Officially a Resident!!!

Well, I have my RP!  I have my UAE driver's license!  WOO HOO!!!!  Enough said!  Shortest blog EVER!

RP's, Red Tape & REALLY GOOD FOOD

Monday, March 21, 2011

Just wanted to update everyone on the status/process of getting our residence permits (RP's).  We have been here approximately 2 months and are still unofficial residents!!!  The company I work for was officially formed effective February 15th but due to the fabulous red tape around these parts, we're still working the system, hoping to become "official" before I have to fly to Singapore on March 26th (officially 2 months and 3 days after my arrival in Dubai!)  I was finally able to apply for my RP on Thursday, March 3rd (Chad and Mitchell's come later, as I'm their sponsor).  In order to apply for an RP, you surrender your passport to the local officials (which is scary in and of itself!)  I was told it takes 8 business days to complete the RP process.  GREAT!  I should have my RP by March 14th, latest!  Yeah!  RIGHT!!!

Well, on March 8th I was told by our PRO (don't know what PRO stands for but this is a person under contract with our company to handle visas, permits, etc, in a TIMELY MANNER!  He's supposed to have contacts that can cut right through the red tape - and any other color tape they produce) that in order to process my RP the government was asking for my "Credentials".  After asking a few questions, I found out that "credentials" were basically a copy of my college diploma and/or college transcripts...which were buried in storage in Houston!  GREAT!  (Thank you HR for letting me know the requirements - which appear to change weekly!)  After asking a few MORE questions and scheming, we figured I could get by with a letter from the local CPChem office's GM stating how wonderful I was and how the company needed my expertise to survive.  (Complete BS, but I was desperate!)  We were able to get an "unofficial" copy of my transcripts scanned and e-mailed to us by Houston HR to provide along with the "letter" (which was, of course, stamped with the OFFICIAL STAMP from the CPC office here).  

FINALLY, on Thursday, March 17th (10 full business days after the process started if you weren't counting), I went for my blood test and chest x-ray to make sure I wasn't bringing any communicable diseases into the country...granted, I've already been here for 2 months spreading germs far and wide!  I was told it takes 3 days to get the test results...should have everything back by Monday, March 21, latest...NOT SO!  The PRO told us Sunday that it may be Wednesday or Thursday this week.  WOAH!!!  WAIT A MINUTE!!!  My boss has a flight out on Friday the 25th to Singapore and I'm leaving on the 26th...that's cutting it a little too close!  The PRO said it would cost more to rush it...we told him to go for it (DUH!) and did our best to be polite about it even though we have been telling him for almost 3 weeks now that this is URGENT!  (Double DUH!!!)  The PRO had the nerve to come back into the office today (March 21st) looking for our GM wanting his approval to pay the extra for expediting the process.  REALLY?!?!?  Now we were doing our best not to PUMMEL THE MORON!

As soon as the RP's come through, I need to e-mail a copy of the RP to HR to process our car loan (yes, we STILL have ONE rental car that Chad & I are sharing...can't buy a car or get a license or insurance w/o an RP!!!)  I also have to go get my driver's license...which I'm told only takes an hour or so and about 500 dirams ($135)....I'll believe it when I have my license in hand!  Then I need to go buy our cars.  I'm hopeful and doubtful at the same time that I'll be able to purchase our cars and get insurance policies before I leave for Singapore.  The good news is that I've heard that car insurance works differently over here.  You insure your car and not the driver!  Yep!  Crazy but true!  Good news is that Chad should be able to drive the cars even before he has his RP!

I'm told Chad & Mitchell's RP's should only take 3 days after I have my RP (yeah!  Right!)  Chad also has to get a blood test and chest x-ray.  Thank the LORD Mitchell doesn't have to give blood because you would probably hear his screams all the way in Houston!  The boy is terrified of needles!

I'm just hoping it's all finalized by this time next week!

Board of Director's Meeting

On another note, the first Gulf Polymers Distribution Company board of directors meeting was today.  I wasn't actually invited to the BOD meeting but, after the meeting, the board invited us to join them for dinner.  I was going to be eating with people who I had seen in elevators heading to the top floor of the Woodlands HQ building but didn't typically mingle with in the normal course of business.  In addition to the US board, there were 5 Saudi nationals from the board at dinner. 

We met at a sushi restaurant called Zuma in the Dubai Financial District.  I rode with my boss and, after only one wrong turn and stopping to ask two different people for directions, we made it to the restaurant on-time.  There were 13 people in our party and they seated us in a private room at a huge rustic wooden table that appeared to be crafted from a single piece of wood.  I was, of course, the only woman at the table.  (I'm starting to get used to being the minority at business functions.)  I never saw a menu at the restaurant.  The head of the board of directors, a very nice Saudi national, ordered for everyone and the food just kept coming!

The first course was seaweed salad with peanut dressing, green salad and edamame (both salted and spicy - I had never seen edamame seasoned with red pepper sauce and it was GOOD!  I hope to see it again!  :-)  Then came more appetizers...calamari, thinly sliced sea bass (raw, of course), grilled vegetables and some rare beef sushi.  Next, came towers of sushi...spicy tuna rolls, tuna sashimi, sea bass sashimi, and a variety of other types of sushi.  Then, you guessed it, more sushi, soft shelled crab and some amazingly tender cooked beef.  I forgot to mention that throughout the entire dinner the wait staff didn't let our wine or water glasses get empty!  By this time I was about to explode!!!  That's when dessert arrived!  Dessert was multiple platters of exotic fruit and ice creams.  I tried fruits I never even knew existed...rambutan, passion fruit and dragon fruit (had to Google "exotic fruit" to even find the names from the pictures).  Loved the passion fruit and hope I can find it at the local groceries - it tasted a lot like a sweet grapefruit but looked disgusting inside like a mashed up oozing kiwi.  I didn't think the dinner would ever end!  We met at 7PM and finally left the restaurant a little after 10PM!  I'm surprised I didn't need wheeled out.  I would have to say this was one of THE BEST MEALS I've ever eaten in my LIFE!!!

