Happy Halloween!

Our Jack-o-Lanterns and the Burj. Guess which one is Jared's? He kept giving me a hard time and saying I had bought him a squash to carve..

Happy Dubai Halloween! Although it was a bit of a non-traditional Halloween this year, it was still a really nice day. We rested up in the morning from the impromptu BBQ party we hosted the night before (more on that to follow), and then went on an unsuccessful quest for pumpkin ravioli or tortellini to have a Halloween feast. We were unable to find any pumpkin-related food items, but did actually find REAL pumpkins, gourds, and mini-pumpkins at the Waitrose on Halloween day. The temptation to buy 'real' orange pumpkins (imported from Mexico) was pretty high, but after we looked at the price, we decided that spending approx. $45 on a oddly shaped pumpkin we were going to carve in a couple hours was not worth it. We did get some gourds and a mini-pumpkins though under the guise of keeping them for the next month as a Fall/Thanksgiving decoration. We had a relaxing dinner of grilled corn on the cob and homemade chicken shawarmas (left over from our BBQ) and then carved our ugly pumpkins while listening to the Monster Mash (embarrassing to have on my Ipod 364 days a year) and Thriller. We did our own version of Trick-or-Treat by giving each other candy and cards (Jared got me the most amazing peanut butter cookies in a Halloween box from Candylicious, this is why I love the boy.) and then relaxed for the evening with our lit jack-o-lanterns. No dressing up this year, but we made the most of our Dubai Halloween...

Our Neighborhood

The Dubai Fountain. World's Largest.

I love our neighborhood! The great thing about living where we do is that while having a view of the world's tallest building, we also have so many great things nearby. Now that it's cool enough to walk, we are a walkable distance from the Burj Dubai (World's Tallest Building), Dubai Mall (World's Largest Mall [by square feet], with an indoor ice rink, Aquarium, and movie theater), Souq Al Bahar (another shopping area with great restaurants, bars, and shops), the Dubai Fountain, (World's Largest Fountain), Old Town (a residential area built to look like the old style of architecture with wind towers, etc.), the Burj Residences (condo buildings next to the Burj Dubai that have tons of good restaurants on the ground level, including NANDO's), and five luxury hotels which all have really good restaurants and bars. Not a bad place to live.

The Dubai Fountain in action. It comes on to different music every 20 minutes or so starting at 6pm daily. Absolutely amazing... It has water that shoots probably 40 floors into the air. I will have to try taking a video of it and posting it here.

The Dubai Aquarium in the Dubai Mall. Giant 3 Floor viewing panel. Sharks and sting rays mixed with other fish. They must be well fed, or else I think the smaller fish could not peacefully co-exist as well as it looks like they do with the sharks. We are yet to go in, but it looks really cool from the Mall... and it's directly across from Candylicious. All I can think of when I see it is...
"T u e s d a y afternoon..."

Dubai Mall Waterfall. I love it.

Another view of the Dubai Mall Waterfall. Everywhere you turn in that mall there is something else interesting to see. I will seriously have a hard time shopping in malls in the US after spending so much time at malls here. If they do one thing right here, it's definitely malls... But, I guess it is a completely materialistic and shopping driven culture, so they are bound to have nice malls.

Success!

This weekend was successful in many ways... Most excitingly, WE BOUGHT A GRILL! More importantly, I am getting better and getting used to driving in Dubai (with only very minor minor mishaps...).

On Thursday, we began our weekend with some drinks on the beach at Barasti Bar at the Le Meridian Hotel. Barasti is a bar we really enjoy because it is right on the water and this week we decided to sit on the beach on the giant bean bag chairs they have, right next to the stage where they had an Irish DJ called 'Gate Crasher' playing music all night. Awesome dj and probably the coolest light show I've ever seen... plus giant balloons full of confetti were being bopped around the dance floor by the crowd. Actually awesome. I've learned my lesson about having an empty stomach when drinking, so we stuffed ourselves with plates of Arabic BBQ they were selling at the Bar. Quite yummy lamb and chicken kebabs, salad, and hummus with flat bread. On our way to catch a taxi we saw a fist fight taking place between one of the bar security guards and a patron. Actually very funny because it was kind of a slap fight in the middle of the street but neither were very successful since as another onlooker observed, "they didn't have any heart." The police suddenly busted onto the scene to break it up and then blocked off the whole street as if some major incident was occurring, so we had to walk a couple blocks to the main street to get a taxi. Very funny, and not something I ever thought I would see in Dubai. At Wylie J's in Geneva, NY, yes, at a swanky hotel bar in Dubai, not so much...

We LOVE the beanbags at Barasti...

We got home on the early side because we wanted to make the most of our Friday. We got up early and headed to brunch at the Lime Tree Cafe, which is a great cafe with New Zealand breakfasts and other delicious sandwiches and salads, and you can eat in their beautiful garden. After brunch we decided to check out a supermarket that our friend Dom had told us was an American supermarket. It is called the "Safest Way" and is actually a Korean market, but surprisingly does carry a lot of American products. We were thrilled... Halloween M&M's, Tollhouse Cookie Dough, cans of chicken broth (surprisingly hard to come by here, and don't even think about the fresher stuff in cartons), good cheese, and American potato chips of all varieties... including Burger King 'flame broiled' chips, which Jared could not resist. They also had Butterball turkeys, and so bought a 10 pounder to roast Saturday night. We also found some other basic necessities we've been looking like ice cube trays, a cooler, and beach towels.

After our very successful grocery shopping trip, we headed back to our favorite JBR beach and relaxed and swam for the afternoon... Now that it is getting colder in New England, I really feel that I must emphasize the fact that we had a lovely day at the beach with perfect weather. Probably mid-80's and windy... I'm missing out on foliage and Halloween, so I have to embrace what I've got!

Friday night we had dinner plans at the Marina with our friend Jenn's cousin Maura who lives in Dubai. On Maura's recommendation we went to an Italian restaurant called Bice (B-chay) and had the most amazing meal I think I've had in Dubai. Delicious drinks (Mojitos and Peroni, then some Pino Grigio), and I started with Crab Cake over Avocado 'tartare' (basically guac) and then had veal-stuffed tortelli with a white cream truffle sauce. Absolutely amazing! [At this juncture I feel I should apologize for my need to discuss food excessively on here. I really really love food, and eating out is probably one of my top five favorite things to do, so, please excuse my long tangents that describe in detail what I am eating on a regular basis]... Dinner was a lot of fun and hopefully we can get together with Maura and Gio again soon.

