Dubai - Work Hard Play Hard (?)

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Since I got back from Singapore, I threw myself into my work. Well, mostly. I'm still catching up. But since many of my geologists are on annual leave and the rest are mostly in the field, I had to do a lot of the day-to-day tasks on my own. So, I definitely got caught up on a lot of the technical things pretty quickly!

I have neglected my blog, which is somewhat unusual, and the only excuse I have is - I feel like I am at home. So, nothing too exciting or noteworthy has happened, at least to me or out of the norm. But I guess a lot has happened, so I will try to stay more on top of it. And today I made a pact with myself to continue my tradition of what I did when I first came to Dubai: Try something new every week. We all know I won't be here forever, so I should make sure to get the most out of my time here.

While I feel at home, a lot of things that frustrated me before seem to have become even more frustrating. I think it's like... it was frustrating here before, but it was still new. But then when I go back home, to a "normal" life, I got back into my rhythm. Then when I came back, even though I knew what to expect, it just seems so glaring. But let's remember: no matter where you live, there are good things and bad. I just need to focus on the good. So, let's start:

Old Friends

One thing I love about my company is that it is worldwide and so many people stay with it, even if they relocate. My old friend, "Melvin", who used to drive me to work each day in Dubai, who I went dune bashing with, who I visited in Florida, was here for a few days for a meeting. He came for the weekend before and I got to hang with him and his wife every single day. It was a nice way to revisit my social life here. It was also amazing to see how things have changed. We decided on a brunch at our old haunt of Pergolas. I don't know if it was because it was still deep summer, but the place was quiet. I made reservations, but it was obviously unnecessary. Even the food, while delicious, was not the same (mainly, they did not have Yorkshire pudding, which is what I was truly craving!). But it was actually pretty good to catch up while it was quiet. We then went next door to Double Decker, the place we always went to spend the rest of the night and it always seemed like everyone else did. We walked in - Crickets. It was amazing how there was NOBODY there. So sad, but we still had fun. Then we went across the street to Dubai Mall and looked around. They have a full sized dinosaur fossil in the souk and of course tons of luxury cars in the valet spots in front of the mall.

I made dinner for them one night and we enjoyed the view of the Burj from my balcony. We met with coworkers at Belgian Cafe in Madinat Jumeirah one night. And their last night we went to Toko restaurant, a place near my apartment that is Japanese (and Asian fusion as per the waiter). OMG it was so delicious. Every single thing was so yummy. I was in heaven and thrilled that we had gone. It was then time to say goodbye. I was very sad as I felt a little bit of the old feelings I previously had when I lived here - very nostalgic and fun.

Moving In

I had by this time had the basics furnishing my apartment, but I was slowly making it my own. I got a large tv installed. Got new lighting, plants, picture frames, dishes, etc. I just got kind of bored, I think. I spent a lot of my weekends shopping, and the rest cleaning the cardboard boxes and plastic, and cleaning new dishes... It just seemed as though it would never end. And while I was ready to stop, I also did not want to just buy anything. I wanted to buy things that I actually liked.

My coworker recommended a new place for me: The Antique Museum. Located in the Al Quoz industrial area, I have no idea how I had not known about this place. It was amazing. It is really just stocked wall to wall to wall full of stuff, 16,000 square feet of stuff. Furniture. Vases. Art. Lamps. Trinkets. Dishes. Everything. It's probably a fire hazard, but I loved it. I bought two pieces of Thai end tables that are made of one piece of wood. I bought an elephant plant stand also made of one piece of wood. My final piece was a wooden carved picture of elephants that I have no idea where to put, but I loved it. So, I'm sure I will be back when I have a better idea of what I want, but at least now it is starting to look like a home.

My neighbors in my building have been so nice. I met a couple that have the most adorable little dog (we all know how I feel about dogs, especially shaggy white ones). My neighbors across from me invited me to dinner one night - he's American and she is French. They were so nice, so I feel like this is a great place to live and I hope to stay here the whole time I live in Dubai.

I finally got my car, a Honda CRV that I've named Ruby. I almost didn't get it because obtaining the bank loan was a borderline nightmare. But I am glad it all worked out. I think this may be my most favorite car I've ever driven.

Friends at work

I am actually quite enjoying my time at work, despite having fallen into the same old situations that are unnecessarily stressful. It is amazing the expectations of the clients compared to back home. Unrealistic schedules, focused solely on time and money. Quality is often a distant, distant third. But internally, we still expect to live up to our own standards, so the conflicts can be draining. My focus at work is to improve the quality and training within our department as well as project coordination. I have 13 geologists, and engineering geologist and three assistants who work with me. Within that group, there is truly some talent so I think we will have a great team.

I've been able to make some friends at work. Once a month we go out and get to know each other a bit better. This past month, we rented a karaoke room, because you haven't really lived in Asia / Middle East until you've done so, right? I enjoy getting to know more coworkers as well as trying different places all over the city.

Today, my coworker and I went to Satwa, which is an area of town with shops focused on affordable textiles, tailoring, crafts, etc. I was able to get some Aida cloth by the meter, so that was awesome. Then we had lunch at City Walk, a fairly new collection of upper end shops and restaurants, mostly with an outdoor atmosphere; it should be amazing in winter, but it was kind of dead today. We walked through a bit and a large portion of one area of shopping center is focused on chocolate - all the shops and restaurants had some sort of chocolate themed sale, a wall where you could put in 10 dirhams and get a piece of chocolate after the 'gears' started moving, and a chocolate themed brunch. We shared a delicious set menu of the best orange juice I think I've ever had, granola with nuts, berries, and white chocolate, French toast with ice cream and chocolate sauce, and crab eggs Benedict. It was amazing.



And in a nutshell, that has been my past month. Isn't it amazing?

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Photos

Iced Latte
coffee ice cubes + hot milk = delish!

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Setting up home
Very glad you found new places to shop and are getting settled in. You've done a lot in a short time. Thanks for getting us up to date.