The Land of not quite dry

Ok, so I was reminded by one of my friends that they warned me about the taxi situation and I shouldn’t complain about it because I knew what I was getting into(thanks Susan). Well that might be true but to my recollection which is fair at best I know, no one told me about the washing and not really drying situation. In my apartment there is a washing machine but no dryer. I inquired down at the front desk and they informed me that it is both a washer and a dryer all in one machine, I thought this was great and wonder why we didn’t have these in the states yet. So I tried it out with a little help from my colleague since the display is all numbers and there are no real directions and it washed with no problems but the clothes were still wet and I couldn’t figure out how to dry them. I went down to the front desk and began to ask for a technician to come up and check on my washing machine because I thought it was broken or at least I couldn’t make it work. Well I now know WHY we don’t have these in the states it doesn’t really dry your clothes. The technician explained to me that it washes you clothes and then drys them 50% as he put it, I then explained to him that if it drys it 50% then it really does not dry them and after about ten minute we agreed to disagree and he went on his merry way. so this is my fancy way to finish the rest of the 50% of drying needed before I can wear my clothes.

Also while I am on the topic of clothes there is something else that I am finding to be somewhat of a problem here. I am man of greater dimensions as most of you know so finding clothes even in the states can be a bit of a challenge at times but it is nothing compared to here, just let me say that there is no danger of news reports in Dubai about their population having a obesity crisis anytime soon. I needed to get a pair of shorts nothing special just some workout shorts I thought about any store would have them. For a city who loves their malls and I can assure you that Dubai is that city they seem to have some form of a mall on every other corner you would think that I would have no problem locating a pair of gym shorts. I mean even our grocery store or as they like to call it the Hypermarket is et op like a small mall. Every place I went to I looked through all their clothes and they are sized for 5′5″ tall and about 135lbs. I guess the height for me is not an issue but the 135lbs. well that is another story entirely. I felt like everywhere I went I had to go in and say I am a giant American is there at least one item of clothing in this store that might fit me? and sadly the answer was usually no. After my fifth store and second mall I was lucky enough to find a couple of things that I was able to squeeze my big American fat ass into. Ok so I had an inclination my size might be a problem when finding clothes over seas and I don’t want to even think about when I go to Singapore ( because Asians are known for being giant people and all) but I really didn’t think shoes would be an issue. I went to five or more stores before I found a pair of flip flops that were over the size of eight. I just can’t wait to go shopping again in the land of little people, But I guess it is good because I would just have more things to dry and I am running out of room on my clothes line.

Dancing with a dog

So I know the first part of this post has nothing to do with the title but it needs to be reiterated. It is HOT here and I can’t tell you how tired I am of hearing people say “oh ya and it is going to get hotter” I know that but I don’t want to think about it just let it happen, I swear I am going to hit the next person who says it. Any way I have been surprised because I have not seen hardly any dogs here right, I mean almost every other country around here has packs of wild dogs roaming the streets but here nothing. Well I pulled up to the shipyard today parked my car and as I was getting out of the car a dog came up to me. You know how I am I gave it a pat on the head and got out went around to my trunk to pull out my bag, he followed. So I gave him another pat on the head pulled my stuff out and began to walk to the office, He followed. so I stopped pet him again and he tried to play bite my boots as if it were his chew toy I pulled them away and tried to make a few more steps he jumped up on me tried to play bite my arm then my pant leg  and so on. Here I am in the middle of the shipyard with at least a dozen indians standing around watching me get molested by this dog and they just stand there looking at me probably thinking to themselves look at this crazy whit guy playing with a dog rather than working. I finally had to swat the dog with my boot to get away from him and get to my office. I can’t believe the only dog I have seen here wouldn’t leave me alone, I guess it is a testimony to my animal magnetism(haha).

