Category: Sandy D
Apartment move the social media way
Move day is upon us. The packers are packing whilst I watch. In my defence I packed a lot of stuff for the last few weeks or put into easy piles for them to pack so now I can rest until I get to unpack it all in new place.
As I have mentioned before the move from one place to another in Dubai is a new experience for me and has been (touch wood) not to painful.
The painlessness has been due to the use of social media, apps and my many mac products to assist from analysing new location to noting content of boxes. This is something I can’t was the norm a few ago.
On deciding to move I went to twitter to get ideas of locations and views. I didn’t look at the property classifieds in the newspaper as a first point of call. Whilst tweeting I reviewed the choices on dubbizle.com and got real time advice whilst trawling the net.
On querying it was decided the best options were Jumeirah village or motor city. Once I had seen a few locations in both places I then got further feedback on twitter and Facebook on the best place to move. The deciding factor for me was that close tweeps lived in motor city or nearby in Arabian ranches. Also motor city has grown into a pretty community with nearby amenities and of course the thought of living near a race track made my heart flutter.
Once decided and I had found the ideal apartment for me (1 bed on 1st floor so if kitties jump off balcony they won’t die just lose one of their nine lives – maybe) I had to locate packers.
Instead of scouring and meeting different movers I asked on twitter and tweep @toffeeprincess who had recently moved and done the comparison recommended Mexico Movers. For me any suggestion by her was going to be good for me so I called Rafi and got him to see my place within a day. Reasonably priced and efficient I had no doubts and was sorted. They are doing a marvellous job whilst I write.
The list of boxes has been added to Evernote which I can sync onto my iPhone later. I used a measuring app to measure the co-ordinates of the new apartment. Dubbizle.com has been used to try and sell my stuff.
I have updated my parents and friends on the move escapades and especially the moods of my two kitties via path. Ideas for new stuff for apartment has been thanks to pinterest and the fancy (both my new app fetishes).
The remarkable thing is that this all wasn’t possible 5 years ago. With the use of technology and a new way to communicate the decision to move to move day has been possible in a few short weeks with limited aggravation.
Admittedly we are lucky in Dubai that we can get cheap packers and movers to help with the move. But I also had the agent register me for DEWA and Emicool which is not normal.
If you live in Dubai the chances of losing your cool due to something so stressful as moving is highly likely but this hasn’t been the case for me and I think it’s due to use of social media and technology (as well as some good karma for once).
If you want details on Mexico movers and other information please let me know.
Change is coming
The time has come after 5 years to leave the place i have called home for a new place in the sandy land.
Most people would say its nothing new. People move all the time especially in this town but for me it’s a new concept. The last time I moved in Dubai was to move back to England. Then I moved back. Long story.
I have been my normal anal self and cleared the junk and prepared for the movers to pack and take my stuff to the new place. The decision to move to finding the place has been fast and the date of moving is coming closer.
I wonder if it’s a mistake but I know I need to change my life otherwise I will be stuck in a rut. Also my two cats and I have lost love with the garden we adore due to two huge loveable dogs that are too huge for us to appreciate.
One of my babies has been a traumatic mess for months and now it’s got to the point where she doesn’t come home except to eat every few days. I feel like a terrible mother not able to look after her and protect her. I’m hoping the calm food I have bought today will help her.
The other is hiding back in her favourite kitty hiding place – the laundry basket. She may be easier to move as I’ll just carry the basket to the new place.
I’m putting all my emotional baggage onto the kitty problems and hiding from the fact that I’m scared shitless. I didn’t feel like this when I moved countries so i have no idea why i’m being like this to move across town. Maybe as you get older, the harder it is to move out of your comfort zone. Or maybe I’m just being an emotional retard right now.
Whatever the issue I’m hoping it will get emotionally easier. And that my kitties go back to being “normal”.
UAE – my second home
Yesterday it was 40 years since the UAE became the UAE.
There will are a lot of posts on the celebrations and peoples views on this historic day.
