We started our Dubai adventure at the Houston Airport on Saturday, January 22nd.  We arrived at the airport at around 9am and checked all 6 HUGE suitcases with all our essentials to live for 2 - 3 weeks.  Since we were in Business Class we got to wait for the flight in the Emirates Lounge.  We boarded the plane and were amazed by business class!  It was another world.  The chairs looked like individual space capsules and each had their own personal entertainment center (Movies, TV shows, games, info and more!)  We all started watching movies right away to wait for take-off.  They started making some announcements that they found a puddle under the plane and had to find where the leak was coming from before we could depart.  Sounded like a GREAT plan to us.  We waited with champagne and movies for about an hour before they had us all de-plane because the repairs were taking longer than expected.  So, we headed BACK to the Emirates lounge to wait it out.  We finally took off about 4 hours later than expected.  Uuugghhh!!!  Luckily, we were back in the "comfort zone" of our personal entertainment center! 

                Once we were in the air, we had more champagne.  Then they gave everyone large "mattresses/pads" for our chairs that were similar to recliners and folded out into a bed.  The chairs also had massagers in them.  I was in HEAVEN!  We continued to watch movies and relax during the flight.  We had filet for dinner with Godiva chocolate for dessert!  I think Mitchell had at least 3 or 4 pieces of Godiva!  He was in heaven!  We finally tried to sleep.  I think Mitchell slept about 4 hours, I slept about 2 or so and Chad maybe an hour.  Although it was comfortable, it was not our bed.  So, we watched MORE movies!  I think I watched about 4 movies and at least 3 sitcoms during the 15 hour flight.

                We finally arrived in Dubai about 4 ½ hours late (around 4:45PM local time).  As soon as we were on the bus to take us from the plane to the terminal I went to find my phone to call my mom and let her know we arrived safely.  After searching through my purse and laptop bag no less than 4 times, I realized I must have accidentally left it in the Emirates lounge in Houston!  I was devastated!  My only connection to home and family was GONE!

                When we were off the bus, we were greeted by a Marhaba (meaning welcome or hello in Arabic) service representative who swept us through customs, found us someone to lug all of our suitcases, waited while we duty-free shopped for liquor since we knew it would be scarce, and got us to our pre-arranged ground transportation to our short-stay apartment.  

We got to the apartment around 5:45 PM local time and lugged our bags up to the 17th floor.  It was a nice place with a nice sized living room, dining room, kitchen and ½ bath downstairs, a beautiful spiral staircase to the 2nd story where there was a large study flanked by two bedrooms with attached bathrooms.  This was going to be home for the next two weeks.  We freshened up and decided to go explore in our new city for a while.

We found a cab and asked to be taken to the Marina Walk (an area we had read about in one of our books).  It was really pretty with a lot of boats in the water and restaurants along the waterway.  We found a Chinese restaurant with palm trees with red "dripping" lights and sat outside, had dinner and watched the many faces and nationalities stroll by.  We found service was at a relaxed pace so we had plenty of time to people watch.  After dinner we found a small "supermarket" and bought a few essentials.  By then we were EXHAUSTED and were ready to head back to the apartment for bed.  I think at this point we had been up for about 30 hours, not including the "nap" on the plane.  We easily found a cab and asked him to take us to our apartment AND HE ASKED US WHERE IT WAS?  Unfortunately we really didn't know.  He finally figured it out and got us where we need to be.  What an adventure!

When we got up the next morning we went to make toast and found that all the wall sockets have three rectangle sockets but some of the appliances (toaster and hairdryer) had two round prongs.  We were stumped!   Chad finally found that the fax/phone machine upstairs was a two pronged plug and unplugged it to see how it worked and then we couldn't get THAT plugged in again!  Our phone was our only contact with the outside world and now that was lost!  :-0  Finally I went downstairs to ask someone in the building.  I nice security guard came to the room to help and showed me that in order to plug in two pronged appliances in the square sockets you needed to STICK A SHARP OBJECT INTO THE TOP OF THE OUTLET TO PUSH THE RELEASE!!!  He stuck a pen in the top of the socket and magically, the appliances plugged right in!  This goes against everything I was taught from growing up "NEVER STICK ANYTHING INTO AN OUTLET!!!" and here I am sticking a pen into a 220 socket!  CRAZY!  At least I was able to dry my hair! 

Then we tried to make eggs for breakfast and realized we couldn't figure out how to turn on the cook top.  After working on it for a while Chad amazingly got it on (but had no idea how he turned it on) and we had eggs and toast for breakfast!

Oksana, one of the real estate agents picked us up around 10am to start apartment shopping.  We looked at a number of apartments and found one apartment we REALLY liked but it was in an area that was not very kid friendly.  We found another that was really big but needed some cleaning up and was over our price range by about $5000/year.   We weren't ready to settle so we asked her to find some additional places for us to look at the next afternoon.  We left her at the last apartment which was in an area called the JBR Walk right across from the beach and wondered down the sidewalk looking at all the shops and restaurants.  We found a restaurant called "Burger Fuel" and had hamburgers and fries.  Chad & I both ordered a burger with guacamole and they were OK but Australian Beef has nothing on good old American Beef! 

