As March rolls in, I was reminded this week how suddenly things can change here. One of my favorite customers, that I had developed a very good relationship with, suddenly vanished this week. Tuesday I spoke with him on the phone (he is Danish) (as I routinely did) and Wednesday morning his email bounced back saying that he was no longer with his company. His phone is turned off, and as of this morning I have not heard from him. This kind of thing did happen in the states, but the difference is if you lose your job here, you basically have 30 days from your Visa being cancelled to leave the country. Ex-Pats can not retire here and us employed ex-pats are basically at our employers mercy to remain here.
There was a major melt down of our computer system at work last weekend and I am not confident that everything has been fixed and restored. We were headed for another record month, but may have fallen just short (I won't know for sure until Saturday). It was a very stressful week, as I actually had to go into work one night and manually set up delivery sheets (yes, John can type...lol). I left for home that night at 1 am. My "sand lung" wasn't getting better, so I went to the Doctor. Apparently "Sand Lung" has a different name here...."Bronchitis"...I am now on day 3 of my anti-biotics...sigh.
I had a nice surprise at the Gulf Trade show, a couple of businessmen from the states made an appointment to try and sell us some goods. They turned out to be from Knoxville, Tennessee. It is a small world. There was some joint knowledge of people from Knoxville and we spent more time than I probably should have at the show. They invited me to dinner before they returned home, and they treated me to a very good meal, and even better conversation at the Intercontinental Hotel. I plan on visiting their business when I am home in August.
Speaking of good friends from Knoxville, Fred will be arriving for his annual visit 3 weeks from today. I have been trying to think of things we can do and preplanned some of them. After the fun day in the desert I spent with my mom, my brother, Hayley and Nick during their visit (I will never forget the site of Hayley and my mom riding a camel together in the desert) I have decided to repeat that adventure with Fred. Nick and Hayley. Ceren is going to join us (that alone will be worth the price of admission) on our desert Safari. I am sure it will give something funny for Fred to "guest blog" about.
Nick is back from his trip stateside, but we have both been so busy with work we haven't spent much time goofing off. Soprano's night is way overdue - maybe my illness has as much to do with our gang of four getting together, but Kelly's love life probably has more of a damper. Somehow it is hard for me to believe that she would rather spend her weekends with her 28 year old fitness trainer than with Nick, Hayley and I.....
I have found another place that I now eat at weekly. It is "Lucky's Pizza" in Motor City. It is an independent establishment that has an onion and pepperoni that eats quite nicely. There are a lot of places that you can get pizza in Dubai (a lot of the Arabic diners have pizza on the menu) including Papa John's and Pizza Hut. Some of them have "non western" toppings. I have seen "Blue cheese" pizza, a "Submarine" pizza (Pineapple, tuna, shrimp and sweetcorn). My favorite one of all is on Lucky's menu (not to eat-but to grin at) it is called Tuco's revenge. The menu describes it this way....Topped with hot mince and jalapenos (make sure the toilet paper is in the freezer before ordering)...
Who puts that on a menu...lol. The one thing I don't get to eat....Pork pepperoni..
Speaking of eating, the one good thing that my Doctor had to share with me, I have lost 3 kg's (8 lbs). Don't get too excited for me, it's about 2 kg's heavier then when I got here, but it's a good sign. Speaking of good signs, you can probably sense that this blog is wrapping up, I'll see you here next week, have a great one!
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