I have a new kitten! Erik and I adopted her on Saturday from Feline Friends. They are a non-profit organization that operates with the help of volunteers. They are helping Dubai with the stray cat problem which is a big issue, so feline Friends says. A woman at Feline Friends said to me that one major reason Dubai has a stray cat problem is because pet stores breed pure-breeds to sell in their stores, while there are many other stray cats that need homes. Now, I don't think the pet stores would be breeding these pure-breeds if there weren't a demand for them. The people who buy those pure-breeds probably wouldn't want a "mutt" cat, whether there is a stray cat problem or not. So, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I'll get back to you on this one if I find out more.
Her name is Sheba. She is 8 months old. She is very inquisitive, and always getting into things and making us laugh. Erik likes to think that she is smart, and that's why she's so curious. I am hoping it's not the exact opposite. I mean, she did run across the living room into the solid side of a cardboard box... twice... in quick succession. She's very hyper, but she's a kitten still so it is expected. She purrs a lot and loves to have her belly rubbed. Someone at the shelter almost got her before I swooped in and called her my own. Now I'm happy she is here!
Yesterday Erik and I had just finished eating breakfast in our apartment when from the corner of my eye I saw something moving in the sky. Since we are on the 17th floor this was odd. I looked out the window and could see a large plume of black smoke making it's way across the sky. We looked for the source of this smoke but could not see it since the building next to us was blocking the view. So we ventured out of our apartment and walked down to the site only to discover that Erik's school was on fire! He doesn't plan to attend until the fall, but maybe later now. The fire wasn't very big and it was extinguished within 15 minutes, but still it was really funny watching Erik's school on fire.
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| Smokey the Bear... we need you! 1/12/08 6:34 PM |
Recently I moved across the world. How often does a person get to say that? Well I say not enough! This experience has been many things, but it has not been mundane. I've experienced the full range of emotions in record time.
The day before my flight to Dubai on December 28th, I was 220% positive that I was prepared for the trip of my lifetime. After all, I had shopped for plane snacks nearly 2 weeks before my flight and was packing suitcases a month in advance. Little did I know that most foreign airlines actually feed their patrons. I never want to fly on an American airline again! You can see pictures of Erik and I mid-flight at my Picasa Web Album.
Itinerary: The first flight on December 28th was a short skip across the US from Denver to Washington D.C. then from D.C. a very long stride to Doha. After that grueling 13 hour flight one very small hop across the Arabian Gulf from Doha to Dubai. The flight from Washington D.C. to Doha was very loooong and there were two syncopated crying babies. We will leave it at that... moving on.
I arrived in Doha (in the country of Qatar) at 11pm and things immediately felt different. The air, the smells and the people felt very unfamiliar. Believe me, the smells were something that could not go unnoticed. The people in these parts burn intense incense and perfumes are everywhere. It is so pungent, just walking past it makes me cough. It's a nice smell, but moderation is key. Despite large amounts of sleep deprivation (see syncopated babies) I was very alert on the final 1 hour flight from Doha to Dubai. Looking out the window as the lights of Dubai began to appear over the dark ocean was quite a moment. I took pictures but they do not do it justice.
When I stepped into the Dubai Airport everything looked so new and shiny. This is something you must adjust to in Dubai. It will happen a lot. Amongst all this new shiny stuff, every several feet there were pods of Indian people sleeping in the middle of the airport floor... some on marble, mind you. This is normal for them and weird for me.
Erik and I walked to the baggage claim with our fingers crossed hoping that by some glitch all 6 of our bags had made it to Dubai. Numerous bags circled around the carriers waiting for their owners, each similar bag taunting us and driving our hopes up. After awhile the bags stopped coming onto the corral and ours never came. Not a single bag came. How does an airline lose all 6 bags from 2 people? This is where my picture taking spree stopped for awhile. Who wants to document the bad times? Although, now I wish I had. After nearly an hour of trying to explain to the lost baggage counter what our bags looked like and what was in them, we finally made it to customs with not one of the 6 bags in our possession. We swiftly made it through the lines and passed customs after once again trying to communicate with the people at the customs counter who are very hard to understand. Arabic and Indian accents, I have declared, are the hardest to decipher.
