Eid Mubarak and Happy Holidays!

Eid Mubarak and Happy Holidays to you all! I know it has been a long time since I wrote last, but I promise I won't let it go so long next time.

It is hard to say what has happened and what hasn't in the last month or so, I feel like things have gone by so quickly, I haven't had time to think, let alone write here. Please forgive me!

I have said it before and I will continue to say it now, Dubai is a very interesting place. On a daily basis I am: amused, frustrated, excited, awed, and pleasured by what I see and hear in this country. It is truly a melting pot on people where, black meets white, brown meets yellow, and blue meets green. This place would be a sociologist dream, really it would. --- Where is Rin when you need her?

Let us start by talking about work: work is work! I know, I know, boring right? Not so much when you work in PR. Day-to-day stuff is always different and it goes by very quickly, which is nice, though exhausting sometimes. As a wise woman once said, "you don't get ahead by the normal 9 – 5." – love you Suzie!

In the last few months I have learned a lot about the PR industry and how it works, I think I like it... We, my PR firm, just did a big event for a Microfinance Organization here in Dubai and it was a great success! We were happy, the client was happy, the people were happy, and the media ate it up! It was glorious. Now that it is all over things come to a crawl here in Dubai for the month of December.

{You can read about the organization here: http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081207/BUSINESS/387973895
This article appeared just a few days after the event. The reporter, I met and have been in contact with on several occasions and wrote a really nice story. Enjoy.}

We had "National Day" on the 2nd of December, which is their 4th of July, and then we had Eid alAdha, which is the Muslim holiday remembering Abraham's devotion to God and his willingness to sacrifice his son for Him. Here, they don’t group the holidays like they do in the States; the holiday is when it is. So, if it falls on a Tuesday, we work Sunday, Monday, have Tuesday off, and then return to work Wednesday and Thursday. It is kind of nice sometimes because we get breaks in the middle of the week and that is always nice!

Most of the pictures here are from my neighborhood, "JBR." I think it is one of the best places to live in Dubai, I really like it… and I am close to my girlfriend, an added bonus. It’s an amazing area with shops and cafes, similar to 3rd Street in Santa Monica. Most nights, I will go down for a walk and go back and forth once or twice, people watching. It is probably about a mile in length, so I mean, it makes for a decent walk. The weather at night now is SO FANTASTIC! Cool, breezy, maybe 70 or so, and being right on the beach, you can't beat that! I unquestionably love where I live!

Lets see, what else, I still don't feel like I belong in Dubai, but I am starting to think no one does at this point, not for any bad reason, but no one is really from here. Everyone that I have met is from somewhere else; they call somewhere else home, as do I. California is home, born and raised! Not corn-fed, more like hummus-fed! (With a side of kibbeh) J --- Oh, before I forget, can someone tell Tete that I need the recipe for Fool; I really want some, for some strange reason.

Anyway, I have babbled enough for now… OH, totally forgot. My housing situation: I found a new place and I hope you all are sitting down. It's a master bedroom on the 26th or so floor with views of the desert and most of Dubai. It is pretty stellar. Once I move in, I will post pictures.

I love and miss you all. Keep your thoughts and prayers coming…emails too!

Ever try to get directions in the Middle East?

I had to go to Deira, which is "old Dubai," for those who don't know. What an experience that was. Streets have no signs, no one obeys any sort of traffic order, and if you plan to go there anytime after 12:00 pm, forget it, you're not getting out of there for another 3 hours because the traffic is that bad.  I had to go see a supplier for some design layout stuff and to make a long story short, I had to make a day of it because, well, no one wants to give you proper directions.  What else is new? 

 

Just Finished Week 6

Pictures (From Top to Bottom:) Burj Al Arab (the only 7-Star Hotel in the world,) a picture from my desk of the rest of the office, the drive to work, incomplete metro station right outside the office, more of the drive to work, my neighborhood, The Gold and Diamond Park a.k.a. My office. Enjoy! 

Dear All, 

Can you believe it? I have now been in Dubai for 6 weeks! I finally got my visa and next week I actually get a bank account... As small as it might seem, it is very exciting. 

إن شاء ألله (God Willing.)

Not a whole lot has been happening out this way. Slow and lazy weekends are the norms around here, as working a lot during the week is pretty status quo.

