Greetings from the air somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. I am in the latter half of a 14 hour flight to JFK and have exhausted my list of things to do. I slept the first 3 hours, ate lunch, watched Eat, Pray, Love, slept another 3 hours, ate dinner and watched Going the Distance (ironic right?!). Now I'm jamming to Akon and providing an update on my last week until 2011. I know I wrote about this en route to Abu Dhabi, but business class rocks my world. Dean (my US partner) is escorting me home (ha…how lucky am I to get partner escort to and from Abu Dhabi?!!?). Anyway..that bastard got upgraded from business to first and they were not having me joining him. Damn. I did get to enjoy the first class lounge so started my morning with a delicious breakfast.
Lets see…..my last week was as busy as I expected it to be and I have to say, the 6 hours of sleep I've gotten on the plane so far have been much needed. As soon as I'm done writing I fully plan on passing back out for a couple more hours until I land in New York. The red wine is helping with this initiative!!!!
I think I blogged last on Monday night right before I went out so here is an update since then.
Dean flew in Monday night so I left work, went home, blogged, had dinner and then went to meet him at the Beach Rotana (if you hvaen't gathered so far, it’s a fairly popular hotel with some great bars/restaurants!!)!. They also have a beautiful tree up right now so I don't mind being there all the time. Ha!! We sat outside and caught up on my first 6 weeks over wine/beer. Then we went to Trader Vics for a drink and Oliver came to meet us. The American trifecta at its finest. Lol. I was really smart and when they went back to the Beer Garden for another beer, I politely excused myself and went home. It doesn't happen often so I'm proud of myself when it does!!!
Tuesday was a big dinner for my real job. For some reason I feel very strangely about writing the name in my blog (of my real employer or my Abu Dhabi employer) so ideally you all just get what I'm talking about. Anyhow….it was a very strange dinner. There were about 12 partners, me, Oliver and another chick who is a Director I think. Being here has been great exposure for me, as I wouldn't have met any of these ppl had I stayed home. I met partners from Qatar, Netherlands, London, Dubai, etc. So the Global SWF leader was there and he was like..Cristina how many of these people do you know? I said, well just the ppl sitting to my right and left (way to branch out I know!). So he gets them to introduce themselves, and it became very weird. Oliver didn't know most of them, Lars didn't know some of them, Dean either. But instead of speaking to the group, they all just talked directly to me. Now mind you, I, as a Manager am the LEAST important person at this dinner. But you would have thought I was the most and they were all trying to impress me. It was bizarre and hard to explain I guess. After, we went for a drink and Dean/Oliver/Lars were like WTF was that? Maybe I'm making partner this year and no one has told me yet? HAHAHAHA!!!! It was a fairly late night and I was tired on Wednesday…..like hard to keep my eyes open tired.
Wednesday night was our secondee Christmas dinner. Secondees are those who aren't actually employed by the company in AD but we're all there from our respective firms for a set period of time. It was essentially the whole legal department and me (I'm in tax for anyone that hasn't figured that out or doesn't know). I cabbed over with Katie (it was also her sort of going away dinner since yesterday was her last day at work and she goes back to London on Sunday…SOOOOO SAD. More to come). We went to Chamas, a Brazillian steakhouse at the Intercontinental. Food was great, and drinks were flowing. Katie and I split a bottle of red wine, each had a martini and then someone at the table suggested unlimited capariniahs. Apparently it was 45 dirhams for 1 or 60 for unlimited, so it seemed fiscally responsible to go unlimited. Bad idea. They were insanely strong and didn't stop coming. All in all, it was a great dinner. Well then the group sort of split . Most went to 8, which is a club at the Shangri-La that I do intend to visit one day…but it was on the other side of the island and I figured a bad idea. Katie and I went to Oceans/Sax (where I had been the previous Wednesday) to meet some other folks. It is 3 blocks from our pad and has GREAT music on Wednesday night. Its been two of the most fun nights out for me so I will prob become a regular. The bouncer recognized me and seems to be a fan so also a plus! I tried to leave at 2am but was bullied into staying later…ha. The one good thing about Sax is that the music is so good that I essentially stop drinking and start dancing and that helps with the morning after. I got home about 3am and prepared for the worst the next am.
Surprisingly, I did the best at work on Thursday. Katie lives 2 doors down from me and I considered knocking on her door but figured she was fine. Wrong. She bbm'd me back at 10 am and had just woken up. Anwar was also emailing me that he was rolling in way late. That seemed to be the case for everyone in legal. I was there at 8:15 ready to go! I am somewhat of a rockstar here….for whatever reason I can handle no sleep and constant nights out better than anyone I hang out with. They were like why do you look so freaking chipper and good this morning when none of us got any sleep and were quite hungover. Oh you know, cuz I'm awesome?! So we all had some good laughs on Thursday about the way the night before went. I also went to a late lunch with a co-worker so that was sweet cuz it killed 2.5 hours of my afternoon. I had a very busy week but by Thursday was mostly in good shape to head out for the holidays.
