Another episode of Lost?

If you cannot read the law (because it is in Arabic), does that mean it doesn’t apply to you? The Ministry of Justice just announced they want to improve transparency in the United Arab Emirates by translating the laws into English. Personally I think this is a fantastic idea. I will now be able to read the parking tickets I get and actually learn what I did wrong.

All laws passed since the founding of the UAE in 1971 will be translated and posted on the web but the idea is to eventually make it available by subscription only. Surely this must mean that if I select not to subscribe, I won’t have to obey?

Our boys stepped out of the Sandbox for Easter and had a fantastic experience – Aidan in India and Hunter in Oman. The Dubai International Academy arranged a 9-day trip to the foothills of Himalaya and Aidan participated as part of The Duke of Edinburgh Award (high school community service and charity). The group of 18 students started their adventure in Delhi and went to the Taj Mahal for a day. Then they journeyed 290 km on a train north into the hills where they stayed at three different safari camps at various altitudes and locations, arranged by Snow Leopard Adventure Group. For three days they endured a “survivor course” and were left on their own, in groups of four, to manage their own tent camp and food preparation from raw materials they bought at a local village market. It was an exercise in basic survival, planning and cooking. On the 4th day a heavy and intense sand storm came through the camp very suddenly and apparently left little of the safari tents behind. Aidan told us the food and kitchen tents were uprooted and the heavy wood and metal poles flew everywhere. They all had to evacuate to the nearest village and Aidan thought that was the most exciting day of the entire trip (as only he would!!) My laundry room for days had the resemblance of a male locker room with fine silicon sand all over. The stench was beyond describable. We can safely conclude that Aidan will in fact be OK when le leaves for college next year!

Nature walks, trekking through the hills, rafting on the Ganges River, were just a few of the fantastic experiences the students had.

Meanwhile, Hunter went on a Geography camping trip to Musandam Peninsula, Oman. It’s a small enclave of Oman on the Strait of Hormuz, which is surrounded by the UAE, and cut off from the rest of Oman. The area is known for its beautiful, rugged and rocky terrain, which also remarkably has a lot of green fertile land and loads of Acacia trees. Most of the small villages can only be reached from the sea; there are no roads through the mountains. The rugged coastline looks very much like Norway’s glacier shaped fjords; however this coast was shaped by the movement of the Earth’s crust.

Hunter and a group of fellow students spent two nights camping and a full day on a Dow, sailing in an area where dolphins are known to play. He told us they saw over 20 dolphins while they sailed around in the bay. Not to be different from any other teen who has ever been on a school trip, Hunter proudly participated in nightly shenanigans and came home with a shaved patch behind his ear! At least it wasn’t an eyebrow!

Winds of Change

Chicago has always been known as “The Windy City”. Dubai takes 2nd place if not, in mind opinion, first place! At first I thought it might just be a short winter phenomenon but I am getting a little tired of picking up my laundry all over the balcony floor and often the neighbors’. Perhaps it may be a good idea to invest in clothes pins, I admit, but I usually hang it over the drying rack where, in the UK, it stayed until I collected it. Not so here in Dubai. And frankly, having lost two cushions from our outdoor furniture (my eagle eyes spotted one of them from the 19th floor, in the construction site sand pit next to our building and Aidan retrieved it for me – the other one is lost for good), I think we just better get use to the Shamals because it happens every spring.

Shamals result from strong northwest winds that are funneled into the Persian Gulf by the mountains of Turkey and Iraq to the northeast and the high plains of Saudi Arabia to the southwest. The winds are most commonly strongest in the spring to summer and hence the Shamal events are as well, although they can occur at any time of year. They bring heavy sandstorms which go from the desert around the city and directly into the suburbia. It can be dangerous to get out in the Dubai prevailing wind, because it blows directly into your face and if you try to get around the area you can’t see anything at all. I think I’m dealing well with the dust and sand….considering I am really OCD about cleaning.
Winds -of change- are around us in many other ways too. The government never gives us official numbers of the outflow of foreign workers and has generally played down the extent of the migration. But it is predicted that the population of Dubai will decline by 20% this year. Our local media report that up to 50 percent of airline tickets leaving the country are just one way.
We anticipate that once school ends in June, many families will exit and never return. They are just waiting for the kids to finish exams. September will show whether that is true. The boys tell us that many of their class mates have already told them they are leaving for good.

