it's every where you want to go.

- gas to and from Deira City Center for chu.ch........ $2.50 USD
- classic polka dot silky shirt from Gap circa 2003........ $19.99 USD
- celebratory Starbucks beverages for me and Gloria..........$12.00 USD
- holding the pastor's snoring, one-year-old baby
during the first service of Redeemer....... priceless


she fell asleep minutes later. too bad that wasn't documented.

diversity.

have i told yall that this place is more diverse than NYC? i mean i have met people from california, south carolina, dc, tennesee, kentucky, amarillo, pennsylvania, houston, et cetera.

ok so you think that doesnt sound too diverse. i understand. how about some south africans, a few aussies, some brits, indians- (dot not feather), someone from papa new guinea, a sri lankan, and a local emirate. ok so its not like there are people here representing every single country in the world or anything, but the thing is that i have never in my life been around so many people that i might as well call friends who are not american. ok ok ok . i realize i have never lived outside the US, but give me a break. i thought i would come over here, and be around a bunch of people who were working here from the US. i mean sadly mistaken i am not sure of, but mistaken none the less.

it does make much more sense that all these people from countries at least on this side of the world would be living here. this is basically the NYC on the eastern hemisphere. as far as i can tell so far. lots of people come here to work and live. it is an exciting place to be, and it is pretty fun to live here. there are somethings that aren't quite like a well oiled machine, but with time possibly. or not, possibly- under the cultural circumstances.

so one of the guys who is on staff for the ch.rch was in our kitchen the other morning as we were talking about coffee over coffee, he says this, " I think the only reason white people drink coffee is because they all secretly want to be black." i think it is funny that an indian guy would make that comment. everybody gotta be hatin' on the white people. but lets be honest here- i could use a little color in my life.

for new yorkers appreciation.

or cupcake connoisseurs who know what magnolia is. b/c with a brand new bloomingdale's in the dubai mall- the biggest mall in the world- comes a wonderful entity.

day in the life

it is 66* and we are sleeping with the windows open tonight. love it.

hello. this blog post is here to serve the general public by informing them of what my life in dubai really equates to at this current point in time.

daily cast:
Dave- head of house. head of new ch.rch.
Gloria- madam of house. married to dave.
YaYa- 2.75 yr old girl.
Norah- 3days away from 1yr old baby girl.
Katie- partner in crime. master of the kitchen.
and
Dr. Washam- not really a doctor. grounds keeper kind of. dave's PA.
so five adults and 2 little children all on the second floor of the villa.

sunday is like monday here in the UAE and things that happen on sunday in the US happen on friday here. it is slightly confusing at times, but we are getting used to it slowly. so the week starts on sundays, katie and i have off til 4pm. then we make dinner. then we have a family meeting. then we really start on mondays. grocery day, yaya has preschool in the am, we also give kids naps, we clean the villa, we plan meals, we make lists, and we cross things off lists. there are always people at the villa for meetings, or dinner engagements or pop-ins. we have thus far had about 5 dinner parties of various sizes since we have been in the villa. katie and i do the cooking and prepping for house guests. we set tables, mop floors, iron placemats, empty dishwashers, fold hand towels, make lattes, make cookies, bathe children, swish potties. we do it all. we all work together that is for sure. everyone is busy, and it is amazing that with 5 adults working more than 40 hours/week/person there is still always something more to do.

then we have weekends!!!!!!!!!!!!! we get off on thursday about 1pm and have thursday night off. then we are also off all day saturday. so far here are somethings we have done during our free time.
1) internet at other people's houses.
2) global village- ebcot meets county fair...but worse.
3) dinner with people outside of the villa.
4) shopping for watches. i bought a watch.
5) going to the desert.

