Q&A

Q: How is the heat?

Just peachy. Lately we have been reaching 35 during the day. This is much nicer than the 42 degree weather we have previously experienced. We are learning our heat lessons – slowly. Limit/no outdoor activities between 10am and 4pm. Park in the shade or in the parkade, and don’t leave your sunglasses on the dash of the car (HOT). 

Q: Is Andrea getting big?

Depends on your angle. Most of the time I get comments on how “compact” I look. Most people are shocked when I tell them that I’m 71/2 – 8 months pregnant. I think it’s because everything else has grown along with the belly J.

Q: Do people use their horn in Dubai?

Not as frequently as we thought they would. Horns are used:

• when a car does not move within 1/1000 seconds of a light turning green
  
• when traffic is stopped for an unknown reason. We always laugh at this one because the “honker” is usually a vehicle that is 20 cars behind us.
  
• when someone is meandering all over the road and about to hit another vehicle.
  

Q: Can we send you stuff?

Unfortunately no. We are trying to get a P.O. box, but it is an extremely slow process. There are P.O. numbers for post offices around the city, which is a possibility. But we are told that the mail system is not the MOST reliable that way (big surprise).

Q: What have you been up to?

Who knows? Work, pre-natal classes, coffee dates, golfing (AT NIGHT - driving range and little par 3 courses with flood lights), swimming, going to the gym and general touring around.

Q: Does your golf swing get better when you’re pregnant?

Taken from our last outing - yes, no, yes, yes, no, yes, no, no, no, no, yes.

Q: How long does it take HSBC to courier your ATM cards?

We set up the account when we first arrived in March. They told us it would take 5 working days…..10 phone calls and 100 emails later we are still waiting.

Some pictures -  

p.s.

Writing this made me think of my friend Janet. I followed her tour around the world in 2006/2007 through her amazing and humorous writing. You really need to read this post she wrote from India.

http://sybarites.studiosciences.ca/travel/2006/12/08/ask-janetji/

Living Space

Thought you might like to see where we're living. We will most likely be here until the end of November. We will definitely make some changes when our stuff arrives at the end of this month. Not sure where we'll put everything - thankfully I like puzzles and have inherited some excellent packing/organizing genes (thanks M&D). So far the plan is to stay in Dubai until the end of November and then move to Abu Dhabi some time in December. That is the latest anyway.... 

A view from the front door 

View of kitchen from couch (please excuse the mess to the left)

Back patio/ sun bake area

View out back gate. The "nanny gang" takes over the place every day around 5pm. 

Speed Racer

Last week I tried my hand at some Formula 1 style racing.   I don't think you would find anything like this in Canada, where they strap you into a single seater that is capable of 220 km/hr.   Unfortunately Andrea  was not able to take part, although I know she would have been a natural at it.  It was over just as we got comfortable with the speeds and the cornering, only 20 minutes on the track.  The pace cars took us in groups of 3, following in single file.  The pace car would increase their speed with ever lap, as we try to keep up paddling through the gears.  The Audi would squeal around the corners, and show us the best line to take.  We were able to get up to speeds of about 160 km/hr to 180 km/h.  Hard to tell, there were no speedometers in the car.  Just the paddle shifter and pedals.  The most surprising was how these cars could corner.  A couple of the guys had them going sideways in some spots.  It was a lot of fun, and would certainly do it again. Certainly a new appreciation for the real drivers out on the track for 3 hours!  

The Race Suit - kind of fit me like adult size Underoos.  Not quite the one piecer Sven Bag from the ski hill.  

The Pace Cars - the professional drivers were in the Audi TT's, and these guys could drive.  They would pace three racers at a time around the course.  Andrea was more impressed watching these guys screech around the corners.

Strapped in.
The car 

Gold Souk

Bruce and I visited the Gold Souk in Old Dubai. At first we weren't sure we were going to 
see anything because the parking situation was ridiculous. Picture Market Mall at Christmas time and then add a bazillion more cars. There were at least 6 cars down every parking lane, driving slowly with their hazards on in hopes of spotting someone returning to their car.  We decided to take a page out of the Golden Ski Hill-creative-parking-technique and found ourselves somewhere to park (not entirely legal). 

The souk itself was quite fascinating. Instantly we were approached by random people advertising a "back room" with rolexes, and louis vuitton purses...all real of course.  The jewelry was beautiful, lots and lots of gold. there were also pearls and many many varieties of stones. 

GBF

THE GOOD

• Sunny weather
  
• Lots of neat restaurants and bars to visit. We were invited to a birthday party at the Buddha Bar. - here is the link http://www.buddha-bar.com/new/en/buddha_db_galerie1.php

A  picture of a rooftop bar that we visited this week. 

• Meeting quite a few friendly people. I think many residents here are used to transient friendships so they are willing to meet new people and provide helpful Dubai hints and useful information. 
• Where we are living has lots of greenery and flowers. Very pretty (images to come next time). 

THE BAD

• The only way to get reliable information is word of mouth - the Internet does nothing for you here.
• Addresses don't really exist and directions often involve something like "turn left at the mosque and we're by the circular white building." 
• Waking up to beautiful sunshine only to find out that it is 36 degrees outside. This leaves one with hands (and belly) pressed up against the window wondering if it's worth venturing outside for a sweaty/exhausting adventure.
• The mosquito (and perhaps friends) who found me last night and left my legs looking like I have chicken pox...stupid bugs. Bruce of course does not have ONE bite...stupid bugs.

THE FUNNY

·      The phrase “I don’t know” is not part of the vocabulary. People will cheerfully give you exactly the wrong information or directions instead of telling you they don’t know. Bruce and I have had several funny/frustrating adventures following these “instructions.”  I now find a way to ask the same question 3 different ways so I can find out if an individual really knows what they are talking about. Sometimes it’s a language barrier and sometimes its the desire to tell you anything other than the fact that they may not know the answer. 

A couple of random images: 

One is the mood inspiring artwork in our old hotel apartment. The other is some friends that we found guarding our door the other evening. Bruce kept saying "look at the size of that moth" (it was approx. the size of my palm). We watched to see if the lizard was going to attempt to eat the moth...no go.