It’s officially March and I’m sitting here wondering where the last 4 months went! I arrived in Abu Dhabi 4 months ago today. I knew the time would go quickly but not as fast as it has. Thankfully my secondment was extended last week so instead of being 2/3 of the way through, I’m at the half way point! I’ll be in the UAE through June and then headed back to the US for good.
Sorry for the delay in writing this week….a part of me was considering skipping this week as last week was just full of stress and change and I don’t really feel like revisiting. Here is a quick rundown:
My boss from the US was in town and I knew we were going to be having the, what’s next for you discussion which I was fairly anxious for. After months of not worrying about the future, I knew it was time to figure it out. The role I’m in here in the UAE is now out for hire…they are looking for a full time person to replace me. When I first got here and loved it so much, I wondered how I would make the decision at the end whether to stay here, leave my firm, move to the UAE, etc or to go back. As the months went on however, I realized that I didn’t want to stay here; I am not ready to leave Big 4. I also decided I didn’t want to stay in the UAE so that was two things off the list. I had a really nice chat with my local boss last week too (I thought it might be fairly uncomfortable for 4 months if she was trying to get me to stay) and she said selfishly she’d like to tell me this is right for me but she knows it’s not, and that I need a few more years in Big 4. Huge relief. So next was making the decision to call it quits with my boyfriend of 4 years. I know I’ve never discussed him in this blog but ideally all of you knew about him! So yeah, I knew coming to Abu Dhabi would be a make it or break it trip for us and in the end, it gave me the clarity I needed to call it quits. We had four really great years together but I know he is not right for me. After going through one divorce I wanted to make d*mn sure I knew so was glad to have this time away to figure it out and so again, I am relieved. The worst part about all of this has been telling everyone, so I’m knocking a decent number of conversations off my list with this post.
What all of this does however is leave me with a blank slate of possibilities. I will likely not return to DC as I was ready for a change anyway (making it 4 years in one place is impressive for me!) and too much of my life there revolves around Shaun. I’m ready to go build my own life. For my specialty at work, Boston, NYC and San Fran are the major players. I’ve ruled out San Fran as no part of me wants to go West Coast (sorry Carly, you know I love you!). NYC is attractive because all my really good friends are there but there really isn’t anything else about it that makes me want to go. I lived there once and left for a reason. I go for weekend visits and am always happy to leave. And I know my office there is a mess sooo…. That leaves me with Boston. The cold makes me cringe but it’s a much smaller city which is way more my style and it’s an hour from the beach and from skiing which is a huge plus for me. Skiing in DC has been anything but exciting the last couple winters. The indoor slope in Dubai is probably steeper than the mountains in the DC vicinity. Anyway….trying to make this decision from afar is quite frustrating but at least I bought myself some time with the extension. I’ve reached out to lots of folks around the firm to get advice on locations, what’s best for me professionally, etc and have started researching living, housing, etc. Ideally over the next few weeks I can come to a decision I’m comfortable with. Moving is going to prove a massive pain in the a** as I am essentially going straight from here to Maine for a week with the family but I’m trying not to worry too much about it as things will work out they way they are supposed to.
In other excellent news, Maria is coming to visit in June! Her coming was contingent on my extension going through so as soon as I got word, she got the time off and now we are planning for a week of fun. It works out really well too cuz her week here will correspond with my last one in Abu Dhabi so I will have some time off work to hang and can go out with a bang (the rhyming was not intentional!).
