Dubai Friday Brunch

If you ever visit Dubai you have to go to a Friday brunch.  The weekends here are a bit different; Thursdays are the end of the week, Sundays are the beginning.  So Friday = Saturday.  The Friday brunch is much different than the brunches I'm used to in Chicago.  They are a big social event where people get super dolled up and usually go in big groups (whereas in Chicago I usually woke up, brushed my teeth, threw on yoga pants - or jeans if I was feeling sassy - and met Pam for a bloody mary and eggs benedict somewhere nearby.)  Almost every restaurant and bar in town has one and they range from 100 AED ($30) to 500 AED ($140).  They almost always feature a huge buffet and all-you-can-drink.  I haven't been to a fancy champagne brunch, but have been to two medium size/priced ones so far.  Yesterday I attended one at the Murooj Rotana's Double Decker bar with some Emirates friends.  The Double Decker is a UK themed bar and the food was pretty decent.  They had a ton of pork, which is usually pretty hard to find anywhere in Chicago.  So that was a nice treat, as were the unlimited Sols.  When I arrived there was a long line of people and it felt more like trying to enter a night club than a brunch buffet.  But it was noon.  At 4pm, when the brunch officially ended, the Double Decker turned into a true bar where people started dancing and general weekend whatnot-ing.

And that's when my almost 30 year old self went home to walk the dog.  I'm assuming the rest of the group continued on to a fun bar to have a great night :)

I can't wait for the next one.  I'm hoping for some people to come visit us so we have a reason to splurge on a fancy champagne brunch with lobster and steak!

Paris in 48 hours

I made a promise to myself when I was much younger that I'd get to Europe before I was 30 years old.  It seemed like a safe bet because 30 is so old and at the time it was so far away.  Of course, I figured that by that time I'd be super rich and probably have gone like 12 times.  But being a pretty cautious person, I figured it was a good number and very achievable.  Fast forward a number of years and I will be 30 next April and I had never been to Europe.  Woah, that happened fast.

One of the reasons we decided to take this opportunity in Dubai was so that we could travel.  Emirates Airlines gives Ryan great benefits, including super cheap travel for himself and for his family.  Earlier this week Ryan had a two day trip to Paris for work.  He'd been asking me to go along, but I had some appointments and a book club meeting.  After he mentioned it a few times, I decided to go.  I mean, appointments can be moved.  Trips to Paris with your husband don't come along very often.  So I moved some things around the day before, packed super quick, and called the kennel for Renard, while Ryan booked me a standby ticket his flight to Paris.  I woke up at 1am and headed to the airport for the 4:30am flight, which was unfortunately overbooked (the downside of flying standby.)  Luckily the 8:30am flight was wide open and I was issued a confirmed ticket pretty early on, which was awesome.  It was even in business class!

Ryan met me at the Charles De Gaulle airport and we headed to the hotel room, where all of the Emirates crew stays.  (Free hotel!)  Then we got ready and headed out for the evening.  We took the train into the city and stopped at Notre Dame.  It was closed for the day, but was still cool to see from the outside.  We then grabbed some dinner at a little cafe and then met up with our friend, Pierre.  Pierre  took us to the St. Martin Canal where we sat on the walls of the canal and spent the evening having a beer, catching up, and people watching.  It was nice to see a friend and do something relaxing and less touristy for our first, jet-lagged night.

Notre Dame 

Dinner

Sitting along the canal

Our second day in Paris was spent walking from site to site.  We wanted to take in as many tourist attractions as possible since it was our only full day.  And since it was absolutely beautiful weather, we wanted to walk.  We saw Notre Dame again, the Louvre, the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, and pretty much everything in between.  We ate chocolate crepes and had champagne in the park.  It was an absolutely perfect day and I'm so glad I went.

Loving this weather!

FLOWERS!

Eiffel Tower Hat

Arch de Triomphe

The coolest part of the trip was probably the flight home, though.  For the first time ever I got to be on one of Ryan's planes!  It was his "leg" of the trip so he was the one actually flying most of the time.  He announced the descent and landed.  It was a pretty proud moment for me!  Plus, now I know that Ryan really does fly planes, which is great.  (ha)

In less than two weeks we'll be on a plane headed to Hamburg where we will start our two week European RV adventure!

Update, Schmupdate

Ramadan is finally nearing its end, which means that summer is almost over as well.  People will start returning from their holidays and hopefully it'll start cooling down (ok, maybe not for another month or two...)  Ryan and I have almost made it through our first summer in Dubai.  I'm kind of glad I started with the most difficult season so that the rest of the year will just seem awesome.  And I've heard the winter weather here is just perfect.

Not many exciting things have happened recently, but here are some highlights.