Settling in and learning the ropes!

I attempted to buy a birthday cards for some family and friends recently.  Well bottom line…the card stores here SUCK!!!  I went to a Carlton card store and they didn’t have much of a selection AND the cards they did have were beyond STUPID!!!  Next, I went to a Hallmark store…HELLO!!!!  HALLMARK!!!  THE STORE FOR CARDS!!!!  They had an even worse selection than Carlton and no generic “Happy Birthday” cards.  They were all for a specific relation (Think…happy birthday BRO; Another year older SIS!)  Lame!  Lame!  LAME!!!

Finally found a halfway decent card store in a mall near my office.  I purchased 13 cards, one roll of wrapping paper and a bow and spent...$66!!!!  Doesn't look like many of my friends and family will be getting many cards.  I was all about the $0.99 cards in Houston.  The $4.50 variety just doesn't fit into my budget or my deep seated sense of cheapness! 

Friday, March 18th

                We went to church again this morning.  Every Friday (well, I started typing Sunday because it's still so hard to get used to going to church on Friday and not Sunday) we meet new people and are seeing more and more familiar faces.  This week they had a "Volunteer Test Drive" where you could sign up for short term volunteer opportunities to see if you liked it and wanted to make a longer term commitment.   I signed up for the H.U.G. ministry (Hospitality, Usher & Greeter).  Right up my alley...talking to strangers!  I also signed up for information about the women's ministry.  Not sure how much I'll be able to do because I expect a lot of the activities to be during the work week.  We'll see!

                After church we went to Wafi Mall.  Got lost on the way due to road construction and crappy signage!  I was actually following our route on our detailed map and all of the sudden, the freeway split in three different directions.  Chad was asking "WHICH EXIT DO I TAKE?" and I kept answering "I DON'T KNOW, THEY'RE NOT MARKED!!!"  We finally had to stop and get our bearings and I actually think we just stumbled upon where we needed to go but we DID get there!  The mall is in the shape of a pyramid and has beautiful stained glass windows...of course I forgot my camera!  The food court was on the top floor (top of the pyramid) and had a whopping 4 restaurants and two ice cream stands!  Basically we got to choose from hamburgers, Subway, Chinese or Italian.  As impressive as the building was, the shopping was just the opposite.  There were not very many stores and some of the stores seemed on the verge of closing.  Being Friday morning (holy day), it wasn't very crowded. 

                One of the reasons we wanted to visit this mall was because they had an underground Souk.  After lunch and a little shopping, we headed down to the Souk.  We passed three security guards on the way down the escalator and no one bothered to mention to us that the Souks were CLOSED!!!  Didn't open until between 4 - 5 PM.  We did look around a little and the design was very beautiful and ornate but it didn't have the "old world charm" of the Muscat souk.  By this time, it was around 2:30PM and we were ready to go.  We found out way out and back to our apartment with no wrong turns!  Yippee!  Feels so good!

                I dropped off Mitchell & Chad back at the apartment and headed to a mall closer to our house to find a bed spread for our spare room.  I found what I was looking for and had it bought and back home within an hour!  (No wrong turns...NO, not even one!)  When I got home, I finished unpacking the last of our boxes, organized the spare bedroom, organized Mitchell's room and hung the last two pictures!  WHEW!  I guess we're here to stay AND we're ready for our first guest!  Yeah!  My parents will be here in less than 2 weeks!

Saturday, March 19th

                Looked like a pretty, sunny day so we were going to head to a water park.  We did our research, found our coupon, found where it was located and THEN checked the weather.  It was only supposed to get up to about 78 degrees that day so we decided against it...too cold for a water park for these Texans!  Mitchell was disappointed but we ended up going to see "Mars needs Moms" at the movie theatre instead.  Just like a typical Saturday in Houston!  This was Mitchell & my first trip to the movies here.  Some interesting movie theatre findings:

1) They sold cups of corn (not popcorn...corn...off the cob) at the movie theatre with a variety of different seasonings.  I bought one small cup for about $3 with butter, salt and chili seasoning.  It was pretty good!  I guess it's healthier than junior mints!

2)  Movies are subtitled in Arabic...makes sense. 

3)  All seats are assigned and they have VIP seats that are higher up and leather for about a $2.75 per ticket premium.  The standard seats are cloth, similar to what we have in the States at most theatres.  We sat in the regular seats which, for a 3D kid's movie, was about $13 per person!

4)  We didn't see nearly the amount of previews as in the States.  Not sure how we feel about that.

Other interesting things in and around Dubai

·         Dubai Food Court Hygiene...When buying lunch at the mall today I was glad to see the worker wearing rubber gloves to serve up the food...how nice and clean.  As she was the only one working the counter, she took my money and gave me my change with the same gloved hand!  Different standards!

·         They have a store called "Sun & Sand Sports" as opposed to in Houston they have "Sun & Ski Sports" (I guess Ski Dubai doesn't count)

·         On the passenger side rear-view mirrors in cars there's Arabic writing that I assume says "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear."  If it says something different and important...I'm toast!

·         When you go to the mall and park, there are ALWAYS guys there to wash your car if you want it washed while you shop.  They have portable car wash buggies with water, soap, etc.  There is a guy in our apartment parking garage that washes cars and one at our office building too!

·         Everything is very clean here.  There are people who BUFF THE FLOORS of the parking garages, at our apartment, in our office complex and at the malls!  When you turn the corners (even slowly for those of you who have ridden with me and know my tendency to drive on the fast side) your tires squeak because the floors are so clean!

