I Really Didn't Say That, Did I?

I trust you had a great Christmas, and I am happy that you have joined me again for a quick read. This has been an interesting week, I was thrilled that the world didn't end last Friday, Santa Claus visited Dubai, I got a Christmas card from the States, I personally ruined a Christmas party and my 8th grade music teacher found our little blog. Where do I start? Let's start with the corrections from previous blogs....Last week I alluded to the number of Christmas's my American colleagues had made it through here in the UAE and our old buddy Nick Dean took exception to the way I counted the time...so here is the revisited updated scoreboard....
Me - 3*
Hayley - 3* (one before I hired her)
Juan - 2*
Bob - 1
Lal - 1
Nick - 1
Richard - 1
* - On Going
(Kelly has made it 4, but is disqualified because she is Canadian...lol)
Smile Nick, sorry though, you are still tied for last - not sure you weren't the smartest though, as you are the only one of us to have escaped on your own...I was hoping for time off for good behavior...after this week, not going to happen...I am now in solitary confinement.

Sharp eyed Fred pointed out my error in information from last week. It is a testimony that you see what you want to see. In Christmas 2011, the Dubai Mall had a four story high Christmas tree that dominated the main foyer in the mall. I went to the mall to go take a picture for this years blog. I was surprised to find that this year a golden pile of chocolate balls would make up this years Christmas tree. I took a picture of this "tree" and posted it last week, well Fred said to me "your tree looked like the Burj Khalifa"...Sadly, it wasn't a tree...Fred was right. I saw what I wanted to see.

This time last week, I would have bet that this past week would have been lonely and depressingly boring. No sign of Christmas at the new job, Kelly and Hayley busy with boyfriends...boy was I wrong. I decided that I should pay my American Restaurateurs Rudy and Valerie a visit.



You remember them, Rudy my 65 year old hero (married to a 29 year old beauty - Valerie), they own Cactus Cantina and I hadn't seen them in several months. One of my favorite Dubai servers also works for them (Janie). She always teases me that I am fat because I eat too many ice cubes, so of course now when I see Janie, the first thing I accuse her of is stealing ice cubes from her employers...

It was nice to see them, and a hug and kiss from Valerie certainly started the holiday weekend off right. Of course Janie couldn't help herself and had to point out that in the picture, I was so big you couldn't see the Christmas tree behind me....damn ice cubes!

On Sunday, my old friend from Transmed (Elie Saber) called and their family invited me over to spend Christmas Eve with them. I spent my first UAE Christmas Eve in 2010 with them, and my parents and Fred both adore Elie. It was truly a sweet gesture since Elie is a manager at Transmed, and I certainly have left some raw emotions back there. This will probably be my last time visiting there...well, I will come back to the scene of the crime later in this blog...

At Barakat, I purchased some nice cross pens for all of my direct reports, and had them wrapped and ready to give them on Christmas Eve. One of the Filipino customer service associates organized a Christmas grab bag (bring a gift, draw numbers to see what gift you get) and we had a little office exchange on Monday afternoon. It was the first time they had celebrated Christmas in the office, and I was touched that they made an effort for the 3 Filipino's on staff and myself. In addition to the pens and my grab bag gift, I decided that I wanted to get something for "Choke", Barakat International's Nepalese office boy. He wears a couple of different well worn polo shirts everyday to work. He is well groomed, but doesn't have a lot of clothes appropriate for work. I went to American Eagle at Dubai Mall and picked out three different colored American Eagle polo shirts, had them wrapped and put in a box that said To Choke, from Santa. I snuck the box to his desk, a half hour later Choke was so happy. He loved the shirts, but he didn't know why someone brought them for him or who Santa was. It took a while, but finally one of our salesman showed Choke a picture of Santa from the Internet and I think he now gets it. He wore the red shirt to work on Christmas day, told us his favorite one was the blue one. He likes the blue one so much, that he is saving it, keeping it unworn - He says when he gets a girlfriend that's when he will wear it, so that she will be impressed. I think living over here has helped me to realize so many of the values that I should have always understood...Christmas is about giving...Choke was the highlight of my Christmas...

