What I'll Miss #6

I am having a hard time being grateful today--probably because I had to go to work. It was so crappy of a day that the opportunity to make all the music choices failed to lift my spirits. (Though I imagine my mood would be a kajillion times worse if I had to listen to that "Have a Baby By Me" trash and all of its cousins that attempts to call itself music. I digress.) I left work so tired that I didn't even want to work out. (But I did, I have jeans to look good in, you know.)

I have a gym membership at Fitness First--a gym that costs an awful lot of money for not very much equipment, classes, and uplifting lighting. I tried to quit in November, but then realized that I needed an outlet to see more people than just those that I work with. So I continue to go, even though the weather has been too nice to workout in a bland, dimly-lit gym.

However, once or twice a week (when I end up staying at work late) I work out at the beach. Sweet, huh? The beach near the bakery has a cushiony running trail that is about 1400 meters long. That's about .8 miles. It's not a very long trail, obviously, but walking/running that length 2-3 times makes for a worthy cupcake-burning workout. (Actually, I'm trying not to eat cupcakes at work. I've been doing pretty good. And no, I haven't taken any home.)

Plus, the view couldn't be better. I am not referring to Australian surfers, although that would be nice. The Gulf only gets good waves when it's windy. Most of the beachcombers are Middle Eastern or Filipino. I love watching the waves (no matter the size) come crashing into the sand. In the distance I can see the Burj al Arab, the World islands, various ships, and on a clear day I can see the Atlantis Hotel.

Usually I am there in time for a pretty nice sunset. Now, I know that you are thinking that Dubai is on the wrong side of the Gulf to have the sun set into the water, but because of all the money in the region they bought out the sun and told it to set over the Gulf and not the desert. Haha, not really, but it almost seems likely. The shape of the country and the situation of Dubai somehow manages a water sunset. And it is quite lovely, naturally.

One of these days I may actually put on that bathing suit that I have only worn once and go swimming or something resembling that. Until then, it will be my escape from crappy days at work.

Deliberations

Due to the uplifting encouragements of my good friend Toria, I have officially purchased my first pair of skinny jeans. Thanks to the excellent prices of the Dubai Shopping Festival, I was able to get a pair of tight pants for around $40.00, otherwise I would not have given into the peer pressure. Didn't I tell you Dubai was the place to do some shopping?

I would post a picture, but I am still deciding whether or not this new purchase will enhance or destroy my already fragile self-esteem. So far I feel positive, but that may change one that PMS-time rolls around.

So why did I get them? Well, it's time to update my wardrobe. When I was in London, I realized that I have been quite frumpy as of late. (If you can imagine it, in the presence of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York I wore oversized khakis, a baggy charcoal sweater, and a grey t-shirt. In the words of Tim Gunn: "Egads!") I can probably give several reasons for my bland wardrobe, but sufficeth to say it's time to feel better about myself and fashion is a good way to start. So is laying off the treats at work and going to the gym five days a week.

Retail therapy was a blast. I bought more than just the jeans, and could've happily purchased more. However I didn't buy that totally awesome blue/green Mulberry bag that was on sale for a mere 4000 dirhams. (That's about $1000--the equivalent of my rent.) I just drooled and started accepting applications for my future rich husband. Spread the word.

"Will look good in skinny jeans for Mulberry bag."

What I'll Miss #5

Alternatively titled: Yet another blog post with a video clip.

I've already posted my frustration about the music I am forced to listen to at the bakery, however there is at least one day a week when I win the music war: Mondays...aka the other icer's day off. Even though this day usually means more work for me, I am actually closer to being happy to be at work than on any other day of the week because I get to listen to my iPod, my podcasts, and the radio station I like.

Radio stations can be rather frustrating. Usually we listen to the Virgin radio station, which I am not making this up, plays the same songs every hour including the all-request segment. Seriously, some record company is shelling out the big bucks to get these songs played at least 24 times a day. And it goes without saying that all the songs are crap. (Grain of salt warning: you all should no by know that I may be a tad picky about my music choices.) Lady Gaga and Beyonce may be growing on me but it doesn't mean that I want to hear their music All. Day. Long.

When I get to choose, I turn the dial to Dubai 92 which is a pretty enjoyable radio station. My praise sounds rather underwhelming, but perhaps it will be better when they stop playing all those horrible songs Rob Thomas keeps singing. Even though I may not like all of the songs they play, they at least play variety. And interspersed with the mediocre tunes they will play songs that I really, really like....for the most part. There is a serious Camera Obscura, Ryan Adams, Andrew Bird, and Travis deficiency in the programming (to name a few artists. I could send them my iPod for assistance).

