Entries by Marmotte

Looking back, 2008 was really not a great year and I am quite happy to see it leaving....with hope for a better 2009.

But I was still looking forward to tonights party and a fun evening out. So the disappointement was big, when I read the headlines in todays newspaper (7days):

Dubai: All parties across Dubai to celebrate New Year’s Eve and the end of 2008 were ordered to be cancelled last night.
HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai made the announcement through the official WAM news agency late last night.
The order stated that Dubai will “mark the new year with a sombre tone as a token of solidarity with the Palestinian people and Gaza Strip which is currently under the barrage of Israeli military fire.”

Well farwell then 2008....

I guess next year we will be celebrating back home again, as we did until now.

11. December 2003

Have you ever believed it could be snowing in Dubai? Neither did I.

You can not imagine how surprised I was this morning when I saw "snow" lying in our garden.

Actually it is the rest of the ice corns from the hail storm last night.

Happy Birthday UAE!

Beginning November (2 months late) finally the moment came and Dubai had yet another big shopping mall.

Is it worth visiting it?

Well the Aquarium and Exploring Center are really nice and I think I will also go ice skating there in the future. (it features an Olympic size ice rink!)

The mall itself is not (yet) worth a visit though, as it is still just a big construction area with a lot of shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities only planned to open in 2009. (no clue if it will be beginning or end of 2009)

For now I will still stick to the good old MOE, Festival Center and Mercato Mall.

Continue reading "Dubai Mall"

A new Identity Card....one with multi purposes.

Apparently it has been planed since a long time and all Emiratis as well as professional Expats with university degree were supposed to apply for one until the end of 2008.

Unfortunately the communication about the card as well as the procedure how to get was really bad, and many people were ignoring the fact that they had to get one. Even with treats, that without the card bank account will be frozen and other services denied.

That's why Seb and some of his colleagues got up this morning at 4am to go to the ID center in Al Barsha to queue for the card.

You can't imagine how I was laughing, when I got the paper this morning with the following headline: "DEADLINE EXTENDED end of year deadline for expats to obtain their national ID cards is now put back until 2010.

hihihihihhihhiiiiii.........

I was always under the impression, that when you bought brand names, you actually didn't just pay more money for the name, but also get better quality and better customer service.

How wrong I was.....

A year ago, my hubby bought a Hugo Boss suit. It was one from their "Hugo Boss Selection" range, since apparently it was of much better quality, then the normal range. But also double the price. But hey, you're buying quality, right?!

Not even a year later, the first problem.... the stiches on the side of the pants were opening up and we brought them back to the Hugo Boss Store in the MOE, where he bought it. They fixed them and the pants were returned a few days later.

Not bad......you think....well wait!

Continue reading "Hugo who?"

I completly agree with George Orwell, when he wrote in Animal Farm:

"All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others."

I experience this here quite often....

A month ago, it was discovered, that truck drivers were unloading their raw sewage load into the ocean at Jumeirah Beach instead to queue for hours at the sewage plant. For them this means less hours of work, more money in their pockets.

Since then, there were a lot of articles in the papers....but not much has been done to stop this.

Now is seems that there is e.coli bacteria in the sea, but people are not properly warned to stay out of the water.

We won't go back to the beach (any beach on the Dubai coast, as with the tides and the waves the water must be poluted pretty much everywhere!) until they have stop the dumping and cleaned the beach/water!

It's time to act!

Wow, it's been a long time since my last entry... I can't believe how fast time is flying by!

Well it's already the end of Ramdan and we are celebrating Eid.

I can not describe you the feeling of being able to drink and eat in public again... (during the day)

Next year, Ramadan will fall on end of August and I'm not sure, I will NOT stay here for it! During the summer months is just very hard!

Well here we go again...... 1 month of Ramadan is awaiting us.


Ramadan Kareem

The fly over at the Arabian Ranches has just been opened.

juhee!

Like back home, here in Dubai, you have the choice between prepaid and postpaid services.

As most people I'm a Wasel (prepaid) customer, as the communication prices are the same, but you don't have the monthly fees as a postpaid customer.

Well that's how it would be back home.....here even having a prepaid service you have to pay a yearly fee of Dhs 100.- to keep phone service alive.

So let me rephrase....your "monthly fees" as a Wasel customer are lower than those of a postpaid one.

Yesterday at a gas station in Dubai.

I bought some water and gum at the gas station store, while stopping for gas.

The amount was 8 Dhs 50 fils. Now the cashier didn't have the exact change and wanted to offer me for the 50 fils some candy.

Because this happens more and more, and I'm just sick of getting candy (I don't even like) instead of the money, I told him, I didn't want the candy but the money.

So he said he would give me 2 dhs....if I could give him 50 fils. Well I didn't have 50 fils...but I could have offered him some candy instead! (of course this didn't cross my mind until later.)

Or even better, next time I will pay in candy altogether...it seems like it is a common currency here in Dubai.

Have you ever stopped at a gas station for a refill with just a credit card on you?

Well it happened to me today... and I had to find out, that you can't pay here with credit cards anymore. Cash only.

I still got some gas.... but I did have to sign a form AND leave me drivers license there as well.

In the afternoon I had to go back to pay my bill and to get my license back.

Such a modern city and you can't pay with your credit card at a gas station...and not to imagine if I had an issue with the police and would have been fined for not having my drivers license on me.

Baaaaddddd.