May, June, July Update

Sorry, it’s been waaaaaaay too long since I last updated you, but I’ve been super busy. I left off right at the beginning of birthday week. It was the first birthday in a while I have celebrated without my twin brother, but I made up for that with some really cool things.

For pictures, look on Facebook, there should be a ton from Hanna’s visit, Beirut, and maybe some from the US.

Also, this is very long, so be warned. You might want to break it up into pieces.


MAY (Beirut Birthday)


First, I had a yacht party. I didn’t rent out the yacht, but a group of friends all went on the same yacht the Saturday before my birthday. On the yacht, you can get food, drinks, and they have a DJ. You sail around Dubai, stop to swim, party, and have a good time. Immediately after the yacht party, I had a villa party! I met a girl who has the same birthday as me, and she knew an American with a villa, who agreed to let us throw a party at his place. It was an awesome time, extremely diverse group of people, half of them whom I didn’t even know. Needless to say, lots of dancing and partying. I ended up catching a ride with some random Indians, who got lost, so I jumped out, grabbed a cab back home, made friends with the cab driver, made him smoke sheesha with me, and then finally passed out around 6am.

On my actual birthday I flew to BEIRUT!!! I went with a friend out here, and we met up with Kristine Khouri, a friend from U of C, who lives in Beirut. It was such a ridiculously awesome trip that we did not want to come home.

We landed in Beirut around 10pm, met up with Kristine, and then went barhopping. We had amazing Lebanese food at a pub, had a couple drinks, then went to a couple other places. It was amazing to go to small bars, that are not in hotels, and meet really cool people. One of the bars was a hipster bar, Danys, which was awesome because my favorite bar in Chicago is a hipster bar named Dannys also!

The next day, my friend Ben and I rented a car and drove north of Beirut. We stopped at a couple towns, the main attraction being Byblos, the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. People have been living there since 9000 BC and there were a ton of ruins. Nothing spectacular, but ruins from every age you can imagine, Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Byzantine, etc, with ruins piled on top of each other everywhere.

On the way back from Byblos, we took random roads trying to get to the top of the mountains that overlook the Lebanon coast. We reached the top, where there was a huge Virgin Mary statue. On the way down, we stopped at a café that overlooked the whole coast and had sheesha while watching the sunset. That night, we met up with Kristine again and went barhopping, meeting a lot of her friends, many who are in the art crowd there, and had a great night.

The following day, we walked around a lot of Beirut, seeing the newly rebuilt downtown area, some ruins in the city, a synagogue, the corniche, or waterfront area, some parts of the city that have still not been rebuilt after the civil war, and went to a great restaurant where they serve traditional country Lebanese food. That evening, we went to a famous Armenian restaurant, that only has 4 tables, and where the owner comes to your table and tells you what he is offering for dinner that night. It was fantastic. We had frog legs, liver, and many other great dishes that I can’t remember. From dinner, we went to one of Kristine’s friends going away parties at a cool/ restaurant bar. Then Ben and I decided to meet up with some of Kristine’s other friends and we had a classic Beirut party night. We went to a couple bars, then went to a cool bar that is in the shape of a tube where the roof opens up to the sky. I think it was called Centraale. After Centraale closed at around 230, we went to the most famous Beirut club, B51. It is underneath a parking lot, where the roof opens up to the sky. It was an amazing club, lots of good music and crazy dancing. Around 6am when it closed, we went to Zaatar W Zeit, a classic Lebanese fast food restaurant where everyone goes after a night of partying to get food. Finally, we smoked sheesha as the sun came up on the corniche, and finally passed out at around 8am.

When we woke up, we met up with Kristine and headed north to the beach! The beaches in Lebanon are not your normal sandy beaches. They are very narrow, rocky beaches, but people have set up restaurants with beach chairs all along the coast. We went to a cool place called Pierre and Friends, went swimming, had some great food, and just chilled out. A great way to spend the day after an intense night of partying.

After a quick nap, we headed out to Kristine’s friends party. Her friend had an apartment with an awesome view looking over a cool neighborhood in Beirut called Gemmayze. Around 1am we headed out to a really cool bar. It was a pretty lowkey night, but the highlight was one of the best pole dances I have ever seen, involving two of Kristine’s friends.

The next day, Sunday, the last day of our trip to Beirut, we met up with Kristine and a bunch of her friends, and headed to the Bekaa valley, along the road to Damascus. The Bekaa valley is known for its vineyards, and we went for an awesome brunch. The weather in Beirut was hot, but in the Bekaa valley it was very cool. It was amazing to breathe fresh air, with flowers and trees all around. You get very tired of the desert air in Dubai. We had a great time at brunch and stayed from about 1-6. By the time we got back to Beirut, it was time to go to the airport, and sadly, the Beirut trip was over.

I was extremely sad to leave, bc it was an absolutely amazing time, being in a real middle eastern city with tons of culture, great food, nice people, beautiful women, and an insane nightlife. I put up a couple albums on facebook, so check out the pictures.


JUNE (Chicago, DC, New York)


Going back to Dubai after having such an amazing time in Beirut was kind of depressing. I really didn’t want to be in Dubai, but I just had to stick it out for 2 weeks before I went to the US. So I laid low for most of that time, with the only exciting thing being watching the Blackhawks game at 4am with a friend I met from Chicago.

I took a direct flight from Dubai to New York, then took a cab from JFK to Laguardia and jumped on another flight to Chicago. At the airport I was asking everyone if they knew the score of the Blackhawks game (it was game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals the night before), and the cab driver was the first person to know. As soon as I got to Chicago I met up with my little bro, walked around campus, met up with a couple friends, then went to Jimmys, where the bartenders still recognize me and don’t ID me, and even got disappointed when I asked them what was on tap. Then I went to my bros Phi Beta Kappa ceremony, went out to dinner with my mom and bro, and then went to Weed street for my little bros senior night pub crawl. Having done mine 3 years before, it was fun and weird to be doing it again.

The next day, I went to the BLACKHAWKS STANELY CUP PARADE, which was absolutely insane. There were thousands of people in the streets, celebrating the hawks first win since the 60s, and I was so lucky I got to be there. I joked that the city was throwing a party for my return, but I was definitely the person that traveled the farthest to be there. Later, my whole family arrived, we went to the MSI senior night, then went to dinner at L20, which was the best meal of my life. It’s a seafood restaurant, I had 12 courses, and the dinner was over 4 hours long.

The next day was graduation, which was sad because the last of the Zainulbhais has finally graduated from the U of C, and because the graduation was at the exact same time as the USA England world cup match. But my family probably made the most noise out of anyone when my brother was called up to stage. That morning, I had walked around downtown for an hour looking for a blow horn.

That night, we went on a booze trolley for my older bros bachelor party, and had a ridiculously amazing time, driving around Chicago on the trolley and stopping at random bars, and yelling at Cubs fans in Wrigleyville. All around great day and night.

The next morning I went to a drunk brunch with some friends, my favorite thing to do in Chicago, then went to a couple bars. I told all my friends that if they wanted to see me, they would have to meet me at the bar, and many people came out. I iced a bro for the first time, twice, went bowling, changed my flight back to DC, twice, hung out at a friends apartment, and had a blast on my last night in Chicago. The next morning I woke up at 6am to drive with my bro back to DC.

