The last night of the film festival was followed by a party in the desert. Lindy and I decided we would catch the 10:30pm bus because we had to strike the box offices at the venues that were still open.
Unfortunately, Aboobacker (is it wrong that this name makes me giggle every time I say it) the head of security cancelled the bus due to a miscommunication. So we ended up on the 11:30pm bus with some of our staff as well as the projectionists and some stray festival guests.
The ride out to the Lisalli Fort in the desert takes about 45 minutes. Along the way there isn't much to see except giant 3D billboards for upcoming building projects like Africaland. Did I mention it was crazy here? The drivers in the desert are just as retarded as the drivers in Dubai proper. One driver swerved in front of us with not nearly enough room which made us swerve in front of an oncoming truck. I screamed like a girl and there were general gasps of terror from the other folks in the bus. Our driver got us back on track and didn't seem to see what had freaked us out. Crazy.
So one brush with death and a million billboards later we finally arrived at the fort. The inside had been set up with a huge number of seated covered tent areas with large tables in the middle where you could gather as a group, dance to the music, get food from the huge buffet and in the case of Lindy and I grab a bottle of wine each and just enjoy. The music was good, the food was good, the staff was out in almost full force and it was a fun night.
On the outskirts of the fort area there were giant sand dunes. I encouraged Mike (I was waaaaay too drunk) to climb one and see the view on the other side. I did this last time and it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. While Mike was climbing I was laying in the sand at the bottom of the dune looking up a sky full of stars. Lovely.
We all drove back from the desert in big buses. We got on the rowdy bus and listened to the kids yell and sing all the way back to the city. It was a really good night.
Poor Mike was leaving the next morning (a few hours after we got back) so he stayed up and finished packing and left for the airport. A little drunk but I think pretty happy with his Dubai experience.
Friday, December 21, 2007
The Bashing of the Dunes
Well it's the last day in Dubai and a group of us are going dune bashing. This involves wandering through the desert in a four wheel vehicle and driving up and down and around sand dunes.
Every once and a while we stop to take some scenic photos. It's really quite lovely in the desert and I'm still not sure why Dubai wants to hide the fact that it has this really interesting facet to it but hey what do I know.
Once we've driven around and slipped and bumped and jumped in the four wheel they take us to a compound where we will see a belly dancing show. There are various little kiosks set up where you can smoke Sheesha, get henna painted, buy souvenirs, get dressed up in an abaya and dishdash for photos and a bar where they apparently won't cut you off ever. I'm assuming this policy based on the group of college boys who got incredibly drunk and got up and danced with the belly dancer. It was pretty funny.
The belly dancer was not very good. I've had a number of friends take this style of dance and I've seen about a million recitals and this gal wouldn't even have been in the advanced class but she was trying so I give her props for that!
The whole experience was fun and I'm glad I got the chance to do it and to finally see some desert. I mean, it only took two trips to Dubai to see it!
Crazy Dubai
Every once and a while we stop to take some scenic photos. It's really quite lovely in the desert and I'm still not sure why Dubai wants to hide the fact that it has this really interesting facet to it but hey what do I know.
Once we've driven around and slipped and bumped and jumped in the four wheel they take us to a compound where we will see a belly dancing show. There are various little kiosks set up where you can smoke Sheesha, get henna painted, buy souvenirs, get dressed up in an abaya and dishdash for photos and a bar where they apparently won't cut you off ever. I'm assuming this policy based on the group of college boys who got incredibly drunk and got up and danced with the belly dancer. It was pretty funny.
The belly dancer was not very good. I've had a number of friends take this style of dance and I've seen about a million recitals and this gal wouldn't even have been in the advanced class but she was trying so I give her props for that!
The whole experience was fun and I'm glad I got the chance to do it and to finally see some desert. I mean, it only took two trips to Dubai to see it!
Crazy Dubai
Jumeirah Mosque
On the last day of the festival Mike and I got up early and went to Jumeirah Mosque. This is the only mosque in Dubai that will allow non-Muslims to enter it.
The tour was led by a volunteer named Mohammed who had an awesome sense of humour and was really interesting to listen to. Before entering the masjid (Mosque is the anglicized version of this word) our guide took us through the ritual cleaning process know as the Wudu. This involves cleansing your hands, arms, face, nose and feet by wiping each of them three times. Apparently as long as you don't break with any of the pillars of Islam during the day your Wudu will last you the whole day.
To enter the masjid we all had to remove our shoes and the women were asked to cover their heads. Yes, Mike got a picture of me in my head scarf - jeez. The inside of the mosque was pretty. It had some lovely decorations but was very simple in design. One thing of note is there are no paintings or statues of Mohammed (the prophet) or Allah or any other figure in Islam history. That's a no-no in a mosque. There was, however, a kick ass electronic Qur'an that played the call to prayer and showed the translated version of the Qur'an in a crazy number of languages. Pretty Cool.
Once we looked around a little Mohammed gathered us on the big carpeted area in front of the Iman's niche and talked us through the 5 pillars of Islam. He demonstrated the various prayers that each Muslim does when they enter the masjid which are also done is a very specific way. Following this he talked about the Hajj. This is the pilgrimage that each Muslim is required to make at least once in their life to Mecca. These pilgrimages normally happen around Eid. In fact, Abdullah, the brilliant man who coordinated our office moves for the festival left for his Hajj the day after the festival ended. Once a Muslim has completed their Hajj they have a clean slate in the eyes of Allah. Again pretty cool.
Once Mohammed talked us through all this he opened the floor to questions. Their were questions about the Qur'an. About the various sects of Islam and about women who went about completely covered. I won't go in to any detail about these but it was all very interesting and I would highly recommend taking a tour of a mosque if one is available to you.
There's much to be learned my friends!
The tour was led by a volunteer named Mohammed who had an awesome sense of humour and was really interesting to listen to. Before entering the masjid (Mosque is the anglicized version of this word) our guide took us through the ritual cleaning process know as the Wudu. This involves cleansing your hands, arms, face, nose and feet by wiping each of them three times. Apparently as long as you don't break with any of the pillars of Islam during the day your Wudu will last you the whole day.
To enter the masjid we all had to remove our shoes and the women were asked to cover their heads. Yes, Mike got a picture of me in my head scarf - jeez. The inside of the mosque was pretty. It had some lovely decorations but was very simple in design. One thing of note is there are no paintings or statues of Mohammed (the prophet) or Allah or any other figure in Islam history. That's a no-no in a mosque. There was, however, a kick ass electronic Qur'an that played the call to prayer and showed the translated version of the Qur'an in a crazy number of languages. Pretty Cool.
Once we looked around a little Mohammed gathered us on the big carpeted area in front of the Iman's niche and talked us through the 5 pillars of Islam. He demonstrated the various prayers that each Muslim does when they enter the masjid which are also done is a very specific way. Following this he talked about the Hajj. This is the pilgrimage that each Muslim is required to make at least once in their life to Mecca. These pilgrimages normally happen around Eid. In fact, Abdullah, the brilliant man who coordinated our office moves for the festival left for his Hajj the day after the festival ended. Once a Muslim has completed their Hajj they have a clean slate in the eyes of Allah. Again pretty cool.
Once Mohammed talked us through all this he opened the floor to questions. Their were questions about the Qur'an. About the various sects of Islam and about women who went about completely covered. I won't go in to any detail about these but it was all very interesting and I would highly recommend taking a tour of a mosque if one is available to you.
There's much to be learned my friends!
Dubai Debrief
So the festival is over and I've made it safe and sound back to the land of snow.
The festival itself was a lot of fun. Of course, there's the usual insanity of running a number of box offices and the swirl of craziness that you have no control over but looking back on it, overall, it was a blast. I met some really awesome folks and reconnected with some that I met on my first journey. I taught Suhail all kinds of phrases that a nice Muslim boy just shouldn't know and learned a few choices phrases from Dr. Aldrich and Professor Amar.
Working with Lindy was great. You will never meet a person with a greater sense of play accompanied by the kind of organizational skills this gal has. Honestly! Leading the Theatre's team (that box office works really closely with) was Cheryl Izen who we lovingly referred to as "future Lindy". Need I say more.
The festival itself was a lot of fun. Of course, there's the usual insanity of running a number of box offices and the swirl of craziness that you have no control over but looking back on it, overall, it was a blast. I met some really awesome folks and reconnected with some that I met on my first journey. I taught Suhail all kinds of phrases that a nice Muslim boy just shouldn't know and learned a few choices phrases from Dr. Aldrich and Professor Amar.
Working with Lindy was great. You will never meet a person with a greater sense of play accompanied by the kind of organizational skills this gal has. Honestly! Leading the Theatre's team (that box office works really closely with) was Cheryl Izen who we lovingly referred to as "future Lindy". Need I say more.
Monday, December 10, 2007
The Muffin Man Cometh and the Festival Begins
Okay so Mr. Mike finally arrived in Dubai the day before yesterday at 3:18am (according to the arrival/departure boards) took a nap and started his festival journey.
