'tis the season

Today marks the beginning of Eid ul-Adha, which means we have 3 days off this week (5 including the weekend)! Since Christmas is not considered a public holiday here, we'll take whatever time we can get. It's been a little tough getting into the holiday season with the warm weather and lack of loud Christmas decorations everywhere, but we've managed. A few of us came well-equipped with Christmas music, and Sarah's mom managed to send a pin-up Christmas tree and festive decorations for the house. I think I'll be heading to Spinney's, our favorite grocery store, for some more festive trinkets this afternoon.

We recently found ourselves hankering for some hot chocolate and snow, but such a combination in the desert seemed a little far-fetched. In Dubai, however, the possibilities are endless, and we soon found ourselves coasting around the chilly ice rink of the Grand Hyatt. The set-up is pretty cool since you've got a 3 story galleria within the hotel where guests can go shopping and walk around. Each level looks down into a modest rink, complete with skate rentals and disco dance music, just like they used to play at the roller-skating rink back in the day. I was a complete disgrace compared to the skills that Will and Christine brought with them from years of hockey and figure skating between the two of them. My roller-blading skills from before didn't quite translate to the ice as well as I wished they would. Nevertheless, we had a blast and I definitely felt a bit more in the Christmas spirit when we were done.

The time off this week will likely lead to a road trip to Oman and possibly Yemen. There are apparently a few hurdles we have to figure out before entering Yemen with visa requirements, but Muscat is no more than 4 hours away and I've only heard wonderful things about it. This past weekend we went exploring up the coast and stumbled upon a marshy beach near Umm al Quwain. We caught some fresh camel footprints in the sand and the timing ended up being perfect since the sun was setting just before we left. The pictures of the horizon were breathtaking

For the holiday next week we're expecting visits from old friends, home-cooked food, and a big meal at Devon and Andrew's place, complete with a Christmas tree and crackling fire. Actually, the crackling fire is a dvd that plays crackling sounds and Christmas music, but we'll take what we can get.

Al Tanoura

This song is one of my favorites. They used to play it at Kan Zaman in Cleveland where Iwould dabke all night long with Nadia in tow. I heard it today on my way into work and it put me in the best mood. Thought I'd share.

the grass is not greener on this side since we don't have any

I'm not sure when it's normal to start missing home. I already knew I was going to miss things before I'd even left, which probably contributed to my fabulous life in the months preceding my departure since I embraced things I knew I'd have to let go of forever, or at least for a very long time. I started appreciating things like transvestites holding doors open for me at my old apartment, rain clouds, and copper pennies. I'm a bit humored by the things that have been pulling at my heart strings in recent weeks since most of them would not have made my list a year ago:

friends and family of course...
seeing my breath when it's cold
npr
college football season
YES network
Steelers fans
really tasty latin food
people on crack (i.e. W 25th st - Ohio City)
the projects (i.e. W 25th st - Ohio City)
the OC (i.e. W 25th st - Ohio City)
Great Lakes
lebron
corned beef hash and sweet potato fries
pine tree branches weighed down with heavy snow
gray storm clouds and napping on rainy/snowy days
CVS
pumping my own gas
Johnny Mango
The Garage Bar
India Pale Ales
grassy lawns
Christmas decorations and seasons greetings
the race for the white house
light yellow egg yolks (they are orange here)
scarves
heinens and wegmans
new movies
american accents
starburst fruit chews
mom's fruit cake
good, cheap wine and cheese
sidewalks
eastern standard time
Bounce, the gay nightclub I used to live next door to
frosted mini wheats
8th continent soy milk
Zen salon pedicures
The one and only.. Velvet Tango Room
Tremont
clearly marked street signs
zip codes
karaoke
live bar bands
the McMaster Christmas party
I'm sure this list will change and grow with time. I'm only 5 weeks into this gig, so I've got quite a while to go. Please never take any of the above for granted if it applies to you since these are the little things we rarely think about until we no longer have them around. Mind you, I have so much to be thankful for from the short time I've been in Dubai. I realize how apparent that is just from looking back at previous blog postings and reflecting on each day...