So the Global SWF leader (Jan) wanted to have Dean, Oliver, John (UK partner) and I over to his place for drinks and then head to Emirates Palace for dinner and to see the 11M Xmas tree in the lobby. That’s right, 11M . They are going for a Guiness World Record. We shall see. Anyhow…..Jan's place was sick. Unbelievable location, views, apartment, etc etc. I guess that’s to be expected right? I told Dean I needed an upgrade from my craphole hotel apartment immediately!!! So we had a few glasses of wine and then eventually went to Hakkisan. I have been hearing about this place (Chinese) since arriving and it was supposed to be the place of our tax team xmas dinner which has been pushed to January. I convinced them all to go and it was sooooo good. I ate a ton of randomness (I do have to say, I've been slightly more adventurous on the food front since arriving here since there are often not the options I'm used to. Case in point, I had a steak sandwich for my lunch today and it was phenom.). Anyhow…..we had a great dinner, drank tons more wine and martinis and coffee and booze and then John went to the airport, Jan went home, and the 3 amigos went to Etoilles. At this point I was stuffed and the vodka tonics were not going down so well. But the music was pretty good and I did some dancing. Oh wait..forgot to mention, met this guy Greg the night before when we were cabbing from Jan's place to Emirates who was with Daniel, someone I met week one who works for my old client. Greg was in AD interviewing at old client. Turns out, he's sitting directly behind me on the plane. Small world sometimes right??!?!?! His interview gig was pretty sweet..flew him out here business class for a week, gave him a driver who showed him around Dubai/Abu Dhabi. Makes sense though, if you are committing to moving all the way out here, you ought to know what you are getting into. I just wung (is wung the past tense of wing?!) it, but I also am only here for a limited period.
On that note….I've essentially been offered a full time job already. I really didn't expect that this early in the game, but they love me already so I guess want to plant the seed. A huge part of me wants to consider this, but I'm not sure its right. Forgot to mention, I'm up for promotion this year and I herad from my coach on Thursday (our mid year review where they sort of make a good indicator of your year end fate was on Wednesday) and she said I basically had it in the bag. So I really am not ready to leave my job as I want the promotion and do love the opportunities it has. On the other hand, my AD employer is phenomenal and I have loved every second of my first 6 weeks. I have learned so much, met so many great people and really am living life to the fullest. Anyway,….thats not something I need to figure out now so……
We stayed out too late again and I had to get up at 6:30 to shower, pack and meet Dean at his hotel to head to the airport. Oliver is also moving into my place for the next 3 days (look at us saving the firm money!!!) so I had to make sure things were cleaned up, put away, etc. I essentially threw a bunch of randomness in my suitcases and left.
So here I am……11 hours into my flight and thinking about what an amazing experience I have had so far. I still can't believe that this is my life right now, and that the first 6 weeks are over. In some respects I feel like I've been here for ages, and in others, it went so fast. I know I work hard and completely deserve this experience, but really, its been so much more than I ever expected. Professionally its an amazing experience, but lifewise, it can not even be explained. I have met some AMAZING people so far. I feel like in Liana I have met my long lost twin. I am so lucky to not only work with such an amazing chick, but to have grown so close and had soooo much fun since I got here. She is a big fan of my staying forever, lol. Anyhow, she's in Australia for the holidays and we're fully prepared to take 2011 by storm together. She was so unexpected but a great surprise. Katie is on her way out, which is extremely sad. She is an American but has been in London for a bit and headed back there now. Liana and I wil def. be heading to London for a visit! Anyway…Katie has become a great friend and I don't think that’s going to end even though she's headed back to reality. We bonded over drinks, runs, concerts, and I think she is fabulous. Alice is a newer friend but she's here for a few months and I'm excited to hang with her more. She is a UKer and a blast so far. The 4 of us had a blast the last few weeks and we'll def miss our #4. Oliver has been wonderful to have as well. We don't spend as much time together as I figured we would (since I've developed much more of a social life than expected!) but we make it a point to do at least one dinner a week and I love having him here. There are so many more new friends I've met that fall into one big category of super fun and accepting. Being an ex-pat here is actually really easy, as we are all in the same boat and most ppl that have come here are very similar (adventurous, outgoing, etc). Most nights end up just a ton of ppl and its an, anyone can come, anything goes mentality which is super refreshing.
It's funny cuz I went out to hail a cab the other night and realized the woman next to me wanted one but they were all whizzing by and she wouldn't stick her hand out. So I got her a cab and then myself. Same thing happened a few days later. For all the cab trouble I had when I got here, that was sort of a wow, I'm becoming a local moment!!! I had no idea what to expect when I came out here and took this huge gamble, but what a reward I have received so far. I have met great people, learned so much about other cultures, learned a ton at work and just had a truly amazing experience. I am excited to go home for the holidays and see everyone, but I will be happy to come back and finish out this journey in the new year.
I'm head to DC now (well JFK and then DC) until Sunday and then I head to Tampa to see my family for an early xmas. Then back to DC to celebrate Xmas and New Years and then back to Abu Dhabi on January 2nd. It's not going to be at all relaxing but I've sort of gotten used to that in the last 6 weeks! I am really not looking forward to it being freezing, but I guess I'll get used to it. When I left my hotel this morning in jeans, tank top and flops and was hot, I sort of wanted to stay. Lol. It's been snowing in DC and its cold as crap in Florida should be an experience. I don’t even have a coat with me. Better be door to door service!!!
I have load of plans for 2011 which I'm excited for. The girls (see above) have agreed to meet for a weekend in Beirut, Oliver wants to go skiing in Lebanon for a weekend (so I'll be bringing my gear back!), Liana and I (and Alice if we can convince her) will go to London to see Katie, Oliver and I might hit the Maldives and I fully intend on going sky diving in Dubai for my birthday in March. I feel like the first 6 weeks were insane with concerts, events, Formula 1, getting acclimated, etc and the second half I plan to actually do some travelling, see the Grand Mosque, go for a boat ride, etc etc.
I hope everyone has a great holiday season and wishing you all a Happy New Year. Thanks for following my blog (I hope to have kept you all fairly entertained) even though some of it prob cant be fully appreciated in writing. I can't wait to see some of you in the coming weeks (don’t be too jealous of my fabulous tan!!)!. Love you all and talk to you again in 2011!!!!!!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
A week of fun!
