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Living the Travel Channel – Residency visas

September 9, 2008

After very annoying and troublesome additional medical falderall, I received my residency visa. Almost in the knick of time, since for the first 30 days we were on temporary visas and those were about to run out. As of this writing, however, Paul’s remains a question. We have all the necessary paperwork, except the duly processed marriage certificate. Now, by duly processed, I mean a legal document obtained from the Oregon office of vital records, then sent to Salem to be authenticated by the Oregon State Dept., then sent to Washington DC to be authenticated by the US State Dept and then sent to the UAE Embassy in also in Washington DC for the final authentication. You can imagine that this process takes a while. Unfortunately, I do not know exactly where in this process my certificate it, but I know it ain’t here. So, hopefully, the director of immigration will take pity on my situation and sign my application to sponsor Paul’s visa anyway. I suspect that the plan B is to send Paul out of the country for a day (to Oman) and back in with a new 30 visitor’s visa. Hopefully, this will turn out to be another tempest in a teapot.

(Post script – we met the deadline and Paul can stay in country, however there is more to the process. Paul has to go through the medical exam process and then he should get his residency visa following that.)

In order to get a residency visa, you have to be sponsored by someone, either an employer or family member. Hence, the college sponsors me and I sponsor Paul. Seems like a reasonable way to control immigration, otherwise everyone would be coming here! However, it sets up some employment problems, because so many of those who do manual or blue collar labor are dependent on their employers in order to stay here. If you don’t like your job, you can’t just quit and get a new one. It also opens the door to blatant exploitation of those lower level workers. Many of them work 12 hour shifts 6-7 days a week for what we would consider low wages (better than what they could get in their home country, which is why they put up with it).

The thing that is probably most uncomfortable for us here, is being waited on. It’s one thing to have busboys in a sit down restaurant, but they have them here in mall food courts. People look at you strangely if you bus your own table. Also, even the juice kiosk in the mall has a seating area and they may take your order at the counter (if you don’t have the good sense to sit down first) and then you are expected to sit down and be waited on. There is a security guard in the entrance to our building. He is actually more than that, sort of a manager as well, although he wears a blue uniform. Whenever we come in from the store carrying bags, he offers to help us by carrying the bags up to our apartment. We always refuse and thank him for the offer. We are so used to being self-sufficient Americans, that the offer still surprises us. The people in
service type jobs also seem very eager to serve and a little put out if you don’t let them. They differ from the surly American busboy who would much rather be doing something else, somewhere else. The American idea that anyone can be president, a star, rich, etc., makes a service job a negative thing. I don’t know enough about the cultures of the people in service jobs here to know how deep their positive attitude goes. Are they eager to please because they are genuinely eager to please or only because it is the demand of the job.

On days when I have to take a taxi home from work, I wait in the lobby of the college administration building. It is large round area with granite flooring. And, regular as clockwork, there is a man mopping that floor (apparently everyday) at 5:30 pm, whether it needs to be mopped or not. When he comes by where I am sitting, I raise my feet so that he can mop under them and this seems to amuse him. He may very well be saying to himself “crazy American.” Who knows.

Posted in culture shock, red tape, service | Leave a Comment »

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Ramadan

September 9, 2008


A clarification and a couple responses to comments

The dress customs I described apply only to Dubai, each country or region has their own twist on fashion. I was looking through a book of photographs of Dubai from the first half of the 20th century and, clearly, the dress for different age groups differed from the current practice, just as American fashions from 1950 differ from 2008. Burqa has been used to refer to the whole outfit, head to toe, but it is actually a leather or metal mask that covers some of the face (nose and cheekbones).

As for ogling, I do not make eye contact. The ogling happens even when I am walking with Daddybird. In part, I wish I could stare rudely right back at them. It is amusing to see just how far they will turn their heads around to watch a woman walk by. If their eyes could pop out of their heads, like in the cartoons, they would. Some women are bothered by it and take offense. I don’t feel threatened or creeped out. It just amuses me how extreme it is and how abnormal it seems.

John G – As for the Amazing Race, we will probably be completely in the dark on that one. We don’t have a TV and I haven’t had time to read newspapers. Maybe Paul keeps up with the news better than I do. If I see crazy Americans running around trying to catch a taxi, boat, or whatever, it will probably not stand out as unusual. Although, the cameramen following them might.

