Is Dubai that different from the United States ? A Common question...

The time at home in the United States has gone fast. Almost 30 days...lots of family time, lunches and dinner with friends a two day running relay in the Wasatch Back, the Zoo, Lagoon and other various family activities and just like that, it is time to return to Dubai. I will be sad to go, I will miss my kids, grand kids, other family and friends, but I am also feeling the need to return to Dubai, my other home.

A common question I am getting while home..."Is Dubai that different from the United States or Utah?"

Pretty much everything is different, there are a few similiarities but that is it...very few. Any one from the United States would find that they could live in Dubai, comfortably. There are things you need to get used to that are drastically different in the UAE - the landscape, the call to prayer, the laws and customs of the country and its people, all the international differences that make up the country, etc. A lot of what you see, know or learn about the UAE, may not make any sense but one of the first important rules you need to grasp to successfully live in Dubai... Accept it for what it is and try not to figure it out. It is, what it is. Accept that and life in Dubai will be great !
While living in Dubai, you may not be able to find your favorite American foods on the store shelves, like cereal, real Oreo's, but in Dubai there are many good substitutes. There are some things I will never be able to find in Dubai, like real vanilla or poppy seeds, no matter how hard I look.

One thing that is similar between the two is the over abundance of fast food possibilities. In Dubai, McDonald's, KFC, Subway, Burger King and others are everywhere. Maybe not as accessible by a drive up service like here in the states, but you would never go without want if that is what you want to eat. The meat even tastes better in Dubai. I didn't believe until I tried it for myself and it is true.

The skies in Utah are blue and clear. I had forgotten how blue and beautiful they can be. And the mountains - breath taking - I missed them. The land is flat, flat and even flatter in Dubai, but they have amazing white sand beaches and an extraordinary landscape of skycrapers. When I left Utah, it was cold and overcast, but the weather has been stunning since to say the least. Everyone keeps commenting on the heat here in Utah, but I have found to it to be pleasant, comfortble. Perfect running weather.

In Dubai from May until October the heat can reach high temperatures of 120+ degrees and the humidity... just plan on feeling wet and clamy the instant you step outside, and your hair while the humidity is high -frizzy or flat. The good things is we all look the same. Due to the heat, humidity and sand swirling in the air, the overall air quality is hazy, poor.

When the sun comes up in Dubai, it is instantly hot and at night, right after the sun goes down, the humidity increases and it feels warmer than it was during the day. I wish it would be like Utah, at sun down the temperature drops and really cools off and the when the sun rises in the morning, it is cool and heats up as the morning wears on.

I really feel like I am living two separate lives, one in wide open spaces and another in a bustling, exotic city, which also includes a different set of people that we know and love.

Utah has a more relaxed feeling, Dubai is always in a hurry, very fast paced, lots of horn honking. Dubai is always in a continual state of motion, never sleeps, unlike Utah, that rests at night and re generates for the next day.

In Utah, we live in homes with basements, surrounded by grass, flowers planted in dirt and a vast variety of trees. For being a desert, the state of Utah is really very green and lush. Our homes sit on small to larger lots and most of them have backyards. People in Utah get to know their neighors and even socialize with them. In Dubai, people reside in villa's or high rise apartments. The villa's are hidden behind tall walls and gates. The people that live in the villa's or apartments rarely get to know their neighbors, and for the most part, rarely even see them. Most the villa's are large, some with or with out any yard. They are crowded closely to each other.
Dubai is in a desert, but what makes it different from Utah ? Besides the intense summer heat, Dubai has sand everywhere, no dirt and water is scarce, expensive. To make your yard "green" can cost a small fortune. People do what they can with pots, palm trees, and a few trees and it is impressive.

America is the land of abundance, we have more options on things here than anywhere else in the world. An example... On my TV in Utah, I have 150+ channels to pick a show from and then sometimes I still cant find anything. On my TV in Dubai, I have 7 English channels to pick from and sometimes the english is on sub titles. Some first run series are shown, like American Idol, etc, but then other quirky, one season failures are also shown more frequently. Internet TV is blocked so you get what you get. I watch TV in Utah, I very seldom watch TV in Dubai. There are times I will turn the TV on in Dubai for noise and notice later that the show is being spoken entirely in Arabic. I must be getting used to it.