Sorry I'm late on blogging....I just knew I had so much to write about and could barely function by yesterday! Last week was a whirlwind of fun...the second I dont think I could possibly have anymore, more comes along! I'm loving it!!!
Okay....last Monday was back to work after the long weekend followed by a chill night at the gym. And then it all went downhill!
Tuesday I was supposed to be having a dinner with some of my clients audit folks from the UK but when I emailed them that morning, they had messed up the date and meant tomorrow, not last week. Since I was dressed nicely and it was my brother and sisters birthday, I figured it only made sense to go celebrate on their behalf! Oliver and I decided to meet up for dinner and I was dying for a good steak (last one I had had was day 3 in AD!). So we went to the Rodeo Grill at the Beach Rotana and had a great dinner and shared a bottle of wine. Then we decided to go for one drink at Trader Vics (also in Beach Rotana and known for their Mai Tai's). The other times I've been, I've felt like the drinks were really week. So either something was wrong with me or they decided to trick me because 3 Mai Tai's later, I was in trouble. I did meet the executive chef for Sheikh Mohammad so that was entertaining as I told him wonderful stories about my pasta and pancake making skills. Lol. Around 12 we decided we had stayed out much longer than planned and I knew I was feeling off so I headed home and passed out. Wednesday morning was awful. I woke up spinning and felt like I got run over multiple times by a truck. I got up and got ready for work and suffered through the day. The problem being, I had already made plans for Wed night not expecting Tuesday to be anything!
So by the end of Wednseday I'm starting to feel like a human being again and agree to go for a couple drinks as it was ladies night and we were gonna go 3 blocks away from my hotel. Have I ever mentioned that I'm very easily influenced? Yeah, I am. So we go to Oceans and sat out on the terrace which was really nice..had some wine, and then some vodka tonics and then a tequilla shot (STUPID!!). So then this club Sax is right down the hall and again, its ladies night so we go, end up at a table with a bottle of grey goose and I don't even want to know what time it is. I had a blast but after rolling in at 3:30, I was a little mad at myself! Thursday morning I woke up to my phone ringing and knew immediately that something was wrong. Check my phone..its 8:30...which is the time I'm supposed to BE at work. Oops. So it was my driver that had been calling...I felt bad that he waited around for nothing but also thankful that he woke me up! I got ready so fast and was at work by 9:10 so really, thats not that bad. I don't feel quite as bad as the day before, I was just completely exhausted.
So we had already bought tickets to Creamfields, which is a big DJ dance festival that they host around the world and brought to Abu Dhabi for the first time last year. Liana and I figured everyone else was going so we mine as well. By the end of the work day Thursday (that just dragged on and on and on and on), all I wanted was to sleep but again, we had tickets, so it was kind of late. So we came home and changed real quick and then Katie drove Liana and I over to Yas island where they had a hotel room (Li and I tried to get one for the whole weekend but we attempted this the day before and everything was sold out....note for next time, plan ahead!). So we meet Alice there and have champagne and vodka redbulls while everyone finsihes getting ready (and Alice finished her 2 hour conference call!). By this time I'm getting my 3rd wind and ready for more so we go to the event and had a ball. Dizzee Rascall was great, we danced, met lots of random ppl, had drinks and took a million pictures (Alice has all of them...I'll bug her to put them up when she returns from her last minute work trip to San Fran!). Anyway..ppl all started to get separated and then we found out David Guetta wasn't coming on until 3:30 (originally was 2-4). I'm thinking how on earth am I going to make it that late, I'm soooo tired! Anyway....Alice and I got chicken schwarmas (they are big here and quite delicious...big as in popular..not in size, they are actually quite small!) and then tried to re organize everyone. We find Liana and then witness a fight of which Alice tries to help, ends up getting a bottle of water thrown in her face and lost her blackberry. Kind of a downer. So she ended up heading back to hotel and we have no idea where Katie is but assumed she had called it a night. So Liana and I hang out until about 4:15 and then heard David wasn't even on the island and after our Akon experience the previous weekend, we gave up and decided we'd here him on our iPods. Lol. So we head out to get a cab and that was a complete disaster. Like the UAE is a mess on a lot of fronts and sometimes its funny and sometimes its just really annoying, particularly when you haven't slept in days and its 4:30am. Liana and I gave the taxi organizer dude a load of sh*t before finally agreeing to go wait in the queue with everyone else. Bad move. We should have stayed with the original plan to get one on that side of the road. The line ended up kind of shifting like 1/4 mile down the road and then there wasn't a steady stream anymore so ppl just kept walking and then cabs stopped stopping because we weren't in the cab queue anymore. Then ppl started to sort of lose the line and others were clearly upset by this. We watched a girl in a tutu tell this guy off, was great. So then its finally our turn and a cab finally stops so we go to jump in as some other idiot jumps in the front. We're like, we're not getting out, and he was like, neither am I. So we figure fine, we'll go drop you off and then us, it was a little out of the way but not that bad. He ended up paying for the whole thing so that was nice. Got home about 5:30am...a guy was just getting dropped off at the airport as I stroll up and I just kind of laughed.
