New Shoes!!!!!

The red sandals are SO comfortable! :D

Jumeira Beach, 15 Feb 2013

I went to JBR recently and found the beach! It was pretty busy there. I paddled and it was pleasantly not icy cold! :D 

It's pretty different from a NZ beach (aside from the not antarctic temperature water) - for one it's got white sand, but secondly it's strange how it's right up against the big high rises (compared to at home). Well, actually, we don't really HAVE that many high rises in NZ to put beside the beach!

Oh, and there was this guy at the beach. I think he's probably British.

I made a panorama photo. It didn't work out so good, but I'll do better next time (when actually planning to made a panorama photo - I just started playing with stitch software & going stitch kRAzY!).

Turtles!

There are turtles in the lake beside work! Exciting and cute! Yay! 

That is all.

Skating in Abu Dhabi - 16 Feb 2013

So, as I may've mentioned, I've joined the Dubai Roller Derby league here! The girls are great! And it's been fun! They're very new though and just started regularly skating in January. It's gonna be a while till any scrimagging is done and even longer till any bouting. But I'm enjoying it!

Anyways, the other weekend we went to Abu Dhabi and skated along the waterfront there (called the Cornish). It was quite hot and I think I got a little overheated, but I survived! [BTW we went to Abu Dhabi cos a couple of girls actually live there rather than in Dubai.]

I broke out the fan - overheating!

And we are skating! 

Yeah!

There are interesting signs and crazy buildings in Abu Dhabi! (Though that's not really that surprising when you think about it! Hellllooooo!)

The sign says 'Beware of road surprises'

Reminds me of pineapples!

The beach at Abu Dhabi

Another weird thing about Dubai....

Opening hours!

It's pretty unbelievable how late things are open here. Like really late. The pharmacy in the ground floor of my apartment building is open until midnight. The BANK is open until 10pm at Dubai Mall on Saturday (which is a weekend here). Madness! But bloody convenient.

Though what is inconvenient is the sheer volume of children out at all times of the night. It's very odd after coming from NZ. I thought the numbers of kids would decrease at the mall as it got closer to midnight (was shopping), but no! Still tonnes of kids around - all ages too. There are quite a few crying and throwing tantrums, and I can't help but think 'Duh! It's 11pm and your kid is probably tired!'. Just different way of raising kids here I guess. Bedtimes, Schmedtime!

Ibn Battuta Crazy-Ass Mall - the World's Largest Themed Shopping Mall!!!

12 Feb 2013

So, I needed some white wool and found out I could get some from Ibn Battuta mall, which is much closer to my house than other wool selling places. I was not prepared for what I encountered!!

It all starts when you get off the Metro and see this:

 It's a HUGE bridge with a hotel in it and office blocks. I can see it from my house! I did wonder what that was...

Then I set off to find the Daiso that sells wool cheap. I knew it was beside Geant supermarket, so found that sign and set off. To see this:

A huge building in Egyptian style!

the man is there for scale

I was just like, wow! It's huge and Egyptian theme! 
Then I went inside:

It continues with the theme! (And being huge)

There were some choice ride on machines, too. Not quite willing to jump on, but maybe if I wasn't on my own! ;)

So many! More outside the picture!

The madness in the mall doesn't stop there, cos it's like Disneyland. With fake buildings and painted sky! I totally felt like I was shopping at Disneyland!

But there's more than just Egypt. There's huge sections for each of the places that Ibn Battuta explored (you should google him). As I was leaving I saw an Indian section and a Chinese section.

But wait! There's more!

The mall has some other stuff going for it:

There is a Sanrio store! :D Yusssss!!! :D

What have I been up to lately?

Yes, I've been a bit slack on the old posts.

Not that bad, really....

So - what have I been up to? Well:
1. I went to a crazy-ass mall
2. I went skating along the Cornish (which is beside the sea) in Abu Dhabi with the Roller Derby girls
3. I was sick - with both a throat infection and a sinus infection AT THE SAME TIME
4. I went to the world's biggest mall and bought lots of shoes
5. I got my residents visa and a bank account and a 5 gallon bottle of water for my house

I will post soon!

Desert Safari fun times - 1 Feb 2013

So, me and two friends went on a (somewhat budget) desert safari! I met Ari through a Meet Up group - she's from NZ too, and Cathy is a friend from work. Rawan from work was gonna go too, but her in-laws from Bahrain were in town.

We get picked up at Lulu Hypermarket near the Mall of Emirates. We were then taken by bus to somewhere in the desert, then put into 4WDs and driven over the dunes. It was supposed to be scary, I believe. I was in the front and it wasn't. Maybe if I was in the back more? Don't 4WDs roll easily?? I'm sure they know what they're doing. Here's a video I took   of some driving and then arriving at the place.

Then we arrived at the place and there was quad biking (for an additional fee) and camels to ride on, but a big queue, so we went on the camels later.

