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Hi again from Sunny Dubai,
We have now been out here living in the Desert for just over 5 months and it really is amazing how the time is flying – Seems like only yesterday when we were out in Manchester and busting out some moves on the dance floor at our leaving do! As per every previous month here, March was again very busy and also lots of fun! We had the Durica Invasion for 2 weeks!!
Wow, what a fantastic fortnight it was! It started with a very long 24 hours of traveling (helped by horse tranquilizer strength sleeping pills and the obligatory Bloody Mary’s at the airport), they were here in Dubai!!!! They brought lots of booze and pressies – and we had a Durica Christmas in March! :) We did so much when they were here and loved it all! Mark and I had some time off work and acted as complete tourists again.
Few highlights of the two weeks were:
The big bus tour is a great way to see all the sites and form their boundaries of Dubai.
We were able to relax at Aquaventure (Huge Water park) at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah Island.
We attended an event called the Taste of Dubai, where we saw celebrity chefs Gary Rhodes and James Martin, we consumed lots of food from all the popular and posh restaurants in Dubai and enjoyed some wine tasting as well – (the wine imported here is defo not as good as the Cali vineyard wines)!!
One of the highlights was definitely the desert safari – all the screaming as we flew across the dunes was quite entertaining-we have some good video footage that we will try to get online soon!
Mark and Dad enjoyed a few hours in Ski Dubai – ripping up the powder – getting big air and loving the snow and being on a (fake) mountain! Lol
The five of us toured the ‘old town’ area of dubai seeing and learning the history of the emirates. We also did lots of shopping in the Souks, buying lots of nick-knacks and testing our bartering skills!
The Friday Brunch we enjoyed at Madinat Jumeirah, Mina Al Salam, had loads of gorgeous food and lots of free drink that we consumed – the strawberry margaritas were defo a big hit! Me and Amber achieved a full on Brain Freeze – Marky was very proud! We also sat on the table next to Jim Davidson (A famous comedian from England)
On Amber’s last day here, we had a special treat of entering into the Burj al Arab for the first time!! The only 7 star hotel in the world-the sailboat looking hotel for those of you who don’t know! It is much bigger than it looks from afar, taller than the Eiffel tower, and the interior décor was pretty and very bright colors, yet tacky at the same time. We had an lovely Asian tea and 7 course meal there, and then admired a beautiful sunset over the palm islands at the Burj al Arab.
We ventured out of Dubai to some of the surrounding emirates: Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Umm al Quwain, as well as Oman. Making our way around the sites and visiting the Heritage villages. We also stayed overnight in Ras al Khaimah (another emirate) at a beach resort, soaking up the sun by the infinity pool and with drinks in hand!
It really was a fab two weeks, with far too much food and drinks ‘most’ nights! Now its time to get fit and lose the weight, ready for the next visitors! (Sarah and Trish for a week in May).
Other BIG NEWS this month…………..I am no longer a Lady of Leisure!! ……………………. – Marky made me “Get my Ass to work” – hehe!
I started at PepsiCo on March 18th and I’m really enjoying it, meeting lots of nice people, working for a huge Multi-National organization and it seems like a fantastic company, with good benefits with great opportunities and so far the perfect start to my life as a working woman!
Mark is keeping extremely busy at work and is now working on 2 projects – Long long hours but still enjoying it and the work is pretty exciting, with regards to the fact, once the fountains open officially, they will be seen all around the world as twice (maybe 3 times) the size of the fountains at The Bellagio in Vegas!
To balance those long working hours he is getting to play more golf with some of his mates at work. So he is starting to get good use out of his top of the range Taylor Made R7’s! (clubs)!
Two weekend’s ago I had a softball tournament. The Dubai teams threw a tournament for teams from all over the middle east. There were 10 male teams and 10 female teams competing…..our team didn’t do very well at all, but it was still lots of fun watching and participating in a tournament. Reminded me of the good old days when I played tournaments every weekend when I was younger. Mark also enjoyed the beer and a huge rack of BBQ Pork Ribs – (Pork is not normally sold at restaurants in Dubai)
Mark and I now are officially Residents of Dubai, UAE. We are now trying to sort out all the paperwork and processes needed to be done once we became residents – ie. Alcohol license, bank acct, drivers license, etc.
Since the family left, the weather has been crazy here! Tons of flash flood rain and thunder & lightening storms! Even Hailstones (which most of the locals didn’t know what hail was)! I do not enjoy them at all, but mark is loving storm watching!!! I think the rain and cooler weather is passing, and the hot summer is on its way! It is heating up daily now!
We miss you all dearly and hope to hear from you soon!
All our love,Mark & Erin
xxx
For those of you who don't have facebook, here is a link to some pictures of when the Durica's were here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2242843&id=6402232&l=c016a0640f