6) going to renew our visa.
7) going to dinner on the creek.
8) riding an abra- a boat with no ledges or railings, to cross the creek. i didn't even scream when two boats almost ran into each other and i was on one of the boats.
9) going to the gold souk-market.
10) walking to uptown mirdiff (the mockingbird station of our hood)
11) doing yoga in our room. once.
12) experiencing heritage village. a place where locals go to see how their grandparents used to survive.
13) eating a much craved burger.
14) doing calculations of dirhams to dollars.
15) considering mastering the public transit.

that should do it. there are more things that we have seen and done, and more details of some of the above items. there is only so much i can say however to open up the window to my current world. in truth there are many aspects that you will never even begin to understand, and many other things i wouldn't dare try to muster up enough strength to explain. overall life here is good. adjusting well, and way over jetlag. it is so odd to me that i am here going to bed, and my friends on gchat haven't even left for lunch. but i guess that is what happens when you live half way around the world....

i'll leave you with this.

burj update.

it was alright. i mean i tend to set myself up with great expectations only to be let down, i don't know when i will master the art of low expectations and then being delightfully surprised. so i mean i am sure yall wouldn't have been disappointed in the seven star hotel, because you probably wouldn't have expected it to be tremendously more amazing than say...the plaza hotel or something so lowly as such. anyway this is my over all description of the burj al arab. have you ever been to that Grand Lux restaurant near the Galleria in Dallas? It is the upscale version of Cheesecake Factory? Well it is slightly gaudy, with high ceilings, overdone light fixtures and high-backed chairs. it is pretty. but too much, not very classy per se. more garish than anything. and so this is what i have chosen to use as my pictoral relation to the burj. i mean there are neat things about it, each floor is a different color when you look up, and it creates a spectrum in the blue, green, yellow range. there are themes through out related to earth wind and fire. there is lots of gold and red. there are expensive diamonds and other beautiful jewels to look at. we went to the top to look out over the palm. that was neat, but we couldn't get very far to see much other than from the glass elevator. we had no view in the salon, and i was hugely disappointed by that. but i am over the disappointment, i am just glad we got to go.

highlights: checking burj al arab off my list, taking picture with bell hop in "cultural dress", looking through the extravagant menu books, taking lexus "cab" home back to the burbs.

pictures/proof


sheikh sheikh sheikh.


awkward.


me and the burj

ps the mani/pedi was mediocre and that story is for another day. they just better be glad they at least offered me coffee.

*******

the only seven star hotel in the world in located in dubai. i am going there on sunday for a mani/pedi. for free.

evelyn is getting me in. she was filling in for another girl at a different salon we went to yesterday. there was a miscommunication, being that everyone speaks different languages, so fully understanding english can be challenging even though it is the staple form of communication. amber and i were supposed to use this buy one get one free mani/pedi coupon on wednesday, however when we showed up to this place there was one chair for a pedicure, and one girl to give it, so since amber lives out of town i let her go on wednesday and i planned on going back on sunday. when we were leaving the girl tells us in her broken english that i can come see her on sunday at the burjalarab- she said it all pushed together like that, and i didn't understand, but then it hit me.... Amber! she is saying she actually works at the Burj Al Arab, and since she will be there on sunday we can use the second mani/pedi there instead of here! ....does that make sense to you readers? basically it comes down to this. seven star hotel that they don't just let anyone into to roam around, and katie and i are on the security list for sunday at 11am. traveling via taxi. oh yes.

and the best part is that amber and i were totally bummed out that we weren't getting to have our mani/pedi together, and that i was going to have to come back on my own on my day off. all lonely like. but NOW! the bummer turns out to be the bomb. yes. thats right. anyway amber put it all in great perspective with the small things that turn out to be disappointing, but then God clearly has alternate plans, in this case a very fun unnecessary sugar on top bonus. the cheapest way to get into the burj al arab is a $60 cup of coffee. so you see why this is kind of a fun deal. there are alot of people who have lived here for years and have never been inside this hotel, and we have been here for 3 weeks and are headed straight to the 18th floor!

in other news. we have no internet still. katie and i are sitting at a coffee shop called central perk. oh friends. the chu.ch starts next friday, and we have one more launch meeting tomorrow, and we are excited we actually get to go to this meeting this week. we have been getting into a schedule, and have had brady and amber in town which has been fun staying up too late talking. we are going to their town this saturday to update our visas. we have to exit and reenter the country monthly for our visit visa. i think that is all i have time for now. i am going to post before i get kicked off. sorry for the lack of edit. not enough time for that.