I'm back!

Landed on US soil this morning at 11am est. It seemed like such a longer flight this time because I could only sleep for 3 of the 14 hrs. As I was checking in for the flight the people around me we asking for upgrades and the attendants said everything was overbooked due to an event. I had no idea what that meant but it became apparent as I settled into my seat. It went kid, adult, kid, adult, kid. Apparently there was some kind of "family" fun weekend in ny this weekend, and a bunch of families were all traveling together. These were not ordinary families. These were wealthy to the unspeakable. The kid who was seated in front of me was verbally assaulting his mother because he didn't have his own cabin like he did last time. His mother was explaining to him that first class was not available and she was sorry but they were going to have to fly business. Sorry to have to fly business. Dear god. We still have our own secluded areas with mini bar, blankets, flat bed, and our own 24" flat screen tvs. Poor kid. He was having to slum it and probably ruined his whole trip! The other part of this was some of these kids were barely old enough to walk and they still had their own seat! They basically overtook the bar area on the plane as a big playpen for their kids with their nannies- because of course their nannies had to come with them all- so I was literally stepping over kids playing board games to get my grey goose martini. So that was the most interesting thing I'd experienced this month.
When I got through US customs the first thing I did was buy every magazine I had been missing. Vman, Fastcompany, Inc, Wallpaper and of course a diet coke. All this for under $20. The simple luxury of the living here. That is one thing i miss. Magazines are minimum $10 a peice inthe MIddle east, so four of them and a diet coke for under 20 made me giddy. I started with vman and it was great. Absolutely no content worth anything, no learning, just tacky fashion, fluf writing, and preetty advertisments. It was just what I wanted. A great way to let my brain know "yes, we are on vacation!".

Into the cold

So this time tomorrow I will be somewhere over Eastern Europe flying home to the US! It seemed like since the end of november I have been counting down agonizingly long days, and then this past week went buy so fast its like it never happened. When I got back to Dubai on Tuesday I met up with my boss to do some store visits and then had to spend many hours at the office sending out recaps of the weekend and visits, and be on a few conference calls. Today i'm out with the franchise partner doing store visits and wrap ups for the year end. They are harrassing the heck out of me for taking three weeks off because they work for a national company that doesn't observe western holidays and so have only new years off.
I should be done with visits this afternoon by four. Have to go home and pack and pack and pack. Then doing dinner with the other territory manager and a few friends.
It feels so good today to be wrapping everything up. I didnt expect to feel such closure, but it has been a really good two days of visits and meetings. The business relationships seem reeally solid, the stores are looking better than they did two weeks ago. I walked out of othe last visit and felt like I could really see a difference in what i have been complaining about- for lack of a better word.
i'll be stopping by Zara before i head home to get a few more things- my sweater collection is growing and I can't wait to wear all my new scarves and hats and my new coat. I feel like a kid the first week of school! Because that is what school was all about rigt- buying and wearing new clothes and feeling pretty?? No?

Well I am so looking forward to seeing all of you when I'm in the states. I'll be in Cbus for a week then up to Michigan for the holidays. See you soon! :-)

Night in Istanbul

After a day at the Bazaar and a conference call, I walked up to the Nisantasi for dinner at City Mall. Traffic again was so bad, so I started walking and walking, and decided to just look up the mall on my phone to see where it was in relation to me. Turns out it was only 3/4 mile away- so I mapped it on the phone and kept walking. Up and up and up the hill, but in 10 minutes I was there. I felt so accomplished- walking in the city! Attached are some pictures of the mall and nice night views.

Gunaydin!

Good Morning from Istanbul!
Back again, at the W downtown this visit- this time I'm a higher level in starwoods so got a little bigger room with this cool reading nook like a bay window that overlooks the street on three sides. The flight was reeally nice yesterday- i got bumped up because business was oversold so nice bonus! The bad part of yesterday was the trip from the airport to the hotel. It was pouring down rain, rush hour, and their was a soccer game going on, so those three things combine to create the autoapocalypse. It took me 2.5 hrs to get to the hotel!

This morning, though, when I got up I could here the cars outside and as odd as this is I can tell the difference between tires on dry brick roads versus wet brick, and i knew it was nice out. Sure enough, cool- 45 out which for me is freezing. But dry.