So why will I miss them? They have very entertaining presenters. The morning show hosts Catboy and his wife Geordiebird are very funny and personable. I think they would be fun to hang out with. I am actually a little embarrassed to admit this, but for a while I was mildly convinced that we were already friends. They had commissioned the bakery to do a cake for Geordiebird's 30th birthday, and a few weeks later we sent a cake for Junk Food Day. So emails were exchanged and I kind of felt like I had finally made some friends. (Pathetic alert!!) I have other friends now, so I have stopped daydreaming about the time we are properly introduced at Dubai Mall or some sort of event. Yes, there is a giant "L" on my forehead.

Even though I have bemoaned a lack of some of my favorite bands in the music line-up, I give them total props for including musicians and songs that I probably would have never discovered on my own--the A-ha song I blogged about for example. I know I am not going to hear this gem in the states:

For the record, if Dubai 92 wanted to play this song every hour I wouldn't complain.

P.S. I am now in the market for some good red lipstick.

What I'll Miss #4

What girl out there doesn't like to shop? What girl out there doesn't like an excellent deal on beautiful items? I think I am one of those girls. I must admit, sometimes lately, I haven't enjoyed shopping too much. Mostly because my "shopping" consists of looking longingly at things that I can neither afford or fit (curse those cupcakes!!). So I have been avoiding this predominately feminine past time because it kind of depresses me. However, when I was invited to do some shopping at Global Village with some ladies at church I didn't think twice about joining them.

I will miss Global Village. Probably a lot.

Global Village is almost like a fair or carnival complete with rides and gigantic lollipops, but it also has pavilions with vendors from all over the world: Philippines, Pakistan, Yemen, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Canada, India, etc. Hence the name Global Village.

Most ladies, myself included, were only focused on one particular country: China. None of us were in the market for cheap electronics. Rather, we all wanted to get real pearls at ridiculously low prices. I came looking for blue-grey pearls to match a pair of earrings that my grandma gave me after my twentieth birthday. The first vendor we visited unfortunately didn't have any the color I needed. I was a bit upset because our gathering organizer had a pretty good relationship with this particular vendor and was able to negotiate even better deals. Luckily for me, someone from our party had another favorite pearl vendor and we headed over there. As luck would have it, he had a nice strand of pearls that we were able to negotiate down to 300 dirhams ($82.00). Now, these are not Mikimoto-perfect pearls, but they are real and they are really pretty.

The next and sadly last stop for me and a couple of others was the India Pavilion. I could have unloaded a lot of cash in this area with all the lovely pashminas and other textiles.

One of my friends, an interior designer, found some beautiful Kashmir rugs and a rocking-elephant for her apartment. While she was busy paying, I fell in love with another Kashmir rug that I just couldn't walk away from.

This rug is a little different than what you are probably imaging about rugs from this region of the world. My mom has a woven (wool and cotton) Turkish rug that is very typical, and incredibly lovely. This rug that I found, however, is embroidered in wool instead of woven. I am not sure if this picture shows off the stitching:

Anywhoo...you can find rugs like this at Anthropologie, but will have to pay handsomely. I once again paid 300 dirhams for this. Such a good deal, I may just have to go back and get some more. I almost like this style a little better than they traditional flying-carpet woven rugs. I certainly like the price. The vendor with the most beautiful silk rugs was selling his for $3000.00. Wow. (His clientele included luxury hotels and former U.S. Presidents.)

I was a little bummed that I only saw a brief smidgeon of Global Village, but fortunately my friends tend to make multiple trips so I should be able to go back a few times before the whole place shuts down on February 27th.

Please contact me with all shopping lists, and payment methods. Because I know you all want a good deal.

What I'll Miss Installment #3

Lately I have been trying to reduce my television viewing time to incorporate more reading time. Additionally, I realized that besides Oprah and the few fortuitous moments I come across a Criminal Minds episode that they haven't aired already (I swear they only show that one episode where Reed gets held hostage and addicted to heroine) there really isn't much worth watching. But I still found myself watching the dumb stuff anyway. Like The Doctors.

Unfortunately I couldn't watch the two things I really wanted to watch: late night movies and Turkish telenovelas. The best shows always come on around midnight. For some reason Arabs tend to stay up really late, and so programmers have learned that they will probably have more viewers for Legally Blond at 1:00am as opposed to a decent time like 7:30. I have to be in bed by 10:30 otherwise I cannot function the next day. Sometimes I have a heard time staying up that late.

The Turkish Telenovelas come on around 10:00pm after Oprah, and I really want to watch one. I don't avoid them because of time; they actually aren't in English. They aren't in Turkish either. Rather they are dubbed in Arabic, but have no English subtitles. (English-language programs are subtitled in Arabic.) So I don't get to watch the shows--I can only be mesmerized by their commercials.

So that is what I will miss about the Middle East--the advertisements for the Turkish Telenovelas. Every commercial break during Oprah has an ad for one of the two shows that currently plays. (Like any good telenovela, the show is only about 1 season long and a new one comes on about every two months.)

