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Published: July 14th 2012
Thursday, I was informed that I would NOT be working in Qatar anytime soon, so I was very excited to get a move on my officially settling into Dubai. Soon, I'll be able to get my license, buy a car, get a bank account, and most importantly, get an apartment! Woot woot!
Of course, my favorite client made my life a living hell for the last couple of days of work, but the difficult part of the project is almost over. I hope!
Friday, I took myself to the Mall (where else?) and watched a movie in the VIP section. Red Lights was ok, nothing spectacular, but I just love watching the movies in this fashion. I was bad with my food this weekend, and nachos at the movie with a coke was just the beginning. My lunch was better - just some teriyaki chicken, no rice.
Later that night, I got ready for our girls' night out to Irish Village. Apparently, they were having a "Hopfest" with beers from all over the world. This was located closer to Bur Dubai, way further than anywhere I'd gone yet. I put on my favorite dress and headed via metro
to meet Samar who was picking me up at the station. The station was where the red and green lines of the metro meet up and so is much bigger and more complex. It took about 10 minutes to find Samar as I came out of the metro station on the opposite side of the street, which resulted in me jaywalking a couple of times. After a stop at Spinney's grocery store, which I have not been to yet and I want to revisit, we made our way to Irish Village.
It took forever to find a spot to park; I am always of the opinion to just park and walk, but Samar was wearing heels and wanted to get as close as she could. Just as we saw a spot, a tiny little car full of laughing jerks, swooped in and stole it. I got images of Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatoes - "Towanda!!!" - and told Samar that I would have to show her the movie so she knew what to do next time. "Face it girls - I'm older and I have more insurance."
We walked in and it was like a little village.
There were a bunch of outdoor tables, an outdoor buffet, a souvenir shop and a restaurant facing this large courtyard. At the end, was a big bar and once Angel met us, we made our way in. Behind the bar was a big tent with live music and the international beer stations. I was a big unimpressed with the beer selection and just mostly stuck with my Stella. We went back into the bar to sit and talk and "hunt" for cute guys. There were quite a few! I just love people watching. Plus, Angel and I made plans to be roomies as she was ready to get out on her own.
At one point I was sitting on a bench at the table opposite three cute buys when I saw a Latin guy pointing and laughing at me. I was like, wtf? But when I focused on his face, I was like, "FRANCISCO????"" I mean, really, what small world!!!! Francisco was one of my favorite people to work with back in the Fugro Glory Days and I always enjoyed talking with his wife and her willingness to try anything. He had left Ventura ages ago and eventually worked
for another company. I guess in retrospect, I remembered that he had moved to the middle east, but I definitely had not even thought about it. So, it was completely unexpected! After the initial shock wore off, I introduced him to Samar and Angel, who actually had also met him through Fugro before. So, the night turned out to be a great one and I was able to reconnect with an old friend. We danced, we talked, and we just had a good time. Francisco had always been good at watching out for me on nights out and he made sure I made it back to my hotel, even though it was far away.
Today was hard. I have been able to count on one hand the number of drinks I've had in the 6 weeks I have been here (two beers on my birthday, a beer in AD, a glass of wine in AD, and a glass of wine at the Marina), so having a couple of Stellas the night before was not my friend and I honestly do not miss those nights. I took myself to another VIP movie (bad lexy!) and got a nice greasy lunch.
The dip in the pool this evening was the perfect end to a lazy day.
Tomorrow, I get to go in early to finish that dang report, and then I can make my plans to find a place to live! So hopefully within the next week, I'll be in my own place!!!
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Romsa
non-member comment
VIP seats?!?!?!?
Wow. Those VIP seats look awesome. It would be great to see a movie while sitting in one of those! It looks like things are going very well for you. We certainly miss you in Cali. And thanks for all of the blog posts. It's a great way for us to make sure our little Pokerbot is safe, healthy and happy. If you haven't been keeping up with it, there are about 100 people left in the WSOP main event. You can get updates online, in case you were wondering.