What else…..the week itself was not super eventful other than making huge decisions, ha. By Thursday night I was shot and starting to get sick so did nothing. Friday I did pool for day, then cabbed up to Dubai to meet Liana at her fabulous Fairmont suite. Her friend Beth had come over from Doha for the weekend so they were already up there. We were going to a pajama (fyi, everyone else spells it pyjama which I quite like but always makes me laugh) party for a friends 30th birthday. Big mistake. I should probably just leave it at that. Ha. I know you would all hate that though so here goes:
The party was supposed to be at a villa in Dubai, hence getting a hotel in Dubai. So I cab my a** all the way from Abu Dhabi to Dubai we have drinks and dinner at hotel, get ready (this was the best part of the night and we should have just stayed!) and then get in cab. Well the villa was in ABU DHABI! Not kidding. The road between AD and Dubai you know when you enter or leave AD cuz there are trees right up until Dubai. Well this party was in tree land. Not only was it in AD, but it was in the middle of nowhere AD. So we get dropped off and responsible me is thinking, how the h*ll are we going to get a cab home from here??? Foreshadowing at its finest. So a 45 minute cab ride is a huge buzz kill already and then we found out we had to pay. Umm….what? Apparently the villa’s are only meant to hold 25 ppl so anyone above that had to pay. Well at this point, we’re all the way here so what else would we do, leave? Liana tried to work her magic but for once, it did not work. This should have also been a sign the night was going downhill but we continued on. Party was egh. Didn’t really know many of the people there, the DJ did not have hip hop to play, and it was just one of those, not feeling it type nights. I pretty much stopped drinking after we got there but Liana did not. She ended up in the absolute worst shape I’ve ever seen her. Apparently she participated in a sambuca drinking contest (and likely won, ha). So at one point she just disappears and Beth and I have no idea what happened to her. Well Beth eventually finds her, passed out in a bed. So we decide, okay let’s go (it’s like before midnight at this point) and I’m thinking oh thank god, I’m so ready to leave. And then we try to get Liana to move…..not happening. So after like 30 minutes of convincing her that going home so she can wake up at the hotel is a much better option and she is ready to go, until the puking starts. We finally get her outside and then are like…hmm…how do we get a cab. Not easily. The villa security ppl were trying to call us one but the closest driver was at the Dubai airport (at this point we’re closer to the AD airport!) so we’re like no way, there has to be someone closer. So we call the guy that dropped us and he agrees to come back out but was going to be like 30 minutes, fine, better than 90. So now I’m on the sidewalk, with Liana’s head in my lap trying to make sure she is okay. At one point this became my left arm and I now totally get how guys arms fall asleep when we lay on them like that. I kept moving my fingers to make sure I could. Lol. More puking and then Beth went to walk to the security hut (where the cabs would have to stop) to see if she could figure out a closer one. Bad idea. She came back a mess. She somehow managed to completely bust her a** (she was fairly sober at this point as well) which resulted in a whole sleuth of injuries. When she came back to us on a golf cart she kept saying she broke a tooth and I could tell her face was banged up but thankfully no broken tooth. Some missing toenails, scraped up knees, hands, chin, nose, massively swollen/bruised hand (def looked broken but turns out it wasn’t). Anyway..I can not believe she came back in the shape she did. Oh I forgot to add…Liana didn’t have a whole lot to say throughout all this but did kept saying “ Everything is BAD”. She was so right! Ha. Anyway..cab finally comes and hours after starting, we make it back to the hotel and pass out. The fog was so crazy on the ride back…was actually pretty scary to be driving in.
Saturday was lots of laughs about the night before and what a mess it was. Beth had to get back to the airport and Liana and I spent the day at the pool. Was nice and relaxing and much needed after a long week.
I am now sick which sucks. I felt it coming last Thursday but have done a decent job fighting it. I’m currently drinking one of those Vitamin C tablets in water and it’s disgusting but ideally will help. I did still hit the gym the last 2 nights and feel the best when I’m working out. Liana is in Kazakhstan this week for work so I’m forced to hit my own gym and have no one to get me through the days but I’m surviving so far. She kindly reminded me this morning that a new blog wasn’t up yet so this one is for you girl. Happy its hump day and looking forward to the weekend!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
3 days of vacation, AD style
It's Saturday night and I'm blogging on schedule..woohooo!
First off, no I was not in Bahrain this past weekend but I appreciate all the concern. Thankfully our girls weekends were planned and executed prior to all hell breaking loose. The UAE seems to be one of the only Middle Eastern countries not in total chaos right now and I'm thankful for that. Will definately be keeping all of our new Bahrain buddies in my thoughts until things die down.
The week was fairly uneventful but very relaxing and much needed. It was a short week at work and it went by really fast which was great. Last I blogged was Valentines day.....which ended with me in bed, Scooby Doo mac n cheese and a large amount of wine consumed while watching sappy girl movies.
Tuesday, Alice, Liana and I went to a great Italian restaurant, Spacannopoli, to celebrate V Day. The public holiday ended at sundown so we could drink in public again. I had planned on hitting the gym first but was lazy and took a nap instead. The weekends have been kicking my a** so I've been exhausted during the weeks. Dinner was declicious and it was great to have a girls dinner.
Wednesday I was lazy again and skipped gym but did manage to get dressed and go out for a bit. Since we didn't have work on Thursday we figured we should not be losers and get out of the house. Alice had to work late (boooo) so Li and I hit Oceans for ladies night. Had two free drinks, had some interesting conversation and then decided it sucked and we were calling it a night. Home and in bed by midnight!