Saturday was supposed to be our productive day since we mostly relaxed on Friday. And given that we ended up buying a grill (and lots of grill tools, including a whole fish griller and corn on the cob griller) and a few other odds and ends we still needed for the apartment, like a coffee maker, blow dryer (yes, I am very proud to say I am a girl who has not used a blow dryer in over a month. I remind Jared of this if and when he ever tries to say I'm a 'high maintenance' gf... Mom, I know you're cringing right now), and some indoor plants to continue to make our apartment more cozy. Unfortunately, the grill can't be delivered until next week, but in a way that's good because getting gas for the grill is actually kind of a big deal over here. Contrary to in the US where you just go to the super market or gas station or almost anywhere and buy propane tanks, here, you can't buy full propane gas tanks. You have to buy an empty tank somewhere (luckily they sold them at the Ace Hardware where we bought our grill, other places we were looking at grills didn't sell them), and then take the empty tank to a gas supplier and have your tank filled, which apparently can take up to 3 days. Then they deliver the tank to your house... All very odd. Especially for a warm climate where grilling is popular pretty much year round.

So after our shopping spree at Festival City where the Ace, Ikea (where we bought the plants) and Hyper Panda (another Walmart-esque store where we got the coffee maker, etc.) we decided to find the gas supplier to have our tank ready when the grill arrives. Well, our attempt to find the gas supplier in Karama (near Bur Dubai where Jared used to live) turned into a complete nightmare of bad directions and wrong turns and Jared and I coming home not speaking to each other. So we gave up, deciding we'd try next Friday.

We both took some time to recover from our nightmare drive before roasting our turkey (with all the accompaniments) and having a delicious dinner. Overall a great weekend.

Almost Halloween...

My Halloween Cupcake from Friday Brunch at the Lime Tree Cafe.

As Halloween gets closer and closer slowly we are beginning to see Halloween 'things' pop up all over Dubai. It always surprises me and makes me so happy! For anyone who knows me, I LOVE all holidays, and really the crescendo of my holiday year begins with Halloween, peaks at Christmas and then tapers off by Easter. My love of holidays is exhibited through excessive amounts of decorations (some, arguably tacky, or so says Jared), and the sending of cards to everyone and their brother for every holiday (really, they do make cards for Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, and even April Fool's Day if you look hard enough... and trust me, I know where to look). So, living in the Middle East I was a little anxious that my holiday spirit would be squelched as a result of my minority status. And, to a large extent, it's as if Fall Harvest and Halloween season are non-existent over here. Instead of changing leaves, it's becoming BBQ season, and Diwali (the Indian Festival of Lights) is the most overt holiday atmosphere around. However, in the last week or so I've been seeing Halloween things pop up (Candylicious is now carrying plastic jack-o-lanterns full of candy and festive ghost cookies, Ace Hardware has a whole Halloween aisle complete with pumpkin twinkle lights and Jason masks, and Jared and I were beckoned into a Hallmark shop the other day by the sound of one of those motion sensored vibrating witch heads with the distinctive "whoooooooooo"). We even found semi-normal looking pumpkins that we'll be carving into Jack-o-lanterns next weekend... Even though my 6+ years worth of accumulated fall decorations are in the US in storage, it can STILL be Halloween.... at least in my head... and my apartment with my ugly pumpkins and Halloween M&M's (yup, I was able to find those too, but no candy corn.... I'll take what I can get)...

Visa Run

So last night I had a new experience. I went on a visa run.

Originally, when we were planning our move here we talked with Jared's firm about providing me with a visa, and that was the plan when we got here (US citizens get an automatic 30 day visit visa upon arrival in the UAE). But when we got here and I was able to get a job so easily, we discussed the options and decided that it was a better idea for my visa sponsorship to be through my own job so that if (heaven forbid) something happened with Jared's job we wouldn't both lose our visas. So I talked to my boss and he's currently working on getting my visa paperwork in order, but, as with everything else bureaucratic here, it's taking a long time (plus my boss has had a recent death in the family and other issues with sickness in the office, so I'm sure my visa has taken a bit of a backseat to other more pressing daily issues). So to get to the point, my thirty days of visit visa status were about to end, today actually, (I had some extra time on visit visa status from when we went to Muscat in September) and something needed to be done.

If you overstay a visit visa you begin getting fined AED 100 (approximately $30 USD) a day. We obviously wanted to avoid this, so my boss suggested I do a 'visa run'. Apparently pretty much everyone who lives here has done one in order to accommodate the UAE immigration laws while their residency visa is pending. The actual act of a visa run is to leave the country (temporarily) so that you get a UAE exit stamp, and then to re-enter after visiting another country (for even as little as 15 minutes like I did).

I had been discussing this issue with my boss for the last week or so, knowing my visit visa was about to expire. So he began looking into options and last night at about 5:55pm he pulled me aside before my 6pm lesson was about to begin and told me he had booked me on a 10:25pm flight from Dubai to Muscat, Oman, which would arrive at 11:40pm (literally only 20 minutes in the air) and then on a return flight to Dubai at 1:10am, arriving in Dubai at 2:15am.

So he told me to teach my 6:00pm lesson and then that he'd cover my 7:00 one so that I could get home and to the airport (I needed to drive home, change my clothes, and take a taxi because I am not comfortable enough yet with the driving here to drive to the airport and Jared still doesn't have his license).

So, after my 6:00pm lesson I hustled home, Jared and I grabbed some quick Indian take-out from the Dubai Mall and I inhaled my food while waiting for a taxi. Going to the airport with literally just a small handbag with my wallet, keys, phone, book, and (most importantly) my passport, but no other luggage was the weirdest feeling in the world. Almost liberating to travel that lightly.

I checked in without a problem, breezed through customs (who don't ask any questions when you're leaving) and headed to my gate. When I got to the gate I realized just who it is that takes 10:25pm Tuesday night flights from Dubai to Muscat: Omani men. As I walked into the gate area every eye was on me as the only woman, and only westerner at the gate. Now, I have gotten used to stares from Middle Eastern men (not perverse stares either, just curiosity) at a blond western woman, but this was a little different. How weird to be the only woman on a flight, I thought, and doesn't that break the Sharia law about men and women being alone together? Well, the stares continued as I sat down and got settled. Since this happens so often I actually find it to be a fun game to stare right back at them into their eyes and kind of have a stare down. Undoubtedly they only last about 1 second with me staring them down before they turn away with an embarrassed look. Fortunately, I didn't have to find out what it's like to be the only woman on a flight because when we were boarding two other women appeared out of no where and boarded as well... Curiously, we were all seated in the same row.

