It has rained this week, and the weather is absolutely beautiful. On Monday morning, I woke up to the sound of rain hitting my Holiday Inn windows. Rain has come early to Dubai. the "rainy season" usually is mid-December until Late February. This weeks rain was the first rain since last February, and although it was only scattered showers it was the most it had rained in the 17 months that I have been here. It probably rained less that a half an inch, but since there are no storm sewers there was puddling in the roads. The remarkable thing was the beauty of the city after the rain. The cars were covered in sand from the rain cleansed sky, and the beauty of the clear Dubai skyline is so different than the normal "sand haze" that is always prevalent here in the UAE. The daily high is now in the mid 80's and the humidity is low, frankly for the next 30 days I am living in a weather paradise.
Monday we were off, and I spent the afternoon with Rodz ferrying her to job interviews. She was like a happy youngster (ok - she's 26) giggling about the rain. I guess in her home country rain is a routine part of the day, and she (as do I) love to see it here. Last winter it rained during the day 3 different days, and only one of those rains lasted more than 5 minutes. Life in the dessert...
Speaking of Rodz's job search, she had a very promising interview on Thursday, and she has been scheduled for a second interview on Sunday. I think a lot of stress will be released when she finally lands a decent job. Her old employer has made it very difficult by delaying canceling her current work visa, demanding payment from her to get it released. We did have a very enjoyable evening at the "Global Village" on Wednesday evening. Global Village is a seasonal shopping mart that is open from November through March, It has different buildings with country themed shopping. Rodz of course made a bee-line for the "Phillapene pavilion". We snacked on fresh grilled corn on the Cob and watched a local Emirate woman make a traditional Arabic bread. She would take the bread batter, spread it out on a searing hot pan - Then she cracked a raw egg on it and spread it out over this flour tortilla like bread. After melting a small amount of cheese on it, she folded it into a tri-angle, and for 10 dirhams ($2.73) we enjoyed a hot Arabic treat. It was a very nice evening together.
On the housing front, it has been a drain on my meager savings to stay in hotels the last two months. I now have a tentative move in date to my new oasis home....Nov 22nd. With sending money back to Fred to settle my American debts, I wish that the people who owe me money back in the US would pay. When I moved from Atlanta to Florida I sold some furniture to Kathy Gonzalez. She ran human resources for Buckhead Beef in Atlanta. She wanted some of my furniture and I sold her lots of my household stuff (bedroom suites, theatre seating, big screen television at bargain pricing. Well, sadly, she made it a bigger bargain by not paying. Well, you would think I would learn, alas, I did not. When I landed this job and moved to Dubai, I sold almost all of my furniture to Devin, a young salesman I worked with at Kuna. He eventually paid $370 of what I would estimate the $2,000 he owed me. The third person bought a big screen tv and stand that I owed $1,100 on for the promise of $600 (funnily, less than I was offered by Devin...Hmmm) I sold it to her because I liked her, and it was a way for her to get a much better tv than she could afford. Well, she paid $350 of the $600 and only owes $250 to me. When I was in St.Louis this summer I went to see her. She apologized, asked for deposit tickets to square her debts, and promised to pay what she owes.- Yes, she reads this blog, so this is a posting to pay up, or join the ranks of other people who took advantage of my trusting. Sadly, these people's actions change my gentle trusting spirit in friends that owe you....3rd time, yes, I am the idiot.
So, back to my homelessness, if we are lucky, when you sit down for your Thanksgiving dinner, hopefully I will be settling in my new apartment. I am not sure what Turkey day will bring us this year, Bob and Sandy will be the guest of Feda (Bob's counterpart in Retail) again this year, and I am certain that Nick, Mimi, Hayley(American for New York) and I will have dinner together.
My mother and brother have booked their travel for January. They will be here from the 19th through the 28th. Fred is still planning on visiting in March.
We have had a big start in sales for November, on pace for over 12 million. It is amazing that the strong numbers sales team produces with our growth challenges. The whole team has returned from vacations (except for Vinny whose attending a family wedding in India) and the push to hit our year end target is on. Bob thinks we will make it (96,100,000) with a couple of hundred thousand to spare, I think we will fall short by less than a million. Let's hope that bob is right....In 2010 the company sold 48 million, doubling is outstanding, I will do everything i can to make it happen, but it rests on our 12 sales people.
I want to go back and catch a few z's before I face the day. I hope yours is a fruitful one...
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