Thursday started 72 hours of extreme laziness for me. My pool is under annual maintenance so I went to the Beach Club at the Beach Rotana instead. Spent the day in the sun, hit their gym, went for a mani/pedi and then came home. Goofed off for a bit, did some laundry, cleaned up and then walked over to Li's for a movie. Watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang which I had never heard of but was pretty good. I walked home at like 1:30am which Li didn't want me to do but I assured here I was fine. It was a slightly uncomfortable walk cuz lots of loiterers on the streets staring at me but it was fine and I survived.
Friday I slept in and decided that Thursday was so good, why not repeat it. Ha. Went back to the beach club, did pool and gym and then had one of their fabulous club sandwiches and then came home for a nap. Liana and I decided we couldn't be complete losers for the entire weekend so we decided it was time for a proper night out. We started at Left Bank at the Souk which is really chill. Had a couple drinks and talked about life, what a mess mine is and where its going...ha. Then we headed next door to Eight where they were FINALLY playing hip hop. The last couple times its been techno which sucks. So we got there when it was pretty dead, sat at the bar, started drinking and the weirdo attempts at hitting on us started. The first started out like this (mind you he's about 45) him "you are making me feel bad", me, "why", him "because I'm in my coat, cold, and look at you", me "then take your coat off", him "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah" which then led into the fact that I MUST be a teacher or an Etihad flight attendant. We get this crap all the time. Newsflash Abu Dhabi, some chicks that go out do actually have brains and may in fact, do something else. Stop assuming, it pisses us off. Cue me turning my back to him and then he wants to buy us shots. Ha. Clearly he thinks that me turning my back on him is a sign of interest? Then...guy next to Liana, we'll call him cowboy starts blabbing to her (he is also 45 and weird) but his dancing gave us a great laugh and made up for his presence. He was doing this lassoo type move over and over again and it was cracking me up. Liana couldn't see this at first but once she did we were both dying. So I of course start lassoing her..yeah, we're idiots.
Eventually we went out to the dance floor where we found this one chick, rocking sweatpants and sneaks, bustin some moves. It was like she was at a rave, but instead was at a Hip Hop club in Abu Dhabi where everybody else was dressed up. She looked like she was having the time of her life though so props to her. At this point we had had a number of drinks, couple shots and I was feeling pretty good so stopped drinking. Liana did not. I haven't seen her that drunk since the first night we hung out. It was like I was a professional comedian, anything I said was the funniest thing she had ever heard. Ha. We went out to get a cab (silly Liana, driving and thinking she wasn't going to get drunk and drive home!) and she was having a hard time walking at this point and just kept saying...stop making me laugh, you are being so funny. In reality I was saying things like, good thing we didn't go to Allure, lets get in this cab, etc. The ride home was a riot...took lots of drunk photos, I tried to make out half of what she was slurring. I ended up waking up early this morning (the later I go to bed, the earlier I wake up, weird!) and putting pictures up. Well she realized when she woke up that she didn't remember most of them and I was scolded for not filling her in on the night before posting photos of it. All in all, it was a great night and we had a fabulous time. So glad I have her here to keep me company!!!! Alice took off with some friends to a resort a few hours away so we were down one.
So I got up today....goofed off for a bit, put up pics, went back to sleep and then got up and figured headache and all, it was time to start the day. Since I didn't feel like doing the beach club again, I decided I would hit the beach since I hadn't been yet! Silly me for waiting this long. I took a cab there as I had no idea where the public beach section was. Grabbed a chair and nestled in for a few hours of total relaxation. Have discovered my love of Kings of Leon this weekend so jammed to that, enjoyed the gorgeous view and baked. It was nice cuz it was breezy so I never actually felt hot. Ohhh..and at the end..I went to the bathroom and saw that they have fat free frozen yogurt. Sun, water, yogurt? This is like my heaven!!! Since it was so nice out I decided to walk home...took about 40 minutes but well worth it. For those of you who know how much I love to be outside, especially anywhere near water, you will understand what an amazing 3 days I had. I spent my days solo, doing a ton of thinking and relaxing but it was really nice as the prior few weekends had been non stop and crazy. I think I finally caught up on sleep, got in 5 great workouts (went again tonight..first time to my gym with creepy guy in 2 weeks and he was all...where you back in the states? No, just finding new gyms so I can avoid you thanks!), and am tan again! I was starting to lose it but its back and I'm lovin it.
