Things are crazy for me. I am normally so “connected,” not socially, but online, cellphone, etc, and it was shocking to instantly be offline for so many days. It took me a while to get internet access at home, and I’ve been busy in the office and not had too much time for emails and such. Now that I have internet at home, it barely works. I still don’t even have any kind of long distance yet, and my cellphone just got sorted out the other day. So, email is still the best form of communication, and I will be updating the website as often as possible.

So much crazy shit has happened so far. I got super drunk with my friend the other night, and Sheik Mohammed ate dinner about 25 feet away from us. That’s the equivalent of George Bush eating at the
Sunburnt Cow, I shit you not. He doesn’t even walk around with security, just him and his brother (both armed though) but totally safe. Later that night I stumbled into a cab and made him take me to
this club that is packed with hot, white women - only they are all prostitutes! I never went in. By the time we got there, I was so drunk I yelled it him for taking me to the wrong place. Then I told him the closest landmark I could to my house, which is the Bur Juman mall, but it’s like a 10 minute walk away! I couldn’t figure out the rest, so when he dropped me off, I had to stumble around for like 10 blocks to get. Then I threw up all over my bathroom. Welcome to Dubai.

Later in the weekend, I walked around my neighborhood and found the Dubai Museum, which is supposed to be beautiful, but was closed. I took pictures of the outside of it, right after some guy tried to rob me. It didn’t work out for him, but it was not a violent confrontation. Sort of a scam situation, but I foiled it. Then I met a cute German college student at a cafe while the noon prayers were
blasting out of the mosques. We drank tea and talked about travelling. It was actually amazing.

I went to a barbecue out in the desert later that night, at friends of my client’s house. Instead of beef on the grill, we had to have it out of the oven, because there was a full-on sandstorm, then it rained. It only rains like 3 times a year here! Everyone went inside, but I sat out on their patio thinking about how crazy my life is sometimes.

This morning I got up and it was a full thunderstorm. Ridiculous rain, lightning, the works. It rains 3 times a year, and I had two already.

Next weekend is a huge horse race here in Dubai. It’s like a major, major social event. We already have tickets, and I am psyched about it even though there is no gambling in Dubai. I will get very drunk again for sure. Apparently this is a major, major event in Dubai…

So far, so good.