A Glimpse Into the Life of an Expat When Ramadan Falls in July

If you had asked me only about a month ago, I would have told you I really love our life in Dubai. That I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly we acclimated, by how much we're learning and how grateful I am that we took the leap into this experience.

If you ask me about Dubai now? Well, let's just say that my words wouldn't resemble those. And they probably wouldn't be nice.

It's so damn hot here. I feel like we live in a city-sized steam room. In my 32 years, I didn't know there was a place on the planet where the heat of the sand and the temperature of the ocean actually make it too hot to go to the beach. Quite the departure from my days in Northern California.

And it's Ramadan, which means no eating or drinking (or even chewing gum) in public until the sun sets. So what do we do on a day off when temperatures reach 120 degrees with no water? There's the mall, the movies....aaaand I've named everything there is to do when Ramadan falls in the summertime. No lunch out, no going for coffee, no drinks in the bar (they open at 8pm if at all), no going for walks or to the beach or doing anything but spending money in one of many cavernous buildings full of overpriced stores we can't afford.

And while I fully appreciate the invaluable cultural experience of living in a Muslim country that so stringently observes Ramadan, I've had enough and I want to go home now.

But alas, we leave it all behind us (at least for a couple of weeks) in exactly one week from today, when we'll be at the airport, waiting to board our hideous but much anticipated flight to Detroit. I'm just one sleeping pill, a book or two and five movies away from home!

I'm excited to sit outside and drink my morning coffee. I'm excited to sit outside and drink my evening wine. I'm excited to drink wine in public. I'm excited to drink good wine. I'm excited for greenery and fresh air and chirping birds. I'm excited to see two friends get married and I'm excited to see my dog Zoe, who I miss more than I could possibly articulate in a blog post. But most of all, I'm excited to see my family: my mom and dad and my parents-in-law, our siblings and our and sweet nephews who have gotten way too big during our time away.

Just for fun, and perhaps because it illustrates his heat induced delirium, here's a photo of my husband in a monkey hat, resembling a character in a certain beloved Disney film set in Arabia.

A (Free) Weekend Away

Soooooo, the excuses I have for not posting exist on multiple levels, not the least of which that my Google settings are in Arabic and it took me forever to figure out how to create a new post.

Anyway, I have so much to tell you about! We're continuing to explore, learning more and more about this eclectic little corner of the world with each day. Ramadan officially started four days ago, and most certainly warrants its own post, so I'll leave it for another day. Suffice it to say, it's been quite the learning experience to live in a Muslim country during the holy month. It's beautiful and frustrating and impressive and mystifying.

When the weekend comes, we want and deserve to have a great time, but continually discover there is very little to do here during the hot summer months unless you enjoy spending countless hours in shopping malls (they're everywhere and they're FREEZING!) or movie theaters (Bollywood, anyone?) But this weekend, we went on a staycation right here in Dubai. For work, I was tasked with visiting a competitor hotel for the weekend, forced to experience their restaurants, bars, in room dining, room accommodations and spa. A tough request, I know, but I'm wholly committed to my job and never one to shy away from a challenge. My husband is equally as supportive, and happily came along for my arduous "work day." We went to a really grand, very successful five star hotel not far from mine.

This was our lovely room:

My unequivocal favorite part of this hotel was the spacious balcony. As you might know, summers in Dubai are..... miserable. I tried to think of a kinder word, but quickly conceded. It's miserable. For instance, it's 102 degrees with 50 percent humidity as I write this at 6pm. For a Northern California gal who loves the outdoors but hasn't been outside for longer than 10 minutes in more than a month, this balcony was a dream come true, somehow staying cool long enough to enjoy a glass bottle of rose wine alfresco.

We went to the spa for a soak and steam, then tried out the bar before dinner, where we ordered real cocktails instead of wine or beer as usual! We're very sophisticated and grown up. Rob calls this one "00 Andy: Shaken not Stirred." Also, let the record show that I'm finally wearing the ridiculously expensive, "something blue" shoes I wore at my wedding.

After navigating the 15 page menu, half of which we didn't understand, we enjoyed a really authentic Japanese dinner on the hotel's 17th floor, with the kind of Asian service I had never seen before moving to Dubai. I dropped my chopsticks and I had no fewer than three people run towards me to provide new ones.

In the morning, we had a really beautiful breakfast, and I went for my obligatory massage. I'm no expert on spa treatments, but what's not to love about a 60-minute rub down? It was a perfect ending to a nice little surprise getaway. Here we are with an experimental take on the "selfie" as the young people call it. Doesn't really work, but I admire Rob's resourcefulness.