Halloween in Dubai was interesting (I seem to use that word a lot here.) My girlfriend and I were invited to a party in another apartment building around the block, so we checked it out for a little bit, but prior to that I had to get a costume... leave it to me to let things go to the last minute. (No comments from the peanut gallery)

Lets just say it has been a long time since I dressed up for halloween, a solid 8 years or so... I had NO clue what to wear, so I thought it would be a good idea to go as Clark Kent/Superman...one problem, COULDN'T FIND A SUPERMAN T-SHIRT ANYWHERE. I searched high and low, went to every store in the Mall of the Emirates, but no luck, not to mention that every other person in Dubai was at the mall the same time I was. Serious, I have never seen this many people in one place at one time, IN MY LIFE! I kid you not, everyone and their mother's uncle was at the mall at 21:00 on a Friday night. No Joke!

My idea was to wear a shirt, tie and slacks with a superman t-shirt under it. Simple, to the point. So, the t-shirt thing didn't work out too well, so I decided to go to Plan-B. Plan-B = panic mode. I had no clue what to do, nothing to wear, and a party to be at 15 minutes ago. My girl friend and I decided to take a glance into the toy store and voila, Superman Paper Plates!

You guessed it, I improvised! So, here's what I did. Mom, you would be proud... The superman plates that I found were large enough to cut out and use as a superman symbol to put on my t-shirt... so, I cut out the symbol, taped it on to a white t-shirt and went as superman/ Clark Kent. I wore the unbuttoned dress shirt and slacks and poof, I was Clark Kent.
---

I was assigned a few more clients this week! Three to be exact, it should be a lot of fun, but a lot more work. I welcome the challenge! 

---

Please enjoy the pictures. Just a little FYI: All of Dubai is under construction! Dad, you would have a field day. The "Gold and Diamond Park" is my office. I work on the second floor where there are office buildings, the ground floor is, like the title suggests, gold and diamonds. There is also one of the Burj Al Arab - The "only" 7-Star Hotel in the world. I haven't been inside yet as you need an "appt." but I heard it is over the top and really not worth it... too gaudy. I will go eventually, but I am not in a rush. I'll take some photos.

---

What other fun and exciting things do I have to tell you all? Well, one interesting piece of information: when you have a car accident in Dubai, you are to remain at the scene, the place, the exact location, of the accident until the police arrive. No matter where it happened, in the middle of the street, next to a gas station, blocking traffic, you need to stay put. This is what happened at the mall the night of Halloween: two people got into an accident in the parking lot (probably trying to rush to the same spot,) blocked traffic, and had to wait for the police... Some the the rules and regulations here, MAKE NO SENSE! Why block traffic? If you can move the cars out of the way, do it! Right? WRONG not in Dubai.... so stupid. 

Also, my girlfriend and went to The Atlantis Hotel again last night and got to walk around the whole thing. The theme "Atlantis" was taken too far. It was gross, it wasn't even classy.  :( Oh well, sad day... There are only 3,000 more hotels to visit before I leave Dubai.  

I miss you all very much and there is not a day that goes by where I don't think about sunny CA. I hope all is well!

Teta - I love you أد عيوني (Ed ayouni) and I miss you so much!

Peace and Blessings to you all!

brandon

End of Week Four - One month in Dubai

Dubai, UAE - Today the UAE government announced that it was going to change the road signs and not bother to tell its people. Following multiple road closures and sign changes, Brandon Hess, an Account Executive at Borouj Consulting, got fed up sitting in traffic, put his car in park, and decided, if he couldn't beat them, join them. :) 

---ends---

This week has a hard week for me. We had a client in town to attend the largest IT convention in the Middle East, GITEX, and there was a lot of running around to do and long days. Clocking just about 60 hours this week, I am currently enjoying a cup of coffee on my balcony of my 14th story apartment, thinking about CA and the beach! Oh how I miss the beach in the U.S.  

GITEX was very interesting... There were people in town from all over the region, all the major companies were here showing their latest gadgets, and I still can't get over the amount of traffic. Work is starting to become second nature, I am starting, just starting, to get the hang of the PR industry and how it works and I think I like it! 

Also this week I went to the PUBLIC hospital to get my medical section of my visa taken care of, [WARNING: THIS SECTION MIGHT BE GRAPHIC TO SOME READERS,] and I don't think I have ever witness anything like this ever. Let me paint a little picture for you -  

We, the driver Anoosh and I, arrived at Maktoum Hospital, parked in the all-dirt parking lot, around 15:00 in the afternoon, he took me there because it was in old Dubai and I probably would have got lost if I drove my self. Thank God for Anoosh! 

Anyway, after going from one building to another to get papers signed and so forth, we went in to the room where there was a cue of 500 (NO JOKE) Indian and Pakistani workers getting their blood work done as well! The room smelled of sour fermenting grapes and I nearly wanted to vomit. It was so bad. We asked how long the cue was and the man, dressed in all white behind the counter said, 4 hours. I didn't lose my cool, said ok, took a seat and relaxed a little... for awhile. 