We went into the... enclosure. It was an open tent square with covered 'rooms' around the outside. They were open to the centre. In the absolute centre was a stage and around that were low tables and cushions. At the end of the enclosure opposite was a Shisha area. The floor was sand.

So what at the desert safari: Shisha, free water & soft drinks, cash bar for alcohol, camel rides, dress up Arabic style room, photos for sale, bbqed corn on the cob with salt and lime for sale, buffet (at food time), quad bikes for rent and souvenirs. Also a falcon you could have your picture with (for money)

Shisha: Yes, the water pipes. There was only double apple flavour for free, but a guy (who then proceeded to try to pick all of us up) gave us the grape flavour (that Cathy favours) for free. He did not manage to pick any of us up.

Camel rides: Maybe the shortest rides ever! We went about.... 30m(?) in a circle. Ridiculously short, but was the best part of the safari. Really enjoyed the ride - the camel is scary and feels like you'll be tipped off when it gets up, turns and when it kneels down again! Was fun! :)

BBQed corn on the cob with salt and lime: I was hungry, so I bought one of these. It was kinda gross. Salty and limey (surprise, surprise). Too much salt. But I was hungry and the buffet wasn't going to be for a few hours.

Buffet: Ladies get their own line! Buffet was pretty good. Nothing too scary, thank God!

Henna: I got it since it was free and I thought I should do it once here. I still can see it on my hand and WANT IT OFF!! I tried to get rid of it last night using nail polish remover. Did not work. Oh well, done it once but never again. Oh - there were some skanks getting henna done just before I did (cos I went much later than everyone else as wasn't that bothered). They were with the owner and appeared to be mistresses. No covering up for them. The first one got henna on her arm and leg. The other one got a HENNA TRAMP STAMP!!!! and also henna ON HER BOOB!!!!! The young woman doing the henna said she didn't want to do their henna as she's embarrassed doing non-hand and arm body parts (she was wearing the full black coverall (Abaya) and black headscarf (Shayla) so was probably quite traditional/conservative), but they were with the owner, so she had to. 

Arabic dress up area: we didn't bother with that. Ari and I both have Abayas and Shaylas from when we went to the Sheikh Mohammad Centre for Cultural Understanding and Cathy has been living in Dubai for 7 years now.

Falcon: We patted it. It was soft. We love falcons.

The entertainment was a man doing an Egyptian dance that involves them wearing skirts and spinning round lots and getting rid of the skirts and stuff. It was pretty good and hard to see how he didn't get dizzy. After him was a Russian woman doing belly dancing. It was a bit middle of the road and way more skipping round than tricky stomach machinations. Disappointing really. 

So anyways, we had a pretty good time, though it was a pretty budget desert safari. Next time will definitely pay more and go on a better one. And one that picks you up from your house. And has more stuff included in the price. 

PICTURES: Check out my Facebook for more pictures. 

Here's some videos of the entertainment:

About midway through his dance he's lit up, which is pretty cool

See what I mean about skipping around!

New mattress and bedding!

So, I'm finally using my new bedding (from Ikea) on my ridiculously large King size bed. With new mattress! The first one was stained and gross, so the landlord had to replace it.

Sadly, the bedding is not as fancy as my stuff was in NZ. Only 200 thread count duvet cover and who knows what for the sheet - except it is a bit scratchy. Next time I'm going to wash it with fabric softener!

One great thing about a king size bed though, is that I can sleep across it! Novelty!!

Dubai big road - Sheikh Zayed Road

View of Sheikh Zayed Road from the middle of the Metro bridge crossing it, near my work (Nakheel Station)

towards my house in Dubai Marina

Away from my house in Dubai Marina

Cirque du Soleil - Dralion - Thurs, 7 Feb 2013

Hey

So last night me and Cathy (a friend from work) went to Dralion, the Cirque du Soleil show. It was pretty amazing what some people can do with their bodies! 

We got there at 8pm for the 10pm show and queued for about an hour. Lucky we got there so early cos the queue was MASSIVE. We were near the front cos we got there early. We had tickets, but it was general admission into what ever area you'd purchased which sucks.

Anyway, we'd chosen the area well and since we were some of the first in we got great seats! 

The music was pretty bad - that terrible world-type music. UGH! *shudder*

The actual show: well, I thought the second half was better than the first.

The first half didn't have as impressive tricks/feats. The juggling was probably the worst. Not even any juggling of things on fire! The two most impressive and amazing bits in the first half were the guy in the ball made of two steel hoops. Hard to explain. But I can tell you that he had the hugest and most defined abs I have ever seen. I tried to take a photo at the end, but they were too far away for my camera to zoom in on. They were extraordinary though! Definitely on the freakish side. The other good bit was the trampolining. It had them walking up the wall and jumping, then holding on to the wall etc. 

