Dubai Life: Love at first wash

Have you ever hand-washed all your laundry...for months?  Without going too far down the rabbit-hole, let me just say there are at least 3,407 other things I would rather do than hand-wash fatigues.  But you do what you gotta do.

And this past week, our "gotta do" list included buying a new washing machine.  We started using it as soon as it was installed (after cleaning up the small flood of course), and I can honestly say I've never loved an appliance more.  I washed 6 loads of laundry the next day.

On a separate note, if you ever want to force yourself to downsize your wardrobe both in terms of wearing fewer things and buying next to nothing, I highly recommend hand-washing. 

When the installers break a water valve and you don't know where the water shut-off is, your house floods.

But who cares!? We can be lazy about clean clothes again!

Putting the tiles back because the shut-off valve wasn't up there either (it was 6 feet to the left).  But isn't he so cute?

Phoebe la foca

Phoebe is slowly getting used to the new people, sounds, smells, and neighboring animals. She's accustomed to our "move a lot" lifestyle and the transition from Gig Harbor has been pretty easy for her, or so it seems. She has spurts of frenzied activity that mostly involve ball chasing and doing countless "perimeter checks" (it's a territorial thing where she runs around the entire perimeter of the fence line looking for intrusions), which is something she started doing in Gig Harbor. And she still spends most of her day passed out on the tile floor (instead of the expensive dog bed) and most evenings whining/grumbling to herself (not very quietly) about hypothetical animals invading the backyard. 

So in short, she's the same mostly-lazy-but-sometimes-crazy pup that she's always been.  :)  

Except at night, when the neighbors cat jumps on the wall.  Then she is totally out of her mind and there's no consoling her.  This happens once a week.  One night per week she goes bonkers about a real animal.  The other six nights she vigilantly watches and grumbles about how THIS COULD BE THE NIGHT the cat reappears.  Poor Phoebe, and poor us for having to listen to it.

She loves sunny corners

And steals my yoga mat when I get up for water

We explore neighborhood shortcuts after a running in the park (clarification: she runs, I stand there)

Everything is made better with more naps

Gig Harbor vs Dubai - different scenery, same crazy dog

Dubai Life: We have Gas!

The gas company came to the villa this morning to set up our cooking gas (everything else in the house is electric).  Up until now, we haven't been able to cook and I didn't realize it would affect me so much.  Sure, we did fine with an electric kettle (soft-boiled eggs!), a toaster (meh) and a slow cooker (bought this weekend) but I wasn't really able to labor over food preparation and meals the way I like to...and it really bothered me.

I used to wonder if all the effort I put into cooking and preparing our meals from whole/fresh ingredients was really worth it.  It takes so much energy, planning, and money (since I also tried to source good ingredients) and I sometimes doubted whether I was still getting the satisfaction from it that I used to.  Yes, we were eating nutritious food - but was is still a labor of love?  Well, after going about 6 weeks without cooking (a month of traveling and 2 weeks in Dubai), I am finally sure of that answer.  Yes, it's absolutely worth it.  And yes, it's still one of the most significant parts of my day. 

The dishes, on the other hand, are a totally different story.

Cooking gas cannister installed in our front yard

Hooking up our oven (which he was nice enough to also fix)

Me today. I don't even care that he showed up 5 hours early.

My First Few Days in Dubai

I've been in Dubai for about 10 days and I feel like we've done so much.  Most of it is mundane but still necessary - trips to the grocery store, acquiring furniture, scoping out a new washing machine (because ours is broken), and generally figuring out how to "do life" out here.

Steven has been such a sweetheart and spends most of his non-working moments taking me where ever my heart desires.  Husband of the year award. <3

Wowwwwww at the Dubai Mall

Skittles drink, anyone?

 

Kitty litter in the potting soil...kinda the same?

When you buy a 6ft ladder and drive a Fiesta (rental car).

I love this lego camel

After much consideration about our "car strategy" (Steve's words) we bought a Volvo S80 from our neighbor

My sweeties enjoying a moment on the patio - even though Sven is staring at his phone and PB is being a creep and staring at me

Flying to Dubai (aka Longest Flight Ever)

I made it! I'm here! 

The Emirates flight from SFO to DXB was incredibly long (15 hours) but still decently comfortable for flying that many hours strapped to an upright seat (ie - coach). The plane was the enormously impressive Airbus a380 with 17 flight attendants who spoke 18 languages and ~500 passengers on board.  Everything was immaculately clean, staff was polite, and in-flight entertainment was plentiful.  Not bad for $1,000 to go all the way across the world. But Emirates is most famous for it's luxurious amenities for Business and First class and of course, now I'm curious. Maybe we'll try it for the way back (if we save a gajillion travel points).

Steven patiently waited for me through a few minor delays that took a few extra hours. But when it was finally done it was sooooo good to see my bushy-bearded mister. Culturally, the UAE discourages PDA so it was just a quick hug and HUGE smiles. Phoebe, on the other hand, couldn't keep her cool.  She was so excited I thought she was going to have a heart attack (at home not at the airport).

Luggage: I took one 40L backpack carry-on and checked three 29" bags under 50lbs (which they only lost once for about 45mins...)

I loved the twinkly lights on the plane ceiling

Cabin for the crew in the back of the plane (with bunk beds!)

Together again (at last)!