6 days and I'm Rama-DONE!

I've now been in Dubai for 6 whole days. Overall, it's been great fun. Most of you probably already got my e-mails (pre-blogger status) so you know what's up.



After 6 days, things like Sheik Zayed Road and Al Safa Park and Umm Suquiem are starting to sound strangely normal. In fact, life seems oddly "normal" - aside from the living in a hotel out of suitcases, Arabs all around, lack of hearing American-English, etc.


Thankfully, there's another American here - Crissy, from NY. Technically she's my boss but since we're both trying to learn the lay of the land and happen to be living at the same hotel, she doubles as my new best friend! We get on well and she's quite social which is good. We've both been making contact with anyone and everyone people have offered up (so if you know anyone in Dubai who's around my age and wants new friends, feel free to e-mail contacts!) and have also been hanging out with the other new girl, Mila, from the Philippines.


So far, I've had quite the full life - several trips to the malls - I've reverted to a 16-year-old. It seems that's really all there is to do during the day here. Went to an Iftar (breaking of Ramadan fast) BBQ at some Brit's house, ended up at the Irish Village which is this totally manufactured village with a bunch of irish pubs halfway to Sharjah (which I've learned is the next Emirate north). I believe Dubai is right in between Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. Will revert back on that later once I have confirmation.....not that anyone really cares. Anyhow, went there to watch the Rugby World Cup. There are two huge malls - Mall of the Emirates (affectionally now called MoE) and Ibn Battuta who was a famous explorer or something. Good fun at the malls.....(can you sense the sarcasm?) but again, really not much else to do during the days of Ramadan. The malls are open, and the limited food places are open, but serve meals behind curtains. We don't really eat or drink in the office because the 4 "local" girls we work with are all fasting.


Speaking of the 4 girls, work is interesting. We are now a team of 7 girls. A New Yorker, a Chicagoan, a Philipino, an Egyptian (Lobna), Saudi(Mayada), Jordanian(Lama) and an Indian(Zeeba)girl. For you work friends, Dubai media is completely nuts. I'll elaborate but the rest of you non-media folk should just read-on. This will get boring. It's pretty nuts, there's really no "real" rating system and spots are not really negotiated by ratings (nor are those ratings guaranteed). Measurement here is all still by manual diary. And non-Arab expats don't count. I feel very slighted but....apparently my eyeballs just don't matter. Anyhow, I'm working on Snickers, M&Ms, Twix, etc. I finally have "real" accounts! yeah for me! (starcom-er's - you know what I'm talking about; if anyone from Supercuts ever gets their hands on this, I loved working on your business! ;-) I've got sponsorships on Al Jazeera Sports which I'll just have to get used to the sound of and apparently Showtime is big here, but it's not the same as Showtime in the states.


Sorry, I digressed. So it is Ramadan...for another 18 days but who's counting. It really kind of sucks when you're completely jet-lagged, can't wake up at normal hours, your internal clock is totally off and when you do wake up during daylight, everything is closed because the Muslims are fasting. I've inadvertantly been fasting because I can't seem to time meals right. There's breakfast at the hotels, but I'm quickly tiring of baked beans, hard-boiled eggs and beef bacon. Yes beef bacon. Pork products are hard to come by here. Anyhow, mostly life is good. I had my first dip in the Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea Sunday night after work (yes, Sunday after work). The sun sets here around 630 and once the heat of the sun is gone, although the air's still warm, it's "cool" enough to enjoy the warmth of the water which is like a bath.

Anyhow, that's kind of it for right now I think. Basically, just trying to get my bearings, find a home and settle in.

Hope all is equally sunny at home!

Miss you all lots!