We made it through our first week unscathed! No accidents. No major cultural faux paus (I think). Our jet lag is just about sorted. And we have yet to even had an argument with each other. I call that success.
What have we accomplished? We celebrated Thanksgiving – Dubai style. My every intention was to make reservations somewhere – but when I saw what restaurants were charging for Thanksgiving dinner I couldn’t stomach it. It was stick it to the ex-pats. So we went to Waitrose (my GSK colleagues will know this store – UK supermarket type) and found a turkey breast, and then found a very nice young man who found everything else I needed! Honestly, I couldn’t find a thing in that store. I would show him the picture of what I wanted on the store app and he would run and show me where it was. I bet he was glad to see me check out! As we were leaving Jim asked if we even had a pan big enough to roast the turkey breast – I had no idea. When we got home it turned out we had just enough pans to cook the dinner – and it was delicious. Enough left overs for hot turkey sandwiches the next day.
We figured out the Dubai Metro system by taking a ride over to the Emirates Mall. This is the big mall that has Ski Dubai in it. This slope does not look very challenging but does look fun. They are all decked out for the Christmas holiday and definately getting into the season. I find it a bit odd that in a predominantly Muslim country it is much more “Christian-friendly” – that is, no political correctness concern about saying “Merry Christmas”. Refreshing. The Emirates Mall also has a Tim Hortons – which I was delighted to find! I simply cannot pass up a Tim Hortons – the coffee was great, but the donut was better.
There is also a tram system that covers the immediate area and connects to the monorail that goes out to the Palm Jumeriah. We tried that just to get a gander at the Palm. The last stop is the Atlantis Resort (like the one in the Bahamas). The place looks wonderful (and huge). There is still a lot of building going on everywhere, including the Palm.
Our apartment is in the middle between the Marina Promenade and what is called “The Walk”, which is by the beach. We’ve done some exploring on both. On both there are a variety of restaurants, services (think professional offices, massage type, salons etc) – you name it. If there is a type of cuisine you are interested in, you can be assured it’s here somewhere. We have found a couple of charcoal grilled chicken places that are pretty darn tasty. And yes, they deliver!
Speaking of delivery – we’ve been using the grocery delivery apps and having our heavy groceries delivered. Why haul that when you can have it delivered!! The Thybergs are slowly but surely getting the hang of this Dubai living!!
Here are some interior shots of our apartment:
View from balcony 
Living area 
Living room 
Bedroom
And I am slowly but surely getting the hang of this blog thing. I need help with the photo insertion, but will get there!
We have settled into a routine for our day. We get up around 6am. Jim does his tai chi watching the sunrise while I sort through my emails. Jim is off swimming at 8am and we usually take a good hour walk a bit after 9. That gets us back home before the heat of the day.
This is a national holiday for the UAE – National Day. All the flags are out and the locals have a 5 day weekend. They are quite patriotic. On this coming Friday they will be allowed back in the mosques for the first time in 8 months (due to COVID-19). There are 766 mosques in Dubai alone. They have been talking about the social distancing that will be required. Since we overlook one of the main mosques in the area I am actually looking forward to seeing how this works. The call to prayer used to wake me but now I find I sleep right through it. More on that later.
We are both in need of some dental work. One of my implants is wiggly and Jim cracked and chipped a tooth right before we left SODAK. There is a branch of the Mayo Clinic here that has a dental clinic so I think that’s where we will head. That’s on the agenda for the week ahead! I’m seeing a dermatologist today as I’ve come down with some nasty eczema in the last two weeks and despite trying everything I can think of it’s just getting worse. When I talked to the clinic they asked me where it was located and I informed them if was on my trunk (back and chest). They were very careful to inform me I would require an appointment with a female dermatologist. I forget I am in a very different culture here!
So – Week 1 – we are loving it! Bring on week 2!