Friday I got up around 12:30 (phew..finally some sleep!), hit the pool and then started getting ready again for night #4. Our work Xmas dinner got moved so we were able to go to the Rugby ball we originally thought we'd miss. So we get all dressed at like 5 and head back to Yas (Yas is kind of a pain to get to but there just keeps being events there! Also the reason we wanted to stay the whole weekend but again, procrastiantion doesn't get you anywhere). We had managed to get a room for Friday night since Creamfields was over so headed over there, had a snack and a bottle of champagne before heading over to the hotel where the ball was. Met up with Katie and Ben (Ben is Katie's good friend from London and also coincidentally, Liana's flatmate). So we hung out with them at the bar until people started making their way to the ball. The ball was really fun (and my first). We had loads of wine and champagane and a great Xmas dinner of turkey, potatoes, carrots, etc. We danced to typical wedding style music for a bit and then decided we had had all the fun we were going to have. Katie ended up heading home and Liana and I went to Allure, the first nightclub on Yas and operated by the Cipriana's chain so its really nice. It wasn't too busy but that was perfect. Went back to the hotel around 4 and passed out. Saturday we got up and then went to the pool for the afternoon. It was nice to be at a different pool which was more resort like than my rooftop one. Had an amazing club sandwich and just chilled. Came back to Abu Dhabi around 4, took a nap, and then hit the gym before going out to dinner. I was excited for the buff mozz/tomato appetizer all day but they ended up being OUT of buff mozz. What kind of italian rest runs out of buff mozz. Suprised they had pasta. Ha!
Yesterday at work was long (as I stayed up reading/goofing off instead of going to bed at a decent hour) and today was the same. Work has been busy as well since its the last week before the holidays and a ton to finish up so not getting enough sleep is starting to take its toll.
We were supposed to have our work xmas dinner last night and I was all excited all day cuz we had planned on going to an amazing Chinese restaurant but the boss had to cancel it around 6:30pm so that was a downer. It also meant that I had to go to the gym which I wanted nothing to do with. Lol. Liana and I pep talked each other to going and then Katie ended up wanting to do a run with me which was nice to catch up on the weekend and stuff. Its her last week here in Abu Dhabi (SAD!) so we had a nice run/chat along the corniche. It goes by so much faster with a partner and we ran a good 40 minutes without me getting bored so that was great. I did stay up late again reading cuz I'm an idiot...but at least I'm getting a decent amount of sleep.
Work went later than hoped today and one of my partners just flew in so I'm going to meet him for drinks to catch up before he comes to meet with the client in the morning. 4 more days til I head home and plans every night...I can handle 4 more days though. I pretty much can't wait to get on the plane and pass out!!!
Will have more fun stuff to come at the end of the week...and then it will either be silent for a few weeks or it will be adventures in dc/florida until the new year.
Okay....last Monday was back to work after the long weekend followed by a chill night at the gym. And then it all went downhill!
Tuesday I was supposed to be having a dinner with some of my clients audit folks from the UK but when I emailed them that morning, they had messed up the date and meant tomorrow, not last week. Since I was dressed nicely and it was my brother and sisters birthday, I figured it only made sense to go celebrate on their behalf! Oliver and I decided to meet up for dinner and I was dying for a good steak (last one I had had was day 3 in AD!). So we went to the Rodeo Grill at the Beach Rotana and had a great dinner and shared a bottle of wine. Then we decided to go for one drink at Trader Vics (also in Beach Rotana and known for their Mai Tai's). The other times I've been, I've felt like the drinks were really week. So either something was wrong with me or they decided to trick me because 3 Mai Tai's later, I was in trouble. I did meet the executive chef for Sheikh Mohammad so that was entertaining as I told him wonderful stories about my pasta and pancake making skills. Lol. Around 12 we decided we had stayed out much longer than planned and I knew I was feeling off so I headed home and passed out. Wednesday morning was awful. I woke up spinning and felt like I got run over multiple times by a truck. I got up and got ready for work and suffered through the day. The problem being, I had already made plans for Wed night not expecting Tuesday to be anything!
So by the end of Wednseday I'm starting to feel like a human being again and agree to go for a couple drinks as it was ladies night and we were gonna go 3 blocks away from my hotel. Have I ever mentioned that I'm very easily influenced? Yeah, I am. So we go to Oceans and sat out on the terrace which was really nice..had some wine, and then some vodka tonics and then a tequilla shot (STUPID!!). So then this club Sax is right down the hall and again, its ladies night so we go, end up at a table with a bottle of grey goose and I don't even want to know what time it is. I had a blast but after rolling in at 3:30, I was a little mad at myself! Thursday morning I woke up to my phone ringing and knew immediately that something was wrong. Check my phone..its 8:30...which is the time I'm supposed to BE at work. Oops. So it was my driver that had been calling...I felt bad that he waited around for nothing but also thankful that he woke me up! I got ready so fast and was at work by 9:10 so really, thats not that bad. I don't feel quite as bad as the day before, I was just completely exhausted.
So we had already bought tickets to Creamfields, which is a big DJ dance festival that they host around the world and brought to Abu Dhabi for the first time last year. Liana and I figured everyone else was going so we mine as well. By the end of the work day Thursday (that just dragged on and on and on and on), all I wanted was to sleep but again, we had tickets, so it was kind of late. So we came home and changed real quick and then Katie drove Liana and I over to Yas island where they had a hotel room (Li and I tried to get one for the whole weekend but we attempted this the day before and everything was sold out....note for next time, plan ahead!). So we meet Alice there and have champagne and vodka redbulls while everyone finsihes getting ready (and Alice finished her 2 hour conference call!). By this time I'm getting my 3rd wind and ready for more so we go to the event and had a ball. Dizzee Rascall was great, we danced, met lots of random ppl, had drinks and took a million pictures (Alice has all of them...I'll bug her to put them up when she returns from her last minute work trip to San Fran!). Anyway..ppl all started to get separated and then we found out David Guetta wasn't coming on until 3:30 (originally was 2-4). I'm thinking how on earth am I going to make it that late, I'm soooo tired! Anyway....Alice and I got chicken schwarmas (they are big here and quite delicious...big as in popular..not in size, they are actually quite small!) and then tried to re organize everyone. We find Liana and then witness a fight of which Alice tries to help, ends up getting a bottle of water thrown in her face and lost her blackberry. Kind of a downer. So she ended up heading back to hotel and we have no idea where Katie is but assumed she had called it a night. So Liana and I hang out until about 4:15 and then heard David wasn't even on the island and after our Akon experience the previous weekend, we gave up and decided we'd here him on our iPods. Lol. So we head out to get a cab and that was a complete disaster. Like the UAE is a mess on a lot of fronts and sometimes its funny and sometimes its just really annoying, particularly when you haven't slept in days and its 4:30am. Liana and I gave the taxi organizer dude a load of sh*t before finally agreeing to go wait in the queue with everyone else. Bad move. We should have stayed with the original plan to get one on that side of the road. The line ended up kind of shifting like 1/4 mile down the road and then there wasn't a steady stream anymore so ppl just kept walking and then cabs stopped stopping because we weren't in the cab queue anymore. Then ppl started to sort of lose the line and others were clearly upset by this. We watched a girl in a tutu tell this guy off, was great. So then its finally our turn and a cab finally stops so we go to jump in as some other idiot jumps in the front. We're like, we're not getting out, and he was like, neither am I. So we figure fine, we'll go drop you off and then us, it was a little out of the way but not that bad. He ended up paying for the whole thing so that was nice. Got home about 5:30am...a guy was just getting dropped off at the airport as I stroll up and I just kind of laughed.