·         The speed limit here is a maximum of 100 kilometers/hour...that's only 62 MPH.  One section on my drive to and from work that runs right by the Burj Khalifa goes down to 80 kilometers/hr...50 MPH...REALLY?!?!?!?  There are speed cameras along most of the freeways that pretty much force you to drive the speed limit.  I guess learning to drive slower isn't such a bad thing and it lets me enjoy the amazing architecture!

Festivals, Parties & Pampering - Dubai Style!

March 10, 2011

                Mitchell had Field Day at school today.  He had a blast!  The school has a pool so the kids were able to swim and play water games.  His favorite game was "drip, drip, drop" which was similar to "duck, duck, goose" but they used a FULL wet sponge to tap each other on the head while walking around the circle.  So, the child who was "it" would walk around the circle tapping each child saying "drip", "drip", "drip" and when they wanted to pick a child, they would stay "DROP" and squeeze the sponge out on their head!  Too funny!

                That afternoon Chad & Mitchell met me at a mall near my office after work.  We had a delicious dinner on the Festival Center waterway (similar to the Marina Walk by our apartment but just outside a mall - go figure, Dubai is the Mall capital of the World!)  After dinner we went to a permanent carnival that's next to the mall.  After wrestling my way to the front of the line to buy ride tokens (I believe I've mentioned how people have NO IDEA how to politely wait their turn in line - I actually used my elbow to block a little boy from cutting in front of me, not that I'm proud of that fact, just fitting in and adapting to the culture!), we were off to the Ferris Wheel!!  There was no line at the Ferris wheel, so we didn't have to get nasty.  We walked right up, gave the man our tokens and boarded the ride.  Mitchell quickly noticed that there was a wheel in the middle of the car that worked like the wheel in the center of the "Tea-cup rides" where you pull it and it will rotate the entire car.  So, in addition to going around the normal way Ferris wheels rotate, we were also spinning!  UGGGHHH!!!!  Why did I agree to ride this thing!  I finally made Mitchell stop spinning us so we could enjoy the view.  It was a clear night and all the buildings were lit up we could even see the Burj Khalifa in the distance (about 5 miles give or take).

                After the fun-filled Ferris wheel ride, Mitchell wanted to ride the Dhow Boat ride.  This is the basic boat carnival ride where you go back and forth, higher and higher making your stomach rise to your throat...over...and over....and over...and OVER.  We were, not surprisingly, the only people on the ride.  After about 4 trips back and forth, I was done laughing.  Mitchell's head was between his legs and he was turning green.  I kept patting him on the back, telling him it would be over soon and it wasn't ending.  I finally yelled down to Chad and gave him the universal "CUT" sign and he asked the operator to stop the ride.  WHEW!  It was finally over!  Mitchell was NO LONGER having fun at the carnival after only 2 rides.  He was able to ride the bumper cars and I hoped that would erase the sickness and the memory of the vomit boat.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the case (for either of us!)

                By now it was about 8:30PM so we decided to head back to the car and home.  On our way out of the mall Chad decided to by a local version of "TUMS".  I had bought some in the airport in Munich that pretty much taste like eating chalk (or what I think eating chalk would taste like if I tried it).  We thought the Dubai version may be better.  We all popped one in our mouth at about the same time and started chewing.  Chad first commented that they tasted much better than the German kind.  At that point mine started growing in my mouth...it made me think of a Cement Mixer Shot (I've never had one, but heard the horror stories).  We were all about gagging but were already feeling so bad we did what we could to swallow them hoping they would eventually make us feel better.  We were all fighting for our one and only bottle of water.  Needless to say, I have asked a co-worker who's coming to Dubai in a couple weeks to bring me two of the biggest bottles of mint-flavored TUMS he can find.

Friday, March 11, 2011 - Praise, Pinot Noir & Parties!

                Friday morning we headed to church.  Really enjoyed it again!  Yippee!  I met a really nice woman who lives close to my office.  We made plans to have lunch during the week!  YEAH, I'm making friends!!!

                After church, Jim Tarum & his wife picked us up to take us to the liquor store in Barracuda Beach.  (Yes, we did go straight from church to the liquor store...don't judge!)  It's about an hour drive from Dubai and is in the next Emirate over...they have different liquor laws there than in Dubai - no need for a liquor license & no tax on booze!  We took the freeway for quite some distance and then we exited onto a two-lane road which went through the desert until we arrived at the beach.  There were a bunch of camels wandering along the two-lane road.  We stopped and got some close-up photos.  One was even trying to put his head in the car...must have smelled our PB&J sandwiches! If you didn't know the store was there, you'd never find it.  It's off the road in a nice two-story building.  It was HUGE and had an amazing selection.  Chad was in heaven when he saw the Budweiser beer!  He may have died if they'd actually had Bud Light!  They were having a discount on wine - buy two of the same brand, save 10% so I took FULL advantage!!!  We ended up spending 725 dirams (~$200!!!)  We shouldn't need to go again for at least another month!  Ha! Ha!  Maybe 2 months!  :-)

                Later that afternoon there was a carnival at Mitchell's school from 4 - 8PM.  We had pre-purchased tickets for about $15 each but had no idea what to expect.  When we arrived, the large grass areas where there are soccer (football) fields and a track field were full of activities.  There were tables set up with people selling jewelry, Persian rugs, and much more.  There were two stages with different types of entertainment (singers, Zumba demonstrations, a magician and a fire juggler).  There were a few clowns making balloon animals and swords and a lot of different moonwalks for different ages of kids.  They had the largest moonwalk slide I had ever seen for the kids over 10 (Mitchell tried about 3 times to go on it but didn't realize he had to lie about his age for them to let him pass!)  Mitchell's favorite attraction was THE CAMEL RIDES!!!  Yes, Mitchell finally got to ride a camel!!!  I'll do my best to upload some pictures.  It was actually amazing watching the camel stand and sit while waiting for Mitchell's turn.  Their feet have very unusual joints and you wonder how they can support their entire body weight (and the weight of all the riders) on bent ankles.  Mitchell ran into a lot of friends from his class and we met some new parents.  It was a lot of fun!

