First world problem: no internet at home. I have been in Dubai for over a month and I finally have internet at home. It's been tough(er) than expected having to do all my internet dependent stuff at school. It feels weird to be at work doing personal things on a work computer. At first I thought I would get seriously reprimanded for being on facebook or updating this blog. Then I just didn't have time. But now that I have internet at home I'm free to get my social media fill!
September has been busy. Really, really busy. I've been pulling 12 hour days at work and then doing my best to participate in society. I bought a bike and joined a cycling group, signed up for a 92km bike race this December and made some really good friends. I was standing in Revolution Cycles
http://www.rcdxb.com/html.php waiting to be fitted for my new bike when I met an older man in a suit named Paul. After some brief chatting about what brought us to Dubai (a question as ubiquitous as discussions of weather) he said "not to sound creepy but you should meet my daughter. We can come get you and you can ride with us Friday mornings on the track in the desert." And I thought that was a stupendous idea! So I got his daughter's number, met them at the Autodrome and we've been friends ever since! They come and get me in the wee hours of Friday mornings to go to the desert path. A desert cycle path, you say? Yes. The prince of Dubai stopped a group of cyclists a few years ago and told them he'd build them somewhere to ride. There is now a 92km paved cycling path just outside of Motor City that goes past the camel races and a resort called Bab Al Shams
http://www.meydanhotels.com/babalshams/contactus.htm
I have been doing build up rides every Friday morning at 6am. It is incredible to be riding on a path and see camels and other desert animals just hanging around. Unfortunately, I'm usually doing around 25km/hr and riding in a group so stopping to take a picture isn't an option.
I've inspired a few coworkers to buy bikes too! Getting to work takes me three minutes which makes the poor sweaty walkers jealous. However, adults who haven't been on a bike since they were kids and whose only experience with buying a bicycle is a Walmart special with streamers and spoke-beads, cannot fathom paying more than two hundred dollars for a bicycle. Their reaction to my answer of $1000 when asked how much my bike cost was priceless! Shock and horror! Hahaha! Yet, in my mind, I got a decent deal; entry level road bikes typically range from $900-1500 dollars without pedals, clips, shoes, etc. The bike was originally priced at $2500 and I got them down to just over $1000 with clips, helmet, seat bag, water bottles, and lights thrown in!
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| NEW BIKE! |
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My friend Joy just got a bicycle! I convinced her that riding 24km was an excellent idea for a first ride.
Autodrome, Motor City Dubai. You can see my bike over my right shoulder :) |
Sports City (where I live) is just outside of Dubai's city centre. Taxis are a reality here because even if you could walk, there are no sidewalks and it's foolishly hot. I ride my bicycle across the street to Motor City where there is a Spinney's and the Auto Drome race track. It is open Wednesday evenings to cyclists and runners. Most Wednesdays I ride about 30km on the track.
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| View of the back lit city centre from a taxi. |
It's really difficult not to be a consumer here in Dubai. I find that I am constantly wanting to go shopping...and really with the biggest and best malls in the world within a 10AED ($3) taxi ride, why wouldn't I? Dubai Mall makes me feel like a pauper. Unlike fancy schmancy stores in Canada and US, I'm welcomed into the designer stores with open arms and welcoming smiles but when most price tags read in the tens of thousands of dirhams it is difficult not to feel poor and defeated. I went shopping with a friend and we walked for 6 hours and managed to see a fraction of that mall. Pictures follow:
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| Aquarium, Dubai Mall. |
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| Butterflies, Dubai Mall |
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| Waterfall sculpture, Dubai Mall. |
I was originally convinced to come to Dubai by my friend Nicole. She spent a solid five days firing a barrage of really good reasons that I should probably leave the Arctic and come to the desert, in an effort to get me here. We met up recently in JLT for some Indian food and a night time stroll. Hilariously, I get here and she leaves. The UAE is going to miss that girl!
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| The view from Jumeria Lake Towers JLT |
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| Me and Nicole |
The beauty of Dubai is that there is always something insane going on. Through my friend Joy, I scored a VIP ticket to the exclusive Bloomingdales Fall Fashion Show at Souk Madinat this past Sunday. It was a pretty surreal experience. I've never been surrounded by such a hodgepodge group of people ranging in dress from 80s wrestler pants and oversized tees to wearing every stupidly expensive high fashion label they could layer on top of each other without looking fat and felt so self conscious about what I was wearing!
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| Me and Joy looking fabulous at the show. |
I have been busy but not too busy so as to forget about making my house my own. As has been the tradition since 2008, I have my map wall in place and it's bigger and better than ever! I had some new pictures blown up to complete the picture border and I look forward to adding a second perimeter of pictures while I'm here in Dubai. Now all I need are some coloured star stickers to mark where I've been.
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| Starting in the top left and going right: 1-3 Nunavut, 4 and 5 Peru, 6 and 7 Thailand, 8 Handsome Nigel, 9 beside TV coast of BC, 10 Peru, 11 and 12 Alaska, 13 Iceland, 14 Bolivia, 15 Iceland, 16 Grand Canyon. |
My new friends Paul and his daughter Sophie, just so happen to be members of a charity board who just so happened to have a black tie ball this past Thursday. What started out as an idea to buy a few tickets and spend a night out with some friends turned into the staff at Bradenton Prep buying 2 tables and contributing over 10,000AED to a wonderful cause. Open bar, full meal, live entertainment, and an all night dance party with good friends made for an excellent evening! I didn't bring my camera because it wouldn't fit in my cute little clutch so I'm waiting for my friends to post pictures so I can steal them. I just had my ancient Black Berry without flash with me so here are two grainy pictures from the night:
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| The car I didn't arrive in... |
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| Fancy dress for a Black Tie event! |
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| Bradenton Prep staff in foreground and background (I'm in the top left) out to support an excellent cause and looking incredible! |
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