Blogs from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 9

Ok, I just wrote a blog about 6 hours ago, but let me just say that those six hours have been among the craziest and most stressful of my life, but DEFINITELY during the time I've been here. We had our group meeting at 10 before our manager goes on leave. I was able to finish some work before my taxi came at noon. He was right on time and we headed to my apartment so I could meet the Du installation tech at 1:00. It is a long drive that I've made a million times before, so I sat back and started reading my kindle. I looked up and Whoa! There is a car about 6 inches from my face to my left. He was apparently trying to get in our lane between our taxi ... read more

What a fantastic place and very hot. Been riding camels in desert and mad sand dune ride in land cruiser hop on hop of bus been great Dunai blown us away and certainly worth staying longer. Palm island and atlantis magnificent. This bloody iPhone giving grief so I am going to sign of and pack bag for early Morning flight to Rome... read more

PAIT = Praise Allah It's Thursday (the middle eastern version of TGIF). This will be rather short as my life has been work, commute, grocery shopping. Last night was a good night at soccer. I seriously love the girls that we play with. Some of them can be a little whiny, which makes wonder how anyone can coach high school girls! But they're all fun and they've learned a lot since I started playing with them about a month ago. Our season starts in September and we are close to ready. We've had the assistant coach us the last two weeks while our regular coach is on holiday. Yesterday, he had us doing passing drills and play a scrimmage which focused on passing, and everyone has obviously improved. Each time he has us do this competitive ... read more

Dubai; the first stop!! We have been saving up for what feels like an eternity (in reality it was probably about 7 months)... Now it's finally time to leave! Arriving in Dubai was surreal. It is a place nowhere like anywhere either of us have ever been to! The city is built upon a desert; every now and again you see a building plot of desert sand. The heat was so intense; we arrived at 7.30pm to a temperature of 38degree celcius which, when accompanied by respectful clothing and heavy back packs it was unbearable! Everyone we encountered right from our arrival were so polite and welcoming. They usually directed their conversations towards Will as men are the dominant gender in the UAE. They always referred to us as Sir and Madam. We had endless people ... read more

Sunday is the day to return to work. Of course, I am back into the groove of not wanting to go back to work after a nice weekend. But there it was. At least there was no real pressure at work right? Well, I had to make sure that a test was being done that should have been done weeks ago. I trained an intern and a young engineer in how to log a borehole with mostly sand samples. I was tasked with taking care of an intern (and later, two interns) and was planning to take them to a job site in the heat of the summer to observe drilling operations. And last, but not least, I heard AGAIN from a project that I thought was complete weeks ago. I wound up talking to my ... read more

I apologize for lack of pictures, but since I do not have internet yet at my new place, it is not as easy. I will take some good pictures for you this weekend and upload them Sunday. Yesterday was another slow day at work, so I actually left early with my Muslim coworker to go to the mall. I wanted to transfer some money, start my internet/cable service and get some more necessary supplies. First, I grabbed a ticket from Du, where you get your internet/cable/phone set up. My ticket said H383 and the board indicated they were only on H343, so I decided to walk across to the UAE exchange to send some of my cash to my home bank account, since I still do not have a bank account here and I wanted to ... read more

July 31st I wake up well before my alarm and lie in bed listening to the rain while I wait for it to go off. My last hot shower for the foreseeable future and throw all the bedding and towels onto wash. I’m just heading out the door to say goodbye to Kim when Trev calls to say there’ll be a 90 minute delay in leaving. Say my goodbyes and head with Trev, Trish and Gavin (Trish’ son) in the minibus to Perth. It starts to rain. Trev drops Trish and Gavin off and then drops me off undercover at the Joondalup station. He wont take any petrol money. A train ride into the city and I’m happy. People must sense it because a lot of people start conversations with me. Including a woman on the ... read more