                We were invited to an "after party" at our friends Judy & Jim's house (Judy is the woman from my earlier blog who I vowed to make my friend...it happened!)  They had about 6 couples and about a million kids over.  When we arrived, their housekeeper was making all sorts of delicious fried dumplings and spring rolls in the kitchen.  They had veggie trays, cheese trays, fruit trays and desserts!  AND they had a counter full of wine and liquor and coolers full of beer!  AWESOME!!!  Everyone was so nice and the kids had a ball swimming and then watching movies.  We didn't get home until midnight.  WE OFFICIALLY HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE IN DUBAI!!!   AMAZING!!!

Saturday, March 12th

                We had a fairly relaxing day on Saturday - unpacking and recovering from slight hangovers!  Have I mentioned how much stuff we're trying to fit into a 3 bedroom apartment!  Wow!  Tight squeeze!  Around noon, Chad took Mitchell to the grocery and I went to the spa in our building for a pampering session (mani/pedi, massage and eyebrow wax).  I HAVE to tell you about my massage. I was led downstairs to the massage room and the masseuse gave me a robe to put on and asked me to sit on the table (not lie down) when I was ready.  She came back in a short while later and fanned out a color wheel (similar to that in a paint store) and asked me to pick 4 colors that were most appealing to me.   REALLY...you want to know my favorite colors?!?!?  I just want a massage!  I played along and picked 4 colors and she disappeared again and I waited patiently sitting on the massage table.  When she returned she had 4 bottles of "Aromas".  She told me each color represents a different aroma and each aroma represents something (like strength, serenity, achievement, etc.)  I can't remember what mine stood for.  She sprayed the first scent into one of my palms and asked me to rub my hands together then, spread the scent around my "aura" and inhale deeply three times.  Luckily she demonstrated "spreading the scent around my aura" so I knew that she wanted me to wave my hands in front of my face (yep, I guess that's my aura!)  She repeated this process with the first three scents and told me she would use the fourth and final scent to "wake me up" at the end of my massage!  I was fully intending to stay away to enjoy the process!!!

                After we were finished with the aroma/aura business, she FINALLY had me lay down on the massage table.  Yeah, let's get this party started!  I was ready to relax.  Well, she must have been a mix between a Ninja and a Monkey because before I knew what was happening, she had noiselessly sprung up onto the massage table and was kneeling with her legs on either side of me doing some weird chiropractic moves...not giving me a relaxing massage! What gives?!?!?  I was thinking if THIS is a Dubai massage, send me back to the good old U.S. of A!  As quickly and silently as she jumped up onto the table, she got back down and FINALLY started giving me a real massage!  It ended up being a great experience.

                After my mani/pedi, I let them talk me into getting my eyebrows "threaded" instead of waxed.  This is basically where they take a string and somehow rip out your eyebrows with it.  I thought "maybe it will be less painful than waxing."  I thought wrong.  It felt like she was trying to give me rope burn on my eyebrows.  I'll take waxing any day over this threading nonsense!

OUR STUFF ARRIVES!!!!!

Our Adventures - Our Stuff Arrives

More bathroom notes:

·         I was in the restroom at Mitchell's school...they even have vegetable sprayers next to the little kid potties!  (Yes I am fascinated by bathroom habits here!)

·         Don't ask me how I know this...the water coming out of the vegetable sprayers is C-O-L-D!!!!

·         The bidet in our master bathroom has a STOPPER in it...REALLY!!!  What WOULD you want to plug up in it?!?!?  Enough said!

March 8th, 2011

                Our ocean container full of household goods was delivered today.  (Mind you, we've now been settled into our apartment for over a month and have been living quite comfortably in our little space...lacking for almost nothing.)  We could hardly remember what we even packed in our container but it was here and unpacked by the movers.  I got home from work and our apartment was BURSTING AT THE SEAMS WITH STUFF!!!!  Stuff that we thought we couldn't live without!  Our closets (all 3 of them) were already full and I have two wardrobe boxes full of clothes, another box or two of loose clothes and another box of shoes to find a home for!  WHERE WILL IT ALL GO?!?!?  That's the million dollar question!  I have a feeling our spare bedroom will quickly turn into a storage room...good thing it's a decent size!  I'm sure we'll fit everything somewhere or we'll donate it somewhere!  I guess we have a project for this weekend.  I am not good at living in chaos for long!

                Just in case you're wondering what we couldn't live without here are just a few things:

·         About a million zip-lock bags in a variety of sizes

·         4 boxes of Tylenol PM

·         Crayons of every shape, size and color!

·         Chad's recliner

·         Winter coats...REALLY!  There IS ski Dubai!

·         Microwave popcorn (they do sell it here, but why take the chance, Mitchell would live on it if we let him!)

·         Toys, toys and more toys!!!

·         I won't bore you with the rest of the list but we could have done without more half of the stuff we brought!  We are crazy "stuff happy" Americans!  That's one thing I hope I "outgrow" while we're here!

March 9, 2011

                Mitchell had his first American School of Dubai (ASD) field trip today.  On field trip days the kids have to wear their "dress" uniform which is long slacks and a short-sleeved button down white shirt with the ASD logo. He looked so handsome!  (Should have taken a picture but I'm not that on the ball!)  They took a fancy bus to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (for those of you who haven't heard about Ruth's Chris, it's a very expensive prime steak house ~ $150 - $200 per person)!  He was so excited to get to wear a hairnet when getting a tour of the kitchen (it doesn't take much for a 7-year old!)  He actually brought the hairnet home to show me...just what I always wanted!!!  They had chicken nuggets and fries for lunch - I would have thought Ruth's Chris could have done better!  Ha!  When they left, EVERY CHILD was given a Ruth's Chris backpack - very nice quality - with a logo (of course they wanted the free advertising) a logo hat AND a logo golf shirt.  Chad wished the shirt was his size!  Boy can they do field trips over here!  What did we have to pay?!?!?  NOTHING!  Must have been included in the crazy expensive tuition cost!