I’ve stopped reading the daily news papers because it’s either all doom or gloom or statements that the crisis is ending. Contradicting statements do nothing for us at all. We are living our life as best we can while observing the changes around us. It is, in a way, exciting and interesting to be in a place which is changing so rapidly while nobody knows where it will end up.

Red Tide - Red Heering?

Red Tide is not always red and it has nothing to do with the tide! Luckily the red tide problems we have had in this area since August last year, now seem to be disappearing. It was worst on the Fujeira side (east - by Oman) and it did hit a lot of dive sites. But recently, red tide was spotted along Jumeirah on the Dubai side and south down by Abu Dhabi.

In full and typical Dubai newspaper style - all reports claimed that it was a "minor nuisance" and that the impact had been "minimal" - no beaches were closed and it was never officially stated that swimming could be harmful. In fact, the officials specifically said that red tide was "not harmful to humans" - I love that!! Any other research on the topic shows that people may experience respiratory irritation (coughing, sneezing, and tearing) when the red tide organism is present along a coast and winds blow its toxic aerosol onshore. Skin irritation and burning is possible in areas of high concentration of red tide. Wonderful!

The recent newspaper reports are stating that 300 tonnes of fish died and a lot of the coral reefs suffered from "bleaching". That's what I call "minimal impact" alright!! However, we are happy it is leaving and we did manage to get a day dive trip in while our friends Elaine and John were here from Illinois.

While Aidan and Hunter were away on school trips, we drove across the Mussandam Peninsula and ended up in Dippa, Oman. A quick entry through border and passport control (Aric with an expired US passport which the guards didn't catch in either direction! Phew!) and we were soon on the fast dive boat headed for the sites for the day.

It may be time to invest in upgrading our dive equipment and outfits giving that it was bought when we were Padi certified in 1989! Personally I think that our 80's pink, lime and yellow accent colors on the BCD and skinsuits never go fully out of style - kind of makes you feel like an Italian on the Alpine ski slopes - "loud, blingy and really not there to ski" - and do the fish really care?? So we decided to leave the embarrasing fashion accessories at home and opted for renting the gear at the dive shop. John and Elaine of course had the latest and greatest gear diehard sports people they are! We were well jealous! Elaine's fancy wetsuit came in handy as I needed two of them to stay warm. Guess the temps aren't quite as high in the Oman waters as on our Dubai side.

We had two great dives and saw loads of different fish, eels and colorful reefs. There was a little bit of red tide but we were deep and beneath it so it did not affect us. It was truly a wonderful day. When we sailed from the first site to the coast to have lunch we passed an old raddy dow (Arabian style boat) which was drifiting with two guys on it. Our captain yelled a whole lot of things in Arabic and the guys waved and shook their heads then yelled back. When we asked what that was all about, he told us it was an Iraqi fishing boat (obviously a little out of its territory!!) which had broken down. Did they need help? The captain said "no, they just asked for cigarettes". Makes sense if you have to kill time while waiting for assistance from Iraq!

The weather was not the greatest while our friends were here but we did do a lot of fun activities; boating, diving and even helped John and Elaine get closer to their goal of completing a half Iron-man in May. John did some open water swimming and we ran around the marina so they could get conditioned for their triathlon. I'm confident they will break every record and be ready for a full Iron-man soon!

Do NOT Dilute the Brand!!

Some things should be left alone. If it aint broke, don't fix it! Like the receipe of the original Coke. There is no classic improvement needed there, baby! And don't even think about changing the Taco Bell chicken burrito!!!

Unfortunately for the Operations Director of Taco Bell Middle East, that is exactly what was attempted in Dubai and Aric may well have saved the entire brand from being diluted and dis-respected.

My cousin Martin, his love interest Michelle and their soprano voiced daughter Deva who is 16 months (Mariah Carey would be jealous to know how high Deva's voice reaches on the scale) just stayed with us for a week of fun, sun and shopping. Michelle didn't know it upon arrival, but she soon learned that she had to hit every mall in Dubai just in case there was a different store with shoes or clothes which may be a tad cheaper than in Copenhagen. I had a conference call the day of the Taco Bell drama so I got it all second hand, but having been married to Aric for 20+ years, I can completely visualize the play-by-play which took place.