When we looked at our apartment, there were two apartments open in the building. The one we didn’t choose was on a lower floor, next to the elevators, and a little smaller. Daddybird started to make an argument for the smaller apartment, but I insisted on the larger one. Bigger is always better and I thought there might be noise from the elevator. There is a mosque across the street from this smaller apartment and therein lies the real rub. The call to prayers is broadcast 1 1/2 hours before dawn and several times during the day. Had we taken that smaller apartment we would have been waking up to the call to prayer everyday. Our apartment is on the other side of the building, so we are hearing the construction noise from the rapid transit train that is being constructed (and yes they are working around the clock), but that will eventually end. Most nights I can sleep through it.

Now, what’s new? It’s Ramadan! We can tell you now what we’ve been told to expect and later we can blog about what we actually observe.

Ramadan is a 29-30 day period determined by the lunar cycle. Even though the cycles of the moon can be predicted, the timing of Ramadan is still determined by the physical sighting of the new moon by a committee. Muslims fast from 1 1/2 hours before dawn until after sunset. This means not just no food, but no liquids either, which seems a little dangerous in a desert climate. The elderly, pregnant women, and others with physical challenges are exempted. However, when the sun goes down — party on. The feasting begins. Imagine 29-30 Thanksgiving dinners in a row. There is a lot of visiting of relatives during this time. There are also extra prayer times and meetings in the mosques where they endeavor to read through the entire Qur’an before
the end of the month. Then there is a big breakfast that must be completed before the morning call to prayer (1 1/2 hours before dawn). There are also special soap operas that air only during Ramadan and the devoted fans record them and watch them all. So, when do these people sleep? I do not know.

How does this impact us? Not much, except that public behavior is somewhat restricted. Out of respect, non-Muslims don’t eat or drink in public (the culturally sensitive ones, anyway). There is also no smoking, alcohol, dancing, or public display of affection (holding hands, etc.). Most (read 99.99%) of restaurants are closed during the day and open after sunset. Banks, stores, businesses change their hours of operation. Most people work only 6 hour days instead of 8.

At work, there is a coffee shop that is set aside for non-Muslims to go for eating and drinking. It is “closed” in that the coffee shop personnel are not there and we cannot buy coffee or food. We have to resort to instant coffee and whatever food we bring from home. The windows are papered over, so that no one can see us eating and drinking.

The Marks and Spencer and Toys R Us across the street are covered, and I do mean covered, in strings of what we would call Christmas lights. (As you can see in the picture at the top of this blog entry. I tried to add it here, but was unsuccessful.) They turn them on after dark (possibly only while they are open).

Immediately following Ramadan will be a three day festival – Eid Al Fitr – with more feasting and visiting relatives. I will have these days off from work, so hopefully we will be able to get out and participate in some of the festivities.

Posted in answers to questions, Ramadan | Leave a Comment »

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Directions and Corrections

September 5, 2008

Well it turns out that buildings in Dubai will be getting street addresses! The Roads and Transport Autority (RTA) announced that a pilot program is underway to assign addresses to all building and roadways That will- hopefully- make it easier to find your destination, get deliveries and, most importantly, tell your taxi driver where you want to go!
It will, however, take away the satisfaction feels when successfully having managed to get the taxi driver to understand where you want to go without an address!
We don’t know yet how well this will work and how quickly they can implement it, but they are pretty good at getting things done here and improving things when necessary so I expect it won’t take too long.

In related news in my previous post titled “Where are we??” I included a map with some notes on it. One of the note stated that I didn’t think that the numbers given to the side streets were official. It turns out they are official. And there are even street sign to prove it!
Still, I don’t know who uses these to refer to the streets or to give directions. My only guess about them, besides being a bureaucratic reference, is that they may be used by emergency personnel. Perhaps they will be used in the upcoming addressing system. With the streets named, or at least numbered, all that has to be done is to give the buildings their own numbers. One problem with that is that it’s not obvious that the street number assignments is unique, that is, there may be a “4th street” in more than one area of town, which will require that the district name still be used to distinguish which 4th street you’re referring to. But that’s not a big problem, and it’s still easier than verbally guided navigation by landmarks.

If a lot less satisfying.

Posted in culture shock, getting lost, taxis | Leave a Comment »

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It’s hot here.

