Three weeks in...

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Abras (water taxis) in the Dubai Creek.

Back to work this past week – a very busy one at the office. Our hospital development project is moving full steam ahead, and we have several important deadlines coming up. Market research continued this week in Old Dubai, giving me a good excuse to return to the abra stations along the creek, this time to poll people about their healthcare preferences. We brought along a couple of the guys who work in the office to have extra manpower, and to allow us to reach out to some of the Indian workers who we’d otherwise have a language hurdle to jump before interviewing them (my Tamil is about as good as their English...).

Creekside market research.

The biggest challenge for me in putting together this business case is the lack of quality statistics on everything from population to healthcare utilization to insurance... really something that needs to be improved in this city in the years to come. Trying to get an accurate idea of the population at the moment is an interesting/impossible challenge. The last census in Dubai was completed in 2005, and the government has produced projections based on that count. When the financial crisis hit last year, it had a major impact on the city, with many developments being postponed or abandoned completely. There are local rumours that in the mass exodus from the city, many people drove to the airport and abandoned their cars there in their haste to leave. Though we know that the population has changed dramatically as a result, the government publishes nothing but rosy predictions of future growth, in order to promote future investment and avoid shedding any bad light on the city. As a result, we have had to be very careful to build assumptions and sensitivity scenarios into our forecasting so that we don’t lead our clients astray.

I was disciplined at work this week...!! Apparently I have violated the dress code (which I carefully looked over several times before I finished packing), which states that women should not wear beach shoes or trainers, but rather quiet office shoes. I incorrectly interpreted this to mean simple, demure, professional shoes... but they literally meant “quiet” as in “non-clicking, silent” shoes. Who knew that this would be a concern in a professional, client-facing office... so although it was recommended to me that I just wear flip flops in the office (though I’m pretty sure that would violate the ‘beach shoes’ issue), I’ve gone out shopping to pick up a pair of rubber soled flats that should satisfy HR. Unfortunately, my suit pants were meant to be worn with heels... so I’m reversing the typical practice of wearing flats to work and changing into heels... I kick off my stilettos upon arrival and cuff up my pants so that I don’t trip over them as I move around the office. Goodness gracious. Hopefully this is the beginning and end of me getting in trouble at work...

Exciting news – there has been another new hire in the office, a business analyst named Suman who grew up in Dubai before going to the States to complete her undergraduate and masters degrees. She’s very bright and we are getting along and working together exceptionally well. I went out on Thursday night to celebrate her birthday at 360, a bar located at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. The bar is located way out on a man-made peninsula that you must be golf-carted out to from the hotel, but it is well worth the trip. Sitting out on a circular terrace in the Gulf with incredible views of the wave-shaped Jumeirah Beach Hotel and the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab... a little piece of heaven! It was wonderful to meet some of her friends and family and celebrate her special day.

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The entrance of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

At Suman’s birthday party, I met another friend of a friend – Sharon, who is a childhood friend of my girlfriends Angela and Nandni. Sharon is teaching at an international school here in Dubai after a year spent teaching in Bangkok. I met some of her teaching colleagues on Thursday as well... a lovely bunch. I’m heading for dinner with her tonight to chat in a quieter setting.

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Sharon and I at 360.

View of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel from 360.

A final update on my ‘budding’ social life (which I really am so grateful to have after my lonely first week!)... a few weeks ago, I went for dinner with a girl named Hillary, a Canadian who has been working in finance here in Dubai for a year or so. I’m excited to report that I’ve joined an ultimate Frisbee league with Hillary, as part of a team that she’s been playing with for a while. Our team name is the Flying Carpets (!!), and we have our first league game on Monday night. I’m pretty rusty but hopefully I can persevere through the heat to contribute to the team.

Last but not least, click on this link

( http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=6393 ) for a little profile of my experience here for the McMaster Daily News... journal updates for the online publication to be posted later in the fall.