It's a Beautiful Day!

It's a beautiful day in Dubai!  I still can't believe we get to wake up to views of the ocean and marina!  We don't have curtains to block the early streaks of sunshine, so we wake up in the wee hours of the morning.  I'm not complaining, though.  I may be a little sleepier than usual, but I will never get tired of this.  Boats floating by... camels on the beach... gorgeous buildings everywhere we look... doesn't get much better than that (unless we could add some Colorado mountains to the mix!). 

 

Welcome to the marina :)

 

If you look reeeaaalllyyy closely, you can see two camels hanging out down there.

The best part about this beautiful day is the U2 tribute band that's playing at an Irish pub across the street tonight.   I'm loving Dubai this week!  

New Words

The best thing about meeting people from different countries is learning new words.  My favorites all come from my kiwi co-teacher and her lovely friend, Nicole, who teaches kindergarten.

togs = bathing suit

Let me just grab my togs, and off to the beach we'll go!

jandals = sandals

My jandals are filled with sand!

duck = crazy drivers

(After someone tries to kill us with their car, which happens daily)... What a duck!

I think you should try working these words into your daily conversations.  Your friends will totally be impressed :)

If you ever move to Dubai...

... and have the option to take a furnished apartment or housing allowance, choose the furnished apartment!

Renting in Dubai is a nightmare.  NIGHTMARE.  We heard it was bad, but nothing can prepare you for how bad it really is.  When we got our jobs, we had the option to take a furnished apartment in a place called Discovery Gardens.  It's nice and most of the other teachers live there, but it's kind of out there on its own and after watching House Hunters International, we decided we wanted to live in the Dubai Marina.  We naively thought we'd be able to find a place in a few days or a week at the most, you know, like the people on House Hunters, but it took 5 looooooooooong weeks to get a place of our own.  Here are a few of our least favorite things about renting in Dubai...

1.  You have to pay for the entire year in advance.  Bam, 12 months of rent right up front.  Who has that kind of money???  Some landlords are nice and will let you pay in two checks, but that's still asking for a lot of money.   I think most Americans would try to get a loan and pay it back monthly, but we couldn't even do that because our visas are still processing, we still don't have UAE bank accounts, we have no idea when they'll be ready, and they don't take American checks.  Basically, you either have to move here with a big company who takes care of all of this for you, have at least $20,000 ready to hand over, or be prepared to wait a very long time.

2.  Agents are pretty skeezy.  Some are really great, but the vast majority of them are only there to make money.  They lie, show up late, and waste your time by showing you things you specifically do not want, and I'm not actually sure why we need them anyway because it seems like they don't do very much.  One agent raised the price of the apartment we wanted by 10,000 dirhams in one night.  We saw it Tuesday night, went back Wednesday afternoon to make sure we still liked it, and when we said yes, we want it, it was magically 10,000 more.  Um, no thanks.  Luckily we found an agent we trusted, but even then, the process is almost unbearable.

3.  Nothing is ever ready when they say it will be.  Our apartment is in a brand new building, so new that half the units are still being rented.  You'd think everything would be working when you move into a new building, but our hot water didn't work, one of the drains in the bathroom emitted an awful stale water odor that filled our apartment, and a light has already gone out.  When we called about the hot water, they said, "Oh yes, yes, we will send someone up right away."  Two hours later... "Oh yes, yes, we will send someone up right away."  Two hours later... "Oh yes, yes, we will send someone up right away."  Two hours later... "Oh yes, yes, we will send someone up right away."  Yeah... sure... Same thing for the drain.   Luckily our apartment is "chiller free" which means we don't pay for air conditioning, so we've been leaving the balcony door open while the a/c runs so we can air out the stink.

Speaking of things not being ready when they're supposed to be, the car company did the same thing with our rental.  They finally showed up on our fourth scheduled appointment (after I harassed them with phone calls for two days) and only because I said I was canceling my order and going with a different company.  Then when they did show up, it was the wrong contract, and they argued with me for 30 minutes in the sweaty hot sun before they finally gave me what we agreed on... which saved us 1,000 dirhams.  I felt good about that one.  It sharpened my bargaining skills for the souks :)

Here's our building, Bay Central.  We're in the one on the left.  Kelly, my co-teacher, moved into the tower on the right, so it's extra convenient for carpooling and having fun in the marina :)

Now that we're in our own space, we LOVE it and are super glad we chose to take the housing allowance, but waiting and waiting and waiting for something that you think will never come is agonizing.  We finally have the Internet.  We have a bed, nightstands, a couch and a few dishes, and our washer/dryer is being delivered on Monday, so we're getting there.  The advantage of not taking the furnished apartment is we get to pick everything out, which will help it feel more like home.  And it's a-m-a-z-i-n-g waking up in the marina!  I've never lived in a place like this.  If only we had a couple kitties snuggling on the couch, everything would be perfect...