We all have different memories and thoughts on this country. I have been here for 6 years and it has gone by incredibly quickly. I have seen the good, bad, ugly
and downright frightening. But I have been lucky and fortunate having this opportunity to experience life outside of England.
This country has the middle eastern underbelly with the mixture of many cultures living amongst each other making this a stronger concentrated broth of culture than even in London.
I have learnt things like never go to beach road on national day, how to wear an abaya, how to order Lebanese, how to undress a kundoora (personal favourite) and many other things.
Outsiders may look gawp and make stupid comments about this beautiful country but unless you are here for a while and experience all sides of it you will never know the UAE or understand why nearly all of us, emiratis and expats, are proud of this landmark moment.
To my second home, UAE, I salute you.
Xxx
Mosque excursions in the UAE
I have lived in the UAE for 6 years.
I have been inside a mosque and prayed twice.
Yes that is terrible when you are living in a Muslim country and surrounded by mosques but hey in my defence I have reasons!!
OK I am lazy and not the best Muslim girl when it comes to going to the mosque to pray. However, there are occasions when I have tried…
1. Jumeirah Beach Road Mosque – Attempt 1
I was five hours late for the prayers – who knew that there was only one EId prayer rather than several like in the UK. I went to meet friends.
2. Jumeirah Beach Road Mosque – Attempt 2
I was four hours late (I forgot the one prayer time rule). I thought hee-ho I might as well as pray as I’m here. The woman’s entry was locked. I asked the Indian gatekeepers why it was locked and if I could go inside to pray. The men told me I could only go into the mosque at visiting times with the other tourists. I explained (without swearing) that I wasn’t a tourist and that nobody should be stopped from praying in a mosque.
They walked off.
I swore in the car.
3. Sheikh Zayed Mosque – Abu Dhabi
This was a blogwritable episode but been too busy or frustrated to write about it, but in brief these were the ridiculous events:
a. Walking towards the amazing magnificent courtyard, as usual the shyla (headscarf) was not staying where it was supposed to (fully on my head) and I was also trying to find my friend. I hadn’t even got to the first set of pillars when this security guard started yelling at me like I was a dog, telling me to cover my head. My head was covered just the shyla wasn’t wrapped around tightly. I tutted talked to my friend on phone and then walked up to the security guard. I gave him a mouthful of venom then walked to meet my friend.
b. At the front entrance of the main sanctum of the mosque – whilst wearing my abaya which had a split mid way down but underneath I was wearing non tight jeans – a Malaysian looking woman/staff tells me I can’t go in as I’m not covered up! I was wearing more than I do when I wear a shalwa khamez to my local mosque in Kent! I told her that I was Muslim and knew how to dress appropriately to enter a mosque. She told me to hold the split to prevent showing of non-tight jeans. I grumbled and walked in.
Spent a while walking around and looking at the amazing inside of the sanctum with friend. After a while I decided that I should go say 2 rakat knamaz so asked two lovely Emirati staff members to explain where the ablution (wudu) facilities were.
c. Ablution/Wudu facilities in the Sheikh Zayed Mosque are beyond amazing. I have never seen anything so spectacular. If you do anything go to see this bit of the mosque! The cleaning woman was also a doll and gave me some tissues to dry myself. My faith in mosque visits was returning….
d. Walked up to the other side of the mosque to go the ladies section to pray. It is not clear where the ladies section is so walking with my flip flops on and I was in the area u can wear shoes, I walked up to a man and woman at one door to ask where the entrance was. The man told me that the entrance was just behind him and then yelled at me to take off my shoes. You have to bear in mind that I) I didn’t know that was the bloody entrance ii) I was standing in the courtyard area in the middle of a 50 degree summer iii) I would have taken off the shoes once I knew where I was supposed to pray iv) I wasn’t in the prayer area but outside where you can still wear shoes!
After calming down and praying the two rakat I found friend and we both decided it was best to leave before either one of us explodes (he was not amused either).
