I found PORK sucka's!

A proud momma that's bringing home
the bacon! (click to view larger)

We found a British Super Market in a rinky dink little mall not too far away from our apartment and decided to scope it out. So glad I did, it was like Christmas when I found the "Pork for Non-Muslims" section hidden way in the back of the store (I swear going back there felt like back in the day when your parents would disappear behind the "naughty movies curtain" at the VHS store). Non-the-less, dirty unholy pork could be found here. Yum, yum, yummy! We also found some other interesting things here...fish galore. Big Buddy was fascinated with this. He kept telling Mr. Big, "I want to take a fish home daddy!" Mr. Big would ask him what part of the fish would he like to eat, and he would respond with, I want to eat the fin, eyeball and mouth. Since we don't eat fish really, Mr. Big and I couldn't figure out which fish would be good or even how to prepare it (please don't judge). So we skipped out without one of these beauties, however, Big Buddy would get his wish just one day later! At check out it works a bit different then at home, here a guy empties the cart while one scans the items while the last one bags the items. You end up just standing there all dumb like...well that is what I looked like at least. :) We did end up getting in trouble because we didn't figure out that you had to weigh your produce and print out your own stickers until it was too late. They had to go and do it for us really grumpily. Sorry!

Loads of fresh fish.

In the mall that is hiding the pork, I ran across this interesting sign giving directions to prayer rooms for men and women. Wow. This struck me a little bit odd. Couldn't resist a picture. After we found the pork, I felt moved to go and pray in one of these rooms to thank God for this great gift...Mr. Big rolling his eyes, dragged me out of the rinky dink mall, but not before he bought me a new pair of sunglasses. Did I mention that the sun is so bright here you have to wear shades? No really, my eyes have never been so "Blinded by the Light", LOL. Let's just say that I am no longer the wearer of cheap gas station $2 glasses. Nope...ladies I have now joined the ranks of Versace! Mr. Big....I love you!

Yes, I am super tired, no I am not pregnant (I am going to
torch that shirt once I get home!)

I found this interesting! (click to view larger!)

Big Buddy is a Rock Star!

Striking a pose at the pool.

Fun to see the U.S., India and Brazil all playing together.

From day one here in Dubai, Big Buddy has been a rock star wherever he goes. The culture is such that children are viewed as very special...almost like mini gods or rock stars. I have always felt that in the U.S. we treat children pretty good...at least I thought so until Dubai. No matter where we go, Big Buddy gets asked his name, age, and various other questions. He is often referred to as "Baby" and they can never pronounce his name quite right...this irritates Big Buddy and he tries to correct them. He always gets hugged, kissed on the forehead or cheek, his hands held or squeezed, his ribs tickled, you name it, he is getting plenty of attention ;) . He is even given gifts from toys, balloons, food, whatever his little heart desires really (Mr. Big is trying to train Big Buddy to ask for the next Ferrari he sees!). LOL!

Not only is Big Buddy a rock star with adults, he is also one on the playground! No matter where we go, Big Buddy can spot another child a mile away and will run towards them often times scaring the poop right out of the super shy ones. In the past week, he has made a friend at the pool that goes by Riley Jack (first names only here). He is from England and is the same age as Big Buddy. They love swimming together and sharing their water toys. Big Buddy has also made two little friends on the playground behind our apartment. Sophie is from Brazil and Zeib is from India. One interesting thing that Mr. Big has noticed is that no matter where the children are from, they all play the same and find a way to communicate with each other even when they don't speak the same language. All of this fascinates me!

The Little King of burgers.

Oh, I cannot forget to tell you about our Burger King experience with Big buddy. Yes, we did the extremely American thing and found a Burger King to eat at over here. The food only tastes about 65% like the Burger King in the U.S. though. Strange. When you go into a Burger King over here, they get all excited and crown your offspring with the crown of Burger the King LOL! Then they take his order along with tons of smiling and cooing at him (I vaguely remember Burger King being like this when I was a little kid. Maybe it was because it was pretty new back then). Hugh. Big Buddy was greateful for the good old burger taste along with being crowned.

Lost in "Scary Town"!

Lost in "Scary Town" while Mr. Big tries to fix the
navigation system

Grand City Mall

Skyscraper construction is everywhere!

Monday, Mr. Big decided that he wanted to get some curved top flags printed for a couple of falconry hunts/competitions that he is putting together. After a couple of hours calling several banner shops trying to get a bid (I swear, when I hear an Indian accent, I cannot concentrate on what is being said) I was able to get a general location of such a shop. Now something interesting in Dubai, they never list actual addresses on websites, ads, etc. Instead, they list PO Box #'s. When you ask for street names, no one seems to know them. Now, Mr. Big has a navigation system that he brought along which has been very helpful on several occasions...except for today. Naturally, we thought we would drive right to the front door of this little banner shop. Hours later, driving around we ended up in Industrial Park #4 (aka Scary Town). We called the salesman at the banner shop (which shall remain unnamed) for better directions. He asked if we were by the "Grand City Mall". Why yes, we just so happened to be right by this very strange mall. Notice that there are only men hanging around. Turns out that these Industrial Parks are full of Pakistani and Indian laborers living in these one bedroom shacks (no women in site if you know what I mean). After awhile of driving around the same streets and taking the same round-a-bouts several times, we finally gave up (it was getting dark and I was ready to get the heck out of dodge!). No banners today.