The flight to Muscat was uneventful and I actually was fed. I couldn't believe I was given an actual meal on a flight that was shorter than my daily commute to work (which is about 30 minutes). It wasn't much, but I got a tuna sandwich, mango juice, water, and candy bar. Can't complain for a 20 minute flight, when I've been on 6 hour domestic flights in the US and been given nothing but a drink and maybe some stale pretzels (if I'm lucky).

When I arrived in Muscat I had to purchase a visit visa for 6 Omani Rials (or AED 60, or approximately $18 USD) and then go to customs. This customs official was chatty and wanted to know where I'd come from and my purpose in Oman. I replied, "Holiday. You have a beautiful country." I figured this was a safe answer given the fact that upon inspecting my passport he would see this was my third trip there. Then he asked me how long I was staying and I told him 1 day. "Beautiful country, eh?" He retorted at my only staying such a short time. I got a little nervous, but he stamped my passport and sent me on my way. I then immediately proceeded to the Oman Air ticket counter and checked in for my return flight and headed back through customs. This customs officer only asked if I was there on holiday and when I said yes, gave me an Oman exit stamp and sent me on my way.

My flight back to Dubai was equally uneventful and I was served that same tuna sandwich/candy bar/mango juice meal. I drank the juice, pocketed the candy bar, and decided there was no way I needed a second tuna sandwich that night at 1:30am. I was a little anxious to go through the Dubai customs because I knew it would be very obvious I had been on a visa run and had been rehearsing a speech in my head. I needn't have worried though, because the Dubai customs officer said nothing to me other than my name and stamped my passport with another thirty days visit visa from October 21st. I was legally back in the country.

I breathed as sigh of relief as I headed into Duty Free to buy a case of beer and bottle of liquor (Jared still doesn't have his liquor license here, another bureaucratic inconvenience, so we make a point of stocking up every time we're at the airport). I caught a taxi home and was snuggled into my bed by 3am, only 5 hours after my visa run began. Oh the joys of the bureaucracy in the UAE!

Fujairah Day Trip

On Saturday I was invited to attend a girls beach day in Fujairah, another Emirate about 2 hours from Dubai (I was really on a Tour de Emirates this weekend between going to Sharjah for our rental car, and Fujairah on Saturday). It's always nice to get out of Dubai for the day, and also to see new places (that don't require a passport!). I really didn't know how much the UAE actually has to offer outside Dubai until I got here... All the Emirates are so different and it can be lovely to go to Dubai's more sleepy neighbors.

We started the day with a delicious breakfast at Elizabeth's flat (gotta embrace the British terminology while living here, or you give yourself away as an American the minute you open your mouth... not that I can really hide it with my 'accent', but I'm trying to assimilate). Elizabeth is my friend who had the Yellow Party the weekend I learned the consequences of dehydrated alcohol consumption in Dubai. She lives in Jumeira right on the water with an amazing view of the Gulf and beach below. Clare, Diana, and I met at Elizabeth's and she prepared an amazing traditional English breakfast for us: Fresh Fruit and Fruit Juice, Fried Eggs, Bacon fried with tomatoes and mushrooms [weird, but somehow it works], Heinz Baked Beans [apparently an English fav.], and Fry Bread, which is basically toast, but instead of being toasted in the toaster it is made crispy by being cooked in the frying pan in the bacon grease, and eaten under the eggs -- Kat, I definitely recommend you try this since you are the bacon cooking extraordinaire.

So with our belly's full we set out for Fujairah. Road Trips with friends are always fun, especially when you aren't in a hurry to get somewhere. There was friendly banter about the music choices and we just took our time and enjoyed the mountainous scenery.

On the way we came across a giant outdoor market. It had wares of all sorts, including rugs, cheap toys (undoubtedly made in China), antiques, furniture, and the best part of all, TONS of fresh fruits. So we, of course, could not resist the temptation to stop and get some fresh fruit for the beach.

There were rows upon rows of stands and so we pretty much had our pick of who to buy our fruit from. As we walked by, each of the proprietors pointed at their selection and tried to push mangoes and oranges into our hands while also immediately cutting and trying to give us samples. We walked down the row and finally settled on one to chat with to see if we could get a bargain. He gave us a sample of a fruit I had never had before (and have no idea what the name is), but it was a bit mushy and tasted like a cross between a pear and a date with a giant pit in the middle. After we tried the fruit he then immediately began shoving about 30 of those in a bag and then proceeded to put about 20 mangoes in. We kept saving over and over again, no no no no no, we only want 4 of each, and after much persuasion we got him to take out the excess fruit. Then came the bartering over price, which proved to be difficult as he started with a major high ball offer of AED 50 dirhams (about $15 USD) which seemed quite high for just 4 mangoes and 4 funky pear/date fruit in the middle of the dessert when there are 50 other guys we could buy from. Diana was a good barterer and she got him down to AED 30 if he'd throw in a papaya. So we bought our fruit from him and continued to look around.

Fujairah Fruit Stands, very beautiful and vibrant with all the fresh produce. Almost like an oasis in the middle of the desert.

Another view, notice the giant pot on the left side. They also sell fresh (the most fresh and amazing I have to say because I tried one) corn on the cob and also coconuts which they just chop the top off and stick a straw in so you can drink the milk inside.

So, Elizabeth then decided to give the fresh coconut milk a try, which I am sure Jared would love because he drinks it by the can from the market... I'm not really a fan, but I still enjoy the concept of just cutting the top off a piece of fruit (or tree nut to be technically correct, I guess) and then putting in a straw and just drinking.

After she had finished we didn't want to good coconut flesh inside to go to waste, so we asked the man who ran the stand if we could get the coconut meat out. He then went to town on it with a giant knife and improvised scraping tool from part of the coconut shell. Once he got the actual coconut out it was the freshest and most delicious coconut I had ever tasted. And I don't even like coconut, but when it's this fresh it's hard to turn down.