For the next week, I was in DC with tons of family preparing for the final receptions for my bros wedding. To recap, I was in India for 2 weeks in March for 10-15 wedding parties, so this was the culmination of all of that. Family from all around the world flew in, we had a tent built in our backyard, and all week we were preparing, hanging out, swimming, grilling, and having a good time.

The first ceremony was on a Friday night, for all of our religious community in DC. It was at our house, under the tent. The food was amazing and everyone had a great time. The main event was Saturday night, at the Reagan center in downtown DC. It was in a huge, beautiful lobby, over 300 people, and by the end of the night, we had everyone on the dance floor, not wanting to leave. One of the highlights was an Indian dance that Tameem and I did with Anju and Elif. After the wedding, many people came back to our house to relax and hang out, many staying till past 4 in the morning. FINALLY, on Sunday, we had a brunch in the tent, for most of the out of town family and friends, which turned into a huge world cup viewing party and pool party. Everyone was glad that the wedding was finally over, but also sad that everyone had to leave bc it was such an amazing time.

Most of the week after was recovery from the wedding and putting our house back to normal, and of course, watching world cup. When the US scored against Algeria my little bro and I went absolutely nuts.

Late in the week, I went to NYC for a classic weekend of partying. Some of the highlights include: A family friends 50th birthday and 25th wedding anniversary, with great food and tons of dancing, followed by another friends birthday party that night. The next day was even crazier, with a huge gathering of friends to watch the US – Ghana match, including a Ghanaian cab driver I had met the night before, calling me (I made a bet with him that the US would win, and if they did, he would have to drive me around all day for free), and so when Ghana won, he called me and said “Hello, this is the cab driver” then absolute pandemonium and screaming in the background.

After the match, I went to a friends day party, then out to dinner with family friends for a birthday dinner, then to another friends party in my honor, then back to the birthday girls karaoke party, then running around soho meeting tons of random friends, then finally watching the sun rise in Brooklyn. The next day was more of the same, running around to friends places, swimming at a friends pool in the city! Finally ending with watching the season premier of entourage.

The next morning I was completely exhausted and caught a plane back to Dubai, sleeping the whole way, and after landing, sleeping again from 9am-6pm. I was not at all happy to be back in Dubai after 3 crazy weeks, but I had my second visitor coming with another crazy week to ensue!


JULY (Hanna’s Visit)


Hanna arrived the night after I got back to Dubai. The morning after she arrived, she went to Dubai Mall, one of the largest malls in the world, with Dean and Deluca, Magnolias, Bloomingdales, and other US stores. After the mall, we went to the gym, then home for lunch. Its so hot here in the middle of the day, that after lunch, you have to take a nap because you literally cannot go outside. In the evening we walked around the spice souk, full of spice stores, and the Gold Souk, a market area with hundreds of gold shops, packed with tourists. After, we went out to an apartment party (typical apartment party in Dubai, waiter serving alcohol, extremely diverse, and slightly older crowd), then headed out to an Indian dance club and danced to Bollywood music for the rest of the night. Then, we stopped at my favorite sheesha place and played backgammon and smoked till the sun came up.

The next day, we walked around the Dubai International Finance Center and the Emirates Towers, which have some very cool architecture, then went sailing! I have to admit, I got seasick for the first time in my life, but it was great being out on the water and checking out the views of Dubai from the water. After sailing, we watched one of the World Cup quarterfinals at the sailing club. In the evening, we went to Souk al Bahar, a mini mall with classic Arabic architecture, next to Dubai Mall, for dinner. In between Dubai Mall and the Souk is a huge lagoon with the largest water fountain show in the world. Behind the lagoon is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. At night, it is one of the coolest places in Dubai, with the Mall, the building, the market, and the water show all in one location. We watched the world cup match during dinner, then went to Neos, a really cool lounge on the 46th floor of a hotel next to the Souk and Dubai Mall, looking over the whole city.

I was completely exhausted the next morning, so Hanna went out with my friend Ben for a little offroading, and a tour of the Palm Jumeira (a huge man made island in the shape of a palm tree) and the Atlantis hotel (same as the one in the Caribbean). Next, Hanna and I went indoor skiing! Completely awesome and crazy, we went to an indoor ski slope in Dubai. You get everything there, including a ski suit, skis, boots, etc. and get 2 hours to ski. It was great fun, especially to say that you skied in the desert. Immediately after skiing, we went to Barasti, a beach bar, that built a huge tent on the beach to watch the world cup. We went to the Argentina Germany match, and being inside this tent was honestly like being inside a stadium. It had the biggest TV screen I have ever seen, with tons of vuvuzelas blowing, and it was so loud you could barely hear yourself think. After, we went to a friends place for a couple drinks and a view of the Dubai Marina, a huge development built around a fake marina, with about 60 skyscrapers. It’s the area of town where most of the Europeans live. Later that night we went to another development called JBR, which has a nice beach walk, got some food, then met up with some more people for sheesha and another world cup match.

Sunday, Hanna’s final day, was July 4th! I called my friend who hosted my birthday party at his villa, and convinced him to host a party. In the morning, I went to work, but Hanna went shopping for some saffron, rose oil, a backgammon board (I convinced her how awesome backgammon is), and a cake for the party. In the afternoon, after creating a US flag on a sheet cake from Magnolia, we headed out to the July 4th party. There were a ton of Americans and foreigners, and we grilled and chilled all afternoon and evening. A great way to celebrate July 4th in Dubai, and a great way to end Hanna’s visit!

Now it’s mid July in Dubai, the hottest time of year, with temperature regularly reaching 115 degrees and humidity at 60%. It sucks to go outside, so most people don’t, although in the afternoons I am working outside now in a warehouse. I just started taking GMAT classes and will be applying to B school this fall, hopefully. I’m also looking to move to Bombay in the next couple of months, so I am applying to jobs there as well. So, while it is hot as shit in Dubai, I am keeping busy, but can’t wait for another adventure!

Crocs are awesome!

For all of you that hate crocs, check out this article. They are lifesavers!

http://www.newser.com/story/91028/crocs-save-shocked-boy.html

Crrrrrazzzzzzzyyyyy Month

Crazy Month

Sorry I’ve been MIA for so long, but so much has been going on. Here are some of the highlights:

Went on an overnight trip to Ras Al Khaimah, which is another city in the UAE. I went went with a big group of people to some hot springs, and we had a wine and cheese night when we got there, and then had some group games and hot springing the next day.

That night, I went to a David Guetta concert in Dubai, which was actually really disappointing. It was set up badly and he just didn’t play that well. I think I just had too high expectations.

The weekend after, I went to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, to see WOMAD, the World of Arts, Music, and Dance festival. It’s a huge outdoor festival with lots of international bands, demonstrations, workshops, etc. It was cool to see Abu Dhabi and all these international acts, like drummers from Burundi.