                There's a school carnival on Friday afternoon and they wanted parents to bring desserts for a cake walk.  Chad bought all the ingredients for my special chocolate bar brownies and I went to whip them up after dinner and found we were missing vegetable oil.  Chad ran down to the convenience store to buy plain old vegetable oil.  (The convenience stores here are actually mini grocery stores with fruits, vegetables cleaning supplies - this one is actually 2 stories the main entrance is at street level and there's a downstairs with cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc.)  He found canola oil, corn oil and sunflower oil...but no vegetable oil...which to use?!?!?  We went with canola oil and hoped for the best!  Luckily they turned out OK...had to try them so we wouldn't bring disgusting food to a fund raiser!!  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Still Learning the Ropes!!

February 25th

                Where my Brussels trip ended at 7am on Friday, February 25th, my 5th weekend in Dubai began.  We had not yet attended church here so, although I was jet-lagged, I persuaded Chad that we should go to church.  He had done some research and found a church we thought we would enjoy.  We had a map and were (surprisingly) fairly familiar with the area around the church (go figure, there's a mall close by)!  We left our apartment at 9:30am for the 10 minute drive to 10am church.  We thought that would be PLENTY of time to find where we were going...we thought wrong!!!  We easily arrived at the "Church Farm" as I have deemed it.  It's a large area on the outskirts of town (AKA desert) that's the size of a large city block.  There were tons of cars parked all over the place, some in parking spots, others wherever they could find.  We found a parking space and headed to where we THOUGHT the church was located.  There were so many churches and small signs for churches.  We wandered around a little bit, asked directions from a Filipino woman and didn't get far with that.  We ended up walking ENTIRELY around the complex, never to find the church we were hunting.  We gave up...and went to the MALL!! 

                We headed out early that afternoon to buy tickets to a Dhow boat cruise around the Marina.  We wanted tickets for the 6PM/sunset cruise so we thought it was a good idea to buy them early.  While Chad bought tickets, I let Mitchell play in the fountain (with about a dozen other kids).  Initially he was just playing and splashing a little and not getting too wet.  There were some kids in their clothes that were practically swimming in the shallow fountain!  A short time later, the jets around the perimeter of the fountain started shooting up randomly and the inside of the fountain turned into a type of wave pool.  A security guard quickly came and made all the kids get out of the fountain (it was then I saw that signs that kids weren't supposed to actually play IN the fountain!)  That was NO PROBLEM because they all started playing in the jets shooting up around the fountain.  Mitchell was playing with two other boys and they started waiting for the water to shoot up and karate chopping and/or smacking the water when it shot up!  In no time, they were all soaked from head to toe!  He played there for almost an hour and then we had to head home to get him bathed, dried and re-dressed so we wouldn't miss the cruise.

We boarded the Dhow boat right at 6PM and found there were bean bag chairs throughout the open deck so you could relax and enjoy the views.  It's kind of difficult to "relax" in a bean back chair unless you're under the age of 10 but we did our best!  The boat was decorated with white lights (I think to help us be seen by other boats in the marina...safety first!)  It was a clear, cool evening so we were able to see clearly without a lot of dust in the air.  (Note:  it doesn't rain much at all here but it DOES get windy.  When it gets windy, there are sand storms that really just add a haze to everything and it can get pretty thick and difficult to see.)  There were "treasure chests" positioned around the boat full of blankets.  We all used the blankets and were warm and cozy while we watched the sun set and the skyscrapers light up.  (I tried not to think about the commercial where the sleeping person was drooling on a pillow only to have the drool soaked pillow be given to another passenger...LORD only knows the last time the blankets had been washed!)  There are so many huge buildings here and the architects seemed to have been in competition to outdo one another on design and "awe factor".  We cruised through the Marina and out into the Gulf by the Palm Jumeriah.  We could see the Atlantis lit up in the distance all the way out on the end of the Palm.  We headed back into the Marina and were back in right at an hour. 

                We headed to an Italian restaurant on the Marina walk after the cruise and had really good pizza and surprisingly good service.  We're definitely getting used to the more relaxed pace while eating out!  It's still amazing to watch all the people of all different nationalities mingling about.

February 26, 2011

                We went to look at cars at the Chevy dealership today.  WOW did we get sticker shock!  We had heard that cars were priced lower than in the States, but I think the Emirates REALLY like their BIG AMERICAN CARS!!!  The prices reflected that!  We ended up putting money down on a BRAND NEW 2009 Chevy Trail Blazer for Chad (only had 37 kilometers AFTER our test drive).  It's fully loaded with leather, sunroof, GPS, DVD player for Mitchell, etc!  I also found a 2007 Chevy Captiva that I really liked...leather, sunroof and a 3rd row seat although from the outside it doesn't look like there would be room for one!  I guess Mitchell's friends will be the only ones who will fit back there! 

                The car dealership is holding the cars for us until we get our residence permits (RP).  Can't buy a car or get car insurance until our RP's are completed.   UGGGHHHH!!!!  Still haven't even been able to APPLY for them!  Good thing the car dealership seems patient.  They may start charging us for storage!

                Next Chad dropped Mitchell & me off at the school for a birthday party.  We headed to the meeting spot and no one was there.  We waited...Mitchell played on the playground...I asked the security guard which is very difficult because they don't speak or understand much English...HELLO...you're working at the AMERICAN School of Dubai!  No knowledge of ANY birthday party.  I called Chad and he still had the invite on phone (luckily he was at the mall with WIFI).  In my excitement to meet new friends and let Mitchell play with other kids...I brought Mitchell to the party ONE WEEK EARLY!!!  GREAT!  I just let Mitchell play with some other kids on the playground until Chad finished up at the mall.  Was I feeling STUPID! 

