Dubai Boy

Prior to leaving, Wade’s former boss would call him Dubai boy. He’s been a true to Dubai boy for nearly three weeks now. His observations have been interesting and he’s been chronicling them in an email now and then. I’ll post them below, I’d like to have them for when this blog goes to book form. We Skype with him morning and night usually. Dubai is almost exactly opposite Southern California, 11 hours ahead. The kids love to see him on the computer. Tessa will show him her latest dance moves and her preschool projects. Bode will wave, blow kisses and now says, “Da, Da” anytime he walks past the lap top. It’s amazing technology, that he can literally be half a world away and we can talk to him like he’s right here in our family room.

The kids and I have done so much better than I ever could have anticipated. We have found a routine and are surrounded by loads of support. I’m tired at night, but truly feel like I have been blessed and that my capacity has been increased. I still basically hate it that we’re not all together, and I know Wade does too, but considering the circumstances, we’re all doing really well.

UPDATE #1-May 31st

Wow it has been a crazy couple of days to say the least. Quite honestly the whole experience has brought up a lot of memories and feelings of when I left for my mission in Italy. Everything from the packing to landing on the ground.  It has been a bit surreal. First off, saying goodbye to you all was much more difficult than anticipated. Getting dropped off at LAX by Katelyn and kids was horrible, but was glad they were there. (Yes, this was true, it was terrible. I couldn’t stop crying and then as we pulled away, Tessa started bawling and crying for her dad. I think Bode was just scared by our horrendous crying that he started crying. I gave myself a good two blocks and then told myself to pull it together. Once I shut myself down, the kids stopped too. I have my moments when tears are close to the surface, but am pretty good at re-directing myself. I’ve always been good at closeting my true feelings. Ha!) Thank you all for supporting them and helping them. In speaking with Katelyn, she says all of you have been fantastic and has felt much love and kindness. Thanks.

Things have been going well and it is difficult to know where to start.  The flights were long and boring. Boarding my flight from DC to Dubai was a fiasco. Not on my end, but some nationalities feel that they should be able to sit anywhere.  I felt bad for the flight attendants b/c they had to get everyone in their seat. So after an hour of musical chairs with the rest of the passengers, I reached my highest score on Bejeweled Speed (iPhone game). A lot accomplished to say the least. My 1st seat companion (who was in the wrong seat and is an American air traffic controller headed to Kabul) reeked of alcohol, and told me no less than 100 times that he had a hot wife.  Curious to see a pic (no I didn't ask, he offered), my suspicions were confirmed that she definitely was a mail order bride from Thailand. How you did I know, he told me. Well since he was in the wrong seat, I had a new seat neighbor Ross. He is a professional polo player for the Princess of UAE's team and takes care of the horses in the off-season.  Super nice guy and enjoyed speaking with him and he gave me some good insights on Dubai and offered to show me around a little.

When I landed, things went smooth. Quite honestly, I was amazed how international Dubai is. I heard almost every language imaginable on the plane, in the airport and everywhere I have been. I know it would have a few nationalities, but this has blown me away. Dubai is a lot more liberal than Saudi will be. Women definitely have more freedoms here. Despite their freedoms, I was still quite intimidated by the way of life.  Muslim men wear, the traditional white robe and Muslim women wore black, foreigners wore whatever they pleased. Seeing the women in their black abayas etc... was probably the most intimidating surprise. Yes I had seen it before, but still, I was taken back that almost every women was wearing one. It gave me, the American, a sense how these women feel when they are in the US, however for me there are tons of Ex-pat from everywhere.

Everything in customs went flawless, expect for the Indian women who was yelling at me because I stepped (yes I took 1 step out of line to pick up a dropped piece of paper).  It is a good thing I did not understand a word she said, because she lost it. Ross and I looked at each other and continued on our way and picked up my bags and started to walking towards the exit. Scott (GE contact and friend) was waiting for me and it was good to see a familiar face.  He knew just where to go and what to do. It was helpful.  Scott has had everything arranged for me, so checking into the hotel to going to the GE offices to get my computer and cell phone were done. I can't tell you how nice it has been having him here to help Katelyn and I navigate this. He has been an invaluable resource.