I started a new part-time jobs in the evenings, to make a little extra money and keep me occupied. I’m working for a social sports company out here, just like Chicago Sport and Social. I help run the basketball and flag football leagues, so 3 days a week, from 7-10, I’m out refereeing games and making sure things run smoothly. It’s a fairly new company, so I’m also trying to help them out with ideas. Since my real job is quite boring, it keeps me occupied and thinking.

Because of this part-time job, my work schedule is pretty crazy. I go into one office for my real job at 9:30am, and stay there until 1. Then I go to the gym for a while, and then come home for lunch. Around 4:30, I head to another office for my real job, and stay there until around 630. Then from 7-11 I will work the part-time job. One or two nights a week I will try and go out, Tuesday nights here are like Thursday nights in the U.S.

I had my first visitor from Chicago! My friend, Karl, who I’ve known since 7th grade, visited me for around 9 days. We went camping on the beach in Oman with a group of French people, then went a day cruise in some lagoons in and around the mountains and went snorkeling and saw tons of dolphins. The mountains in this part of Oman are gorgeous, with big cliffs and tons of beaches and lagoons that are only accessible by boat.

Throughout the week I took him to see all the sights in Dubai, including all the cool buildings, shoppings malls, and beaches. One day we went to the Atlantis hotel on the Palm Jumeirah (the man made island shaped like a palm tree). We checked out the hotel which is incredible, and went to the waterpark, Aquaventure, which not only had great rides, but also great views of Dubai. He also went on a plane tour of Dubai and got to see the sights from above.

I met a Jordanian who grew up in Canada who loves to sail. He joined a sailing club and can take out boats for really cheap. We now go sailing once a week, and sail around the World islands, the Burj al Arab hotel, and other cool sites in Dubai.

My birthday is coming up, and I will have a birthday week like I always do, but this time I have stepped it up a notch. This coming weekend, I will be having a yacht party and a villa party on the same day! I met an American who has the same bday as me, and she knew someone with a villa and convinced him to let us throw a party at his place. In the same group of friends, someone organized a yacht party for everyone that has upcoming birthdays, so we will cruise around Dubai in a catamaran with food and drinks.

Later in the week, I am heading to BEIRUT!!! - Party capital of the world! I’m going with a friend from Dubai and meeting up with a friend from U of C who lives there. It should be a ridiculous time, and I will update you on all the craziness that ensues.

If you want to see some good pictures of Dubai, check out my Faceebook pics, as Karl and I just put up all the pictures from his visit.

Reminders of Home

The last 2 weeks, since I came back from my brother’s wedding, have been insane! Lots of parties, meeting tons of people, and having an amazing time. I actually met a ton of people who reminded me of things or friends back in the states, hence the title of this post.

The first weekend I was back, I went out to a lounge opening with my cousin and some of her friends. It was pretty cool, free booze, and I actually met an Indian girl who grew up in Dubai, but went to University of Illinois for undergrad. I said something sarcastic to her at the beginning of the night, and she basically ignored me, but at somepoint she overheard me talking about going to U of C, and she got all excited.

The next day, I went to my first drunk brunch, for a Turkish friend’s bday, at a hotel called Al Qasr. It was insanely expensive, about $115, but totally worth it. It was all you can eat and drink for 3.5 hours, with live music. The food was insane. It was all set up throughout a huge seating area, indoors/ outdoors, around a pool, etc. Each station had food from a different area of the world. I had lobster, shrimp, sushi, steak, burgers, kebabs, mojitos, chocolate, candy, etc. In the end, it is actually worth it because if you ordered these items a la carte anywhere in Dubai, the price would be way higher. After brunch, we all went back to the bday boy’s apartment and had a pool party. By 10 I was exhausted (I haven’t been day drinking in ages) but another friend picked me up and we went to a chill house party where a couple people played guitar and we all sang along to songs we knew. I kept requesting Don’t Stop Believing, but when they finally played it, I forgot the words!

This past weekend, I went to a couple beach parties. There’s a website called meetup.com, which is a great way to meet people when you are new to a place. There’s a group in Dubai called Dubai New in Town, and every week they have events for people to meet each other. This weekend they organized a meet up at the beach, and 80 people showed up! Everyone brought food, we BBQed, ate, played beach volleyball, went swimming, and even had an easter egg hunt! People from all over the world were there, Russians, Egyptians, Americans, even a Mexican. It was really cool meeting all these people, from all over the world. I am planning on attending many more of these events, and now it’s a whole new social scene that I am part of. After this beach excursion, many of us decided to go to a beach party at a bar called Nassimi Beach. The bar is on the beach, at the Atlantis Hotel (the same as the one in the Caribbean) in a part of Dubai called the Palm Jumeirah, which is a manmade island in the shape of a Palm tree. It is a really cool place, especially bc there is no dress code and I was able to wear a Hawaiian shirt! Tons of people were there, and I randomly ran into 2 people I know, which is the first time that has happened to me in Dubai. As most of you know, I love running into random people, and one of them was the cousin of my sister in law who I just met at Azeem’s wedding.

On Saturday, I went to a really cool sports bar and watched the Man U Chelsea match. It was the first time I was able to call people and organize an event on my own, which was very exciting, and now I finally know a place where I can watch American sports!

Overall, a very exciting 2 weeks and I met tons of people from all over the world, including a girl from Rockville, Maryland, a couple American students studying abroad in Dubai, a bunch of Indians, some people from Chicago, people that love NHL (Canadians, of course). I think I finally feel settled in Dubai now, especially that I have a good group of friends that I can always go out with.

The Wedding!!!

Azeem’s (my older brother) wedding in India was amazing but exhausting. I was there for about 2 weeks, and on 10 of those days, there were wedding functions, including multiple functions on many days. Tons of friends any family came in from all over the world, and it was a truly special occasion.

Our apartment in India was like a factory with tons of people running around, getting ready for events, friends and family visiting, gifts being dropped off, clothes being put together/ironed/fitted, etc. There were so many functions that we literally put up a schedule of events all over the apartment to remind everyone of what was going on each day.

Azeem and Simran were actually married in February, and even the actual ceremony was crazy. There was a Hindu ceremony, a Muslim ceremony, and the court ceremony, so technically, they had 3 weddings!