Opening Night was pretty good. I saw George Clooney twice. Once as he walked the red carpet while all the girls on my gala staff giggled and faux fainted. Apparently George is a hot commodity wherever he goes. Once he did the intro for the opening night film he was swept off to a nearby theatre for a one on one session which was entirely sold out and had a teeming standby queue. This is where I saw him the second time much closer up. The man's gorgeous. Simply truly gorgeous. Oh yeah, and taller than you would think.
Following the gala and one on one session was the opening night party. It was a really quite beautiful. Folks in tuxs and gowns on a platform at the beach. The decor was all in white and there were giant globes lighting the area. There was a band and then DJ playing standards and then all 80's pop. It was like a giant flashback to junior high and high school except in a fancy dress. The place was teeming with waiters carrying all sorts of good stuff to eat and also some who apparently wanted us to be so drunk we didn't know what to do with ourselves. Lindy danced on a table - that's all I'm saying. A Table.
The following morning Muffin had his very first Dubai hangover. Awesome!
Yesterday was the children's gala. Apparently some braindrain thought that they would block off part of the house as it wasn't selling that well. This, of course, is Dubai and everyone waits until the last minute to show up. So they had to remove the barrier so we could fill the house. My favourite part of the evening was a tween leaning over to her mother - while her mother was talking to me and announcing very loudly that her mother should tell me that we are sponsors. I told the tween it was not polite to talk about someone who was standing right in front of her as though they weren't there. Her mother surprisingly seemed to appreciate that so I found tickets for her. Just as a general note folks - be an ass to a customer service person get nothing but a wall of policy be nice and understanding that their job bites ass and they will go above and beyond for you. It's a rule - embrace it.
You really can't beat drinking champagne with the persian gulf on one side and
Opening Night was pretty good. I saw George Clooney twice. Once as he walked the red carpet while all the girls on my gala staff giggled and faux fainted. Apparently George is a hot commodity wherever he goes. Once he did the intro for the opening night film he was swept off to a nearby theatre for a one on one session which was entirely sold out and had a teeming standby queue. This is where I saw him the second time much closer up. The man's gorgeous. Simply truly gorgeous. Oh yeah, and taller than you would think.
Following the gala and one on one session was the opening night party. It was a really quite beautiful. Folks in tuxs and gowns on a platform at the beach. The decor was all in white and there were giant globes lighting the area. There was a band and then DJ playing standards and then all 80's pop. It was like a giant flashback to junior high and high school except in a fancy dress. The place was teeming with waiters carrying all sorts of good stuff to eat and also some who apparently wanted us to be so drunk we didn't know what to do with ourselves. Lindy danced on a table - that's all I'm saying. A Table.
The following morning Muffin had his very first Dubai hangover. Awesome!
Yesterday was the children's gala. Apparently some braindrain thought that they would block off part of the house as it wasn't selling that well. This, of course, is Dubai and everyone waits until the last minute to show up. So they had to remove the barrier so we could fill the house. My favourite part of the evening was a tween leaning over to her mother - while her mother was talking to me and announcing very loudly that her mother should tell me that we are sponsors. I told the tween it was not polite to talk about someone who was standing right in front of her as though they weren't there. Her mother surprisingly seemed to appreciate that so I found tickets for her. Just as a general note folks - be an ass to a customer service person get nothing but a wall of policy be nice and understanding that their job bites ass and they will go above and beyond for you. It's a rule - embrace it.
You really can't beat drinking champagne with the persian gulf on one side and
Friday, December 7, 2007
Dubai - a Winter Wonderland
Okay so Lindy walked into our office (which has been re-located to the Madinat Jumeirah Arena) and claimed to have been watching folks ice skating just across the way. I ran out with my camera to see a crazy Winter Wonderland (or so it's labelled) across from me. There is an outdoor skating rink and lots of fake snow, a christmas tree and big snow scape mural.
My question here is why doesn't Dubai want to be Dubai?
When I think the middle east I think sand dunes, camels, bedouins, Arabic, marketplaces and beautiful carpets. What you actually get here though is a simulation of what it's like to be anywhere but here.
You have to drive for an hour to hit sand dunes. I've been told that if I was driving between Dubai and Abu Dhabi I would have an excellent chance of seeing a camel and perhaps some bedouins (before I died in some freak car accident because the drivers are INSANE here). There are marketplaces (souks) and I've seen lots of carpets but they just seem out of place in Europe of the East. As for Arabic I hear it all the time but now nearly as often as I hear English or Hindi or French. I just don't get it.
I think Dubai should embrace it's weirdness and it's desert location and be proud of what it is.
Just an opinion from a lowly Canadian.
My question here is why doesn't Dubai want to be Dubai?
When I think the middle east I think sand dunes, camels, bedouins, Arabic, marketplaces and beautiful carpets. What you actually get here though is a simulation of what it's like to be anywhere but here.
You have to drive for an hour to hit sand dunes. I've been told that if I was driving between Dubai and Abu Dhabi I would have an excellent chance of seeing a camel and perhaps some bedouins (before I died in some freak car accident because the drivers are INSANE here). There are marketplaces (souks) and I've seen lots of carpets but they just seem out of place in Europe of the East. As for Arabic I hear it all the time but now nearly as often as I hear English or Hindi or French. I just don't get it.
I think Dubai should embrace it's weirdness and it's desert location and be proud of what it is.
Just an opinion from a lowly Canadian.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
UAE Committed to Democracy
"UAE Committed to Democracy" that was the headline of the Gulf News a few days back - I'm just catching up on my reading. I don't know that there's anything that I can say about that other than HAHAHA *snort* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *more snort* ... ha....ha *wipe tear*. The UAE is about as far from being a democracy as I am from being a size 2.
The first thing I thought when I saw this headline was "does the current government realize that the next Prime Minister or Vice President (they do a love a good title) would be Indian or Filipino?" I'm just guessing that would be true given that most of Dubai seems to be made of folks from those two countries.
Dubai is a never ending contradiction. The pure blood folks treat most people like they are solidly below them on the food chain. The workers who are building everything here are paid about the equivalent of a couple of dollars an hour and are considered to be disposable. Yes, I meant to use the word disposable.
A few weeks back a bridge that was under construction collapsed killing 7 and gravely injuring another 15 workers. It collapsed because the untrained labourer who was given the task of running the giant crane that day didn't realize that the supports on the bridge couldn't take the weight of the many, many iron rods he was stacking on them - as he was told to do. Now anywhere else in the world this would inspire new safety procedures to be put in place, better training for the workers and a lot of news time. Here the story disappeared the next day except for a notice that the building company had decided to compensate the families of the dead men by giving them 10 years salary - if you do the math you will be thoroughly appalled.
If Dubai ever does commit itself to democracy I will eat my punching, light up camel pen.
The first thing I thought when I saw this headline was "does the current government realize that the next Prime Minister or Vice President (they do a love a good title) would be Indian or Filipino?" I'm just guessing that would be true given that most of Dubai seems to be made of folks from those two countries.
Dubai is a never ending contradiction. The pure blood folks treat most people like they are solidly below them on the food chain. The workers who are building everything here are paid about the equivalent of a couple of dollars an hour and are considered to be disposable. Yes, I meant to use the word disposable.
A few weeks back a bridge that was under construction collapsed killing 7 and gravely injuring another 15 workers. It collapsed because the untrained labourer who was given the task of running the giant crane that day didn't realize that the supports on the bridge couldn't take the weight of the many, many iron rods he was stacking on them - as he was told to do. Now anywhere else in the world this would inspire new safety procedures to be put in place, better training for the workers and a lot of news time. Here the story disappeared the next day except for a notice that the building company had decided to compensate the families of the dead men by giving them 10 years salary - if you do the math you will be thoroughly appalled.
If Dubai ever does commit itself to democracy I will eat my punching, light up camel pen.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Burj Dubai
Okay so what I'm wondering is why? In a land where they deal with extreme heat and winds. Where the construction labour is untrained/unskilled and their are fatal accidents all the time. Why do they need to build the world's tallest building?
I've started to refer to this building as the butter pat. Imagine a stack of butter pats and that's kind of the current shape of the building. I imagine when it's faced with extreme heat and the sand underneath the foundation starts to shift it will be about as sturdy as a stack of butter pats too.
As of 24 October 2007, Burj Dubai's official website reported its height to be 585.7 m (1,922 ft), with 156 completed stories. Just to give you an idea of how big the building currently is the picture above is from the Dubai Air Show that took place in early November. The building that seems to be at the same height as the jet plane is the Burj Dubai. I'm assuming anyone who works or lives in this building will need an oxygen tank and their own personal sherpa.
Does anyone else sense the words "national tragedy" in Dubai's future.
Suhail has started calling the building the butter pat too. He did this without even thinking about it - I think it scared him a little that my slangy weirdness is rubbing off on him. Poor Suhail.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
UAE National Day
Happy UAE National Day! It has been 36 years since Dubai became independant from Britain. Actually UAE Day was yesterday but I'm a bit behind.
In celebration of the day a number of buildings in the city (and some of the cranes) are covered with coloured lights. Think the beads you get at Mardi Gras - now make them glow and cover a 10 storey building with them. It was kind of nice. There were even fireworks which were kind of distracting because they were happening at two different sites at the same time and both were within our eyesight. I'm glad Suhail (who was driving at the time) is not as easily distracted as I am and managed to keep the car on the road. Although I did make him stop the car and take pictures.
