Ok. My friends Jasmine Jackson and Vanessa Lawrence Reeves suggested I start blogging about all this....I wouldn't subscribe to what I generally consider a vapid shot at 15 minutes of fame because if I am really starved for it I will put hot pics of myself in a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader costume on my Facebook page:).... but I have to get rid of all this 'stuff' about this adventure some how because I tend to internalize. They and my best friend Jon say I am HIGHlarious and this would be a good forum for me and not about stroking my own ego. Meanwhile, my new boss and colleague Shoaib, my sister Emily AND I agree I need to 'chill baby chill' so here goes...
I am sick as a dog in a rather nice hotel in Dubai after two days of economy travel with a 7 hour lay-over in Moscow.
I love my Russian friends so much but Moscow is a pretty cold place....at least the airport and the look of things outside were. I just took comfort in the fact that 'Somewhere out there...beneath the pale moonlight, someone is thinking of....'sorry, I digressed into a 'lil Fievel, An American Tail, there for a second; I just meant to say that my friends in Russia are beautiful people that I hope to visit one day now that I am somewhat closer. I know they will show me the Russia I have longed to see for so long. So arriving in Dubai.
I have not seen any more than the inside of the hotel and the roof pool where the slightly cooler night breeze brought me ten minutes worth of fresh air before I caved and crawled back into bed. (That's not the hotel to the left btw. That's the bloody stinking awesome Dubai Int. Airport. Palm trees, an automatic 30 day visa in my passport, my favorite movie The Godfather, playing in English with Arabic subtitles while I waited for the gratis stamp; and then outside, a night sky with a half desert moon so bright that I finally understand what it means when people say the desert is solid black when the sun sets; the moonlight literally cut the night in half. If you weren't looking at it or the radius around it, the sky around it looks like a black sheet of paper.)
Regardless of that bit of greatness, my need for American comforts kicked in quickly once I became a bit more lucid after a 6 hour nap...I enjoyed a really good chicken burger and fries from the restaurant downstairs...my first whole meal that despite how good it was still has my stomach in knots. Its either the knots from fear of being here still rearing its ugly head, the sickness that is wracking my body or the crappy Strawberry milkshake they served with the burger....fresh strawberries yum, mixed with cold milk...no ice or ice cream to thicken it. And I am lactose and did not take the meds soon enough for them to really kick in. I hope its just my stupidity and the actual cold I have and not lack of bravery at being here that has my stomach rolling over...
Meanwhile I am watching the Cartoon Network...American cartoon characters i.e. Dexter, speaking Arabic and wearing traditional Arabic clothing and coverings. WOW!
That is unexpected...so is the FoxMovie Channel, which shows 20th Century Fox movies nonstop in English with beautiful Arabic subtitles. Its kinda hit or miss cause I have gone from laughing at Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon in Taxi to quickly changing it to an all Arabic prayer channel in lieu of Jean Claude Van Damme's Bloodsport. Of course, I am not learning Arabic any better but I feel like this Fox channel is going to be a guilty pleasure ala Toddlers and Tiaras and ANTM because the VPN I bought before I left to mask my use of Hulu and Netflix is not working. Needless to say that company has already received a strongly worded email and thank goodness I used Paypal because when you complain about fraudulence, Paypal delivers!
I am including only two pics I have taken so far and don't be too disappointed just because that is all there is...first of all...you are likely just jealous you probably don't have them. Whatever! That is crapballs dumb cause you can always come visit me and get some of your own...second, I will post more. I am going to start a 'Buy Selena a Sic, Awesome Digital Camera w/Video fund through Paypal to have people donate so I can document the journey to round out the visual component of my blog...its the smart thing to do really:)
That's it for now folks. I don't want to bore you all with any more hotel spiel when there is good Arabic heat to soak up and a whole city I have to find a place to live in to report on.
I will just leave you all with this one thought; a closing tradition of my blog I have decided is necessary to inform people about things here...upon departure of the airport to the Ground Transport area to find my driver and car, there was a sectioned off area marked, Ladies Only. Perhaps oddly but happily, it was devoid of ladies...
What's next?