Here’s a quick recap of all the receptions and other functions:

Also, Vannu = Family Function

Saturday – Vannu (Family Function) Lunch thrown by Great Aunt (Father’s mother’s sister) and family

Saturday – Vannu Dinner thrown by Great, great Uncle (Father’s Father’s uncle) and family

Sunday – Afternoon sailing with friends and family

Sunday – Vannu Dinner, traditional Muslim dinner and religious function, thrown by father’s parents

Monday – Dinner hosted by the wife’s (Simran) family

Tuesday – Vanne Tanne (Fun function where you have a ceremony with 4 aunts who grind some spices, and then there is a big fight with silly string, shaving cream, glitter, water guns, etc. In the old days they would bring rats, eggs, cockroaches, etc. but now it has tamed down a bit. After the function was a dinner)

Tuesday - Kids party (We rented out a lounge and had drinks and dancing fora ll of Azeem and Simran's friends)

Wednesday – Vanne dinner by mom’s sister

Thursday – Mehndi (This is where the women get mehndi/ henna on their hands and feet. Both sides of the family had one. We hosted one during the day on an amazing terrace in the building we live, and there were literally 40 women getting mehndi, kids running around, and really good food being served. In the evening, Simran’s family hosted a Mehndi at a restaurant, and since her side of the family is Hindi, not Muslim, there was booze and dancing. Azeem and Simran’s friends prepared some dances and later everyone was dancing. Many friends and family came back to our place for more drinks and hanging out afterwards)

Friday – Simran’s family’s main function (This was the best function of the wedding. There were plenty of drinks, great food, and tons and tons of dancing. A couple groups of people choreographed dances, and Tameem and I, along with Simran’s sister, and Azeem’s friend Charlene did an amazing dance that got the party started, SASA style. I was dancing so much that I didn’t even have time to eat. Everyone had an amazing time)

Saturday – Our main reception (This was held at an outdoor venue in the navy compound in Bombay, so security was tight, and it was really humid out. Typical Muslim receptions are actually quite boring. The couple getting married literally stand for hours taking pictures with and greeting every guest that comes. A line of guests forms to do this, and the line was at least an hour long at certain points. I greeted people, passed out sweets at the door like Indians do at all functions, and hung out with family and friends. But by this point everyone was exhausted, and without drinks and music, it was not as fun as the night before)

However, after the ceremony, the real fun began! Another Muslim tradition (when I say Muslim tradition, I mean a Bohri tradition, and Bohri is my sect of Islam) is to decorate the bride/groom’s room. Instead of a hotel room, Azeem and Simran decided to stay in his room, so my brothers, cousins and I decorated his room during the day. The goal is to decorate with some dirty/ playful things, but also some really annoying things. So we decorated with bananas, blown up condoms, etc., and hid alarm clocks all over the room, taped on top of the fan, under the bed, etc. and set them to go off at odd hours of the night. Now, when the couple arrives home, all the friends and cousins are waiting in the room. These people have to demand certain things from the couple in order to leave. So for 2 hours, we asked Azeem and Simran for many things, like money, but also to sing, dance, etc. Finally, after 2 hours, we were all satisfied with our bribes, and left the room.

Sunday – The FINAL function. One of Simran’s uncles threw a final dinner party, and Azeem and Simran left straight from the party to their honeymoon.

There is still, however, Wedding Part 2 which moves to DC in June for a couple more functions.

The wedding was fantastic and it was incredible to see so many friends and family. By the end, we were all completely exhausted. By Sunday night pretty much everyone had left but me. Luckily, on Monday night, my dad got free tickets to a Mumbai Indians, IPL cricket match, which was amazing. At the match they served McDonalds veggie burgers, Indian style, and they were actually damn good. IPL is a cricket league in India, like a soccer league anywhere, that is incredibly successful in only its third season, using the Twenty20 format of cricket, and in just 2 years, teams have tripled their worth from around $100 million dollars to over $300 million. It as popular in India as baseball, but only 7 weeks long and a total of 20 matches.

PICTURES: There are way too many pictures to put up from the wedding, but as soon as we get the pictures back from the photographers, they will be put up online and I will put the link on the blog. In the meantime, if you are dying to see pictures, I have to admit, I did have some awesome outfits, look at my facebook pictures. From those pictures, you can see a couple people’s albums of the wedding. Some good ones are Ceyda’s, Anju’s, and Sarah Walzer’s albums.

Now I’m finally back in Dubai, and it feels a little strange to be almost alone after being with so many people for so long. Every lunch in India some family or friends would come over, so there were very few times when I was actually alone. I was even more spoiled in India than I was in Dubai, so I’ll see how I cope with that. My grandparents are coming back from India soon, so I’ll definitely have to deal with that, because at this point I have lived without them longer than with them.

In other news, I did get my driving license! So I can officially drive around Dubai, which is tough because there are an insane amount of ramps, roundabouts, and streets with no names, so you really have to know where you are going. But its nice not to have to take cabs everywhere, and when I go to the office, I can ask the transport guy to get it washed, fill gas, etc. It was actually funny how long it took me to get gas the first time, because I had to ask my grandfather what type of gas was used in the car, but he didn’t know, so I called the driver, but he was on vacation in India and his phone was not turned on, so finally I asked the transport guy just to do it for me, and luckily he knew what type of gas to use.

So now I’m getting re-settled in Dubai as the hot season approaches, already 95 and humid during the day. I’ll keep you updated on all my random happenings and craziness.

Istanbul!

Istanbul is an amazing city. It is vibrant, hustling, bustling, and full of history. I arrived Wednesday at midnight and Elif and I went to her friend’s place to stay (on the Asian side). Istanbul is split by the Bosphorus, so one side is Europe and the other side is Asia. All the old historical buildings and the old city of Constantinople are on the European side. In the morning, we took a ferry to the European side. The ferries are part of public transportation and cost only 1.5 Turkish Lira, which is the same as $1. It was pretty amazing to see the amount of people that take the ferry everyday, and the view is amazing. You can see many historical buildings, the old city walls, palaces, and mosques. On the European side, we met with Elif’s friend, Otkun, and went to Sultanahmet area, which is the historical area, literally named after Sultan Ahmet. We first went to the Blue Mosque, which was built by one of the Ottoman Emperors. It is a huge mosque with beautiful decorations and six minarets. We went during the midday prayer which was a relaxing and spiritual experience, even though we didn’t pray. It was incredible to watch hundreds of people lined up in prayer, moving exactly at the same time. After the Blue Mosque, we went to the Hagia Sophia. This was originally built as a church, then converted to a mosque and rebuilt a couple of times after fires. It is an incredible place, now a museum. In Islam, you can’t portray living creatures, so all the golden mosaics were covered with plaster and paint, but are now being restored. There are some beautiful mosaics made of gold and a great mix of Islamic architecture. Next, we headed to the old cisterns, which held drinking water for the ancient city. It was a beautiful and eerily lit underground space. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Next, we stopped for lunch at a famous kofte kebab place. Kofte kebab is beef or lamb kebabs, not exactly sure, and you eat them with bread, parsley, and hot sauce. Delicious!

Next we headed to Topkapi palace which was the palace for most of the Ottoman emperors. You can see Ottoman architecture at its finest, and its built on a hill overlooking the see, so the view was gorgeous. We stopped at a café for a beer, and then headed to the Grand Bazaar. It was huge. Literally hundreds and hundreds of stalls in an enclosed space, with vendors selling jewelry, clothes, carpets, beads, etc. After wandering around for an hour, we walked down to the waterfront, checked out some local bazaars, and then headed to a small area under one of the bridges famous for its seafood restaurants. We got to pick a type of fish and how it was cooked, and the fish was served whole. Extremely fresh! With dinner, we had some Raki, which is like Ouzo, a liquorish tasting alcohol that you mix with water. It was already an extremely tiring day, but the fun was just beginning!