On another note...The job posting for the CSRs who will be reporting to me was posted through a local recruitment company/website this afternoon.

February 27, 2011

                Received over 300 applicants OVERNIGHT!!!  I almost had a coronary when I opened my Outlook this morning to over 300 NEW e-mails!  WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL THESE!??!?!? 

                I received over 300 more applicants by the end of the workday!!!  I'm SWIMMING in resumes!!!  Actually Resume's are called CV's over here and it stands for curriculum vitae.  I sound so official talking about all the "CV's" I've received. 

March 1, 2011

                They do intramural sports at Mitchell's school and change the sports around throughout the year.  Just so happens the month of March was dedicated to FLAG FOOTBALL!  So, Mitchell started flag football at school today....Chad coached!!!!  They both had a BLAST!  There were about 14 kids who attended.  Since his school has kids from all over the world, there were some kids who had never thrown a football in their lives!  Maybe I'll ask those kids to explain the game of Cricket to me!  I hear updates about the Cricket World Cup that's going on right now and I'm just confused listening to the scores! 

March 3, 2011

                We were FINALLY able to apply for our residence permits today...well kind of!  I had all the necessary documentation (passports, Mitchell's birth certificate, our marriage license that had been all over the US and was even signed by Hillary Clinton, etc).  I left them with my boss while I left to run an errand.  When I came back, he gave me Chad & Mitchell's documentation BACK!  WHAT?!?!?  What's THIS?  We've only been waiting for 5 WEEKS!!!  Come to find out, I have to apply for my RP FIRST (~ 8 business day process) THEN, and only THEN, can they process Chad & Mitchell's as I'm technically their "sponsor".  SERIOUSLY!?!?!?  The processes are crazy bureaucratic here!  I'm doing my best to be patient.  Chad is getting more frustrated by the day.

March 4, 2011 - Friday - Let's try to go to church AGAIN...

                We were told about a church called Fellowship of the Emirates by a nice lady at Mitchell's school. (www.fellowshipoftheemirates.org) From what I can tell, it was started by some people who previously attended Fellowship of the Woodlands!  Story goes, they started having services in someone's house where about 8 people attended and now they have two services that were both packed with around 200 people each!  The services are held at a hotel about 5 minutes (driving) from our apartment.  We, surprisingly, didn't get lost on the way.  We parked and started searching for the floor with the church.  After a short (and not too frustrating) search, WE FOUND IT!!!!  We were a little early and first service was running a little late so we had some coffee (they have a continental breakfast buffet set up between services...SWEET!) and waited.  We visited with a few nice members while we waited. 

                We got Mitchell situated into kid's church and headed into "Church".  Church was a narrow hotel conference room with a long isle down the center and about 8 chairs on either side of the aisle.  There was a stage up front and a large projection screen in the corner.  Before service started, we saw the band getting set up...YEAH!!!  There's a band!!!  THINGS WERE LOOKING UP!!!  Church started and the first song they played was one from our church in Houston that we sang fairly often.  I knew ALL the words and was feeling right at home...OK, truth be told, I was so happy to hear something familiar that I started crying!  In fact, EVERY SONG they played we knew...and liked!  The sermon was very good and we can't wait to go back again.  At the end of service we stayed and met the pastor.  Very nice!  They have a small group ministry too!  YEAH!!!  (Although it will be hard to find a small group that will compare to ours in Spring!)  We're really looking forward to going back and getting more involved with the church!

                Our housekeeper and his wife babysat for Mitchell on Friday night so Chad & I could have some alone time (1st time in 5 weeks!)  We started walking down the Marina Walk to the Marriott (where we had dinner reservations - just to clarify for those of you with DIRTY MINDS) and Chad looked back to check on Mitchell!  Ha!  He was back in the apartment!  We were ALONE!!!  We had a nice dinner on the 5th floor outdoor patio overlooking the Marina Walk.  While we were eating, we saw the "Dinner in the Sky" crane start lifting a group of daring diners.  It was a VERY windy night and we couldn't believe they were actually going to take them up.  We could see the platform moving in the wind and turning.  After about ½ hour they finally brought it down!  Wonder if anyone enjoyed THAT dinner?!?!? 

                After dinner we headed to the sky bar on the 52nd floor of the Marriott where we had dessert and drinks overlooking the gulf and the Palm Jumeriah.  There was a boat show going on and we could see all the boats on display too!  BEAUTIFUL!!!

Saturday, March 5th

                Today was the REAL date for Mitchell's classmate's birthday party.  It was like déjà-vu heading to the school for the party, carrying the same present.  Luckily, as soon as we pulled up Mitchell saw one of his friends heading to the party too!  YES!!!  Right place, right date, right time!  Yippee!!!

                I met some really nice mom's and Mitchell had a lot of fun!

Sunday, March 6th

                Have officially received over 1,000 CV's for my job posting!  People from all over the world have submitted applications.  The majority of the applicants are from India, Pakistan & Philippines as we anticipated.

A few additional random bits of info:

• People have "baby on board" signs in their car but don't use car seats (or seatbelts) for their children quite often!  You'll see the kids roaming around in the back seat (like we used to do when a LONG time ago when we were kids)
• Many street signs are posted AFTER you've already missed the exit.  There will be an exit showing to two particular streets/destinations, if you take that exit there may be additional signs directing you to additional locations/areas.  It amazes me that ANYONE can find their way around this place!

Brussels Business Trip - An adventure in and of itself!

