Factor 50

A week ago today we had just woken up for our first proper day living in Dubai. We spent the day being total tourists, we visited the marina, went to two malls, watched people skiing, took numerous taxi’s and were very proud of ourselves when we found the “gold ticket” on the metro.

S (aka ‘the captain!’) has spent the week getting up very early and being chauffeur driven to work, where it seems he spends hours on end filling out more paperwork and joking with the HR department that I will have to do it all over again come Monday. Luckily he finishes just after lunch and so we can still spend the afternoon together exploring our new city. On one day I had organized to view a few apartments as, although we are now cockroach free, I cannot wait to get out of this flat and into our own. The estate agent was 35 minutes late, we were not allowed to have a drink (as it is Ramadan) and S was more than a little annoyed by the whole thing. So after she finally turned up to show us the apartments she promised had a Marina view and big living space, S was already towards the end of his tether, when inside the apartment, which looked out onto an industrial size car park, I thought he might burst. To my amazement, he bit his lip and had none of the biting come backs he would usually have had in the UK. I was more than impressed! I was worried that he would get himself in trouble here with some off the cuff comment one day and I am feeling much better now that I have seen his self restraint in action!

This particular estate agent aside, we did see an apartment that we love. Every window has a sea view, it is above a promenade with shops and restaurants, has two pools to choose from and 4 bedrooms! Unfortunately we found out the next day that we cannot rent a place until we have our residency visa’s and that could take up to 3 weeks!!! Fingers crossed the flat is still there when we do get them and we can negotiate a good price!

After a long day at the office (for S) and another day sorting out the flat, unpacking clothes, buying things we have forgotten for me we went out for dinner at More cafe which overlooks the fountains at the Burj Khalifa. We each had ½ a kilo of king prawns which I couldn’t finish. Eating out seems to be so reasonable here, the prawns were only £10 and on a night out at the Irish Village we ate dinner and drank for hours and still spent less than £100 total! You could easily spend that in the UK on dinner alone for two!

It was the first time S had seen the fountains and I was excited to see his reaction, first they ‘dance’ to an Arabic tune then half an hour later to an English one. Just like the first time I watched them, I got quite emotional at the English one. The fountains are stunning and the song was “Time to say goodbye” which seemed rather poignant. I had already been feeling a little homesick that day, add some good food and a tear-jerking song and I didn’t stand a chance. I wonder if we watch them in years to come if they will still have the same affect?

The weekend here falls on Friday and Saturday and so today (Sunday) S is actually back at work. It is a very strange feeling and definitely messes up the week in your head. When we both start flying, we never know what day it is anyway and don’t have a fixed weekend so it won’t feel as odd but it takes some getting used to for now! Yesterday we celebrated the end of our first week by heading off to Atlantis. It is a huge hotel at the very end of the Palm and has all sorts of water-based activities to do. It has a huge aquarium, a place to swim with Dolphins and a huge area called Aquaventure. It’s a water park with rubber ring rides and fake beaches, as well as the real thing. It was so much fun and even though it was 40+ degrees outside you hardly noticed the heat thanks to the water. We spent a good few hours going around in circles on the rapids and shooting down every ride there is. S managed not to burn thanks to factor 50 lotion and there seemed to be a ‘Ramadan free zone’ in the park which meant for the first time all week we were allowed to wander around with water bottles. Such a relief! It was a vast contrast to the day before when we went to the Mall only to find that you were allowed to buy food but its illegal to consume it in the food court, in the mall, outside or in a car… The best we could come up with was a McDonalds consumed hastily in a toilet cubicle! We spent the day then sneakily eating Hershey’s kisses which I had stashed in my handbag…. Lesson learnt now though!

So our first week over and we have even managed to make some friends, we rather boldly introduced ourselves to another couple who looked as lost as us in the Marina Yacht club bar and have been out with them again since. I have the start of a tan and really need to get back to eating healthily or no amount of brown skin will cover the excess! I start work tomorrow and can’t wait to see what the next week brings!