Halfway there...

The view from my desk on the 19th floor on a relatively clear day, looking out to the Gulf over a big construction site... those wispy lines on the horizon are the edges of "The World" islands.

These late October days seem to be slipping through my fingers... already halfway through my residency here, it’ll be Christmas before I know it!

A nighttime view of the Etisalat Tower (Etisalat is a major UAE telecommunications firm). In the background, the 'small' yellow-lit building is Dubai's World Trade Centre. The WTC was built in 1978, and was the highest building in Dubai and the UAE at the time, and the first high-rise tower on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Last week’s accomplishments:

- Completed two feasibility proposals for new healthcare facilities: one in the Gulf region, one in the Caribbean. Fingers are crossed for a business trip to the islands!

- Had successful fact-finding meetings with medical equipment specialists and an ‘inside source’ with expert insight into the medical insurance landscape of the emirate, who we met in the corner of a restaurant outside of working hours and who spoke to us only when we guaranteed anonymity. Let me tell you, reputable information is not at all easy to come across in this city! Everyone keeps reminding me how much I will appreciate the ease of access to data and proper research tools when I return home to Canada. Though it may be an uphill struggle at times, each piece of the puzzle brings me one step closer to understanding the Dubai healthcare market.

- Officially presented my market research, gap analysis, project proposal and strategy to the clients. We presented on Saturday morning (the equivalent of Sunday morning in Canada), which meant that I lost most of my weekend to work... but it was worth it to have positive feedback from the client and my manager. It’s an interesting position to find oneself in - essentially ‘telling’ Emirati nationals, who have lived here all their lives, what’s REALLY happening to their city’s healthcare system.

Hobies on the beaches at Al Hamra.

- Finally made some headway on a volunteer project for Opportunity International, a microfinance organization that I became involved with earlier this year. My promise to them to keep up my efforts during my term in the UAE has been harder to keep than I thought, due to my lack of internet connectivity outside of the office.

- For my brothers, the Canadian National Frisbee finalists (from your very proud sister): re-learned how to properly throw my backhand in Frisbee, thanks to a patient teammate. I’ve been overthinking it for two years and have been relying heavily on my flick (forehand)... officially back in the game.

A night on the beach at Barasti... myself &the nurses: Kelly, Courtney, & Jodie.

I salvaged a bit of the weekend by checking out Barasti (a beach resto/bar & notorious ex-pat haunt) with some of the trauma centre nurses, where I spent the evening listening to them one-up each other with gruesome emergency room cases. As I’ve mentioned before, the Trauma Centre staff always report that the injuries they see here are more extreme than any they’ve experienced elsewhere... so they had a lot of material to pull from! After spending a day at my computer working on last-minute changes to the client presentation, I met the teachers for Indian food and travelled on to a proper surprise birthday party for one of their co-workers... complete with party hats, ice-cream cake, exploding confetti, and a true hide-in-the-dark-jump-out-and-shock-the-birthday-girl moment of surprise.

Kelly, Dan, Duncan, Jodie and Courtney at Barasti... shisha and a backdrop of construction. How very "Dubai".

In exciting news, the weather is continuing to cool off here, which is making for some absolutely glorious summery evenings. The humidity seems to be lifting, and I’m told it will continue to get better as December approaches. Since I was dreading the heat of the city, this is a welcome change! This coming weekend, I will be spending Halloween in the mountains of Oman (our neighbouring country) on a dune-bashing/wadi-swimming camping weekend with the teachers. I’m very excited to get out of the city for a short while and am sure I will have lots of exciting stories to relate upon my return back to Dubai. Additionally, I have officially extended my layover en route to Toronto so that I can spend a couple days in Istanbul... trying my best to make the most of the travel opportunities in the region!