So to commemorate the day I've made a list of the things I like about Dubai - it's longer than you'd think:
1. I like the people. They're very friendly and just truly decent, nice folks. People don't swear like sailors (even the teenagers in the mall), they're polite, family oriented and kind. Sort of like the folks on the East coast of Canada without the beer and with more teeth.
2. I like the clothes. By that I mean National dress (Abayas and Dishdashas) and the Indian garb (Shalway kameez and Kurtas) . The National dress is kind of like a uniform but it's neat and clean and I have to admit a little imposing. The Indian garb is awesome - colourful and bright and just .... well, gorgeous. I could be happy trotting around in a shalway kameez every day.
3. The sun: Yeah, I said it, I like the sun here. I guess when there's still an ozone layer above me I don't burn. I freckle like a freak but I don't have to slather myself in aloe vera every two seconds for pain relief.
4. The Architecture: there's so much construction here it's kind of hard to wrap your head around it but the parts that are finished are quite pretty. The architechture (one of my passions) is interesting. The lines, shapes, building materials are like nothing I've seen before. Now I don't for a second believe that these buildings will keep standing but for now they're great to look at.
5. The Driving: Everyday it's like being a part of the Indy 500 or riding a rollercoaster. I can't begin to tell you the number of times I have been in a car that's almost been hit by another one or has almost hit another one. Everyone here drives 120 - to start. No one waits until there is a space big enough for their car to start changing lanes. People LOVE to beep their horns at every opportunity. And despite this there is no discernable road rage - although we have had one frustrated cabbie yell "Stupid Hindi" but that's as close as we've come to outright anger. Of course, flipping someone the bird could land you in jail so that could have something to do with it.
6. The Food. It's good. It's authentic. It's making my ass larger.
7. Yoga by Candle Light. A few days ago a number of us received an email that we were to attend a meeting at the amphitheatre behind our office at 6pm. Attendance was mandatory and we were required to get permission if we had to miss it - very formal and intimidating. The meeting was a candlelight yoga session. Sooo good
8. The Customer Service. The motto I'm pretty sure is "the customer is always right even if their request is entirely idiotic and not at all feasible."
Every time I enter the hotel the door guy tries to carry my bag. Binu, the awesome guy who cleans my room, does my dishes and folds my laundry even though I've told him he doesn't have to (I've bought juice and water for him so he can have a treat when he does my room - he thinks I'm crazy). Last week Jane, Lindy and I went to Lulu Hypermarket and when we were done we called a cab. I was told "there are no cabs call back later". Lindy was told "It will be one hour". When she asked what was going on that was taking away all the cabs there was no response. We would have been stranded but we called our hotel and they hired a private car for us. When we drove past the hotel at the mall (which is next door to Lulu) the cab queue was FULL of empty taxis waiting for people to come out of the mall. Awesome.
9. The Souks are just amazing. You can find everything. You can barter. You can try food you've never seen before. The vendors will chat about all kinds of crap with you. It's really cool.
10. The Beach. It may sound the same as the sun but it's not. Jumeirah Beach Park is where Lindy and I have gone on our beach days. This is the public beach used by anyone who's got 5 dirham to spare. What I like about the beach is that the sand is lovely and silky soft. The leering men are hilarious - they really haven't honed the skill of being inconspicuous. The water is blue and warm and salty. Scrumptious
11. Eastern Mantras. This should fall under food but this delicious yogurty treat deserves it's own mention. This is a smoothie consisting of dates, bananas, frozen yogurt and milk. It's the best thing I've ever tasted. Lindy and I have had about 20 of them each so far. They make me believe there is a God.
That's my list! Go UAE
In celebration of the day a number of buildings in the city (and some of the cranes) are covered with coloured lights. Think the beads you get at Mardi Gras - now make them glow and cover a 10 storey building with them. It was kind of nice. There were even fireworks which were kind of distracting because they were happening at two different sites at the same time and both were within our eyesight. I'm glad Suhail (who was driving at the time) is not as easily distracted as I am and managed to keep the car on the road. Although I did make him stop the car and take pictures.
So to commemorate the day I've made a list of the things I like about Dubai - it's longer than you'd think:
1. I like the people. They're very friendly and just truly decent, nice folks. People don't swear like sailors (even the teenagers in the mall), they're polite, family oriented and kind. Sort of like the folks on the East coast of Canada without the beer and with more teeth.
2. I like the clothes. By that I mean National dress (Abayas and Dishdashas) and the Indian garb (Shalway kameez and Kurtas) . The National dress is kind of like a uniform but it's neat and clean and I have to admit a little imposing. The Indian garb is awesome - colourful and bright and just .... well, gorgeous. I could be happy trotting around in a shalway kameez every day.
3. The sun: Yeah, I said it, I like the sun here. I guess when there's still an ozone layer above me I don't burn. I freckle like a freak but I don't have to slather myself in aloe vera every two seconds for pain relief.
4. The Architecture: there's so much construction here it's kind of hard to wrap your head around it but the parts that are finished are quite pretty. The architechture (one of my passions) is interesting. The lines, shapes, building materials are like nothing I've seen before. Now I don't for a second believe that these buildings will keep standing but for now they're great to look at.
5. The Driving: Everyday it's like being a part of the Indy 500 or riding a rollercoaster. I can't begin to tell you the number of times I have been in a car that's almost been hit by another one or has almost hit another one. Everyone here drives 120 - to start. No one waits until there is a space big enough for their car to start changing lanes. People LOVE to beep their horns at every opportunity. And despite this there is no discernable road rage - although we have had one frustrated cabbie yell "Stupid Hindi" but that's as close as we've come to outright anger. Of course, flipping someone the bird could land you in jail so that could have something to do with it.
6. The Food. It's good. It's authentic. It's making my ass larger.
7. Yoga by Candle Light. A few days ago a number of us received an email that we were to attend a meeting at the amphitheatre behind our office at 6pm. Attendance was mandatory and we were required to get permission if we had to miss it - very formal and intimidating. The meeting was a candlelight yoga session. Sooo good
8. The Customer Service. The motto I'm pretty sure is "the customer is always right even if their request is entirely idiotic and not at all feasible."
Every time I enter the hotel the door guy tries to carry my bag. Binu, the awesome guy who cleans my room, does my dishes and folds my laundry even though I've told him he doesn't have to (I've bought juice and water for him so he can have a treat when he does my room - he thinks I'm crazy). Last week Jane, Lindy and I went to Lulu Hypermarket and when we were done we called a cab. I was told "there are no cabs call back later". Lindy was told "It will be one hour". When she asked what was going on that was taking away all the cabs there was no response. We would have been stranded but we called our hotel and they hired a private car for us. When we drove past the hotel at the mall (which is next door to Lulu) the cab queue was FULL of empty taxis waiting for people to come out of the mall. Awesome.
9. The Souks are just amazing. You can find everything. You can barter. You can try food you've never seen before. The vendors will chat about all kinds of crap with you. It's really cool.
10. The Beach. It may sound the same as the sun but it's not. Jumeirah Beach Park is where Lindy and I have gone on our beach days. This is the public beach used by anyone who's got 5 dirham to spare. What I like about the beach is that the sand is lovely and silky soft. The leering men are hilarious - they really haven't honed the skill of being inconspicuous. The water is blue and warm and salty. Scrumptious
11. Eastern Mantras. This should fall under food but this delicious yogurty treat deserves it's own mention. This is a smoothie consisting of dates, bananas, frozen yogurt and milk. It's the best thing I've ever tasted. Lindy and I have had about 20 of them each so far. They make me believe there is a God.
That's my list! Go UAE
Thursday, November 29, 2007
It's The Little Things
It's so weird how sometimes the tiniest things will bring and image to your mind.
Today I was getting on the escalator to leave one of the cinemas. The woman who was directly in front of me came to an abrupt halt and waited a second before tentatively stepping on to the escalator. This immediately brought Kerry to mind - not much with the depth perception our girl - and brought on a strong pang of homesick.
Next I went to another one of the cinemas we are using and met up with Mukesh. He's one of our box office staff who is the middle east version of a lovely young lad who works for the Toronto festival named Jonathan Goldsbie. When he came for his initial interview Lindy and I were both struck by the similarity. Until today I didn't even bother learning Mukesh's name because I just called him Goldsbie in my head. I've since told him the story which he finds amusing. I must print a picture of Jonathan so he can see it..... again, more homesick.
I went to the last cinema and the local stray cat - it's a little orange kitty - was chasing a butterfly out by the bushes. This made me think of Hank and again with the homesick.
I pity Lindy in another week or so.
The Muffin Man can't get here soon enough!
BTW Muffin Man the box office staff has been instructed to call you that during the festival .... the legend continues!
Today I was getting on the escalator to leave one of the cinemas. The woman who was directly in front of me came to an abrupt halt and waited a second before tentatively stepping on to the escalator. This immediately brought Kerry to mind - not much with the depth perception our girl - and brought on a strong pang of homesick.