Sunday, February 20th

                At around 6AM my boss picked me up in a cab from my apartment so we could head to the airport together (we're such good stewards of our company's money - sharing cabs and such)!  It was a nice cool morning maybe around 60 degrees Fahrenheit.   As soon as I closed the door of the cab I noticed #1, it was kind of warm in the cab and #2, the cabbie STUNK...BAD!!!!  After about 2 minutes, I looked at my boss with a pained expression and asked "Do you mind if I open the window?"  He quickly replied in a loud voice "PLEASE DO!!!"  He was just as miserable with the smelly cabbie as me!  I spent the rest of the approximate 30 minute drive to the airport with my head as close to the 3" crack in the window as possible!  It was a welcome relief to get out of the cab!  I was just praying the scent didn't permeate my clothes so I would have to smell it the entire way to Brussels!

                We arrived well before our 8:30am departure time so we shopped a little and then relaxed in the business lounge until it was almost time to board.  We were flying from Dubai to Munich, Germany and we had a 2 hour lay-over and then from Munich to Brussels.  First thing I noticed when getting situated in the business class seat on Lufthansa was that these seats weren't NEARLY as comfy as the one's on our Emirates flight from Houston to Dubai.  (Yes, I have become a business class snob after only 2 business class flights!)  I did manage to survive the 7 hour flight to Munich even in the lumpy seat. 

Instead of watching a movie during the flight, I was reading a book I purchased in the Dubai Airport that someone had recommended called "The Girls of Riyadh".  It's a book written by a young Saudi woman about the life of her and her 3 best friends.  It's kind of like a Sex in the City Middle Eastern version.  It was really entertaining and enlightening but also somewhat sad.  I would highly recommend it!

While waiting to board the flight from Munich to Brussels I called Chad & Mitchell to tell Mitchell goodnight.  After less than a 10 minute call, all the minutes on my pre-paid phone were GONE!  So, I was in a foreign country, and would be for the next 5 days, and had no cell phone usage!  I felt NAKED!  I hadn't even made it to my final destination.  My boss was in the same boat.  After one call, neither of us had any means of communication except for land lines...THE HUMANITY!!!

On the flight from Munich to Brussels we were on a smaller plane that was similar to a Continental Express Jet but had two seats on each side of the isle.  The first 4 rows of the plane were considered "Business Class" because they only booked one person on either side of the isle, so I had two seats all to myself!  We were delayed about 1 ½ hours due to a mechanical issue but finally made it to our hotel in Brussels at about 7:00PM (10PM Dubai time).  We had a drink at the bar with our co-worker who had flown in from Saudi and I ditched the two guys to go to sleep!  I was fading fast!

The Brussels Marriott only had wireless internet in the lobby so I had to sit at the desk in my room connected to an Ethernet cord in order to do any work (blog).  It's amazing how spoiled we are with technology.  You don't know what you've got 'til it's GONE!  No cell phone, no wireless internet connection...was I back in Y2K?!?!?  :-)

                The next morning we met in the lobby around 7am to go grab a quick bite to eat and then head to the office.  The CONTINENTAL breakfast at the Marriott was 17 Euro...that's over $23USD!!!!  WAY too much for my cheap blood for a cup of coffee and a muffin (even if it wasn't my own $$)!  So, Jim & I decided to head to the McDonald's next door to the hotel for breakfast.  Much to our dismay, McDonald's didn't open for breakfast until 8:30 AM!!!  CRAZY!  So, we decided to find a grocery or a convenience store or somewhere to buy a small breakfast.  After about 15 minutes of wandering around, and almost giving up, we found a bakery that was open!!!  HEAVENLY!!!   Breakfast was delicious pastries at only 4 Euro!  Yes, I'm a bargain breakfast shopper!

                We met up with the cabbie (who drove a Mercedes) at the hotel and we were at the CPChem offices in Overijse, Belgium in about 30 minutes (make a note of how long it took to get to the office)!  We met all the wonderful people in the office and embarked on our marathon of meetings!  We went out for a "quick" lunch that ended up taking almost 2 hours because "restaurant service" appears to be non-existent in those parts, somewhat of an oxymoron!  You have to beg for a menu, beg to order, beg to get a drink refill, and beg for the bill!

                At the end of the day, we were given keys to a company car (4-door BMW...SWEET!) we would get to use the rest of the week and a GPS.  The car was a stick shift and I was deemed "designated driver".  I'm not lying when I tell you it took over 5 minutes for us to figure out how to turn ON the car and I think we finally got it turned on by accident.  You had to put the key in, push the clutch in, push a button and shake the stick shift.  REALLY!  After we finally got the car started, we attempted to find our hotel in the TomTom portable GPS (NOTE: there was also a built in GPS in the dashboard).  This is where it gets really tricky!  I was searching the car GPS for the hotel, Jim was searching the TomTom.  He finally found the Brussels Marriott Hotel on the TomTom so off we went.  The only problem was that we couldn't figure out how to turn OFF the GPS in the dash....SO, I was getting two DIFFERENT sets of directions...all while driving a stick shift car for the first time in as long as I could remember (had to have been over 10 years!)  So, while one voice was telling me to turn left, another was telling me turn right.  AAGGGHHHH!!!  All while trying to shift and not give my passengers (and myself whiplash)! 

After quite a few wrong turns, many choice 4 letter words and about 50 minutes later we arrived at our "destination" according to TomTom but, alas, this was the Brussels Marriott Hotel APARTMENTS...not the Brussels Marriott HOTEL!  Things that make you go HHHHMMMMM!  After searching for the hotel address, figuring out how to plug it into the GPS and almost rear-ending a parked car because I thought I was in reverse when I was in 1st gear, we were off...AGAIN...in search of our hotel.  The GPS said it was only 5 minutes away but it also kept telling us to turn the wrong way on one-way streets.  (On a side note:  Have I mentioned that pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way ANYWHERE in Dubai...well, pedestrians have EVERY RIGHT in Brussels and there are crosswalks EVERYWHERE and many of them are hard to see because they are NOT at intersections.  Luckily I only ALMOST took out 2 or 3 pedestrians!)  When we were finally less than 1 kilometer away from our hotel, we came upon two fire trucks and two police cars blocking our route.  I almost cried!  FINALLY, after 1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTES, we arrived at our hotel!!!  (Remember how long it took us to get to the office that morning?!?!?)  WAS I IN NEED OF A DRINK!!!  I think my passengers were too!

