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!
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