We actually celebrated UAE National Day this past weekend. Wouldn't you know that His Highness Shiekh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Princess Raya had their first baby together on UAE National day! It was a proud day for them both. The best part about UAE National Day for us was the long weekend! I had a chance to meet up with Faisal straight from work on Thursday and we enjoyed dinner at The Noodle House in the Emirates Towers where he works. After that, we headed over to one of my favorite spots in Dubai Media City (Barasti bar) for some drinks on the beach and good music. Saturday night I finally got a chance to check out 360, one of Dubai's most fantastic clubs. It has a breathtaking view overlooking the Gulf, the Burj Al Arab, the stars, and the cityscape. All this is accompanied by live DJs and your choice of a bed to lay on and enjoy shisha or a 360 degree, two-story roof top dance floor positioned deep into the salty shores.

This weekend I missed out on the Dubai Rugby 7s, but got a chance to catch some of the action from Waxy O'Connors in Bur Dubai via the Ascot Hotel. It was only 65 Dirhams for an all you can eat Irish breakfast AND an early dinner plus 5 drink stubs. We spent Sunday relaxing by the pool at Fitness First where we work out, and then a nice dinner to polish off the weekend.

I've found some great new music to compliment my commute and workouts in the morning. It also serves as good music to bring along to the pool and the beach... quite a change from what I was listening to back home, but it's new and I love new music. I'll be posting more pictures and potential sounds soon, so stay tuned.

skype me

For those of you who aren't familiar with skype, it's a pretty resourceful tool to communicate with friends in every corner of the world. If you have it, my name is "sweetsrini" - please add me as your friend and we can voice or video chat. If you don't have a mic, no worries since normal chatting is a basic function of the program as well. If you don't have skype, it's easy to download. There are other programs such as oovoo.com and the oh-so popular ichat (AIM). Adium is not so bad, but I don't believe it offers voice or video chatting capabilities. Regardless, I do hope to see some more names logged into my buddy list soon. In the meantime, I'm open to suggestions and recommendations of other platforms that work well for staying in touch across multiple bodies of water.

good tidings

I was really impressed at how well stocked the grocery stores were here with all the necessary ingredients when we went shopping for our big meal on Friday. We opted out of Thursday cooking since we'd all had a long day at work, but a good beach day gave us time to put a list together and prepare a pretty extensive menu. Sarah and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work, cooking up the following:

-Roasted Chicken with cranberry sauce (The smallest turkeys we could find were frozen and weighed in at 22 pounds!)
-sweet potato casserole
-green bean casserole with REAL French's fried onions
-impromptu stuffing with chopped celery, dates, onions, whole wheat bread, and nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger (we were really proud of this since it was made 5 minutes before we ate and we came up with the recipe ourselves)
-ali oli
-pumpkin dump
-home made garlic bread
-refried beans
-warm, toasted pita


We feasted with our friend Devon from work and her boyfriend Andrew, washing the meal down with our scarce stock of beer and tullamore dew. Alcohol is so hard to find here! Last time we stocked up was about 3 weeks ago- we drove 2 hours up the coast to Umm Al Quwain to a hidden, non-taxable liquor store called The Barracuda. Since alcohol alters the mind, which goes against Islam, it's a scarce resource and highly taxed if you buy it legally. In fact, you need a special license to purchase it here, something which none of us own. So the secret is to make friends bring things back from duty free on their way back into the country or drive to the barracuda... sigh. I miss IPAs and cheap, red wine with dinner!

Anyway, life goes on and we managed to still make it out that night to an actual bar, where drinks still cost an arm and a leg, but rightly so with the beach at our toes and the moon at our back. Life isn't so bad. So far the week has been busy as usual. I'm still not used to Tuesday marking the middle of my week since Thursday creeps up on us before we know it and then we're faced with the weekend. This time around we have a day off since 12/2 is UAE national day. We have another holiday coming up on 12/20 that will allot us a 4 day weekend - hopefully we get our passports back since they are processing our work visas at the moment. If they are ready, I think we might do a road trip to Oman. They have some pretty neat caves and beaches that I've been reading about in local travel magazines. Arabic road trips so far, as proven from our trip to Umm Al Quwain, can be quite fun. We managed to see a wild camel and the largest, most hot pink, electric sun set I have ever witnessed driving northeast up the coast - not to mention, the Arabic and Bhangra that comes through on about 7 different stations really livens up the car.

