What to Write?

I've started about 40 different blog posts since landing in Dubai, and none of them have hit the right note for me. Some have been about my daily experiences, others have been about how this move has affected me on an emotional level, but not one has really worked.

So maybe I'll just hit publish on this one and see what happens.

Dubai is interesting. The city itself is perfectly adequate. Not a ringing endorsement, by any means, but it's the truth. I've said several times how shocked I am at the lack of culture shock I've experienced. (Though I don't exactly know what culture shock feels like, so maybe it has yet to set it. Who knows?)

It's definitely a different world, though. There is a class structure unlike anything I've seen or experienced and this is honestly the biggest challenge I face. I grew up in a world where things like where you were born didn't really matter, but here, it matters.

I am asked every day by one person or another where I am from. When I say 'Canada' in my non-Indian accent, they are often taken aback. Indian expats make up more than half the population of Dubai, so my skin colour puts me in a very large category.

Exactly four weeks after landing in Dubai, the boy came for a visit. It was both amazing and gut-wrenching at the same time - just as I was accepting the loneliness that comes with a new move, he showed up and made me forget about how much I missed everyone and everything and then poof, he was gone again. I'm glad he came but  I'll be happier when he's here full-time.

While he was here we did some touring about - it was great to have someone here to do all the touristy crap with. We toured the city, found some good happy hours, went on a desert safari and discovered my new favorite thing: dune bashing! Seriously, riding around in the desert in a 4x4 was more fun than I've ever had in a vehicle.

Work is pretty great. It's amazing to that the work I'm doing is based in so many different countries - managing time zones and organizing things on different continents is a new challenge for me. It's also been an interesting change going from a small company to one with more than 55,000 employees.

So there you have it. Only my second blog post since relocating. It's weird to think of myself as an expat and that there's a whole community of people in the exact same boat. I feel like I'm starting to settle and hopefully that will give me more things to write about.

Four months til my probation is over and my travels can begin. WEE!

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• Culture Shock, and the Unhappy Expat

A Lack of Posts

Here I thought when I moved to Dubai I'd have a ton of things to write about and share. Turns out I've had very little I've wanted to share.

The biggest reason is I'm too busy to really explore. Between the job and the apartment hunt, my life isn't spent going out and seeing the sites, it's spent being productive and grown up.

Plus it doesn't help that I am currently staying in a hotel out by the airport - where there is nothing of interest close by.

Anyways. I had a lovely weekend, actually. I went out each day this weekend - Thursday with a friend I know from Slave Lake, Friday was our office party which was the fanciest party I may have ever been to, and Saturday I went to a high school friend's house for brunch.

AND I saw my first camel. Neat!

After a really nice weekend, I should have known that Sunday would kick my ass. (Have I mentioned how Sundays are Monday here? It totally throws me off my game.)

Well, kick my ass it did. From FedEx woes, to apartment hunting blues, to just dealing with the bureaucratic bullshit that one has to deal with when they move across the world - today was hard.

I miss everything. My apartment, my furniture, the ease of Canada, my friends, my family and (not surprisingly) most of all Eric.

To counteract the rest of the day, I skipped dinner, ate chips and drank two glasses of wine.

Today Dubai won, but at least I'm woman enough to admit it.

First post from middle earth

I'm in Dubai.

For many months it felt like I wouldn't get here, so it all still feels very surreal. And thanks to jet lag and a nasty cold, I haven't actually explored the city at all. All I've seen is the airport, my hotel room and my office.

I blame last week for the cold - sleep was out of my reach, and I was making every attempt humanly possible to split my time between packing, spending time with my family, seeing my friends, and making sure my memory was full of images of my guy.

And then there was the party.

My friends went out of their way to make me feel special, and for that I am eternally grateful. I left Vancouver feeling so much love, it's silly. I don't know what I did to deserve such amazing people in my life, but thank goodness I've got them.

To say my departure on Sunday morning was emotional would be an understatement. Much of the 20+ hour trip was spent wiping tears and sniffling. Thank god I didn't know anyone on the flights.

I arrived in Dubai safe and sound, just tired and sick. I'm disappointed my birthday will be spent researching and sleeping - there's a few things I'd rather be doing - but what can you do?

You might notice this lil' blog got a new name - big ups to Jarod and / or Steve for thinking of the punny name.

Representing Reputations

When I came to Vancouver five years ago, I had no social life. I had no life in general. Work was my life, and because I liked my work so much, it was a-ok with me.

You see, Reputations was the only outlet I had for normalcy. When I left the office, I either went home to a boyfriend who didn't really like me that much, or to an empty apartment. Seeing my co-workers was the highlight of my day, as sad as that sounds.

But the thing is, my work was pretty freaking cool. We worked on the coolest projects - how many people have worked with a top Olympic partner? Or organized a press conference in North America's first supervised injection site? Or worked for the world's largest retailer? Or helped Discovery Channel film segments for Daily Planet? Or had cocktail hour every Friday?

I did. BAM!

The off-beat nature of the company helped fuel my creativity and my connection with my bosses and co-workers gave me the 'family' I needed to not run away from Vancouver.

I can honestly say that Reputations gave me the most unique employee-boss relationships in the history of jobs. And because of Reputations I have been lucky enough to find mentors, friends, and a circle that kept me from feeling too alone.

To my bosses, I am forever grateful for the chance you took on me, and the faith you had in me. And though I didn't love all of my co-workers, I am grateful for most of them and for everything they taught me about public relations and Vancouver.

I'm sad to leave the best PR team in Vancouver (and I'm pretty sure the country), but I know that my new job wouldn't have been possible without Reputations.

Five days and counting.

Clean your closet, clean your soul

An episode of hoarders. (Photo credit: BuzzFarmers)

Yesterday I went through all of my (many) pairs of shoes to figure out which ones were coming with me to Dubai.

After an hour or so, I decided to sell or give away 41 pairs of shoes.

41!

Despite me being totally disgusted by myself, it felt great to get rid of so much stuff. It is interesting to know by the time I leave Vancouver, my life will be a leaner, trimmer version of the one I had here.

Today I'm going through my coats and clothes.

Having never shared a closet, I've never really had to cull my collection. I've allowed my wardrobe to grow and grow, with little thought of how big it has actually grown.

It's become apparent that I should have been on Hoarders a while ago. And I think my friends were irresponsible for not suggesting that a while ago.

11 days and counting.