The boss is back in town tomorrow so it will be a slightly more eventful week. Going to have the, whats in store for me after I leave here discussion, so we'll see how that goes. Get his thoughts on my extension too...he's meeting with my local boss on Wednesday so ideally that goes well.
Not looking forward to another full week at work (4 day weeks are so much better!) but I'll survive! Until next time....
First off, no I was not in Bahrain this past weekend but I appreciate all the concern. Thankfully our girls weekends were planned and executed prior to all hell breaking loose. The UAE seems to be one of the only Middle Eastern countries not in total chaos right now and I'm thankful for that. Will definately be keeping all of our new Bahrain buddies in my thoughts until things die down.
The week was fairly uneventful but very relaxing and much needed. It was a short week at work and it went by really fast which was great. Last I blogged was Valentines day.....which ended with me in bed, Scooby Doo mac n cheese and a large amount of wine consumed while watching sappy girl movies.
Tuesday, Alice, Liana and I went to a great Italian restaurant, Spacannopoli, to celebrate V Day. The public holiday ended at sundown so we could drink in public again. I had planned on hitting the gym first but was lazy and took a nap instead. The weekends have been kicking my a** so I've been exhausted during the weeks. Dinner was declicious and it was great to have a girls dinner.
Wednesday I was lazy again and skipped gym but did manage to get dressed and go out for a bit. Since we didn't have work on Thursday we figured we should not be losers and get out of the house. Alice had to work late (boooo) so Li and I hit Oceans for ladies night. Had two free drinks, had some interesting conversation and then decided it sucked and we were calling it a night. Home and in bed by midnight!
Thursday started 72 hours of extreme laziness for me. My pool is under annual maintenance so I went to the Beach Club at the Beach Rotana instead. Spent the day in the sun, hit their gym, went for a mani/pedi and then came home. Goofed off for a bit, did some laundry, cleaned up and then walked over to Li's for a movie. Watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang which I had never heard of but was pretty good. I walked home at like 1:30am which Li didn't want me to do but I assured here I was fine. It was a slightly uncomfortable walk cuz lots of loiterers on the streets staring at me but it was fine and I survived.
Friday I slept in and decided that Thursday was so good, why not repeat it. Ha. Went back to the beach club, did pool and gym and then had one of their fabulous club sandwiches and then came home for a nap. Liana and I decided we couldn't be complete losers for the entire weekend so we decided it was time for a proper night out. We started at Left Bank at the Souk which is really chill. Had a couple drinks and talked about life, what a mess mine is and where its going...ha. Then we headed next door to Eight where they were FINALLY playing hip hop. The last couple times its been techno which sucks. So we got there when it was pretty dead, sat at the bar, started drinking and the weirdo attempts at hitting on us started. The first started out like this (mind you he's about 45) him "you are making me feel bad", me, "why", him "because I'm in my coat, cold, and look at you", me "then take your coat off", him "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah" which then led into the fact that I MUST be a teacher or an Etihad flight attendant. We get this crap all the time. Newsflash Abu Dhabi, some chicks that go out do actually have brains and may in fact, do something else. Stop assuming, it pisses us off. Cue me turning my back to him and then he wants to buy us shots. Ha. Clearly he thinks that me turning my back on him is a sign of interest? Then...guy next to Liana, we'll call him cowboy starts blabbing to her (he is also 45 and weird) but his dancing gave us a great laugh and made up for his presence. He was doing this lassoo type move over and over again and it was cracking me up. Liana couldn't see this at first but once she did we were both dying. So I of course start lassoing her..yeah, we're idiots.
Eventually we went out to the dance floor where we found this one chick, rocking sweatpants and sneaks, bustin some moves. It was like she was at a rave, but instead was at a Hip Hop club in Abu Dhabi where everybody else was dressed up. She looked like she was having the time of her life though so props to her. At this point we had had a number of drinks, couple shots and I was feeling pretty good so stopped drinking. Liana did not. I haven't seen her that drunk since the first night we hung out. It was like I was a professional comedian, anything I said was the funniest thing she had ever heard. Ha. We went out to get a cab (silly Liana, driving and thinking she wasn't going to get drunk and drive home!) and she was having a hard time walking at this point and just kept saying...stop making me laugh, you are being so funny. In reality I was saying things like, good thing we didn't go to Allure, lets get in this cab, etc. The ride home was a riot...took lots of drunk photos, I tried to make out half of what she was slurring. I ended up waking up early this morning (the later I go to bed, the earlier I wake up, weird!) and putting pictures up. Well she realized when she woke up that she didn't remember most of them and I was scolded for not filling her in on the night before posting photos of it. All in all, it was a great night and we had a fabulous time. So glad I have her here to keep me company!!!! Alice took off with some friends to a resort a few hours away so we were down one.