So end result, finally went in a mosque in UAE, prayed and nearly beat up a few people. Great moment in my life.
4. Al Fattam Mosque – Al Thanya Street, Dubai
Today is Eid Al-Adha. My lovely friend knows my uselessness at getting to a mosque to pray Eid knamaz so forewarned me to get up at 6 for knamaz at 6.50. I woke up, I dressed, I drove to mosque (its one minute away from home) and the car park was empty. This car park is never empty for Juma knamaz. In fact people park on Sheikh Zayed Road that’s how full this mosque gets. So I thought it was weird but…
I went into the mosque. There were four women in the women section (we have a lift to get to our floor – how bloody awesome is that!!) and one man downstairs (husband of one woman). I did my two rakat to the mosque and then waited….
There was no imam (priest), no words before the knamaz. It was silent. It was eerily silent. At 6.50 us women started to talking to each other. I started tweeting to check I wasn’t losing my marbles. At 7am us women walked out of the mosque.
Its not like this mosque is small. It’s massive! It’s so loud that when the imam is in one of his loud moods the house vibrates while he prays. Its like we are in Snoop Dogg’s car bouncing in the garden. Seriously.
Great start to the day!
A kind tweeter has told me I can contact a mosque committee/association for the UAE called Awqaf to tell them that my mosque didn’t do Eid prayers. I am going to complain. If a girl as useless me gets up to do Eid knamaz in her massive next door mosque she should be able to do it!
Anyway the thought was there.
Eid Mubarak all xx
Posers part 1
Girl takes video of her mate standing near bling cars at moe. Only in dubai
The Ladies Guide to getting new Tyres
I just changed four tyres on my car. It cost a hell of a lot of money. This is my story.
For the last few months I have been getting extreme warning symbols on my clever car computer thing saying the pressure was beyond zero. When I would check, the pressure would be lower than normal but not flat. Then there would seem to be a leak but when checked again, nada. Finally a close friend, saw one tyre a few weeks ago, and showed me in an exasperated-god ur such a girl-look at how bad your tyre is-tone of voice, that one tyre was dangerously slick and that if I was in a western country I would fail my MOT or be pulled over by the police.
I don’t like being pulled over by police. They fine me for stupid reasons. So I thought I better get my tyres changed. Thus the ordeal started.
My car (BMW if you must know) has Run Flat tyres. Now most people I know haven’t heard of these tyres. Run Flat tyres mean that if you get a flat you can still drive on them for another 80 kms before you need to change them. This means as well that you don’t get a spare in your car (therefore more room for shopping bags in the boot and a lighter car to overtake you MF’s who race me).
RF’s as we will call them are hard to find and more expensive than normal tyres. They are special like me and my car so only two brands sell them – Bridgestone or Pirelli. I thought I would shop around for the price being the haggler that I am. Beemer service people said one price. City Tyre on Jumeirah Beach Road said something a bit less but not much of a difference and they would have to have the tyres shipped in.
Then I remembered I worked in JAFZA and that there was a Bridgestone warehouse inside, so I went to their tyre centre to see if they would give me a good price. Now i’m a car fiend (as you will know if you follow me on Twitter). I know my cars, I know my tyres and I have no idea how to change a tyre. But when it comes to parts don’t talk down to me, you know what I mean? I went to Bridgestone and said to the main guy that one tyre was slick. You think he would have thought wow she knows what she is talking about. But noooo. He looked at the tyres and then said
“You know ma’am, these are Pirelli Tyres?”
“Yes, I know”
“We don’t sell Pirelli here”
“I know” – looking at the massive signs all over the building that say BRIDGESTONE
“We are Bridgestone, we make our own tyres”.
By this time I was going to smack him one. Now not only do I know my tyre brands, I am also an Intellectual Property lawyer. I have dealt with design matters for said tyre firm. I know more about their tyre treads then I would like to know. Believe me when I say, I know Bridgestone!! I don’t know how I kept my patience with this man, but after two months of searching for these tyres I had to keep calm. So he searched in his warehouse and he had them. Hooray. For 500 dhs more! Boo.
