Living in this hotel has gotten old. It is a blessing because I don’t have a car and I can walk to work, so that makes it great but I have caught myself say things like “I want to go home” and this room up here on the 9th floor does not feel like home. The staff won’t even get in the same elevator with you. They just stop and back up. It can be a bit over the top. I am starting to remember their names and it kind of freaks them out when I call then by their name and shake there hand. El Amin is from the Sudan and he watches to door during the hot hours. It’s a hell job. I say his name really loud from like 30 feet a way and he always says about the same thing every time. “Welcome sir, welcome, welcome” as he opens the door for me. The guy sweats off a few pounds a day, honestly.
Abdul is one of the head room service guys. He showed me how to do my laundry. The machine was like a puzzle. First there is the mystery power switch on the wall and then there were the crazy picture symbols on the thing. I played with it for 10 minutes and then just gave up and called down stairs. They brought up soap and dry rack. The thing is a washer and dryer. I think it is French.
So today is Friday and it is the quiet day here. It is like Sunday in the states. So I go down stairs at 11:30 and try to go to the gold souq again but it is closed until 4 on Fridays. I just can’t get to this place. So I went to Wafi City. It is a mall/hotel complex. The big them is Egyptian. Imagine Cesar’s Palace but not roman. It is not that big but it has stained glass pyramids as sky lights. They are about 60 feet across. When I got there 1/3 of the place was closed and it was empty. But after lunch it started to liven up. I had lunch at a place called Biella which is Italian. I had a great pizza. Authentic crust. And I have had authentic pizza before. And again I received great service from the international from somewhere in Southeast Asia.
There is a clear difference between what I would call local prices and resort prices. Last night dinner was at a place called Samad and it was a local Kabob place. Same drill as before, you sit and are served bottled water, soup, salad, olives, pickles and very fresh backed bread before you even speak to a waiter. I had what was called the mixed grill. I spent HALF of what I spent for lunch today on that meal, and it ended with tea.
The herbs they use here are odd. With my Kabob comes grilled onion and tomato. But I their standard pre prepared plates before the entree is added is radish, a raw green onion, parsley, some kind of lemon leaf, mint or something, other just bold things that I would add to soup or a dip. But I was like forking it up and taking in a mouth full. My pipes are clean that is for sure, I am getting a fair share of greens in the diet.
I went to Churchill’s Pub for the Champions League Final and it was packed (I am talking about European Soccer). There was an Aussie there I will guess. He was staying in the hotel and he was going up stairs to clean up and then come back down, he told the bar tender he wanted to “settle up.” I asked him if he ever “closed out” before. He never heard it said that way before. I love how all parts of the English speaking world used the language differently. I want to make a paperback book on the subject. How to speak English and sound like you are from another country. I bet it would sell. I learned that in South Africa you don’t have a BBQ you have a Braai. (Br-eye). And down under a walk in closet is a walk in robe.
Message to Emily: Girl I have seen hundreds of handbag shops and I don’t really recognize the names. And like I said, often the handbag comes with a choice of matching heals, or matching flats. They have got to be expensive, because everything in the mall is nuts crazy expensive. But I have been working on figuring out what is hot and what is not and I don’t like much of them. Huge is in. How big of a purse can one girl carry? There needs to be a Kashmir Mafia episode in Dubai.
I was looking at a Calvin Klein sweeter today and it was over 3200 Dms. That is like a 800 bucks for a sweeter. I walked pass Versace JS. Jewelry shops everywhere. I am looking at watches. I can’t afford Rolex, but I don’t want a Guess watch. Square is in which is I don’t dig. I have plenty of time.
I might try to get to the textile souq before the gold souq. They might have cool shirts down there. Not everything is expensive like that, but I am learning how to choose your price. Which is like anywhere, it is all the neighborhood.
This sim card that the company gave me does not let me email myself photos I have taken on my phone. When I get my place I will have family mail me my stuff and in there is the hard connector and software to take it right off the phone and into the computer. I am shopping now for a Camera to really document my time. I plan on going to Doha, Qatar and maybe Bahrain or some other wild spots locally over here and I will have a camera for that. But taking pictures of people is a problem in certain parts of the world. I will figure it out.
The goal is to live in The Residences next to the Burj Dubai. They want rent in one check for a year, but I will bargain for 2 checks. What a bargain. The first check will also include a deposit of 5000 Dms and a 5% referral fee. If all goes to plan, I will drop like 20 grand in the next 3 weeks. But I will make it back; I won’t pay rent for 6 months. And remember, my paycheck has no taxes removed from it. The money will come back fast.