August 28, 2008

I know you’re saying, “No kidding,” but really it is hot here. Actually though, I’m not talking about the weather, I’m talking about the tap water. The cold tap water. Not so surprising considering the constant high temperatures here- yes, speaking of weather in this case- and the fact that most buildings have a water tank on the roof which allows the water plenty of time to absorb the heat. So when you turn on the tap for a drink of cool water to provide some relief from that heat, you find that the heat has found a way to sneak into your life once again. Well, you may have chance at some cool water at first, if the tap hasn’t been turned on in a while and that first bit of water has had a chance to rest in the pipes of an air conditioned building. But you had better get it quick, because it will soon be followed by the usual stream of quite warm water which, I assure you, is not what you were hoping for.

That is why it is vitally important to keep a bottle of water in the fridge.

I was listening to an audio travelogue about Dubai the other day in which the narrator stated, “Almost everybody in Dubai takes ‘cold’ showers.” I certainly do, with the lever turned all the way over to “C”, the water is plenty hot enough. The narrator stated that the ‘cold’ water was about 36° Celsius in the summer. I never got around to taking a thermometer into the shower with me back in the states, so I don’t know how that compares to what my usual shower temperature used to run, but it’s not cooler. She then went on to say that in really hot summers the ‘cold’ water can be hotter than the ‘hot’ water. That I seriously doubt.

While the ‘cold’ water tap may seem hot, it’s still mild when compared to the ‘hot’ water tap. A typical setting for a water heater in the States is 120° F. That ain’t nuthin’. I haven’t been able to find out what the exact setting on a water heater is here, but it’s at least 40° F higher. The water bursts out of the tap scaldingly, blisteringly hot. That’s great for making sure your dishes are clean, but one has to be very careful around that spigot when using the sink casually. If you’re too careless when you shove a hand under a faucet and don’t check the temp first, you may quickly pull it back with some 1st degree burns in it. I was rinsing out plastic soda bottle the other day and almost immediately the bottle started to shrivel and deform as if I had taken a cigarette lighter to it. No, I am not at all kidding about the bottle! I’m thinking about relabeling the faucets in our apartment. Instead of “Cold” and “Hot” we’ll have “Boiling” and “Very Nearly Steam”.

So, when I take my ‘cold’ shower in the morning, it’s as cold as I can get it to run, which sometimes is still uncomfortably warm. This is not really a problem for Kanga. She is used to taking much hotter showers than I am. She thinks I’m a wimp. Apparently I’m a polar bear and she’s a… well, you know, one of those critters that likes really hot water. (Posted by Daddybird)

Posted in oddities | 3 Comments »

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Clothes

August 26, 2008

Let’s talk burkas (or burqa). Traditional Arab women wear a full length, long sleeved robe and a long head scarf. The robe is an abaya and the scarf is a shela. There is sometimes a veil that covers the face. These are black. [“burqa” refers specifically to the veil.- PC] The more conservative the person is the less skin is showing. Some even cover their eyes with black lace or netting. Those of us from the West can’t comprehend why anyone would want to go about in this heat covered from head to toe in black. Well, my friends, it is even hotter than that because under these robes is often a very fancy beaded/embroidered dress made of chiffon, satin, crepe, etc., or blue jeans or other “outer wear.” The abaya and shela are worn out in public, as a form of modesty. At home, these women have just as much love of beautiful clothes as the rest of us, maybe more. I was amazed at the number of dress shops in the mall that have elaborate “walk down the red carpet” type gowns in them. Abayas and shelas also are often beaded and embroidered, sometimes subtly in black and white designs and sometimes very colorful designs. I had thought that always wearing a scarf/shela on one’s head would mean not having to worry about one’s hair. Oh no, fancy hairdos are lurking under those scarves. All the vanities are alive and well under all that black.

We in the West also assume that it is a form of oppression or suppression of women. Not necessarily so.  In fact, it is the government’s policy to NOT hire a woman who has a veiled face. If she wants the job, she must give up the veil.  Not to say that there aren’t instances of oppression, discrimination, etc., but the burqa isn’t the problem.

Clothing for both males and females is tied to rites of passage. The girls start wearing the shela when they enter puberty. Prior to age twelve, boys wear caps/hats, then after 12 they wear a head covering tied in a particular manner. A man does not wear the dishdasha with the black cords until he is married. Women do not veil their faces until after they marry, for then their beauty is only for their husband. Again, the shela, abaya and veil are only worn in public, not in the home.