Looking back, "Scary Town" was not all bad as I look at the photos that I took during the adventure. Along the way I was able to get a snapshot of several buildings with cranes on the top of each. Over here in Dubai, there is construction everywhere! (Something to note, at the end of each day, the cranes are turned and left in the direction of Qiblah. Qiblah is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays to the holy mosque in Mecca.).

Skyline in sandstorm

A sand storm blew in while we were driving around, and I was able to get this really beautiful shot of the Dubai Skyline peering out of the storm.  Now, we have never really experienced a sand storm like this (feels like sandpaper in the eyes). Cars are covered in sand and dirt all the time over here. I could tell that Mr. Big was itching for a drive through car wash. If you want to be rich in Dubai, either own shares in oil, or a drive through car wash! :)

Power lines as far as the eye can see.

When your not looking at skyscrapers, it seems you are looking at power lines over here...as far as the eye can see. Something else interesting, is that the homes over here are typically two story and stucco surrounded by a wall. They can very in size depending on your status. The larger ones have a guard stationed outside the gate with a machine gun (I wonder how much one of these guys cost?).

Lesson learned...stay away from "Scary Town"!

Typical Arab home here in Dubai.

Tom Cruise...in Dubai!

Tom Cruise looking a lot like Spider Man on the Burj Khalifa
(click photo to view larger)

Tom Cruise flying out from the building
(click photo to view larger)

So we had to fly all the way to Dubai, just to see Tom Cruise perform his death defying stunts off of the Burj Khalifa (worlds tallest building, located in Dubai) this past Friday. Wow! We had heard that the week before he had scaled down the building for the filming of his new movie, Mission Impossible #4 and were sad that we had missed it. As we were driving to the grocery store on Friday, we noticed that there were two helicopters flying around the building and then we saw someone run across the front of the windows. We pulled over and stood near the base of the Burj Khalifa were we were able to watch Tom repel down a many stories of the building and then run around to the other side. At one point he flew out from the building which was super cool! We took these photos and a small video. It was a ton of fun to see him perform these stunts and to also watch people from other countries get excited about seeing Tom Cruise. LOL! I wonder if we will bump into him while he films his other scenes...we will keep you updated! PS. Mr. Big is a new Tom Cruise fan now. He was impressed that Tom would do this crazy stunt himself.

No Longer Homeless!

The Palm Jumeirah is a man-made island.

The Shoreline Apartments are our new home.

I really do think that God loves me. After all of the phone calls that Mr. Big made and after running around looking at different apartments, we finally have a place to call home! Late Thursday night we moved into "The Palm Jumeirah". We were able to score a one bedroom apartment in one of the five star luxury resorts here in Dubai. The coolest thing is that we are actually living on the Eighth Wonder of the World! Shut Up! Our actual apartment is located on The Palms trunk in the Shoreline Apartments. As you can see, the beach is just right out the back door! Thank You God!

View from back window of the train rail and adjacent resort.

It feels so great to have our suitcases unpacked and to have my computer set up. Yes, we actually shipped my home computer over here so I could work. It made it in one piece and is working great! I really did miss the internet and emails like no other. Thought my arms had been cut off. LOL! On Friday, it felt really great to work. Because of the 10  hour time difference, it puts me working at night. I am finding this quite relaxing actually...however, now that I think about it...probably won't help me with my sleeping habits! :)

On Friday, we hit our first grocery store. Interesting experience. Most people only grab a few odds and ends, so it looked quite funny for us to actually spend 368 Dirham (or 100 U.S. dollars) on food. Of course the packaging all looks quite different, but we were able to find the staples of what we needed. Eggs, bread, fruit, veggies, yogurt, water, peanut butter and milk. Oh, I thought it was interesting that each and every egg over here has a born on and expiration date stamped right on it.

I love the quaint feel of this little grocery store.

Car seat update! We were finally able to find us a car seat. Yippee! Now we feel that Big Buddy is safer in the car while we are dogging all the Ferrari's, Porsches, and all other luxury sports cars. ;) Also, now when he falls asleep in the car, he will have a place to rest his poor little head instead of kinking his neck.

I don't know why I find this interesting...I just do.

Day 2, Wednesday - A place to call home

Dubai

Driving into the new part of the city.

Skyscraper after skyscraper...interesting.

Love all the different architecture here.

So many of the buildings are in the middle of construction.