Speaking of highlights, or memorable Christmas events, I am sure that those 30 or so lovely Arab folks that I spent Christmas Eve with at Elie Saber's house won't forget this American or this Christmas anytime soon either. It started out nicely, I arrived with my Chocolate gift in hand for Mrs. Saber. The family room of the Saber's was already filled with their friends and Transmed work friends. One of the guests is probably one of the most attractive girls at my old work place (I will leave her name out of the blog for obvious reasons). I didn't know her very well when we worked together, she was in a  different department, but was always friendly and greeted me with a warm smile. I didn't even know her name when we worked together, but I always enjoyed seeing her.  she was accompanied by another cute 20 something colleague from Transmed that I didn't know well. I sat near them, as we enjoyed Christmas cheer and beverage we chatted about Transmed and my new job.  I learned that my new Lebanese friend was proudly an American Passport carrier. Such a lovely young lady. She asked me in perfect English about where I was from in the states and then she mentioned how thrilled she was that Obama got reelected. I actually behaved (don't be too proud yet) and I asked her if she voted. She said no, that she was just happy that there weren't enough "stupid" Republicans to vote against Obama. whoops...so much for my new fantasy friendship. I politely told her that I was a lifelong Republican, and was curious what my party believed in that made us stupid.
She remained calm, but her voice raised a few octaves as she asked me if I had seen any of Michael Moore's movies? She was a big fan, and he had exposed the dark side of the Republicans. In a quickly quieting family room, I tried to explain that Michael Moore was not (in my opinion) a fact based guide for American politics, but more of a partisan movie maker. Well over a period of twenty or so minutes we went back and forth about how Republicans didn't want to pay their fare share of taxes and how just disgusted she was with those on my side of the political spectrum. Then came the Middle East share of this spirited debate. She let me know, that America should stay out of the Middle East, quit supporting Israel and stop involving ourselves in "their" affairs. I shared that we were allies with Israel, and as long as we (the US) were around that Israel would be protected from the extremest that want to wipe them off the map. She then shared that Zionist America was horrible and she hated our policies, that it was only about oil, and our troops and politicians should leave the Region now and stop creating instability here. Then came the moment that I crossed the line....( I know I am at a holiday party, at a friends home-  surrounded by all Arabs and mostly Muslims, I should have never allowed this young woman allow me to ruin a party - yes we were a spectacle).
I basically said, "if you hate America and what it stands for so much, why don't you go to the US Embassy and turn in your passport"...well she was the bigger of the two of us, she ended our discussion, got up moved across the room, I officially became the pariah of the party. Elie came over and basically let me know that politics and parties don't mix, and the fun was over. I left a little later, only to have three of the other male guests catch up with me in the parking lot to let me know, how I didn't understand how evil the American Government was, and that Israel needed to go away...after another 20 minutes of spirited debate, I safely got in my car and drove away. Midnight had arrived, it was now Christmas...I spent the 45 minute drive home reflecting on where I had gone wrong...
I did email her an apology (I apologized to Elie that night), my apology to her has fallen on deaf ears...
On a brighter note, I got a Christmas card From my lovely friend Amy Bossi. She was and is such a good friend that I made in my St. Louis days....the card came yesterday to my office (3 weeks from the postmark). One of my other sweet friends from the past Linda (friends since the 8th grade sent me a note asking me for my address...it is simple, there is no mail delivery in the UAE, just post offices....everybody gets their mail through work....my address is ;  PO Box 11286, Dubai, UAE
pretty simple, and thank you Amy for the wonderful Christmas treat. Speaking of the 8th grade, one of my all time favorite teachers (Connie Beale) has found me. She was my Wilson Junior High music teacher. I have enjoyed catching up with her....
As Rodz would say, the blog this week is "too long", Kelly is in Jordan with Sami, and I am in a dilemma about New Years Eve as a gorgeous "friend" has invited me to a New Years Party, that I of course wont attend. More on the complexities of being me later...I truly hope you had a meaningful Christmas, and that 2013 will be your best year ever. Thank You for hanging in there with me, hopefully, I will see you here next week.

How Can the World End on a Friday?

Happy Birthday to my parents, Dad's birthday was Wednesday and Mom's was yesterday. I called mom yesterday and I thought about the irony of this Mayan prophesy stuff where the world is going to end today (I hope I get finished writing this blog first, I would hate for my Friday ritual to be left unfinished). For the last few years my mom would have to realize that the world may end the day after her 82nd birthday (Goodness I hope I got her age right). Now since this blog is all about me, I really hate the thought of working over here for 2 and a half years, getting totally out of debt for the first time since my childhood, and not getting to enjoy the triumphant return to the States with a few dollars in my bank account and a financially less stressful last few years of life. So, I don't know how you feel about the world possibly ending today, but if it does end I personally will be mad as hell.

Whenever I get a little sentimental about great friends that I miss, or openly admit that I want to come home, I invariably get some messages from concerned friends that I put in a sour mood. Let me apologize up front, because this blog entry will be about our blessings as Americans, don't feel guilty (I do all the time) feel blessed.