Next I went to another one of the cinemas we are using and met up with Mukesh. He's one of our box office staff who is the middle east version of a lovely young lad who works for the Toronto festival named Jonathan Goldsbie. When he came for his initial interview Lindy and I were both struck by the similarity. Until today I didn't even bother learning Mukesh's name because I just called him Goldsbie in my head. I've since told him the story which he finds amusing. I must print a picture of Jonathan so he can see it..... again, more homesick.
I went to the last cinema and the local stray cat - it's a little orange kitty - was chasing a butterfly out by the bushes. This made me think of Hank and again with the homesick.
I pity Lindy in another week or so.
The Muffin Man can't get here soon enough!
BTW Muffin Man the box office staff has been instructed to call you that during the festival .... the legend continues!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Thing to Look Forward To ....
You get into a routine when you're 6000 miles from home and are pretty much working or hanging out in your hotel room. It gives you tonnes to time to think about the things that you miss and things you're looking foward to. I've started a list:
I'm Looking Forward To:
Seeing Lucy, Drew, Mikki and Mekai. I probably won't recognize any of them!
Petting my kitties (which is not dirty - jeez)
Giving big hugs to all my friends
Calling Kerry at more sensible hours
The Muffin Man visiting Dubai
Visiting my favourite expat Simon in San Fran
Drinks with Abaya Barbie, Lindy and the other TIFF/DIFFs in T.O.
Sad as it may seem ... CPOF
Arthur's crazy frisbee hoarding
Seeing the slightly crazy lifeguard at the rec centre by work - she misses me and Maunique when we don't go for a few days.
Lying on my couch with my crazy Christmas lights all over my livingroom. Although I now have this luxury in Dubai - it's just not the same.
Soon .... so soon
I'm Looking Forward To:
Seeing Lucy, Drew, Mikki and Mekai. I probably won't recognize any of them!
Petting my kitties (which is not dirty - jeez)
Giving big hugs to all my friends
Calling Kerry at more sensible hours
The Muffin Man visiting Dubai
Visiting my favourite expat Simon in San Fran
Drinks with Abaya Barbie, Lindy and the other TIFF/DIFFs in T.O.
Sad as it may seem ... CPOF
Arthur's crazy frisbee hoarding
Seeing the slightly crazy lifeguard at the rec centre by work - she misses me and Maunique when we don't go for a few days.
Lying on my couch with my crazy Christmas lights all over my livingroom. Although I now have this luxury in Dubai - it's just not the same.
Soon .... so soon
Time, Time ... what is Time?
So we've finished our official training sessions and learned, once again, that time has no meaning in Dubai.
The first session was due to start at noon. At 12:30pm we we're still missing a good number of people. During the session they arrived in dribs and drabs and as per usual - no apologies. Lindy decided this would be a good time to give the you can be late once - the second time will be your last shift at DIFF speech. You would think that this would inspire them to be on time for the training on day two. Wouldn't you?
Well if you did you'd be a giant moron because, of course, the majority of the kids were late. Not 5 minutes but 1/2 hour to and hour late. Despite the lateness the training sessions seemed to go well and I think we have a stellar group of folks working for us.
In pure, Human Capital (HC) fashion we were given survey sheets for the kids to fill out to tell HC how the training was. They were asked to rate us and give criticism/comments and then hand the sheets - with their names on them - back to us. Yeah, they're probably gonna get an accurate account of what the kids though with that system. Jeez.
Today we're just getting little things done. I went and gave a briefing to the Call Centre for Tecom which is the government entity that oversees DIFF. The most exciting part about this is that I got to go back to the Sparkly Building. It's like a big concrete and marble Tickle Me Elmo. You can't walk into this building and be surrounded by the glittery, sparkly goodness and not smile a little. I tried to take a picture of the floor but it didn't turn out. Maybe when the Muffin Man comes to Dubai I will ask him to try and capture it. So awesome!
Speaking of "Awesome" I'm begging each and every one of you to whack me across the nose with a rolled up newspaper every time I say this word. I obviously say it waaaay too much. Praveen and Aldrich, two of the lovely folks I work with here giggle every time I say it and then imitate me. Not that I want to kill their joy but come on!
Tomorrow is the big press conference for DIFF. It's at the crazy hotel we stayed at in 2004. I'm hoping I won't have PTS flashbacks during it. Nobody likes having a howling maniac in the background when they're trying to announce their films.
I'm looking forward to heading home. I really miss everyone. Give yourselves a big hug from me. No really. DO IT!
Dubai Temp: 34C Time: 4:54pm
The first session was due to start at noon. At 12:30pm we we're still missing a good number of people. During the session they arrived in dribs and drabs and as per usual - no apologies. Lindy decided this would be a good time to give the you can be late once - the second time will be your last shift at DIFF speech. You would think that this would inspire them to be on time for the training on day two. Wouldn't you?
Well if you did you'd be a giant moron because, of course, the majority of the kids were late. Not 5 minutes but 1/2 hour to and hour late. Despite the lateness the training sessions seemed to go well and I think we have a stellar group of folks working for us.
In pure, Human Capital (HC) fashion we were given survey sheets for the kids to fill out to tell HC how the training was. They were asked to rate us and give criticism/comments and then hand the sheets - with their names on them - back to us. Yeah, they're probably gonna get an accurate account of what the kids though with that system. Jeez.
Today we're just getting little things done. I went and gave a briefing to the Call Centre for Tecom which is the government entity that oversees DIFF. The most exciting part about this is that I got to go back to the Sparkly Building. It's like a big concrete and marble Tickle Me Elmo. You can't walk into this building and be surrounded by the glittery, sparkly goodness and not smile a little. I tried to take a picture of the floor but it didn't turn out. Maybe when the Muffin Man comes to Dubai I will ask him to try and capture it. So awesome!
Speaking of "Awesome" I'm begging each and every one of you to whack me across the nose with a rolled up newspaper every time I say this word. I obviously say it waaaay too much. Praveen and Aldrich, two of the lovely folks I work with here giggle every time I say it and then imitate me. Not that I want to kill their joy but come on!
Tomorrow is the big press conference for DIFF. It's at the crazy hotel we stayed at in 2004. I'm hoping I won't have PTS flashbacks during it. Nobody likes having a howling maniac in the background when they're trying to announce their films.
I'm looking forward to heading home. I really miss everyone. Give yourselves a big hug from me. No really. DO IT!
Dubai Temp: 34C Time: 4:54pm
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Catching Up
Okay so it's been many days since I wrote an entry which just means that things are starting to pick up at the office. We're having a pretty easy time of it so far (knock wood - lotsa wood). We have a lot of returning staff and tomorrow we begin our official training sessions.
Some observations from the last few days:
Dubai is weird. It has been foggy quite often in the morning over the past week or so. It usually clears up fairly quickly but when it's here it's thick. Personally, I think by build The Palms and The World they've changed the local weather patterns. Mother nature does not like to be Fucked with. Either that or we're just getting some residual ick from the cyclone. Anyhow foggy or not it's still damn hot.
Speaking of hot .... I tan here. That's right TAN! Okay it's really just freckles growing together but it's kinda cool. Thank you Arabian sun.
I hate HTML code. HATE. IT. Just built all the web events in the ticketing system and am happy to say they're done. Now it's just all the other stuff ..... urg.
I have to learn that Ass Clown cannot be a regular part of my vocabulary when I'm in Dubai. I guess, it's kinda shocking in a place where you can be arrested for flipping someone the bird when they cut you off in traffic. Will miss Ass Clown. Such good words ..... Alas.
The concept of time in Dubai is not the same as the rest of the world. All the documentation in the hotel (brochures, guest guide, interactive TV information tells me that the gym/pool opens at 6:30am every day. The nice girl who always shows up at about 7:10am tells me that it opens at 7:00am. Weird. Also, When we have kids scheduled for interviews it's not unusual for someone to show up 45 minutes late or to have 1/2 the scheduled interviewees not show up at all. The ones who show up late never apologize they just kinda look at you and say "it's hard to find parking in Dubai". Soooo not kidding.
Human Capital (Dubai version of Human Resources) is incredibly bad at what they do. I've said this before but it's worth saying again. We have our staff settled but I'm fairly sure I can hear the quiet weeping of the Theatres Dept. Management right now.
DIFF is currently obtaining their ISO standing. This means they must document every SINGLE process. Normally I would encourage this. It makes everyone look at the things they do and really have to think through them. That said, it's not good when we are only a couple of weeks away from putting up a film festival and documenting processes is supposed to be everyone's priority. All I can say is "yeah, that's gonna happen".
I hear Colin Firth is not coming to Dubai anymore. I will mourn the news later even though it gives me much more time to help Lindy now that my stalking schedule has been severly cut down.
I'm gonna post some more pics on my Facebook page of the office and the beach area.
The Land of Sand remains, as ever, Crazy!
Dubai Temp: 33C Time: 7:17pm
Some observations from the last few days:
Dubai is weird. It has been foggy quite often in the morning over the past week or so. It usually clears up fairly quickly but when it's here it's thick. Personally, I think by build The Palms and The World they've changed the local weather patterns. Mother nature does not like to be Fucked with. Either that or we're just getting some residual ick from the cyclone. Anyhow foggy or not it's still damn hot.