Well, two hours waiting and I started to get a little antsy. I told Anoosh that I had to run to the restroom and would be back shortly. I kid you not, when I say the restroom was DISGUSTING! This is a hospital we are talking about, a hospital! There was fecal matter in places other than the toilet, no running water, a bucket next to the WHOLE IN THE GROUND toilet, you name it was gross. Needless to say, I lost any appetite that I may have had, did my business, and left. 

Upon returning to Anoosh he said the wait was going to be longer because there was a mix-up or something and they had to recall some numbers to give blood. I started to lose it at this point. Well, 4.5 hours later, I finally gave my blood and thought that I was in the clear and could go home, guess again! NOT! The man who not so gently took my blood said, "Follow the green line for x-ray." I nearly lost it! 

We followed the green line to the x-ray room.  See for visas here you either have to give blood to test for HIV, Hep-B, etc. or give a chest x-ray, or both. I had to do both because apparently a few days ago they changed the rules (AGAIN) and said that all first-time visa holders had to do this. So, I went and got another number... 889. When we got there they were only calling 530. I lost my cool, nearly had a nervous breakdown, and went for a walk... during this whole time Anoosh was a trooper, he was telling me that for his last 10 years in Dubai he has never seen anything this bad. We decided to go to the mall and come back in a few hours. (at least we had that luxury... all the workers were brought in by busses and couldn't leave) 

We sat in Starbucks, yes Starbucks, for 3 hours then went back to the Hospital... and waited another 2 hours for my chest x-ray. 

Finally, at almost 01:00 we finished. For one vile of blood and one chest x-ray later, I waited for about 10 hours! Thank God I never have to do that again. 

On a happy note, my girlfriend and I went to the Atlantis Hotel last night for a bottle of, well-needed, red wine. It was amazing there. This weekend marks 6 months! :) We walked around a little bit, enjoyed our time together, and check things out. I promise I will post pictures to come tomorrow. 

I miss you all! Please e-mail soon! bmh. 

Dubai - Week Three

Dubai, what can I say, it is now closing on three weeks and I think I am finding my groove. Things are falling into place, my room is coming together (I still can't find a area rug,) and the commute to work is not all that bad. I will have to say the first week and a half of work was really hard; I felt really overwhelmed and the, "Oh shit, am I really here?" was kind of looming over my head. All those emotions/feelings have past and I am really starting to enjoy work, enjoy Dubai, minus the heat and humidity.

We got a new person at work, his name is Ali and he works under me... which is nice to have a little help. He is fresh out of college and pretty intelligent, best part about it, is that he has been in Dubai for awhile and hold me a bunch of stuff I needed to know. :) You could say I am using him but, I don't like to talk like that :)

I am settling in to my apartment: my roommates are never home and this makes for a quiet place to relax with my girlfriend. After working a long day in the PR industry, it is nice to have a place where I can go and not hear noise, people talking about clients, clients screaming in your ear about a stupid invitations or programs that need to be printed, or women talking about the lastest fashion trends [I work in an office of all women minus Ali, of course.] It is a great place where we can just sit, relax, and enjoy each other. 

On a final note, I noticed that everything here is open much later than the States. I can go to the Market or  Dry Cleaner at 22:00 worry about it being closed... it's amazing! I really like it actually because I find myself working much longer than in the States and I still have a life to live. 

For now, that is all. I plan to go around town this weekend and take a bunch of pictures so that I can show you all the real Dubai, if there is such a thing, nonetheless  take some  cool photos of all the crazy stuff I see around Dubai. 

Dubai - Week Two

So, in one weeks time, I have managed to rent a car, find a flat to share, and witness first-hand what Dubai traffic is like. 

Anyway, I rented a car, it is nothing special, but a car nonetheless. I am mobile! Dubai is an amazing city to drive in because it makes no sense whatsoever. Lanes merge into other lanes that turn into the side of the road, cars speeding past you in ever which direction, then you have me, in a Nissan Tiida, yes, I said Tiida. Never heard of it? Don't worry about it, join the club. 

