Oman Border Run

Last night I went for a border run to get a new stamp in my passport so that I'm legally here in Dubai.  I went with a company that takes its passengers in a van to the Oman/Dubai border where you simply cross, then cross back.  The drive to Oman is about an hour and a half.  This is normally not a big deal for me, but for some reason I get motion sickness like crazy here.  Armed with my Sea Bands, no pun intended, I felt semi-at ease.  That is until this chick decided it would be a good idea to eat her donkey smelling burrito in the van with recycled air.... Seriously? 

The trip went well with zero problems.  It was a bit unnerving to have armed men hardcore staring us down at the passport check points.  I'm hoping I have my residency visa prior to my 30 day mark so that I don't have to go visit them again.  Don't worry - we were safe. 

The people that I traveled with were all very nice.  There were two other Americans and three Brits.  While I enjoyed chatting with everyone, I was disappointed that their conversations centered around drinking.  The only thing they seemed to want to talk about was how they were "so smashed" and it takes X amount of drinks for them to get drunk, and they did this stupid thing and on and on and on.... Can we please have an intelligent conversation?  O yes, we can!  About Kim Kardashion.  Sigh...

After our return to Dubai, Ben picked me up and we made it home around 12:30 a.m.  Both of us had to get up early this morning to go into school and neither of us were pleased with how fast the morning came.  I had an interview with the principal and vice principal at Ben's school for a potential resource manager/assistant librarian position.  Basically I will be organizing a lot of crap if I get the job which I am more than ok with.  Fingers crossed that I am offered the job and that the money is decent. 

Grover Killing Sock

There are some things that I do not want to forget about Grover.  His silly playfulness is one of those things.  In the video he is "killing" my sock.  I only get him to do it a couple of times, but he was really giving Ben and me some good laughs!  He rather enjoys killing my socks.  He loves Ben's socks, too, but he just carries those around the apartment.  Because of this, Ben's dirty work socks can be found in random places.  He's such a weird, sweet little boy!

 

We Come in Peace!

One of the storefront displays in Mall of the Emirates! (See movie Mars Attacks if you don't get my excitement.)

 

Random

There are a few things on my mind that really aren't worthy of their very own post, so this might be a bit random.

• The buses and metros here have a women and children only section.  I love this.  It generally tends to smell better and you don't have weird men staring at you.  Because they do stare at you.  Also, if you're not sitting or standing next to some one's grody armpit on the metro, it smells like my eighth grade home ec room - the kitchen side.  That's a weird connection I made yesterday.
• It is often times annoying to take Grover on walks.  Not because of anything he does, but because of the reaction he gets from everyone.  I understand that Muslims believe dogs are dirty and should not be touched, but he's on a leash!  I'm not going to let him come close to you - so there is no need to freak out, scream, run away, or whatever.  You'd think I was walking Hannibal Lecter on a leash.....seriously.
• I interviewed at a recruitment agency on Sunday and they had a paralegal and legal secretary position they were going to send my CV in for.  We'll see if I hear back about that job opportunity.  The lack of U.A.E. experience puts me at a disadvantage.  I DO have an interview at Ben's school for a resource manager/assistant librarian thing.  Not really sure what it includes, but I was told there would be lots of organizing!  I love to organize things!
• School is stressful for Ben right now and he has a masters class coming up.  I am trying to be as helpful as I can by keeping the house clean and having meals cooked so he can relax when he gets home.  He's been putting in 10-12 hour days regularly.  Luckily, he has a five day break coming up at the end of October.  We were thinking about doing a mini-trip, but as of now that isn't exactly in the cards for us.  There are many things we have yet to do in Dubai, so we can take advantage of the opportunity and do things here for cheaper than traveling.
• The green skittles here aren't lime - they are green apple.  They are disgusting.
• When talking to Shane about the many different cultures present in Dubai, I mentioned the Indians.  He cleverly made the joke, "So, are they from India or are they the native people of the land?" I thought it was hilarious!  
• To fill a bit of my time during the day, I have gotten back into crocheting.  I made a hot drink cozy (below) and am currently working on a shawl which may turn into a blanket thing for Grover.  Every time I set it down he lays on it.  Cute little turd. 

Going Green!

The end.

The Fountains & Candylicious!

Date night!

Our family  :)

This past week I asked Ben if we could pretty please have a husband and wife date night.  Being the wonderful, loving husband he is, Ben asked if I would do him the honor of accompanying him on a date Friday night.   Ben planned the night's activities and one of our friends here let us borrow his car.

We started off the night eating supper at home and then headed out to the Dubai Mall.  After about 35 minutes driving around to find parking, we finally made it in.  We did a bit of window shopping and stopped in Bloomingdale's for a new dish washer thingamajig.  Both Ben and I love the juice over here, it is all made from fresh fruit, so we made our way over to the Lemon Bar for refreshment.  Ben had a strawberry kiwi smoothie with ice cream and I had the "Good Morning" which included strawberries, banana, oats and frozen yogurt.  The whole purpose of going to the mall was to watch the fountains in front of the Burj Khalifa so we went to find a seat.  At some point I will have to record the fountains so you can get an idea of how gorgeous they are!  Obviously it wouldn't be as great on camera as it is in real life, so maybe you should just come here to watch them. . . ?  The fountains are the largest choreographed fountains in the world.  Truly breathtaking.



Waiting for the fountains to begin!

Sitting in front of the Burj Khalifa.

After the fountains we decided to find Candylicious and look around.  I had heard talk of how awesome it was so I really wanted to check it out!  We walked around for about half and hour drooling over all the delicious treats available and decided to grab a bag of Garrett's popcorn to munch on.  We left the mall, popcorn in hand, and made our way back home. 

Lollipop for me!

Jelly Belly's galore!

Lollipop tree @ Candylicious






Once home, we took Grover for a short walk and curled up in bed to watch The Mummy.  It was much needed sweet night out.  :)