Friday, April 1st - 2011, this week will mark the completion of 9 months since my arrival July 5th. I guess it would be a good time to reflect on the good and the bad...
Work - Has gone exceptionally well, record months in sales, hired some really good people, bonded with my coworkers from retail. Bob is pleased with me, as well as his boss Hani, I probably am disappointed that some things have not happened as quickly as I want them to. The current sales force has grown from the 8 that I inherited in October (when I switched roles) to the current sales force of 13. In the month of April, Reem, (Palestinian 30ish young lady from Jordan, Vineet (23 year old Indian young man from Bombay) start with the company. Still need to hire an Abu Dhabi Rep (to replace Rami) and a rep for the Northern Emirates and Oman. Definitely have to have both if them hired before the end of the month. I have also hired Haley, a young lady from the United States that is here currently working in the Raddison's Hotel Management training program. Her contract is finished in early June and she will hopefully start by July 1st. I will get the final sales figures for the Month of March tomorrow, along with the quarterly numbers...of course I will update you (it was a record month) ;-) !
Isolationism - I definitely miss my friends from the states, I especially miss being able to pick up the phone and call Amy, Todd, Chad, Danno or Wes. I talk regularly with Fred (a couple of times a week) and at least weekly with my parents. The 8 hours time difference and lack of coverage here of American Baseball or the National Football league is one of the worse things. I did get to watch the Nationals/Braves opening day game last night...it was a nice treat. I have been involved with or actually responsible for the same fantasy baseball league for the last 25 years, I miss the interaction with the guys in that. Dan is going to try and keep me involved this year - The draft is this weekend - so maybe that will go well. We do have Fox News and CNN International on cable so I am able to keep up with politics and the news of America.
Social Life - I actually do more here socially than I have the last few years in America. Bob and I do quite a few things together. As you know one of my good friends Nick Dean, accepted our offer and has been here for over a month now. It's been fun to interact with Nick at work and watch taped Survivor and American Idols (both series are only delayed by a couple of days over here) with him. I am dating a beautiful young Lady, and she and Nick have become fast friends. She even watched American Idol with me last night - Something I couldn't get her to do, but Nick convinced her. It has been nice to have one to enjoy the evenings in Dubai with. Cowboy (Richard) and his wife Mary have settled in well. She even came to work with him last Saturday, his spirits are so much better now. Still enjoy hanging out at the pool with Sasha and Dominik. Spent an hour with them today, Sasha with his fiancee and Dominik with a couple of young gals from Bulgaria and their Mom. 21, 22 and 39 and no, I don't know which one or how many of them...well you know, it's a contest for Dominik...I just keep my gal pal away from him, lol...
Climate - The lack of seasons is not entirely a true statement, we have the winter months when the sand blows in the air and everyone gets the flu (I think its a respiratory infection caused by the blowing sand. Then you have 6 months (April, May, June - October, November, December when it is resort beautiful - no rain (at all) highs in the 90's - then you have 3 months of hells inferno - July, August and September when highs routinely reach 110 and on bad days 120, and the humidity is hellacious.
This past week I attended the Restaurant of the year Awards with Richard, Mary, Bob, Frederique, Kelly, and Nick. It was a red carpet event, with tuxedo's and formal gowns. It was a fun evening, but highlighted to me how few of the restaurants we are players in.
Left out a good story about my parents visit...I have shared with you many times about the lack of crime here (justice is swift - just google UAE and drugs- one of the harshest systems where usage will get you several years in prison and trafficking will even get you the death penalty)...Well, I gave my mother several Thousand Dirhams to have and spend while the parents were visiting. Mom left her purse in a taxi with 4,000 Dirhams (over two months pay for the cab driver) and her passport. The cab driver knew what building he had left her in, and security had (Bruck) listed with my apartment number. Well they came to the apartment (mom and dad didn't realize yet that she had left her purse behind) the driver and building security and returned mom's belongings. They had mom count her money to see that it was all there, I asked her what reward she gave the Cab driver....got a blank stare back...oops. So, at church mom decided to put some money in the offering since she failed to reward the cabbie.... 5 dirhams ($1.36)...maybe it was good she didn't think of rewarding the driver....Back to work in the morning...have a great weekend in the states!
John
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