Christmas in the Middle East is a different thing to say the least. You can see signs of Christmas at the malls (Above is a Christmas Tree made of giant Ferrache Chocolate Balls in the middle of Dubai Mall), but generally it just doesn't feel like Christmas. Maybe this is how the little New York retirees feel their first Christmas in Florida. Without the cold snap, the hint of snow to remind your human clock that winter is here. Don't get me wrong, high 70's, light breeze winter resort weather in Dubai is so appreciated by me, but it's about the relief from the oppressive Summer heat here, more than the today being officially the first day of winter, and the shortest day (as far as daylight hours).

I don't think I fully appreciated the efforts the management and employees at Transmed made to make us Americans feel welcome here on their Continent during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. Hani always greeted Bob, Richard, Juan, Hayley, Kelly and Me (even Nick and Lal for their one Christmas here) with a warm smile and a genuine greeting. He said to me more than once that he had a responsibility to make me comfortable in their land. I didn't fully appreciate the big Thanksgiving Dinner and Christmas dinner that we all shared together at Transmed as much as I probably should have. I now feel the difference at my company where there is little notice of non Hindu calendar events. If I ever see Hani again, I will make an effort to shake his hand and thank him for the effort that his team made.

Speaking of Christian Indian friends, Joseph Mathew has worked out his notice and joins the Barakat team next week. He will handle the "trade and export" business. I have always felt a closeness to Joseph and I use to tease Vinny, Muzzy and others that Joseph was my favorite Indian. I even put his Visa picture on my cubicle wall, and on my last vacation from Transmed, Vinny thought he'd stick my photo next to Joseph's and sent it to my Blackberry while I was home.

Not to be outdone by my friend "Vinny the Pooh", I saved the picture as my background photo on my Blackberry. I pledged to my colleagues that I would not change this until Joseph and I were united again. Sigh, the joke has been on me, for 6 long months I have had friends look at my phone (try and get a gal to be interested in you when you have a middle aged Indian man on your phone saver...lol) and some ask, and some just look at me strangely. Thankfully, next week Joseph joins our Barakat team, and I can change my phone picture.

This feels like it's going to be a really lonely Christmas, as you celebrate your holiday with your family and friends, savor the special moments that you share, love all of those people and let them know how much they mean to you...Take it from me, sometimes you don't appreciate your blessings until they are a warm memory.

Merry Christmas to all of you, and thank you for keeping me company on this journey....God Bless.

Rain Again Today...Check the Mayan Calendar!

Do you ever want to tell the world, sorry a dog ate my homework, nothing to blog about today...Well, today is one of those days for me. Plenty happening all around me, unfortunately not much that I can write about. So I have a feeling today's blog will be just like my good friend Janie Kelly Fogg....short and sweet!
For the third Friday in a row we have rain in Dubai. Today was more of scattered sprinkles, but the forecast for the next few days calls for mid 70's temperatures and a 20% chance of rain. I have seen more clouds in the last month than in the the first 2 and a half years combined. Who would have thought that living in the desert would have been so dry? Lol, after today just two more blogs in 2012.

Looking out my balcony today, I can see the Christmas lights on my neighbors tree. The spirit of Christmas hasn't hit me yet, although the malls have plenty of decorations. They usually start their sales about two weeks before Christmas here, so I imagine I am just about to get help in finding that Christmas spirit. I had Fred send money to my parents (they read the blog, but don't worry, the money arrived yesterday, so the holiday green surprise won't be ruined). My nephew and nieces also will get cash, one nice joy about being half way around the world, cash gifts are acceptable. I need to make my Christmas list for Dubai, hmmm - it won't be a long list.

Speaking of Christmas cheer, Kelly surprised me today with an invite to lunch. It was nice meal (at Texas Roadhouse of course) but the company was splendid. She listens to my droning on about all the issues that I feel like I am facing, and just looks at me with those big doe like eyes and its all better....It's nice to have a friend close by, when I am so far away from so many that I miss. Who would have thought that I would have ever been capable of homesickness...I may just have to have a party for my new Barakat employees, hopefully my predominately Hindu workers will want to enjoy a Christmas get together.

There has been a massive road building project going on for the last five years in Dubai. The main highway that runs next to my Sandoval Garden flat is Al Khail Road. Just one year ago, it was 8 lanes between my apartment and the 8 miles or so to Dubai Mall. Most of those lanes have been closed during the road work and there were three large round abouts and multiple speed bumps to make the drive seem longer than it really was. They now have opened two new exchanges (only one big round a bout left) and the 14 lanes have been opened up for most of the way.