We were walking through Toys R Us one day to escape the heat for a few minutes and saw a display of Barbies all in their pink boxes and their Western clothes. Being a smart aleck, I said to Daddybird – “and not one of them in a burqa.” Low and behold, in the next row of shelves was Fulla – Barbie in a full burqa (actually, I don’t think there was a veil). There was also a more progressive Fulla in pastel colored clothes and a floral shela. Marketing triumph!

I got rid of most of my short sleeved shirts thinking that I wouldn’t be able to wear them and that I would be able to find new clothes here that fit the work dress code. Oops! Actually, I could have kept those short sleeves and worn them as long as I had a pashmina (shawl) to cover my upper arms. Dang! Also, it is not so easy to find plus size clothes here. Even clothes marked XL or XXL are apparently for extra large Asians, not a giant American like me. Luckily, the Marks and Spencer across the street (a British company) had my size. I need a sewing machine now more than ever. Daddybird will be out of luck in the clothing department, too. There is supposed to be a Big and Tall store somewhere, so we will have to find out where it is.

I have been surprised by the clothing available in the malls. Today we saw a t-shirt that said “Be Free to Feel Yourself the Way You Want.” Not sure what that means and maybe I don’t want to. I suspect it’s just created by someone for whom English is not their first or even second language. We are often amused by labeling on packages, too. Back to clothes, most of the stores in the malls that aren’t selling abayas or fancy gowns, are selling skin tight tees, mini-skirts and jeans. All of which are inappropriate to wear here, if one is culturally sensitive. Clearly, many are not.

I brought only two pairs of shoes with me, sneakers and sandals. Only the sandals are appropriate to wear to work, but they were causing blisters. In fact, I had a blister on my blister. After developing a third generation blister in that spot, I told Paul I couldn’t leave the mall without a new pair of shoes. As with clothes, it is hard to find shoes in my size. I managed to find a pair that will do, but must find a Dansko distributer soon.

Posted in abayas, culture shock, First 2 weeks | 1 Comment »

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Work, buses, etc.

August 25, 2008

First week of work – The college has a carefully planned out orientation schedule that covers two weeks. It has definitely given us a feel for what the college is about and how things work. The library alone has four new employees and one who started in February. We are all going through orientation together which definitely is different than going through orientation as the only employee in your department would be. We are developing into a close group through shared experience.

The director of the college gave a talk on Dubai and the college’s mission. Daddybird was interested and wanted to attend, so we asked if that would be okay. Apparently, this was the first time such a request had been made and they were impressed by Daddybird’s interest. so, he got to come to campus and listen in. It was a very informative time and we realized that we really did make the best decision in choosing this college.

Some of the other “newbies,” as the new employees are lovingly called, have expressed that there have been times when they wanted to pack it in and go back home. Daddybird and I have not had a single moment like that. We are very happy and are occasionally amazed by the enormity of the adventure we are on, but we are committed. My only fear is that we will be sent home. I won’t be able to relax until I have that residency visa in my hand. We miss you all and you are welcome to come live with us, but we won’t be coming back to the States anytime soon (of our own volition, anyway).

So, what adventures have I had this week? I am still struggling to find reliable transportation to and from work. Catching a taxi is hit or miss. I was late on Monday because I didn’t get out early enough and had difficulty getting a taxi. Daddybird is so cute. He gets up and gets dressed to go out with me to flag down the taxi (or to walk me to the bus stop). Taxis didn’t work so well so I tried the bus line. It is a short walk to the bus stop in the morning and the stop where I get off is right in front of the entrance to our apartment building. Daddybird and I went out together to the bus stop (the day of the aforementioned director’s talk), however we did not end up on the same bus. Here’s how it works. The first three rows of seats are reserved for women (actually they use the term “ladies” here) AND women are not allowed to stand. So, there is a maximum of 12 ladies on the bus at any one time. Men can sit in the back and stand in the aisle. So, when the bus came to our stop, the driver was only allowing ladies to get on because the bus was nearly full, but there were a few ladies seats available. So, Daddybird and I were separated. I got on the bus and he waited for another one. As the bus journey progressed, I watched as the driver would pull up to a stop where there were crowds waiting to get on and he would simply refuse to open the door or would open only half the door (for crowd control) and tell them how many of which sex could get on the bus. I shudder to think of how long some of those people had to wait for a bus driver that would finally let them on. Luckily, Daddybird was able to get on a bus eventually and join me at the college.