The second half better in my opinion. It went WAY faster than the first half. I liked it more because the stuff people were doing was amazing and not something I had really seen before. The tumblers tumbling and flipping through hoops and stacked hoops and narrowly missing each other doing the same thing, was incredible. They also did skipping, but one of the things they did was make a human pyramid and then skip while in human pyramid formation! The girl in the hoop flying round the stage and the people using silks to do a duet dance were also really good. One hanging on the other by just their foot tops touching, stuff like that. Dangerous stuff and not sure how much they did with wires for safety. 

Anyway, it was worth going. And only $100 NZ!

View from our seats

Crazy steel hoops in the shape of a ball (bit oval though)

Me with thing outside arena where held

Just above you can see my failed attempt to take a photo of his abs. 

And here are those crazy potato chips on a stick thing - raw potato sliced and stuck on a stick then deep fried. 

I'm in Dubai!

Hey ya’all! 

How's it going! I'm doing well, but missing NZ and everyone!

Terrible news – there’s almost no live music that's rock here in Dubai! There's some cover bands, but.. ugh. One of the best places for live music is Hard Rock Cafe! UGH! And it's crappy covers of songs I generally don't like. The only other place also is covers but more top 40 stuff. O.M.G. I think it's going to kill me!!! 

In other news, being a pedestrian here is terrible. You'll be walking along the footpath and it's footpath, footpath, sand, sand, sand! Sand in your shoes! The footpath just disappears. And sometimes there isn't a foot path and you have to walk along the side of the road. Everything is built really big and for cars. In summer apparently, it's way too hot to walk anywhere anyway. You would melt. Everyone taxis here - they are really cheap, but it still feels... wrong. I have been catching the Metro which is like the Underground, but above ground, new and clean. However, you still have to get to the Metro stations and they aren't as prevalent as in London. The Metro is super cheap though, so while it's 'winter' here, I've been catching it to work and walking the five minutes to the office. In summer I've been told it'll be too hot to walk the five mins. Crazy! Everyone walks really slowly here too. Which is infuriating. Maybe cos of heat they walk slow?, but it's not hot for them now - maybe it's hard to break the habit?

You know how I mentioned taxis are super cheap, well if I catch a taxi to work it's less than the minimum fare, so I pay that which is 10AED = $3.50ish. (But the metro is 1.80AED for the one stop to work and my apartment building is RIGHT BESIDE the metro station) And there's lots you can flag down on the street, except between 3 and 5pm when the shifts change. Then there's NONE around! And if you book one on the phone it takes ages for them to turn up. Actually, where we work seems to be almost unknown to taxi drivers as they can never find it. I do not know why. This is very aggravating. Also, some taxi drivers try to ask me how to get places. Clearly I do not know and so I have had them ring up the taxi company to get directions before

My flat is good now. It sucked at first cos there was heaps of maintenance stuff that needed to be done and I had to keep contacting the landlord. And then you have to arrange to get the power put on, and also the TV/internet/phone. Bureaucracy overload. I had to have heaps of papers. But its almost all done now. I’ve got a 1bdrm apartment in Dubai Marina right beside the Dubai Marina Metro station (seaside). I’m on the 12^th floor of a 14 storey building. It has a gym and pool. Not that flash, but it’s ok!

Guess what - we get free Diet Coke here at work!! (And Coke and Mirinda and Water) Yay!! I haven't gone nuts, but it's great! Unfortunately, one of the things about Dubai is the lack of recycling. I actually feel guilty drinking water as then you just throw out the bottle. No one drinks tap water here. We also don't have a tap or sink or anything in our office. I have a coffee cup and take it home to wash as I just can't bring myself to wash it in the toilets yet! We do have a microwave and a jug (which we fill with bottled water), but the instant coffee they provide is disgusting. And no milk. So I bring my own instant coffee and milk. Lots of people just buy their coffee from the coffee shop (Costa) right beside work, but it's really expensive! More than in NZ. It's about 15AED for an Americano, which is about $5. Which is way too much when I'm used to better quality coffee for $3.50 or $4 tops.

Continuing with recycling - there's not even paper recycling in the office. It pains me to have to throw out newspapers etc, but what can you do! And when you buy anything you always get a plastic bag and they often put in way more packaging than is necessary. Oh! That reminds me, when you buy fruit/veges you have to go to a counter in the produce section to get them weighed and stickered. Which means more bags as you kinda need to bag stuff to get a sticker stuck on it. But I have convinced them to weigh all my fruit (2 plums, a nectarine, a kiwifruit) separately, but put all the stickers on one bag with all my fruit in that bag. I don't know if I'll have that much luck in the future though. Especially at the bigger supermarkets where it's all super fast and queues to get produce stickered.

At my building we have a rubbish chute (no recycling). So at least I don't have to remember what day to put it out! Though I did dry retch when putting it out yesterday as the smell was rather unpleasant in the rubbish room (where the chute is). Nasty!

Anyway, that's all for now,

Emi xxx