So you may be wondering how it is that an Arabic-dubbed program can capture my attention by only a mere commercial. Television ads don't influence me as much as Madison Avenue would like them too. (Case in point: no feminine hygiene commercial will ever convince me that I want to twirl during That-Time-Of-The-Month. Why do all feminine hygiene commercials involve twirling? The only way that makes sense is if by "twirling' they actually mean "round-house kicking the people who annoy you.") Back to Turkish Telenovelas. For these programs I am 100% turned into the fabulous choice of music they use for the commercials. It was a "had me at hello" fascination when someone at the MBC television station chose an Aimee Man song ("Wise Up"). I didn't know too much about James Morrison prior to the commercials, and I can now confess to loving this song:

I have heard a few other songs whose performers I have yet to discover, but let me tell you I don't turn down the T.V. volume to read during commercial breaks, like I do during feminine hygiene adverts. I turn the volume up and enjoy the good music.

What I'll Miss Installment #2

Well I was hoping to post a bit more in between installments...maybe tonight.

Thursday night I headed to Dubai Mall to catch one of the latest flicks. The nice thing about blockbuster movies is that they come to Dubai around the same time as they are released stateside. That's a real blessing because who wants to wait an additional six months for New Moon? Haha. Unfortunately, movies that I really want to see like An Education, Bright Star and 500 Days of Summer take their sweet little time in arriving.

While deciding what to see at Dubai Mall, I came across the trailer for a film playing in the cinema's Picturehouse Theatre: Cold Souls. Have you heard of this movie? I hadn't. The Picturehouse is a mildly swanky viewing room (less so than, say, the Gold Class Cinemas or Platinum Class at the Dubai mall), which doesn't allow eating (they do, however, need to work on the "no cell phones" rule), and it only plays independent or limited release films.

I could have watched Avatar, Sherlock Holmes or Princess and the Frog, but instead I chose Cold Souls and I am very glad I did. In this film Paul Giamatti plays himself, and being weighed down by some darkness in his soul, he decides to have it removed and stored. When he realizes he wants it back, he has to go to Russia to retrieve it. I'm leaving out details because I really want you to see it. The film, costarring David Strathairn and Emily Watson, mixes comedy and drama with just a hint of absurdity; the result is quite lovely.

I will miss The Picturehouse. As much as I like a nice, mindless blockbuster, I appreciate films that are unique and at times slightly odd. I need a good unpredictable story, and sometimes those films are the ones that are released to a limited number of theatres. When I am home in Spokane I may not even hear about these films, let alone see them.

I will not miss the dumb teenagers who come in late (giggling), take phone calls (loudly), and then leave the film early (giggling).

What I'll Miss...

It's always a tricky thing to come up with one resolves to do for a full year, and let's be honest I don't think I have ever been successful with any of my resolutions. But each year, like most of you, I still have a burning need to resolve to do something to improve myself. Most of the time it is to eat less sugar. (I still have that one for 2010, but won't really take it too seriously until I no longer work in a bakery.)

The past months I noticed that I have a tendency to complain about things...mostly my job and where I live...or rather how my job inhibits my ability to enjoy where I live. It seems like we have been talking a lot about gratitude at church, and I realized that I could do with a more thankful attitude. So, here is one of my resolutions: once a week I have to write about something I am grateful for. Since I will also be leaving Dubai shortly, I am turning it into "What I Will Miss" so I can continue to share things about Dubai, and more particularly, the things that have lifted my spirits while I've been here.

So here it is. Installment numero uno:

I will miss the people at church. In later posts I will probably highlight specific people, but today I want to show my gratitude for the opportunity to mingle with such an international crowd. With both Dubai congregations combined, we really do represent the four corners of the earth. After a brief survey of the crowd for our Christmas activity, I noted that we had representation from every continent, excepting Antarctica of course. It is really something to behold.

Alongside the sheer joy of being with such an eclectic crowd (seriously, where else am I going to be able to meet people from Sri Lanka, Greece, and Columbia all in the same evening without attending an Olympic sporting event?), I think the real beauty is getting to see the world through their eyes. I think being surrounded by people with the same types of education, religious thoughts, hobbies, interests, and culture we forget that there may actually be people out there who are indeed different. That comment sounds a little blaise, (is that the word I want), but I am looking for words to express what I mean. I think we all know that we can learn from the differences in other people, maybe I am grateful for those small things that I do end up learning from people of different cultures.

In my branch we have sweet lady from Swaziland. Today she was teaching about love, service and charity and she shared experiences from her homeland. She talked about a friend that has adopted 17 children who have lost both of their parents to the AIDS epidemic that is sweeping that part of Africa. I am not really sure why it is that her stories touched my heart so deeply, but I was inspired to do better and to seek out opportunities to give more service. Maybe I can't provide gifts to thousands of orphans at Christmastime, but there is someone out there that I can provide a service to.

So that's what I'll miss: being surrounded by people of other cultures who inspire me to do better.