the center and a sign that says "Men" and then over the other side a sign saying "Ladies" This was in the food court, and as we went to sit down, we had to sit in the "Single Male" area while the CAO had to go sit in the "Ladies" section. This continued all over- the Kingdom Center Mall even has a "Ladies floor" that when you look at the pic- it's the top floor with the covered high walls so you can't see them. They also have "Ladies entrances" for Banks, and most of the clothing stores like Gap for instance-were Woman only, and then the men's store was either down the hall or outside the mall on the street entrance.
As we were going through the malls I was not seeing many men's stores anyway- so asked why that was. Single men are not allowed to shop in the more strict malls- only Families and Women are allowed during peak times, so when we went to the Sahara mall at 9pm (their busy time) it was a sea of black robes, maybe 2-5 men in the entire mall!!!!

There is NO music in the malls, or in any of the stores. It is that way all over KSA, and that alone sucks the energy out of the "In-store Experience" as we call it.

They are not allowed to use images in their stores or marketing anywhere in KSA, so they sometimes will use the western marketing and then blur it out before printing it, or we saw them pixelate it so the faces look like cubes, or in some cases we even saw them just white out the faces and hands! It varies from every store.

Only men are allowed to work in the stores- yes- even Mac Cosmetics, and Lingerie stores. We sent the CAO in to MAC to see how it works, and they do not ever approach a woman, so she had to say "I want to know what this does" and they sterilized all the brushes and allowed her to use the testers herself. Again, there are rules about touching a woman, so they can only really "support" her, they can't apply the makeup.

And saving the best for last:
The stores close at 12noon till 4pm, then close from 5:30-6pm, then 8:00-8:30pm, due to prayer times. Prayer times do change day to day, so the time's aren't really clear until you hear the "Call to Prayer" which is done everywhere in the city. The noon prayer is only an hour long, but then lunch, and they have next prayer at 3:30 so they just don't even open the stores back up. That is why in the picture of the starbucks all the stores were closed- that was at 12:15 in the afternoon and by the time we got back to the entrance at 12:30pm mind you- the mall was EMPTY! It was surreal.
Alright. That's a lot of info- talk amongst yourselves- I've given you many many topics :-) And that was only day 1!!!

Trip 1 to KSA- complete

So my first trip to Riyadh WAS over before I knew i!. We flew in Saturday night, airport was not what I expected, passport control was what I expected. :-) Hotel was gorgeous! The top pic there of the building with the yellow lights is the Kingdom Center- tallest building in Saudi Arabia and where the Four Seasons is. There is also the high end mall "Kingdom Center" at the base of the building so it's a nice complex. Other pics are of the airport luggage corral- the lines were long so luggage was just a mess as more flights came in but the people from the previous flights weren't through customs yet, so it ended up looking like that. The other pic is of Riyadh at night, and then the "lounge". Each 2 floors of the four seasons here has this sitting room for the guests. Restaurants at the Hotel were great- Italian/Arab Mezze/ and Indian restaurants for dinners and an amazing breakfast buffet so that part made the trip much better.

First trip is a go!

So I got my Saudi Visa today! YAY!
I'm leaving Saturday night for Riyadh and will be there through Tuesday morning. I honestly did not think that my Visa would come through in time, so now I'm kinda panic-ing. I am traveling with my VP and the new CAO- so if ever there was a time to this is it. I'm very glad my first trip won't be alone, but now I have to pack- and get my outfits organized- and be all professional!
Looking forward to it, but am nervous- 1. I'm with the big dogs on this trip. 2. I can't believe I'm actually going to be in Saudi Arabia! 3. Everyone has stressed me out about going there, so it's going to be like a band-aid- it's all in my head, but before I know it I'll be on a plane coming back.