After dinner, we walked across the bridge and took the oldest metro in the world, which is literally only one stop, from the bridge to a neighborhood called Taksim. Taksim is an amazing area, along a street where no cars are allowed, full of shops, restaurants, and bars. We met up with a bunch of Elif’s friends at a Nargyla (hookah) place, had a couple drinks and shisha, and then headed to some bars. Most European cities have areas like this, packed with bars in a small area, and it was awesome to go out and explore. Once the bars shut down, we all walked down the street and got late night food. There was an interesting bathroom experience that I had, so if you are interested, I will tell you personally. What a fun and exhausting day!

Day 2 was a bit more relaxed, but we did almost as much! In the morning, we met up with Elifs mom and had a late breakfast at a nice restaurant overlooking the sea on the Asian side. I’d never had a Turkish breakfast before, eggs, cheese, olives, and meat, so I was pretty impressed. However, Elif and her mom told me that it was subpar. We walked around the neighborhood and went to an ice scream store and then headed to the Maiden’s tower. It’s an old lighthouse just off the shore of the Asian side with a great view of the whole city. After some tea, Elif and I headed to the European side to check out a quaint neighborhood known for its food. In the neighborhood, there are 10 stalls in a row that sell baked potatoes with every topping imaginable and stuffed mussels. I decided to pass on the potato and stick with mussels, but Elif got a potato with a crazy combination of toppings. These stalls are quite famous, and the vendors yell at you, competing for business.

Completely tired from all the sightseeing, we headed out to a Hamam, or Turkish bath, back on the Asian side. At the bath, you strip down, put on a towel, and lie down on a hot stone. All the baths in Istanbul were built a long time ago, and the one we went to was built in the 1600s. I decided to get the full works, so after 10 minutes, a guy came and washed me. They literally rub soap on you and scrub you with a rough brush that removes all the dead skin from your body. Then you get a quick massage which was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. It is meant to be tough, but man was it painful! I thought the guy was trying to kill me. I was so scared of him, especially because he didn’t speak any English and kept asking me for a tip that I ran out and hid in a mosque for 10 minutes after he followed me out of the bath!

After the bath, relaxed and refreshed, we walked around Elif’s neighborhood. To me, most neighborhoods in Istanbul felt the same. Small, curving, narrow streets packed with people, shops, restaurants, bars, and bazaars. We wandered through some spice and fish stalls and decided to pick up some fish that Elif’s mom could cook for dinner. You get to pick out the fish, then watch as they chop them up and clean them for you. We also stopped to pick up some deserts and I tried a Turkish dish that is a flatbread with lots of meat on it that you roll up and eat like a wrap.

At this point, thoroughly exhausted, and carrying a lot of fish we headed to Elif’s apartment and met her mom, little brother, sister, and one of her friends. Elif’s mom cooked an amazing dinner and we lounged around for a couple hours eating and drinking tea. Elif’s little brother, Mhmet, or Memo, is very good at English and loved talking to me to show off his English. He’s a very funny kid.

Finally I headed to the airport and took a redeye flight back to Dubai, completely and utterly exhausted.

Istanbul is amazing. It’s almost completely Turkish with no foreigners, and a huge city with over 12 million people. There are no slums in the city, which I found very surprising for a city that size. The people are very friendly, but outside the tourist areas, very few people speak English. They might be able to understand it, but they don’t give that impression. All in all an amazing fantastic trip.

I put a lot of pics up on Facebook, so check them out. There were way too many to put up on the blog.

And for the next two weeks I will be in India for Azeem’s wedding! I’ll post something about all the craziness in a couple weeks.

Cousins and Thunderstorm

Sandstorm whiting out the Dubai skyline




I went to Abu Dhabi last Saturday to seem my first cousin, Shakeel, and his family. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE, but its much smaller and not as Vegas like as Dubai. Check out the pics of my cousins and his two awesome kids.

While in Abu Dhabi, a huge thunderstorm hit. Being in the desert, I just assumed that it never rained. But, it does rain every couple of months, and very violently. There are huge storms with tons of lightning, torrential downpours, but it never lasts more than an hour. No cities here are equipped to handle any amount of water, and sand does not absorb water at all. This leads to crazy flash floods, and completely flooded roads, that take days to clear up. The government literally has to pump water into tanks to be transported away. Check out the pics!

Tennis Tournament in Dubai

First ticket! My cousin is a tennis fanatic and he stood in line for hours, starting at 4:30am, to get the first tickets!
Tennis grounds
Sand getting swept off the court; Dubai is a desert, but you don't realize how much sand blows around in the city until you physically see something like this.
Marcos Bhagdatis
Stadium lit up at night
Mikhail Youzny

Every year, Dubai hosts the Dubai Tennis Championships. It sells out every year, but I got really lucky and a cousin had an extra ticket for both the quarters and semis. I got to see Djokovic play twice, including a 3 hour semifinal with Djokovic against Bhagdatis. The stadium is small, so it's really easy to get awesome seats. The whole complex is really nice, and anyone can walk around outside the stadium. There were a couple bars and restaurants and some amazing street food, including Indian food. I had some fresh pani puri and a beer in between one of the matches!

Spoiled/ Incapable of Doing Anything on My Own

Most people in Dubai are extremely spoiled. This is because there’s so much money, the culture, and because you are not really expected to do a lot of things on your own. I live with my grandparents, and they have a cook and a driver, and someone who comes to clean the apartment once a week. Every day my lunch is packed for me for when I go to work, and now that my grandparents are gone, I have the driver to myself. Normally he works from about 9-8, but I’ve almost reversed his schedule. He drops me off at work at 930, and then goes home. He picks me up at 6, and then I usually use him from around 6pm to 11pm, for when I go out at night. Drivers here also run all your errands for you. If you need a prescription to be picked up, anything to be dropped off, etc. you just tell the driver. And drivers here know everything, way more than most people about Dubai. A good example of this is everything that I’ve had to do for my visa. To get a residency visa, I had to prove a graduated from U of C, and since I only brought a copy of my diploma, this was a long process. I had to get a visa service in the states to get a copy of my original diploma, get a copy notarized, then stamped by the DC local government, then taken to the state department to get stamped, then to the UAE embassy in DC, then sent here, then stamped by the ministry of foreign affairs. Once that was done, my company got all the paperwork filled out. Then I had to get a health check, basically TB, HIV, and HEP A/B. I had no idea how to do this, but of course my driver did. He basically took me to a health center and I just stood there while he got all the correct authorizations and I just had to give my blood. Then he went back 3 days later to get the results. To get my license, I have to get an eye test, and of course, my driver knows exactly where to go and how to get everything done. Also, most of the people that work at the government agencies are Indian, so he just runs around, speaks to them in Hindi or his local dialect, and I just stand there until he tells me to do something else. I literally could not have done any of this on my own, and even my cousins told me to ask my driver to do everything for me. So obviously I am extremely spoiled here, but half the things I would normally do, I literally couldn’t. I don’t even know where half the things in my own kitchen are. Even for dry-cleaning, someone comes to my apartment to pick up the clothes and drop them off. This week, the cable stopped working for some reason, so of course, I asked the driver, and he knew exactly what to do. So it’s been awesome being so spoiled, but also frustrating that some things I literally cannot do on my own, and I have to ask others to do them for me, which is a very weird experience. But all in all, I’ll take it!

