Marketing Around the Globe

In honor of starting my job this Wednesday (yay for a shockingly quick visa process!), I thought I would share this little nugget of marketing genius I found on the Dubai Groupon site.


In case you can't make it out, it summons spirit of relaxation you can experience when you drink the tea that comes with their herbal Moroccan bath.

"Like watching the sun rise or seeing a baby climb down from a tree on its own, drinkin tea can help you relax."

Yep. For my money, nothing says relaxation like watching your infant climb down the trunk of a towering conifer (or a palm if you're in Dubai) without your guidance.

Day at the Beach

I don't want to brag, but I've gotten pretty good at sitting in the sun. Whether it's relaxing at the beach or our pool, I've never felt more at ease with wasting the day away by the water. A lady of leisure I don't want to become, but I've done a respectable job of playing the role for the past couple months.

Rob recently had two well-deserved days off. He's been working stupid long hours--16+ hour days--so I put aside my usual, obnoxious "we're going on an adventure!" rhetoric so that he could rest.

No better time than mid-February in Dubai to spend a day at the beach! The weather is perfect--80s during the day and breezy by the water so you don't feel like you need to submerge yourself in water or else your skin will burn off. We have less than two months until going outside feels like walking into a kiln, so we're capitalizing now.

We chose a public beach right next to Rob's hotel, with views of the Palm Jumeirah and the tall buildings surrounding the Dubai Marina. We especially enjoy this beach because of the entertainment provided by the 100+ people each day who jump out of airplanes right above us.

But while I consider myself something of an expert in the art of sun bathing, Rob's complexion and the fact that he can't sit still during his waking hours make him less so. Here he is keeping busy by looking for sea shells.

And here we are in our nerdy matching sunglasses, never more obvious than in a close-up self-portrait!

A Place To Go Every Day

For those of you who don't already know, I am officially employed! I'll be doing marketing and communications at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre (see how I spelled 'centre?' I'm learning already!) Finally a paycheck to support the pesky shopping habit I've developed in unemployment.

So what am I doing blogging in the middle of the day? As I've reiterated about a hundred times since I started this blog, everything here move at a glacial pace and as such, I'm still waiting on my visa. I'm daring to consider myself in the homestretch of my brain melting days as I hold my head a little higher when I watch terrible sitcom reruns and bad Jay Leno jokes. Right now it's a Seinfeld episode I've seen no fewer than eight times in my life.

The Ritz-Carlton requires every new employee to go through a two-day orientation. This is officially my third Ritz-Carlton orientation, so I was the model pupil (and inadvertent teacher's pet.) I was the only native English speaker in the classroom, so I worked harder than usual to keep the conversation going. I don't often toot my own horn, but I'd say I could have taught the whole damn thing. Toot toot.

Anyway, here's my hotel:

Pretty palatial, huh? It's right in the heart of the city's financial district and couldn't be more different from my previous Ritz-Carlton, which is a beach and golf resort. So I have a lot to learn, but I can't wait to dig in.

Even more of a challenge will be getting myself to work everyday. The commute requires a bus ride reminiscent of a sardine can, a 30-minute metro ride, and a 10-minute walk. This will be all but unsustainable as the mercury rises (and rises and rises) on the thermometer, so we'll be buying a car. Imagine the blog posts when I begin driving on these notoriously perilous roads. Stay tuned!

A Dubai-Mex Dinner

As if they could read my mind, some of my best girlfriends sent us a care package with all of the fixings for a Mexican meal at home. Anyone who has been abroad knows that if you can find Mexican food, it's always overpriced and never good. I tried to make fajitas a couple of weeks ago but I bought cheese-flavored taco seasoning on accident. I didn't know that even existed and I'm sad that it does. Needless to say, this couldn't have come at a better time for us after that disappointment.

I'm especially looking forward to this as it will be my first time in months that I've made a meal that doesn't include either taragon, coconut milk, or garam masala. Gracias ladies for what I know will be a fabulous Mexican feast, Dubai style.

I don't know why I never cease to be amazed by the lack of organization and infrastructure here. The package was addressed to us at Rob's work (since we don't actually have our own address) and ended up at the al Karama post office: a bus ride, 40-minute metro ride, and a 10 block walk from our apartment, followed by a painful 45-minute wait at the actual post office. A nice day out if you don't count the part where we had to explain the purpose of taco seasoning to the unpleasant and dubious man behind the counter.

But it's worth it because we're still apprehensive to try the few Mexican restaurants in town, including Cactus Jack's, Maria Bonita's or Goodfellas, the final of which markets itself as "American, British, Indian AND Mexican." Cuisine from literally all around the world within four walls could never be good unless it's in the food court by our house (again, astonishingly delicious. Don't judge.)