Fortunately, Will has had his camera out a bit more to document our adventures. It's about time since he is very talented. Check out his picasa link here. There are a couple albums highlighting our Thanksgiving feast preparation, as well as our day at the beach and some shots of our neighborhood.

sansgeebing

What a week it's been so far. These long days haven't caught up with me yet since it's all still so new. It's really fast-paced and interesting work. Sometimes I could rip my hair out, but I remember days where I was so bored in Cleveland that time seemed to stand still. I like having a full plate. It keeps things interesting and keeps me challenged more so than I've ever been.
I've got a rare case of Thanksgiving blues. It goes in phases. I never thought I'd get this nostalgic, but it's hard not to after looking at pictures or listening to Celia Cruz. I'm not sure which is worse - letting the week pass by as if there were nothing to celebrate, or reminiscing about full bellies, salsa dancing, and loud, Latin people.

I just Skyped with my family, actually, and my dad passed mom's lap top around. i saw about 20% of the Thanksgiving (latino pronunciation: sahns-geebing) guests - people are still trickling in to my uncle's place, girls were shopping, boys were gluttoning - everyone follows a structured itinerary that my tia puts on the fridge to ensure a safe and enjoyable stay at the 'Rosales Resort'. Someone's always cooking for 60 and the poor guests sit in agony as they soak up the aroma of arepas, indian food, tortilla espanola, cuban coffee, and much more. i think tomorrow i'll call around midnight my time and get passed around the big circle of laughter and tears that ensues before the big feast. My tio Joaquin usually has had a few budweisers before thanking everyone for coming and expressing how much he loves us all. He always reads a prayer or a poem through his fogged-up lenses before getting a bit misty-eyed and telling my tia Esther how in love with her he is (that part always gets me going). The circle continues. We go around every year as if it were the first, reflecting on the year, reminding one another why we make such a long trip to be together. I personally look forward to the Friday feast over Thursday's white meat and cranberry sauce since the low country boil that takes place is mighty tasty. Although it is pretty entertaining watching my cousins chase my mom down on Thanksgiving to see where she has hidden the dark meat turkey neck in the house, which she fights desperately for with a bottle of tabasco sauce and a lime.My tia Ana is always out with her camera taking pictures of everything she sees. I am usually there with her to capture shots of living room dance parties, cots to accommodate all the cousins, soup-kitchen style lines for food, random family members napping, and lots of extended arm-out shots of ourselves together.

We have a Thanksgiving crayon picture that Will drew of our "family" here on the fridge. I would post a picture of it, but my inner child came out to play on my birthday and i sadly lost my camera with all the pictures from the weekend. I am still rather annoyed about the whole situation since I know exactly where it is, but the sketchy "cab" we solicited to take us home is long gone. I'm better off shopping around for a new and improved one in the meantime. We have some tricks up our sleeves for what to feast on tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm going to get a good night of sleep and dream of Thanksgivings to come. happy turkey day. i will dream of mashed potatoes in the meantime. I tried date-flavored camel milk today. I wonder how that would fare as a substitute to the normal milk mom uses in her creamy mashed potatoes...

quarter century isn't so bad

I always think about posting during the week and then life catches up with me before I can sit down and type something. I'm also a bit overwhelmed by how much I want to share since everything here is so new and different. Posting always seems a bit daunting when it's time to convey the week I've had. I will say that this week was pretty wild. Work, in particular, was busy in a good way. I am juggling a lot of things at the moment, but it's manageable. I'd say the best part of my job so far has been getting to meet with clients. Things are very fast-paced and last minute so it's not uncommon to get invitations to client meetings or events and drop everything at a moments notice. This week I had a chance to meet up with a client for a promotional event at the Dusit Hotel. This hotel, by the way, is in the coolest building and the staff is incredible. It's like a scene out of the King and I upon entering the gorgeous, black marble lobby, adorned with fountains, flowers, and golden sculptures. Our client was launching the web site for a new Diabetes awareness coalition and the attendees included some higher-ups from the Ministry of Health. I got a chance to bump elbows with His Excellency Humaid Mohamed Al Qutami (the minister of health) and meet some journalists from Dubai Media and Dubai 1. We had a delicious lunch after the launch on the 24th floor of the Dusit overlooking the Burj Dubai and Sheikh Zayed road. Not too many complaints from this end!