Friday I got up around 12:30 (phew..finally some sleep!), hit the pool and then started getting ready again for night #4. Our work Xmas dinner got moved so we were able to go to the Rugby ball we originally thought we'd miss. So we get all dressed at like 5 and head back to Yas (Yas is kind of a pain to get to but there just keeps being events there! Also the reason we wanted to stay the whole weekend but again, procrastiantion doesn't get you anywhere). We had managed to get a room for Friday night since Creamfields was over so headed over there, had a snack and a bottle of champagne before heading over to the hotel where the ball was. Met up with Katie and Ben (Ben is Katie's good friend from London and also coincidentally, Liana's flatmate). So we hung out with them at the bar until people started making their way to the ball. The ball was really fun (and my first). We had loads of wine and champagane and a great Xmas dinner of turkey, potatoes, carrots, etc. We danced to typical wedding style music for a bit and then decided we had had all the fun we were going to have. Katie ended up heading home and Liana and I went to Allure, the first nightclub on Yas and operated by the Cipriana's chain so its really nice. It wasn't too busy but that was perfect. Went back to the hotel around 4 and passed out. Saturday we got up and then went to the pool for the afternoon. It was nice to be at a different pool which was more resort like than my rooftop one. Had an amazing club sandwich and just chilled. Came back to Abu Dhabi around 4, took a nap, and then hit the gym before going out to dinner. I was excited for the buff mozz/tomato appetizer all day but they ended up being OUT of buff mozz. What kind of italian rest runs out of buff mozz. Suprised they had pasta. Ha!
Yesterday at work was long (as I stayed up reading/goofing off instead of going to bed at a decent hour) and today was the same. Work has been busy as well since its the last week before the holidays and a ton to finish up so not getting enough sleep is starting to take its toll.
We were supposed to have our work xmas dinner last night and I was all excited all day cuz we had planned on going to an amazing Chinese restaurant but the boss had to cancel it around 6:30pm so that was a downer. It also meant that I had to go to the gym which I wanted nothing to do with. Lol. Liana and I pep talked each other to going and then Katie ended up wanting to do a run with me which was nice to catch up on the weekend and stuff. Its her last week here in Abu Dhabi (SAD!) so we had a nice run/chat along the corniche. It goes by so much faster with a partner and we ran a good 40 minutes without me getting bored so that was great. I did stay up late again reading cuz I'm an idiot...but at least I'm getting a decent amount of sleep.
Work went later than hoped today and one of my partners just flew in so I'm going to meet him for drinks to catch up before he comes to meet with the client in the morning. 4 more days til I head home and plans every night...I can handle 4 more days though. I pretty much can't wait to get on the plane and pass out!!!
Will have more fun stuff to come at the end of the week...and then it will either be silent for a few weeks or it will be adventures in dc/florida until the new year.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Another amazing weekend....Dubai style.
Where to begin.......Let's see...
Last week was fairly uneventful. I didn't feel great Sunday/Monday so stayed worked and layed low the first half of the week. Wednesday was the weeks Friday (we had Thursday off..and tomorrow too...woot!)and we had a client/work dinner which was nice. Went to Finz...a great seafood restaurant at the Beach Rotana and sat out on the water. Got to bed fairly early to get ready for the weekend.
