Littles Dance

A wee tidbit from last year. This is the ballet that two of the five year olds did. It was adorable. They worked very hard on it.

Traveling and a Note

My impression of Dubai is that I could totally live here, I’ll grant you I was visiting in the middle of their winter and everyone that I talked to assured me that the summers made you wish you were in hell. My reasons for being in Dubai were purely for business. We needed to meet with a supplier about the forecasting for the next year and the marketing schemes needed to be set as well. The meeting was super super long. As in it started at 9 am and went till 4 with no breaks, and no lunch. No fun times for Jo. Also information overloads may have been involved.  It struck me at one point that was my first business trip. What struck me immediately after that was that I had forgotten my shoes. I kid you not I had to go to a negotiation in my sneakers.

Also an interesting tidbit was the meeting about the marketing schemes. We were tossing around commercial ideas and that was when I realized that yet again I was the only woman in the room. For people that want to focus on the buying power of women they are remarkably sexist. They need more women in the advertising agencies in this part of the world.

At any rate, this is going up a bit early because I am heading home for Christmas! Over the moon about it really and I am so glad that I decided to go ahead and do it. Plane tickets round trip from Iraq? $1,200  Not bad. Not bad at all.

In many ways Dubai felt like a better taken care of and more modern Amman.  I found all the spices I was missing and was in shock to see just about every single major brand in America (no exaggeration) was represented in the seemingly endless malls here. There doesn’t seem to be much of anything else to do except shop, but they do shopping very well.

I think the highlight of the trip was when we went to the fountains outside the tallest building in the world to watch the water shows. They are stunningly beautiful and set to epic Arabic music-scapes. The water is forced up so high that it sounds like gunshots when it falls back to the pool.

My company evidently maintains an apartment in Dubai. As well as a driver and car. Could have knocked me over with a feather when I discovered that but then again it was about 2 am when we landed so it wouldn’t have taken much to surprise me. This practice has some distinct advantages as this way we could make our own breakfasts and live in a place fully equipped to be actually lived in. A nice alternative to the generic hotel room scenario. Plus our Dubai office is in the building right next door. Commutes don’t get  much shorter them that.

Thanksgiving, Holidays and Home

 The above picture is of one of Haji's kids, Sonya. She is a spoiled brat of a two year old but she is really really adorable. This is a prime example of this strange habit I have discovered of giving tea to children. Babies even. Who does that? The poor thing will have no teeth left if they continue giving her tea with sugar. Yes I understand the soporific effects of hot liquid, but tea has caffeine!

 My Thanksgiving was rather sad and depressing, but there was pie! And brown sugar! Must celebrate the small victories in life. Note, this was baked in a mixing bowel as I hadn't yet found any pie plates. (Not ideal just so you know) I just acquired pie plates and I am incredibly happy about that fact. Now quiche is on the menu. I managed to give myself a wicked burn on my arm while I was baking this sucker. War wounds I tell you, war wounds.

 This is my "kitchen" such as it is. I have a refrigerator, cupboards, a microwave/convection oven and a two burner electric "stove". Makes cooking an adventure to be sure. But I manage and I would rather have something then nothing. Especially because I'm pretty sure everything and it's mother is cooked with a great deal of oil in Kurdish cooking. My arteries would be clogged in six months.

 These two pictures are of my lovely bedroom. Note that I can seat 10 people in there. That in and of itself is a bit odd, but what really get's me is the combination of pink walls and orange furniture. I try not to think about that.

Last but not least, is my office space. My cubicle is where I spend most of my time. Note the little electric heater at my feet. This has become essential and Kak Sa'adoon is now one of my favorite office people for providing me with it. Toasty feet = yay! I have started collecting Kinder egg toys to put on my desk to give me something to fiddle with as I wait for my emails to come. The guys in the office seem fascinated with them. I guess they are as easily entertained as I am.

The house I live in is an incredibly odd mixture of opulence and skinflintedness (to create a word). The floors are marble but they are covered in cheap, badly cut carpet. They have a maid but give her the dinkiest amount of cleaning supplies I have ever seen to keep the house clean. I guess I'll get used to the dichotomy soon but man, it's just kind of bizarre.