Eid Mubarak

So I guess this blog will double as elementary Arabic. Eid Mubarak means Happy Eid. Eid Al Fitr is the official end of the holy month of Ramadan. Yippee!! Now while in the Western world, we’re used to knowing when our holidays will be, here everything is based on the moon, so it all just depends on the “Moon Sighting Committee” (no that is not a joke). I read in my new daily paper The Gulf News this morning (which in actuality was last Friday) that last night, the “UAE Moon Sighting Committee” officially declared that today is Eid. Up until then, it could’ve been anytime between Friday and Sunday. Apparently in Oman, Eid will not be until tomorrow because the moon set before the sun yesterday (Thursday) so they could not see the new moon and formally declare it Eid. What??? Don’t ask me exactly what that means. The best thing about Eid, as mentioned in the last entry is that we get a couple days off so no work Sunday or Monday! Now the pathetic thing is normally, I’d be all over a holiday. But right now, really what that means is I now have 4 whole days to figure out how to entertain myself. Consider the fact that I live in a hotel and have two people I can call to hang out, the prospect of a long weekend is a little daunting.

This last week, we’ve been partaking in the Ramadan tradition of “Iftar” buffets. Translation: stuffing your face until you can’t move and then eating some more. At least, that’s how we Americans did it! Monday, we went to the Dubai Marine Resort for Iftar. In hindsight, we learned that it’s one of the more romantic restaurants of Dubai. Tuesday night, we went to the Sheraton Iftar. Now this was perfect….if only we’d had dates. Very romantic setting, sitting right on the beach, locals smoking shisha in these very quintessential-Arab looking tents, people riding camels on the beach, waves crashing…..really nice. We ended up spending about 5 hours there. Would’ve been perfect if we could’ve had a glass of wine with it all but….While the setting was quite pretty, I have to say the “highlight” of the evening was the cuisine. Probably the craziest thing I’ve tried since I’ve been here – lamb brain. Can’t say I liked it and I’ll attach a picture as soon as I can, but when in Rome….



The weekend started with more villa-searching (the week consisted of lots of that too). Still homeless and getting booted from “Number One Tower Suites” – my home-away-from-home – in a week. Hopefully, will find the right situation soon though. I’m hoping to find a villa share with other western expats, but those are hard to come by. And apparently villas are meant to be for families only and the government has been cracking down on expats getting together to rent villas and actually kicking them all out of their homes when caught so….not sure where that leaves me. Will probably end up in the concrete jungle of Dubai Marina.

After that, last night (Thursday), I went to an American Women’s Association “meeting” with Crissy. Translation: wine and cheese for 4 hours, gabbing with North American Expats. You’d think the AMERICAN WOMEN’S Association would be comprised of American Women (call me crazy) however, there were men present, not to mention Canadians as well! In true Dubai fashion, I guess that’s just another instance where anything goes. Anyhow, met some great people, and a few “socialite” types that I can’t really relate too, but all in all, it was good networking. Not really my idea of a fun social night, but like I said, met a couple people that will be fun to hang out with hopefully.

After a late night out, half of Friday was wasted sleeping in. But we did get to do a little exploring. We went to Dubai Festival City. Sounds kinda interesting and fun doesn’t it? Everything here is a “city” – I work in Dubai Media City which borders Dubai Internet City, then there’s Healthcare City and Industrial City…..and the list goes on. Anyhow, Festival City was a bit of a disappointment. It’s really an IKEA and drumroll please….yet another upscale shopping mall. My question? Where’s the GAP? I can’t afford to shop at Marc Jacobs and Lacoste and Ferragamo etc. And while those seem to be in every single mall, not a GAP to be found. How many designer shops/branches does one city need? I’ve since heard a GAP did open in City Center though so I’ve breathed my sigh of relief.

Most of the weekend was spend either searching for a home, in a restaurant, bar or mall, watching rugby. Well done England….on to the finals. I’ve learned from the countless Brits here that if England wins, they’ll be the first to win back-to-back World Cup trophies. Out of loyalty to my favorite brother-in-law, I’ll be cheering for England this weekend (not to mention, out of fear for my life if I dare to go out and watch the match and root against England).

Monday, we tried for a bit of culture. My Chicago friend recommended this art gallery called Green Art Gallery so we ventured out to check it out. It was actually just around the corner from our hotel so there was no repeat of the first art gallery search. (reference the previous blog entry if you haven’t read that story yet). It’s actually has a very good reputation and had some really great work so that was pleasant. Seems most locally run shops/galleries/restaurants/etc. keep Spain time – meaning they work until about 1 or 2pm, take a 2-3 hr break (siesta) and then come back to work until 7 or 8pm. Wish our office was like that….

Afterwards, we went on a scavenger hunt for a bookstore for Crissy to get a new book. I haven’t been reading much so I did what I normally do in a bookstore….peruse tabloids. There’s a point to this story….I’m getting there. So, as Crissy was searching for a new read, I read OK! Magazine. Finished that magazine and moved onto Hello! Magazine. If you’re not familiar with these titles, they’re basically like US Weekly or In Touch in the States. Anyhow…more flipping through pictures of famous people - Prince William, Elizabeth Hurley, page turn, and me! It seems our company’s Suhoor (another Ramadan eating thing) made the “Dubai Lifestyle” pages of Hello Magazine. I’m not gonna lie….it was kind of fun to see myself, name and all in tabloid/gossip mag of the Middle East!

Anyhow….so that was probably one of the highlights of my weekend (okay, I admit it, it was the highlight of my weekend). But another high point was our discovery of backgammon. At most Lebanese restaurants around here, you’ll find people smoking shisha, having a soda and playing card games or backgammon. In an attempt to blend, I had shisha and Crissy and I “played” backgammon. I use the quotes only because we’re not really sure if we were actually playing backgammon, or some random game using a backgammon board. I’ve never played so…..whatever we were playing, it was fun. Our low-key, quick-bite dinner turned into 4 hrs of backgammon! (if anyone out these knows the real rules to backgammon, do share!)

Anyhow, I’m signing off now. It’s 10pm Tuesday night. I just re-read the blog, am too lazy to edit and have kind of bored myself so….sorry if I ramble endlessly. Off to try to sleep…still haven’t fully adjusted to the time zone (and it probably doesn’t help that we don’t get in on weekend nights until 3-4am) so….’night!