                We dropped our briefcases in our rooms and headed to find a BAR (that may happen to serve food) STAT!  We headed toward an area called the "Grand Place" (pronounced Gran Plass to sound fancy) just a few blocks from our hotel.  We walked along cobble stone streets and passed many souvenir shops, restaurants, retail stores and CHOCOLATE shops!  We finally made it to the Grand Place and it looked beautiful from what we could see in the dark (see below).  After a quick look we headed into a bar/restaurant.  No one greeted us at the door.  We stood inside the entrance area for a few minutes looking around (like tourists), after no one acknowledged our presence, we seated ourselves.  After a few more minutes with no sign of wait staff, Jim went on a mission to find a waiter...we NEEDED BEER! Of course, as soon as Jim was out of sight, a waiter appeared out of thin air.  We ordered beer and then looked over the menu.  Nothing looked all the appealing but, by now, it was already close to 8:30 PM and I was starving!  I ordered some local chicken casserole which ended up to be a chicken leg in chicken gravy with some carrot and celery pieces hard to see with the naked eye....and it was luke warm on the outside and cold on the inside...EEWWWWW!  Luckily by the time they had finally brought our dinner we were on our 3rd beer and my taste buds were comfortably numb!  My co-workers' meals were no better but the beer was REALLY GOOD!

The next morning we planned to leave the hotel around 7AM to (hopefully) be at the office by 8AM - we had NO IDEA how long it would take us to find the office after our adventure the previous evening.  They, surprisingly, wanted me to drive again (success #1) I started the car with no problems (success #2), I backed up the car and didn't hit anything (success #3) but when we went to leave the garage we realized the spiral ramp to lead us to the garage exit was only wide enough for one car at a time and was for both incoming and outgoing cars.  There was a sign saying wait on the hash marked pained box on the garage floor and wait for the light to turn green...we waited...and waited...and waited and finally decided to go for it on red!  Luckily we didn't run into any oncoming traffic!  Whew!  We made it to the office in about 45 minutes, including a stop at a gas station to get some breakfast since it was the ONLY place open!

That evening, with the help of BOTH GPS' we made it back to the hotel in around 40 minutes...we were so proud of ourselves!  We went to another restaurant overlooking the Grand Place with horrible service, mediocre food and very good beverages!  My co-worker living in Saudi was in heaven getting to drink because all alcoholic beverages are banned there and, with the trouble in Bahrain, he hasn't been able to go there for some weekend beverages either!

Wednesday evening we got back around 6PM and weren't scheduled to go to dinner until 7PM so I did a little shopping.  I bought chocolate, chocolate, more chocolate...and a magnet!  :-)  We've started a collection!  Unfortunately the whole time we were there it was cold and mostly rainy so it seemed very dreary there....surprising even with all the chocolate available! 

A larger group of us headed out to dinner.  Earlier in the week, we just happened to run into a CPC sales manager and someone he worked with from Bartlesville, OK in the hotel lobby (SMALL WORLD)!  So with 7 of us, we didn't stand a chance for good service.  Luckily the company was good and the food was the best we had eaten in Brussels!  When looking over the menu, we noticed a menu item called "winkles" we asked the waiter what they were and, instead of describing them to us, he brought us some.  They looked like very small snails and they gave us 4 sharp metal picks (stuck into a champagne cork) to dig the snail out of the shell.  They were cold and well seasoned and somewhat tasty.  I had larger "snails" AKA escargot (sounds so much nicer than snails) as an appetizer.  It was the first time I'd gotten them in the shell and had to use the tong thingies that Julia Roberts used in Pretty Woman to hold them while I dug out the meat!  Luckily I didn't end up throwing one across the room like she did!

For those of you that don't work for CPChem (even some of you that do) this may be BORING for you because it's all about work stuff so feel free to skip right on through the next paragraph...

Thursday was our last day in Belgium and we went on a tour of a HUGE warehouse/resin packaging facility in Antwerp (Katoen Natie or KTN for non-Dutch speakers).  We use the same company in Houston and the Houston facilities are impressive enough but I deemed the Antwerp facility "The Mother Ship".  It was massive with over 1000 trucks in/out of the facility each day.  They have their own container port on-site with huge container pickers driving all over the facility moving loaded and empty containers around for all different sorts of processing.  They let me ride with one of the drivers in a container picker (see photo below)...I was like a kid in a candy store (YES, I AM A GEEK!)  They had 1000 storage silo's that held over 400,000 lbs each.  They had multiple "silo farms" that varied in function.  Some were for hopper truck loading only and the silos were over 2 stories off the ground so the hopper trucks could drive underneath them to gravity load.  Others were about 3 - 4 stories off the ground with the silos on top, packaging facilities on the 2nd level and hopper truck loading below to allow for maximum flexibility of the material in the silo.  I'll shut up about all this now, but WOW, I was impressed!  (Obviously!)

After KTN, we were off to the airport for our flight home.  I, of course, had to do more duty free shopping (more chocolate and wine).  We left Brussels at 7PM for Munich and then another overnight flight from Munich to Dubai where sleep was close to impossible due to the uncomfortable chairs.   We arrived back in Dubai on-time around 6:30 AM and, after quickly clearing customs, we were back in a taxi (luckily with a stench-free driver) and home before 7:30 AM!  Whew, was I exhausted but it felt good to be "home"!

                We have another trip to Brussels the 2nd week of April and I DO NOT plan to drive while there!  :-)