Eating, Exploring and RENTING!

Yes, I have started doing all three of the above in this last month and I have drawn one conclusion from all…

This is not the UK, that’s for sure!

Boy, oh boy what a month October has been. Let’s play ‘Never Have I Ever’, see how many you get!

• Eaten a slice of cake that is the size of my head
• Drunk myself silly with Iced Tea
• Been to the top of the tallest building in the world
• Posed for 1001 photos for a photographer at the top of the tallest building in the world
• Gone to an Italian restaurant for breakfast and eaten the most delicious pancakes in the world
• Joined a gym in Dubai
• Found an apartment to rent, in Dubai
• Bargain hunted 24/7 on Facebook to furnish said apartment in Dubai
• Stressed about visa and IDs for living in Dubai
• Moved into an apartment, in, you got it, DUBAI!

Wow, if this were a drinking game, I’m not sure about you but I would be three sheets to the wind by bullet point 4!

I have ticked every box of the above list, apart from the last one, this one I tick tomorrow! But more about that later….

Let’s Talk Cake, Oh and Iced Tea

So, it seems, that everywhere I have been so far in this country I have found cake. Lots and lots of cake. Red Velvet, Chocolate, Carrot, Lemon, Gooseberry, Cheese, you name it, I’ve tasted it. Literally, for the past week it’s been a steady diet. But I find, you can’t have a good piece of cake out here without at least 2 reoccurring factors:

1. The slice is gigantic – genuinely, the size of a hand doesn’t quite cut it. Try the size of a head!

And

• ICED TEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA! Anyone who knows me will know I like a good cup of tea. Anyone who I chat to daily will also know that I have gone very few days without having a cup of iced tea in the last 45 days. It’s become a bit of habit and I am not ashamed.

How Can I Drink So Much?

Easy. Go out to breakfast and eat pancakes, accompany it with Iced Tea. Head to a coffee shop for a slice of cake, accompany it with Iced Tea. Lay by the pool, accompany it with Iced Tea. Swing by a supermarket, buy 6-12 pack of Iced Tea. Drink Iced Tea with every meal you cook.

See how it works? Quite simple really and SUPER tasty!

Enough of Iced Tea, Where Have I Been?

The Gym! I have found a gym and it is mind bogglingly big, but I have enjoyed getting back in a pushing myself. Whilst also using it as a little rehab for my shoulder. I have also been in the pool a few times. Still training on Sundays with a Tri group as well as meeting up with a lady once a week to do a long distance session in a pretty impressive pool!

I have managed to do a little more sightseeing and this has included going up the Burj Khalifa which by the way, has breath taking views and is really pretty at night-time. Also, guess what I did when I went to the top? Yup, ate cake and had Iced Tea!

Along with posing for a photographer with my friend, just for a few laughs. We hated all the photos, but it was amusing while it lasted it. The photographer wanted to capture the ‘moment’ for us, we wanted to stare at the pretty lights some more.

If I’m honest though, there hasn’t really been much more exploring carried out. Unless you count home wear and kitchen appliance shops? No, didn’t think so. But I am 100% sure that this is about to change as Will arrives on Thursday morning for 3 weeks, so I am sure I’ll get around to doing much more. Including visiting the Cheesecake factory and PF Changs, as these are at the top of his to do list!

Anyhow, Did I Mention an Apartment?

Yes, yes, I did!!

Though I regret to say that it has not been as easy breezy as I had hoped. There are so many hoops to jump through here when you don’t yet have an Emirates ID, but it doesn’t help when authorities tell you, you can use one piece of paper to verify your existence and then change their mind. The last few days, I have been fighting an uphill battle.

I’ve almost rushed through the ID process and had my medical today, which involved sitting in a ridiculously small room for almost two hours to have my blood taken and an X-Ray. I then tried to kill two birds with one stone by trying to get to the governing centre to do my fingerprints for the ID as the centre was in the same area as the medical place. But no, apparently, I need to get my Medical results first before I put some ink on my finger and finger to paper.

BUT all is not lost.

I am moving to an apartment and I am moving TOMORROW!!!

My Landlord and Lady are wonderful people, and I am so incredibly grateful to them. They have managed to sort my water and electricity without too much hassle, and this means my move can go ahead. YIPPEEEEE!

I agreed this apartment about 3 weeks ago now and have been able to shuffle furniture over as and when I’ve found it, and I have found it all on Facebook. My mum would tell you that I am a bargain hunting expert and am going to be extremely bored when I no longer need anything. I feel like I should share some of my bargains with you, so curtesy of my OCD you can see the spreadsheet below that tells you a few of my buys and costs – which I am chuffed to pieces with.

And that is just to name a few! My most exciting buy so far has been a washing up sponge in the shape of an Elephant…

For all you nosy parkers out there, you can take a sneak peek at some photos of the apartment that I took today.

Side Note

All is good with work. This week is Halloween themed and having never been a believer in the season I have had to muster a lot of enthusiasm for my lessons. We’ve been chased by skeletons, ridden broomsticks, walked like zombies and demonstrated our best ghost impressions so far and today is day 1!

Fortunately, after Halloween comes Christmas and well, that’s one thing I personally cannot wait for!

Hope it’s not too early to mention the C word…

Over and Out people. Thank you for reading my ramblings. As I wrap this up, I realised it is 9.45pm here and as your clocks changed last night, we are now 4 hours apart! Apologies in advance for any 2am text messages anyone receives when I wake up in the morning!

Stay safe, healthy, and happy!

M x