Finally, after our detour at the Farmer's Market we got back on the road and headed to our destination. Since Fujairah is still so rural there are very few resorts and hotels. We went to the Sandy Beach Hotel which is older and the hotel itself isn't anything fancy, but their beach resort area is gorgeous! Lounge chairs and palm umbrellas with a view of Snoopy Island (below). See if you can see Snoopy... It looks like he's laying on his back, lounging in the water.

Can you see Snoopy? :) Apparently when the tide is high enough you can climb up onto the island and jump off the rocks. The tide was too low the day we were there though.

So we whiled away the afternoon lounging, chatting, snacking, and swimming in the very warm water of the Gulf of Oman (Fujairah is the only Emirate located on the Gulf of Oman, all the others that have a coastline are located on the Persian Gulf). We had a blast playing in the water because Clare brought a water football torpedo (you know those ones that absorb water.... very fun) and a beach ball and Diana brought a volleyball. So we swam for awhile and when we got bored we ordered some pizza and Heinekens from the Beach Bar (you can just sit on the beach and drink cans of beer... pretty awesome). Then we began an animated game of Uno that we played until well after the sun went down and we couldn't see the cards anymore. A really great day in so many ways. Beautiful scenery, an opportunity to get out of the city, and time spent with new friends. Can't wait to go back soon... and maybe take some visitors too!

This is a sign that was posted on the beach that I very much enjoy. In case you were feeling the urge to Spear Gun fish in the hotel beach resort area, the Government of Fujairah would like you to know that it is prohibited and you will be subject to a fine if you use your spear gun in swimming area. Hmm....

The Weekend

Me & Jared at Calabar in the Address Hotel on Thursday night... a nice night out with our friends Laith and Melissa for drinks and tapas.

View of The Address from the terrace at Calabar where we were sitting... The terrace was covered with comfy chairs and bean bags (Jared was in heaven... for anyone who knows Jared's bean bag room fantasy you'll understand). So nice to be able to sit outside at restaurants and bars now that the weather is comfortable. Maybe my favorite thing to do here.

View of the Atlantis Resort on the Palm Jumeirah from JBR Beach

I am always amazed at how quickly weekends seem to go here in Dubai... possibly even faster than they used to when we actually had friends and a very busy social calendar in Boston. This weekend was no exception, although we had a major development in terms of getting settled... Drum Roll Please... wait for it... WE GOT A CAR!!! By which I mean we rented a car. :) This is a very exciting development for many reasons. Not only does it make our lives a million times easier, but it also saves us lots of money (we actually got a good deal on the rental) and saves us the hassle of always having to call for or flag a taxi anytime we want to go anywhere. Before we moved here, we had very high aspirations of not needing a car because the Dubai Metro was about to open... And it has opened, but only maybe 1/3 of the stations are currently open and operational at the moment, and the only time we have tried to ride the metro it was a complete mob scene similar to the stampede scene in Slumdog Millionaire. So, to put it nicely, unpleasant at best. Also, coincidentally, the only stations even remotely near our apartment and both mine and Jared's places of employment are not yet open. So we had to quickly rule out the Metro as a viable daily transportation option at the moment. Then, on top of the inconvenience of public transportation, Dubai can in no way be considered a 'walking city,' which is definitely difficult to adjust to when moving from Boston, where we didn't think twice about walking absolutely everywhere. So we had to come up with some solution.

Enter our decision that we needed a car. We continue to hem and haw over whether we should just buy a cheap one to get some equity and then be able to recoup some of our money by selling it when we leave, or else just renting one to save the trouble of registration, insurance, toll passes (called Salik here, similar to E-Z Pass ), etc. At the moment we've decided to rent at least for this month, because my resident visa is still pending and if Jared bought a car I would not be able to drive it (without a resident visa and Dubai Driver's License, you can only drive rental cars).

So the major excitement of our weekend was Friday morning when we woke up and decided to pull the trigger on the rental car. Unfortunately, Friday is the Holy Day here so most things are closed on Fridays, including every rental car place but one in Sharjah (the next Emirate over). So we make a few calls and they tell us they have a lovely Mitsubishi Lancer available for us to pick up, but that they close at noon (and it was 10:35am). So we immediately went into high gear gathering all the necessary documentation, copies of passports and driver's licenses, and I called my friend Clare who works in Sharjah to borrow a map and get directions. So we called a taxi and got ourselves to Sharjah before they closed and successfully rented a car.

The immediate snag being that I am the only one who can currently drive said car because people with Resident Visas can only drive in Dubai if they have a Dubai Driver's License. They allow US Driver's Licenses carriers to just kind of 'waive' into a Dubai one without having to take any Road Tests or anything, but make you jump through bureaucratic hoops of fire to get one (seems to be the theme to get anything done here) so it will probably take Jared at least a week to get his driver's license. So for now I am Jared's private chauffeur and learning to drive in Dubai, which is like driving in Boston schizophrenic and on crack, should be fun...

A Para sailor off the Palm Jumeirah

The rest of our Friday was then spent practicing driving around Dubai to all the most important locations... From our apartment to Jared's office (where I will be dropping him off every morning), then getting back to our apartment from his office (since I don't leave for work until about 12:30pm), then driving from our apartment to my office and back home again. While we were out near my office though, which is near the Dubai Marina we decided to take advantage of our 'free' transportation and relax for the rest of the afternoon at the beach (one major advantage of now having a car, we can go places like the beach and not lug all our beach stuff in a taxi and then have to flag one at the end of the end. We parked near Marina Walk which reminded me a bit of downtown Waikiki but on a much smaller scale... basically a pretty boulevard with restaurants and shops right on the water. We stopped at Starbuck's for some cold beverages and then walked across the street to the Jumeirah Beach Residence Beach (supposed to be private for the residents of JBR, but not)... A beautiful beach with a view of the Palm Jumeirah (giant man-made palm tree shaped island project everyone has heard of) and swam and relaxed and watched an animated beach cricket game occurring in front of us, and then watched the sunset before heading to dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant (where Jared enjoyed a non-alcoholic marg unintentionally) at Marina Walk. All in all a lovely and productive day...

Maybe my new favorite store.