This evening, we headed over to the Dubai mall (largest mall I have ever seen). Name the store it is there, it was definitely unreal. The mall was packed. It is definitely true that shopping is an Arab's past time. The mall stays open until 1:00 am. We ate dinner and watched people skiing on the Ski Dubai slope, which Scott and talked about skiing soon. It is definitely no heli-skiing, but they have a bunch of things for kids too, sledding hill, luge, ski jumps with large air bag landings so you do not get hurt. It will be a fun place to take the kids.  It has been a good intro to my 1st day. Not reality of what I will be doing, but fun nonetheless.

Anyway, I am super tired, but just wanted to send a little note. Again I apologize for the informality and it being impersonal.  Thanks for all your support. Being here and Katelyn and the kids there, this adventure would truly be a nightmare for me if I didn't know she had a great support system. Thanks for everything. Love you all, Wade

UPDATE #2-June 2nd

The last couple of days have been almost a blur. I think the theme for the past couple of days and will be a generally theme for the entire adventure will is that I can look at this as a tragedy or a comedy and that will determine the experience that we will have. Let me explain further.  You almost can expect things to go wrong. Everything from ordering your meal to trying to enter your hotel room.  I hope not to sound cynical, but I am almost expecting things to work or there be a mistake so I am not disappointed.  It literally seems everything takes thorough explanation to have it done right. I do not blame the worker, they are a service staff and I am sure they have been given a very defined role and are forbidden to go outside of the established boundaries that they have been given.  It is something that I will have to get used to. For the most part people are really friendly and want to do the right thing. It was funny the other day I went to the gym and got on the tread mill and set it at my warm up pace, but I was still walking. So I switched treadmills 3x before I realized they were all wrong. I asked the gym attendant about it and he said that they were accurate. I commenced to tell him that the treadmill was reading that I was walking 8.5 minutes/mile and that was impossible. He told me it was accurate and it is possible to walk 1 mile in 8.5 minutes. Anyway, so I did set a personal best, I ran for 30 minutes and ran 5.6 miles, at least that is what the "accurate" treadmill said, so I will take it. Off the soapbox.

Well, between catching up on sleep and heading out of the hotel, time has flown by.  I have been lucky enough to Skype with Katelyn and the kids.  I miss them terribly, but using Skype makes it easier.  One I left Katelyn told me that I needed to eat well and try to get some exercise (harsh I know). (I just told him to promise me that he would take care of himself, seeing as how I wasn’t there to do it for him!) So I have been hitting the gym 1st thing in the morning. The gym is super nice and has everything that I would need to bring "sexy back" (I am currently not at peak fitness. If you need confirmation just look at the Katelyn's blog and see our Hawaii pics).  

Yesterday Scott took me into the office and we finished setting up the computer and got somewhat situated.  The office is a short 5 minute walk from the hotel.   After we went to lunch with another employee. He is from Lebanon and wanted to treat me to some real Middle Eastern food (Lebanese).  The food was good and I was astonished by the variations of hummus that were served.  The meal took almost 3 hours, put me in a coma and I wanted to sleep right there, but we were close to the Burj Khalifa (world's tallest building and was on the latest Mission Impossible) so we walked over and took a look. The walk over was crazy hot. Since I landed, I do not think I have stopped sweating. I am sweating in areas where I have never sweated before. My co-worker's girlfriend said it was 46 degrees C (115 F). Also, the humidity makes it even worse. Every building blasts their A/C, so as you walk in you feel like it is an arctic chill.  When you leave the building your glasses immediately fog up.  Luckily it goes away after a couple of minutes, but it is funny because I forget every time. I feel like such a novice. Anyway, the Burj was pretty cool and has a Vegas style water show that is set to music etc... I did not see it, but will later.  Of course there is a mall attached to the Burj and it has to be the largest mall I have ever been in. They have a huge aquarium and I am sure it has some record, otherwise it would have never been built. I think Dubai has beaten Texas for the quote "everything is bigger in _____". 

Scott had to travel back to Saudi so he left me at around 3:00pm.  I was still tired from my food coma so I took a little nap that lasted 4 hours. (Really?! Don’t tell me you are taking 4 hour naps!) AWESOME!