The bus works fairly well in the morning, but when I tried it in the evening – major fiasco. The street in front of the college is 2 lanes either direction with a fence down the middle to discourage pedestrians from crossing. This means that to get to the bus stop that will get me home, I have to walk all the way down to the intersection and back up to the bus stop, which makes it a very long walk. The bus is SUPPOSED to run every 20 minutes. The bus stop is one of the air conditioned ones, but it is still under construction, so no air. After my log walk to the bus stop, I waited an hour and 1/2 before a bus came. The bus stop is in front of a gas station and I saw several taxis going into the gas station to fill up, so figured I’ll snag one of those. No such good luck, since they were going off shift and did not want to go into Deira, where I live. ARGH! So, I tried calling a taxi, but the bus finally arrived and I got on because I did not want to continue waiting for a taxi that may or may not come in a timely fashion. I managed to get on the bus and pay my fare before the driver realized that there were no ladies seats available and I would have to stand. Luckily, one of the ladies was getting off at the next stop and convinced him that was good enough. That’s good, because after a couple of hours in the baking heat, mousy little me would have torn him a new one. I was not about to be thrown off that bus.

There are some other college employees living in the building, so I will be contacting them to seek a carpool or advice on how to get to work.

Thursday morning I needed to go to a different destination in the morning, so we walked over to a nearby shopping mall where it is easier to get a taxi. We were standing in a line of people politely waiting for taxis when three local women walked up directly to the front of the line as if there was no line and they were next. No one contested this and when the next taxi came, they made it clear that it was for them and away they went. After they left, a man (who by his accent was from a Slavic country) came to the front of the line to scold us for letting them get away with that. Where was he earlier??? Why didn’t he take them on?

The humidity has been significantly lower this week, which makes all the difference. It is still hot, but one can stand to be out in it. In fact, I was about an hour into my bus fiasco before I started to feel sweaty. This makes it easier for us to get around and I hope to explore the neighborhood a little this weekend.

Posted in First 2 weeks, taxis | 2 Comments »

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Shopping, driving, ogling

August 25, 2008

Saturday, August 16th – We experienced “weekend shopping” yesterday. We had been warned about it, but we had to check out of the hotel, so we needed things like sheets, towels, pots, pans, dishes, etc., in order to begin living in our new apartment. So, we had no choice. We took a taxi to Deira City Center, which is a large mall a short distance from here. Most of the things we needed could be purchased in Carrefour, a large (and I mean LARGE) store not unlike a super Walmart. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people in a mall or store at one time. It was a mad house, not unlike the old jokes about the JC Penney white sales. AND people here drive shopping carts like they drive cars.

We purchased our refrigerator (only appliance not provided with our apartment). If you are wondering about prices here, we got a large side by side with ice maker in the door (656 liter capacity – don’t know what that is in cubit feet) for approximately $1,300.00. Try that in the States! For the most part, prices are comparable or lower for most goods. The rents are sky high, but we don’t have to worry about that.

Gary B. asked what I would miss and I haven’t figured that out, yet. I have found many things that I am delighted are available, however. Fruit juice, REAL fruit juice is cheap and easy to come by. We can buy bottled lemonade that is actually made with lemons and tastes like lemons. Yummy! There are also many other fruit juices available – Mango, Orange, Apple, etc. I have yet to see CranApple, CranGrape, or CranWhatever. The juices aren’t all apple, pear, or white grape base with a little of the titled juice thrown in either. In fact, you can go to a food court restaurant and order fresh squeezed orange juice with your entree.

Our first load of laundry is running right now. The “directions” on the machine are all in symbols, so I hope I have guessed right. I thought the swirly symbol meant wash, but it turned out to mean spin, this lead to the discovery that I should read the symbols from the right to the left, not the left to the right.

It is interesting being out in public and discovering that you are some kind of oddity. The East Indian men “check me out” when I walk by, which wasn’t too unexpected, except that I am old, grey and overweight, so really didn’t expect to get ogled. On other occasions, though, women have given me a thorough look up and down, so I am not sure what that is about. My clothes are not unusual, so maybe it is my grey hair (which I have not seen much of on other people) or my weight (not many overweight people here either) or my pale skin (not much of that in the crowds where we’ve been shopping either). The cab driver, yesterday, seemed very interested in Paul’s appearance and asked us what country we were from. Perhaps he hasn’t seen a ruddy, red bearded guy before.