Shopping, Malls, and the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF)

Dubai is all about shopping. There are at least 8 major shopping malls, most of which are bigger than those in the states. Some of them are Festival City, Wafi (Egyptian Themed), Mercato (like Venice), Dubai Mall (biggest mall in the world), Mall of the Emirates (with indoor ski area), Ibn Battuta Mall, etc. The DSF is a month long affair that is one of the main tourist attractions in Dubai. Every mall had ridiculous sales, and pretty much any store you can think of is in Dubai. If you spend a certain amount of money, you get free raffle tickets to win cars, your weight in gold, vacations, and tons of money. Before the economic crises, one Rolls Royce was given away every single day. Now it’s slightly more toned down. They also have a fireworks show every single night and carnivals and cultural events throughout the city. Since I needed to go shopping, I figured I’d go during the festival, and I got a couple raffle tickets to win a Mercedes. Fingers crossed! One thing I did buy was a pair of sandals. This was a big deal because I’ve only had crocs for almost a year now, so for all of you croc haters, I will no longer being wearing crocs all the time! As most of you know, I hate shopping and suck at it, so I recruited my cousin and her mom, and they literally had laid out a route through the mall to take me on to get what I needed. I went to Dubai Mall, and took a couple pictures, so you can see how insane the place is. They have maps just for the parking garage! The mall has an ice rank, an aquarium, and tons of other random things. At some point I will post pictures of the other malls so you can see how nice they are. I hate shopping malls generally, but the ones here are so nice, that I don’t mind going to them. Not to mention, it gets so hot here during the summer, that everyone just hangs out in malls, because you cant do anything outside.

Ridiculous Week!

The last week and a half has been absolutely ridiculous. So much has happened. I’m going to combine 3 blog entries into 1.


One night last weekend I went out with a friend on my side of town, which is called Deira. Deira is the original Dubai. It feels like a real city, its cheaper than most other parts, there are always people out and about, and it’s very diverse. Many parts of Dubai are so modern and nice that it doesn’t really feel like a real city, kind of like a fake resort. Hard to describe. Anyway, walking around was great because the Dubai Shopping Festival is going on right now (I’ll explain this in the next post). So there were a lot of small street festivals and tons of people were out and about. There was tons of street food, carnival games, etc.

During the week, on Monday night, I went to this arts space where every Monday they show an indie movie and there’s a concert afterwards. They showed Sita Sings the Blues, which is an animated story that incorporates Hindi legends with a modern day story, with blues music. It’s a great movie and I actually saw it at the 2008 Chicago international film festival. On a side note, I went the week before, and even though this is a private space, the movie last week had some nude pictures, and they actually blocked the projector to sensor it. All nude images and graphic scenes are censored in Dubai, but it was surprising that the people who run this art space censored a private screening. After the movie, some labor camp workers sang some a capella Bollywood songs, which was absolutely incredible. A bit of background: all the construction workers in Dubai are Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. They live in labor camps, which are horrible housing complexes. They work 6 days a week, and basically work and sleep. They have almost no rights, barely get paid, and literally are not allowed to do much of anything besides work. However, recently, they allowed a singing competition between the labor camps, and some of the winners of this competition were allowed to perform for us. So this was special for many reasons, and the fact that they were legit singers made it even more special.

On Thursday night, which is the weekend here, I got a call from a friend right as I was leaving work. She had been given 2 VIP tickets to the jazz festival and invited me to go. The jazz festival here isn’t like jazz festivals in the states, because it’s not really jazz. They invite artists, like James Morrison and David gray to come and perform. The night I went, David Gray was headlining. IT was a pretty cool experience, especially because the concert as in this really cool outdoor space surrounded my skyscrapers. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. Afterwards, I went out with one of the guys who came to the concert with us, and went to this awesome club called Okku. I have no idea how we got in, clubs here are ridiculous, and for guys, you generally have to have a bottle to get in. But this guy knew everyone, and somehow we got in. The funny thing about Dubai is that you party with anyone and everyone, and apparently the managing director of his firm goes out every weekend and gets a table, and they all party together. Nowhere else in the world would this happen.

On Friday, I had lunch with one set up cousins and then went to this ridiculous club that’s at a beach resort. Its 30 minutes outside of Dubai, and people go during the day to party at the beach. You literally show up in a swimsuit, the club is on the beach, you can go swimming at the club, and some of the tables have Jacuzzis next tot hem. There was an awesome DJ playing and everyone was having an amazing time. I left a little early to meet up with another group of cousins for dinner. These cousins are on the “fun” side of the family the same ones I get together with every 4 years for a family gathering in India. Even the grandparents make dirty jokes, and all around it was a great night. Imagine 40 year olds and older taking shots.

Yesterday, I woke up and went shopping with one cousin and her mom. Right after that, I went to a 20/20 cricket match to see England vs. Pakistan. IT was incredible! There were very few British, but all the Pakistanis were going crazy. I sat in the rowdiest section and everyone was singing and dancing. Cricket is usually an all day event, but this new 20/20 format shortens to the length of a baseball game, so its much more exciting. Pakistan ended up winning at the last minute, and the stadium erupted. The tickets were only about $15, and the best part was they sold samosas at the stadium.

Apocalypse in the U.S.

In lieu of the earthquake that hit Chicago this morning, and with the massive blizzards that are hitting Chicago and the East Coast, I thought I would write about my earthquake experience.

Two years ago, and 6.0 earthquake hit southern Illinois and St. Louis. I first felt it at 4am. I was wasted and playing guitar hero at the time. Suddenly, the whole house started shaking. I thought it was part of the video game and that that I had beat the game! Anyway, I passed out soon after and woke up again at 8am to the whole house shaking. I thought it was street construction and was so pissed they had started so early and woken me up. I only realized it was an earthquake and aftershock when some co-workers told me later that day.

The 4.3 earthquake that struck Chicago this morning around 4am was a 4.3. Almost no one I know felt it, or even knew it occurred until I told them about it. It was in the suburbs, and barely anyone felt it in the city, but people felt it in Indiana, especially around South bend.

Little known fact: The midwest is the second most active fault line in the U.S. outside of California. It sits on the New Madrid fault line, and every couple of hundred years, there are devastating earthquakes. Because the region is so flat, even small quakes are felt for miles and miles. Here's a great article about it:

http://www.scchealth.org/docs/ems/docs/prepare/newMadrid.html

The earthquake happened in Chicago while I was at work, and everyone in Chicago was sleeping. I wanted to get first hand info about what happened, and I finally realized how people can communicate so quickly using Twitter. On Google, when you search for news articles, there is a live feed function that continuously pops up new articles and blog posts are they are published. This includes twitter, so literally minutes after the quake, I was able to read people's responses and learn where people did and did not feel the quake, how they responded, and what their thoughts were. It was pretty cool.

For the first time, I miss the states, mostly because of the snow! I'm so jealous that everyone in DC is getting 3 feet of snow in a week! I want to be sledding and having snow ball fights in the street. Dubai is a 'cold' 65 degrees. People are bundling up in sweaters and complaining about the cold. Funny how in Chicago people would kill for a 65 degree day and in Dubai people complain.