So I got up today....goofed off for a bit, put up pics, went back to sleep and then got up and figured headache and all, it was time to start the day. Since I didn't feel like doing the beach club again, I decided I would hit the beach since I hadn't been yet! Silly me for waiting this long. I took a cab there as I had no idea where the public beach section was. Grabbed a chair and nestled in for a few hours of total relaxation. Have discovered my love of Kings of Leon this weekend so jammed to that, enjoyed the gorgeous view and baked. It was nice cuz it was breezy so I never actually felt hot. Ohhh..and at the end..I went to the bathroom and saw that they have fat free frozen yogurt. Sun, water, yogurt? This is like my heaven!!! Since it was so nice out I decided to walk home...took about 40 minutes but well worth it. For those of you who know how much I love to be outside, especially anywhere near water, you will understand what an amazing 3 days I had. I spent my days solo, doing a ton of thinking and relaxing but it was really nice as the prior few weekends had been non stop and crazy. I think I finally caught up on sleep, got in 5 great workouts (went again tonight..first time to my gym with creepy guy in 2 weeks and he was all...where you back in the states? No, just finding new gyms so I can avoid you thanks!), and am tan again! I was starting to lose it but its back and I'm lovin it.
The boss is back in town tomorrow so it will be a slightly more eventful week. Going to have the, whats in store for me after I leave here discussion, so we'll see how that goes. Get his thoughts on my extension too...he's meeting with my local boss on Wednesday so ideally that goes well.
Not looking forward to another full week at work (4 day weeks are so much better!) but I'll survive! Until next time....
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day
Agghhh…another Monday in the UAE and I’m late with my blog again. The weekends are wearing me out and I have no energy to write for a couple days!!!!
Last week was fairly uneventful (aren’t you all so proud of me for not going out during the week? I realize its making my blog considerably less interesting but you are all just gonna have to live with that!).
Sunday I had my phone date with Julie and it was great to catch up via phone. Sometimes email, bbms and texts just don’t cut it, especially trying to explain 6 weeks of time!
Monday I hit the gym at my place and then Tuesday and Wednesday went with Liana to her gym for Body Pump and Body Kombat, respectively. Pump was fine although we tend to hang in the back and I can never a. hear what they’re saying or b. understand the insane Kiwi accents! Oh…there was this one guy in pump wearing the shortest shorts ever….like literally…his balls were pretty much hanging out and he was rocking a child molester stache so it was quite distracting, especially when he was doing lunges. Thankfully I was next to him so could often avoid looking at him but poor Liana was behind him!!! Wednesday we did Kombat which turned out to be Ladies Only and a bit of a mistake (although quite comical). There were only like 8 women doing it and 5 of them were lost and or really out of shape. This one chick in front of me was wearing this pink juicy outfit type deal (ie: not gym wear) and honestly looked like cooked spaghetti was dropped on the floor. She had zero muscle or coordination and her body just seemed to flail around. She was never facing the right direction either. Everytime I looked over I had to hold back laughter. Anyway..we finished the class but the intensity level was just not there…..although…my arms/back/shoulders were very sore on Thursday from all the punching so I guess it did do something.
So I packed up on Thursday night and Liana swung by to pick me up (cuz she is the best) Thursday morning and then drop me at my actual job as I had a meeting with the Middle East tax leader. Did Starbucks and then headed back to work. Last week actually went by pretty fast..the fastest since I’ve been back this year I think so that was nice. We did our traditional Thursday long lunch at Jones and then finished up the day. We left straight from work for Dubai as the Mike Posner/N.E.R.D. concert was set to start kind of early. Tickets said doors opened at 6 and show at 8. Now any other day in the UAE, this means that the show will start at 10 or so. Seriously, I have yet to go to ANYTHING that starts on time even though I’ve ALWAYS been on time. Well traffic sucked getting to Dubai and my dumba** forgot to print out directions so we got to Dubai and were a little lost. I did google it though and the google map had it placed on the wrong side of the main highway in Dubai so not entirely my fault. At any rate, we found it and got checked in, ordered food and wine and were waiting for Alice who left work a bit after us. We planned to get to concert around 9 but didn’t end up there til 10 and what do you know…they started on TIME. Like legitimately at 8pm…on a Thursday…in the UAE. So we missed Mike Posner completely and only got to see about half of N.E.R.D. Thankfully some of the songs we really liked fell in this half and they were very good but still it was very frustrating to have gone all the way up there, rushed around, and the only time we’ve ever gone late to have them start on time.