The weekend has been a whirlwind with birthday celebrations. I will say that I woke up a year ago and decided that this year was going to be the best year of my life, and it really has worked out that way. I am loving life and will be really fortunate if 25 is even better. We kicked off the festivities with salsa dancing on Thursday night! I'm so lucky to live with a latina who enjoys shaking her hips just as much as I do. We got dolled up and met up with friends for some latin love. I had a chance to move around a bit before we headed over to the Madinat Jumeira. Saturday was glorious, with a full day at the beach followed by my own homemade meal for the house mates. I cooked up some pasta with pesto and garlic sauce, accompanied by my ali-oli that tastes good on just about anything. There's no need for modesty here since I'll admit - it's one of the most delicious things in this world! We hopped over to the Dubai Marine Resort, scattered with bars and clubs overlooking the Gulf. I met a fun group of Lebanese men who caught wind that it was my birthday, so they pumped me full of shots before we all headed over to a Lebanese night club with live Arabic music and dabke (one of the most fun things to do with your feet)!!! I am honestly sore all over from the festivities.
I've been a bit of a bum today after waking up at noon and getting lost with Sarah as we tried finding the Mall of the Emirates. Once we got there, we meandered over to Ski Dubai and checked out the slopes - no skiing today, but it was really something! I felt a bit childish peering into the huge window that showcases humans skiing indoors, but you really have to see it to believe it. Zaatar to finish off the night and now just feet up and head back while I respond to the amazing people that filled my day with loving emails and messages wishing me a happy birthday. I am indeed a lucky lady.

a week in progress!

First full week on the job and things are going really well! I'm sure I may be a bit bright-eyed considering it's still early, but I definitely feel more integrated into my role with the company and have a better understanding of what I'm going to be doing. Considering the busy week and the delay on getting our cars, we have been coming home every night and rationing the bottles of rum and vodka that Sarah brought for us from duty free or watching DVDs that I brought from home. We have a meager selection since I was concerned about excess weight on the plane, but I think we've got a good list to keep us occupied for now.
I have packed some fun into the last few days. We took a cab to the Madinat Jumeirah, where Alex and I ventured during my first few days here. The place is peppered with shops and clubs, so we enjoyed some shisa under the stars, ordered a glass of avocado juice (it's delicious!), and took in some views of the tourists and neon-lit Burj Al Arab just across the beach. We met up with Faisal at JamBase, and danced amongst other jovial ex-pats to jazzy hip hop and covers to the latest pop songs.


After a late morning of snoozing, we made our way to the Dubai Souk in Bur Dubai, which is a predominantly Indian/Pakistani neighborhood. We passed up and down quiet alleys that lingered with the smell of Diwali-inspired incense, adorned with bright bugamvilia and marigold wreaths. A few photo opps later and we found ourselves amongst a crowd of Indian, Sri-Lankan, and Bangladeshi male ex-pats awaiting the abras located on the Dubai creek. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the testosterone, we opted to head back to the market and browse tshirts and gifts before making our way back home.
The debate over the evening's plans came to a quick halt after a friendly invitation from Abu Baker (pronounced: AH-boo BEHkur) and his cousins to join them on a desert picnic not too far from our house. We weren't sure what to bring, so we made a salad and ventured out in AB's 4 wheel drive FJ Cruiser to the dunes. Along the way we passed scores of dirt bikes and 4 wheelers revving up to tackle the dark, soft hills that seemed to stretch beyond the night sky. I was amazed at the number of families parked deep into the desert, but they were everywhere. It was a miracle they didn't all get stuck in the sand as we did... for several hours with the help of friendly passers-by who joined in to push us out. Regardless of car-troubles, it was quite an experience. The sand was cold and smooth under our feet and we built a fire on top of a dune that propped us up high enough to look over our neighbors. The stars were brilliant and in the distance we could hear the sound of traditional emirate drum beats and Arabic singing. Our dinner of somewhat sandy and overcooked chicken and beef hot dogs could not have been more delicious after the evening's car problems and the company was wonderful. The ride was a bit bumpy since Abu Baker is a wild driver, but his wild side may be the reason we were able to leave the desert in the first place, so that's something to be thankful for!