Being in High School Again

Living with my grandparents is almost like being in high school again. Every time I go out they ask when I’m coming back, what my plans are, who I’m hanging out with, etc. I know every Thursday and Friday night I will be going out (weekends here are Fridays and Saturdays, still getting used to that) but I don’t usually know when or where. And I don’t usually know if I will be eating dinner at home or not. This is usually the biggest concern. After the first week when I told my grandmother that I will go out late on the weekends, she stopped worrying all the time and I was fine for a bit. Other times I’ve come to Dubai, she has stayed awake until I came home, but now she goes to sleep. However, on Friday night I went out to a friend’s birthday party, and we got another stretched hummer limo and bottle service at a club. Needless to say, I was wasted when I got home, and somehow my grandmother woke up. She then proceeded to yell at me for drinking. I honestly don’t remember much of what she said, but when I woke up the next morning, she proceeded to yell at me more and tell me how disappointed she was at me. I blamed it on the American friends I was hanging out with and told her they were bad influences. But now I realize that I will have to move out at some point. On top of that, she set the alarm in my room for 7am!!! I was so pissed!! I asked her about it, and she said she didn’t know how to use it and that it must have happened randomly. But the alarm clock had been in my room the whole time I’ve been here, and had never gone off.

Luckily for me, my grandparents left for India today and will be gone for a month and a half, so I don’t have to worry about them for a while. Besides the whole religion thing, I have been getting really annoyed with my grandparents lately. Every morning I wake up my grandmother wants to talk, which isn’t a bad thing, but when im tired and cranky in the morning, sometimes I just don’t want to talk, especially when she talks to me in Gujurati, a Hindi like language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarati_language). I don’t understand the language completely, and I have to really concentrate to understand it, and in the morning im just way too lazy. My grandfather has really bad hearing, and doesn’t understand my English very well. So when he talks to me, I have to yell back at him and repeat myself 5 times, which gets annoying after a while. And then, when I leave every morning, my grandmother wants to hold my hand and pinch my cheeks. This is cute, but doing this every morning for a month gets annoying. On top of that, I don’t work on Fridays and Saturdays, so I can have a normal weekend, but every Saturday morning they wake me up at 8am and ask if Im going to work. A lot of private companies have work 6 days a week, and they think I should be working, but I need my weekends.

In other news, there is a new girl in the Zainulbhai family!!!!! Azeem was officially married this weekend so I have a sister!!!! The wedding ceremonies aren’t for another month, but in Hindu custom, you get married on an auspicious day, and last Sunday was the only auspicious day for the next couple of months. It’s exciting to have a sister!

The only problem with Indian weddings is that sending out invitations are a huge process. For close family members, you have to literally hand deliver the invitiations with gifts. So, for the past week, I had to run around town and deliver invitations with my grandparents.

First Bad Experience in Dubai

So, this week has been a little bad because I got a cold. Now a cold on its own isn't so bad, but I also worked out my hamstrings on Sunday, and now I literally can't walk. I've been shuffling around like a penguin bc it hurts so much to walk. So because the cold and not being able to walk, I missed out on an art night, trivia night, and beach volleyball.

Amazing Week

The last week was really busy for me and I actually got to do a lot of things that I didn’t think I would be able to do in Dubai. Last weekend I met up with some of Azeem’s friends again and went to a place called Dubai Marine Club. This is basically a hotel on the beach, with a huge boardwalk like area with 10 restaurants, bars, and clubs. We just barhopped a little bit and hung out a Cuban bar/ restaurant. One thing that sucks about Dubai is that smoking is still allowed everywhere, so you end up always smelling of smoke. However, you can buy Cuban cigars at bars, which is awesome.

My dad came into town for a night on business, and since he was coming through the Duty Free at the airport, I told him to buy me a bottle of vodka, so I could smuggle it past my grandparents. Since my grandparents came to the airport with me to pick him up, we had to sneak it into his bag before they saw it. But now, I have a bottle of vodka stashed in my room, so when I really need a drink, I can get one. I never would have though that I’d have to ask my dad to smuggle booze for me!

On Tuesday, I joined a beach volleyball league and played beach volleyball. It was awesome, a great way to meet people and have fun on the beach. The league is played at a beach bar called Barasti, which is a really cool, chill beach bar. Tuesday happened to be Australia National day (there is no Independence day, bc Australia is still a commonwealth of the UK, but this day celebrates the first colonization of Australia), and they had a huge party. Lots of cowboy hats were passed around and there were a ton of drunk Australians. I’m sure I will be going back to this bar a lot, totally my scene. I fit in quite well wearing shorts, crocs and a Hawaiian shirt, the first chance I‘ve had so far to wear one!

On Wednesday, I went to Artsnight, at the Dubai International Finance Center (DIFC). DIFC is an awesome set of buildings with tons of restaurants, bars, clubs, and galleries. Besides having tons of offices, it reminds me of an outdoor mall in LA. The architecture is really cool. I saw a fashion show and all the galleries were opened up for people to check out the art. They also were passing out some food and free drinks. When I moved to Dubai, one of my cousins said there wasn’t much art and culture here, but apparently, there’s much more than there appears to be. It was fun, but all the people there seemed to be very posh and into the scene.

On Friday, I went on all day long hike. I left Dubai at 6:30am with a couple friends, and we drove to a town called Dibba, which is in Oman, about 2 hours away. We met up with an adventure company and hiked up a mountain called Jebel Qihwi. Jebel means mountain in Arabic. This peak is in a range called the Mosandam range (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musandam_Peninsula). It was a pretty intense hike, about 7 hours in all, and to get to the peak, we had to shimmey up a crack in the rock and literally climb our way through a hole to the top. From the top, you can see the Iranian coastline, which was pretty awesome. The mountains look a lot like the grand canyon. Wadi (river) canyons wind they way throughout he mountains all around. Wadi means river, but these are all dried up rivers, that flash flood whenever rain comes. The most difficult part was actually hiking back down from the top, because it is all loose stones, so footing is tough and you slip a lot. There was a cool small village on the way down that we walked through, with neat terraced fields. It’s incredible to think how people still survive out there with very little water and so high up in the mountains.

Today, I met up with a friend and we went to J.B.R., Jumeira Beach Residence, which is a development built right on the beach, with a ton of beachfront restaurants and stores. There were a ton of people out and about, and it felt like a real city with so many people walking around. In most parts of Dubai, there really aren’t that many people outside, so it was a nice feeling. Even though it’s in Dubai, it did kind of feel like a beach on an island, in a beach resort, kind of like being on vacation.

All in all, a great week, and I got to many things that I thought I wouldn’t be able to do in Dubai. People keep saying I’m so lucky to be doing all these things in such a short time after coming to Dubai, some things that my friends hear haven’t done in all the time they’ve been here. So I hope these kinds of things keep happening to me!