About two weeks ago a new store opened here at the Dubai Mall called "Candylicious." It is (of course) the World's Largest Candy store, and is quickly becoming my favorite store here! It is located directly across from the Aquarium in the Dubai Mall, and so we've been seeing it under construction since we first arrived and have been anxiously waiting for it to open. When the day finally arrived I have to say I was immediately impressed. It is a giant store and has every kind of candy you could possibly imagine, and aesthetically it is complete eye candy (overuse of the word candy completely intentional). It literally looks like the scene out of Willa Wonka where they are in the 'Candy Land'. There is a giant lolly-pop tree (see below) and an airplane with M&M's flying it. Slightly overpriced, but you can get every kind of candy you could want, including from tiny obscure American chocolate companies (for example we found one that Jared had only seen in Vermont before and is only made in Brattleboro, VT). So delicious, I could easily get carried away. I will not embrace the materialism in Dubai, I will embrace candy! Afterall, Halloween is this month...

Lolly Pop Tree and Emack & Bolio (yes, like the one in Washington Square in Brookline) Ice Cream Counter... Also, notice the witty saving on the wall, "Ice Cream: Happiness Condensed." They are all over the walls, with my favorite being, "Don't Fall in Love, Fall in Chocolate." I LOVE it!
The Candylicious Truck... I'm just waiting for an Oompa Loompa to jump out.

Real Dubai

Bank Street in Bur Dubai

So, I've been feeling kind of elitist posting all these pictures of the luxurious area where we live (but would be unable to afford in any other major city in the world probably) but not any of the kind of 'real' Dubai, where the majority of the people (expat's from India, Pakistan, etc.) live. Bur Dubai and Deira are the older parts of town where the majority of people live. Jared lived in Bur Dubai when he lived in Dubai from '07-'08 and there is definitely something to be said for living in a more working-class area where there are small super markets and convenience stores on every corner, late-night fast food and cheap shawarma are aplenty, and everywhere you look isn't a construction site. There are definitely downsides though, like the frequent unpleasant aromas of garbage and sewage wafting through the air. Ultimately, the frequent barrage of bad smells is what made our decision in living downtown vs. old town.

Last night we decided to head back to Jared's old stomping grounds, however, because we had been wanting to go to the Spice Souq to stock up on spices so that we can start really cooking at home (now that we have measuring cups and spoons). I picked Jared up in a taxi on my way home from work and we headed to Dubai Creek and got dropped off near the Grand Mosque (biggest Mosque in Dubai) and walked down to the creek through the Textile Souq (oldest and most authentic old outdoor market in Dubai). Walking through you get heckled by shopkeepers to buy pashmina scarves and fabric, but we were on a mission to get to the Spice Souq and to a delicious Indian restaurant called Gazebo we discovered while living in the hotel.

So when we got down to the creek we hopped on one of the abra water taxis to cross the creek. The wooden abras are really the only way to get across the creek unless you are in a car and take one of the bridges at the other end of the creek, but they are usually jammed with traffic. An abra ride only costs about $0.30 and there is some level of adventure to it as it bombs into the dock, doesn't stop and tie off and you jump on while it is still moving. OSHA would have a field day with the whole system. Only in Dubai! So we took an abra across the Creek to the Deira Old Souq, which contains both the Spice and Gold Souqs. We were kind of on a tight schedule because we wanted to get to the restaurant back on the other side of the creek by 10pm (everyone eats dinner very late here like in Europe, although we weren't exactly sure what time the restaurant closed so didn't want to get there any later than 10). So we did some quick spice shopping and then hopped on an abra back across the Creek and headed to a late dinner (not without stopping for some Masala Chai Tea on the way though). We had a lovely night and it was nice to get outside again and enjoy the more comfortable weather.

The Spice Souq

I am so excited!

I am soooo excited! Crate & Barrel, my favorite store in the whole world is "Opening Soon" in Dubai! I saw this when we were at the Mall of the Emirates this weekend and it literally made my day... Zesters and Fluffy Throw pillows are in my near future again, I can feel it. Maybe now I won't have to 'rough it' so much in the kitchen despite the fact that my enormous collection of kitchen goodies is currently in an attic in Duxbury, MA. Even just for window shopping, this will be a little taste of home. I can't wait!

Fall in Dubai

Fall has arrived in Dubai! I can tell because I can finally walk around outside and not begin to immediately sweat profusely and actually engage in outdoor activities (and enjoy them!).

This weekend was probably our first 'fall' weekend here, and I loved it! Jared was gone to Madrid for an International Law Conference all last week and so I was on my own until Friday morning when his flight landed at 6am. I didn't want to sit home on my own on the equivalency of a Friday night, so on Thursday night when I was invited by my group of new girl friends to attend a comedy club called "The Laughter Factory" I didn't hesitate. It is actually a touring comedy company and is held at different venues once a month. This month it was held at a small hotel in Bur Dubai, pretty far from where we are living now in Downtown Burj Dubai, but very close to where Jared used to live in Dubai when he was here from '07-'08 and also near the hotel we lived in for our first two weeks here. The show was very funny (and quite sexually explicit for a Middle Eastern Muslim country... little to no Emerati's were present, however), and afterward my friend Clare, her friend Ronak, and I decided to walk to find a Burger King that was supposed to be very close for some food. Well, we ended up walking for about 35 minutes and never got to a Burger King, but as I was walking it suddenly struck me at how comfortable I felt. It was about 11:30pm, but there was no humidity in the air and I was even wearing a light 3/4 sleeve sweater and was still perfectly happy walking down the street. It was fall! We never did end up finding that Burger King and so in desperation finally caught a taxi who took us to a very far Burger King where we enjoyed every bite as a result of the anticipation (I don't even like Burger King under ordinary circumstances, McDonald's is my fast food of choice).