Off to Dubai Mall Aric, Martin, Michelle and Deva went and it's the only place in Dubai where Taco Bell set up shop. The kids had fore warned us that it's "just not like the US Taco Bells" - but who wants to listen when the smell of a giant bean burrito is like a sirene's seductive calling in the distant fog?

The details of the order slips my mind but let's fast forward to Aric opening his chicken burrito to add hot sauce....only to realize that there are 2-3 microscopic pieces of what might resemble chicken if you think very abstract. Back to the counter he marched and told the servers to add more chicken! Apparently the reply was something like: "Let me explain you sir..." which after several other incidents the week prior, was the straw that broke the camel's hump. Aric threw a ripe fit and told the girl to stop explaining and to add more chicken. Pretty soon the manager gets involved and Aric starts his very patriotic speech about how much chicken is on the burritoes in the US and that there is no reason why the Middle East should add any less. Wars have been known to start over less than chickens between the West and Oil rich countries, so this is turning into a very sensitive issue. Shortly after, all the other guests start opening their burritoes and realizing that they too have been cheated out of a fair portion of protein.

Aric said to the manager that if they wouldn't add more chicken they should charge less. I think that's a fair deal! The manager told the servers to make a different burrito for Aric, but he insisted that he wanted the same kind, just with more chicken as it should have!

There might have been a few more word exchanges, but let's fast forward to the General Manager of the entire Middle East Taco Bell Group getting on the phone (Aric called him) and profusely apologizing for the incident. He has asked Aric to pop in again at any time to "check the food portions" and we now have 10 coupons for free food hanging on the bulletin board in the kitchen. McDonalds can do what they want, but the Arabs better leave Taco Bell alone!!

Despite the whole incident, we had a great week with Martin, Michelle and Deva and hope more family and friends will visit soon!

Run Forrest, run!!

Many friends and colleagues told us when we arrived in Dubai that it would take a good 4-6 months before we would settle and feel at home. Just rounding the 6th month mark they were spot on. February and March were months full of visitors and we are finally fully settled, no longer having to focus on where to live, how to pay bills, where places are located and how to find our way, not only physically but also managing our life. We have become very social (like that was ever a problem with Aric and I ;-) ..... go out to meet friends a lot, even for a quick coffee or drink on a week night, or dinners on the weekends. The 4 of us have truly come to feel at home in all aspects, despite the occasional reminder that we aren't living in a fully free and democratic country.

If one can see past that, which we are learning to do, then it is possible to enjoy Dubai for what it is and can offer people no matter where you are from.

The boys are out with their friends most weekends and are truly loving the freedom that the safe environment is allowing. They can hang out at the beach late at night and there is no problem taking taxis alone to and from places. That would not be possible in England. It is allowing Aric and I to provide a longer leash and gives us more time alone to take walks or see friends. We have also both picked up running. Well, I have picked up weekly training with several girls and Aric tags along when his legs and knees allow it. He is doing so good but should not really not run regularly because he does get pains from the steel rods in his shins. So he is looking into biking instead and may actually finally pick up the bike I gave him for Father's Day 2 years ago!

Meanwhile I have run two races. The first, a 10-miler in February, turned out to be a 6-miler for me. The race started late, at 8.40am, in the desert preserve, so by the time I made 5 miles it was 10am and the sun was baking down on the path. That was a small detail I hadn't planned for, having trained only at night when it is cooler. I did well considering and was determint to make the 10K race in March.

Ready with fuel from a banana, I set off with 200 other folks around the marina pier and through the grounds of the Westin hotel. Three laps made up the 10K and I made it, in 1 hour, 49 seconds! Exhausted, sweaty with bad running hair, I sprinted the last few hundred meters across the finish line and proudly collected my first medal. Aric has decided to join me in the second 10K race May 15th and I am sure he can make it to the finish line beating my record.

Thanks to my running buddy and super motivator Bexta, I am on the path to run the half marathon in Abu Dhabi in November and another in Dubai in December.

