Busy Weekend

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

Friday morning plans included an early (8:30 am) morning breakfast get together with friends at a new restaurant in Dubai. The plans did not include not being able to get out of our parking garage because a trench had been dug across the entrance/exit. Only one way in and out and we were not getting out. This resulted in a switch to taking a taxi.

The food was good, but the customer service was very bad, so I’ll leave out the name of the restaurant. The company of friends was wonderful as always.

Having traveled by taxi and having doctor appointments at 4 pm, we had a whole day to kill. So we spent most of it at Dubai Mall.

We checked out the new dinosaur exhibit in the grand atrium. There was a contest to name it and the winner was “Dubai Dino.” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it required a contest to come up with that. It has a ridiculously small head.

Then we traveled by the metro to Health Care City.

Dinner (or a really late lunch) at Circle Cafe followed.

Then we had a bit of an adventure getting onto the Dubai-Fujairah bus. We missed one departure, but managed to catch the next one. It was a long day.

Saturday was a bit simpler since we could drive our own car. We met friends for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Aroos Damascus. We stuffed ourselves with marvelous food.

Aside from the fantastic fresh baked bread and delicious meats, my favorite thing is the complimentary bowl of fresh veggies.

The conversation turned to fish – salmon, tuna, etc., – so it didn’t seem out of place when our friend Rami said “What’s the best tuna?” After a brief pause, Daddybird and I simultaneously said “Chicken of the Sea.” This was met with laughter. Apparently, that was the answer Rami was looking for. He has asked it in many situations, but we were the first to answer correctly. He had been watching an “Apprentice” show where the task was to update the Chicken of the Sea ad campaign and he had never heard of it before. He found the idea of chicken of the sea funny. (http://youtu.be/NKnxQC79Cww)

Over the years we have collected (on purpose) ridiculous toys. Now that we have to move and are trying to reduce what we take with us as much as possible, we have solved this by giving the toys away at our farewell parties. It’s been fun, even for the recipients.

Birds of a Feather

Interest Chicken and Lion

Game Night

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

We headed over the mountains…

to Dubai…

for game night.

Pounce

Quao (the cow dictator game)

and Elder Sign.

Thanks to our friends for making the evening fun!

Twestival

Posted by Kanga.

First, what is Twestival? This is an annual event where Twitter users all over the world get together and raise money for charity. The 2009 Twestival in Dubai was one of the first Twitter related social events we attended. This year, DaddyBird attended “stag,” so to speak. You will see him and hear him in the video below, along with several of our friends. (The video was artfully shot and edited by our friend, Faisal.)

This year the proceeds from the Dubai Twestival went to the Dubai Autism Center. Twitter Festival raises over Dh100,000 for charity.

Recent news article about the Dubai Autism Center.

Shawarma Loiter

Posted by Kanga.

First, I should explain the origin of the “shawarma loiter” concept. It came from a dinner conversation with friends about shawarma – the quality, availability, etc. One friend asked the other his opinion, to which he replied “I’ve never loitered at shawarma stands.” The word “loiter” hit the funny bone of the first friend, so it became the running joke of the evening and by the end the concept of a shawarma loiter had solidified.

So, June 16th we had our first real shawarma loiter (or stroll) which consisted of meeting at the mall across the street from our apartment and then DaddyBird led us on a tour of some of the shawarma stands in our neighborhood. We paced ourselves by just buying 1/2-1 shawarmas per person per stand.

Shawarmas consist of pita bread rolled around shaved meat that has been cooked on an upright spit. Exact contents vary from stand to stand. There is often a sauce added and some put in veggies. Shawarmas in restaurants often have soggy fries added, but this is not convenient at the stands, thankfully. Stand shawarmas range from 3.50 AED to 5.00 AED (that’s $0.95 to $1.36). The 3.50 ones usually have veggies in them and the 5.00 ones are usually a little larger.

The spit/roaster is usually an electric device producing radiant heat on one side while the spit is rotated slowly. One near our apartment has a bank of coals instead of electric heat.

DaddyBird also included a historical landmark in our tour, the Burj Nahar.

This is one of the watchtowers that used to be on the outskirts of town. It has been preserved and there is a little park area around it.

Next stop was a bread bakery on a back street.

These men are sitting on top of the oven. Two are rolling out the dough and the third is putting it into and taking it out of the oven.

We ended our shawarma stroll at Al Mallah restaurant on Al Muteena street. One of our favorites. We sat inside for the very first time due to the summer heat and the fact that we were pretty sweaty by this point. The air conditioning was quite nice. Shawarma loitering should be a winter activity.

Kanga’s Birthday

Posted by Kanga

Happy birthday to me! We went to one of my favorite places, Bu Qtair Cafeteria.

With some of my favorite people.

And ate some of my favorite food.

Quoted

Posted by Kanga

http://jazeeramagazine.com/2010/02/01/twitter-arabia/

I’ve been quoted in the article at the link above talking about Twitter. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. We are having an atypical experience because we are able to socially connect with wonderful people that we would not have crossed paths with otherwise. We know more Emiratis than Americans (in Dubai). We know WAY more Indians, Pakistanis and Syrians, than Americans. And, we mustn’t overlook our dear Maltese. (If I’ve left out your nationality, please don’t take it personally. We love you all.)

Saturday Tweetup

Saturday we met with our Twitter friends at one of our favorite restaurants – Al Baghdadi on Al Muteena Street. The very first time Daddybird and I ate at this restaurant, my purse was stolen. You can read the detailed account of that experience here.
Anyway, back to the Tweetup. There were 26 people, according to my count, not all pictured here. They are a marvelous group of people from a wide range of countries, ages, professions, etc.  Rami showed up late, but that’s the beauty of a tweetup. People come and go as they please or their schedule allows.
Now a word about Twitter. It seems that my friends and acquaintances back home haven’t figured out what to do with Twitter. They prefer Facebook. For me, Facebook is fine for keeping in touch with people you met and made friends with “in the flesh.” I have never made a new friend through Facebook. For me, the beauty of Twitter is making new friends. We are having an atypical expat experience because of this. We would never have met these people through “normal channels.” I once described Twitter as: “like being in a room full of people who are all talking, but you can hear and understand what everyone is saying and join or ignore any conversation.” This got “retweeted” a few times, so there may be some truth in it. The people (mostly stupid journalists) who say they aren’t interested in Twitter because they don’t care what other people had for lunch, really don’t comprehend what is happening in Twitter. There was a study that randomly sampled tweets and determined that 40% is “pointless babble.” This study was deeply flawed, because you can’t pull tweets out of context without turning them into pointless babble. Twitter is a conversation.
Why did I take a picture of this bystander who was not part of our group? Because he’s wearing a leather coat over his kandura BECAUSE IT’S SO COLD! The low that night was 63F. Since the people back home are complaining about rain, wind and sometimes snow, the thought that people think Dubai is cold is amusing to me.