I took some more pictures which you can check out here. Our Saturday is worth sharing, but I've actually got work to do! More to come..

Oh yeah, we stumbled upon this family touring the Bur Dubai on Friday. For parents who complain about the way kids behave in America, be careful with your words or you may end up like this lady.

marhaba!

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i wanna be a super model..

Will is an avid photographer and takes some incredible shots. Check out some of his work here. He even brought some of his camera equipment and played around with Christine and I before our dinner outing last night... Not too shabby!

week 2

It's approaching 1:45 AM and I am coming down from a pretty incredible weekend! I had a really great day at work on Thursday. My commute is looking to be around 30 minutes and we are all going to be equipped with cars come tomorrow, so I'll have more flexibility as to when I can come in to the office and leave. So far so good though - my house mates are incredible and we get along incredibly well. Although we are living in close quarters, we have so much fun together that work just seems like another social gathering. We share a common bond and passion for the culture of the middle east and its beautiful and welcoming people - our backgrounds are similar and we all bring stories from previous travel to the table from 6 month bike trips through South America to semesters abroad in Morocco, Spain, London, and Amsterdam. I am not surprised that we all get along so well in this splendid little city on the Persian Gulf.

I was pleasantly surprised by the office as well- lots of funky furniture, creative work space, and friendly staff. We even have a gentleman whose main job in the office is to keep it clean and bring us coffee, chai tea, water, and basically anything we need - I never thought I'd see the day where I could work from a Sony Vaio and drink coffee at my desk after the ridiculous rules set in place at my last job that prohibited us from consuming anything except water in the workplace!


Our workday ended with a night out on Sheikh Zayed road where I met up with Faisal, finally! We had a drink at the bar downstairs, which was a bit pricey, as the alcohol taxes here tend to spike things up a bit. A friend of his was having a hotel room halloween party at the Hotel Rotana, so we ventured upstairs and were greeted by a room packed with ex-pats dressed in everything from the Flinstones to vampires and werewolfs. The party was catered by the hotel and we had great views of the city from the high rise windows.

Friday I spent exploring the Gold Souk with my house mates. The Souk runs along the Dubai Creek, which is scattered with neon-lit boats, random cargo like tires and furniture, tourists, lots of Indians, Pakistanis, and Sri Lankans, and gold! lots and lots of gold. The scent of spices is incubated by the sweaty sea of doe eyed shoppers hunting for bargains, pressed up against windows admiring the wide array of bright yellow gold on display. It was really a site to see.

We spent the day at the beach today, where the surf was intense and we gallivanted through the waves like little kids. My lips were pruned from the intensity of the salt water, but the weather was pleasantly humid and the water was refreshing. Will loves to play volleyball, so we peppered the ball around for a while and got a bit of sun. The girls even got approached by a Singapore news station looking to interview local ex-pats and get their take on life in Dubai. I'm not sure what the link to the video is, but I'll be sure to post it once I find it.
Tonight we went on a dinner cruise up the Dubai creek. It was really beautiful and we enjoyed authentic Indian and Lebanese food, accompanied by fun Arabic music and the warm, rich smell of shisha. The night ended with a stroll up the Al Mumzar beach and now, a firm head to the pillow.

Work is going well and picking up the pace. We are looking forward to some group outings soon, one involving a deep sea fishing trip to Bahrain! I hope we get to keep whatever we catch...

Pictures!

The first of many.


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settling

It sounds like I'm not going to be able to post as frequently considering the already stressful environment i walked into upon meeting my house mates - they are a bit overwhelmed by the workload and it sounds like I am going to be right there with them. We are still waiting for the company to come through with our cars (apparently we are each getting a Toyota Yaris, which is great here since smaller cars are much better for parking and navigating crazy Arab drivers), so for now we are sharing one car (an old school Peugeot) that gets us to work around 8:30 and keeps us there until around 7 or so.