Walked over to my favorite coffee house, used some of my newly learned turkish to get a "buyuk" americano, and an Uc berry muffin. Success! My tutor will be so happy. All the locals are dressed so chic. Thick cable sweaters, long black trench coats, sweaters with scarves everyone looks like they are part of a jcrew comercial. The trees still have orange and brown leaves on them. The sky is so bright blue with shear white clouds over the rooftops. It is the perfect fall day in a european city.

I've arrived one day early so that i can sight see so more, and further explore the city. I start meetings tomorrow morning and will be in stores saturday, then working an overnight at Istinye park store to help them set holiday floorset which is very intricate and they will need support with. (go into the us stores and you'll see what i mean. There are 500 oraments to hang from the ceiling!!! Plus complete the rest of the store in 6 hrs!).

Today after coffee I'm heading back to the grand bazaar for some christmas shopping, then off to Canyon at sapphire. A new shopping center I'm supposed to scope out and then up to City mall for dinner later tonight with the visual director.

oh and I will definetly need to go shopping. I look like that seasame street game again "one of these things doesn't belong". The one sweater i own is not going to cut it this week, and I' also justified becuse I'll be in the states in a week and will need sweaters there too :-). So i have to go shopping.

National Day Starts with a Parade

Got up early on Friday morning, and thought I'd walk to the beach to have a coffee and read for a while. Sitting on the balcony at Starbucks is the best because no one goes up there, they all stay street level and it's a mess of families and kids, and bikes. As I'm all settled in I hear this blaring exhaust of a car. Not once, not twice, the jerk kept doing it!!! So I stood up on the balcony to see who it was and give them my "discerning" look up disgust :-) and what do I see- a line of Ferrari's coming down the street- as far as my eye could see! It was 8am in the morning mind you, so not many people out to see the parade, but it was cool.
I was going to make this a little story so here goes: "Down on the road there arose such a clatter I got up out of my beachchair to see what was the matter. What to my wondering I would appear but one of the Sheik's and 8 tiny rein---- this is Dubai- so in a very Dubai fashion: 85 $300,000 Ferraris." And there you go.
So if you think 85 x 300k, that's $25,500,000 worth of cars in the parade, and then sitting in the parking lot at JLT. Wow.
The parade ended with them all driving into the JLT lot in front of the beach and we were able to walk down and see them. And to think- I almost slept in!

National Day

Well today is Dubai's 40th birthday, National Day, so it is of course a holiday weekend. I have Thursday-Sunday "off" but of course the malls will be busy so I will have to go in and visit stores, but overall, it's a very relaxing weekend. The weather is amazing- 80degrees with a cool breeze off the gulf.
With the weather change, I'm going to try something new.
Yesterday my rental car came due and rather than reknewing it, I turned it in and took the metro home. Next week Wednesday I fly to Istanbul for a week then 1 day back in Dubai then I'm in the US for Holiday. So with all that travel, and the nice weather, I am going to try mass transit for my time in Dubai. That means alot of walking as the metro station is 3/4 mile from my apartment, then only 1 of the mall is actually attached to the metro line. Looking at my self in the mirror the other morning though, I need to get walking more.
Last night, with no car, I walked from my house over to the Marina Mall- about 1 1/2 miles. It was a gorgeous night, and it was actually almost too warm to be wearing a hoodie. Today I took the metro down to Mall of Emirates, did my store visit, got lunch, and then metro'd it back to Jumeriah. So I think this might work out. :-)

With it being National day too- people go all out with their National colors. Cars wrapped in green, red, black saran wrap or painted with UAE slogan's or flags, everyone's wearing pins or scarves. The malls, grocery stores, even my building is all about the decorations. It's similiar to what you see around the fourth of July. I just never had been in a foreign country when they have their independence day- so took me a minute to make that connection.

My store in Jordan opened up yesterday to great reviews. The staff are so good, and the store looked great- so all the executive team were very pleased. I didn't get to fly back because.... well, I'm tired. I just want to be in Dubai for a week and relax. I think that's part of my belly-bulge is from all the hotel living and eating on the go. Already being in Dubai for 4 days now, I'm already feeling healthier and more relaxed.

I have a new morning ritual- make a pot of coffee, grab my new book and reading on my balcony for an hour or so while the city wakes up. It is the best. I love my views from my apartment. Every day that I have been back I make sure to open my curtains first thing in the morning and open the windows and doors. It's like "hello world!" It's a good thing. :-)

Pictures: Views from my balcony when I'm sitting out reading. View from my bed- sometimes it's so nice and cool in the morning I just crawl back into bed and gaze out at the city- so peaceful.