Then Jared arrived home on early Friday morning and I whiled away the morning while he slept very late to overcome the effects of jet lag and his red eye flight. When he finally got moving we decided to take a walk to the Souq Al Bahar (about a 10-12 minute walk) to get some coffee (or chai in my case) and pastries. Again, I could not help but notice how delightfully comfortable I was to be outside walking during daylight hours. Very little sweating and I was even clean and wearing normal clothes and not running clothes like I used to have to wear to walk around outside. Absolutely delightful! After our breakfast (or late late Brunch given the time) we decided to take a taxi to Ikea to pick up a few more touches to make the apartment more cozy (and also things like measuring cups that we were beginning to desperately need if we wanted to properly cook). Ikea was a success (in and out of Ikea in probably an hour and a half with 95% of everything we were looking for can definitely be said to be a success) and then we headed to the Crown Plaza Hotel at Festival City (next door) to have a light dinner at the Belgian Beer Company (BBC) restaurant we've been wanting to try. On our walk over though we saw a beautiful sunset (see photo above) and noticed that we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the cooler fall weather to get outside and enjoy. Unfortunately, the BBC was underwhelming (no Framboise for me so I had to settle with a Peach Lambic, and the frites were pretty weak... McDonald's has more authentic Belgian frites than this place, but I guess when our basis of comparison is our favorite European-style pub "The Publick House" in Boston, then perhaps we're a tough sell). Still lovely and after dinner we headed to our friends Diana and Mahmoud's apartment in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (fake lake to be filled in any day now they tell us... even though they've been living there for a year with a dust-bowl instead of a lake below their balcony) for a movie and some drinks. Really a 'nice little' Friday.

Our Clean Garden

Saturday we motivated much earlier because we wanted to go to Carrefour (giant Target / Super Walmart type store) to do our grocery shopping for the week and also buy a few other odds and ends for the apartment. We got that out of the way early (it becomes a Mumbai mob scene the later in the day you go) and then came home to do some gardening. Now that the weather is cooling off we are really going to start enjoying the fact that we have a garden! While Jared was in Madrid I bought more mulch (because we had already mulched most of it but had run out) and so Jared mulched while I weeded and scrubbed and hosed all the furniture down because things get very dusty out there since we overlook a construction site. By the time we were done our garden looked amazing and we rewarded ourselves with a swim in the pool. Then, after we got back we started some homemade pumpkin soup (you can apparently get pumpkins here, but they look more like speckled gourds.. on the inside they're normal though. weird) and had a little cocktail hour in the garden. Jared brought back some delicious Rioja from Madrid and also some cured ham... amazing. We decided we'd let the soup just simmer all night and stick with our ham, cheese, crackers, and caviar (Jared's treat for helping in the garden) for dinner. A very very nice, productive and relaxing, Saturday.

Our View of the Burj Dubai from our Garden... I felt quite pampered drinking my Rioja while looking at this view.
Random picture, but this is our 'horse' Ferrari who sits outside the front door of our apartment and keeps guard. He's in a nook only visible from our apartment and the one next door, so we like to think of him as our personal wooden horse. I forgot to post him with the other apartment pics.

Last night (Sunday) felt even more fall-like for me as we enjoyed our homemade pumpkin soup with baguette and it was possibly better than when we made it in Boston last fall using my crock pot... Maybe there is something to be said for Middle-Eastern pumpkins. We ate it while watching Sunday (afternoon -- night for us) Football and then the Redsox game inexplicably came on and I was over the moon... I thought, comfy pj's, homemade pumpkin soup, and October baseball (and our team!)... This is Fall! Maybe Dubai isn't so bad....

Our Pool

The very nice thing about living in a new construction building in an arid climate is that all the apartment buildings have beautiful pools. Seriously, like nicer pools than I've seen at most hotels. The pool in our building is pretty awesome, and coincidentally also on our floor. It is a lap length (25 yards, approx. I would say) infinity pool which is chilled so the water doesn't get super warm with the sun on it. The first week we moved in, Jared and I were enjoying the pool on a pretty much daily basis... Now we probably only swim 2-3 times a week, but I am trying to work lap swimming into my exercise routine. Quite enjoyable. See the pictures below.
The Hot Tub (and the lifeguard... a lifeguard is on duty at our pool from 7:30 am to 10:30 pm everyday). Notice the Burj behind... we love it!
View of the Pool, looking toward the kiddie pool under the covered area on the right.
Jared in the Pool with the Burj Dubai behind him... awesome views from our pool of the World's Tallest Building and also the World's Largest Fountain. We can't complain...
View of our building looking up from the bottom... 38 floors, although I've never been above 4 since that's where we live. I do enjoy laying in the lounge chairs looking up though...

I swear I'm not a lightweight

Last weekend something really shameful happened. To celebrate the end of the first week with students at work, my boss invited everyone from the office out for drinks at Barasti at the Le Meridian on Thursday night. Barasti is a really fun outdoor bar right on the water in Dubai Marina (I had actually been there before when I visited Jared in '08). A really fun bar with a great vibe, and it was also the end of a fairly stressful week (which ended with the Mother who had the issue with my 'accent' -- see below blog about my first week of work), so I had already decided I needed to let loose a little before arriving. Also, coincidentally, I had eaten before work at about 11:30 am, but had not had time to squeeze in anything for dinner after work... and also hadn't really been drinking much water all day (this is an extremely important part of the story).

So, my friend Phil from work (he's the guy who teaches the Math small-groups) and I took a taxi to the bar at about 8:30. We had been trying to wait for Clive (my boss and the owner of Power Tutoring), but he got tied up when a parent came in at 8:15pm (odd to show up at a tutoring place that late on a weekend night, but ok, good concerned parenting). So, Phil and I arrived at Barasti and met Jared and decided to get a drink while waiting for Clive (pint of Stella was my drink of choice).

I had one drink and felt a little buzzed but thought it was just the heat because it was still pretty sticky out that night. During my second drink I realized (or not so much at the time) that perhaps the tone and octave of my voice are on the rise (you all know what I'm talking about when the really excited Jen emerges).

So, I'm having a swimming time chatting with Phil about his girlfriend Apple and hanging out by the giant Lady Liberty Statue really enjoying myself. Clive finally arrived at about 9:15 and Jared and I decide to stay for one more round with Clive before heading to meet Melissa and her new German bf Dom at the Hive in the Souq Al Bahar. Clive buys a round, Stella Pint #3 brings in boisterous talk about the mother who hates my accent and a lesson on Cockney slang from Clive. Somewhere in the rhyming of Dog & Bone = Phone, words that should not be said in front of your boss might have been said.

This is the point where Jared and I say our goodbyes to Phil and Clive and Jared drags me into a taxi to meet Melissa and Dom. While in the taxi Jared harshly reminded me that Clive is in fact my boss and that until December 20th, I am only on a probationary period at work (a traditional work contract clause in UAE Employment Law, my UAE Employment Law expert bf tells me. No really, he is a UAE Employment Law expert, see his published article: http://www.nklc.ae/doc/UAE_Employment_Law_Khasawneh_Assoc_26Aug08.pdf. Anyway, I digress...