Thursday I got up and hit the gym and then packed up and waited for my fabulous chauffer Liana to arrive. We drove up to Dubai and went straight to the mall as I needed a complete outfit for the Rugby 7's on Friday. Katie and Alice had gone up earlier that day and we ran into them at Top Shop, trying on the skirt I found at the front of the store. Ha! Great minds think alike. Liana already had most of her outfit but the rest of us were basically starting from scratch. I was able to get a skirt, shirt, suspenders (or braces as they call them here), fishnets, boots, a shoulder cover up (what are those called?!) and some jewelery. Liana got some knee highs, shoes and accessories to finish hers off. Katie and Alice had to run to get formal dresses for the Rugby Ball they were attending that night but their costumes turned out fab as well (see facebook for photos!). Maybe I should back up.....I guess there is a day out of every Rugby tournament where people dress up. The theme this year was movies. We were originally going to be the Pink Ladies from Grease but couldn't find any pink jackets. Then we were gonna do some sort of school girl theme since that would be pretty easy but then Liana mentioned the Craft. It was funny cuz I had thought of it the night before but wasn't sure anyone else had seen it. It turned out perfectly cuz there were 4 of us and the outfits were easy, sexy and fun. Okay....so we also got mani/pedis at the mall. The girl who did my toes must have been her first day or something. It took 2 hours for me to get a mani/pedi...Liana started 30 minutes later, had a mani/pedi/threading and leg wax and we finished at the same time. The girl literally took the paint off my toes 10 times. I was about to lose it. Thankfully it turned out okay so in the end I guess it was fine. Then we went to grab food (Chinese, yum!) and then went to the greatest place ever.....Candylicious. It is an enourmous candy store and I haven't had any since arriving in the ME so I was in heaven! Even got some Xmas shopping done! At this point it was like 10pm so we got our butts to the hotel and checked in. The client has great rates with a few hotels in the area and this was one. We had a sweet room, complete with camel cookies as it was UAE National Day (which is why we were off work). We got ready and then got picked up by some of Liana's friends from Qatar who were in town (and all were very excited about winning the 2022 World Cup bid). We went to Barasti which is a great beach club and had a fabulous night. Katie and Alice were staying at the hotel where this was but never made it after the ball. It was funny cuz we were meeting them back at their hotel the next morning to go to Rugby together so it would have made more sense if we just stayed at same hotel since we spent a good amount of time taking cabs around the city. Anyhow....we got to bed around 4am (we tried to make it an early night, oops) and got up at 10ish to start getting ready.
The outfits were looking good and we were mostly ready and then I had a slight incident. The ring I bought didn't go on all the way to my ring finger at store but it had tags on it so I figured once I took them off it would be fine. Well I go to slide it on and its not a great fit so I give it a little push and bam..its on. And omg....it needs to come off. So I try and nothing and start freaking out. I literally thought I was going to end up in the hospital with a possible finger removal cuz it immediatly swelled up and started turning blue. Liana was joking at first when I was like..what do I do? And then she looked at it and goes..oh god. So I'm trying to stay calm but of course, thats difficult. After some soap adn cold water (my dumba** was using hot which makes you swell!), it came off. My finger hurt for the rest of the day and I was shaking for a good 30 minutes but at least I still have a finger! So then we got a car to the rest of the Craft crew and got some funny looks although most ppl asked if we were going to Rugby so thankfully they got it and didn't think we were hookers! Well until we got to their hotel. We went to get on elevator and some hotel workers were like..are you staying here. No, we're just meeting friends. What room are they in? 413. What are there names? Katie/Alice. Okay we have to call them. Great. We're not hooking at 11am...we're meeting friends and when they come down they will look the same so simmer down. Ha. We had some mimosas..put the finishing touches on our outfits and set off. We thought Rugby was closer to Katie/Alice hotel (which was like 20 minutes from ours) but it turns out it was way past ours so they should have come to us but oh well. The stadium was pretty far away...a 100 durham cab ride anywhere in the region means its pretty freakin far.
So we finally get there and get out and no one else seems to be dressed up and we're like....is this some sort of joke?! Nah...just a lot of losers who didn't. We got our tickets and went in. The Craft was a hit. A lot more ppl than I expected knew what we were and everyone wanted to take photos. We got some great standing spots right along the side of the field and watched a bunch of teams warm up...watched the US beat Argentina and then did a lot of walking around. It was soooo hot until the sun started to go behind the stadium at 3:30 and I was hoping I wasn't going to end up with a fishnet sunburn but thankfully all was okay. We had a really great day, met lots of crazy people dressed up as Hooters, table tennis players, penguins, etc. We kept asking what movie they all were and a lot of ppl didn't get the movie memo..just the dress up memo. Oh and over here its called Fancy Dress. I assumed ball gowns...and then was informed Fancy dress is Costume dress! Good thing I have ppl to steer me in the right direction. Liana was a hoot watching the teams warm up....you could tell which ones were used to it and which ones were newbies cuz those ones she could distract and make blush. She had us all cracking up. I got proposed to, and had some scones/jam that Liana essentially stole from and old guy. No really he gave it up quite easily but I hadn't eaten anything all day (except for the candy necklace I had...we found black ones with skulls the day prior and had to have them) so it was a life saver to eat something. We left around 6 as Liana and I had Akon to attend..I wish it had been two different days cuz it was a lot for one day...I was jealous Katie and Alice got to take naps! So we get to hotel and I need to check in to my own room which was a bit of a pain. 1. I looked like a hooker 2. I had no luggage cuz it was all in Liana's room and 3. I forgot my passport (since thats not a normal thing to need in the US) So yeah....he's like I don't know what to tell you and I'm like..so what you want me to sleep on the street? Thankfully with all the secondment stuff, I had it scanned to myself in an email so I sent that to them. Then I had to jump on a call at 7 so it was a lot of rushing around.
I scarfed down a pizza, showered and go ready for the 2nd time, this time for the concert. Liana's friend from Kuwait came to town and we met 3 others in the hotel to head to the concert. It was supposed to start at 9 and there were no scheduled opening acts, just DJ's...so we figured getting there around 10 would be fine. When we got in, the DJ was great. Playing hip hop and the place was massive so it was like being in a big club. Well then around 10:30 they switched DJ's to these two idiot girls who thought they were the coolest things ever. Well they started playing techno. Um.....hi ladies...we are here for a HIP HOP concert. Why on earth would any of us want to listen to tecnho? Ppl were also starting to get ancy for Akon. So the longer we waited, the more annoyed we got, etc etc. Ppl started booing the girls, then everyone sat down at one point. One of the DJ's (we'll call her blondie) clearly realizes everyone hates them but doesn't know what to do. Her friend (we'll call her oblivious) keeps dancing and singing like everything is just peachy. So they have them up on the screens and you can see blondie telling oblivious to take off her headphone things and listen to the booing. I guess oblivious's bright idea was to pretend like we all loved them still and move on like nothing was amiss. Meanwhile blondie looks like shes going to cry. Ha, I really wanted her too. It would have made my night. Another thing to note...there were sooooo many weirdos at this concert. At the end of the night we all agreed it had been surreal. Like did any of that actually happen? Too many things to write....but use your imagination and it probably occurred. So anyone want to take a guess when Akon came on? He was supposed to come on at 9. He came on at 12:30. Yep....3.5 hours late. And he was only on for 55 minutes. My guess is because the venue was closing down and he had to rush through the show. I was not amused. It was great to see him, we were super close, but after being out in heels all day, rushing to get there, and then waiting for hours. My mood was not the best. So yeah..disappointing evening but was still good to see him live. We were supposed to go out after to meet all the folks from Rugby but it would have ben like 2 am and we gave up.