-Ryan and his friend Dan took a 4x4 desert driving class.  We both have Land Rovers and the boys wanted to learn how to get them stuck, and unstuck, in the desert.  From what I understand it was a lot of fun.  I stayed home and slept.  Ryan's driving gives me panic attacks on man made roads (so does my own.)  I didn't think I could handle feeling like I was going to tip over a sand dune in the middle of nowhere.  Oh, and there was this thing about needing to bring a shovel so we could dig ourselves out?  Not my scene.

-Had a girl's night with some US Marines.  It sounds worse than it is.  The AWA girls were invited to an 80's party at the US consulate hosted by the Marines who live there.  Three of us girls got dressed up and went a week or so ago.  It was a lot of fun and the people there were so nice.  I hear they are a regular thing, so hopefully I can attend some more.  Thursday they had a toga party but we weren't able to make it.

-I found Miller Light!!!!!  And, wow, was it expensive.  This might be my only case of Miller Light for a long time.  Too bad I still can't find Coors.  I miss crappy watered down American beer.

-I went to Dragon Mart with my friend Amber.  It's a giant indoor flea market.  The building is literally shaped like a dragon.  It was pretty cool.  They had pretty much everything you could ever thing of in one shop or another.  I got some crazy nail polish and a super cheap knock off wristlet purse, which will be perfect for going out at night.  I hope to drag Ryan there soon to get some more items for our house.

-Tuesday I'm finally heading to an Iftar dinner.  The AWA book club I joined is having their monthly meeting at a place called The One.  I'm assuming it'll be smaller than some of the other Iftars held at hotels, but I'm looking forward to it.  I mean, it's a buffet.  I love buffets.

-The rest of my time has been spent working on the AWA Gala.  We have a committee meeting in early September and I'm ready to really start working on the "fun stuff."

-Most importantly, Ryan and I are planning a trip to Europe!  I've never been anywhere in Europe, and Ryan's never had a proper vacation through work (thanks for nothing, Mesa) so we're taking advantage by spending TWO WEEKS driving an RV through Germany, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna, and anywhere else we can fit in during that time.  We'll finish the trip with three days at Oktoberfest.  Any recommendations/tips/warnings you have for any of these cities, let me know!  I'm really wondering if we should dress up for Oktoberfest or if we are OK wearing whatever?

I'm on a boat

I can't tell you how many times in my six years of living in Chicago I said, "I need to make a friend who has a boat."  And it never happened.  I spent six summers enjoying Lake Michigan from the shores of North Avenue and Montrose Beach.  Sad, I know.

Luckily, Ryan met our Australian friend Dan pretty immediately in his training class, and he was kind enough to buy a boat that we can go on while in Dubai.  Thanks, Dan!

We've been out twice with him so far and it's so much fun.  We have to go early, which is pretty tough for Ryan, (he generally wakes up around noon) but it's nice to get out before it gets too hot.  The sweltering heat, paired with the fact that it's Ramadan, means we pretty much have the water to ourselves.  Dan has water skis, a wake board, and now a tube (which the weird Australians apparently call a biscuit.)  I haven't tried the wake board yet, but I love the water skis.

Dan about to "surf" on the kite board.

Me, holding on for dear life.

Ryan on the water skis.  What a background, right?

Burj Al Arab from the water.

Another fun thing I've done recently was visiting Dubai's only Hindu temples.  The temple complex is located in Bur Dubai.  We were only able to tour one temple, the Krishna Temple.  The line at the Shiva temple was way too long and we didn't have time.  I really wish I could have taken some photos, but we were asked not to take any within the temple.  Our tour guides were amazing.  Extremely kind and generous, genuinely wanting to share their space with us and teach us about their religion.  We saw two different services, both of which were very interesting.  Lots of chanting, a beautifully decorated altar, and we were even able to participate in the purchasing and offering of gifts - flower garlands.   I can't even begin to pretend I know even a little about Hinduism, but I am grateful I was given the opportunity to tour the temple and learn a bit about another religion and culture.

Tonight I'm heading to the American Consulate for an 80's themed party that the Marines there are throwing.  I'm going with some AWA girls.  Thanks to H&M we were all able to get some good costumes.  Pictures to come!

Ramadan

It's obviously been a very long time since I've last posted, but things have been pretty quiet around here.  I'm attributing this to a few things.  One, it's Ramadan.  Two, Ryan is buckling down to finish his training and has been studying like crazy.