So the concert ended about 10:40 and then there were no cabs. Brilliant Dubai, brilliant. The venue was right near a mall so we walked over there and called a cab. When he finally shows and we get in we tell him Chi nightclub….he claims to have no idea where this is…but starts to drive…and what do you know, we end up at Chi. Ugh I hate cab drivers here. Oh that reminds me…I had an incident with one earlier in the week. My driver is out on vacation (he’s actually getting married today!) so I’ve been doing cabs in the morning. Well this guy starts going the complete wrong way and I’m like what are you doing? He says he’s avoiding traffic and going another way. Okay fine…I thought I knew which way he was gonna go and it may have been faster if traffic was really bad. But no…he goes all the way around the d*mn island, I’m getting more pissed by the second, the clock is ticking and the meter is running. At one point I didn’t know if he was even taking me to where I work!!! Anyway, finally make it, way longer than normal commute and twice the fair. So I throw the money at him and go “don’t ever f***ing go that way again”. Liana was very proud when I told her. Said I’m really becoming a proper expat. Ha.
So anyway Chi…we get there fairly early and make our way around the club..pretty big place, lots of different rooms so we of course ended up in the hip hop room. Had some drinks, did a ton of dancing and overall had a great night but I was exhausted and couldn’t wait to get in bed! Met a pimp and a pirate. The pimp was an idiot. Wearing this like Satin or pleather or some weird fabric white suit. Liana went to talk to him to find out if he was a real pimp and ended up getting us invited to their table so we went for the free booze. At this point I had stopped drinking so when I was sitting on the couch, the pimp came and sat down next to me and thought it would be fun to show me all the pictures of himself on his blackberry. Umm….what is wrong with you? I can see you; you are sitting right next to me. Why do you feel the need to show me 8 different photos of you and zoom in on them all? Liana was floating around the dance floor and I was in major need of saving!!! He apparently didn’t get my, I am 100% not interested in anything you have to say look and was all, you girls are coming out with us after this. Ummm..no. No we’re not. So when Liana came back over the guy she had been dance battling with earlier from the same crowd had decided it would be fun to wrap the scarf that at one point was around his neck and then on his waist, around his head in true pirate fashion. She was standing behind him throwing up a eye patch with her hand. Lol. At least it’s something to laugh about right?
Friday was pretty chill..spent the day at the pool and then moved hotels to the Fairmont since Liana had a free night she had to use prior to the end of February. Did dinner and Barasti (a club we’ve been to before for Rugby 7’s week) which was nice although a little chilly (as its mostly outdoors on the beach). Yes, the past two weeks have been legitimately chilly here. Like, sitting outside you want to be in pants and sleeves and are likely still shivering. Now if you came straight over from NYC would you think I was crazy, possibly…but it hasn’t been 80’s all day….has been getting in the 60’s almost every night. Saturday did some shopping and then headed back to Abu Dhabi to chill out and get to bed early.
Yesterday was a decent day at work…neither Li nor I had the energy to go to the gym but forced each other to go do Pump. They decided it would be fun to do to all love songs in honor of Valentine’s Day. Oh great idea guys. Ha. They did pick some decent upbeat love songs so I guess I’ll let it slide. It was a later pump class yesterday so we were able to go and do some cardio beforehand (usually its reverse) which was really nice cuz I am not sore today. Wooohooo! I’m either getting my a** back in shape or I half a**ed my work out! I’ll go with the former . Went to Lulu’s (grocery store) on the way home to stock up on my essentials, diet coke, cheese and cereal. Went with Cookie Crisp, Life and Golden Grahams this time. Ohhh..they also had Kraft mac!!!! SCORE!!! Unfortunately no shells and cheese, but the Scooby Doo I got will suffice.
Today is Valentine’s Day…Happy V-Day to all! Liana, Alice and I were going to do a girls dinner but 1. We don’t want to deal with all the couples and the crowded restaurants and 2. Sundown marks the start of a UAE holiday which means booze are banned completely so I made the executive decision that we were moving our dinner to tomorrow! Tonight Li and I are hitting the gym and then I plan on going home, making Scooby Doo and drinking my way through a bottle of pinot noir while watching stupid movies and playing on the computer.
It’s a short week, we have Thursday off in honor of the holiday so it is officially half way over. Wohooo!