Traffic here is out of this world. No wonder why my boss recommend I live close to work! The day I had to go pick up my car, our driver from work took me down to the place where I was suppose to pick up the car, he dropped me off, and asked if I was going to be okay getting back to the office? I told him, that I would be fine and if I got lost I would just call him. (His name is Anoosh, by the way... he's a nice guy) I rented the car and started to make my way back to work... opps, BIG MISTAKE. I started driving and then soon realized that I was stuck in a traffic jam due to a convention called, "City Scape." I went .2 km in one hour!!! .2!!! For all you non-metric system people, that is approx. .1 mile. :( Needless to say, I was not happy. I called work when I realized that I wasn't going to make it back in a timely fashion [they were really cool with it] and said I might be A LOT longer! I told them I was stuck in traffic and they acted like it was no big deal. When I got back to the office, I nearly had a cow. They laughed, and said, "welcome to Dubai Brandon." HAHA, very funny. . . . 

moving on. did a little looking around and saw some cool stuff. (pictures below.) but the best part of the week was finding an apartment. I live 20mins from work with medium to light traffic! It is in an amazing location. I love it. I am also really close to my girlfriend. I could walk to her house if I wanted.  I am sharing a flat on the 14Th floor of this building with a view of the sea and Dubai Marina. It is really nice.

Furthermore, my week has been pretty cray with work and stuff... I am finally just starting to settling in to Dubai... i just might like it here after all ! :) More to come soon, Peace and love to all of you. BH

"Old Town" Dubai... kind of a cool place. 

The Burj Al Arab - 7 star hotel! 

The tallest building in the world! 

Approaching The First Day of Work

So, the apartment didn't work out so well. I think the guys that I were dealing with were trying to pull a fast one on me. I wasn't comfortable with taking the place, so my apartment hunt continues... oh joy! (sarcasm)  

I am really ready to be settled, but can't yet, still living out of my suitcases. I am going to go rent a car today, so at least I will be mobile. It is also still really warm and humid here, but I'm slowly getting used to it all. 

I went to "old town" Dubai yesterday, which was really interesting, though when we got there everything was closed, so we couldn't really look around too much. [besides the fact that it was way too hot!] 

Other then that, things are status quo in Dubai. Eid is over and life is slowly returning to normal. Work starts Sunday morning... yes, I said Sunday morning. The work week over here is Sunday - Thursday. That will take a little getting used to. A few times already I have caught myself saying I am starting work on Mond... err.... Sunday. :) You get the point. 

More to come soon... signing off for now. Peace and Blessings to you all. BH

This picture above, is the new "Atlantis Hotel." We tried to go to it, but the traffic was too bad so we turned around and came home. Do a google search and you will find some pretty amazing photos. Mom and Dad, you need to stay here! (It is located at the end of the "palm") 

Dubai - Week One

Well, I finally made it to Dubai. The trip was uneventful, just extremely long. I am very glad to be here and just now am I starting to settle in. 

I have been here five days now and everything is almost the way I imagined it. Men driving BIG Mercedes-Benz' wearing all white, women dressed head to toe, in black with only their eyes showing, but on the flip-side you have Arabs dressed in Western garb, or better yet people from all over the world speaking 1,000 languages in the Mall... On that note, The Mall of the Emirates is HUGE, I think it is the largest in the world, though they are building one bigger right next to it, which should be opened soon. This one has the indoor ski-slope...amazing... You need anything, go to the mall! There are Super Markets, Clothing Stores, Pharmacies (our CVS' or Rite Aid's,) you name it they have it. 

I still haven't seen a whole lot, but please find above a few pictures to get you started. I will post more next week.

Update on settling in: got an apartment on the 36th floor (pictures will come next week,) have a cell, but just no car yet... that is soon to come in the next few days. 

Dubai is a very interesting place. I think I am going to like it here. Stay in touch. BH  

 

One down, one to go.

At 4:20am (no comments from the peanut gallery) this morning I put my girlfriend on a plane to Dubai... I will be there in four weeks...and counting.

I am almost ready to go, but let me tell you this, IT IS A LOT OF WORK MOVING OVERSEAS! Dealing with the US gov't alone, is a headache in itself. It took almost one week just to get a document certified. Can you believe that? Then it took another week just to get it validated by the U.A.E. Embassy, here in DC. I am telling you, I don't wish this on anyone.

Lets just say I have been overwhelmed these last few weeks and I have had a lot on my mind. Most nights, when I say most nights, I mean all nights, I lay in bed wondering what I have to do "tomorrow." Then, when I roll over, the clock says 3:26am... or something similar. Stress is evil. Nuff said.

Anyways, back to the girlfriend. Like I said, I put her on a plane this morning and as I type she is flying to NYC - - - then Dubai. She'll get in around midnight, eastern time. Me, on the other hand, will attempt to sell my car, drop off dry cleaning, clean house, play chef, start to pack, eat, go to the gym, and anything else I can think of to stay busy. I will miss her.

More to come... stay tuned.

Almost There...

In less than six weeks I will be moving to Dubai. I want you all to check this site as much as possible to see what is going on in my new adventure. I promise to update as much as possible and keep you all informed... and if you're lucky you might even get some photos. Thank you all for your love and support. ~bmh