Well as far as things go not too much to report. I am keeping it low key. I am not in the mood to go rage just yet. Once I have a place to call home I will host people and will spend all free time making it cool. At that point I will be deep into work and have a few friends and I can be a player and start sleeping with Jordanian goddesses and Indonesian waitresses.
Right now I just want to be able to order off a menu and actually know what is coming and shop in a supermarket and know where and what thing are. Arabic is not easy to translate. I mean in writing it could say anything. First it is right to left. It is not a tough as Chinese, but it is close.
I am going to go back to watching Aljazeera and see what I can learn about the area I am in. The news on the states and Israel on the other hand is frustrating. I mean I hear how there are things that are said that are just assumed that you agree with or worse, that it is just correct. Those false premises just get set up and the news continues on based off of those untruths. It is worse than examples that I have seen in the states. John Stewart is an intelligent and is a funny guy and his show is what it is. But when a ‘news agency’ rolls clips from the Daily Show to make a point they are either lazy and or pushing an agenda. Bad new is the only news when it comes to Bush. Chris Mathews shutting down a ‘right wing radical’ talk radio host who did not know his history is not a news story, unless of course it pushes an underlining agenda. I have no idea what the media is telling everyone in Arabic, but if it is anything like what is being pushed across the broadcasts in English, we are all in trouble. I have watched the BBC. I have heard news some French Agency in English. Everybody is bias. Hey, I am too, but I am not a news agency. No one out there seems to be able to just tell me what happened and then shut up after that.
Aljazeera’s broadcast comes out of London and Doha, Qatar. It is a strange mix from one of the political liberal epicenters in Europe and a capitol city on a huge growth spurt in an Islamic country. But thankfully Qatar has a stable government and is not talking about the annihilation of a certain country. I will say the channel has some rad info-babes. My brunette fetish is being reinforces quite regularly lately.
Alright, this was my longest post yet. When I started to type I thought I had nothing to say. But when has that been the case. I think I am getting sick, but I will rally. I don’t have a choice. The sun keeps rising. Soon I will type this and post it immediately from a desk in my own apartment. God willing, as they say over here….
BrotherBill
Abdul is one of the head room service guys. He showed me how to do my laundry. The machine was like a puzzle. First there is the mystery power switch on the wall and then there were the crazy picture symbols on the thing. I played with it for 10 minutes and then just gave up and called down stairs. They brought up soap and dry rack. The thing is a washer and dryer. I think it is French.
So today is Friday and it is the quiet day here. It is like Sunday in the states. So I go down stairs at 11:30 and try to go to the gold souq again but it is closed until 4 on Fridays. I just can’t get to this place. So I went to Wafi City. It is a mall/hotel complex. The big them is Egyptian. Imagine Cesar’s Palace but not roman. It is not that big but it has stained glass pyramids as sky lights. They are about 60 feet across. When I got there 1/3 of the place was closed and it was empty. But after lunch it started to liven up. I had lunch at a place called Biella which is Italian. I had a great pizza. Authentic crust. And I have had authentic pizza before. And again I received great service from the international from somewhere in Southeast Asia.
There is a clear difference between what I would call local prices and resort prices. Last night dinner was at a place called Samad and it was a local Kabob place. Same drill as before, you sit and are served bottled water, soup, salad, olives, pickles and very fresh backed bread before you even speak to a waiter. I had what was called the mixed grill. I spent HALF of what I spent for lunch today on that meal, and it ended with tea.
The herbs they use here are odd. With my Kabob comes grilled onion and tomato. But I their standard pre prepared plates before the entree is added is radish, a raw green onion, parsley, some kind of lemon leaf, mint or something, other just bold things that I would add to soup or a dip. But I was like forking it up and taking in a mouth full. My pipes are clean that is for sure, I am getting a fair share of greens in the diet.
I went to Churchill’s Pub for the Champions League Final and it was packed (I am talking about European Soccer). There was an Aussie there I will guess. He was staying in the hotel and he was going up stairs to clean up and then come back down, he told the bar tender he wanted to “settle up.” I asked him if he ever “closed out” before. He never heard it said that way before. I love how all parts of the English speaking world used the language differently. I want to make a paperback book on the subject. How to speak English and sound like you are from another country. I bet it would sell. I learned that in South Africa you don’t have a BBQ you have a Braai. (Br-eye). And down under a walk in closet is a walk in robe.