Oh….this week the client asked my company if they could extend my time here for 2 months (they wanted to do 3 but that would take me through July and I have too much going on in the states in July) so we’ll see what the answer is. My guess is its going to happen which will be cool cuz I don’t think I’ll be quite ready to leave in early May but don’t want to stay forever. Plus I’ll dip out in June before it gets insanely hot here and the summer will be in full swing at home. We shall see what happens.
Also...this is completely random but I realized this week how many homonyms there are that are used everyday. Their/There/they're, hear/here, know/no, too/to, where/wear.....once I started noticing it the other day I see it all the time now. Why must the English language be so difficult that you actually have to think about which way to spell a word as you sound it out? Just thought I'd share. You're welcome :)
Annnndddd....I am finally getting my blackberry shipped over! I ordered it on January 12...it is February 14th and is being mailed to me from the states today. Ridiculous The worst part is that it extends my time to get a new one by that much longer. But I'm exited to get it..then I might actually get a local phone number and use my old BB for that!!!
Last week was fairly uneventful (aren’t you all so proud of me for not going out during the week? I realize its making my blog considerably less interesting but you are all just gonna have to live with that!).
Sunday I had my phone date with Julie and it was great to catch up via phone. Sometimes email, bbms and texts just don’t cut it, especially trying to explain 6 weeks of time!
Monday I hit the gym at my place and then Tuesday and Wednesday went with Liana to her gym for Body Pump and Body Kombat, respectively. Pump was fine although we tend to hang in the back and I can never a. hear what they’re saying or b. understand the insane Kiwi accents! Oh…there was this one guy in pump wearing the shortest shorts ever….like literally…his balls were pretty much hanging out and he was rocking a child molester stache so it was quite distracting, especially when he was doing lunges. Thankfully I was next to him so could often avoid looking at him but poor Liana was behind him!!! Wednesday we did Kombat which turned out to be Ladies Only and a bit of a mistake (although quite comical). There were only like 8 women doing it and 5 of them were lost and or really out of shape. This one chick in front of me was wearing this pink juicy outfit type deal (ie: not gym wear) and honestly looked like cooked spaghetti was dropped on the floor. She had zero muscle or coordination and her body just seemed to flail around. She was never facing the right direction either. Everytime I looked over I had to hold back laughter. Anyway..we finished the class but the intensity level was just not there…..although…my arms/back/shoulders were very sore on Thursday from all the punching so I guess it did do something.
So I packed up on Thursday night and Liana swung by to pick me up (cuz she is the best) Thursday morning and then drop me at my actual job as I had a meeting with the Middle East tax leader. Did Starbucks and then headed back to work. Last week actually went by pretty fast..the fastest since I’ve been back this year I think so that was nice. We did our traditional Thursday long lunch at Jones and then finished up the day. We left straight from work for Dubai as the Mike Posner/N.E.R.D. concert was set to start kind of early. Tickets said doors opened at 6 and show at 8. Now any other day in the UAE, this means that the show will start at 10 or so. Seriously, I have yet to go to ANYTHING that starts on time even though I’ve ALWAYS been on time. Well traffic sucked getting to Dubai and my dumba** forgot to print out directions so we got to Dubai and were a little lost. I did google it though and the google map had it placed on the wrong side of the main highway in Dubai so not entirely my fault. At any rate, we found it and got checked in, ordered food and wine and were waiting for Alice who left work a bit after us. We planned to get to concert around 9 but didn’t end up there til 10 and what do you know…they started on TIME. Like legitimately at 8pm…on a Thursday…in the UAE. So we missed Mike Posner completely and only got to see about half of N.E.R.D. Thankfully some of the songs we really liked fell in this half and they were very good but still it was very frustrating to have gone all the way up there, rushed around, and the only time we’ve ever gone late to have them start on time.
So the concert ended about 10:40 and then there were no cabs. Brilliant Dubai, brilliant. The venue was right near a mall so we walked over there and called a cab. When he finally shows and we get in we tell him Chi nightclub….he claims to have no idea where this is…but starts to drive…and what do you know, we end up at Chi. Ugh I hate cab drivers here. Oh that reminds me…I had an incident with one earlier in the week. My driver is out on vacation (he’s actually getting married today!) so I’ve been doing cabs in the morning. Well this guy starts going the complete wrong way and I’m like what are you doing? He says he’s avoiding traffic and going another way. Okay fine…I thought I knew which way he was gonna go and it may have been faster if traffic was really bad. But no…he goes all the way around the d*mn island, I’m getting more pissed by the second, the clock is ticking and the meter is running. At one point I didn’t know if he was even taking me to where I work!!! Anyway, finally make it, way longer than normal commute and twice the fair. So I throw the money at him and go “don’t ever f***ing go that way again”. Liana was very proud when I told her. Said I’m really becoming a proper expat. Ha.
