Pretty Carl

Our group of friends has just met a new addition. Carl, 30, South African, plays rugby and is the New Business Manager for Crocs.

He is also an ex-model, and quite possibly the prettiest (most enormous!) and most metrosexual man I've ever met. Much to the disgust of my Kiwi mate Carl - who, to be fair, has been around for a lot longer - we differentiate between pretty Carl, and well, just Carl. But Carl thinks we differentiate between pretty Carl and ugly Carl. So we changed it to big Carl and well, little Carl. But Kiwi Carl is a fairly big guy so he's still not happy!

Who would have thought boys were so concerned about how they are perceived! Maybe they should be brunette Carl, and sandy brown Carl? MetroCarl and ScruffyCarl?

They're in this pic on either side of my gorgeous friend Barbs - suggestions?

Debt

I wanted to explain my plaintive wail of the last few weeks 'I can't afford to, I'm broke'. Not because it's a lie, but because people are feeling sorry for me, and they shouldn't.

In the year that I have been in Dubai, I have bought a Rav4, brand new, off the showroom floor. I have done my PADI scuba diving course, and my Advanced Course. I have learned to wakeboard, and do so every weekend, at a tiny beach club outside of Dubai. I have invested in off shore trusts (watch this space - it sounds very grown up!). I have taken my whole family for high tea at the Burj Al Arab.

I have been back to South Africa once, to Holland twice, to London and Thailand once, to Jordan and Beirut for long weekends, to a music festival in Denmark, and of course to Brazil for 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year.

I have bought the basics of a new wardrobe, twice, once for losing weight - finally - and once for starting a new job, in a new field, that requires 'meeting clothes' that are not jeans and a t-shirt! I drink delicious beer, which is probably the only thing that gets taxed in this country, so it's bloody expensive.

I have also just paid a years rent up front, after not working for 5 weeks in July/August. I'm broke. But happy ;-) And I forbid people to feel sorry for me, I certainly don't deserve it!

Exercising makes the heart grow fonder

Please can everyone remind me what a nice person I am when I'm exercising. It takes weeks to get me into the gym, and then once I am in there, I rarely last longer than 1 week, before 1 hangover keeps me out and I never go back!

I have taken up running, on a treadmill, although will run outside when it gets cooler. I am planning on running a 10km race at the end of January. I remember now why I carried on swimming long after I decided I wasn't going to make it - the time in the water gave me a chance to sort my thoughts out. I am enjoying putting all the stormy thoughts of the last couple of months into little compartments while I'm running.

It makes everything a lot more manageable. And I'm such a nice person again! Please remind me of this, often...

Facebook vs. block

Social networking faux-pas? I took the enormous step of blocking someone on Facebook last night. I'm pretty sure it was the right thing to do. I'm pretty sure it is not the equivalent of sending them to purgatory, and I'm also pretty sure they won't even notice for the first couple of weeks. And I suppose, more to the point, when they do notice I'm pretty sure they won't care.

What I'm not sure about, is why I still do.

Missing my wife

Update on the last post - No-one got arrested at the birthday pub crawl through Bur Dubai, but it certainly wasn't as much fun as drinking behind closed doors, with music ;-)

Vanessa, my housemate, also known as my wife, has gone back to Australia indefinitely. What this means to me is that no-one is doing the food shopping, cooking my dinner, letting in Pest Control, Maintenance, Plumbers, Electricians etc. Hopefully from that list you realise how much shit has been going down in my house lately. Obviously because neither of us have any money, this all had to happen at once.

I also now realise how much I rely on my fabulous housemate in my weight loss and healthy eating quest. I miss you Ness!

I managed to do the shopping after work last night and cook my own dinner. If I'm honest, it really wasn't hard. And it tasted great ;-)

Hopefully my first work trip will happen next week, to Oman, will confirm asap...

Birthdays vs Ramadan

Ramadan started here on 1 September. For those of you who don't know what that entails, for a Westerner it means no eating, drinking (including water), or smoking in public during daylight hours.

Alcohol is only on sale after 7pm every night, at bottle stores and hotels. No live music is allowed, and even 'piped' music is forbidden in bars for the month. Western women are advised to dress modestly if walking around town, even after dark.

What happens when this coincides (collides!?) with birthdays? On Monday we investigated one option - for Sarah's birthday - we had a sit down 3-course meal for 30 people, at a Bed and Breakfast, with all the alcohol you can drink, behind closed doors so music was played and general merriment abounded, with no interference from the outside world.

The second option - for Lisa's birthday - happens tomorrow, and seems to be by far the riskier of the 2! We are embarking on a pub crawl through Bur Dubai. Starting at 7pm, obviously, we are supposed to be visiting a few bars at various hotels in a specific area, in the Old Town. Bearing in mind we will all have to be dressed conservatively, and will have to walk between bars, the potential for being arrested for being drunk/underdressed/rude etc in public, is huge. Quite frankly I would not be surprised if it all goes horribly wrong.

I will not be drinking and quite cunningly, I think, will be timing my walks to different bars so as to avoid all the people with me ;-)

I'll keep you posted.