Kitty Soulmates

Not everything in Dubai is peachy.  I miss the kitties terribly.  When we left Colorado at the end of July, Jessica and Hunter offered to take care of the kitties until we could fly them to Dubai.  We originally thought that would be the end of August (when we got our own apartment), but it's almost the end of September, we just moved into our own place (thank God!) and the kitties are still in Denver.  The apartment hunt was a nightmare, but finding a place that allowed cats was one of our top priorities.  The agent told us it was no problem, but when it was time to move in, the contract said no pets.  I was working, and Casey was desperate to get into our own place so he signed it.  I don't blame him and would have done the same thing because the rental process here is exhausting and frustrating and l-o-n-g and who knows when we would have found another place.  We thought maybe we could just sneak them in, but it's not like Denver where you can just pay an extra pet fee.  I'm pretty sure they'd ship the cats back to America if they found out we had them, and it's too expensive and hard on the kitties to put them through all of that stress if we're not sure they can stay.  I'm not a crazy cat lady, but I love my kitties as much as any human and selfishly wanted them here with me as my little piece of home. 

Thank God for Jessica and Hunter!  They're kitty-loving angels sent from heaven to take care of our loves.  They are giving them the best foster home we could ever ask for until we can find a more permanent place for them.  They built a blanket fort for Owen to hide in, take Leon to the vet every two weeks until his freaking leg heals, pet him under his mega cone so his skin doesn't go raw, and give them lots of love and cuddles.  Frankie's even warming up to them.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of my sweet boys:

Leon, my first born

I miss this little nose.

My handsome cone kitty

A tiny scratch, or so we thought.  Jessica's cat, Frankie, gave Leon a little welcome scratch, which turned out to be a wound open to his ligament and veins with a kitty claw stuck inside.  It STILL hasn't healed almost two months later.  So bizarre.

Owen, the sweetest kitty there ever was

He's such a good sleeper :)

Look at that perfect profile!

One of my favorite pictures, napping with my loves

We love living here because it's giving us so many opportunities to travel and learn more about the world, but I can't wait to get home next summer so I can see my sweet boys again!

A Picture Walk Through Dubai

 It's picture overload time!  These are all the pictures that don't deserve to make it into a normal blog post, but they're hanging out on our computer, so we're putting them up anyway.  :)

 The trunk of the palm

This one's for Casey :)

One of the few nights Casey actually got to go out

Chris and I admiring the Sheikh Zayed

 I'm embarrassed to say I don't know who this is, but his face is everywhere.  I do know it's not Sheikh Mohammed... I think... Someone help me out!

Kelly enjoying her coffee at the traditional lunch

Our school organized a trip the the Sheikh Mohammed Centre, and it was a great day!

Painted by students at an alternative school for special needs

This pops up on the screens at the mall when it's time to pray.  There's something really nice about a religion that calls its followers to stop what they're doing to reflect and give thanks five times a day.

Random boat on a street corner

Our best attempt at getting the whole Burj Khalifa in one photo.  It's never going to happen.

The buildings are so pretty here!

Nicest Starbucks ever

I finally got sushi on a conveyor belt!

I think some malls in America need one of these...

 

Our favorite tea place

Our view of the marina :)

 Casey's view from his office.

If he has to work so much, at least he has something pretty to look at.

Texas Roadhouse in Dubai!  The food was slightly different, but the service was incredible.

Old school air conditioning

The fountains at the Dubai Mall.  I had a moment with a stranger from Egypt watching this show set to I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston.  The cheese factor was high, but the water was choreographed perfectly to the music and it was absolutely beautiful.

 The view from the Dubai Mall

 www.mawaheb-dubai.com

Brunch.  Not your average grandma brunch.  Brunch in Dubai is out of control - all you can eat and drink and lots of crazy expats everywhere.  It's quite an experience.

We can see a tiny sliver of beach from our balcony - woot!

The Sheikh Zayed

Pretty old roads

We like it here.  I think we'll stay for a while :)

Camels, Desert and Automatic Weapons

The day before we started work, Chris, our generous tour guide, showed us another amazing time and took us way out in the boonies for our first peek at desert life.  I cannot tell you how exciting it is to see a camel while you're driving down the highway!  We stopped for a few pictures on our way to lunch in Hatta, which is on the other side of the border from Oman.  There's one tiny little piece of Oman that is completely enclosed by the UAE, and the security going through that border is no joke.  Machine gun clad security officers greet you at the checkpoint, and it's so intimidating you almost feel like you've done something wrong and will be carted off to a desert dungeon at any moment.  I've never been that close to a machine gun and desperately wanted to take a picture, but I'm sure that could land me in jail. 

Once we got past the checkpoint, it was a lovely afternoon in the desert.  Here are our pics:

Don't be fooled by the cardigan and scarf - it was HOT!

 (Isn't it weird to see power lines in the desert?) 
This guy was hiding behind a bush and slowly crept out to eat from another bush...

 

He's a cute little guy.  The owners tie the camel's front legs together with a hobble (I think that's what it's called), which is also the same thing the men wear around their heads to keep the guthra in place. The animal lover in me didn't like it at first, but they can still walk pretty well, and most veterinarians won't treat camels who haven't been hobble trained, so I guess it's okay. :)

Chris brought carrots for the camels, but they weren't very interested.

Desert donkeys!  

We're learning something new every day!

Camel crossing :)

Lunch in Hatta!

 They must spend a fortune on landscaping to get this much grass to grow in the desert.

I wanted to jump the fence and run up the sand hill, but the sand was hot, hot, hot!

 

Isn't it beautiful??  Can't wait to see the desert at night!