Today I got up and went to breakfast with Liana and Jermaine and then we hit the pool for an hour or so and then I hopped in a cab to go meet Katie/Alice who gave me a lift back to Abu Dhabi since Liana was staying another night. It was great to hear about their night since they actually got to go out! Fun was had by all but it was good to get home and unpack and relax some. I took a 3 hour nap and then hit the gym. Every part of me wanted to keep sleeping or just eat but I knew I needed a good workout. Thankfully it turned out to be a great one! Then I got some room service, went and found an adapter since my computer was completely dead and the 3 prong plug I have doesn't fit in the adapter I have at the hotel. Thankfully the front had one so I could upload pics and fill you all in on my crazy few days.
We have tomorrow off as well since its Islamic New Year on Tuesday but having a day off in the middle of the week is stupid so they gave us today Sunday off instead. Brilliant!!! I am gonna head to the Beach Club for the day for some relaxation and then will get some laundry done.
I think thats the highlights. This was quite the lengthy entry already! I have less than two weeks until I head home and its going to go pretty fast with one short work week, some events planned for next weekend and then one last full week with a ton of week night events for holidays, partners in town, etc etc. Excited to see everyone but not looking forward to doing so in the COLD!
Last week was fairly uneventful. I didn't feel great Sunday/Monday so stayed worked and layed low the first half of the week. Wednesday was the weeks Friday (we had Thursday off..and tomorrow too...woot!)and we had a client/work dinner which was nice. Went to Finz...a great seafood restaurant at the Beach Rotana and sat out on the water. Got to bed fairly early to get ready for the weekend.
Thursday I got up and hit the gym and then packed up and waited for my fabulous chauffer Liana to arrive. We drove up to Dubai and went straight to the mall as I needed a complete outfit for the Rugby 7's on Friday. Katie and Alice had gone up earlier that day and we ran into them at Top Shop, trying on the skirt I found at the front of the store. Ha! Great minds think alike. Liana already had most of her outfit but the rest of us were basically starting from scratch. I was able to get a skirt, shirt, suspenders (or braces as they call them here), fishnets, boots, a shoulder cover up (what are those called?!) and some jewelery. Liana got some knee highs, shoes and accessories to finish hers off. Katie and Alice had to run to get formal dresses for the Rugby Ball they were attending that night but their costumes turned out fab as well (see facebook for photos!). Maybe I should back up.....I guess there is a day out of every Rugby tournament where people dress up. The theme this year was movies. We were originally going to be the Pink Ladies from Grease but couldn't find any pink jackets. Then we were gonna do some sort of school girl theme since that would be pretty easy but then Liana mentioned the Craft. It was funny cuz I had thought of it the night before but wasn't sure anyone else had seen it. It turned out perfectly cuz there were 4 of us and the outfits were easy, sexy and fun. Okay....so we also got mani/pedis at the mall. The girl who did my toes must have been her first day or something. It took 2 hours for me to get a mani/pedi...Liana started 30 minutes later, had a mani/pedi/threading and leg wax and we finished at the same time. The girl literally took the paint off my toes 10 times. I was about to lose it. Thankfully it turned out okay so in the end I guess it was fine. Then we went to grab food (Chinese, yum!) and then went to the greatest place ever.....Candylicious. It is an enourmous candy store and I haven't had any since arriving in the ME so I was in heaven! Even got some Xmas shopping done! At this point it was like 10pm so we got our butts to the hotel and checked in. The client has great rates with a few hotels in the area and this was one. We had a sweet room, complete with camel cookies as it was UAE National Day (which is why we were off work). We got ready and then got picked up by some of Liana's friends from Qatar who were in town (and all were very excited about winning the 2022 World Cup bid). We went to Barasti which is a great beach club and had a fabulous night. Katie and Alice were staying at the hotel where this was but never made it after the ball. It was funny cuz we were meeting them back at their hotel the next morning to go to Rugby together so it would have made more sense if we just stayed at same hotel since we spent a good amount of time taking cabs around the city. Anyhow....we got to bed around 4am (we tried to make it an early night, oops) and got up at 10ish to start getting ready.
The outfits were looking good and we were mostly ready and then I had a slight incident. The ring I bought didn't go on all the way to my ring finger at store but it had tags on it so I figured once I took them off it would be fine. Well I go to slide it on and its not a great fit so I give it a little push and bam..its on. And omg....it needs to come off. So I try and nothing and start freaking out. I literally thought I was going to end up in the hospital with a possible finger removal cuz it immediatly swelled up and started turning blue. Liana was joking at first when I was like..what do I do? And then she looked at it and goes..oh god. So I'm trying to stay calm but of course, thats difficult. After some soap adn cold water (my dumba** was using hot which makes you swell!), it came off. My finger hurt for the rest of the day and I was shaking for a good 30 minutes but at least I still have a finger! So then we got a car to the rest of the Craft crew and got some funny looks although most ppl asked if we were going to Rugby so thankfully they got it and didn't think we were hookers! Well until we got to their hotel. We went to get on elevator and some hotel workers were like..are you staying here. No, we're just meeting friends. What room are they in? 413. What are there names? Katie/Alice. Okay we have to call them. Great. We're not hooking at 11am...we're meeting friends and when they come down they will look the same so simmer down. Ha. We had some mimosas..put the finishing touches on our outfits and set off. We thought Rugby was closer to Katie/Alice hotel (which was like 20 minutes from ours) but it turns out it was way past ours so they should have come to us but oh well. The stadium was pretty far away...a 100 durham cab ride anywhere in the region means its pretty freakin far.