Another question I have been asked while home - Do I feel safe in Dubai - Too be honest, I feel safer in Dubai than I do in Utah. In my neighorhood in Utah, and it is a great neighborhood, we have had issues for years with people breaking into cars and garages, stealing personal possessions. If I am out too early or after dark running, I dont' feel very comfortable being out by myself and very rarely will do it. The TV in Utah has been airing advertisements for alarm systems and how we are feeling the need to be safe and secure. I don't recall ever seeing such an ad in Dubai. Dubai is said to be one of the safest cities in the world. and I beleive it. Yes , they have their issues, but things that happen in Utah would rarely happen in Dubai. People behave - maybe because they know the harsh consequences that will occur if they don't. There have been many times when I have been out in the dark of the night or up early running and have never felt un safe.

One thing that stood out to Jeff and I, the minute we stepped off  the plane in Utah, we turned to each other and said, " we all look and sound the same here". In Dubai, there are so many different nationalities, many varities of national dress, more languages spoken then I have ever experienced in my life. No one is the same, everyone is and looks different from the other. I love that about Dubai ! I like being different.

What is one thing I wish Dubai had that Utah has - Target ! I miss that store and wish Target would come to the middle east...please, please, please, I need you there with me. Carrefour does not feel my Target need and just is not the same. It does not even come close.

Utah, thanks for welcoming me back and Dubai thanks for letting me live in your city. Both are great, just different, so different it is hard to really explain. You need to experience them both to really understand it and I am so grateful for the opportunity.

Life is good, isn't it !

I Traveled 9000 Miles to Do What ?

I like to run - it gives me great joy, especially when I am stressed - nothing helps as much as a "good ole" 3 - 5 mile run.

There is a running relay held in Utah called Ragnar - The Wasatch Back. A team comprised of 12 runners, covers a total distance of @ 200 miles. The relay race starts in Logan, Utah and ends in the beautiful mountains of Park City, Utah. Each runner runs three legs - you essentially, run, rest, repeat, sometimes you try and get a little shut eye and sleep but don't plan on it, especially if you are running at night. One or all of your three legs could be on a dirt or gravel trail, up and over hills, even more hills and mountains, through small towns, in the dark, etc.

The Ragnar Relay is running craziness at its best !

Teams decorate their transport vans and give their team a silly name - we were the Italian Stallions and the Running Fillies. Our family is especially proud of our Italian heritage and thought the name to be very fitting.

Our team of twelve - all but one person comprised of extended family members - have been training all year for the relay which was held this past weekend. We started very early in the chilly morning at 5:45 A.M. - let the fun begin!

Cassidy pinning on our team number #599 to her dads reflective vest at the start of the relay.

 As I was running my last leg ( my other two legs were 6.8 miles and 5 miles), 7.7 miles up Jordonelle Dam, I was thinking to  myself, I actually paid for this torture and flew around the world to run in this insane running relay ? Am I crazy ? Grumbling all the way to top, up over every continuous hill, one after the other, but wait, as soon as I climbed the last hill and saw the finish line for my last leg, all the grumbling stopped and I picked up my speed, racing to the exchange to slap the relay wrist band on my daughter, Cassidy, who was the next runner. We exchanged the wrist band and off she went. I was so proud of myself - I did it - I ran all three legs and was done. Yippee !

I had said earlier - no more Ragnar Relays - this is my last ! Well that comment did not last long. How quickly we forget pain and misery ( it is a lot like giving birth - once you hold your baby you forget the pain associated with getting the baby here). As soon as our entire team met our last runner, my daughter, Taeler, and ran into the stadium for our victory lap as a team, giving hugs and high fives for a job well done, guess what ? You got it, we were already talking about signing up for the Ragnar Relay in 2013.

Taeler running into her exchange at Snow Basin and Uncle Jim giving a high five.

 What !? Had we not learned anything ? Did we not remember that all of us had not eaten and slept in the last two days ? That every muscle on our bodies ached, especially our legs and knees ? Didn't we look and feel exhausted ? Didn't we hate using the port-a- pottys called Honey Buckets?

Did the words actually come out of my mouth - " that was so fun, lets do it again next year"? I must have been delirious !!

We did a great job as a family and out of 1200 teams, finished 530 overall in the coed division. I am so proud of my family, not only the runners, but also our volunteers, which were my parents, daughter, Ansley and the drivers, Shawn and Jim. It was a whole family effort and we did it !

The girls on team #599.! We rocked it !!

Well I better start training for next years Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay, June 2013 will be here in no time !

