Rain, rain (don't) go away

I've been in Dubai now for a little over 6 months and it's raining for the first time!  We've had a few sprinkles here and there, but usually in the Marina area and I've never actually seen them.  But this morning I woke up and took Renard out for his walk the ground was wet!  There are even dark, grey clouds in the sky.  We made it home from our walk just in time because it started to POUR.  Then the thunder started.  Loud claps that scared poor Renard (and I may have even jumped a bit.)  I'm going to take advantage of this weather by watching movies on the couch in my PJ's and maybe even ordering a pizza for lunch.  Perfect rainy Friday afternoon!

It was raining pretty hard for quite a while

Dark clouds

Wet street

Election 2012

Smug Obama is awesome

Four years ago Ryan and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the Obama rally at Grant Park on election night.  We rode our bikes to the Regal Beagle (RIP) for a pre-election pizza and some beers and then continued onto Grant Park.  It was an unusually warm night for early November, which gave the evening an even more exciting buzz.  (It also turned out to be a great thing since I got a flat tire not even half way home and had to walk the rest of the way.)  It was an indescribable feeling when they announced that Barack Obama had won - so many people so happy and excited all in ONE PLACE.  I remember hearing him speak, but being so far away that I really had no idea where he was actually standing, but just being so proud and delighted to be there.

Proof!

Fast forward four years and I spent the morning (evening, of course, in the USA) on my phone, texting with my sister and family, streaming CNN on my computer, and obsessively checking Facebook.  It was obviously a very different election experience, but I somehow still felt SO connected, and it was great.  Ryan was getting ready for work for a portion of it and they announced the results just in time for me to call him with the wonderful news before he flew to Seattle.

It's not hard to guess who I supported in this election, and I'm obviously thrilled with the results.  But even more important, I'm just proud that I had the opportunity to vote even though I'm half way across the world.

Our First Visitor!

Last weekend we had our very first guest come to Dubai.  It wasn't surprising that our world traveller friend, Barry, was the first to make it here.  Ryan and I spent the months and weeks before his visit talking about where to take him, what to do, etc.  Needless to say, after 6-9 months of not seeing a familiar face, we were pretty excited to see Barry.

Here are some of the things we planned for our very first Dubai visitor (with a bit of a photo dump):

We were supposed to go to a friend's costume party, but it was so late on Thursday evening when Barry arrived, that we decided to take him to take him out for a quick drink instead.  We headed to Barasti and then to Rock Bottom, which are two of the three bars that Ryan and I usually attend.  It's nearly impossible to find a dive bar in Dubai since only hotels have liquor licenses, so our cool bar options are pretty limited.  But it was great to catch up and help Barry through his jet lag.

On Friday morning we woke up somewhat bright and early and got ready for brunch.  I've mentioned the Dubai brunch before, and it truly is a Dubai expat staple.  We decided to go all out and make reservations for Saffron at Atlantis on the Palm.  It was, by far, the most amazing buffet or brunch experience of my life.  It blew any Las Vegas buffet out of the water.

Halloween themed "blood martinis"

Mini bottles of champagne with a straw!
Given to us upon arrival.

Tons of seafood and sushi... yum

Dessert galore (also Halloween themed)

Boozy watermelon with straws

On Saturday we decided to do something a little more "old Dubai" and took a taxi to Bur Dubai and explored the souks.  We ate at a little Lebanese restaurant that our friend Dan introduced us to and then took a water taxi to the gold and spice souks.  Barry and I stood in corner and laughed at Ryan outrageously haggling with each shop owner.  But we both got some really cool lanterns and some other souvenirs.  That evening we decided to take it easy and spent our evening grilling and hanging out in the back garden area on our new outdoor furniture.

Waiting for the water taxi

I wanted to stick my hands in each barrel

SO SHINY!

Barry's final night in town was spent in the desert at a desert"safari" dinner.  We were picked up by the company and then taken out to the desert where we switched from van to 4x4 and a maniac drove us through the sand dunes to the camp site.  It was the scariest car ride of my life - on purpose, of course.  There was a BBQ dinner, camel rides, sand skiing, henna painting, shisha and other "traditional" middle eastern activities.  It was pretty touristy, but kind of a fun activity and probably the only time we'll ever eat on carpets way out in the desert.  It would be perfect if you have visitors with kids.  I got my hand painted with henna, tried grape shisha and saw some camels up close.  I really want to ride a camel but we ran out of time.

Sitting at our table on the carpets

Henna

The shisha made me cough like crazy

The guys left the following day for a quick trip to Paris to visit another friend, Pierre.  I spent that time recovering and catching up with AWA business.  Back to real life!  We loved having a friend come see where we live and what we do.  We get so many questions about Dubai and how our lives are here, so it was awesome to be able to share it with someone for even a few days.  We can't wait for our next guests (taking 2013 reservations now)!