Today is July 2, the high for today is a mere 103. Not bad, the humidity is lower than usual. Here we are another 2 weeks gone! I have a lot of pictures to share! The first one on the left is of the apartments we live in, I found a path in between that allows for some shade while I walk up to the store. I try to get out at least one a day to walk, I was hoping it would help me to acclimate to the heat. I think its working, I get really cold in the air conditioning.

The second picture is of a flame tree, they blossom in early summer. They are about done blooming, they sure are pretty.








This next picture is of the shopping center, you can see the minaret from the mosque, there is at least one in every neighborhood. Most of them are lit up at night, and a lot of them are quite beautiful. For those of you from Utah, it is similar to finding a church around every corner. The little shopping center has a book store, a photo store, a pharmacy, a grocery store, a vision store and a video rental place. There are a few restaurants, KFC, an ice cream store, a coffee shop, and a chinese place.




This picture is of the swimming pool here at the apartment complex. It is nice to enjoy the water when the weather is really hot. Many people just go down and hang out in the water, reading a book or just relaxing. They do sunbathe too, those people must be locals. I do a little sunbathing but I try to do it early and I am not out there very long. It does not seem to let me add more pictures here. So watch for another post!

It has been another week already! I can't believe that time goes by so fast! I thought I would show you some more pics, we have done a little more investigating. It is hard to be outside too long, its really hot so you find another place with ac. We have been to about 4 different malls, and yesterday we finally made it to the beach. Mike is not a water person, so I told him to take me to the beach. He really enjoyed it, other than the heat and took a bunch of pictures. We were there around 4 Pm and it was hot and steamy! I am not sure what the temp was but it was nasty.. We were only there about 10-15 min and picked up a bunch of shells. We were not really dressed for the beach but that will change the next time I go! The water is like taking a nice bath and it is a tropical shade of blue. The hotel on the left is the Burj Al Arab, the haze is the humidity.
We are thinking about skiing but we might wait until it gets really hot.. I am not sure what that is, but they say that it only gets worse from here.
I have included a picture from lunch right before I left, hello to all you girls at work. I have also included pictures from the apartment, some views from our balcony, we are on the 7th floor and that of course is the top one so if we have a fire, we get to do all the stairs. I sure hope the elevator doesn't go out. Everywhere you look, another building is going up. They are all built out of rebar and cement, (unending supply of sand) and they work 24/6. One night they were building forms and the hammers banging went on all night. We have been keeping the windows cracked just to get some air flow. Some smells come through the vents, like cigar smoke or Indian Cuisine, and thats fine if you like those smells. So we now close the windows at night to be able to sleep.
The picture on the left is our living room, there is a bedroom, small kitchen (I mean small), and a bathroom. The small kitchen is okay, I just don't spend much time in there, just enough to fix meals.
I learned to make Fatoush, its a salad, quite nice and I may try hommos next. You can get most things at the store, you might have to guess if its not in english.







There is a 3d map of Dubai, if you can save it and then enlarge it, we live very close to the Burj Al Arab and the Mall of the Emirates. We are also close to the Palm Jumeriah. That is currently under the first phase of construction and so you really can't get in there yet. We are quite a ways out of the main city, I have not been downtown yet. We will try one of these days, traffic is usually pretty bad getting in and out. Many of the shops down there are outside, and this is not a good time to do that. We are looking for more of the indoor sports.


Hope all is well where ever you are! I need to go work out before it gets too hot and I lose my desire to go.. Have a great day!

June 11, 2006
I am trying to get used to the different weekend days and it just seems strange to think today is Sunday. Everyone here is off working, the weekends are Thursday and Friday. I guess that will change in the fall, it is sometimes difficult here to do international business when only 3 of the working days are the same. They will be moving to Friday and Saturday off.
Their holy day, or prayer day is Friday. Most of the stores etc are closed until 2 or 5. My church is held on Friday instead of Sunday. Mike and I went this last Friday and met many warm and kind people.
Mike took me to see Swan Lake, a ballet put on by the Russain Ballet. It was wonderful! The theatre was too small for an orchestra so the music was recorded. It is a fairly new theatre, in the Madinat complex. The complex is setup like an old souk with many shops and restaurants. The large hotel in the background is the Burj Al Arab, it is the one that sits out on the water. There is no end to construction here, everywhere you look there is a building going up. It really stirs up the dust and the air is quite thick with it and the humidity.
I may learn to swear in at least 3 languages, as I travel about in the taxi's they are quite verbal in their displeasure at the other drivers. It takes them a good five minutes to forget about it. Some of it is justified but it is somewhat entertaining, the metaphors are colorful (even though I don't know what they are saying).
I have not made it to the downtown area yet, that is pretty far from here. We are very close to the Palm Jemeria, that construction is just in the beginning stages. It will be fun to watch some of this develop, while enduring the trucks, the noise and the dust. Well, onto other things I need to do!

Hello to All!
Its 8:15 am here and its 10:15 PM there. I arrived safely on Saturday at about 10 pm Dubai time. Mike had a service meet me at the plane and they guided me through the airport and customs, picked up my luggage and guided me to Mike! It saved me about 1hr worth of time. It was very helpful.
The apartment is about 1/2 hour from the airport and the traffic was not bad that late at night. The next day we did the mall tour, we went to the Mall of the Emirates, its about 1 mile from here and that is where the ski resort is. The kids and the adults were having a lot of fun. The mall is big, almost as big as the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Prices are comparable to the US.
Mike bought me a cell phone, still attached I guess but it is a good idea so if I get lost I can call. I am pretty much taxi bound, we have not decided whether or not to lease a car for me, it sounds expensive and they drive like maniacs around here. Mike says its because there is a lot of testosterone around here. The locals have big egos.
I think I have finally caught up on my sleep, it really hit me 2 days ago, and I took a 3 hour nap. My routine includes, getting up with Mike at about 6, then when he leaves for work I go down to the gym and workout for about an hour. Then I come up and grab a bite to eat and then head down to the pool to try to over come the glare on my skin. I don't stay out long, its too hot and I don't want to burn. The temperatures start out at about 96 and peak at 110. I guess August is the tough month, because the humidity gets really bad. Afterwards I clean up and then do whatever needs to be done in the apartment.
There is a washer but no dryer so we dry the clothes on a rack out on the balcony. Needless to say that I have been reintroduced to the iron and I am getting pretty fast at that. That is pretty common in Europe too. I am not sure that I am going to put out for the combo washer/dryer, unless I have more demands on my time.
There is a little mall about 4 blocks from here, so I walk there or get a taxi and go the the mall, there is a large grocery store there, and it’s nice to go without Mike, he is an in and out guy and I need to browse and see what they have.
Mike always went out to eat so there is not a lot of staples and I have started to put that together. Its a tough job but I am up for the challenge.