Catching up

Well, I've been in Dubai for two and a half months now and things are going swimmingly. I have Internet connection at home now, which improved my life instantly and dramatically. Work is going okay- I don't know about you, but I find that a whole lot of people really do nothing at work. And when you actually do do work, they critize and make you feel bad. We are also very short staffed and barely have enough people teaching all of our information literacy classes... You know what? I don't even want to talk about work.

Last weekend, I went to the Dubai Mall with a colleague, my boss and her family. We went ice skating. It was really fun. I haven't gone skating in years and years. The rental skates were the hard and awful ones that really hurt your feet after a while. My boss's little boy had never skated before, so I spent a lot of time trying to get him off the railing. It worked eventually... Here is a picture of all of us skating:



I went for dim sum yesterday. I was really looking forward to it. My friend Kat informed me that her half Chinese friend who had lived in Hong Kong liked the place, so it's okay for me to have high expectation of this place. So I went, all excited and ready. Got there and found out that the place was packed and we had to sit away from the main dining area (which means that we were kind of neglected). The selection was very small... they were all written on a little piece of paper on the table. They were all written in English and I didn't recognize half the things.

The server came and we just told him to bring everything. And things came and everything looks smaller than I am used to. Also, they've managed to replace all the pork with other types of meat. The cha siu baau (BBQ pork buns) are made with BEEF. And siu lung bau (little pork dumplings) are made with CHICKEN. They tasted fine, I guess. But it's just different. I want to go home and eat REAL dim sum.

I am trying to think what else I've been up to lately... the Dubai Shopping Festival is happening right now. I've been restraining myself from buying a new Burberrry purse. I could have afforded a Burberry purse, but I bought a plane ticket to go home instead. It seemed like a sensible decision. It's so easy to spend money in Dubai... but I am being GOOD. I have to remember why I came here... I came here to make money, not to spend it.

This is all that's been happening. I know, it's not very exciting. The longer I've been here, the less I have to say. I am still frustrated daily living in Dubai, but the prospect of me going home and being unemployed (or not being a librarian) is not very appealing either. So I deal with it. Besides, my life really isn't so bad here. I have a good routine, a well paying (sometimes fulfilling) job, a great apartment (that I don't pay for), 8 week paid holidays a year, a fine cat (who is on heat right now and making me crazy), and I have a personal trainer who is getting me into great shape. This is a life I can never afford back home... so I am just going to enjoy it while it lasts and when I can't take it anymore (and the economy gets better), then I will go home.

Hope you are all doing well! I miss all of your terribly! I will see you Vancouver folks in April!