Offended by Jared's comments that I was being inappropriate, we arrive at Hive and I have a drink while discussing my fear of getting fired with Melissa. At some point, not all the long after we arrived I start to feel a little bit sick once the spins have completely set in. I begin sipping beer #5 (this time a Peroni) but really can't stomach any more.

I start to tell Jared I'm not feeling the best and we head out somewhere around 11:30. Of course we're hungry because neither one of us had dinner, so we head into the Dubai Mall (located directly next to the Souq Al Bahar) to find some food. We wander around for probably an hour lost and looking for food, but all of the 3 different food courts are closing down (Malls stay open until midnight here on weekends... a totally shopping driven culture. completely weird), so we just take a taxi home. Needless to say, that night I got very ill.

Enter the next morning, when I wake up at 7:30 and can no long sleep from discomfort and move to the couch where I stayed unable to move for the next 5 hours. I would say top 5 worst hangovers of my life. And the whole morning I am just bewildered as to how this occurred with first of all, only 4 drinks over about 4 hours, and secondly, only beer, the same kind of beer. Never have I have ever gotten so sick off only beer before. My only explanation is the empty stomach + dehydration (you can get really dehydrated here really easily and not even know it because of the climate) + the heat coming together to make the perfect storm. Lesson definitely learned. Will not be drinking again in Dubai without a very full stomach and my 8 glasses of water for the day consumed.

I was ashamed of my performance, and only had one drink at the awesome Rooptop party we went to in Jumeirah on Friday night. Quite disappointing because probably the coolest party I've ever been to... On a rooftop of a low-rise building right on the Gulf with a beautiful beach view, grill, and proper DJ complete with light show and projector screen like at a club. Also, it was a theme party (a Yellow Party) and everyone knows how much I LOVE theme parties (80's, Trash, Ugly Sweater, you name it). My friend Elizabeth apparently has a Yellow Party once every 10 years. Amazing. But, alas, I was afraid after Beer #1 and only consumed water the rest of the night. A sad sad showing by a Hobart girl. Lauren and/or Josh... you would be embarassed to call me your friend. The trifecta has been broken.

Where we live.

So, on Friday, we will have been in our apartment for 3 weeks! It took a little while, but it is finally starting to feel like home (sans any of our own personal possessions and my large collection of kitchen gadgets).

Our apartment is in a high-rise building called "8 Boulevard Walk" located in the Downtown Burj Dubai area of town. The building is only about a year old, and so for once it is actually really nice to live in a brand new apartment with all new appliances, etc. We live on the 4th Floor, which coincidentally, while being the 'garden level' is also the level with the pool, gym, and game room. Kind of convenient to walk down the hall and be at a beautiful new infinity pool. Also, free really nice gym use is awesome. Plus, most people here don't really believe in exercise (Arabs are kind of fat, but you can't really blame them, they seem to love Krispy Kreme and only go to DD for the Donuts [which they eat with a fork and knife] and not coffee), so the brand new gym equipment is always totally open.

Since we are in the Downtown Burj Dubai area, we have a view of the Burj Dubai (World's Tallest Building) from our garden, and are also about a 10-15 minute walk from the Burj and new Dubai Mall which is right next door... It would be about a five minute walk, but you have to take the most round-about way possible because of the construction site surrounding our building. The roads here are actually pretty terribly designed/laid out, which is just another example of the bass-ackwards way in which this city has been planned... Let's build the 7-Star Hotel first, we'll worry about the sewage, roads, and transportation much much later. You can also see the Dubai Fountain (World's Largest Fountain) while in our pool, so actually quite awesome.

The apartment came furnished, which saved us loads of time and money, and so now I am just trying to buy a few small things and add a few touches to make it feel more home-y and like ours. I definitely like it though and now we're ready for visitors!! [Insert more overt hints that I want someone to visit me soon, here] :)

Apartment Photos

Our English Garden
Kitchen (notice my Boston/Dubai Time Clocks... yup, they made it through customs.)
Kitchen View into Dining Area (take note of our Duo washing machine/dryer on the right. weirdest appliance ever and shrinks clothes by 2 sizes everytime... plus they look like they've been crumpled up in the bottom of your closet under a brick for 2 months. No wonder lots of people here smell... they don't want to wear too small ultra-wrinkly clothes)
Living Room (couch is not up to my comfy-ness standards, more fluffy pillows to be added asap)

Living Room View (tv approximately 1/4 the size of Jared's baby... but at least we didn't have to pay for it)
Another Living Room View
Bathroom (complete with hose sprayer bidet-style toilet... which will never be used, unlike the ones in every public bathroom in Dubai, which get used all day long instead of toilet paper. don't even get me started on this issue.)
Bedroom
Bedroom again

My First Week of Work...

So, after my first "official"week of work (I say "official" because I actually had students last week and tutored about 28 kids), I really like my job! It is definitely a change of pace for me after doing pretty much nothing but law (and specifically family and juvenile law) for the last 4 years, but I think working with kids again is going to be a lot of fun. The kids I am working with range between the ages of 3 and 15 and their ability levels also vary between very low level to average for their grade level, to very very high. And I think I really hit it off with most of the kids (and their parents).

It was kind of a tough week though because it was basically 5 "first" days of school. I was meeting a new child and their parents pretty much every hour for six hours for the whole week. And tutoring is definitely more tiring than clerking was because I am completely on and need to be engaged and enthusiastic for 6 straight hours a day, and need to plan 30 individual lessons a week. It's good though, and I definitely can't complain about the hours (1pm-8pm Sunday through Thursday) and the money is also good. I am enjoying the working hours because I get to sleep in a little, get the apartment to myself for a few hours, get a good work out, and get stuff done around the house. Then, when I get home from work, Jared already has dinner started. A pretty nice situation if you ask me! Everyone I work with is also really nice -- An Indian woman is the English small-groups tutor (interesting, right?), a British man is the Math small-groups tutor, and an Irish woman is the other one-to-one tutor. It seems like I am going to really like working there, and feel very very fortunate to have found a job so easily in this economy...