Message to Emily: Girl I have seen hundreds of handbag shops and I don’t really recognize the names. And like I said, often the handbag comes with a choice of matching heals, or matching flats. They have got to be expensive, because everything in the mall is nuts crazy expensive. But I have been working on figuring out what is hot and what is not and I don’t like much of them. Huge is in. How big of a purse can one girl carry? There needs to be a Kashmir Mafia episode in Dubai.
I was looking at a Calvin Klein sweeter today and it was over 3200 Dms. That is like a 800 bucks for a sweeter. I walked pass Versace JS. Jewelry shops everywhere. I am looking at watches. I can’t afford Rolex, but I don’t want a Guess watch. Square is in which is I don’t dig. I have plenty of time.
I might try to get to the textile souq before the gold souq. They might have cool shirts down there. Not everything is expensive like that, but I am learning how to choose your price. Which is like anywhere, it is all the neighborhood.
This sim card that the company gave me does not let me email myself photos I have taken on my phone. When I get my place I will have family mail me my stuff and in there is the hard connector and software to take it right off the phone and into the computer. I am shopping now for a Camera to really document my time. I plan on going to Doha, Qatar and maybe Bahrain or some other wild spots locally over here and I will have a camera for that. But taking pictures of people is a problem in certain parts of the world. I will figure it out.
The goal is to live in The Residences next to the Burj Dubai. They want rent in one check for a year, but I will bargain for 2 checks. What a bargain. The first check will also include a deposit of 5000 Dms and a 5% referral fee. If all goes to plan, I will drop like 20 grand in the next 3 weeks. But I will make it back; I won’t pay rent for 6 months. And remember, my paycheck has no taxes removed from it. The money will come back fast.
Well as far as things go not too much to report. I am keeping it low key. I am not in the mood to go rage just yet. Once I have a place to call home I will host people and will spend all free time making it cool. At that point I will be deep into work and have a few friends and I can be a player and start sleeping with Jordanian goddesses and Indonesian waitresses.
Right now I just want to be able to order off a menu and actually know what is coming and shop in a supermarket and know where and what thing are. Arabic is not easy to translate. I mean in writing it could say anything. First it is right to left. It is not a tough as Chinese, but it is close.
I am going to go back to watching Aljazeera and see what I can learn about the area I am in. The news on the states and Israel on the other hand is frustrating. I mean I hear how there are things that are said that are just assumed that you agree with or worse, that it is just correct. Those false premises just get set up and the news continues on based off of those untruths. It is worse than examples that I have seen in the states. John Stewart is an intelligent and is a funny guy and his show is what it is. But when a ‘news agency’ rolls clips from the Daily Show to make a point they are either lazy and or pushing an agenda. Bad new is the only news when it comes to Bush. Chris Mathews shutting down a ‘right wing radical’ talk radio host who did not know his history is not a news story, unless of course it pushes an underlining agenda. I have no idea what the media is telling everyone in Arabic, but if it is anything like what is being pushed across the broadcasts in English, we are all in trouble. I have watched the BBC. I have heard news some French Agency in English. Everybody is bias. Hey, I am too, but I am not a news agency. No one out there seems to be able to just tell me what happened and then shut up after that.
Aljazeera’s broadcast comes out of London and Doha, Qatar. It is a strange mix from one of the political liberal epicenters in Europe and a capitol city on a huge growth spurt in an Islamic country. But thankfully Qatar has a stable government and is not talking about the annihilation of a certain country. I will say the channel has some rad info-babes. My brunette fetish is being reinforces quite regularly lately.
Alright, this was my longest post yet. When I started to type I thought I had nothing to say. But when has that been the case. I think I am getting sick, but I will rally. I don’t have a choice. The sun keeps rising. Soon I will type this and post it immediately from a desk in my own apartment. God willing, as they say over here….
BrotherBill
2 comments:
Memorial Day weekend in LA. It is raining, and snowing on Mount Wilson. Who'd a thunk. Hope you find a place - Kel
The apt will make a big difference for you. I hope soon that happens. What kind of pharmacy and medicine do they have there if you did get sick? No chickens hanging over the doorway like east l.a.? Stay away from indonesian waitresses. (your mother can say that ! ) love mom
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