How to Read this Blog

So today is the day I put my blog online. I've been keeping notes for the last 3 weeks, so I'm dumping all that today. No pictures - I'm not yet to that level of fancy.

So if you're courageous enough - you can read the entries below. Start from the bottom - it'll make more sense.

Today is overcast and muggy. Very un-desert like. My hair is frizzing up like it did when I was in the 7th grade in Louisiana and all my "friends" called me Bush.

Funny ad in the paper "REEM Automobile - driving a better deal." Am I the only one who finds that ironic?

January 24, 2006 - We're In!

So, it's been a while. We got our stuff. How did we have all that in our Paris apartment? of course the movers use about 10 sheets of wrapping paper per coffee cup so that tends to add volume. I'll spare the details of inserting our stuff into the house.

Now, our goal is getting into the rythm of our new life. Bringing the kids to school - IN A CAR, grocery shopping IN A CAR, going down the street to get money, milk, the paper - IN A CAR. Living in Paris is really different because of the lack of using the car...(among lots of other things). As we were stuck in traffic the other day (admiring the perfectly manicured landscaping on the interchange with Palm trees, petunias and lots of green grass!), Antoine says, "It's a good thing Papa is here to build the metro." I had to explain that when the metro starts alleviating the traffic - our time will be up here. So traffic jams are part of our Dubai experience and taking the metro is not!

We have a gardener. We kind of don't have a choice in the matter. Rahim showed up one day, explained to me in gesture that he is a gardener and that for 200 dirhams he could take care of our yard. I thought it was worth it for him to give it a good weeding, cut the grass, get rid of the dead tree and get it ready for me to plant some flowers and enjoy gardening. Turns out, the price is for the month (and i negotiated it down - how embarassing). So now he comes every day. I buy flowers - he plants them. He's funny. Today he came with a leather, fake fur-lined aviator cap with ear flaps and everything. He wore it the whole time. The first day came, he had one of those red and white checkered scarfs on his head. This is the thing with headgear here: people fool with them ALL THE TIME. Everytime I looked out the window to see what he was doing, he had it in a different configuration on his head, across his shoulders, around his neck, back around his head. That would aggravate the Pee out of me. I have to say the aviator ear flaps come with strings that let you tie them up if you're feeling a little too warm.

January 16, 2006 - Calm After the Storm

OK - it's WORSE than leaving your windows open during a sudden rain. The sand blows in and covers EVERYTHING. And it's not sand, it's like sand powder. Lesson learned. The upside is that I got to inspect every crook and cranny of the house while getting the sand out of them and have a very complete inventory of "things to do."

Writing the date on today's entry I realize - it's my birthday!! Usually, I anticipate my b-day like a kid. But this year it caught me by surprise. As a present, I had a very normal, calm morning. Dropped the kids off at school, picked up the paper on the way home, turned on the sprinkler and sat down to email, work and a cup of coffee. BLISS!

So enough about me - what about where I live? Choice of headlines from the "Gulf News" Newspaper:

• Sa'ad Kuwait Emir as Jaber dies (Top story, happened yesterday)
• Pakistan - String of protests erupt over US airstrike - apparently (purported) CIA bombed Peshawar trying to get Al Qaida guy - killed civilians. That's the first paragraph. The second relates the Paki pres saying "that's what you get for harbouring terrorists" - sweet guy!! 10k people protested.
• Other topics regularly treated are Soccar (front page), Labor issues in Dubai, real estate
  

The brand new mosque down the street finally went into business. I boast that it's the prettiest in Dubai cause it has red lights on top of the minarets for the airplanes (we're very near the airport). Seriously, it IS a very pretty mosque.

January 14, 2006 - First Day of School

Who's more nervous, the kids or the mama? The "new kids in school" have arrived and apparently they've been expected. It's a very short school day today. Still no internet - none at home and the hotspots I've picked up don't seem to work. Today there is a lot of wind and it's kicking up sand, creating a very bizarre kind of light. I realized that, as in more tropical climates, you may be surprised by a sudden rain with your windows open or the laundry out to dry - in Dubai - it's the sudden sand storm that will have you moaning "Oh, I left the upstairs windows open and our laundry out to dry."

FRIDAY, January 13, 2006 - Weekend!!

In the UAE and in general in this part of the world, the weekend is on Friday. Businesses usually close Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. But, as in the US - retail is another story. The shops are open and this is good for us cause we need to buy a houseful of stuff. While we were in a shopping center, the "call to prayer," a somewhat mournful singing/cry came over the loudspeaker. We looked around and decided that it wasn't very effective because no one seemed to be praying. Rugs for the kids - big, shaggy, hip colors, towels for the bath, canisters for the kitchen and LAWN furniture!! The weather is very nice this time of year, and since the house is empty - we want to have a table and chairs in the yard next Friday to enjoy it while we can. It'll soon be too hot to even LOOK outside.

January 12, 2006 - The Day That Almost Wasn't

Philippe called me from his office where he went in jeans and t-shirt (friday wear, but here it's wednesday or thursday wear - whatever) to tell me that today is THURSDAY and not FRIDAY!!!!!!!! Somehow with the jet lag, the sleepless night and everything - we lost (gained?) a day somewhere. So - thank God it's Thursday. We had been counting down the days to the first day at school for the kids and now we have to add a day. Antoine is fine, by the way. I think it was a case of too much travel and diet/climate change.

January 9, 2006 - First Day in Do Buy

To document my family's move to Dubai, I started a blog and this is my first entry which i'm writing off line - National Mourning + holiday = no getting internet till Saturday earliest. My neighbors did not have the courtesy of getting a decent WIFI antenna either. So who knows when this'll get posted.
So, with the exception of a table, four chairs and a bed in 3 of the 5 bedrooms - the house is empty.
We arrived at 2 am local time this morning and woke up around 10. Went shopping - that's what you do in "do buy." The kitchen is stocked. The kids begged to go to the pool all day and poor things got dragged through a shopping mall instead. Antoine showed his discontent by vomiting on me. Not an easy thing to manage with a limited amount of towels on hand.