So, let’s talk about driving/traffic. The only thing I miss at this point is the freedom of having personal transportation. However, we are not in any hurry to start driving here. Lane markings are apparently only suggestions. You don’t actually have to stay in the lane as you round corners or even when driving straight. Changing lanes is done simply by nosing your car into the other lane. You can signal after the fact to let them know what you did. There is NO patience at a stop signal. If the light turns green and the first car does not immediately move forward, horns honk. No dilly dallying allowed. Construction is in progress everywhere, so detours are everywhere also. New buildings are going up everywhere, but infrastructure is not necessarily keeping up. There are plenty of main arterials, but the commute traffic problem is, in part, due to the lack of side street alternatives. No one has laid out a grid of streets, things just sprout up wherever and however large they want to. This plus the total lack of street addresses makes getting around a major challenge. Neither one of us is eager to join the chaos that is traffic.

The rapid transport train that is currently under construction will run right in front of our apartment building. I don’t know where the nearest station will be, but hope that it will be within walking distance. The train does not go right by the college, but will be a short walk (again depending on where the station is placed), although there is talk of a shuttle bus from the train to the college. It is scheduled to be completed in Fall 2009, so my hope is to hold out and taxi/carpool until then.

Sunday (tomorrow) is my first day of orientation/work. I’ll be glad to have something other than shopping to do and to be around others who are new and as bewildered as I. Will let you know how it goes.

Posted in culture shock, Dubai metro construction, Dubai traffic, First 2 weeks, malls | 4 Comments »

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Where are we???

August 22, 2008

My mom asked us:

“OK, so you don’t have a street address. What about a general idea of where you are so I can look for your place on satellite? And what direction is your apartment facing? And what floor are you on?”

We’re right in the middle of this map. (If the link works properly.)

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=25.2707,55.321162&spn=0.006171,0.010461&z=17

See? Just a bit to the left [West] of being across the street from the Reef Mall on Salahuddin Road. (Although I’m pretty sure that mentioning the street name to a taxi driver would not be of any use at all. They only seem to shrug when I mention the street that a destination is on.)

Below I’ll include a copy of the map with some additional notes on it.

I’m having trouble getting the satellite images to load here, but if you do manage it, ours is the only building with a swimming pool on its roof on our block. It’s sort of a kidney shaped thing in the NorthEast-ish part of the roof. I’m including an image below from Google Earth that shows it. (If you don’t have Google Earth, it’s worth downloading and it’s free. Sort of like Google Maps on steroids!) See that nice broad, tree-lined thoroughfare in front of our building? It’s all dug up right now while they install the metro light rail system. They are working on it 24 hours a day, so we are sometimes lulled to sleep by the gentle trill of the Arabian Jackhammer. But the noise isn’t too bad for us since we’re on an higher floor. There’s a major upside to it as well: A station is being installed underground right in front of us, so much of the city will be just a quick train ride away when it is finish next year.

Our apartment faces South, which- being on the north end of town- will give us a nice view of the expanse of Dubai when the Summer dust clears. We’re on the 6th floor. The roof is two stories up and offers a slightly better view. We won’t be high up enough to see everything beyond the tall buildings downtown, but we will be able to see to top floors of Al Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world. I doubt that we’ll be able to see Al Burj Arab, the fancy sail-shaped hotel, or any of the artificial islands- except maybe Palm Deira when it is finished since it’s pretty close as well as huge- but still, for a cityscape it’s a pretty nice view. There’s not an equally tall apartment building directly across from us so we have much more interesting things to look at than our neighbors looking at us!

Directly across from us is a Toys’R’Us and a Marks and Spencer clothing store, and then the Reef Mall across the side street from them. There are many smaller storefronts along the street as well, so we’re not at a loss for shopping without even having to flag down a taxi. Some very good prices at the neighborhood stores as well, so that makes it doubly nice. There seem to be plenty of local restaurants to try in the weeks ahead as well. The Reef Mall is pretty decent size mall, but small by local standards. As if that weren’t enough, just a couple blocks further away is the Al Ghurair Mall Which is a good bit larger, though still not ‘big’.

