With my boss from Gainesville (Rob) arriving in town, we met for dinner at the Habtoor Grande on Thursday where our co-workers came to find us. We followed on to the Buddha Bar (a very amazing and popular destination for expats which is also owned by the same owner of our parent company). We dropped by a few more high-profile places that night, and I found it very surreal.
The next day was a trip to the Madinat Jumeirah resort and market for seeing my boss' few favorite places. I also got to spend more time at the Mall of the Emirates, and I was reassured that I could survive when I found the Super-Walmart equivalent, Carrefour. We rounded out the day with a barbeque on Clint and Stephanie's enormous, landscaped terrace overlooking the marina. We spend a lot of time here.
Saturday marked the Dubai World Cup and the birthday of Mohammed. Drinking is prohibited on this holiday, but special clearances were allowed for the Cup. While most of the wealthy arabs and locals actually sat in the stands and watched the race, all the expats head to the "International Village", which was just a giant picnic area with an enormous screen tv to monitor the races, and several food stands and champaigne rooms. Gambling is illegal here, but they give everyone a form at the beginning (which is more equivalent to a raffle ticket than a bet). It was still fun figuring out the system, I picked one winner out of seven races. The picture below is Clint and Stephanie loading up the car with equipment for tailgating in lieu of waiting in the queues. Yes, we are Americans.
All the women overly invest in ridiculous hats for the event, which can be more comical than anything else. Also, at one point in the evening, they put on a very strange intermission show consisting of fireworks and horse-based choreography with alien dancers and skydivers. It was truly a mix between an Arabian horse army and the X-files. At one point, they had a horse prancing around with a cloth covering it's back and rear- and it was fully ablaze. We all were stunned- you'd never see that logic back home, but the horse seemed fine and unaware. Otherwise, it was an incredible time. The picture below is of Gemma and me before it got crowded (Gemma is a great friend to have here, and she is the CEO's personal assistant and drives me to work in the mornings).
On Sunday (we had the day off), I met up with my boss Rob for lunch at one of our favorite bar/grills overlooking the palm. Soon after, I found myself on a "dune-pounding" trip. I was picked up by some other coworkers and a local guide in a land rover, and we headed out to the desert. We spent the evening riding and sliding through the dunes, and it was an amazing and thrilling experience. Some of the dunes were really steep, and it was like a never ending roller coaster. Not for queasy stomachs- I felt sick by the end of it. I am looking forward to the next trip out, though.
(I stole this picture as an example, but hopefully I'll have some legit ones soon).
Since then, it's just been dinner parties at night and the most stressful work conditions imaginable during the day. They say that you work hard here, so you play hard... I just want to sleep hard for a change, but I'm sure I'll have those opportunities soon enough. There is still so much to see and so much to work in. At some points I feel anxious to get home (or jump off the building), but otherwise I feel like there is no smarter way to spend the next few years. We'll see how it goes.
AND I have to thank all of you who have sent emails and such- it really means a ton to me and helps re-awaken me when I slip into feeling lonely and out of place. Thank you for all the support, I miss you tons and can't wait to see you soon.
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