Breaking News

Another busy workweek… met with the nit-picky financial manager on the client side and spent nearly three hours reassuring him that we had exercised due diligence in our research and the development of our assumptions… spent two days at the Trauma Centre putting together submissions for awards of excellence in various aspects of clinical practice given out by Middle Eastern authorities… and officially cleared the 200 page mark of the big report. Still haven’t pressed print. My apologies for ‘skimming over’ my work-related life here in Dubai; however, I’m limited in what I can share because of client confidentiality issues. Just know that I’m keeping myself busy tip-tapping away on my computer, and am learning a lot.

Exterior view of the Jumeirah Mosque.

On Thursday evening, I met up with Nicole, a girlfriend from UWO who has been working all around the world for the last two years. We realized that we hadn’t seen each other for more than 10 minutes since before I left for Tanzania… needless to say, we had a lot to catch up on. We ended up celebrating the birthday of another UWO acquaintance who is living in Dubai… it really is a small world.

My colleague Betty took Margaret and I out on a Friday night excursion to Karama, a neighbourhood a short walk from our place. I have been bugging her to make time to take me before I leave, as Karama is THE destination for good ‘copies’ of designer accessories. Sure enough, we weren’t two steps into the market before being barraged by hawkers: “Ma’am, ma’am, Jimmy Choo, Hermes, Chloe, Louis Vuitton… bling bling watches, you like bling bling?”. Thankfully, Betty had a few ‘contacts’ in the area who quickly escorted us to the ‘offices’ located a few minutes walk away from the main shops. It was everything I imagine Canal St. in NYC would be… complete with secret wall panels that opened up to reveal massive caches of leathery goodness. I didn’t leave empty handed, but was quite indecisive after falling in love with the most expensive bag they had (a forest green Hermes Birken bag that was priced at $850 USD… still infinitely cheaper than the real deal, but not exactly in my price range with tuition due soon).

Our mosque tour group, all scarfed-up. Megan, Katie, Allison, Sharon, Anne-Marie and I.

I spent a very productive Saturday with the teachers. We woke up early and met at the Jumeirah Mosque, one of the city’s most photographed sites and the only mosque in Dubai which is open to non-Muslims. Tours occur three times a week, designed to heighten awareness of Islamic culture. The tour was run by two (Caucasian) British ladies who are Muslim and have been living in Dubai for over 20 years… they were great presenters and certainly gave an unique perspective on Islamic tradition.

Interior of the Jumeirah Mosque.

We followed the mosque with lunch and a trip to the beach (my first time since I arrived… shameful!), before heading back to the teachers’ accommodations to prepare for a proper American Thanksgiving celebration. With Eid coming up next weekend, the celebrations were a bit early but delicious nonetheless. After celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving with flat-crust pizza, a full turkey dinner was a welcome taste of home!

Beach view of the Burj Al Arab on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Looking out the window from my desk today (Sunday afternoon), I casually commented that I hadn’t seen so many clouds since I arrived in September. The presence of a single cloud is actually quite a rare occurrence in this city. I ventured as far as to suggest that it might actually be raining out over the Gulf… suddenly, a local media alert appeared online:

No joke. This is the breaking news in the local paper as we wrapped up the workday on Sunday.

“Dubai: The season’s first light showers were experienced on the coastal parts of Dubai and Sharjah on Sunday and the Dubai Met office announced that “winter is here’ and warned of strong Westerly winds.

Light rain also fell in Jebel Ali, but the rest of the country was dry.

A marine warning will be issued starting on Monday for the offshore area as it will experience strong westerly winds of between 20 to 25 knots. “The seas will be rough,” said the duty forecaster, noting the warning will for the next 48 hours.“This is the first of the North Westerly cold draughts," he said. Temperature will drop to 27 degrees Celcius for the next three days. Nights will be cooler.”

That's right, my friends... winter has arrived in Dubai. Five minutes of light rain and a temperature drop down to a shivery 27 degrees Celsius. Get out your parkas! Looking forward to coming home to the 'real' winter in 3 weeks time... is it possible that sunny skies and the warm desert air have become too routine for this girl??