After getting through a long taxi line we were finally on our way to our hotel. Driving through Dubai for the first time was very exciting. Arabic and English were always paired together on every sign and on every store. I've always seen English and Spanish together, but never Arabic. Arabic looks like scribblings of someone who is attempting to write while riding a galloping horse. However, I was so glad to see English everywhere. I was thinking, how those who speak Spanish in America must feel. It made me feel more welcome and at ease in a foreign country.
We arrived at our hotel and immediately wanted to shower, to much dismay. Apparently water heaters have to be turned on to use them around these parts. Needless to say the shower was lukewarm. I've since learned my lesson. I've also found that these pungent aromatic smells are not only present in the air, but in their bathing products as well. At the hotel that night I used the body wash as a facial cleanser and had a choking fit. Seriously, the smell was that strong. It was somewhat like hyper-active laundry detergent. That type of scent is very popular around here for every kind of product you can imagine. After recovering from the body wash and a few moments of excitement and smiles, Erik and I passed out.
That bed seemed to be the most comfortable bed in which I had ever slept. My opinion should be discounted at this point considering I had been trying to sleep on a plane for the previous 13 hours and was unsuccessful. We woke up to a sunny day and saw children playing cricket in the parking lot across the street from our hotel.
We scurried down to the restaurant and had our free breakfast. After that it was time to hunt down our apartment key! We arrived at the Vakson Realty office in the early afternoon and after numerous unmentionable problems finally received our key. That's the thing about Dubai. Everything I seem to do comes with it's own little set of problems. From those issues, more problems spring. It's as if it's a virus here, and I've caught it. The problem virus.
The drive to our apartment was surreal. After seeing pictures of the buildings in Dubai for so long, seeing them out of a taxi window just felt like a dream. It was hard to soak it in for awhile. This due in part to my jet-lag as well.
We arrived at our apartment in the afternoon and Erik was beaming. He should have been too. He found a great place for us to live. He worked so hard on finding us an amazing apartment and he was finally reaping his reward... and so was I! Our view was something to behold. Unfortunately, our electricity and water was not on yet. Thankfully, Derry (Erik's mother) gave us a small flashlight when we were on our way to the airport. Little did she know she was really saving us from total darkness later that night! We set our couple of carry-on bags down, then roamed and poked around our new place. All over the apartment on every surface there was very fine construction dust. Erik liked to call it the "virgin coating" that ensured it's newness. I saw a dusty mess that I was going to have to clean up. It got on everything immediately. My hands, our bags, my shoes, and pants were all covered. After we had enough of the dust we set out for cell phones. When we came back around 7pm I fell asleep on our air mattress with little thought. In the early morning I woke up at 4:30 unable to sleep any longer. Erik was restless too. We still did not have any water or electricity (thankfully the health club had showers and toilets). So we did what any new apartment owners would do at 4:30 in the morning, we lit 4 candles we purchased the day before and started cleaning. There we were at 4:30am cleaning our apartment by candlelight. That was a sight to behold. Our mothers would have been so proud of us. Later that day we set out to IKEA so we could set up our home.
The next few days are a blur. Flipping your schedule ahead 12 hours, so you're sleeping when you should be a awake and awake when you should be sleeping is not so easy. I felt like I was sleep walking most days, but at least my sleep walking was productive. We went on a shopping frenzy. Within about 3 days we had gotten nearly everything we needed for our home. However, we needed to build it all! All IKEA furniture comes unassembled. That was a ball.
So here I am, in my new home about to cook dinner. That's another thing... the stove. It's a gas stove but the building does not have gas lines. So instead Emirates Gas company comes to your home and brings you a tank of gas, hooks it up to your stove and puts it in your cupboard. We are getting an electric stove as soon as we can. The whole gas tank in my kitchen thing really freaks me out. So all in all, there is a big scary gas tank in my cupboard, but I'm getting used to it.
Quick Update! I am here in Dubai! All is well aside from the airline losing all 6 (yes 6!) of our bags. I will explan more later and post all my pictures when I make the next post. I am waiting for internet at my condo. I am at an Internet Cafe right now. Check back soon!
-Michelle
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