Speaking of hot .... I tan here. That's right TAN! Okay it's really just freckles growing together but it's kinda cool. Thank you Arabian sun.
I hate HTML code. HATE. IT. Just built all the web events in the ticketing system and am happy to say they're done. Now it's just all the other stuff ..... urg.
I have to learn that Ass Clown cannot be a regular part of my vocabulary when I'm in Dubai. I guess, it's kinda shocking in a place where you can be arrested for flipping someone the bird when they cut you off in traffic. Will miss Ass Clown. Such good words ..... Alas.
The concept of time in Dubai is not the same as the rest of the world. All the documentation in the hotel (brochures, guest guide, interactive TV information tells me that the gym/pool opens at 6:30am every day. The nice girl who always shows up at about 7:10am tells me that it opens at 7:00am. Weird. Also, When we have kids scheduled for interviews it's not unusual for someone to show up 45 minutes late or to have 1/2 the scheduled interviewees not show up at all. The ones who show up late never apologize they just kinda look at you and say "it's hard to find parking in Dubai". Soooo not kidding.
Human Capital (Dubai version of Human Resources) is incredibly bad at what they do. I've said this before but it's worth saying again. We have our staff settled but I'm fairly sure I can hear the quiet weeping of the Theatres Dept. Management right now.
DIFF is currently obtaining their ISO standing. This means they must document every SINGLE process. Normally I would encourage this. It makes everyone look at the things they do and really have to think through them. That said, it's not good when we are only a couple of weeks away from putting up a film festival and documenting processes is supposed to be everyone's priority. All I can say is "yeah, that's gonna happen".
I hear Colin Firth is not coming to Dubai anymore. I will mourn the news later even though it gives me much more time to help Lindy now that my stalking schedule has been severly cut down.
I'm gonna post some more pics on my Facebook page of the office and the beach area.
The Land of Sand remains, as ever, Crazy!
Dubai Temp: 33C Time: 7:17pm
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Beirut in Dubai
It was insanely foggy here this morning. The fog was so dense that I couldn't see a single construction crane which is impossible here.
On the way to work we drove in the back way and there are a lot of unfinished buildings on the way.. Through the fog everything looked kind of bombed out. It was like we took a wrong turn and ended up Beirut. Very creepy.
Dubai has this weird habit of naming their subdivisions according to a theme. We work in Dubai Media City. The finance building is in Dubai Internet City. There is a Sports City being built. There is a Knowledge Village, Irish Village, Century Village. It's all very weird and theme parky. Anyhow - tonight Lindy and Cheryl otherwise known as those Wacky Jews (in Dubai - weird huh?) are making a new map of Dubai and adding the cities that should be here. Apathetic City, Underwear City and I'm sure a host of others. I'm looking forward to the unveiling tomorrow morning.
Never a dull moment here in the Land of Sand.
Now off to Dubai Bed City
On the way to work we drove in the back way and there are a lot of unfinished buildings on the way.. Through the fog everything looked kind of bombed out. It was like we took a wrong turn and ended up Beirut. Very creepy.
Dubai has this weird habit of naming their subdivisions according to a theme. We work in Dubai Media City. The finance building is in Dubai Internet City. There is a Sports City being built. There is a Knowledge Village, Irish Village, Century Village. It's all very weird and theme parky. Anyhow - tonight Lindy and Cheryl otherwise known as those Wacky Jews (in Dubai - weird huh?) are making a new map of Dubai and adding the cities that should be here. Apathetic City, Underwear City and I'm sure a host of others. I'm looking forward to the unveiling tomorrow morning.
Never a dull moment here in the Land of Sand.
Now off to Dubai Bed City
Colin Firth Rocks My World
Okay there are a number of stars I would happily stalk but Colin Firth ranks right near the top. Why is the fabulous Colin on my mind? Bridget Jones' Diary has been playing over and over on one of the movie channels and of course, I've been watching it. It's either that or the really not good version of Pride and Prejudice. Which I probably don't like because unlike the BBC version this one does not contain Colin Firth.
There is a rumour out there that he may be attending the Dubai Film Festival this year which puts Lindy in a bad situation because I will obviously be lurking in the general vicinity of Colin and my phone will be off. Nothing gives away a stalker like a mis-timed cell phone call. Of course, I'm kidding about stalking him. Whenever I meet a star that I genuinely adore my conversational skills regress to a time when I was incapable of speech. Who knows maybe he's really in to incoherent grunts. Cue dream sequence music .....
I really must get back to Bridget Jones now.
Oh yeah Dubai Temp: 28 degrees at 9:38pm ..... so chilly
There is a rumour out there that he may be attending the Dubai Film Festival this year which puts Lindy in a bad situation because I will obviously be lurking in the general vicinity of Colin and my phone will be off. Nothing gives away a stalker like a mis-timed cell phone call. Of course, I'm kidding about stalking him. Whenever I meet a star that I genuinely adore my conversational skills regress to a time when I was incapable of speech. Who knows maybe he's really in to incoherent grunts. Cue dream sequence music .....
I really must get back to Bridget Jones now.
Oh yeah Dubai Temp: 28 degrees at 9:38pm ..... so chilly
Tipsy in Al Barsha
So Thursday night was blow off a little steam night. This involved walking across the street to the mall and going to the special part of one of the restaurants that allows drinking - sort of a no no here. By special part I mean it's divided off from the main dining area by a big curtain - tipsy people are to be hidden. It was quite lovely actually and had a great view of Ski Dubai (that's a whole other post!).
So a little group of us went to the drinking place and well .... drank. We got a little stupid and Jane (nice British lady ... okay maybe not Lady) showed us how to make napkin penis'. Which we did ... a lot. Tom kinda hit on the waiter - at least, that's how the waiter saw it. I think Tom is hoping to be imprisoned because that would be less stressful than his job!
Napkin penis' are awesome fun especially after the 4th bottle of wine (there were 5 of us!). To make a one you fold the napkin in half then fold the edges down towards the centre so you have a kind of pyramid shap. Next take the tip of the pyramid and fold it under. Now from the top of the pyramid that's left roll the edges of the napkin in towards each other/you. Now imagine 5 people doing this. Now imagine it with a ski hill in front of you. That was pretty much our evening.
Lindy and I decided we needed to relax the following day so we went to the beach again. It was really quite lovely. For those of you who know me well I've added yet another location I can fall asleep in - face down on the public beach in Dubai. Thank goodness Dubai still has an ozone layer. Today I'm just a mass of freckles instead of lobster-like.
After the beach we hit the mall again and did pre crazy festival food shopping. One of our stops was the Lulu Hypermarket. The best part of this outing was finding the elusive Birka Barbie. Actually, it's Barbie's friend Fulla. She comes with many different types of Abayas. My personal favourite is the Morning Prayer Fulla. We still haven't found Dishdasha Ken but it gives us something else to concentrate on.
The search continues!
So a little group of us went to the drinking place and well .... drank. We got a little stupid and Jane (nice British lady ... okay maybe not Lady) showed us how to make napkin penis'. Which we did ... a lot. Tom kinda hit on the waiter - at least, that's how the waiter saw it. I think Tom is hoping to be imprisoned because that would be less stressful than his job!
Napkin penis' are awesome fun especially after the 4th bottle of wine (there were 5 of us!). To make a one you fold the napkin in half then fold the edges down towards the centre so you have a kind of pyramid shap. Next take the tip of the pyramid and fold it under. Now from the top of the pyramid that's left roll the edges of the napkin in towards each other/you. Now imagine 5 people doing this. Now imagine it with a ski hill in front of you. That was pretty much our evening.
Lindy and I decided we needed to relax the following day so we went to the beach again. It was really quite lovely. For those of you who know me well I've added yet another location I can fall asleep in - face down on the public beach in Dubai. Thank goodness Dubai still has an ozone layer. Today I'm just a mass of freckles instead of lobster-like.
After the beach we hit the mall again and did pre crazy festival food shopping. One of our stops was the Lulu Hypermarket. The best part of this outing was finding the elusive Birka Barbie. Actually, it's Barbie's friend Fulla. She comes with many different types of Abayas. My personal favourite is the Morning Prayer Fulla. We still haven't found Dishdasha Ken but it gives us something else to concentrate on.
The search continues!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
What don't they deliver
You can get every type of food delivered to you in Dubai.
The corner store delivers. Mom and Pop's kebab stand delivers. McDonalds delivers. Starbucks delivers. That's right you can get a McArabia meal brought right to your desk at work. I haven't partaken of this yet and probably won't. I have a morbid fear of styrofoam containers - yep, they use 'em here.
You have no idea how weird it is to have the delivery guy walk in with a latte he's trying to deliver.
Ah the land of decadence ....
Speaking of, a few days back a group of us went to the Grand Cineplex which is one of the venues we're using for the festival. It's a nice theatre very similar to the multiplexes we have in T.O. What was cool though is that we were super early and so we decided to walk over the WAFI mall and look around.
This mall has an ancient Egypt theme. The outside is totally covered in heiroglyphics, oblisks and reproductions of statues from famous tombs. All done is very great detail. The decoration even extends into the car park. No stone unturned kids!