I have had a great time so far. I had no problems adjusting to the jet lag and was up early with the group before they left for work on Monday morning. I spent some time unpacking and getting things in order and Hassan, our house manager, took me to Mirdif - Mirdif is a town not too far from where we live with a mall and a really great grocery store. It even has a Caribou Coffee, an Aldo shoe store, and a nice fitness center where we will apparently be joining as members. One of my house mates spent Tuesday and Wednesday with me and we spent most of our time at a beach just next to the Burj Al Arab. We stopped at the Jumeirah beach hotel and enjoyed pina coladas and draught beers before heading to the Irish Village for happy hour. We drove around town and took a peek at Sheikh Zayed Road, which is budding like a weed garden with concrete edifices and shiny aqua-colored glass. Our journey today took us to the Madinat Jumeirah, known for its camel colored stucco exterior, great bars, restaurants, and views of the Burj and Jumeira Beach hotel. The food here is great, as I learned from checking out a few whole in the wall places, including lunch today at "the Chalet" near the Burj - they had everything on the menu from Arabic food to Asian cuisine for the tourists that frequent the area. Strangely, the place was run by Indians and the cooks were Lebanese. It's pretty common to find random ethnicities being represented around here simply because of the fact that Dubai is a convenient 3 hour flight from 3.1 billion people in this part of the world.

Anyway, I have so much more to share but i must tend to my sun burn...

Safe and Sound

26 hours later and here I am. The trip in was a bit of a journey, but well worth the wait! The weekend was full of surprises, starting with an impromptu visit from Daniela, who arrived on Friday morning in the midst of my last minute errands and packing. We had a fantastic evening with my parents, including a stellar bottle of '99 Lan Rioja (reserva) that I had been saving for a special occasion and some home videos that we cozied up and watched on my parents' bed. Daniela helped me pack the last of my things and I was ready to go for my flight on Saturday. Who should I see at the airport immediately after deplaning in Chicago? none other than Alexa, who somehow managed to talk her way through security and spend the 2 1/2 hour layover with me over margaritas and lots of laughter. I am still in disbelief that she was able to get through, but she is probably the only person I would ever have predicted could pull it off. The best leg of my trip was from London to Dubai - the British Airways crew was unbelievably friendly and their flights encourage consumption of alcohol, which I rightly needed with the little sleep I got on the flight to London. I was knocked out for a while and awoke to the Dubai skyline, with its unbelievable Las Vegas-lit glow and hazy cloud overhead from the humidity and heat that would slap us in the face once on the ground. Passport control took an hour, with HUNDREDS of people in line from all over the world. They say Dubai attracts 25,000 new residents a month, and I can understand why after my experience upon arriving.

Alane, the company's liaison, was there to greet me with our driver and we took a pleasant drive through the desert with the windows down to the villa. I arrived home around 2 am and we pulled through the cast iron gates into the compound. The house is charming, with a courtyard and a spacious living room upon entering. Connected to the living room off to the right is the kitchen, with wrap around counter space, granite counter tops, and lots of light. Through a second set of sliding doors are the bedrooms- during our orientation period we are sharing rooms, which I don't mind. We each have queen size beds and lots of room to move around. Each room is attached to its own bathroom, complete with a bidet and large shower. The apartment has IKEA style furniture, including the bookshelves and entertainment center in our living room. We are taken care of by a Turkish man named Hassan who serves as our cook and house keeper - he is around 30, great disposition, and very friendly. Today he is going to take me to the beach once I recover from my jet lag. It looks like this living arrangement is temporary until we are a bit more tenured with the company - by the spring we will likely have our own apartments and we should be getting our own cars soon as well. I will be sure to post pictures once I am settled. Hopefully no later than this evening..

New Links

While looking for the latest on Halloween festivities, I stumbled upon this blog. It's probably the best one I've found so far, with great links to hotels and restaurants and pretty extensive coverage of what's happening socially and economically. I should have thought to check earlier, but I was also unaware that a TimeOutDubai existed. I'll be using both resources to plan the next few weekends of my life...

