Creative Meanderings

Sadly, I have no idea what I did all day. I did not leave the apartment, not even for the pool. I did shower around 1pm. I did watch Li Na beat Venus Williams in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tennis match with Arabic commentary. I did make spaghetti sauce. I did talk to J for a while. I did not work. I did not read. Oh, I did finish postcards that need…

Today was my biggest day out and probably the last for the trip, but it was a good one. After my run-in with the Emirati fellow the other day, I decided that doing a tour might not be a bad idea since it is $36 for a four hour tour. So, they arrived and two of us were taken around in a mini-van to see bits of Dubai. We started with a stop…

True to the pattern I have been keeping, Tuesday was a pool/work day. The morning was a bit lazy, I admit and I spent the usual working time before the pool updating my blog, emailing, etc. Sometimes these things must be done! I enjoyed the pool and realized I am getting a good tan without having burned myself yet, so that is a bonus. Probably doesn’t matter for the eventual skin cancer possibilities,…

It seems that every other day I get out and try to do something…. Monday, I made up my mind to see some souks (markets) on my own. Not too far away from Oud Metha Rd, where I am staying, is an area of town called Karama. The travel book mentioned a section of town with lots of shops for tourists and locals, so I thought it sounded like an interesting venture out.…

It is still weird to think of Sunday as the start of the work week, so I pretended it was still the weekend and decided to do nothing in particular. In fact, I have learned to sleep in a bit (though still up by 7am). After a short hour and a half at the pool side, I did a full sweep of the house and tried to do some household things that I…

I just realized I cut Day 9’s events a bit short. I was so excited and long-winded about the alcohol purchasing that I forgot the evening activities! oops! Day 9 Evening After getting back mid-afternoon, we relaxed before heading out to The Boardwalk, which is a nice restaurant at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club. It is shaped like a boat. So, we had a couple of very tasty appetizers and a…

Weekends in the UAE are generally Friday and Saturday. This sort of throws me off in my Western mentality that all work weeks start on Monday. Since I am on vacation, it is definitely easier for me to take it in stride, but many of the new people I have met say Friday when they mean Thursday because it is the last working day. It is humorous in a weird way. 🙂 So,…

I am a little behind…oops! Day 8 was suppose to be the best and most relaxing day ever with my day-long spa treatment at Cleopatra’s Spa. However, I woke up with chills from a fever and a bit of a headache. Still, I went in hopes that it would do some kind of detox to rid my body of whatever bug was taking over. The treatment was as follows: Step 1: Enter and…

I’m thinking about changing my nationality to Chinese or at least just saying “Yes” when people ask me if I am. On Day 7, my morning pool plans were foiled when the telephone/internet guy decided to take about three hours to get the job done. So far, most the technicians or people who do grunt work in Dubai seem to be the Pakistani. It seems they really don’t make much money. Some are…