So We Went to Oman for the Day, Part II

Because our day in Oman was so long (aided in no way by the heat or the fact that I consider it a sign of defeat by hailing a taxi instead of walking to our destination,) we decided to head to the Al Bustan Palace, a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Muscat. Here's Rob reluctantly posing for my obligatory Ritz-Carlton shot on the way out.

You'll seldom find us in a city with a Ritz-Carlton that we don't visit because 1) we're just that classy and more accurately 2) we both work for the company and like to see the other hotels in its portfolio.

Justification for spending time at this hotel was easy because it's actually a former government building where the sultan would receive his visitors. See? It's practically a museum. (The beach bar is not so historic, but that's where the cold beer was.) The lobby of this place is incredible, reminiscent of a church with its enormously high ceilings, angelic music and incense burning.

The fun for us stopped temporarily once we left the lobby because riff-raff non-guests are not allowed outside at the beach/pool area. As you know from previous posts, we are not so easily defeated, so we simply had to wait discreetly for an unknowing guest to let us out.

But feeling like a creep for a few minutes was totally worth it. The place is absolute paradise. We walked around the pool and on the beach, then Rob made friends with the bar manager so we could get off our feet and have a cold drink. And there we stayed for the better part of two hours.

We can't wait to go back as guests so we don't have to drag our tired, hesitant selves into an overpriced taxi and end the fairy tale. And when we do, I'd like to have dinner here. Amazing, right?

So We Went to Oman for the Day, Part I

If I had to pick, I'd say the most fabulous thing about living in the UAE is having the ability to visit the exotic countries around it, if even just for 12 hours.

The reason for this trip was to extend my tourist visa. I still don't have a visa thanks to a few mishaps with our marriage paperwork (too uninteresting to elaborate, but I have advice for you if you're married and thinking of a move to the Middle East!) A tourist visa is good for 30 days (we pulled some strings to double that) and leaving the country bought me another 30. Expats hop a quick flight to Oman or Kuwait or Bahrain, get stamped, then turn right around and come back. These "visa runs" are a regular occurrence here, but for anyone that knows me, flying to a new country and staying for 45 minutes is just not an option.

We left our apartment at 6:00 a.m. to catch the 50-minute flight to Muscat, the capital city of Oman (with full meal service. Seriously, it was like the 1960s. Those flight attendants were runnin') For the record, this is the last time I take a trip without an good old fashioned guide book, either on my Kindle or of the dead tree variety. We had no Internet access and very little idea of where we were going and what we wanted to see. I'm appreciative that Omanis live up to their reputation of being some of the kindest people in the world. Those we met seemed grateful that we were there and happy to help us find our way, and it occurred to me that this might have been my first time in a country that is not accustomed to American tourists.

The day was genuinely one of the best I've had since we moved here. Muscat is a true taste of Arabia, quite unlike Dubai, with no sky high buildings, metro lines, or shamelessly expensive cars in sight. A few observations:

1. The taxis have no meters. It is entirely up to the driver to throw out a price. This is unfortunate for two white people completely unfamiliar with both the geography of the city and the currency. We were unquestionably ripped off (many thanks to our server that evening for sarcastically pointing this out.)

2. Muscat is home to the most fabulous souk I've seen so far. The entire place smells of frankincense and scented oils, and while the guys still hawk pashminas and cheesy trinkets, there is also a fabulous selection of spices, gorgeous perfume bottles, and antiques. Antiques! It was the souk experience I had always imagined. Here I am with our fabulous new old antique copper pot (focus on the pot and not the hot, hungry, dehydrated girl in the photo.)

The man at the shop even offered us a cup of Omani coffee before we left. I knew embarrassingly little about Oman when I got there, except that you should never refuse when an Omani offers you coffee or tea.

3. The landscape is absolutely stunning. The water is crystal clear and the mountains surrounding it, all dotted with forts and lookouts, are spectacular.

4. The Sultan, Oman's ruler, looks like the Sultan in Aladdin.

So Arabian, right? He's been ruling now for 40+ years and has a yacht the size of Wyoming (anchored in the harbor for visitors to see.)

Here we are in front of one of his many palaces. I think it looks like it belongs in the Jetsons if the Jetsons lived in the outer space version of the Arabian Peninsula.

We can't wait to go back and spend some more time in and around Muscat, preferably with our own car so we don't have to haggle our cab fare. Next I'll write about the time we spent at The Ritz-Carlton Al Bustan Palace. Because a hotel that fabulous merits its own post on any blog of mine.