My last weekend in Cleveland...

It's taken me a while to post footage from that last weekend in Cleveland... Here we are just after leaving my place in Ohio City.

6 days

I can't believe it's my last Sunday in America for quite a while. What's crazy is that Sunday nights are always so dreadful since they lead to Mondays when we all go to work... from here on out Saturday nights will be my evening to prep for the work week since many countries in the Middle East, including Israel, start their work week on Sunday and work through Thursday. This is based on the religions encompassing the region, but I will have to do a little more research before providing a good explanation as to the background story. The only thing that comes to mind is the Shabbat celebrated through Judaism, which in the book of Genesis is symbolized as the seventh day, after six days of creation. It's observed from sundown on Friday through Saturday evening, which would make sense to start the work week on Sunday.

An email from a future colleague of mine eluded to 11 hour days, 6 days a week (at least to start). Ouch! not looking forward to the schedule. Hopefully things pan out so that we can enjoy our time over there. This past week I've dealt with a nasty cold of sorts, which I assume is a combination of travel/fun/incessant spreading of germs on the subway in NYC. I have made numerous lists, none of which I have started to sort through. The airline has a 50 pound limit per bag - I am allowed to check 2, so deciding which 100 pounds of my possessions are essential has been rather difficult. Let's not forget that each suitcase probably weighs in around 10 pounds, so we're talking 80 pounds of clothes, shoes, pictures, and as many packs of Trident Splash and other random life essentials my side zipper pockets will allow.

I am flying American Airlines/British Airways to get there. Here's the itin:

12/27
Depart Rochester: 4:35 pm Arrive Chicago, O'Hare: 5:30 pm
Depart Chicago: 8:15 PM

12/28
Arrive London, Heathrow: 9:00 am
Depart London: 12:35 pm
Arrive Dubai: 11:20 pm

2 CONNECTIONS! I am a bit overwhelmed by the itinerary since I will have to go through Customs in London and claim my bags, then recheck them to get back into security and wait for my flight to the UAE where I will have to go through Customs AGAIN! Delta has direct flights to the UAE through Atlanta, which I am definitely going to mention to my employer when I get there.

Random things to consider when moving to the UAE.
Will I need an electric converter? Apparently, yes.
What's the postal system like?
Exchange rate
Weather
Dept of State advisories
History/Facts

The list goes on, but this is a start. And for the record, the culture is very liberal relative to other parts of the region. I will NOT have to wear a berka OR a hejab. Perhaps I should not speak too soon though. My curls may look a bit frightening once we hit 110 degree weather with 100% humidity. Perhaps it would be better to keep them tamed down for the summer months...

Dubai Salsa Festival

Salsa dancing in Dubai. Rest assured that my fire engine red heels are coming with me.

Under the Sea

I had heard a lot about this so-called underwater hotel, but had not actually read up on it until now. Check it out here! It's pretty incredible and is estimated to be completed by the end of this year, just in time for visitors.

Japan pictures are here!

Enjoy!



If you want to go at your own pace and look at the slide show in Picasa, click on the album below.

Japan

diamond in the rough

New York's been a bit of a whirlwind! I am awake this morning on 5 hours of sleep or so and will most likely start my morning with a run through central park since I'm on my own until lunch time. I have plenty of pictures from the weekend, which I will be posting when I get back to Rochester. In the meantime, several friends and family gave me a heads up about a 60 Minutes story on Dubai that I didn't get a chance to see last night. Fortunately, the wonderful world of online video streaming afforded me the opportunity to catch a peek this morning. The story covers two aspects of the city - its growth and its reluctance to take a more active approach in putting an end to human sex trafficking and the inhumane treatment of migrant laborers. With that said, rest assured that the city is very safe and I should have no problems holding my own as a woman in the workplace or when out and about on the town. I will obviously have a better idea once I arrive, but I know I have a lot to look forward to.