My first week in Dubai

My first week in Dubai has been a interesting experience to say the least. The plane ride was all together fairly uneventful other than leaving my house in Houston, Tx at 1430 on Friday and not arriving in Dubai until 2200 on Saturday night. But once we were here that is when the fun began because our flight was delayed the person from the hotel was not there to meet me and Dubai has no real addresses for you to give the Taxi driver. So my colleges and I load our bags into the Taxi get in and hope for the best.  After a few wrong turns some mild discussions and a bit of luck we were able to find our new Hotel apartments. Hotel apartments are some thing I was not familiar with or have heard of in the states, of course there are extended stay hotels but this is a real one bedroom apartment with a separate kitchen and living room. The goal for the next day was to find a grocery store and stock the apartment. It was not a FULLY furnished appartment as the night before I found myself trying to make dinner with my pocket knife and the limited pots and pans I had. This to was an experience because of what we were about to find out a large problem in Dubai is the amount of taxis and there willingness to pick you up. After waiting for about an hour at the hotel we decided to venture out of the hotel and on to the major street and hail one there, this was as we were about to find out was a mistake. We arrived at the grocery store after a mile walk in about 100 degree heat and at least half a dozen failed attempts to hail a taxi. I was impressed with the price of food and there were a few American products that you could acquire if you so desired though they tended to be on the high side. The rest of that day was spent just organizing and settling in to our apartments. That evening a few of us did try the taxi thing again and again it took over two hours to arrive but at least it did arrive so that was something. When we got back we thought it would be smart to set the taxis up for the morning the night before and try to beat the curve. This only half worked, we ordered two cabs and only one showed up on time the other arrived two hours later not the best way to start your first day of work I know. We were not concerned because today we would receive our own vehicles and would not have to rely on the taxis anymore. So after work we each received our own vehicles and a google map, but what we were told and soon learned first hand was that no map of Dubai is accurate at ALL. It is understandable there is so much construction here as soon as the map is made it is wrong by that afternoon. Each of us only took about an hour to make the twenty minute drive back to our apartments which for our first experience driving id Dubai was not bad. It seems everyone we ask says that the best way to get around in Dubai is to look up at the building you wouldlike to head to and just go that direction as much as possible. The next day began the real work or so I thought I arrived at the shipyard with the other person I was going to work with and found that today we would be sitting in a office doing nothing for the entire day, with the exception of numerous safety meetings we had to attend. But the next day I actually got out on the rigs and into some tanks and if I thought it was hot outside it was not until I climbed into a tank that was still under water, and felt as if I was entering a sauna that smelled like a mix of rotten garbage and what I can only describe as that smell of rust or metal degrading. The rest of the week continued like this but as it went on I found myself adjusting to the temperatures. Come Thursday which is their Friday here because Friday is a Muslim holiday it was time to go out and enjoy myself. I went out to a bar which is located in a hotel as all the bars here are because alcohol is illegal in most places it was very nice but extremely expensive for 6 beers it was about 60 dollars, of course if the dollar was stronger I guess it wouldn’t be so bad. The next night I went with a couple of other co-workers to a more relaxed bar with more reasonable prices and we met some other ex-pats there. It is not hard to come acrossed other ex-pats as they make up almost 80 percent of the population here, in fact you may only see a few local emirates people in any one day. And now it is Sunday I am back at work and my week continues I can tell my time here will go quickly and am excited to see what will come next.

A little about myself

I am a twenty eight year old originally from Iowa transplanted to Texas for the last ten years and now on a transcontinental adventure. I am currently staying in Dubai and Have been here for 1 week with another two months and three weeks to go. Then I will continue on to Singapore for three more months before getting back to the US.  I have been a merchant Marine for the last six years which afforded me the opportunity to travel to many places around the world both friendly and not so friendly. But those trips I only stayed in the country for anywhere between 1-3 days with a few exceptions. On this adventure I will be staying in one place for an extended period of time which will enable myself to become more immersedin the culture. I decided to start this blog not only so I would have a cheap way to communicate with friends and family while I was in distant lands,  but also to let others see a glance into the every day life of an american ex-patriot living and traveling around the world.