e 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...
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