This is Week 2

My first week in Dubai went very well! I did not suffer any jet lag to speak of, I have not really had any culture-shock, I'm starting to think in Dirhams rather than dollars and the weather has returned to seasonal norms which is very pleasant! Maybe a little bit of sticker-shock when apartment hunting but I have rented a place and will probably move in on the weekend.

My apartment is in International City 'England' cluster. Its a quaint little one bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment on the first floor. It has a little balcony with doors off the living room and bedroom and overlooks what will some day be a park but at the moment is a big sand box. Strangely, the place does not come with appliances. The rent works out to be about $1263CDN per month which is cheap (relatively speaking -- approximately half of what other areas charge.) Traffic is a problem here but since cars and petrol are cheap here, I decided to forego location and commute time in favour of affordability (in other words, I cheaped out.)

My new job with NORR is very busy! I have had a crash course in the UAE from the construction side of things although a lot of things here are the same as in Canada and my bosses are Canadian so they are able to translate the UAE way into terms I understand. Lucky for me, the person I am replacing is still there so I have had some "grooming" before he leaves on Wednesday. Some of you who know me will be shocked to hear that I have been on time, in fact early to work every day! I am up by 6am most days and in the office before everyone else! A big part of the new "morning" me is the Muslim call to prayer every morning over the Mosque loudspeaker at 5am, sometimes earlier. I don't believe there is a Mosque near my new apartment so I may have to invest in an alarm clock when I move if I am to keep this up (strangely, there is no alarm clock in my hotel room.)

Last Thursday, NORR had a social outing "Desert Safari" which was a lot of fun! Got to meet a few more of my collegues in a more relaxed setting and it was my first glimpse beyond the city. It felt like we were out in the middle of no where however the jumbo jets flying overhead to and from the airport kinda gave it away that the edge of town was really only a sand-dune or two away.