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 !
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.
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.
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 !
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