After relaxing in our apartment a bit, we headed to the Dubai Mall AKA, largest mall in the WORLD!!!  We were on a mission to find a pay as you go cell phone since we can't get permanent phones until we have our residence permits.  We found a toy store and found that Lego's must be made of GOLD here because they're about 3 - 4 times more expensive than in the States!  We did buy Mitchell a small Lego set because he was amazing during the whole trip and transition!  We went to a bookstore and found that they had a lot of the same books as here.  There was a HUGE table filled with Diary of a Wimpy Kid books so Mitchell was happy.  Then we went to the food court.  Mitchell had Burger King and we had Iranian food.  After dinner we let Mitchell play in the play area (pay to play ~ $5 for 1 hour) and Chad was off to deal with getting his phone working.  I relaxed and read a Dubai Explorer book I bought.  We finally headed home around 10PM (the malls are open until around midnight here) and went to sleep.

Tuesday morning we tried to make eggs again and couldn't get the stove on.  We tried pushing every button to no avail.  We ate toast and cereal...for the next three days!  We met with another real estate agent who showed us nothing interesting.  Met with Oksana again that afternoon and found a great place we planned to rent on the 39th floor of a building with a GREAT balcony.  Tuesday night we went to dinner on the JBR walk and to a fair where Mitchell played a few games and won a couple toys.  He also went on a "ride" where they put him into a big plastic bubble that was filled with air and put him on a shallow pool of water.  He got to run around in the ball like a gerbil in a running ball.  He LOVED every minute of it!  They finally made him get out after about 7 minutes because that's how long the air lasts.  Now I know why we had never seen anything like that in the States...probably unsafe as can be!  When in Rome! 

On Wednesday morning we went to Mitchell's school for his assessment test (after eating toast for breakfast!)  I went to work after the school meeting and Chad & Mitchell went to the Emirates mall and ate McDonald's for lunch! 

On Thursday we went to finalize our apartment lease and ended up backing out of the deal because we realized it was just too small.  While Oksana looked for other places for us to see, we went to the Emirates Mall and shopped a little.  We saw Ski Dubai and it looked amazing.  I think it will be a winter haven in July!  Later we met back up with Oksana and we found "The One!"  It's on the 3rd floor of a building on the Marina Walk.  It's furnished like a model home and it has more space than the other place.  It doesn't have the stunning views but we were willing to compromise on that!  After finding the place, we celebrated by walking around our new "neighborhood" and letting Mitchell ride a 4 wheeled bicycle thing.  Then we went to the Marina Mall.  I had a Starbucks latte for about 16 dirams (4 bucks - go figure!)  Mitchell rode a kiddie train and then we went back to the apartment to relax before having dinner with my boss and his wife that evening.

By Friday we were ready to relax.  Amazingly enough we were able to get the stove started that morning and had bacon and eggs for breakfast!  AAAHHHHHH!  Pork products...a little slice of HEAVEN!!!  Chad went to the Emirates mall again and saw a movie.  You pick your seat when you buy your ticket...assigned seats!  I took Mitchell to the Sheraton Hotel where we paid to have access to their beach and pool area.  We swam and played in the pool and then played a little in the gulf but the water was too cold for me.  There were a lot of beautiful shells all over the beach.  About an hour and a half into our day there a sand/wind storm kicked up.  That drove us from the beach area back to the more protected pool area. Mitchell played with a lot of different kids and had a ball!  We got take out that night and relaxed in the apartment and watched the 4th Indiana Jones that we purchased here.

Random thoughts...light switches are on the OUTSIDE of the bathroom doors because they keep as many electric sockets away from water.  That means there are only plugs for shavers in the bathrooms, no plugs for hair dryers.  Not sure how that will work just yet.  There's a dressing table in our current bedroom where I dry my hair and get ready.  I hope to set something like that up in our new place.

Light switches are turned down for "ON" and up for "OFF."

You have to get your produce weighed and tagged back in the produce department BEFORE going to the checkout line or you will have to wait in line ALL OVER AGAIN!!!

They DO sell Tabasco at some of the grocery stores here.  I think Chad even found Louisiana hot sauce at one (although he brought a big bottle with us!)

Finally figured out how to work the stove on Friday!

Saturday January 29th, 2011

                This morning Jim Tarum and his wife Denise picked us up and showed us around Dubai.  We went down to the spice and gold souk's which were in "Old Town."  Chad was in heaven getting to barter again.  He bought a spice sampler in one of the souk's while Mitchell and I talked with a man from Iran that was somehow affiliated with the store.  He gave Mitchell a small saffron flower and a vanilla bean.  Later in the day Mitchell said he wanted to bake a cake with the vanilla and take a piece back to the man in the store.  The gold souk area was amazing during the day and I can't imagine what it would look like all lit up in the evening.  We'll have to go back and see.  After shopping, they took us to their favorite Mexican restaurant.  It was very good but still hard to eat Mexican food without a cold beer or margarita!  No alcohol is sold in any restaurants unless they're in a hotel.