The only somewhat interesting encounter I had was with a mother of one of my students who thinks that I am going to give her daughter an "American accent" by working with her... Well, I was just a little bit offended... I don't think I have an accent at all, and particularly not when I could have a really terrible American accent, like a Masshole (Pahk the cah in hahvard yahd) accent, or worse yet, a Southern Accent (no offense to my family living south of the Mason Dixon line)... All in all though, I think I am going to have a great year tutoring!

Muscat, Oman

So on Thursday we FINALLY got our internet (and cable) connected! I am very excited and so I thought I would post some pictures from our trip to Muscat.

We really had a great weekend in the capital of the Sultanate of Oman -- Muscat. For those rusty on their Middle Eastern geography, Oman is the country bordering the UAE on the east. Jared and I went to the Musandam Peninsula of Oman when he lived in Dubai before and I visited in March 2008, but we had never been to the mainland of lower Oman before. It is about a 5-6 hour drive from Dubai, and we went with our friend and Jared's work colleague, Melissa, and her friend Simona.

We arrived on Saturday, September 19th at about 2pm in the afternoon, after fighting traffic (the drivers in Oman were even more crazy than the drivers in Dubai... hopefully it was just because they were hungry from their fast since we were there during the last couple days of Ramadan, the month during which Muslims fast during daylight hours) and finding and checking into our hotel.

Once we were settled, we decided to head to the Crown Plaza Hotel, which is located on the coast and has a beautiful beach area, which you can pay to use if you aren't a hotel guest. It was low tide and the beach area in front of the hotel spread for about 200 yards in front of us, with a couple giant puddles created by sand bars. We swam in the Gulf of Oman and relaxed on the beach and in the pool for a couple hours and decided to stay and have dinner at the hotel. During the month of Ramadan, most restaurants have huge buffet dinners every night that are a mix of Arabic, Indian, Asian, and Western Food. The Iftar buffets are for the Muslims to break their fast from the day, but also delightful for non-Muslim westerners like us to pig out (especially since in Oman and the UAE no one can eat in public during the day during Ramadan, so getting to eat openly is kind of novel).

After dinner we decided to go to the Mutrah Souq, which is a huge traditional covered Arabic outdoor market. They sell a combination of antiques, Indian and Omani artifats, textiles, hardware, gold, and even goats! Yes, goats are pretty much everywhere wondering around in Oman. The souq was the most authentic I've been to because the locals actually shop there and it gets busiest after dark. So we walked around the souq for awhile, but didn't actually do any shopping because it was so hot and crowded. Afterwards, we drove around for a while and got a bit of a driving tour of Muscat while looking for a Sheesha cafe (no alcohol was being served anywhere in Muscat due to Ramadan, so there were no bars to go to).

On Sunday, 9/20, we woke up bright and early and had the free breakfast our hotel (the Hala Hotel) was offering. It was mostly different weird Indian dishes, so I stuck to toast and corn flakes (with warm milk) and some fruit. We wanted to go to the Grand Mosque, which is open for two hours daily to non-Muslims. It's a huge Mosque the the Sultan built to celebrate his 30th year ruling. Things did not go as planned, however, since apparently Oman is much more conservative than Dubai. We had read that we were supposed to dress conservatively so all the girls wore either long skirts and pants (I had capris on) and pashmina scarves to cover our heads. Since it was about 95 degrees though, we were all wearing short sleeve shirts and just planning on covering our arms with the scarves. Jared was wearing a t-shirt and khaki shorts. The workers at the front door took one look at us and told us, rather rudely, that we were "not welcome." They seemed to take issue with the fact that my ankles were exposed (so revealing!) and that Jared was wearing shorts. However, as they were rejecting us, some guy walked in next to us wearing the exact same outfit as Jared. Kind of disappointing, but I guess we learned our lesson. That was my first real brush in with how conservative the Middle East can be.

So we decided to cut our losses and headed to the Intercontinental Hotel which also has a beautiful beach and pool area right on the Gulf of Oman that you can pay to use if you're not staying at the hotel. So we hung out at the pool (the Inter Con had a chill pool, unlike the Crown Plaza. The weather is so hot here, that if the pool isn't chilled it's like bath water and not refreshing at all) and also swam in the Gulf again. The sand was so hot it was burning Jared and my feet so we had to run to and from the resort area into the water. We relaxed at the pool for most of the afternoon (we were smart enough to stop at the super market beforehand though to get some food to covertly eat for lunch since none of the hotel restaurants were really open during daylight hours). We didn't really want to have another buffet dinner so Jared and I decided to go for a little walk and explore the area around the hotel to see what other options there might be for dinner.

We found this great little shopping plaza directly next door to the hotel that had a Dunkie's and a Starbuck's, and even a DQ! We were quite excited because there were also a bunch of cute little restaurants (Pizza Express, Costa, a small Italian restaurant) and also just a kind of general cafe called D'Arcy's with burgers, sandwiches, and soup. There was also a shop called the Omani Heritgage Gallery that sold traditional Omani handicrafts and supported local artisans. So, around sundown (when the fast was getting ready to break), we all packed up at the Inter Con and headed back to the shopping plaza. All of the beaches in Muscat are open to the public and in front of the shopping plaza there was a beautiful public beach where we watched the sunset. Then I did some shopping at the Omani Heritage Village to buy some pottery and gifts to put away for Christmas and we had dinner at D'Arcy's. Nothing special, but nice to have western food instead of Arabic buffet. After dinner we headed to an Arabic cafe within the plaza for Turkish coffee and Sheesha (for Jared, Melissa, and Simona) and Moroccan Tea for me. It was really relaxing and after we finished we took a long walk on the beach in the dark.

Monday, 9/21was Eid in Oman (it was a couple days earlier in Dubai because each country has their own "Moon Committee" to decide when the holiday should fall), so we started the day with breakfast at the hotel again before checking out. We planned to go to the Fish Souq (giant outdoor fish market) but because of Eid absolutely everything in Muscat was closed (it's kind of like their Christmas Day). We still walked around the Souq area and got to see the Sultan's yacht which was docked in the harbor and chatted with some young Omani boys for a couple minutes. We also decided to check out the Sultan's Palace and then go back to the shopping plaza we had dinner at the night before for some coffee on the beach before hitting the road.

It was a really wonderful and relaxing weekend and just really nice to get out of Dubai for a couple days. Jared and I liked it so much that we're hoping to go back to Muscat again soon... Maybe we'll take someone when they come to visit.... (hint hint... start planning your trips people, we want visitors!)