Two Homes - Worlds Apart

It is nice to be home, back in Utah, the United States. I get to see my darling grand daughters, our adult kids, extended family and friends. The time living away in Dubai has gone fast, and in that short time there I had become accustomed to the ways of life in the UAE, settling into our new home.
The realization hit me when we stepped back into our Utah house - we have two homes and they are worlds apart !
Never thought that I would be maintaining two separate households thousands of  miles away from one another. Our home in Utah is a 4000 square foot house, with a lot of space, filled with things and too much stuff, a back yard, lawn to mow, flower beds to weed and a three car garage.

When we found out that we would be moving to Dubai for a period of time, I tried clearing the "stuff "out, giving away as much as I could to Deseret Industries and anyone else that could use it. Other than what I gave away, our house has stayed intact under the watchful eye of our daughter Ansley and son in law Shawn. When we walked through the door after flying in, it was like we had never left and we picked up were we had left off.
My friend Kelly said something very profound years ago, "The first 45 years of your life you acquire things and the second 45 years of your life you get rid of it".
Never a more truer statement !
Our home in Dubai is totally different than our Utah home. We live in a high rise apartment hotel that is very close to the beach. 

There is always a hoard of taxi's in front of our hotel apartment, in the ring of the round - a- bout. I don't think I have ever seen a taxi by my home in Utah or even in close proximity. We were on the 15th floor but recently loved to the 8th. It is @ 900 square foot, one bedroom, galley kitchen, with a wrap around balcony, lots of windows with both views of the desert and my favorite beach in Dubai, "Palace Beach". In US dollars the rent for this 900 square foot apartment would be @ $3000.00 a month. The rent is more than the cost of the mortgage on my home.
In the three months I have lived in Dubai I have not lifted a finger. The exceptional hotel apartment staff take care of our every whim and need, they have spoiled me rotten.

Our room is cleaned on a daily basis, any bag I have in tow is taken away from me and carried to my room and I very seldom ever get the opportunity to push the elevator buttons, which includes being called ma'am constantly (we have been in Utah one week and I have not been called ma'am once). I could get used to this....wait, I think I already have !
The minute we stepped out side the Utah airport, we loved the cool, low humidity air that welcomed us. As soon as we got home, we decided to go for a run in the middle of the day  and thoroughly enjoyed it, we had gone to heaven. When we left Dubai, it was on average 110 degrees with humidity being between 70 %- 80 %.  Running was horrific anytime, night or day. Training for our upcoming Ragnar relay was unbearable but had to be done. In Utah, when the sun goes down or in early morning it is cool,  comfortable. In the UAE, it is always hot, never cools at any time of day in the summer. In fact at night it seems to get warmer and the humidity goes up. Figure that one out ? ! The summers in Dubai can get extremely hot and can top out in the 120's during July or August, with the humidity making it stifling and miserable. Between the months of October and April the weather in the UAE is perfect and amazing. So a few bad months, makes the others all worth it.
There is wide open space in Utah, and even though it is a desert, every thing is green and  plush. In Dubai, you see some grass, flowers and palms, in fact, they do an excellent job turning a sandy desert into paradise, but sand is everywhere. It is in the parking lots, on the side of the roads, in the gardens, on your shoes and feet, blowing constantly which sometimes creates a sandy haze in the air. You cannot get away from the sand, you just learn to live with it. Your car always has a fine layer of sand on it and inside of it.
When we went to the gas station for the first time when back in Utah, Jeff and I sat in our car waiting for the gas attendants ( like they have in Dubai) to fill our tanks and wash all of our windows. But after a few minutes we looked at each other and said, "lets flip a coin on which one of us would have to actually get out of the car and put in the gas". Thank goodness I won! But wait, Jeff didn't wash the windows...
The gas is a lot cheaper in Dubai than in Utah. When we filled our car in Utah it was $55.35, at 3.69 a gallon for  regular. In Dubai, to fill the same car would have cost $18.75 at 1.25 a gallon. Quite a difference isn't it? I will take the 1.25 a gallon any day. Supposedly, the price of gas will be going down in the UAE in the very near future. Three cheers for cheap gas !!
In Dubai, luxury cars and SUV's are in abundance. Every other car is either a Porsche, Land Rover or Mercedes. In Utah, every other car you see on the roads is a van, with stickers of the its family members posted on the rear back window. Jeff and I counted them today while we were running errands. In a matter of a five minutes, as we drove down Gentile Road in Layton, we counted 26 vans. 5 minutes 26 vans....that's  a lot of vans.  Utahans love vans to haul around their big families. In Dubai, their are also big families, but the people in the UAE prefer larger SUV's, including their favorite the Chevrolet Tahoe.
Utah and Dubai do have something in common, both are driving communities. The cities in both are stretched out and you need to have transportation to get most places.
I love Utah and Dubai - both...each one unique and different from the other. Being in Utah, I miss the call to prayer that is broadcast 5 times daily all over the city of Dubai. I also miss the smells of the middle east and being different among all the millions of people that live in the UAE. In Utah, I am like everyone else, we all look the same. You may not think so, but we do. There are few differences among the people here.
I do love the comforts of home, being around family and familiarity that comes with Utah. It is easy for me to be comfortable and complacent here. It is easy for me to get stuck in a rut and not deviate from the norm. I find the unknown of my new home exciting and scary, miss it and look forward to going back, exploring more of the city and spending time with new friends. Dubai forces me to be different, spread my wings and be adventurous.
How lucky am I to be able to experience and live in two totally different worlds, have two homes 9000 miles apart being as different as the countries they are in. I have learned home is where ever you make it, love it and live it !  

