**RUGBY**

To close out the 3rd decade of my life, I spent the last weekend of my 20s at the Dubai Rugby 7s! Let me tell you that it was a bizarre experience. I have been to many drunken sporting events in my life but they have all been American. Being that this sport is qualified as "gentlemen acting like thugs" (as opposed to soccer), the crowd was drastically different. Everyone was drinking at 9am but there were no real fights and very limited security. Everyone was very chill- like the Woodstock of sport. Not to say that it was without drama. Apparently, people are VERY concerned with how their team competes. Since the US only scored once in 2 days of play, I chose my favorite team by match or surrounding fans. I have now found that this approach to rugby is not appreciated by "serious rugby fans"- whatever, I was born in a true first-world country where your opinion doesn't count! Yeah, I am such a great world traveler! Here are some of my observations:
1) England's song is "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"- this is an American spiritual song sung by slaves. I thought that was the most random choice.
2) The organizers only had one CD of songs to play because by day 2, I never wanted to hear the following songs EVER AGAIN:
-Sweet Caroline
-Is This The Way To Amarillo
-Hey Baby
3) People will wear anything (or close to nothing) in public in a Muslim country
4) I did the conversion after the weekend and a 12 pack of Heineken beer with a cloth cooler was close to $80 USD! I am glad that I didn't think about that at the time.... I am mildly unhappy with the close to 10 coolers sitting in my apartment- we drank WAY too much expensive beer!
5) They imported cheerleaders from all over the world to be the international squad touring with the groups. I have no words for these girls except they do fit my normal views of cheerleaders.
6) The "Stadium Food" was officially PIES. I thought this was weird since people were walking around selling pies. Then, we got a round of pies. They were chicken pot pies..... little ones for personal eating. Gross.

OK, I am going to try to share the pictures of this day on Webshots tomorrow. I hope it works. Let me know if you have problems and I will just email you the link or whatever!!!

**Dubai Airshow**

I am not even sure how to describe this experience. Let me preface this with the observation that people here are not at all concerned with personal space. If you have seen video of Indian trains or buses, you would understand. It is like a clown car- hundreds of people packed into a space designed for 60 people tops.

I decided to go to the Airshow last minute. I had a ticket since our company had a booth at the event. I pre-registered online and caught a ride over with a colleague, who had a much sought-after parking pass. It took us nearly an hour to get 4 miles down the road to the Expo. I hate traffic- especially when someone else is driving. We park and get on the line for pre-registered ticket holders. The other line was hundreds of people long. In normal Arab fashion, we walked to the front of the line and they let 2 of us in because we were women. Then we stood in line and gave the lady our ticket. She scanned it and told us to get our name badge at the next counter; they would call out our name. There were 100 people shoving each other in front of me and 10 minutes later, my name gets called. They can't see me in the mosh pit so I shove my way forward. 15 MINUTES later, when I get to the side of the booth, they will not stop calling names and give me my tag. Finally, after I spot my tag, someone hands it to me. The crowd sees that I got my tag before them and surge forward. Now, I am a 6ft tall bad ass and I was trapped. The police guards came over to pull me out.

I was unhappy about the experience. I was crazed with thoughts about how this would never happen at an industry event in any first world country! I then went through security and set off the metal detector. Again, I head to the booth to get patted down by a Muslim woman. Like I am sneaking in weapons into the Airshow?!! By this time, nearly 3 hours had passed since we had left the office so we hurried up to go see the A380 fly, stopped at the both to say hi and then headed home. If I had paid for that ticket, I would have been very pissed off!

I think I am done with Airshows for awhile!!

Roommates

I live in a hotel, essentially. It is a corporate apartment in a hotel complex. Generally, I love it.

Plus Side:
1) Hotel things: room service, free pool, gym, concierge, etc.
2) Maid Service
3) Restaurants/ grocery store within the complex
4) Underground parking

Negative Side:
1) Hotel things: when someone checks out we all need to get new keys. I hate that!
2) Everyone addresses me as "Ms. Kate" or "Madame"
3) Maid Service never comes at the same time- during the week, they come in the evening and on the weekends they come in at like 8am!!
4) ROOMMATES

Since this is a 3 bedroom apartment, other people come and live here while they are over here working for the company. They come for stays ranging 1 night to 4 months! Short timers, however, are almost on vacation. They have a huge amount of questions and want to do all the touristy things at the last minute. I try to appease them by stopping at the camel farm on the way home from work for them to take pictures and explaining things as best I can- but it becomes tedious. Then we have the special roommates that bring the drama.

1) The Hippie- he and his wife came here and and stayed for 3 weeks. They were crazy. They asked for a quiet room with lots of birds outside and greenery. We thought they were joking. They weren't. They complained when the bar downstairs was checking their sound system loudly at 5 pm! They filled the fridge with weird soy and tofu products and never really washed dishes- just rinsed them. They also left me a "Jesus Saves" DVD and directions to the nearest christian church. Apparently, they are worried about my immortal soul or something!

2) The Scottish Alcoholic- he came and was supposed to stay for a long time. He started divorce proceedings and went a little nuts. He drank most of the bar and started skipping work. He also racked up a $32,000 AED (approximately $8,700 USD) in international calls to Scotland to fight with his soon-to-be ex. He moved out in October and we are still finding empty bottles hidden around the apartment!!

