· Big News: WE HAVE A CONTRACT ON OUR HOUSE!!!! The contract with a buyer was finalized the DAY our contract to sell it to the company would have been initiated. That basically means since we sold it to someone instead of the company having to take it into inventory, we get a 2% seller's bonus! YIPPEE!!!
· Interesting News: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum visited Mitchell's school on Monday, May 9th to inaugurate the school. They had all the kids line up and wave UAE flags. (When Mitchell told us about the flag waving, I asked if they waved American or UAE flags...I should have known the answer before I asked!) They gave him a tour of the school and the video is posted on "His Highness' website. The link is below if you're interested. It's about 7 minutes long but if you watch it, you'll get to see a tour of his school. It's like a college campus!
· Sad News: A man committed suicide by jumping off the Burj Khalifa. He jumped from the 147th floor and landed on 108! Supposedly he had an argument with his company over vacation time earlier that day.
Other Ramblings
· It's amazing how international Dubai is. We went to a Bunco party a week ago and out of the 12 people at the party there were 6 people from the US. Out of those 6, one woman had been married to a Saudi national for over 25 years and had been living in Saudi and/or Dubai ever since. Another one of the 6 Americans had traveled to Lebanon when she was 19 for a study abroad program and had married a man from Lebanon and had lived in this part of the world for the past 35+ years. The other 6 guests were from Scotland, England, Greece, Spain, Saudi and Indonesia! It was like our own little United Nations event! Very interesting people!
· I have never considered myself a car person. I have never ogled cars in awe...until I moved to Dubai!!! I cannot believe the cars people DRIVE over here. I know people have nice cars in Houston but they tend to keep them in a garage, wash and polish them....but not DRIVE them! People drive Bentleys, Maserati's and Ferrari's as their everyday cars!! I was on my way home from work last week and saw someone cruising down the freeway in a fire engine red convertible BENTLEY!!! I almost had an accident staring! Maserati has offices in our office building and they have about 6 different Maserati's parked in the garage. I walk past them every day on the way to my fun, fabulous Chevy! It takes every ounce of restraint in my body to not rub my hand over the hood! I'm not sure I'll ever get used to seeing all these luxury cars on a daily basis. People drive Porsche's, BMW's and Mercedes here like we drive Honda's and Toyota's in the States!
· Feet are EVERYWHERE over here! Men mostly wear sandals and their feet are gross and calloused. Regardless, they feel no shame in showing them off. As soon as men sit down in public places (benches in the malls and along the Marina Walk, in RESTAURANTS, WHEREVER), they tend to remove their shoes...maybe even pick at them. SERIOUSLY NASTY AND DISGUSTING!!! Sorry, I couldn't keep this to myself!!! I've even seen WOMEN in restaurants with their bare feet up on the chairs or benches and their shoes on the floor. YUCK!
· Carpeted dash boards & plastic seats! I have seen quite a number of cars here with thick, fuzzy rugs covering their ENTIRE dashboard. I'm surprised they can see over the 2" + thick carpet. I'm not sure of the purpose of this carpet. I've seen this in vans and in regular cars. If it's a car with a nook in the back between the back seat and the window, that area has carpet too!!! Other cars still have factory plastic wrap over the seats and head rests. Mind you, these are NOT new cars. Not sure if this is to somehow protect the seats from the sun or from the smelly drivers and passengers?!?!?
· I'm finding the warmer it gets outside, the more layers and the warmer I dress. The temperature difference between the outside air and the air conditioned buildings is HUGE. So much for never being cold now that I've moved to the desert!
· We went to a beach club and lunch at a really nice hotel close to our apartment the other day. When we were leaving, I was reading some of the signs directing visitors to different facilities/amenities of the hotel. One of the signs read "Hair Saloon" with an arrow pointing to the "Saloon". I was cracking up that they mis-spelled Salon. Then I got to thinking how a Hair Saloon would work...do they shoot the hair off your head? Do you get beer and a bowl of nuts when getting at haircut at the saloon? Just thinking!
· There's a grocery store here called "Safestway". From what I hear it used to be a Safeway but, when Safeway pulled out, the new owners were too cheap to change the signage. This is supposed to be the store where you can get all kinds of American brands of food. I went there the other day to look for Rotel and tortillas. I left with 3 bags of groceries and $55 less in my wallet. The things I couldn't resist...Vlasic Dill pickles, Nestle Toll House pre-made cookie dough, Rotel, Velveta, Ruffles potato chips and Tostito's brand tortilla chips, just to name a few things. The only problem was that the store was NASTY! I felt dirty when I left. I don't think I'll ever need American brand food bad enough to go there ever again!
· Joe Cocker is coming to Dubai...again, thought he was dead. Think we'll pass on the concert.
· More bands I have heard on the radio that I forgot existed...Joan Jett (I LOVE ROCK N ROLL!), A Ha (Take on me...take on me; take me on - gotta sing it); Culture Club (AKA Boy George); Howard Jones and the group that sings "Come on Irene"! Now try not singing THAT all day!
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