Umm al-QuMEN

If one could make a Hollywood movie like "Wild Hogs", about a boating weekend rather than a mid-life crisis biker trip, this would be it and it would be called "Wild Mariners". A bunch of dramatic, self-doubting, middle age, adrenaline-craving men, in search of an undefined dream or goal, gathered at the Palm Beach Resort (not to be confused with the actual Palm Beach haven in Florida) for a massive horse powered, Mastercraft sponsored wake boarding extravaganza.

It was supposed to be a family boating and camping weekend but as expected, turned into an engine revving, hull comparing, stunt filled, "whose boat is faster and who can do the most flips" weekend, where I found myself anxiously sneaking Slim around in secret. No pets were allowed and of course we did not see that sign posted until we had driven 2 hours and arrived at the Umm al-Quwain Marina.

Packing him up in a blanket like a well traveled gypsy, he could have passed for a 10 month old baby squirming in my arms while Aric checked us in to a “seen better days” double suite. We decided not to rough it in a tent with a puppy that would no doubt chase bugs and howl all night. Not that I think I’m getting too old for camping, but somehow air-conditioning, shower and a real toilet, sounded better than squatting in the sand while trying to avoid mosquitoes in the hot & humid night. Instead, the boys spent the two nights in our tent right on the beach with camp fire, marshmallows and the lack of an air mattress.

Slim was happy sleeping right in between Aric and I in the hotel bed. During the day we smuggled him through the marina gates and on to our boat and in the evening when we attended the BBQ dinner, he was cool and calm in the A/C with a “do not disturb” sign on the door. The Palm Beach Resort was an interesting place – a mix of families enjoying their weekend off and single Arab men who seemed to get a lot of female visitors from Russia (?!) The little convenience hotel shop had an interesting array of snacks, soft drinks, beach towels, very raunchy lingerie and shelves full of condoms. Somehow I don’t think there were a whole lot of weekend prayers going on in the rooms. Didn’t bother us much; we were there to enjoy the boat, wakeboarding and sun. I just find the whole concept a little hypocritical amongst the strict Muslim code.

Driving around Friday afternoon looking for firewood, I didn’t see a single woman. So, I have re-named the emirate from Umm al-Quwain to Umm al-Qumen. With only about 62,000 inhabitants, it is the least populous emirate in the federation. But you would think there would be more women out and about. I did get chatted up by a father and his two teenage boys, who actually spotted Slim and thought he was “the most beautiful dog they had ever seen”! Now we know that’s not exactly true, so I was rather suspicious. After all I was wearing a short sun dress and with no other women (or dogs) around, both Slim and I stood out like a sore thumb! I asked the guy where his wife was and he told me she was at their home. (Barefoot, pregnant, and cooking in her oppressive burka no doubt!!) Anyway, it ended up being an enlightening conversation where I learned that the two sons were going to Russia for vacation and they did actually pet Slim in the end, though they were frightened by him in the beginning. He has that affect on people in the UAE. Sometimes I feel I am walking Godzilla around on a leash, the Indian workers jump 4 feet back and freeze when we pass them on the street. Like he will attack and eat them?!?!

We got our firewood and while the boys pretended to be on a desert island, isolating themselves with soda, chips and hotdogs, Aric and I had dinner with the rest of the Mastercraft owners, all very nice couples and much like us – working all week and boating on the weekend.

It was a packed weekend with lots of learning new tricks and wake surfing. The area was also very beautiful with lots of mangroves and wildlife in the protected lagoon surrounded by small islands. Early in the morning the Arabian horses from a nearby stable were being exercised in the water and could be seen swimming along the shore with a yard boy. What a sight!

http://www.ummalquwainmarina.ae/en/

Howdy Neighbor !

I have really neglected my blog for a while. We have been too busy with the boat, which is definitely stepping up our social life. It's so amazing how many new friends you get when you have a cool toy like that!

Anyway, I am propped up in bed with a glass of wine and feeling very inspired to write, from watching "Marley and Me" last night with Lori, a new girlfriend who I was introduced to through my boss, on Facebook. That's a story for another blog, but Lori and I went to see this comedy about life with a dog who misbehaves. It strangely reminded me of life with Slim. Between laughing and crying, (Lori and I balled like a couple of women at the wailing wall, at the end of the movie), I was encouraged and inspired to continue our blog, by watching Owen Wilson, playing the husband, who is a reporter writing a weekly column.