                After lunch we went back to their villa (AKA mansion!)  It was a really nice place with a small pool out back.  We sat on their patio and had a couple drinks and visited.  Later they took us to (yet another) mall.  We shopped around and let Mitchell play in a bounce house area of the mall.  He immediately gravitated to a little Indian boy and they played tag the whole time he was there.  Later we went to pick up a few things at the grocery.  We had a small bag of apples, some shampoo and body wash.  We made it up to the cashier and she rudely threw the apples aside and told Chad he couldn't buy them because he had failed to get them weighed and tagged back in the produce section.  Needless to say, THAT didn't go over well and we left the store with nothing.  By that time we were tired and frustrated and THEN couldn't find the Taxi pick up area of the mall.  We were all grumpy and weepy.  When we got back to the apartment, we went to bed.  I didn't sleep well because the next day - Sunday, was my first day of work.

February 2nd, 2011

                Started work on Sunday the 30th of January.  I'm really enjoying my boss and other co-workers.  It's a very small office of 8 - 9 people, including us from GPDC.  I still haven't had to drive yet because the CPC GM, Jim Tarum, has been picking me up and chauffeuring me to work and my boss has been chauffeuring me home.  It's a pretty sweet deal.  I found that we go to lunch very late, usually around 1PM so I've learned to bring healthy snacks to work, lest I pass out from hunger by noon (previous lunch hour was 11:30 AM).

                Mitchell went to school for the first time on Monday as a "trial day" due to his previous behavior grades.  We found out later that day that he had 2 behavior "incidents" as they called them but the school was generous enough (AKA really wanted our $$$) that they gave him a second chance on Tuesday.  We found out late Tuesday that he was accepted to the school on a "conditional" basis because he had a better day on Tuesday.   We asked Mitchell about his second day at school and what his favorite class was.  He told me he liked Arabic class best.  They learned about the letter "N" that day and how to write it in Arabic.  Mitchell told me it looks like a "U" with a dot over it.  I have no idea if he's right or not, I was just glad class was memorable!

Chad & I were very confused about the whole "conditional acceptance" so we both took him to school on Wednesday and met with the counselor.  He was really nice and explained that just because he received a "conditional" acceptance it didn't mean they could kick him out at the drop of a hat.  We breathed a huge sigh of relief because Mitchell was really enjoying the school already and really liked his teacher.  

After work on Wednesday I took the plunge and rented a car.  No preferred service here as it took around 45 minutes to complete the process at the airport and I was the ONLY one at the counter.  Luckily Jim T was nice enough to wait for me and let me follow him home.  The only problem was he thought I was going to our temporary apartment and I needed to go to our new apartment.  After a few wrong turns and a lot of U-turns later, I made it safely to our new place.  Then came the adventure of finding our parking spaces in the depths of the underground parking lot.  After a few more wrong turns we finally found our 2 parking spaces (which really appear to be big enough for no more than 1 ½ cars)!  That should be interesting!

Next we headed to dinner.  There was a new restaurant right under our apartment on the Marina Walk that was having their grand opening.  We ended up being their first (and only) customers until right before we were leaving.  We met the Operations Manager, the restaurant manager, the take-out manager multiple waiters and waitresses and the marketing manager who took our family picture since we were their first official customers!  We felt like royalty!  The food was delicious and the service was great, especially since we were the only one's there!  We decided we needed to eat there at least every week or so!

After dinner (in the dark) we decided to try to find Zak's where they sell the logo clothing/uniforms for Mitchell's school.  Chad, surprisingly, let me drive.  We knew which road the store was on but not exactly where and it was a REALLY LONG ROAD!!!   About 40 minutes (and multiple traffic lights) later when we had almost given up when we saw the shining Burger King sign in the distance that was the landmark for the shopping center where Zak's was located.  Through divine intervention we found a parking space right in front of the shopping center.  We figured out how to use the parking meter system and off we went.  Fifteen minutes and 850 dirams (~$240) later, we had 4 polo shirts, one short sleeved dress shirt, 4 pair of shorts, one pair of slacks and one sweater.  WOAH!!!  We made our way home in the dark after only a few wrong turns! 

Dubai speak 101:

                Restaurant booths are called "sofa's"

                You don't ask for the check, it's a "bill"

                It's not carry-out, it's "take-away"

February 3, 2011

                Well, I woke up early and got to Skype with my mom and Steve.  Even though it was February 2nd for them it was early AM, February 3rd for me.  They sang me happy birthday from across the globe!  How fun!  I also got to Skype a short bit with Pam and Bill and got more birthday wishes.

I drove Mitchell to school and somehow took a wrong turn (go figure with all the twisty, confusing exits here).  Luckily I found our way eventually and managed to get him to school without a minute to spare.  Then I was on my way to work.  Again, I took another wrong turn but amazingly found my way to the office!  Yippee!  Some of the men in my office were talking about going to one of the malls for lunch and I immediately asked "CAN I DRIVE?!?!?"  I really need to start driving so I can get my bearings and find my way around!