Monthly Archives: March 2009

Is there something wrong with my son?

My four year old son is interesting to say the least.

With tongue in cheek, I have to ask.  Is he normal?

I know a lot of kids of the same age, but my son’s certainly different.

In a country where you see a large representation of the most flash cars on earth, he’s most interested in seeing a VW (“Herbie car”), or a mini (“Mr Bean’s car”).

While most of his friends back home ran around bare footed, we have to battle with him to take off his shiny “work boots”.

With such a huge variety of kids clothes bearing the latest cartoon movie motifs, he wants nothing but plain coloured apparel.

And in regard to simply wearing clothes in general, we know more than a few kids who don’t like getting dressed at all. Yet Myles selects his own clothes early each morning, and quite often wants to wear a neck tie as well – even if it’s one he’s made himself from drawing on a piece of cut-out paper.

I guess the conclusion is simple. He’s definitely not normal. He’s hilarious and fantastic.

What a weekend

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My family and I have had another hectic weekend.

Tecom

On Thursday – the equivalent of Australia’s Friday – we managed to get a viewing of our permanent accommodation at Al Barsha. Getting into there is not the finest introduction at the moment as due to the rain the ground’s mostly muddy, and there are still plenty of ad hoc signs to get you through the many construction sites in the area.  But the actual building wasn’t too bad.

As there is still a little bit of construction there was definitely no kids allowed, so Elle and I viewed the apartments in turns. I went first.  I firstly had to work out the major things such as which blocks were the ones available and what not.  There were no authorised staff around to start the lifts for me, so I was only able to climb the stairs, which meant I stopped as soon as I could work out how many flights til you got a half-decent view – which incidentally was floor 10.  After my turn, Elle just happened to bump into the facilities manager who took her to the roof so she could view the pool & BBQ area.  Despite some of my colleague’s concerns, the area was apparently not too bad.  There’s been a bit of talk at the office that the area is extremely unsafe as there’s only a 1 metre glass wall stopping you from falling the 26 floors to the ground.  But apparently C block which Elle viewed was a fair bit higher than this, and can be managed.

There’s also quite a bit of talk around the traps whether now is the right time to use company accommodation or not.  The financial crisis has dropped the values and rents of a lot of the real estate.  Allegedly villas are now at prices less than most of our accommodation allowances, so we could conceivably ditch the apartment, lease our own villa, and still get extra money in our pocket.  But you’d be at the mercy of local landlords, and have to manage all the utility costs yourself.  And who knows where prices are going next. Most papers have quite a few competing predictions.

Ski Dubai

I dropped Elle and the boys back at home, then went back to work for a few hours before picking them up again and heading off to Ski Dubai – within the Mall of Emirates.  There’s something not right with the order of things, when my son sees snow for the first time in a desert. All in all though, it was a fantastic first introduction.  We took my boss’s son who is a very competent skier. Elle had to provide some level of adult supervision as she was the only one left who could ski. I say “some level” of supervision, as Alex was zooming down the slopes like a rocket, while my wife had to initially spend some time back on the learner’s slope.

One this occasion Myles and I just visited the Snow Park, which was no problem at all.  The place was great. All the kids there were so adorable with their snow suits, boots, and helmets.  I thought some of the activities would be a bit advanced for him, but Myles enjoyed the tobaggan and donut rides immensely.  I thought they were pretty cool also, but for our next visit the two of us made a pact to learn to ski.  I should add that our baby went shopping with my boss during this time.  Apparently whenever people were watching she was boasting that Lewis was her kid. 🙂

Mall of Emirates shopping

The following day my wife was a little worse for wear from skiing for the first time in many years. We disregarded this though and hit the Mall of Emirates again, but this time only the shopping mall. My goodness!  I viewed it very quickly last November after I finished my job interviews, but I really had no idea of its actual size. The place has a bit of absolutely everything. We bought plenty of things off the shopping list, but as we’re still “setting up” it’s still outside of full scrutiny.

When we returned to our car, there was another example of Dubai’s shoddy driving.  On either side of us there were massive 4WDs over their line wedging us in.  With great difficulty I put the boys into the back, but then had to get into the passenger’s side to get out.

The Gold Souq (Market)

And today to complete the weekend a Prado load of us visited the Gold Souq. We were warned to get a ride there as there are limited parks, and they weren’t kidding. The traffic was horrendous, and there were absolutely no street parks. In the end we were lucky to get a space in the paid car park. From the street it looked like it was already oversupplied, but they managed to squeeze us in on the proviso we left our keys so they could reconfigure the place each time someone needed to leave.

The markets were nice. The constant line of people asking us to go off and look at their copied watches and handbags was no so nice after the 30-40th  suggestion.  The amount of gold on display was almost on the obscene level.  Some of the gold chains would floor Mr T. I should mention only I thought they were obscene.  My wife and boss both thought they were perfectly appropriate.  Go figure.

According to a map I saw, the gold souq was very close to the perfume, spice, and fish souqs also. But that was incorrect.  They had spice and perfumes only.  My wife may have been relieved by this, as I promised to buy equal value of fish to gold.  Actually I think the threat worked a treat, we didn’t buy any jewelry at all.  Although a bit of negotiating with shops occured, and a few business cards were collected.

We did pretty much a full round, and bought only specials which I was happy with.  We now have an authentic beautiful table runner, and a few other useful items. And contrary to a lot of the advice I received before going, we’ll certainly be back. Next time though, we’ll get a driver to drop us there.  Well, actually the next trip is (thankfully) purely for the girls,  so I mean the time after that.

Generosity and rain

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Last night I went to the electrical shop just down the road to see if I could get a certain connection.  I failed, but the trip was certainly worth it.  The centre I went to was the more expensive one which has  a lot of fancy clothes shops especially, but I had heard previously there was a Spinney’s there also – a supermarket which is popular, although overpriced compared its competitors.  I had never seen the supermarket in my travels, but on this particular trip I saw one of their shopping trolley so I figure I’d walk a bit further to see if I could find it.  As soon as I got to the end of the street, and looked around the corner there it was in huge green fluoro lights.  I can’t believe I was so close, yet not ever seeing it before.  I had very nearly walked there quite a few times previously.

The good thing about Spinney’s and a few other supermarkets is that they have a noticeboard, which is handy as I’m currently looking to buy a car.

There were also plenty of other shops that would have been useful a while ago if I had known it was all there.  There was a kids entertainment place which we may utilise one of these days.

When I returned home I was a bit chuffed at my discovery, but that was nothing.  Our night time doorman had a bit of a grin on his face, and as I approached I noticed he was fidgeting through a stack of envelopes. With a big beaming smile he said this is for you Ryan.  It was an invitation to his wedding in India.  I think it was a bit tongue in cheek, but he proceeded to tell me about all the details, and how good India is to go to for quite a period of time I think he would like us to attend.  Unfortunately it’s too short notice, and probably not the ideal time to visit.  He also told me that he doesn’t give them to anyone, just his friends which was a nice touch. The pile of envelopes was quite high, so I figure he’s friends with just about everyone in our apartment.

This hasn’t been our first invitation to India, or Sri Lanka. Quite a few of the guys I work with have been very welcoming, and have offered to show me around their respective countries, and that they would love to show me around.  I’ll definitely take them up on the offer one day. One guy also made a deal with me to show me around if I take him to a cricket test match in Australia one day – which I obviously agreed to.

Thought I’d also mention, tonight it has been raining quite a lot. It’s rained so much that the road has flooded (probably 10 cm of “flooding”).  It’s been interesting to see the drivers reacting to water on the road, like it’s a deadly creek crossing. Actually the flooded road doesn’t necessarily indicate lots of rain as generally there hasn’t been much thinking or design for the effects of rain, as it’s not traditionally an issue.  With the effects of climate change, perhaps they should begin thinking. I mean, a couple of days before I arrived here it actually snowed in Ras Al Khaimer – a neighbouring Emirate.

Hatta Pools

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We’ve had quite a hectic weekend.

Thursday night after work I went out with colleagues to Irish Village.  In the morning Elle, Myles and I had already decided to have dinner somewhere so I organised a driver to bring them along also.  The Village is very child-friendly (until 8:30pm – at which time they must leave).  They do great steaks! The beer is nice also, but at the equivalent of $15 AUD a pint they’re not as appealing as they could be.
A family from our apartment came along with their son who Myles got on famously with.  The two were playing the entire night.

They were within eyesight, but some distance from us.  The parents took it in turns to walk by and make sure everything was going ok. Elle mentioned when she had finished her round, that a group of bikies had arrived next to the rocks where the two boys had made their fort.  She had a bit of a giggle, as the boys mistakenly thought the bikies were police.  I got up to have my turn when I saw the boys weren’t on their rock. They had actually moved into the circle of the bikies, and were getting photos taken with them.  It turns out Dubai’s currently hosting their 4th annual Bike Week, and the gang that had become quite fond of the boys were the Ukrainian chapter of Hells Angels.  All the bikie stereotypes were thrown out the window when you saw the bikies getting photos taken proudly posing with the kids.  Must Google for their site to see if our kids got published.  They boys also got some stickers which were happily accepted.

The next day we went for a drive to Hatta to have a picnic.  With a few late cancellations, there were only seven of us so we all traveled in the one car. This turned out to be great because the place proved difficult to find with plenty of driving around in circles.  And also, at the end of the day we were all extremely tired so it was good to divide the driving.

The trip was mostly on one of the major roads leaving Dubai. It’s always interesting, and scary at the same time, to see the appalling driving on display on any straight road with more than two lanes. Without fail you’re bound to see a Porsche Cayenne travelling over 150km/hr within a metre or two of the car in front of it. Also scary were the group of guys riding their four wheel motorbikes on the highway near a popular dune-bashing site. They were standing up on their bikes, with no helmets or any protective gear.

Getting there was an interesting experience of its own.  We’re not entirely sure, but we think we passed over a national border with Oman.  There were a couple of road blocks with an army presence equipped with automatic weapons.

Another interesting site to see were one town’s warning of the effects of driving while talking on your mobile phone.  Around their round-about were four former cars that were absolutely smashed to smithereens in car crashes. Each had a sombre warning below of the dangers of talking on phones while driving. It was a coincidence that earlier in the day we saw a policeman driving his 4WD while talking on his mobile.  I guess no one was going to arrest him.

We picked up a biryani in a small village in Hatta to take with us to the Hatta Pools. However the pools were almost impossible to find – particularly after we took directions from the locals. But the wait was definitely worth it.  The place was quite a contradiction. We drove through a couple hundred kilometres of dry Dubai (and maybe Omanian) desert. Yet Hatta happened to have a series of beautiful rock pools tucked away amongst the sand. It was almost mirage-like to spot the many rock chasms all filled with extremely cool water. We found one in the shade which we sat at with our feet dangling in. It was amazing. We were all in agreement that it could only be improved with a nice chardonnay.  While we were kicking back enjoying the moment, groups of locals kept arriving in their swimming gear. It seemed a popular place for them was near where we were slothing. The noise from them jumping in was hysterical. In fact, at times it sounded like they were having a little too much fun – if you catch my drift.

The temperature in Dubai is starting to climb so we didn’t stay at the pools for too long – much to the boy’s disappointment. The road blocks were still there, but this time rather than spotting that we were foreigners and letting us go, the soldier stopped us and asked for all our paperwork. Christine and I both had driver’s license and UAE gate card, but Elle’s passport is still with Immigration. The guy didn’t care too much about any of these though, but took an interest in Christine’s houseboy, Mani.  Luckily Mani takes a photocopy of his passport, visa, and work permit wherever he goes. The soldier seemed OK with this, so we kept going. We had a big laugh as we left and Christine mentioned that Mani must have had the face of a terrorist. Mani giggled, but said it was because he was black.

Happy Holi

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For most of today I walked around work with red paint on my face. This was to mark the 12th day of Spring – a Hindi tradition called Holi (or Festival of Colours). As Spring brings out the most beautiful colours, Holi is about launching these colours in the form of natural paints, and some times coloured dyes. I felt a little odd, but my little dab of red was nothing compared to others. I saw a couple of guys in the office with white business shirts covered in so much red they looked like they’ve escaped some form of massacre. A nearby colleague arrived after the vandalism had occurred, but the ladies were able to get enough paint from my cheek to do him also. I was disappointed they didn’t go with my suggestion to apply it to his shirt’s collar in the shape of a women’s lips. Shortly after I was done I asked if I could wash it off, but I was warned not to as it would just mean I’d get done even more a second time.

It’s been good to experience a week with my family. It’s been really interesting to hear the things that they find amusing which I have become a bit blase about. An example is the constant use of car horns in traffic. My wife has found this a constant source of humour. In fact she has mentioned I don’t use ours nearly enough. It was kind of exciting when I drove and experienced getting horned for the first time. I believe it was because I was more than 30 centimetres from the car in front.

While I’ve become accustomed to the constant horning, yesterday afternoon I couldn’t help but chuckle. At a a cross-roads from work, there was an impasse of mass proportions with no one going anywhere. There must have been at least seven or eight cars involved. Around half were trying to get out and half were trying to get in, and each of these were going in different directions. The situation was totally hopeless. From my position away from the mellee I couldn’t work out how it got so bad, and how they could alleviate themselves from it. It seemed to me that they’d need a team of a dozen Mensas doing calculations on butcher’s paper to sort out this mess. But it seemed each of the cars thought the best solution was to sit there and use their horns, along with a few hand gestures. It may have taken me three of four minutes to walk past the scene, and the entire time there was a full chorus of car horns.

After work today I visited the post office for the first time. It’s quite a bit different from Australian post offices which go out of their way to sell everything and anything. I’m not sure if it was just this post office, but inside there was virtually nothing except a desk and the guy that worked there. They didn’t have envelopes for sale. A bit surprised by this I just had to ask if they had stamps. But the process was OK.

Tonight we went out for dinner. I carelessly chose a restaurant within a four year old’s eyesight from a kids mini-fair with loads of rides. The dinner was a pizza place, but Elle and I couldn’t go past their pastas. The service there was exceptional! They were all in love with Lewis, and looked after us very well. Our waiter guessed we were from Australia from our accent, and said he likes Australia and is a big fan of Tania Zaetta. I’ve never heard of that association to Australia before.

At the fair they had all the rides we’re used to. Our budget for Myles allowed him to go on five. Well four – I joined him on the roller coaster. While they were all the same as you’d expect at home, there were a few distinctive Dubai touches. For example, there were babies on the roller coaster with no protection. And I’m not used to being getting thrown around on a roller coaster while one of Muslim workers was on the ground below praying on his blanket. I hope he was praying for religious purposes, and it wasn’t due to his concerns about the ride.

A big hit with Myles was the four wheeler motobike. I wasn’t sure how long it’d take him to get used to it. He’s good at driving cars, but this thing had a thumb throttle. I shouldn’t have worried, he was a natural. Within a couple of laps he was tearing it up with sand flying everywhere. There were a couple of close shaves – particularly when he got so confident he started waving to us – but he managed to turn just in time to avoid the tyre walls.

After some initial naughty behaviour when he was obviously feeling the effects of the flight, Myles has been amazingly good. As a reward, tomorrow we’re going to Children’s City. We’ll report back later.

Safa Park markets

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We’re in the market for a few things for Lewis rather than wait to get our stuff couriered over. So we spent yesterday at Safa Park with friends who told us about the markets they have there once a month.

I’ve been pricing most items at Mother Care – a UK based chain. The prices though for basic things like a bouncer, high chair and stroller weren’t that great. So instead we bought all these items and a few things for Myles at a fraction of the cost. But scoop sale of the day went to Paul who was with us. He picked up a full set of great condition Titleist golf clubs, bag, and brand new buggy never used for less than $150 AUD. It was such a good deal I don’t feel bad at all for stirring him at the car by asking if he knew they were left-handed. He paused with a worried look on his face before laughing out with a “You bastard!”. His family are clearly pros at this market business. His 9 year old son asked about a TV aerial or something. The shopkeeper said it was 5 AED (about $2 AUD), to which he responded, “Yeah, good luck with that” before walking off.

While the specials are great for shoppers, it was suggested it could be a sign of the financial crisis. The size of the market has grown considerably in a month, the same time that the number of expats leaving the country has gone up. Having said that, I think we’ll be back next month. I’m sure there’s something else we need ..

The afternoon finished with us video conferencing into my Nanna’s 90th Birthday party in Shorncliffe, Queensland. Although the internet connection between us was terrible, it was still great to see the whole family there to celebrate Little Chugger’s milestone. The crowd included my two cousins from the Northern Territory and their kids. We wanted to buy some party hats and blowers, but we just ran out of time. I’m still waiting for the piece of birthday cake they said they’d fax.

They’re finally here

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Friday morning a bit before the schedule of 5:45am local time my wife and two boys touched down in Dubai. From Melbourne that was 16 hours of mayhem my wife does not want to repeat alone.

I booked a driver to pick me up on the way to Terminal 3 Arrivals. The coordinator was adamant I should be picked up at touch down time, then drive the 15 minutes to the airport from my place and still have plenty of time to spare. But I couldn’t do it. I made it 5:30am, and even then I felt a bit jumpy if they were already there. In fact, the night before I had a very disjointed sleep with similar scenarios playing in my head. At times I woke up probably ever 20 – 30 minutes just to check my alarm.

When I arrived, it was around 5:40am and the board said the plane had just touched down. As Elle would have her hands well and truly full I booked the Marhaba service, which provides a meet and greet service. Apparently the extra flowers thrown in were well-received. It’s a good idea to book this when coming to Dubai to avoid practically any queues. The porterage service is very convenient also for someone weighed down with rugrats.

It felt like an eternity waiting at the Meeting Point for arrivals. I had a relatively clear view of everyone coming, and was in a constant state of readiness for when I spotted them. Each time I saw the shape of a young boy in the distance I would get my hopes up that it was Myles and co., but when they got close enough for me to see it wasn’t them, I’d swear under my breath. All the while, I’m expecting the absolute worst, that the Marhaba people never met them and they’re walking around totally lost and helpless. Almost 40 minutes later, I spotted them. Myles was holding the hand of a young Filipina Marhaba lady. Although he was 70- 80 metres from where I was standing, it was already clear he was talking her ear off. Elle was following with Lewis in a pram. It was quite emotional finally seeing them after five weeks away from them. Thankfully I had my sunglasses.

As they got to the door from Arrivals Myles finally broke sentence with the lady to look out and see me waving frantically. He looked so cool. He had new jeans & shoes, dress shirt (he still avoids wearing anything else), jacket and there was also a kids Emirates backpack they gave (full of toys) diagonally across his chest. He ran up to the glass barrier where I was standing on the other side where we did a brief high five through the glass. Then we walked out to the opening where I got a huge hug from him, once he saw it was alright from the Marhaba lady for him to run off. Elle had a huge smile, which you could tell was 90% relief. And Lewis was looking very curious. And HUGE! My goodness!

I called the driver to swing back around and pick us up which gave Elle enough time to down a rapid fire handful of cigarettes to calm the nerves. I gave the driver a MYLES sign to hold-up, but there were so many cars parked in the pickup area we did the dodgy and just jumped into the car when security weren’t watching. We’d probably still be there if we waited for a car to leave. That situation would never happen in Brisbane. There they make you feel guilty if you take more than a minute to drop someone off. But here I think the cars had been sitting there for hours, the engines weren’t even running. Our driver Zafir displayed the MYLES sign nonetheless, but the effect wasn’t the same.

We got back to the apartment and Myles was immediately curious about the place, and asking where his room was. I pointed out he was staying in the kitchen. He’d usually know I was joking, but in this strange new environment he watched me closely to see if I was being serious. I gave him a clue, that there was a present on his bed, which made him go through each room. He was eventually wrapped to see his room, already with a few of his items that I had packed with me. He was quite impressed with the Emirates Airline Boeing 777 I bought for him. However, he proudly countered it with a complete QANTAS airport set they picked up in MEL. No loyalty at all.

It was probably about 10 minutes later that my nice clean and relatively bare apartment was converted into a very busy and messy, free for all. There were toys EVERYWHERE. And it was absolutely wonderful.

After at least we moved the suitcases into the rooms they belong to, I got Elle and Myles to lie down and catchup on some much needed rest. Lewis on the other hand was not interested in sleeping at all. This was fabulous Daddy and baby time that I had missed so sorely. He’s the same baby, just bigger, stronger and much more intense. He used to love flapping around, but this has been taken to a whole new level. I think he was actually tired as well, but he was so keen to showoff his new tricks. I put him down on a rug to roll around while I started organising a few things around the place. Each time he spotted me walking past where he was, the legs would kick furiously, and the arms would flap up and down with no sense of personal safety. It reminds me of footage I’ve seen of a turtle when they’re caught and lifted out of water. Although Lewis always has a huge grin, which now has two bottom teeth! He’s also on the verge of another accomplishment with him at six months very close to crawling.

Although it was their first day, Myles and I still went for a walk over to City Centre where I had to pick up some final things – including the cot which arrived for pickup. We also walked to the local shop. Myles had asked about sand as soon as he got here, and where I’m staying in Deira it’s quite built-up so you don’t see much. Occasionally though we would pass a little plot where it was clear there was a sand base instead of grass or dirt. To this Myles would screech SAND! with an excited and hysterical sort of look.

The night was interestingly topped off with a minor emergency when I bought Indian takeout. Myles was not too excited with the Rogan Josh, Tikka, Biryani or rice, so he proceeded to make a “pizza” from putting some of the salad onto a Naan. We were just happy he was eating something on top of the snacks he had in the afternoon. However, one thing we didn’t notice was the “green bean” he put on was actually a chilli. As soon as he took a bite I knew what it was from his reaction. I bit a piece also to check it, and it was ___ing HOT! Immediately I got him to wash out his mouth with the OJ he had. Then we went into the kitchen where we each skulled as much milk as we could stomach (almost 2 litres). It was kind of a relief. However, still not enough so I smashed up some ice in a little bag and he just chewed on that until it got back to normal. Elle and I felt absolutely terrible, but the chilli looked so much like a bean, even after we knew what it was. He got an advance on his ice cream, with extra, which helped even more. But we’ve learned our lesson.

Conned again

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Last night I was conned on the street by Indian beggers.  The guy was holding a baby and with his wife, so his story of the family not having money for food or milk appealed to the senses of an absent father.  To be honest it felt a bit like a con (I mean I saw Slum Dog Millionaire), but when I asked if he was serious and how it could happen I couldn’t really take in his answer. I was just comparing the size of the little baby with my own son who has more than enough food (in fact this morning I heard for a 6 month old he’s off the growth chart!).

I gave them 30 AED before telling  him he needs to look after that baby. Then went on my way.  I was actually heading off to the Irish bar I found on my way home from work.  When I was there I asked the manager if he thought I was ripped off or not.  He shook his head at me, and said I definitely was.

It’s actually not the first time. Last week I met a guy nearly in tears cause apparently the taxi took off with his luggage, passport and all his money, and that he was so hungry.  After a long chat I gave him 50 AED to (allegely) get him through two days until his embassy will give him a ticket to go home. It sounded plausible at the time, and my doorman about said it was probably true. But the guy at the Dublin Arms said that’s a popular racket also.

The other one to watch out for, he said, is a single lady will come up to you asking for money, then right behind her another woman will appear and then they together accuse you of touching them. Then before you know it a whole herd of women come out to say they each witnessed it. The sting is that they say they’ll go to the police if you don’t give them all your money.

The guy at the bar said he’s had a few attempts against him, but the safest way to get around it is to say you’re willing to help, and that you’ll call the police for them.  You’ll be amazed at how fast they scurry away.  So now I’m equipped.

This evening when the guy had the baby, part of me wanted to just cut through the possible B.S. and take him to the shop and buy the food myself – like my brother does back at home – but I was already late, and didn’t want to go out of my way.

Otherwise the night was great.  I had a few pints and watched the Rugby League World Cup Challenge, where Australia’s Manly Sea Eagles beat the Leeds Rhinos. I find it hard to believe that it’s the first time an Australian team has won in six years.  I knew we were having a bit of a bad trot, like maybe two or three losses – but six?!

Anthony Watmou certainly deserved man of the match for his early efforts, although he fell a bit quiet.  Can’t wait for State of Origin, the only other time I like him.  There was an interesting exchange when Jamie Peacock was sin-binned. It was a small TV in a busy bar while I was eating, but it looked like it was Jamie that did the high tackle, threw the first punch, and appropriately got smacked around, yet Josh Perry had to join him in cooling off for 10 minutes.  Perhaps I’m just one-eyed when it comes to watching sport.  I think it’s a sure sign the football seasons have almost begun. 🙂

Go the Broncos and go the Lions.