3) The Tulsa OCD Gal- she was great! She would follow me around and pick up after me. However, when she had some beers, she would tweek out. We were planning a Halloween party and in 30 minutes in the car, she went over what we needed to buy about 45 times. I suggested that we make a list later and she couldn't let it go. That is annoying, especially when I am sober. Then, when we had plans, she would insist on inviting EVERYONE! I swear that total strangers were invited to get manicures with us. We all know that I hate people so this would piss me off to no end.

And most recently:
4) The Asian-Enthusiast from Oklahoma- this guy has been here for 2 weeks and leaves in December. I cannot wait for that day. He moved in last Friday and immediately went to the mall. He came back a friend, Yang Yang. (Think of Dubai as the Vegas of the Middle East- everything that happens in Vegas happens here but it is cheaper and the government turns a blind eye to the rampant prostitution and horrible living conditions of its labor and poor). He proceeds to bring this chick to a company BBQ... oh, and she speaks ZERO English. She spent the weekend here. As I type this, he has 2 new friends over for the evening. I am not even upset. Just shocked at the behavior. I know that all guys are not like this but here, they are allowed by the culture to do whatever they please, without repercussion.

If I were not here, I wouldn't believe this was my life either....

**Happy Thanksgiving**

I know that it is very early on Saturday for most of you on the EST lifestyle- but I hope that you all had a great Turkey Day! Don't worry about me; Thanksgiving was hosted by my (British) Engineering Director, my favorite Software Development Engineer and me! We cooked for about 18 people... well, they cooked; I supervised and managed to provide an excellent desert menu. One cannot have a semi-traditional Thanksgiving dinner without Bourbon Pecan Pie. Mad props to Chad for such a great discovery!!

In other news, work has become mildly all-consuming. I cannot blame my slacker-ness on work alone. I will also blame it on my roommates (but that will be a separate post altogether- if I can even bear to type the drama out!) I did, however, manage to get tickets for Christmas in Madrid to see my family! Now, if I can find time to plan my vacation to Cairo with Duane-o, I will be making good steps toward the inevitable workaholic lifestyle!

I have started a million entries to this blog and have not finished a single one. Then again, I started my laundry a week ago and it still isn't done either!! For anyone who knows me, they understand that I get distracted by shiny things and have trouble finishing tasks. I have a million pictures that I need to post for y'all as well!! Please keep checking for updates to the blog and I will try to get a little less distracted. Also, if you have sent me an email; my average response time is around a month! I am sorry!

I miss you all!!!!

**Illness, part 2**

Since karma has a great sense of irony, once I posted that blip about how much I hope that I do not get sick over here..... now I have the flu. Or a bad head cold. I cannot tell. I can barely stand and I have missed 2 days of work. What a slacker I am!!

On the bright side, I must say that I am very happy about the RED SOX winning the World Series (even though I cannot watch American sports as they come on at like 1-3am in the morning)!!
And that very few people have bothered me while I am resting. I have also enjoyed the surge of email! I miss you all so much!

Besides the germ infestation of my body- I got nothing going on. Once I get back in the saddle (last week was not the best performance this world has ever seen from me), I promise to do something fun and write about it. Also, I am trying to figure out a way to post pictures- lots of pictures and videos- for you all to see without becoming some sort of YouTube Freak that you see on a Vh1 Show. More to come....

I heart my Bus Pub

For a Muslim country, they are surprisingly down with the drinking. This is ideal for me! It is one of my most favorite activities. There are many restaurants, a grocery store, and a PUB in my hotel complex. The Double Decker, now nicknamed The Bus by my former roommate, The Hot Nutty Irishman. After a long day on the construction site, I like to have a drink. During the week, The Bus hands these out to the ladies:

Since my JD and ginger ales are not included, my roommates will buy my drink and I will get their beers with my tickets! I love this system.

The first time we were working this out, I went to the bar to buy a beer and it was not included as well. I tried to pay for it but random patrons at the bar insisted that they pay for it. Normally, I do not turn down free drinks. However, this drink was not for me. I was not sure how the men at the bar were going to react to finding out that they were buying a guy; not me, a drink. So, in true college style, I thanked them, took a few sips of the beer while talking to them and then, returned to the table and made the recipient hide the beer while he drank it. The Hot Nutty Irishman did call me a tart but I am OK with that since he is still drinking the beers I get him. I am nothing if not a classy broad.

Road Trips!

So, if you can imagine a place where your commute to work can change during the time you are at work, you can imagine Dubai. Driving here is a challenge because you have to accomplish it without the normal tools. I use maps, Google Earth, and co worker's advice daily and still manage to get lost ALL THE TIME.

I have been here almost 6 months and have been driving since August. Today, I went to the Post Office. It took 2 hours to find it. Once I figured out where it was, got my package (PS: THE CAMERA HAS ARRIVED), fought with customs, and drove home, I found that it should have taken me 15 minutes in midday traffic for me to get there!!

The roads here change so quickly that none of the maps are up to date. Basically, you have to identify landmarks that determine when you have gone too far. None of the roads make sense and there is no universal way to build exits. Some of them are what Americans would expect; the clover leaf. Here, even if it looks like a clover leaf, sometimes the leaf is not a smooth curve and suddenly, you have to turn sharply. It is almost like they plan it as they build it and adjust for miscalculations at the last minute.

Now, this may seem hilarious to you but let me assure you that I am improving. My roommates and I went to the liquor store before Ramadan to stock up and with 2 navigators and maps, it took us 8 hours to make a trip that should have taken 2 at the most. I always pack water now on road trips to squelch my fears of dying in the desert!!