Experiencing New Things - Living !

Living in Utah, I was pretty much stuck in a rut, a lot of times unwilling to try new things or venture out of the norm. Isn't it funny how change forces you to realize or re examine things about yourself ? My husband and kids tried convincing me to be more adventurous, but I resisted.
Being is a different country, has helped or should I say "shoved" me out of my comfort box, to be more adventurous and try new and different things - things I would have never done in Utah. Sometimes you don't have a lot of choice, which has helped give me the extra push.
"Would you like to get henna ?" "Why not," I said. Our new emirate friends were going to take Taeler and I to their personal salon,  assisting us in getting henna. It is natural and deprived from plants, but the henna, when applied to your skin can last for weeks, months. Henna on arms, hands, feet, legs, etc, is a very common site in the UAE and dates back to prehistoric times. They apply henna for special occasions, such as weddings, or just for decoration. The intricate designs are very beautiful and delicate.

The woman from Pakistan applying the henna is well known among the Emirates to be a very good henna artist. We had an in !My hand design took 30 minutes and cost 30 dirhams (@ 8 US dollars). Taeler's was more intricate. She did both hands, and her henna cost 60 dirhams (@ 16 US dollars). Very cheap and inexpensive for what was done.

At tourist traps around Dubai, they will charge anywhere from 150 - 600 dirhams (@ 45.00 - 150.00 US dollars ) for the same designs we got on our hands. Luckily were able to get henna applied where the locals go. We were the only westerners in the salon and we loved it.

To live in Dubai, you need to put to bed any fears you have about food. There is so much diversity and always opportunity to experience foods that you have never tried or tasted before. Custom also has it, if you turn down food or don't accept an invitation to dine, it can cause offense to that person and their family. So you sit down, eat and enjoy! Many times the person or family will watch you eat, waiting for comments on how the food tastes. If you say you like it, they dish you up more to eat. 
If you don't try some of the small, quaint and authentic restaurants in the older section of the city,Satwa, Bur Dubai, Karma, Deira, etc., you would never eat the best food cooked in the city or see the quirky signs like the one below. These signs are posted at the Indian Restaurant, Venus, in Karma.  Hmmm...can't you just imagine the sound that they are referring to?
BTW - these signs are out in and visible in the public dining areas of the restaurant.

Indian, Lebanese, Emirate, Philippine, Turkish, etc.,.. food from countries that I have never eaten before and guess what, it is delicious. I like it. A little spicy, but they know all the tricks and secrets to help sooth the spicy burn and share it with you immediately. Plain yogurt is served with all meals and supposedly soothes the stomach.

I have learned to ignore - it's hard- the age of the buildings, the rat traps strategically placed out by the front door and the lack of cleanliness in the restaurants, focusing only on the food.

Now it was my turn, I have been sharing some American classics with a few people in Dubai, specifically baked goods and pasta dishes. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the Pakistan security guards, Nepalese and Bangladesh bell hops at our hotel apartment and they went crazy over them, so I keep making more. I have introduced a few of them to peanut butter and now they are hooked. It is funny how baked goods can make people happy, especially cookies. Who doesn't like an ooey gooey cookie ?! 

I have ridden camels, hail cabs on my own all the time and travel around the city, learning Arabic (never thought I could learn a different language ), barter with the souks and am willing to try just about anything else that is different from what I am used to.

Why did I wait so long to become adventurous ? It is about time I got out of my box and live!