The corner store delivers. Mom and Pop's kebab stand delivers. McDonalds delivers. Starbucks delivers. That's right you can get a McArabia meal brought right to your desk at work. I haven't partaken of this yet and probably won't. I have a morbid fear of styrofoam containers - yep, they use 'em here.
You have no idea how weird it is to have the delivery guy walk in with a latte he's trying to deliver.
Ah the land of decadence ....
Speaking of, a few days back a group of us went to the Grand Cineplex which is one of the venues we're using for the festival. It's a nice theatre very similar to the multiplexes we have in T.O. What was cool though is that we were super early and so we decided to walk over the WAFI mall and look around.
This mall has an ancient Egypt theme. The outside is totally covered in heiroglyphics, oblisks and reproductions of statues from famous tombs. All done is very great detail. The decoration even extends into the car park. No stone unturned kids!
These statues are as big as they look. The mall is pretty much all high end stores. I looked around but didn't find a set of Christmas lights. I will continue my search at the crazy mall near our hotel. I mean it's about the size of the GTA - there must be lights in there somewhere.
There will be holiday spirit here, my friends. Oh yes, there will.
I just posted some pictures to my facebook account because blogspot hates me. Take a look when you get a chance!
Dubai Temp: 37 degrees with the humidex.
Dubai Time: 6:43pm
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Legend Continues
I have confirmation that the Muffin Man is coming to Dubai. It's all very exciting!
The Muffin Man is Mike Scott. He got this name because every year he makes baskets of home made muffins for the various box office at the Toronto Film Festival on their busiest day (single ticket day).
This year he made muffins even though I was no longer working at the festival. He dropped them off in big baskets with a note explaining the legend. Lindy helped to expand upon this when asked where the muffins came from she replied that they came from the muffin man and made him sound very mysterious. The following day, when the muffins were gone, Lindy filled the baskets with chocolate which the staff assumed were from the Muffin Man and thus the legend was solidified.
Well this year the Muffin Man is coming to Dubai. He even asked if there was an oven in the hotel room.
The boy is incorrigible. Truly. I wonder if the kids here know what muffins are? They will soon.
Yay Muffin Man
The Muffin Man is Mike Scott. He got this name because every year he makes baskets of home made muffins for the various box office at the Toronto Film Festival on their busiest day (single ticket day).
This year he made muffins even though I was no longer working at the festival. He dropped them off in big baskets with a note explaining the legend. Lindy helped to expand upon this when asked where the muffins came from she replied that they came from the muffin man and made him sound very mysterious. The following day, when the muffins were gone, Lindy filled the baskets with chocolate which the staff assumed were from the Muffin Man and thus the legend was solidified.
Well this year the Muffin Man is coming to Dubai. He even asked if there was an oven in the hotel room.
The boy is incorrigible. Truly. I wonder if the kids here know what muffins are? They will soon.
Yay Muffin Man
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Souqing It Up
We decided to hit the souqs in the old part of Dubai on Saturday. Souqs are marketplaces. The ones in the old part of Dubai are functional markets not just there for the tourists. They are bustling, crowded and, in general, a little crazy. To get there we take a taxi to the docks and then an abra (water taxi) across the creek to the entrance of the first of a string of souqs.
Now if you've been to Venice (or anywhere else with water) you probably have a vision of what a water taxi is. Believe me this is not it. Here, there's a guy who sits in a hole in the middle of the boat and steers. Everyone else sits on a big block that sits in the middle of the boat. There is very little clearance room between the block and the edge. I'm not that tall and sitting back on the block my feet could touch the outside edge of the boat. Everyone is crammed on until there are no seats left. The ride across the creek is actually quite nice and I took some lovely pics which blogspot is not letting me upload ... Oh well.
The souqs are not laid out the way you would think. They are made up of a series of winding narrow streets that are full of tiny itty bitty stores. As you walk through the narrow streets the vendors are constantly calling to you. My favourite sales tactic is the one where they hold up some weird item and ask you if you know what it is. It's alot of fun to chat with the vendors - they like to guess where you're from. Oddly enough Germany was a common guess even though they had heard us talking. Odd. We were never asked if we were American. Dubai may be tolerant of other ways but they really don't like Americans. I am saving cartoons from the local paper. I will share on my return!
When we first arrived the souqs were having their afternoon siesta. They completely shut down. So it was like a ghost town. We found a little cafe that made fresh pomegranate juice and waited.
There are a number of souqs that run one into the other. The first one that we reached was the spice souq. This is booth after booths of spices, herbs and all kinds of other good stuff. It smelled fantastic. Someone really should come up with a type of camera that lets you capture smells. Not that blogspot would let me post them! The next we hit was the gold souq. Dubai is pretty well known for it's gold souq. It's just what it sounds like. Store after store of gold jewellery. Most of the stores have displays in their windows showing large gold necklaces and bracelets meant for Indian weddings. It's quite overwhelming but the deals are great. My mom will be very happy with her Christmas present I'm sure!
The next souq is textiles and housewares. We tried to find the elusive Birka Barbie but the best we could do was to find a child's knapsack with a picture. Birka Barbie is a Barbie that's dressed in the national Emirati dress. There's also a Ken doll in a dishdasha. It's will be awesome if we find them!
The last souq we hit carries perfume. In Dubai you can get perfume made with essential oils. This is awesome for me because I'm allergic to roses and thus rose water which most perfumes contain. I didn't actually purchase any but the smells were awesome and I got to sample for a change!
After we wandered around for a while we set off for home. Exhausted but happy!
Dubai temp: 37 (on Saturday
Now if you've been to Venice (or anywhere else with water) you probably have a vision of what a water taxi is. Believe me this is not it. Here, there's a guy who sits in a hole in the middle of the boat and steers. Everyone else sits on a big block that sits in the middle of the boat. There is very little clearance room between the block and the edge. I'm not that tall and sitting back on the block my feet could touch the outside edge of the boat. Everyone is crammed on until there are no seats left. The ride across the creek is actually quite nice and I took some lovely pics which blogspot is not letting me upload ... Oh well.
The souqs are not laid out the way you would think. They are made up of a series of winding narrow streets that are full of tiny itty bitty stores. As you walk through the narrow streets the vendors are constantly calling to you. My favourite sales tactic is the one where they hold up some weird item and ask you if you know what it is. It's alot of fun to chat with the vendors - they like to guess where you're from. Oddly enough Germany was a common guess even though they had heard us talking. Odd. We were never asked if we were American. Dubai may be tolerant of other ways but they really don't like Americans. I am saving cartoons from the local paper. I will share on my return!
When we first arrived the souqs were having their afternoon siesta. They completely shut down. So it was like a ghost town. We found a little cafe that made fresh pomegranate juice and waited.
There are a number of souqs that run one into the other. The first one that we reached was the spice souq. This is booth after booths of spices, herbs and all kinds of other good stuff. It smelled fantastic. Someone really should come up with a type of camera that lets you capture smells. Not that blogspot would let me post them! The next we hit was the gold souq. Dubai is pretty well known for it's gold souq. It's just what it sounds like. Store after store of gold jewellery. Most of the stores have displays in their windows showing large gold necklaces and bracelets meant for Indian weddings. It's quite overwhelming but the deals are great. My mom will be very happy with her Christmas present I'm sure!
The next souq is textiles and housewares. We tried to find the elusive Birka Barbie but the best we could do was to find a child's knapsack with a picture. Birka Barbie is a Barbie that's dressed in the national Emirati dress. There's also a Ken doll in a dishdasha. It's will be awesome if we find them!
The last souq we hit carries perfume. In Dubai you can get perfume made with essential oils. This is awesome for me because I'm allergic to roses and thus rose water which most perfumes contain. I didn't actually purchase any but the smells were awesome and I got to sample for a change!
After we wandered around for a while we set off for home. Exhausted but happy!
Dubai temp: 37 (on Saturday
Friday, November 9, 2007
End of Work Week 1
On Thursday this week Dan, Lindy and I went and had a meeting with Finance. They are located in a building in Dubai Internet City (DIC). For those of you who don't know, Dubai is sort of divided into areas not unlike Toronto. The difference being though that they name the various areas after their function. The office I work in is in Dubai Media City and we are located in the CNN building.
Anyhoo .... we made the jaunt to DIC which is only about a 10 minute walk. 10 minutes doesn't sound extreme but it was very hot and like most of Dubai there are only sporadic sidewalks available along the route. So it's far more harrowing than it sounds. We were rewarded at the end though because the building we went to is the sparkliest building I've ever been in. I don't mean that the marble gleamed. I mean that it was shot through with some glittering substance that made every surface twinkle and flash. There is also a boat theme to the building so the boardroom has little portholes and such. Very surreal. Lindy felt like she was in a 70's disco.
In the sparkly building we met Todd who is one of the managers. He's brand new and seems to be completely on top of things. Very offputting when you're expecting the person you're meeting with to be solidly on Dubai time but in a good way. Once we were finished in sparkly land we went and had vegetarian Indian food in the next building which was awesome and made Lindy who is the resident veggie very happy.
