Sandier Pastures

Thursday Thirteen banner courtesy of Samulli

1. Rainbow Color Separation Services - poor rainbows!

2. Al Boom Gas Company - they better not explode!!

3. Al Sharq Pet Shop - where they also sell non-shark pets

4. Talent Secretarial Services - they’ve got talent, they say!

5. Excellent Men’s Saloon - a Salon!

6. Quick Hands Restaurant - I wonder if the food is served in milli-seconds?

7. Al Nasr Cinema Restaurant - believe me, there was no giant screen inside!

8. Athlete’s Foot (a shoe store) - where we might also find medication for athlete’s foot

9. Neatorama Cleaning Services

10. xx Roastery - I came in looking for roasted chicken but they only sold roasted NUTS

11. Hello Deira - The store in Deira sells mobile phones.

12. Automatic Restaurant and Grill - like everything will be grilled automatically?

13. Safestway Supermarket

These are just a few! I’ll be on the lookout for more. Any interesting business establishment names near you?

Today I took a bath at 5 am just after I woke up. Taking a shower was the first thing I did before anything else because I don’t want to repeat what happened yesterday at 7 am (tried to take a bath at 7am but found out that there’s no water).

I was in the bath, enjoying the warm water, working a very rich lather, shampooing my hair then starting to rinse it off when suddenly the water sound became faint. The heater stopped working and gradually, water flow came to a freaking HALT.

“Moooom!!!”

I had to ask my to bring some water, any water so I can open my eyes and maneuver myself in the bathroom and come out alive. In times like this, I hate the over foamy shampoo.

Conscience wise, bathing in mineral water does not feel good at all.

The building manager had better give an explanation for this water problem once and for all!

We ran out of gas and I had to call the gas company, strangely called “Al Boom Gas Company” at 6:30 am. A man who obviously just got out of bed answered the phone. I told him we need a new gas tank, medium sized and relayed my location.

He said he’ll bring the new tank at 8 o’clock and thanked me and probably curled back in bed.

M woke up and asked me, the gas is gone? Did you call already? I said oh yes, I did, they’ll come at 8 o’clock. No worries, we can still cook our lunch here.

M asked if the gas man said 8AM or PM? My bad I did not put my feet down and requested 8AM. We ended up eating outside.

Argh, I never learn. This is Dubai, the fantastic city where tomorrows never end. Where sentences go, “I’ll come back fix the pipe tomorrow, Madam” but after more than 40 tomorrows, the pipe is still leaking.

Next time when I call, I’ll say, the complete time (AM or PM), month, date and year. I might just even write that down in my kitchen wall.

The water problem in my building is still unsolved. We’d have no running water on early mornings when everyone in the building is using water at the same time and on Fridays, everyone’s day off.

I called Dubai Water Authority and they came to check. I was at the office when I got a call from them saying that the problem is not with them but with our building. And then what - and then the words,  ”Don’t call our office again”.

Hellowww?

I called “EMERGENCY CUSTOMER SERVICE”. For any sane person, no water especially in the morning is EMERGENCY! My daughter refuses to poo in the loo if she knows there’s no water to flush it! Arrgh.  I have to sue this people and demand compensation for her constipation medicine! Pardon the dirty talk and sorry if you are eating while reading this.

The repair people told me this should be taken cared of by the building management. Hurrah. The typical building management that refuses to take calls and the same building management who placed a watch man in our place who doesn’t speak any English. Yeah, that.

Water flow is usually back to normal by around 8-9 am so these people think it’s not a problem at all. Some temporary glitch that we residents should bear.

As of this writing I am still trying to get hold of anyone in the building management, using different phones to call them because they already know my cellphone number and deliberately ignore my calls.

Lately, we’ve been experiencing horrific internet connection at home. Either it is painfully slow or with zero connectivity, for hours. Just for anyone curious, here’s the range of internet service available to us here in the UAE:

• Light User 256Kbps: AED 149 per month ($40)
• Moderate User 512Kbps: AED 189 per month ($52)
• Active User 1MBps: AED 249 per month ($68)
• Heavy User 2MBps: AED 349 per month ($95)
• Superior User 4MBps: AED 449 per month ($122)

Let’s just say, in terms of frequency and you can say, uhm, addiction, my husband and I are superior internet users having the Light User package above, which of course spells frustration. I’m almost giving up and feel like screaming. I can’t stand DSL anymore! I cringe at how it is even called broadband.

In Japan we were paying for the same ($40/mo) or even less with 1MBps connection speed. But then I’ll have to recall the cardinal rule I imposed on myself to stay sane here: “thou shalt not compare”.

Take this, I had my first bite of Cheetos today - only after 31 years of roaming the earth. I don’t know what to say.

Initially, my intentions were pure. Get into a supermarket, grab a mineral water and head to the bus stop but then Cheetos came tugging my skirt, occasionally winking at me, begging me to take him to the cashier. So I did. I succumbed though all the fitness professionals would disagree with my decision. But blech, they’re not here!

Good question. How was it - it was…

delicious!

It was past my dinner time so that would probably be the reason why Cheetos looked gourmet to me. I ended up finishing the small pack and wanting for more but the much anticipated Dubai bus came. With Cheetos finished, I was relieved of my temporary euphoria and thought, darn you, Angelina Jolie.

Just because Dubai is in the Middle East and very easily stereotyped as eternally hot, humid and undesirable, we do have a piece of heaven in terms of weather during November. In fact, if you visit Dubai in November, maybe you will want to stay here forever.

Just maybe.

The blue skies in November are worth watching day after day after day. There’s even no rain or snow.

No gray clouds here!

I took the girl in the park early in the morning last Friday. Friday is my only day off but I was awake by 6 am. The girl didn’t plan to stay longer in bed so I admitted my defeat and took her to the park instead. The weather was so nice! Blue skies, cool at 24C, humidity that’s just right - if Dubai is like this everyday, I’ll be here for a long time.

“Come mom, catch me if you can!”

Pristine enjoyed picking up bird feathers in the park.

The sand was cold to the touch. It felt so nice, cool and silky that we eventually took off our slippers. No this isn’t the beach - the park’s play area has sand on it.

“Can we come here everyday, mom?”

On mornings like this, I don’t mind having to wake up early and spend time at the park. It was a good stress reliever - much, much better than spending longer time in bed.

In a desperate attempt to open its doors on time, Dubai Mall gets really rough. Initial opening date was December 2007 then August 2008 and then moved to October 30, 2008.

We visited the area a day before the supposed opening and found this:

One lane road going to the entrance! It was packed with cars already - I don’t know what the others were doing there but maybe same with us, surveying the area before the big opening to plan ahead how to arrive in one piece battling the traffic. Traffic was as expected, a mess - one day before the opening. I couldn’t imagine what would happen on the actual opening day!

Below are just some of the workers in one small area. Look at those sand hills!

I have never seen so many workers concentrated in one project site.

The basement parking nowhere near “ready”.

Hazards were everywhere. Even the fine dust from construction was irritating my nose. I worry about the workers not wearing any protective mask.

A worker stops his busy work to pose for me.

Outside, workers are trying to fix hoses in the garden (I think so).

While the front side of the mall is taking shape and these signs are everywhere:

Ambitious, hey.

However, the back side was less than glamorous.

One week has passed since we visited. Knowing how the speed of construction is here in Dubai, I am sure so many things have changed. After all, they treat workers like elves - you know, those friendly little elves who can make a pair of shoes in one night?

By the way, the opening didn’t push through last October 30 (as expected again). The huge mall opened its doors to the public only after a week later - on Novermber 4th. We have yet to go see it.