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