After consulting close mate of cost predicament, he agreed to escort me to the Emarat on Jumeirah Beach Road near Al Thanya Street to see if they could help. I go to this station often to have my car washed (main dude there is a sweetheart) and I also have visited them to clean my air-con so I thought maybe they will help.
Help, is an understatement. The main dude for the service centre checked the prices from Bridgestone and Pirelli, negotiated the price and ordered them to arrive less than 12 hours after visiting his garage. Within an hour today I had four new tyres and the car was aligned for free. If only I had known before, I wouldn’t have wasted my time going to other places. On top of that all, he showed me my back brake pads were very low and showed the difference with the front ones, so that I didn’t feel like he was trying to pull a fast one. Ok, he did take the piss, telling mate that RF’s were more for women as we don’t have to change the tyre, but whatever. He still helped me.
Dad has advised me that I was a muppet and should have just changed the back tyres to the front and got two new tyres to go on the back because that’s how you’re supposed to change tyres normally. But you know what, I drive a lot and I would rather have 4 new tyres and feel safe than have any niggle in my head. Plus I don’t drive slowly so better to be safe with the parts in my car.
So if you are going to change tyres, especially women, here are my golden rules for saving you hassle, time and money:
If only the front tyres or back are looking dodgy, get the good tyres moved to the other side and get two new tyres (my dad’s advise makes sense). Make sure the car is aligned (for free) when swapping and changing tyres.
Take a guy with you. I know it undermines your liberal woman power theory, but fuck it. If it means you save money and you get proper service, then take the bloke (especially one who has a clue about cars).
Go to the Emarat petrol station service centers (preferably on Jumeirah Beach Road near the Al Thanya junction).
Get Run Flat Tyres. They may cost more, but they are peace of mind. I don’t know how to change tyres in my car and I don’t think I will learn, so get these and then if you do go flat you have time to get someone to help you at a garage.
Shop around and ring up the tyre manufacturers.
If you are in a normal country like the UK, go to Kwik-Fit and other places and see if they have your tyres but by other brands. Bridgestone and Pirelli are the kings, but Continental is just as good. I won’t mention Michelin due to their allegiance with Mclaren F1 (Grrrrrr).
Take your iphone or ipad with you so you can tweet, blog, read other blogs or read a book while waiting for an hour.
Tip the guy who does your tyres. You may need him again another day.
Check the pressure every few weeks. If you can pay few dirhams to a man they will do it for you while you stand nearby watching.
I hope that helps and if it doesn’t – stop acting like such a girl.
N style
Today I’m blogging from N-style moe. I didn’t used to be a fan as they had been rude to me previously. However with vouchers and the fact they are close to my home I had to try them out.
The place runs like clockwork. They have a proper system and it’s a full blown massive nail pampering factory. Over the few times I have been here the girls have been friendlier and this time they gave me the headset to watch tv (America’s got talent! – there is a bird with my name singing right now! Weird)! Also You get asked if you would like a drink after the second visit
So if you come here a few times the better the service. Or maybe it’s my luck.
So anyway the nails. As expected the nail technicians are technicians and know how to do their job. it’s all very mechanical like being in a nail factory but it’s all good if you get good nails at the end.
7/10 – good but not spectacular
Feet first reflexology – Dubai mall
Today I decided that my dear friend @labibalaith and I needed some relaxing reflexology to calm our body and soul after weeks off pain. With voucher in hand we got a booking in the Dubai Mall branch. I like the town centre one but it was unfortunately fully booked.
Entering thru the door you go through a narrow corridor and are shown to your room. It’s very claustrophobic and dark but once in the room you are greeted by a nice leather swirly couch (you know how I love my swirly leather couches).
