My Favorite Place in Dubai

Since the weather is slowly deteriorating here, I thought it would be nice to fit a few activities into some of our few remaining weekends of good weather. This included taking Pete for a visit to my favorite place in Dubai. I went there around this time last year, so I knew it would be HOT, but it was well worth a visit. 

We started with a delicious lunch and refreshing mint lemonade,

then we went exploring around the courtyard (this is Pete, ducking to come out of the tiny bathroom door), 

after lunch we appreciated some of the artwork on display,

including this phone - covered in melted wax, 

then found a shady alleyway to escape from the sun (can you see the bump?), 

and we even saw a really old tree (planted in 1890)! 

Last Minute BBQ

We somehow managed to plan a very impromptu BBQ and birthday celebration at our villa last weekend. It was the week of Saint Patrick's Day, and also our Irish friend Dave's 33rd birthday (and the weather is still just nice enough), so we thought what the heck? Everyone who came brought a side dish, so we were all very well fed in addition to the burgers, sausages, and chicken wings that Pete grilled up.

We had to borrow a few chairs to accommodate everyone! 

Happy Birthday Dave!

Pete getting in some practice with little Reuben :-)

Important Weekend Errands

Pete and I had a couple of important things to do this weekend:

This included trying out the one and only Taco Bell in the UAE (located inside of Dubai Mall). It was kind of a letdown, but I'm glad we tried it anyway. It was a good attempt at getting a little piece of home right here in the Middle East. 

The mall also has a really cool multi-storey fountain, a full-sized ice skating rink, and a huge aquarium (and about a million shops)! 

We also stopped by Rajab, the tailor where Pete is going to get some suits made. With the exception of the local attire, most of the clothes (and shoes) in this country are not made for someone as tall as Pete, so he has a really tough time finding any ready-made items. He had a couple of suits and dress shirts made for him last year and they turned out wonderfully, so we went back for round two. By the time we leave here, Nasser and Pete will probably become very close friends... 

A custom fit!

Springtime Rain

In the middle of the night on Monday this week, Pete and I woke up to some crazy thunder and lightning at about 2:00 am. Having dealt with some leaky windows in our house during a rainstorm a few days before, we decided to get out of bed and check the weather. We were faced with this:

Once we shored up the water that was coming in the windows on one side of the house, we (Pete) had to tackle the odd little cubby hole located in our upstairs hallway. We're not exactly what the original intention of this thing was, but it seems that the little doorway opens up to a tube that runs straight up to a large funnel on the roof. Water was pouring in! 

After the bucket filled up about 4 times in 15 minutes, we moved onto a larger container: 

The rain finally started to slow down and thankfully, this bucket never overflowed.  Here is a close-up of Pete's creative problem-solving:

Also, we finally got that backyard pool we've always wanted: