Christmas-NewYear

Now that the holidays have come to a close, we will try to describe Christmas in Dubai. It was different certainly. One of our first challenges was to find a church, not an easy task in a Muslim country. We did find one in Dubai, a complex which serves almost every Christian denomination except Catholic, tucked back from the street so it couldn’t be seen, I guess. Anyhow, due to Bob’s flying schedule, we decided the best we would be able to do was go to Christmas carols under the stars in the church square on the 23rd. There were choirs from each denomination that functions out of the church, most of them being Indian, Asian, African, or from the Pacific Islands and many being quite evangelical. It was a very interesting and unique evening. I’m glad we went.

Christmas day we had a sit-down dinner for 12 Safi people in our little apartment. It was a bit of a challenge, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. We even found a 24-pound Butterball. We did miss our family, but we tried to make the most of it, and Santa did manage to find us over here. He seems to think we should do some rug shopping, so I’ve been trying to learn about different Oriental carpets online. The Iranian silk carpets are exquisite, far superior to anything else, but the prices are also exquisite.

Unfortunately for Bob, all through the holidays he has had to deal with some personal issues that came up with one of the pilots. It got to be very stressful for everyone here, but at least the issue is resolved now. I don’t think Bob knew he was going to be housemother for this group too.
We actually had a wonderful New Year’s Eve. We’ve found this place called the Irish Village, pictured above, which is part of a complex also containing the Dubai Tennis Center, a variety of other restaurants, and the Aviation Club, which consists of a nice clubhouse, pool, spa, restaurant, and numerous other amenities. It looks like they accept short-term members, so we plan to pursue that this week.

Anyhow, back to New Year’s Eve, the Irish Village had an outdoor party “limited” to about 2,000 people, all outside, as the weather is just fabulous this time of year. They served a wonderful buffet and had about four bands, one of which was a good ABBA- imitation group. We had a great time dancing to all the best of ABBA. Most of the people on the dance floor were younger than our kids, but we had fun. I really think if this Aviation Club works out, Dubai is going to look a whole lot nicer, even from our dumpy apartment.

We are very excited about having a special dinner at the Burj al Arab, the hotel that looks like a sail that’s in all the pictures of Dubai. Our kids have given us a special night out, and all we’re waiting for is Bob to have his schedule set so we can go in the next week or two. This is the restaurant that you get to by “submarine,” and hopefully now the holidays are over, we’ll be able to get a reservation.

As this blog has not gone to final edition yet, we are now new members of the Aviation Club, and hopefully that will give us an avenue to the activities we enjoy and people with the same interests.

This week the Italian VP of maintenance for Safi has had his wife here, so at least I’ve had someone to pal around with. We’ve hit the souks and a couple of the shopping centers looking for good deals, etc. The best buys are in the Sharjah souk, and she’s a great negotiator. I’ll be sorry to see her go. She’s been a lot of fun.

I will have Bob do the next blog to give a little different perspective on life in Dubai. In the meantime, we do hope the new year is starting well for everyone.

ASD