Wednesday, May 7, 2008

I have Skype!!! So should you!

So one way to keep in touch is though a program called Skype. It is free to download and free to talk computer to computer. I was not sure if I could get it or not (due to the regulated internet in Dubai), but I can and I did. I also have a webcam so you should buy a webcam and download Skype so we can talk for free! Really, check it out and let me know when you get it!

I have more pictures of dune bashing that I will post soon. Great times! Thinking about you!

Videos of Bur Dubai and new car



These videos are where I used to live when I first arrived in Dubai. Check them out. I will take some video of my new place and post it soon. Warning: you may get motion sickness due to my video camera abilities!













Also, here are some pictures of my new car.



Friends


So I think that it is about time that I show off some of my friends in Dubai. These pictures happen to be from an apartment crawl that we had at one of the apartment complexes where some of them live.




Me, Sophie (Austrailian), Malek (Canadian) and Bob (American)













Shaun (English), Marissa (Canadian) and Bernardino (Eh! Italian)




More pictures of friends to come later. I hope that you are all doing well.

I'm Back!!!




First of all, I want to apologize for not writing sooner. It has been a crazy time lately and I have simply not had time to sit down and write. Anyway, no excuse. I will try my hardest to get back into a rhythm and write more frequently.





So I have been spending a lot of time in Istanbul lately. It is a great place and I have lots of good stories that I will tell you over a beer when I am back in town. These pictures are from the road between the airport and the Bosphorus.

































I will tell you one story. It starts like this...after a long day at the client all I wanted to do was go back to the hotel, grab some dinner and go to sleep. Simple enough request, right? Instead, I get into a cab with a Turk who did not speak a single word of English! I obviously do not speak Turkish, so I told him where I wanted to go and crossed my fingers. About 30 seconds into the journey, he turned to me and said something that sounded like a language right out of a Star Wars movie followed by a circular motion with his hand. I said "Pardon?" which was then followed by another phrase in Turkish that I didn't understand. After that...an understanding! We both looked at each other and I know that we were both thinking, "You have no idea what I am saying, do you?" We both had a good laugh about it (and I am pretty sure that when he answered his cell phone, he was still laughing about it to his friend!) and I ended up at the hotel with my dinner and a bed. It was one of those moments that makes this journey worth taking. I was totally out of my comfort zone and it was great! This picture is of my cab driver.





One thing that I have learned throughout this adventure is that human nature is pretty much the same wherever you go. People laugh and joke, show pride and jealousy, cry and show sadness, and regardless of the language barriers or cultural differences, emotions are the same.



Here is another, "lost in translation" picture! I laughed out loud when I saw this one!