The lady finally arrived and revealed a sink under the table. She bathed my feet and cleansed it a bit. Then she moved behind me to give me a shoulder and neck massage. This was unexpected as I thought only my feet were to be touched. Luckily I had worn my strapless top so she could easily access my shoulders.
The massage occurred with the use of a towel rather than oils and there was no cracking of my muscles which I think is a sign of a good massage. The massage hurt and burnt and I usually like the kneading of the muscles to be hard.
After that pain she started punching my arm. This was the arm massage. If anyone else had punched me like that I would have smacked em one. Finally she did a forehead massage. All I could think about was “shit this is messing up my makeup”. Not relaxing thoughts.
Thereafter started the reflexology. First my shoulders were provided one of those neck pillows to rest my weary head while my feet and legs were pushed and massaged back into life. There were moments of pain but she persisted until the pain subsided.
After the half hour of reflexology the lady cleaned my towel with a hot towel gave me some water and bobs your uncle finished.
I think my 60 minute of reflexology was changed into half hour of massage and reflexology which was not what I asked for or paid using my voucher.
The experience was nice and helped clear those niggly pains in my leg but the noise didn’t make me relax. I prefer the tranquility of the town centre branch.
The service was great and my lady was very good. If it weren’t for the noise and change of treatment I would have been a very happy bunny.
Rating – 3 out of 5
Nivea Haus
Today was a revisit to Nivea Haus in Dubai Mall for manicure and pedicure. I had one voucher i had to use to claim my free mani so thought why not go and drag blokey mate to get his feet sorted out in the men’s salon.
Nivea has a shop front which sells all their normal branded goods and some extras that you won’t get in the supermarkets. They also have very friendly, smiley staff at hand to help you out. Then you go to the back to the main reception for the salon. There is a man and woman’s salon (of course separate rooms). I have no idea what the men’s salon looks like but the two males friends who have been there for spa pedicures said when giving feedback that they love their feet after the pedicure and get to watch Jeremy Clarkson on TV for the hour and half session (it’s the little things with these men).
The women’s salon is nice and open with wooden floors and comfy swirley chairs to sit on while you get mani and pedi’s. As you would expect with a clinical brand such as Nivea, everything is in order, blue (including the uniforms and towels) or white (like the logo and the other towels). The ladies asked me what colour i wanted when my feet were in the floor sink being soaked. I said red so they brought me three options and bob’s your uncle i was sorted. Then you get asked if you want your nails and cuticles cut, etc and you say, yeah or nah and do your usual thing. I like to consider myself a good customer. I don’t care how they get to the finished product but as long as my nails and body parts a good colour and i get a nice hand and leg massage in between i’m a happy camper. You will get in these nail salons hideous, spoilt women who will complain about everything, want everything and do my head in with their complaining. I usually take the piss out of these said annoying women with my nail technicians so they generally end up loving me.
Anyway back to the service. It was all good from my view. The ladies who served me were very friendly but didn’t try and annoy me with questions about my history. I got to read blogs from my fellow bloggers in peace while they got on with sorting my nails out. The leg massage by my nail technician, which is generally brief in most salons nowadays, was long and soothing. My legs needed that I tell ya.
The only negative was when the ladies asked if I wanted quick dry top coat. My answer was, of course. They then informed me it would cost me an extra 5 AED. To me this was ridiculous. 5 AED is roughly 1 quid! That’s a lot for having something that you get in any other salon for free. Plus they did it in a way that if you say yes, they give you the cost and then you say no, you look like a stingy cow. My good mood was slightly scarred by this money taking ordeal.
Anyway they did my nails, cleared up everything and then i sat there for another 30 minutes without being told to leave the chair, whilst waiting for bloke mate to finish his spa pedicure. I could have used the dryers but the chair was more comfy and I had my feet up, with quick dry drying my nails.
All in all a good experience. Nice, friendly, clean salon. No fuss. The only downer was the extra 5 AED but other than that two fingers up.
Rating: 3.5 (knocked of 0.5 cos they took my fiver!!)
Shelo9's Cheeky Rantings 