So many things happen daily and I keep thinking "I must write that down" but life takes over and when it comes time to write, I've forgotten what I wanted to say. The comfy new bed (yes, we finally found a bed) and the 7 pillows in my back, help my creativity flow (or maybe it's the wine?)

Aric bought this under-carriage contraption of a mechanical lift from Ikea, which lifts part of the mattress up to a "sitting, leaning, reading" position. He was too cheap to get the remote control version so one has to squeeze the hand and arm way down between the mattress and bed frame, quickly, to avoid the blood circulation getting cut off, in order to lift the contraption up a few gears...kind of like a hotel pool lounge chair, only with an 8 inch thick, hard and stiff mattress on top. I refuse to use it and am perfectly happy with my multiple pillows. Once the damn thing is up, you have to get out of bed to stick your arm down and get the lever to bring it down!
And when you lay there with it raised, it feels like a hospital bed. I'm waiting for the nurse to come in any minute to take my vitals. The TV mounted on the wall is missing though!

We get new neighbors this weekend. Apparently I scared away the previous "almost moved in" tenants, because these people are not the same as the ones we met a month ago who "were moving in". We almost had Egyptian neighbors, which culturally would have been very interesting, was it not for the wife acting hysterical in the hallway. Our security guy told us "that lady is totally crazy" in his wonderful Indian accent; she proceeded to clear out all large planters and pots from their pool area and put them out for the trash collection. Among them I found my potting soil and various garden materials for our flower pots. This was stored in the common area between our pool rooms on the roof, and she just disposed of it all. Off to the building office I marched and a few days later our doorbell rang. The crazy lady was outside apologizing for her wrong-doings. Perhaps it was my facial expression, or maybe Slim, sniffing her feet while she stuttered through her apology, but after that we never saw them again. A month later we meet our new neighbors, a couple from Minnesota....how cool is that? Bart and Carrie - so far they seem really nice. Can't say I'm terribly unhappy about the crazy Egyptian lady not showing up.

Bart and Carrie are moving into a building soap opera. Granted every house or apartment has its faults and things that need maintenance. This building has apparently never been properly outfitted with correct incoming voltage or AMP or whatever it is that runs A/C and lighting. It's supposed to be a “state of the art, intelligent” building, from a credible real estate developer (Trident) partnering with Pacific Control, who makes the entire IT system that controls everything in our apartment....lights, A/C, curtains, doorbell, security system, CCTV cameras on the roof and in the living room in case we want to remotely access our system online to check on Slim....it's so intelligent I wonder why it doesn't cook, clean and does the laundry.

Since we moved in (in December) we have never been able to get the control panel to work. The first 3 weeks the lights in the kitchen and dining room were on 24/7. They fixed that, but then blew the rest of the lights so 16 halogen bulbs needed to be replaced. That got fixed, but then the water heater stopped working. They fixed that and the camera (even though we don't use the spy cam) and then the A/C stopped working. You get the idea....fix one thing and another problem arises. Every event has Trident blaming Pacific Control and vice versa. And every fix has a charge for this, that and the other.

We finally met more tenants (it so happens that 3 other people here also work for Cisco) who told us they have the same problems...to my delight, as I was getting worried I was the ultimate building witch. It seems other people have problems with the lighting and their A/C. We have created an email alias and now I can read everything about other people’s misery. One guy on the 10th floor says he has “disco lights” every time he turns on his living room, they keep flashing. Several tenants report burning smells and lights malfunction – that happened to us last week. The wires lay across the halogen bulbs and eventually melt. Such a safe environment. So the time has come to write a joint letter to the management and get a consolidated outside maintenance contractor to service all of us. That decision came quickly after Aric had an argument (read: yelling fit) with the Pacific Control man who came to fix Aidan’s A/C fan. It sounds like a jet taking off at O’Hare. He was the one who blew the doorbell circuit last week when he came to fix the lights but denied all wrong doing. Aric finally had enough of the blame game and constant charges for adapters, transformers and thermostats. After nearly having a coronary and terrible high blood pressure, we still await the fan fix but the doorbell works! Can’t be too upset though, at least we have a roof over our heads.

This weekend has us trekking to Umm Al Quwain, the Emirate to the North, for a couple of days boating, camping and frolicking in the sun. That’s a story for the next blog. Have a great weekend all.