Last night we gathered to have a drink in honour of Bob, another Torontonian, who was celebrating his birthday. We played a game called Apples to Apples. If you've never played this you should. It's a hoot. It works like this - everyone is dealt 7 cards and on each one is a name, Place, action, event, era, object, animal or phrase. There is a second deck of cards that has a descriptive word on it i.e. ridiculous, cheesy, saintly, normal. So one person is the judge and they flip over the top card on the descriptive deck and then each player puts a card face down on the table that they think fits with that word. The judge gathers the cards, mixes them up and then picks the card they like best and the person who put it down wins that round. We had some truly sick things put down like for ridiculous someone put down Anne Frank which won the round. When you've had a couple of drinks this is an awesome game!
Today was Friday so Lindy and I decided to spend our first weekend day at the public beach. It was awesome. We paid 5 AED each which is about $1.50 CAN and then went to a beautiful beach with crystal blue water, white soft sand and not too crazy a crowd. It was lots of fun. I would upload a pic but you're not allowed to have cameras on the beach. In fact, a few men were arrested last week for sitting on a wall and staring at women at the beach sooooooo .... you get it.
After the beach we went and celebrated Bob's birthday again. This time we went to a Lebanese restaurant in Century City which is beside Irish Village. The restuarant has a great big patio with big comfy chairs where folks sit and eat and smoke Sheesha. By proxy, I had a lot sheesha tonight. We had a lovely time and I got to meet some other folks who've been imported for the festival. Camilla who works as the assistant to the executive director and Daniel who puts together all of the publications. Both very lovely Brits! The restaurant kindly gave us enough food to feed a village or perhaps a small country and a lovely night was had by all.
It was a great end to my first week.
Dubai temp: 33 degrees
Anyhoo .... we made the jaunt to DIC which is only about a 10 minute walk. 10 minutes doesn't sound extreme but it was very hot and like most of Dubai there are only sporadic sidewalks available along the route. So it's far more harrowing than it sounds. We were rewarded at the end though because the building we went to is the sparkliest building I've ever been in. I don't mean that the marble gleamed. I mean that it was shot through with some glittering substance that made every surface twinkle and flash. There is also a boat theme to the building so the boardroom has little portholes and such. Very surreal. Lindy felt like she was in a 70's disco.
In the sparkly building we met Todd who is one of the managers. He's brand new and seems to be completely on top of things. Very offputting when you're expecting the person you're meeting with to be solidly on Dubai time but in a good way. Once we were finished in sparkly land we went and had vegetarian Indian food in the next building which was awesome and made Lindy who is the resident veggie very happy.
Last night we gathered to have a drink in honour of Bob, another Torontonian, who was celebrating his birthday. We played a game called Apples to Apples. If you've never played this you should. It's a hoot. It works like this - everyone is dealt 7 cards and on each one is a name, Place, action, event, era, object, animal or phrase. There is a second deck of cards that has a descriptive word on it i.e. ridiculous, cheesy, saintly, normal. So one person is the judge and they flip over the top card on the descriptive deck and then each player puts a card face down on the table that they think fits with that word. The judge gathers the cards, mixes them up and then picks the card they like best and the person who put it down wins that round. We had some truly sick things put down like for ridiculous someone put down Anne Frank which won the round. When you've had a couple of drinks this is an awesome game!
Today was Friday so Lindy and I decided to spend our first weekend day at the public beach. It was awesome. We paid 5 AED each which is about $1.50 CAN and then went to a beautiful beach with crystal blue water, white soft sand and not too crazy a crowd. It was lots of fun. I would upload a pic but you're not allowed to have cameras on the beach. In fact, a few men were arrested last week for sitting on a wall and staring at women at the beach sooooooo .... you get it.
After the beach we went and celebrated Bob's birthday again. This time we went to a Lebanese restaurant in Century City which is beside Irish Village. The restuarant has a great big patio with big comfy chairs where folks sit and eat and smoke Sheesha. By proxy, I had a lot sheesha tonight. We had a lovely time and I got to meet some other folks who've been imported for the festival. Camilla who works as the assistant to the executive director and Daniel who puts together all of the publications. Both very lovely Brits! The restaurant kindly gave us enough food to feed a village or perhaps a small country and a lovely night was had by all.
It was a great end to my first week.
Dubai temp: 33 degrees
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Pics of the hotel room
Here's some pics of the hotel room. Keep in mind I was beyond tired when I took these!
Bathroom - tiny but functional
The living room - comfy with good play stuff
Kitchen - who could ask for anything more?
Bedroom - good enough for a 15 hour nap!
More pics to come later
Dubai to Date
So I've now officially been in Dubai for 4 days. The first day probably shouldn't count because I spent it catching up on sleep (damn you Air Canada) for 15 hours straight which might be a new record for me. I did manage to drag my butt to the Mall of the Emirates that day - or the MOE as we call it - to buy groceries (more to come) but that's about it.
When I got in I cabbed it (the hotel sent the driver on the wrong day ... ah Dubai) to my hotel. We are staying at the Corp Executive Hotel (http://www.corp-hotels.com/). We've all been given one bedroom apartments that have a bedroom separated out by a 3/4 height wall, a sitting room with couch, chair, side tables, entertainment unit with plasma TV and a laptop to use kitchen with washer/dryer, microwave, stove, fridge all. If you look at the pics on the site they're bang on. It's a brand new hotel so everything is fancy and new. The hotel also has a great little gym and pool that opens really early so I've been partaking of that in the mornings before work. Just a head's up Maunique!!!! So far the only problem with the hotel is that there is not a single taxi driver who knows it's there. The hotel has only been in operation since May of this year and is still a mystery to most of Dubai. They build things so fast here that the poor taxi guys have no chance at keeping up with all the new developments so I think they've just given up entirely. Who can blame them?
My trip to the MOE was interesting (http://www.malloftheemirates.com/). It is the biggest mall I've ever been in. Lindy Zucker, my fellow box office person and Torontonian, told me not to panic when I went in and not to try and take it in all at once. I thought she was crazy but she was right on the mark. I walked for 20 minutes without stopping and had only reached the midway point of the mall. I hadn't even tried going down any of the tributaries that feed into the main hall.
MOE contains Dubai Ski which is an indoor ski hill (I don't know why). It's awesome to watch folks who are completely unfamiliar with snow play in it. I will try and load some video of it. It's awesome! MOE also contains Carrefours which is a grocery/department store - think a Superstore on crack. This is where I did my first grocery shopping. The place has a million of everything and yet nothing all at the same time. There is an entire aisle devoted to fresh olives - blech! I did manage to find something that was kinda like Cream of Wheat so overall I'm pretty happy. Plus they had Biopot yogurt which is the best yogurt in the world. If they sold it in Toronto it's all I would eat. Soooo good. Anyhow, shopping trip successful - Yay Dot!
The next day Lindy, Sydney (also a Toronto gal) and I went to the LuLu Hypermarket (totally, not making that name up). Driving up to LuLu was kinda like driving the strip in Vegas. It's huge and it's totally covered with bright shiny lights that flicker and move. It's divided into 3 floors. We spent most of our time on the second floor which had groceries and housewares. This is a more foreigner friendly environment than Carrefours. They even have a section of UK/USA food. They know we're slow and kind dumb - bless their heathen hearts! We did venture to the third floor which is the department store. What I loved most about this floor is that every electronic device had it's volume up full so it was just a barrage of sound. My ears felt like I had just been at a Metallica concert but it was cooly weird all the same. The best part of our trip though was the Magic Corn kiosk. That's right folks .... MAGIC corn. It's kinda like Kernels but with real corn niblets. Soooo weird. Soooo yummy. Lindy is in love with LuLu's. We will go back and I will tell you of our continuing adventures.
Despite how it sounds I actually have been working. I started on Monday by sitting through 4 hours of interviews. It's a very different world here. Folks came to the interviews in suits and had proper CV's with them which never happens when you are hiring for the Toronto festival. Soooo weird. Human Capital (that's what they call human resources here) seems to think we are looking for bankers or Russian supermodels for the box office because that's what the majority of the folks they sent us resumes for were. We did meet one little gal who had been studying in Ohio (she's from Dubai) and is a huge football fan. She was very impressed that I knew the team was called the Buckeyes. We love her.
Actually, Human Capital (HC) here is crazy. For an example one of the positions DIFF is hiring for is Print Traffic. This person is responsible for getting all the film prints to the festival in a timely manner, in the format required and then getting them to where they're due next. It's a hugely intricate job and requires a knowledge of shipping and of film (industry and technical). HC sent the person hiring this person a resume for a former police officer..... because he had experience directing traffic. Yes, someone had explained the position to them ahead of time. Pray for us all.
So far all is good. Lindy is a goddess and had everything totally under control by the time I got here. I'll try and update a little more often now that I have internet access.
Hope all is well in Toronto.
Dubai time: 4:22pm Current Temperature: 37 degrees and sunny
When I got in I cabbed it (the hotel sent the driver on the wrong day ... ah Dubai) to my hotel. We are staying at the Corp Executive Hotel (http://www.corp-hotels.com/). We've all been given one bedroom apartments that have a bedroom separated out by a 3/4 height wall, a sitting room with couch, chair, side tables, entertainment unit with plasma TV and a laptop to use kitchen with washer/dryer, microwave, stove, fridge all. If you look at the pics on the site they're bang on. It's a brand new hotel so everything is fancy and new. The hotel also has a great little gym and pool that opens really early so I've been partaking of that in the mornings before work. Just a head's up Maunique!!!! So far the only problem with the hotel is that there is not a single taxi driver who knows it's there. The hotel has only been in operation since May of this year and is still a mystery to most of Dubai. They build things so fast here that the poor taxi guys have no chance at keeping up with all the new developments so I think they've just given up entirely. Who can blame them?