So anyway Chi…we get there fairly early and make our way around the club..pretty big place, lots of different rooms so we of course ended up in the hip hop room. Had some drinks, did a ton of dancing and overall had a great night but I was exhausted and couldn’t wait to get in bed! Met a pimp and a pirate. The pimp was an idiot. Wearing this like Satin or pleather or some weird fabric white suit. Liana went to talk to him to find out if he was a real pimp and ended up getting us invited to their table so we went for the free booze. At this point I had stopped drinking so when I was sitting on the couch, the pimp came and sat down next to me and thought it would be fun to show me all the pictures of himself on his blackberry. Umm….what is wrong with you? I can see you; you are sitting right next to me. Why do you feel the need to show me 8 different photos of you and zoom in on them all? Liana was floating around the dance floor and I was in major need of saving!!! He apparently didn’t get my, I am 100% not interested in anything you have to say look and was all, you girls are coming out with us after this. Ummm..no. No we’re not. So when Liana came back over the guy she had been dance battling with earlier from the same crowd had decided it would be fun to wrap the scarf that at one point was around his neck and then on his waist, around his head in true pirate fashion. She was standing behind him throwing up a eye patch with her hand. Lol. At least it’s something to laugh about right?
Friday was pretty chill..spent the day at the pool and then moved hotels to the Fairmont since Liana had a free night she had to use prior to the end of February. Did dinner and Barasti (a club we’ve been to before for Rugby 7’s week) which was nice although a little chilly (as its mostly outdoors on the beach). Yes, the past two weeks have been legitimately chilly here. Like, sitting outside you want to be in pants and sleeves and are likely still shivering. Now if you came straight over from NYC would you think I was crazy, possibly…but it hasn’t been 80’s all day….has been getting in the 60’s almost every night. Saturday did some shopping and then headed back to Abu Dhabi to chill out and get to bed early.
Yesterday was a decent day at work…neither Li nor I had the energy to go to the gym but forced each other to go do Pump. They decided it would be fun to do to all love songs in honor of Valentine’s Day. Oh great idea guys. Ha. They did pick some decent upbeat love songs so I guess I’ll let it slide. It was a later pump class yesterday so we were able to go and do some cardio beforehand (usually its reverse) which was really nice cuz I am not sore today. Wooohooo! I’m either getting my a** back in shape or I half a**ed my work out! I’ll go with the former . Went to Lulu’s (grocery store) on the way home to stock up on my essentials, diet coke, cheese and cereal. Went with Cookie Crisp, Life and Golden Grahams this time. Ohhh..they also had Kraft mac!!!! SCORE!!! Unfortunately no shells and cheese, but the Scooby Doo I got will suffice.
Today is Valentine’s Day…Happy V-Day to all! Liana, Alice and I were going to do a girls dinner but 1. We don’t want to deal with all the couples and the crowded restaurants and 2. Sundown marks the start of a UAE holiday which means booze are banned completely so I made the executive decision that we were moving our dinner to tomorrow! Tonight Li and I are hitting the gym and then I plan on going home, making Scooby Doo and drinking my way through a bottle of pinot noir while watching stupid movies and playing on the computer.
It’s a short week, we have Thursday off in honor of the holiday so it is officially half way over. Wohooo!
Oh….this week the client asked my company if they could extend my time here for 2 months (they wanted to do 3 but that would take me through July and I have too much going on in the states in July) so we’ll see what the answer is. My guess is its going to happen which will be cool cuz I don’t think I’ll be quite ready to leave in early May but don’t want to stay forever. Plus I’ll dip out in June before it gets insanely hot here and the summer will be in full swing at home. We shall see what happens.
Also...this is completely random but I realized this week how many homonyms there are that are used everyday. Their/There/they're, hear/here, know/no, too/to, where/wear.....once I started noticing it the other day I see it all the time now. Why must the English language be so difficult that you actually have to think about which way to spell a word as you sound it out? Just thought I'd share. You're welcome :)
Annnndddd....I am finally getting my blackberry shipped over! I ordered it on January 12...it is February 14th and is being mailed to me from the states today. Ridiculous The worst part is that it extends my time to get a new one by that much longer. But I'm exited to get it..then I might actually get a local phone number and use my old BB for that!!!
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