Since we are struggling with the time change still, our hours of sleep are still off. It is becoming quite common for Big Buddy to wake up at 3am hungry. So he will eat a granola bar and juice and then go back to sleep till 5am. I am becoming quit accustomed to the wonderful breakfasts here. I will definitely miss them when we leave this hotel.

Day 2 we packed up the family and drove to Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) in Dubai. I read a ton of great things about it online and scheduled an appointment with a realtor to see an available apartment. I expected to meet with an Arab gentleman to see this property, however, it turns out that there are tons of Russian women Expats living here and working as realtors. Interesting! So I was excited that I could be apart of the bidding process to get a place to live. Women to women shouldn't be bad right...wrong! Even though these gals were nice, I realized immediately how they were used to working...with men. We worked with two separate gals and each were dressed in see through provocative clothing that left little to the imagination (Mr Big thought this was fantastic). Big Buddy told me he could see one gals "Nummies"! LOL! They also whore...I mean wore the most expensive accessories like a Louis Vuitton bag with Versace heels. At first I wondered how they could afford such luxuries and then quickly figured it out. For each 1 to 2 bedroom apartment we looked at, it seemed they were doubling the price from what I recall seeing on the web. (So glad I searched the web before these viewings). All in all, what a waste of a day, but a very interesting learning experience. We decided we were not going to pay $5,500 per month for a two bedroom apartment or even $4,500 for a one bedroom with scant furniture. Frustrated and tired we took matters into our own hands. We looked up the sites on the Internet and made tons of calls. We found several more affordable options in the same JBR residence and also out on "The Palm". With appointments set up for early Thursday, we began to feel much better!

Big Buddy fell asleep in the car on the way back at 6pm. He was fully asleep for the night by 7pm. Once again we were all up at 3am.

Reflecting on this day, I really liked the JBR area since it seems to be a melting pot of cultures. It really reminds me of say The Gateway in SLC were you can live there in a community and be so close to food and shopping with the added bonus of being right on the beach of course! Sure hope the gods look upon us and help us find an affordable place to stay...or we are about to become homeless in Dubai.

Day 1, Tuesday - The Dubai Mall

With only four short hours of sleep (Big Buddy got up at 5am) we began our day. Breakfast in Dubai is fantastic! Fresh fruit, eggs, and pastries galore. One thing to note, the eggs here are different. The yokes are orange orange instead of yellow. Very tasty.

Etisalat is where everyone gets their phone service in Dubai.

There are 4 levels to this mall. Ice skating rink in Dubai. Wow!

Largest big screen I have ever seen.

My iPhone stopped wanting to work after our flight over here. So our main missions for today were to get me a local cell phone so Kevin and I can be in contact, look for a car seat, and a place to live. First stop, the Dubai Mall. Now I have heard things about this mall, it is one if not the largest mall in the world. We figured we should be able to find anything we need here. What an experience...going to the mall is an event over here. Women and men dress up to the nines to go to the mall. I wondered why this is until I got here. Besides the fact that Mr. Big, Big Buddy and myself all looked like homeless people in comparison (wait, we are homeless) we noticed that the most famous designers, fashions, and most expensive everything is at the Dubai mall. Did I mention that they have an Ice skating rink in the middle of it? Wow, this along with the largest flat screen tv I have ever seen (several stories high and wide). And gold everything. They have "The Gold Souk" which are a bunch of little shops that each deal in gold. I definitely want to go back here and spend some more time. Now after awhile, Mr. Big and I found the Local Cell phone company for all of Dubai. I was able to get myself a little Nokia (yikes, I really miss my iPhone). Big Buddy and I had our first Italian Gelato ever...wow! I am in love with gelato. Regular old ice cream will never be the same for me. Big Buddy and I were fitted for our traditional Muslim garb. He a white shirt with white crocheted cap and I the traditional black burka with a couple of beautiful scarves. Although, I feel like the burka is a way to control women and their rights, I have to admit, there seems to be something sexy about this outfit. The younger women in Dubai, are starting to dress up their burka's with jewels of all sorts. Bling as we know it. They also dress themselves up with the most expensive purse and shoes you have ever seen. Can you say "Millano Blancs", "Versace", etc.

The Gold Souk is amazing!

With phone in hand, and no car seats in site, we must of walked over our 10,000 steps for the day. The three of us were exhausted! We returned to our hotel and began searching for our new place to live. We had our eye on a couple of places that we had researched on the net and started calling to set up appointments for the next day. The three of us retired to bed by 7pm and of course we were up by 5am again. ;)

It is typical to turn the corner and see something amazing!

Also typical to see gentlemen sitting around.

We did wake up at 1am and decided to go out for an adventure. Turns out that there are more people out at 1am then during the middle of the day. Very strange. This sort of reminded me of Las Vegas. We stopped at a convenient store and it was fun to see all of the snack food in Arabic.