It's been a week

I've officially been in Dubai for a little over a week.  We've been eating off paper plates and making due with one pot, one pan, two spoons, two forks and plastic knives.  Hopefully the shipping container with our belongings from Chicago will be delivered today.  It will be so nice to have all of our cookware, some different clothes, and the remainder of our furniture so that we can begin making this place a real home.  Right now we are in a three bedroom, three bathroom apartment and it's pretty nice and big.  The complex has a little gym and a pool, both of which I finally used yesterday.  We may look into renting a villa thanks to Renard and his constant barking, which understandably upsets our upstairs neighbors.  

Other than visiting dozens of furniture stores, I've spent a lot of my week noticing all of the little things that makes Dubai and its inhabitants different from Chicago and Nebraska, as well as some things that remind me of home.  

Before I moved here I was really nervous about the food.  I'm still trying to figure out my way around the grocery stores (food here is extremely expensive, and anything imported from the US is even pricier.)  But there are a ton of restaurants and fast food places from home.  Burger King, Subway, Carls Jr., McDonald's, Chili's, PF Chang's - just to name a few.  Now, I totally believe in branching out and eating at the more local places that Dubai has to offer, but when you're feeling homesick a Whopper can go a long way.  However, nothing comes with any pork product of any kind.  You can get pork, but it's all hidden in a back room of the grocery stores.  So no bacon double cheeseburgers.  

Also, they LOVE Kit Kat bars here.  Which is awesome because I LOVE Kit Kat bars.  Unfortunately, I can't find any diet Dr. Pepper to go with it, but they do have a ton of different flavors that I had never seen before.

Kit Kat Senses - with hazelnut cream!

Kit Kat Caramel Chunk!

Both are extremely delicious and totally worth noting in this blog.

On Friday, Ryan and I met some of his classmates and their wives for dinner.  We went to the Shangri-La hotel for their buffet.  The food was awesome and I had a really great time meeting everyone.  One couple is from the US and the others are from the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.  They were all super nice and fun.  Dubai is truly an international city with a population from all around the world.  It's been quite an experience meeting people from so many different countries and cultures.  I've learned a lot so far, mainly that I am completely horrible at understanding accents.  Like, really, really bad.  I feel like I'm asking people to repeat themselves more times than I'm actually engaging in conversation.  Hopefully my accent understanding skills improve with time.  :)

In addition to accents, they use a ton of different words and phrases here that I find extremely cute and charming.  They call shopping carts trolleys!  Elevators are lifts and everyone says "cheers" for occasions other than prior to drinking.

Ryan just got the message that my VISA paperwork has been approved!  So my next steps are to get my passport and VISA back, get a UAE driver's license, get my name on our bank accounts and our alcohol card.  So I'm off to do more paperwork.  Hurrah!

Ch-Ch-Changes

Well, Renard and I made it to Dubai in one piece.

The month I spent in Omaha was so much fun.  I am so happy that I was able to spend time with my mom, dad, and sister before I left.  Plus, I got to see my aunt Kim, Grandma, and cousins, Carsen and Alex, in Spokane, WA.  It almost made it harder to leave, but I wouldn't trade that time for anything.

Some highlights:

• Running a half marathon with my dad.  My dad, who is an avid runner, talked me into running the St. Louis Go! Half Marathon.  I really (thought) I hated running, but was determined to train and finish the race.  I ended up realizing that I actually kind of like running.  And it was the perfect stress reliever during such a challenging time (thanks, Dad!)  I haven't run for a few weeks now and I'm really itching to get back into it.  I finished in 2:01:52.  Not too bad for a first timer?

I didn't even trip!

• Seeing a bunch of movies in the theater.  That sounds so silly, but Ryan and I never go to movies in Chicago.  I saw Titanic in 3D, Jeff Who Lives at Home, The Five Year Engagement, Hunger Games, and 21 Jump Street.  It was fabulous.
• Seeing Ryan's parents, Jess and Sheri, his brother and sister in law, Mike and Becca, and Ryan's adorable neice, Ivy.  I missed Ashley, Jed and Henry, but will hopefully get to see them soon!  
• Visiting old haunts in Washington.  My sister and I spent all of our summers there.  We'd fly from Hawaii to Seattle, where our grandma and grandpa would pick us up and drive us to Cheney, WA for a few weeks/months.  I have so many great memories of those summers.  It was fun to revisit Lake Chelan, a really cute little Bavarian town called Leavenworth, and most especially eat at this amazing wonder of a fast food place called Dicks.  Best. Food. Ever.  Oh!  And the best thing about fast food places in Washington is fry sauce.  Look it up.

 Try the Whammy.  And FYI, the pizza takes FOREVER.

• Shopping with my mom.  She's the best shopping partner ever.  We went to Target like a hundred times.   She really helped me develop my new Dubai style (inside joke.)
• Vampire nights with my sister.   Red wine, Vampire Diaries and the Twilight Saga (and a Costco documentary thrown in for good measure.)  
• Renard's favorite part of the trip was definitely hanging out with my parent's cat, Ned.  They were seriously BFF's.

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

So now Renard and I are in Dubai, reunited with Ryan.  I can't believe we went three whole months apart.  I miss my family and my friends so much (Pam and Jenny - hi!)  I'm still trying to process everything.   (Driving here scares the crap out of me.  There are no left turns!  I miss my Chicago grid system.)  And I'm still super jet lagged.  But I'm beyond excited for our new adventure here!  I'll post again soon with some tales of Dubai experiences.