My trip to the MOE was interesting (http://www.malloftheemirates.com/). It is the biggest mall I've ever been in. Lindy Zucker, my fellow box office person and Torontonian, told me not to panic when I went in and not to try and take it in all at once. I thought she was crazy but she was right on the mark. I walked for 20 minutes without stopping and had only reached the midway point of the mall. I hadn't even tried going down any of the tributaries that feed into the main hall.
MOE contains Dubai Ski which is an indoor ski hill (I don't know why). It's awesome to watch folks who are completely unfamiliar with snow play in it. I will try and load some video of it. It's awesome! MOE also contains Carrefours which is a grocery/department store - think a Superstore on crack. This is where I did my first grocery shopping. The place has a million of everything and yet nothing all at the same time. There is an entire aisle devoted to fresh olives - blech! I did manage to find something that was kinda like Cream of Wheat so overall I'm pretty happy. Plus they had Biopot yogurt which is the best yogurt in the world. If they sold it in Toronto it's all I would eat. Soooo good. Anyhow, shopping trip successful - Yay Dot!
The next day Lindy, Sydney (also a Toronto gal) and I went to the LuLu Hypermarket (totally, not making that name up). Driving up to LuLu was kinda like driving the strip in Vegas. It's huge and it's totally covered with bright shiny lights that flicker and move. It's divided into 3 floors. We spent most of our time on the second floor which had groceries and housewares. This is a more foreigner friendly environment than Carrefours. They even have a section of UK/USA food. They know we're slow and kind dumb - bless their heathen hearts! We did venture to the third floor which is the department store. What I loved most about this floor is that every electronic device had it's volume up full so it was just a barrage of sound. My ears felt like I had just been at a Metallica concert but it was cooly weird all the same. The best part of our trip though was the Magic Corn kiosk. That's right folks .... MAGIC corn. It's kinda like Kernels but with real corn niblets. Soooo weird. Soooo yummy. Lindy is in love with LuLu's. We will go back and I will tell you of our continuing adventures.
Despite how it sounds I actually have been working. I started on Monday by sitting through 4 hours of interviews. It's a very different world here. Folks came to the interviews in suits and had proper CV's with them which never happens when you are hiring for the Toronto festival. Soooo weird. Human Capital (that's what they call human resources here) seems to think we are looking for bankers or Russian supermodels for the box office because that's what the majority of the folks they sent us resumes for were. We did meet one little gal who had been studying in Ohio (she's from Dubai) and is a huge football fan. She was very impressed that I knew the team was called the Buckeyes. We love her.
Actually, Human Capital (HC) here is crazy. For an example one of the positions DIFF is hiring for is Print Traffic. This person is responsible for getting all the film prints to the festival in a timely manner, in the format required and then getting them to where they're due next. It's a hugely intricate job and requires a knowledge of shipping and of film (industry and technical). HC sent the person hiring this person a resume for a former police officer..... because he had experience directing traffic. Yes, someone had explained the position to them ahead of time. Pray for us all.
So far all is good. Lindy is a goddess and had everything totally under control by the time I got here. I'll try and update a little more often now that I have internet access.
Hope all is well in Toronto.
Dubai time: 4:22pm Current Temperature: 37 degrees and sunny
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Flying the Friendly Skies
Okay - I'm not too much of a complainer but I have to say Air Canada bites my ass. No really. I just had the joy of flying Air Canada to London Heathrow and then Emirates Air to Dubai. The difference in service and overall quality between these two carriers is insane.
Air Canada (AC) was cramped. I'm 5' 7" and my knees were pressed solidly against the seat in front of me before that seat was even reclined and when it was reclined it went from annoying to just plain painful. Not that the seats really recline. It's kind of the difference between sitting up straight and slightly slouching. My head also just reached the point where the headrest started so my head was forced forward for the entire flight. On Emirates I had a lot of leg room, my foot rest had rollers so I could use them to keep moving my feet. the seat reclined to a very comfortable level for sleeping and we were given comfortable pillows and blankets to cuddle up in.
The food on AC was bland and sparse and still somewhat frozen on Emirates they didn't stop feeding us and the food was amazing: tuna nicoise (sp), salad with honey/mango dressing and lots of veggies, breaded lamb medallions with mash potatoes, green beans, brocolli and baby potatoes (none of which tasted frozen), a selection of warm breads and croissant, pastries for breakfast served with butter and a selection of jams, creme caramel, cookies, spicy crackers and anything you wanted to drink at no charge.
There was also a real disparity in the entertainment provided. On AC we were given headseats that clipped on to your ears (no headband) with awful sound. There were 2 films Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Chocolat. Johnny Depp aside - Really?! The films were shown on one big screen at the front of the cabin. My view was pretty good as I was 3rd row centre so that was okay. There was also a tiny selection of radio stations that had programming that lasted about 1 hour before it repeated. Conversely, on Emirates they have an entertainment system called ICE. I had a screen which was located on the back of the seat in front of me. The screen tilts so when the seat was reclined it didn't effect my viewing. I had a choice of approximately 100 films that played on demand as well as 40 or so television shows, 20 radio stations which broadcasted full programmes, a selection of short films about Dubai, cameras in the nose and bottom of the plane so I could watch outside and the usual follow your progress map. The headset was also comfortable and the sound quality was awesome. Included in the headset bag were stickers that I could stick to my shoulder telling the flight crew not to wake me or to wake me for duty free shopping or meals. Quite the difference.
So the conclusion .... if you gotta fly the friendly skies leave AC behind. Goooooo Emirates!
Air Canada (AC) was cramped. I'm 5' 7" and my knees were pressed solidly against the seat in front of me before that seat was even reclined and when it was reclined it went from annoying to just plain painful. Not that the seats really recline. It's kind of the difference between sitting up straight and slightly slouching. My head also just reached the point where the headrest started so my head was forced forward for the entire flight. On Emirates I had a lot of leg room, my foot rest had rollers so I could use them to keep moving my feet. the seat reclined to a very comfortable level for sleeping and we were given comfortable pillows and blankets to cuddle up in.
The food on AC was bland and sparse and still somewhat frozen on Emirates they didn't stop feeding us and the food was amazing: tuna nicoise (sp), salad with honey/mango dressing and lots of veggies, breaded lamb medallions with mash potatoes, green beans, brocolli and baby potatoes (none of which tasted frozen), a selection of warm breads and croissant, pastries for breakfast served with butter and a selection of jams, creme caramel, cookies, spicy crackers and anything you wanted to drink at no charge.
There was also a real disparity in the entertainment provided. On AC we were given headseats that clipped on to your ears (no headband) with awful sound. There were 2 films Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Chocolat. Johnny Depp aside - Really?! The films were shown on one big screen at the front of the cabin. My view was pretty good as I was 3rd row centre so that was okay. There was also a tiny selection of radio stations that had programming that lasted about 1 hour before it repeated. Conversely, on Emirates they have an entertainment system called ICE. I had a screen which was located on the back of the seat in front of me. The screen tilts so when the seat was reclined it didn't effect my viewing. I had a choice of approximately 100 films that played on demand as well as 40 or so television shows, 20 radio stations which broadcasted full programmes, a selection of short films about Dubai, cameras in the nose and bottom of the plane so I could watch outside and the usual follow your progress map. The headset was also comfortable and the sound quality was awesome. Included in the headset bag were stickers that I could stick to my shoulder telling the flight crew not to wake me or to wake me for duty free shopping or meals. Quite the difference.
So the conclusion .... if you gotta fly the friendly skies leave AC behind. Goooooo Emirates!
Friday, November 2, 2007
In The Beginning
So I told Kerry that I would keep a blog while I was away in Dubai. This way she can check in and make sure I haven't gotten myself into too much trouble. So here goes ....
Last night I went to see CCP's version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat so I thought I would kick off this blog with my review.
To quote the illustrious Richard Burdett and Edward D. Ambrose "Wow"!
Of particular note Ted who played the Pharaoh kicked ass (and looked fabulous in his leather dungeon master gear)! I hope the rest of the run goes well and I hope someone turns down the gain on the mics. I'm sure Trent (Joseph) sounded incredible - the little bits I could hear were really good - but the feedback got to be a little distracting!
My next post will be from the Land of Sand! Wish me luck .....
Last night I went to see CCP's version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat so I thought I would kick off this blog with my review.
To quote the illustrious Richard Burdett and Edward D. Ambrose "Wow"!
Of particular note Ted who played the Pharaoh kicked ass (and looked fabulous in his leather dungeon master gear)! I hope the rest of the run goes well and I hope someone turns down the gain on the mics. I'm sure Trent (Joseph) sounded incredible - the little bits I could hear were really good - but the feedback got to be a little distracting!
My next post will be from the Land of Sand! Wish me luck .....
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