shrine hopping

The early to bed decision we made was a wise one since we had lots of things to see on Tuesday. The hotel started us out with a traditional Japanese breakfast - we arrived in our robes and slippers and had a table to ourselves waiting with steamed rice, miso soup, squid sushi, and an array of some other interesting, unknown nibblets. We visited several shrines, including the Nijo Castle that housed the Tokugawa Shogun and Kinkakuji, which is a pavilion covered in real gold!We had a chance to peruse the tourist district and take in some incredible views. The sky was a bit cloudy, but the silver blanket overhead made for some beautiful pictures. Mike and I took in some traditional tastes, including green tea ice cream and traditional tea time at the golden palace. The tea tasted a bit like water and grass frothed together in a blender, but it's apparently an ancient art form influenced by Zen Buddhism - it was described to me as the female Japanese art form wherein knowledge of calligraphy, flower arranging, and the kimono are also required. Male Japanese art forms are more common to us and come in the form of Karate and Sumo Wrestling, amongst others. The tea was served with sweet desserts filled with bean paste, which tastes rather sweet - it was really interesting but got me excited for a piece of dark chocolate and a glass of red wine upon my return home.
The weather was surprisingly warm considering the time of the year. We returned to Nagoya that evening and were pretty beat. Nonetheless, some edemame and yellowtail kept us up until about 4am. With about 4 hours of sleep under my belt, I was escorted to the airport and returned on my 1:05 flight home with a bag full of treats for friends and family back home, as well as some Pocky sticks for munching on the flight (my favorite). The trip lasted about 12 hours and I unfortunately did not manage to sleep at all. Regardless, it gave me a lot of time to reflect on my week, which was incredible. I wish we'd had more time, but my month is obviously going to fly by with November looming just a few weeks away. I think I watched about 4 movies on the flight and finished the Kite Runner, not without a gorgeous peek at the sun rising up ahead as we made our way over Alaska. The sky was incredible and I had to get out of my seat to take a picture from the crew's emergency exit window to capture something that so many others were sleeping through! All in all, this was a decision I'm glad I made! I can't believe how quickly the time flew by between the day I gave my notice at McMaster and now, but experiencing Japan was something I will never regret.

It's off to NYC for me tomorrow...

Kyoto

Monday morning led us to the train station and we hopped a ride to Kyoto which took about 3 hours. Kyoto gleamed with brilliant shopping centers, pachinko arcades, and shrines dating back several thousand years. My favorite district was in Gion, the former Geisha district prior to WWII. The streets were clean and dimly lit with lanterns that reflected off dark wooden buildings that today serve as home to Japanese style restaurants and shops.We decided to stay in a traditional Japanese style hotel. A beautiful, old woman in a Kimono led us to our room where we removed our shoes and stepped onto a bamboo mat-lined surface. A low table lay before us along with two silk red cushions where we sat indian style and sipped on green tea poured for us by our host. Sun hit the rice paper sliding door that led into a separate sitting room where we could share dinner or relax. We opted to hit up the hot springs instead that are common throughout Japan. Before doing so, we had to change into some fancy robes, which I found to be quite comfy and stylish...Now, Japanese hot springs are completely natural - no chlorine. So it's important to enter the bath as clean as possible. The baths are split up into men's and women's - when you enter the bath room, you get completely naked and sit on a little chair equipped with a faucet, pail, and soap/shampoo/face wash. So - yeah, I thought that would be awkward. You know, sitting on a small stool scrubbin' down with other women around, but I was alone and eventually slipped into the hot spring, a nice way to wind down after our long week of traveling.

Mike toured me around the city, which he knew pretty well.
We explored the shopping district and filled up on Shabu Shabu, a traditional Japanese-style meal. We took our shoes off at the door and relaxed on bamboo mats while we cooked our dinner in a large pot filled with boiling water that was served by a charming lady in a Kimono.

After dinner, we got to check out a Japanese video game arcade and took some shots in a Japanese photo booth. Pachinko is HUGE over there, but we were terrible at it! It literally felt like we were in one of those cages at the circus that house extreme motorcyclists who ride upside down. Just roaring loud - neon lights and the sound of pinballs EVERYWHERE!! We could not take the excitement any more and cabbed it home for a full night of sleep.