First Weekend Out in Dubai

(Sunset in Dubai, pretty much every sunset so far has been like this)

I survived my whole first week in Dubai without a drink! But I was very excited to finally go out and experience my first weekend in Dubai. Weekends in Dubai are Friday and Saturday, which was a bit confusing at first. For example, when I went to work on Sunday, I kept thinking it was Monday and wondered why so many people in the U.S. and in India weren’t working.

Going out for me is a little tricky because of my grandparents. They are very religious and they think that I have a drink occasionally, but they hate drinking. So, whenever I go out, I always say I’m going out with my cousin, and that I don’t drink at all. Anyway, Thursday night I met up with my cousin and we went to an Irish pub. I forget the name, but it is the only stand alone bar in Dubai. What I mean by stand alone is that all other bars and clubs are in hotels. Only hotels are allowed to have liquor licenses but for some reason this pub was allowed to operate outside of a hotel. And let me tell you, it felt amazing to drink a beer.

After one drink, we met up with one of Azeem’s friends and headed out to a house party at the Dubai Marina. The Dubai Marina is a neighborhood in Dubai. They basically created a massive man made marina and built literally 60 apartment and office buildings around it. All skyscrapers. I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures, but if you google search it, you will see how amazing this place is. The party itself was full of older Europeans, and it was pretty fun. They had a DJ who played good music and I got a chance to catch up with my cousin and Azeem’s friend. However, the best part of the night was when my cousin told me about the epic drunk brunches that they have in Dubai. I was seriously worried that I wouldn’t be able to do drunk brunches and day drink like I did in the states, but she described drunk brunches to epic proportions, drunker brunches than even I have been a part of in the states. I can’t wait! I got back around 4am, but I wasn’t ready to call it a night, so I went to the 24 hour hookah bar (here they are called shisha cafes) in my building and had a nice rose.

Saturday night was even better, and the nightlife in Dubai certainly lived up to its hype. I met up with a friend from New York’s younger brother, an American, and we headed to a BBQ. The BBQ was full of about 20 Americans, many from the US embassy in Abu Dhabi, and a bunch who worked for an American defense company. It was great to eat burgers and drink bud light. Now, since there was such a large group of people, and a couple people had siblings visiting from the states, they decided to rent a stretch hummer limo. My friend told me that in his 2 and a half years in Dubai, he had never rented a limo or been around so many Americans. We took the limo to a beer garden called the Irish village, which was a cool place, set up like an actual village. We had a couple drinks, then headed to a lounge called Neos. Neos is on the top floor, the 65th floor, of a hotel called the Address, which has an amazing view of the city, including the Burj Dubai. When we got to the lounge, some of the guys decided to get bottle service and Cuban cigars. It was amazing, and I doubt that I will have too many nights like that again. Once again, I came home and smoked a shisha before going to bed.

There were a couple incidences in cabs from the weekend, but I will write another blog post dedicated to social norms, race relations, etc. soon. As some of you know, I always have interesting cab rides.

So my first weekend was a huge success. I made a bunch of new friends, got invited to play on a beach volleyball team, and have a group of Americans that I can hang out with whenever I get nostalgic.

I also set up Skype with unlimited calling to the US, including cell phones, for only $6 a month, so I’m sure I will be drunk dialing many of you, because when I get home, it will be late afternoon in the US.

But look out for future posts on cabs, and European prostitutes, which is a big deal here. Some advice I got from almost everyone here is that anytime a European comes onto you at a bar or club, they are almost always prostitutes, and many places here are known as prostitute pick up joints.

Also, check out this song. It's amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjV91bKVdu0

Sooo...I finally made it to DUBAI!!

View from my grandparents apartment (tall thin line of light is the Burj, and I couldn't even fit all of it in one frame)

Snow in my backyard from the snowstorm

Sooo…I finally made it to Dubai. And I say finally because it was quite a process. First, I had weeks of going away parties and events in Chicago. Then I went home to D.C. and got hit with the biggest snowstorm in 100 years. 21 inches of snow in my backyard!

While this was happening, Tameem was in the hospital, so I had to wait out the snowstorm and then run to NYC to take care of him. Then I came back to DC for Christmas, back to NYC for New Year’s, back to DC to pack and another going away party, and then back to NYC to catch my flight to Dubai.

When I checked in for my flight, they were asking for volunteers because the flight was overbooked. Of course, I volunteered and got a free roundtrip ticket from JKF to Dubai, so now I’m fairly certain I can make it back to the states in August, probably sometime around the 14th (someone should be really happy about this).

Ok, now DUBAI!

So, as most of you know, I decided to go to Dubai soon after Chicago 2016 was over. I have always wanted to live abroad, and this was the perfect opportunity. My grandparents live in Dubai, my grandfather has a family business that my dad has been bugging me to work at for a long time. So without much hesitation I decided to jump ship. I literally had no expectations and when most people asked me about going to Dubai, I told them I was just going to go and figure it out when I got there. I would live with my grandparents, work at the family business, and see what happened. I thought that when I finally got on the plane, it would hit me, I would miss Chicago, the U.S. etc. but honestly it still hasn’t hit me.

I’ve been to Dubai many times, but it still hits me how amazing this place is. As soon as I land, I’m awe-struck. The airport is huge, spotless, fountains everywhere, probably the nicest airport in the world. The floors are so polished that I literally slip and slide. Everything is brand new, bright lights.

The view from my grandparents apartment is stunning. I can see the whole Dubai skyline, inlcluding the Burj, tallest building in the world. The next day, I meet up with some family, at a mall called festival city. The mall is huge, an Ikea only takes up a small part of it. There are canals going through part of it. Later that day I meet up with a cousin and we go to a gym in a building called The Address. It’s in the same complex as the Burj and the Dubai Mall, the biggest mall in the world. There are fountains everywhere, the ground is all marble and I’m slipping and sliding everywhere. The Address looks tiny compared to the Burj, but it’s the third tallest building in Dubai. The gym looks out at the Burj and there’s a fountain show every 20 minutes that I can see while working out. This place is amazing!

My first couple of days were a whirlwind. Going to the gym, checking out the office I will be working at, getting a cell phone, unpacking, setting up my room, finally getting the internet set up.

I always tell people that Dubai is like Vegas but without the sin. But honestly, Dubai is way better than Vegas. Things are bigger, brighter, cleaner. I was reading an article that describes Dubai way better than I could. Here’s the link:

www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/03/dubai-world-economic-crash

Obviously, some things have been quite frustrating – It took a couple days to get the internet set up. I’m having trouble getting my residency visa because I need to get a copy of my diploma notarized, which is taking some time. My grandmother is constantly nagging me to pray, to not drink, smoke hookah, etc.

But so far, I’m still very excited to be here. I can’t wait to go out and meet people, start being social again, making new friends.

As I write this, I’m sitting at a hooka café in the building next to my grandparents, watching traffic flow by, look at the skyline. It’s 70 outside, and the temperatue fluctuates between 60 and 75 everyday. I can’t help but think that I could be in 0 degree weather in Chicago right now.

There are my first impressions of Dubai. Kinda jumbled thoughts, but I’ll be posting regularly with more coherent thoughts.

Feel free to comment, email, gchat, call, mail, etc.