So we finally get there and get out and no one else seems to be dressed up and we're like....is this some sort of joke?! Nah...just a lot of losers who didn't. We got our tickets and went in. The Craft was a hit. A lot more ppl than I expected knew what we were and everyone wanted to take photos. We got some great standing spots right along the side of the field and watched a bunch of teams warm up...watched the US beat Argentina and then did a lot of walking around. It was soooo hot until the sun started to go behind the stadium at 3:30 and I was hoping I wasn't going to end up with a fishnet sunburn but thankfully all was okay. We had a really great day, met lots of crazy people dressed up as Hooters, table tennis players, penguins, etc. We kept asking what movie they all were and a lot of ppl didn't get the movie memo..just the dress up memo. Oh and over here its called Fancy Dress. I assumed ball gowns...and then was informed Fancy dress is Costume dress! Good thing I have ppl to steer me in the right direction. Liana was a hoot watching the teams warm up....you could tell which ones were used to it and which ones were newbies cuz those ones she could distract and make blush. She had us all cracking up. I got proposed to, and had some scones/jam that Liana essentially stole from and old guy. No really he gave it up quite easily but I hadn't eaten anything all day (except for the candy necklace I had...we found black ones with skulls the day prior and had to have them) so it was a life saver to eat something. We left around 6 as Liana and I had Akon to attend..I wish it had been two different days cuz it was a lot for one day...I was jealous Katie and Alice got to take naps! So we get to hotel and I need to check in to my own room which was a bit of a pain. 1. I looked like a hooker 2. I had no luggage cuz it was all in Liana's room and 3. I forgot my passport (since thats not a normal thing to need in the US) So yeah....he's like I don't know what to tell you and I'm like..so what you want me to sleep on the street? Thankfully with all the secondment stuff, I had it scanned to myself in an email so I sent that to them. Then I had to jump on a call at 7 so it was a lot of rushing around.
I scarfed down a pizza, showered and go ready for the 2nd time, this time for the concert. Liana's friend from Kuwait came to town and we met 3 others in the hotel to head to the concert. It was supposed to start at 9 and there were no scheduled opening acts, just DJ's...so we figured getting there around 10 would be fine. When we got in, the DJ was great. Playing hip hop and the place was massive so it was like being in a big club. Well then around 10:30 they switched DJ's to these two idiot girls who thought they were the coolest things ever. Well they started playing techno. Um.....hi ladies...we are here for a HIP HOP concert. Why on earth would any of us want to listen to tecnho? Ppl were also starting to get ancy for Akon. So the longer we waited, the more annoyed we got, etc etc. Ppl started booing the girls, then everyone sat down at one point. One of the DJ's (we'll call her blondie) clearly realizes everyone hates them but doesn't know what to do. Her friend (we'll call her oblivious) keeps dancing and singing like everything is just peachy. So they have them up on the screens and you can see blondie telling oblivious to take off her headphone things and listen to the booing. I guess oblivious's bright idea was to pretend like we all loved them still and move on like nothing was amiss. Meanwhile blondie looks like shes going to cry. Ha, I really wanted her too. It would have made my night. Another thing to note...there were sooooo many weirdos at this concert. At the end of the night we all agreed it had been surreal. Like did any of that actually happen? Too many things to write....but use your imagination and it probably occurred. So anyone want to take a guess when Akon came on? He was supposed to come on at 9. He came on at 12:30. Yep....3.5 hours late. And he was only on for 55 minutes. My guess is because the venue was closing down and he had to rush through the show. I was not amused. It was great to see him, we were super close, but after being out in heels all day, rushing to get there, and then waiting for hours. My mood was not the best. So yeah..disappointing evening but was still good to see him live. We were supposed to go out after to meet all the folks from Rugby but it would have ben like 2 am and we gave up.
Today I got up and went to breakfast with Liana and Jermaine and then we hit the pool for an hour or so and then I hopped in a cab to go meet Katie/Alice who gave me a lift back to Abu Dhabi since Liana was staying another night. It was great to hear about their night since they actually got to go out! Fun was had by all but it was good to get home and unpack and relax some. I took a 3 hour nap and then hit the gym. Every part of me wanted to keep sleeping or just eat but I knew I needed a good workout. Thankfully it turned out to be a great one! Then I got some room service, went and found an adapter since my computer was completely dead and the 3 prong plug I have doesn't fit in the adapter I have at the hotel. Thankfully the front had one so I could upload pics and fill you all in on my crazy few days.
We have tomorrow off as well since its Islamic New Year on Tuesday but having a day off in the middle of the week is stupid so they gave us today Sunday off instead. Brilliant!!! I am gonna head to the Beach Club for the day for some relaxation and then will get some laundry done.
I think thats the highlights. This was quite the lengthy entry already! I have less than two weeks until I head home and its going to go pretty fast with one short work week, some events planned for next weekend and then one last full week with a ton of week night events for holidays, partners in town, etc etc. Excited to see everyone but not looking forward to doing so in the COLD!
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