To Home and Back...Home

Back home in Iowa with my brother and his lovely lady!

And we are back in action.  E and I made our way to the states for Turkey day and got some much needed family time along with my two most important creature comforts: chipotle and target.  Yepp, those are the two things that I miss the most (barring family and friends obvi!).  My biggest fear at the end of the trip was that I would not want to return back to the concrete jungle of Dubai.  But after staying with two lovely ladies and enjoying their homes I was anxious to get back and attempt to "homify" our apartment.

Electrifying!

First order of business was to assemble Christmas in our Middle East apartment.  I must admit though, and my last roomie will attest, I tend to be a bit of a grinch when it comes to decorating.  I think that is because I logged so many hours at my last job that I really never even got to properly celebrate Christmas or even be home, but not this year.  We went to the local grocery store/Walmart type outlet and scooped up a 4 foot fakie and some plastic ornaments.  The biggest obstacle was to find lights, a tree skirt, and a topper.  I can tell you a week later we now have outdoor icle lights draping our tree (and E negotiated 60% off of those bad boys so we made them work!), a tree skirt that was meant for a table cloth but some scissors and I got to work and viola, and still no topper but two little love birds are perched up there.  It is a bit eclectic and the lights are practically electric that I do believe planes have been distracted by them flying over, but we are celebrating darn it.  Today I scooped up some yummy candles and E bought pine scented air freshener, which we dowsed our tree in to make it a bit more authentic.  We are two crafty kids.

A view from JBR beach, it looks like a postcard!

I have hit my 6 month anniversary and Dubai is starting to be more like a home to me.  I cannot really claim myself as a newbie any longer.  Dubai has some absolutely amazing things to offer, but one thing it is truly lacking is a sense of community. Yesterday E and I participated in the Dubai Creek Striders Half Marathon and I felt that community a bit more.  Races always seem like a place were there is a kinship and bond amongst strangers.  It was a huge feat for me and it was nice to run along 1500 people, watch the sun rise of the Burj Dubai, and run through the souks of old town Dubai.   I never, ever thought, I would run a half marathon, but not only did I complete it but ran the entire way!  That was really my goal.  I am  fighting some soreness today, definitely proud of us, but not running (ha!) out to do another one any time soon.

So we have gone home and come back home in the last few weeks.  How nice it is to have two homes and appreciate living life in such opposite spectrums.  

A Very Dubai Birthday

You can see how much fun we are all having....
yes those are birds on my dress.

One of the things that I have noticed amongst fellow expats is that it is a very open community.  To some degree it is a all for one mentality and people are more open than you would find back in the states or the UK.  I recently celebrated my birthday and I must say I really felt like I had a little family out here in Dubai.  We did a classic Dubai ritual and hightailed out to a brunch.  Now, I have not been exposed to the world of brunching before but out here every friday, in every hotel, it is an all you can eat, all you can drink frenzy, dressed up in your finest duds and with 100 of your closest friends.  Well you are not all friends at the start but by the end every one is pretty much your bestie.  We had a group of 15 and I must say it was an absolute blast. 

As for the day of my Birthday my precious E out did himself.  He made dinner reservations and picked me up at 8:00, as he was coming back from the island a day early than usual to celebrate (he better have!).  We hailed a cab and I rode in suspense as he was completely mum on our final destination.  About 20 minutes later we pulled up to The Fairmont Hotel and had an amazing dinner at Spectrum on One, fit with a Happy Birthday serenade by a very off key Philipino and Indian wait staff.  

Then we hit up ye ole Cavalli Club, which is touted as the place to go in Dubai.  The stairway to the club was covered in enough purple velvet and rhinestones to make one vomit, but hey that's the Arab way.  Walking into the main room the place was decked out with crystal chandleries amongst the purple back drop and it was quite the people watching scene.  I think I saw Marilyn Monroe!  We ordered the most expensive martinis of our lives, enjoyed the the good company and called it a night.  It was absolutely perfect mix of the Dubai scene and spending time with my amazing boy.  I woke up the next morning wishing to relive it all.

It truly was a great Birthday and I am so grateful for this experience, the opportunities to come, and all the people I have met.

I just this this is a keeper, I have my
birthday girl badge on!

   

My First Haircut

Dubai is a land of delivery.  Any food under the sun will be brought to your door in 45 minutes or less.  Maids can be hired and will show up knocking on your door step to deliver you a clean house.  You need a cup of sugar, we do not knock on the our neighbor's door, no we call the local grocery store to run us up sack of sugar.  Last week I had my most favorite delivery yet...a haircut.  I have been putting it off for a good six months, scared to try anyone new.  The stigma over here is that where ever you show up they will give you the same cookie cutter haircut the last five girls had.  I was passed a number with good recommendations made the call or text rather (Everything over here is also often done by text) and the response was would you like to come to the salon or me come to your house?  I was a bit puzzled, do I want her to come to my house?  That seems a bit of a project, the house is not visitor ready as the maid is not scheduled till the next weekend (gosh could I be anymore spoiled) but I thought why not come on over.

The next day at 7:00 pm on the dot there she was, my pink haired, UK sprite of a hair dresser knocking on my door to trim my tresses.  It was a no frills process as I washed my own hair, she snipped away and viola, 45 minutes later I had a much shorter, new do!  It is a great deal for these girls or guys, because think how low their overheads are and she just got to walk away from the hairy mess.  I hoovered up a good 4-5 inches of my red locks and admired the ease of and the convenience my new haircut and thought how great is life in Dubai!