It’s been too hot to check out our neighborhood freely just yet, but the Summer weather seems to be easing already so it won’t be long before we can explore the city in earnest. The temperatures have been very high- generally well over 100º F- but naturally the humidity has been the most oppressive factor. Pleasingly, the last few days there has been little humidity, and it is fairly tolerable to be outside in that case, for brief periods anyway.

So there ya’ go.

Here’s the map with some additions:

Here’s the Google satellite image, again with notes:

Illal liqaa’

Daddybird

P.S. Also, here’s an interactive map of Dubai that is maintained by the tourism department. (Be aware that it includes several unfinished, under construction and not-yet-started projects, including several new man-made islands.) Enjoy!

http://www.dubaitourism.ae/DubaiMap/tabid/189/language/en-US/default.aspx

Posted in Dubai | 1 Comment »

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Living the Travel Channel – Pictures

August 20, 2008


This is the view out our apartment window. When the summer haze clears, we should have a distant view of the Burj Dubai.


This is the inside of our front door.


This is the built in closet in our smaller bedroom, soon to be sewing/guest room.


This is our living room.


This is our kitchen.

Posted in Dubai, First 2 weeks | 1 Comment »

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The Third & Fourth Day

August 20, 2008

Tuesday was a difficult day. We would have liked to just stay in the hotel room, rest, and avoid the humidity, but we needed to go to the apartment and document any damages or problems so that we won’t be charged for them if and when we move out.

We started by walking two blocks to a restaurant, the Ritzy Palm (a bit of a cheesy name, but a very nice restaurant). We had the special, which was an Arabic entree and comprised of mostly meat. Four lamb chops, four sausage like meats, and several kabob type meats, a green salad made of mainly onion with a little lettuce and various pickled vegetables, served with flat bread and a plate of French fries. Way more than we could eat. Why French fries? I don’t know, but they seem to like them a lot here.

There are no street addresses here. You give directions by referring to landmarks. So to tell the taxi driver where we need to go we have to say “Al Majid building in Al Muteen across from the Marks and Spencer or Toys R Us” and hope that he knows where that is. To make things more interesting the street in front of our building is under construction for the rapid transit train, so one has to drive up to the back of the building. So, we made it to the apartment, documented a few things, took pictures, some of which are posted here. Our apartment is nice — all the flooring is tile. The entry and living room have grey granite tiles, the bedrooms have some sort of composite tile, the bathrooms have brown granite tile (on the walls as well as the floors) and the kitchen has brown composite tile. There – more than you ever wanted to know about our flooring.

When we were done in the apartment, instead of calling a taxi to pick up us at the apartment building, we walked a short distance to the shopping mall, thinking it would be easier to just get a taxi there. We went into the mall to cool off and look around a little. After leaving the mall we ended up walking around in the horrible heat and having significant difficulty getting a taxi. Lesson learned — call a taxi, don’t expect to find one spontaneously.

Wednesday was a planned shopping trip. The college provided a bus and driver to take us around to the large furniture/housewares stores. The good part of this was that we met others who are new employees also. One is another librarian that I will be working with. The others were two families of four. The children ranged from 4 to 7 years of age. I can’t imagine doing this with young children in tow.

Our shopping trip apparently doubled as a sight seeing trip. We drove past the Deira Palm Island construction site, the zoo, the Burj Al Arab (7 star hotel shaped like a sailboat), we saw the Burj Dubai (world’s tallest building, still under construction), got a glimpse of the Persian Gulf, and a glimpse of the Sheik’s palace.

The stores we were taken to were Home Center, Homes R Us, and IKEA. It was a whirlwind shopping trip with only an hour or so in each store, but it gave us a chance to see what was available and what prices are like. Paul and I found a few things we could agree on. There is a Home Center in the mall near our apartment, so it won’t be too hard to go back and purchase the items later. Prices are comparable to the U.S., so no big sticker shock, yet.

We went to dinner with my new boss and new co-worker in a very nice hotel restaurant (buffet style). There was lots of salmon, so I was happy. That was one of the foods I was afraid would be difficult to come by here. Buffets are very popular here and have a marvelous variety of foods.

It is three a.m. now as I am writing. We are still having trouble adjusting to the time schedule. That will wear off eventually.

Posted in First 2 weeks, furniture, malls, restaurant, taxis | 1 Comment »

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