I've been hearing about Ramadan since I've moved here and was pretty curious about the whole thing.  I still don't know a ton about it, but what I do know is that it's a really holy month where Muslims fast from sun rise to sun down.  Like, no food or water of any kind.  They can't even chew gum.  Which means, out of respect, non Muslims are required to abstain from eating or drinking in public during this month.  I went to the mall last week and it was kind of eery to see all the food places closed down.  What was really strange was going to see a matinee and not being able to get popcorn and a soda.  Of course, the entire theater still smelled like popcorn, which made it even more difficult.  Many expats choose to leave the country during this time and go on holiday.  Not knowing any better, Ryan and I chose to stick it out.  Really, it hasn't been that bad, just very quiet.  There are a few restaurants that are open during the day, they just have the blinds drawn or screens up to hide people eating.  You can still find some bars that are open in the evening (Longs Bar!) but the music is really quiet and it just feels a bit different.  On the up side, all the malls are super quiet so I've been able to get some good shopping done without having to fight the crowds.

One thing you seriously want to avoid is being on the roads any time near sundown.  People are hauling butt to get home as fast as possible to eat.  It obviously takes some serious religious dedication to go without food or water until sundown.  I mean, I'm a cranky mess if I don't eat by 10 am.

Once sundown hits, everyone gathers to break the fast for an Iftar dinner.  I have not been to one yet, but from what I understand they are large, super delicious and awesome buffet dinners.  I'm hoping to attend one at some point this month, so I'll report back on that.

Tomorrow I'm going with the AWA to a Hindu Temple in town.  I'm looking forward to it!

4th of July

Well, we've had our first 4th of July away from the USA.  The day itself was pretty uneventful.  Ryan didn't get home until 7am or so from a work trip so he slept a good portion of the day.  I did a little bit of shopping (surprise, surprise) and then we had tacos for dinner.  I can't tell if that's very American or not American at all?

A week or two ago we did buy a grill.  Both of us missed the one we left with my parents back in Omaha.  It would have been expensive to ship and we weren't sure if we'd even have anywhere here to put it.  But two months into the summer without any grilled food was too long so Ryan headed to Ace Hardware and bought us a new one.  Other than the tacos we made on the 4th, we've pretty much grilled any meal we can since our purchase.

We didn't let America's birthday pass without any celebration, though.  My new friend, Valerie, invited us to her 4th of July and co-birthday party on the 5th.  It was in their super swanky 21st-floor apartment in the Marina.  They went all out with some really delicious food, awesome cakes that Valerie made herself (she's a really talented baker!) and tons of patriotic decorations.  One of their guests even brought face painting gear and painted people's faces.  It was really cool.

British cake (though it had a secret US flag on the inside)

USA!

My USA nails

Terrifying face paint.  His eyes are closed.

I have to say, though, the highlight of the evening is where my fellow American, Megan, and I beat out two Brits for the beer pong championship.  USA!  USA!

The Blue Souk

On Wednesday the AWA ladies loaded up another Zara bus and headed out for a trip.  This time we went to the Blue Souk.  The Blue Souk is an old-world style shopping center located in Sharjah, which is another Emirate about 45 minutes from Dubai.  It's a big blue tiled building, which is where it gets its name.  It holds a bunch of little one-room shops which are each run by a different shop owner.  Their goods range from pashminas and scarves, carpets, antiques, jewelry, pottery, and other Middle Eastern items.  My favorite shop was Sorma Novelties, a pashmina shop run by a man named Naveed.  We spent a good amount of time in this shop listening to Naveed teach us about the craftsmanship that went into the different scarves and pashminas - which ones were more mass produced and which ones were made by hand in Kashmir, his home town.  He was not only an interesting person, but extremely nice and well spoken.  I highly recommend his shop if you ever end up in the Blue Souk.  He had some really beautiful pieces.

Part of the souk shopping experience is haggling with the sellers to bring down the price.  I was told to always counter offer at half of where they start their price.  And use phrases like, "I live here, I'm not a tourist" or "Give me your best price and I'll bring my friends back next time."  I was super nervous about haggling, but did OK.  I walked away from a few things, got my way once, and once or twice didn't haggle at all because the shop owner came recommended and their prices were already fair.  I totally need to go back before my next trip home.  

Here's what I came back with:

A necklace made out of old coins.

A scarf (not pictured)

A coffe table mat set.  I'm using the longer piece for decoration on our dining room table.

After our shopping adventure we headed to nearby Pizzaro Pizza.  We were all starving at this point and hoping for some good food.  We weren't disappointed.  I had the best Margherita pizza I've probably ever had in my life.  And the restaurant gave us each our own much with our Zodiac sign on it to take home!  The hospitality here can be amazing.

I put an embarrassing dent in this pizza all by myself

My only other update is that Renard has a girlfriend.  Our neighbors also have a rescue dog with separation anxiety and we watched her the other day while they were out.  In return they took Renard to a horse farm!  Their dog's name is  Maggie and she's a total sweetheart.  Plus, she looks like Falcor, the Luck Dragon from The Never Ending Story!  Here are some pictures from their "date."