Dubai to Date

Well we've been in Dubai for almost 3 weeks (Thursday Oct 11 is the 3 week mark). And we're over the jet lag and have started settling in.

Cranky recovering from Jet Lag!

We found a house in the Arabian Ranches suburb that we really like, but transferring the funds to secure it has been quite the hassle. We're still not sure if we're going to end up renting the house or not, hopefully the landlord will be patient for a few more days.

Here is the website of the developer who built the subdivision we are hoping to live in - the type A villa is the one we'll move into if all works out well! http://www.emaar.com/Developments/ArabianRanches/palmera/Index.asp

Fingers Crossed!

Sammy's been working in Abu Dhabi and it takes him about 1.5 hours to commute each way, which is a pain. But his office is moving so that should shave about 30 minutes off the commute and when we move into our house it may shave off another 15 minutes.

Sammy found a service which will send our mail and items we order from Amazon, Drug Store.com etc... to us from the U.S. for a cheaper rate than the companies do. We're really looking forward to setting it up because Sammy won't be going home as often as he did when we lived in London. But we can't set it up until the residence visa comes through in about 5 weeks.

And since I can't get my work visa until after the residence visa comes through I've been spending my time looking at houses, white goods (the landlords here don't provide the stove, refrigerator etc...) draperies etc... for the house, looking at options for buying versus leasing cars, cross stitching, organizing our photos etc...

Sammy has been coming with me when looking at the white goods and I'm very excited because I found a washer that holds 10.5kg!!!! That means I can wash just about anything I want, including the bedding!

Since we arrived Ramadan has been in session. And it's very interesting, all of the restaurants except those in the hotels are closed because this is the month of fasting from sunup to sundown. http://www.dubaicityguide.com/ramadan/

Which means no food or water and if you're caught blatantly eating or drinking between sunrise and sunset you can be arrested, jailed for a month and fined (I read that bit in a local paper!).

But Ramadan hasn't affected the opening hours of the malls. They stay open until at least midnight every night! It's great!

The only real issue we've encountered aside form getting the money transferred for the house has been access to the Internet. The connection is very bad and access has been very minimal. So I haven't been able to keep in contact with everyone like I'd like to, but that issue should be resolved soon. Right now I'm at the Rotona Hotel in their lobby using their Internet, it's right next door to Sammy's Dad's house so it's very convenient. It also houses my beauty salon, very important to find a good one when you move!

More soon....