No pictures, nothing fun to blog about...sorry...Next week I will share the latest Transmed employee that has resigned and is joining the Barakat team....Something to look forward to???
Oh one last thing, my great friend Lee Croy sent me a note correcting me on my previous blog when I stated that we were almost through "pouring the concrete" at our new 25,000 foot warehouse. Now according to Lee, if you "pour concrete" there is too much water in the mix, of sand, gravel, and cement. Lee referred me to a website that would explain this engineering marvel to me. Well the problem occurred when I actually read the info on the link Lee sent me, and it mentioned "pouring concrete"...lol. Well, Lee frustratingly replied to me that the site he linked me to was also wrong (hmmmm)...Well Lee, you will be happy to know, I inquired with Mahesh (world famous Barakat engineer and my personal sidekick/Psychic) and he backed you....You "lay" concrete, you don't pour it...with that I stand corrected, and you may have learned one more thing from keeping up with the always educational and sometimes entertaining "Great Adventure" blog...God willing, I will see you next week.

Please Smile for the Camera!

We have had some rain here in Dubai in the last week. Last Friday as I finished writing our blog, thunderstorms rolled into Dubai. It rained and "stormed" off and on for about 12 hours. I went out and drove around in it, silly as it sounds it seems like the thing to do when it only rains a couple of times a year. The city is beautiful with the tall buildings becoming "vivid" without the normal "sand haze" that lingers over Dubai.I posted these pictures on Facebook, so I apologize to those of you that have already seen them.

The above is actually a picture I like a lot for more than just the rain. It puts into perspective how awesome the 160 story Burj Khalifa is. On the lower right side of the photo you can see the 64 story Address hotel. It looks tiny next to the towering Burj Khalifa.
There are no storm sewers here, so after any measurable rain driving can be an adventure.  My Saturday morning drive to the office featured a couple of times that I wasn't sure my Altima wouldn't flood out as I drove through standing water.

All the rain evidence was gone by Sunday. We had a very intense downpour that popped up yesterday afternoon as I drove home from the office. It lasted 5 minutes, but in the last week I have seen more rain than I have in my first 29 months in the UAE.

I think I have shared with you in the past about the numerous traffic camera's that line the highways waiting for you to break the speed limit by 20 plus KMH's. They flash at you and you get a ticket for 600 Dirhams ($164)  emailed to you in a matter of days. The drivers of Dubai know where these camera's are placed on the roads, so a lot of people drive very fast and then slow down right before they hit the camera. Well the authorities are now more aggressively finding ways to catch you. They stand on bridges overlooking the roads below, and they use a camera/radar gun to snap a picture/ticket form random bridges. I think I may have found out the hard way about another way, as I accelerated away from my Subway breakfast spot one morning this week, I sped past a white SUV parked in the sand on the side of the road. I saw a flash through the smoked back window glass and now I am waiting to see if I was the one that they got (98% sure it's me). I was really busting it, so my ticket maybe for more than the 600 Dirhams...The good news, your insurance rates are not effected, its just a fine.
Last night I was excited to get the balance of my birthday treat from Kelly. She took me to the Dubai movie theatre to see "Argo". For those of you that don't know the movie, it's about the Iranian Hostage crisis of 1979-1980 that saw the downfall of Jimmy Carters presidency, and ushered in my favorite President Ronald Reagan. It was interesting watching the film (about the Canadians and CIA getting 6 American Embassy hostage escapees out of the country) that I recall so many details about from living through it. Kelly was born in the 80's, so hers was a totally different perspective, but we both really enjoyed the movie. It was great spending some quality time with Kelly, I miss our daily interactions from my first two years here. Kelly has her first hardware convention next week, it will be interesting to hear about the differences from the food shows we have worked together.
Speaking of working in food service, I have lost the battles with management about the scheduled working times (8 - 6, 6 days per week) and virtually no holidays off. I feel guilty about the guys I have hired on from their old 5 day a week job with generous holiday's at virtually the same pay.
It's a an archaic way of dealing with employees, and I feel powerless - work ethic is a good thing, but quality of life for your employees is as important in my judgement.
Today is Pearl Harbor Day, and please keep in mind, if you fail to learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. It seems appropriate after watching and living through a weakening US presence in the Middle East....There is a danger to the "good guys" sitting and watching history unfold.
So, with that ominous sounding finish, we have posted another blog. I hope you enjoyed it, and God willing, I will see you here next week.