Today, I am going to hit the grocery store and iron some shirts etc for the big work week, I'll probably even lay out my first day outfit . 

Anyway, I have many more observations, but I will save those for the next soapbox. Hope all is well with you.

Talk you soon.

UPDATE #3-June 9th

Well I wrapped up my 1st week on the job.  It has gone pretty well and feel like I somewhat understand what the teams are doing (well I am guessing I understand, as all of the meetings have been on the phone with the teams on the ground across the region). I am finding that I am having a hard time understanding accents and have to keep asking people to repeat. After a couple of times, I just assume like I know what they said, instead of asking them to repeat them again.  I am surprised everyday how international GE  and my team is. It is pretty humbling how different everyone is and hearing their back grounds etc... For example today I have a meeting with our team financial manager, who is in Hungarian, but lives in Germany, but was in the Paris office for the day. Or my some of my team members, whom all come from different back grounds (Saudi, Lebanese, Indian, British, Pakistani etc...) They all have been super welcoming and supportive. What has been great, is that GE has really taken to technology and it allows everyone to stay connected and be able to perform as if they were in the office next to you. I hope I will be able to lead them as they all seem super competent and they all work at mach speed. Everything is at an accelerated pace and time lines and deadlines are short. I guess it will take some adjusting.  So from the work stand point so far so good. I spent most the week at a Middle East healthcare conference. My primary objective was to look for potential new business (partnering or client based) and to check out the competition.   I also met with my boss for the 1st time on Thursday (he was traveling throughout the region meeting with clients etc...) He seems like a good guy, intense, but good.

As for Dubai itself, things are good. I have gotten questions about what I eat, things to do etc... Honestly, I am sure there are some amazing restaurants, but I would not know, I have not had time to explore outside my 5 mile radius (beyond the malls of course.)  They have every type of food imaginable and the Emirati love name brand things, such as Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs and all fast food joints. I have been mainly either skipping dinner or hitting Subway on the way home (almost got a free 6" with my stamp card). This weekend I will explore some more and find more activities and things to do.  I have eaten Lebanese food a few times and like the flavors. I am headed out with another manager and his wife tonight (he is Italian from Milan).  He is taking me to what he considers, one of the best restaurants in Dubai. We'll see.  I am anxious to go to Trader Vic's restaurant. The first time I went was in London and they have one here in Dubai. Maybe I will wait for the Katelyn to join me for a late anniversary and we will go (kids in tow of course).

I am finding the people really friendly and want to help, which has been nice.  I know I complained about the lack of follow through earlier and I apologize about things going wrong consistently. That continues, but it doesn't bother me much anymore. I have just taken the attitude everyone is just trying their best, which is true.  I feel bad for most of the service population.  They often go ignored throughout they day. When I acknowledge them in the elevator or in the office, they are surprised and it has been interesting to watch them warm up to me at work and the hotel. (Wade is the BEST at acknowledging and expressing appreciation for those that often go ignored.)

I went to church yesterday. A guy that worked with Adam at Goldman works here in Dubai now and so he picked me up. The church reminded me being in Italy at church. They meet in a large Villa in a nice part of town.  If you ever visited us in St Louis, that was the size of the chapel.  People were great and welcoming and I had at least 3 dinner invites by the end of the day. I chose not to go to any of them as I wanted to get a presentation out to the Saudi teams before their work week started (Saudi is on a Sat-Wed work week and UAE is on a Sun-Thurs work week.) (The Muslin Sabbath is on Friday) Both wards here in Dubai are combining come July as the population dwindles as families return home to the states.  I was really happy to see that there were tons of kids Tessa and Bode's age. Granted we may not be here, but many said that Saudi has the same demographic with lots of kids.  There are 12 kids between the ages of 3 and 5 and there is a bunch of 1-2 year olds too.  It was good to hear that Saudi was much the same as Dubai in terms of church and the ability of to interact with others and the kids having social opportunities.

Visa update: I got my residency Visa here in UAE (that means the family can at least come here). It was a pretty involved process. I had to go get a blood test (they want to check for HIV) and an x-ray (check for TB). GE hires a guy to make it easy. He cuts in the front of lines and knows everyone at the clinic to speed up the process. He then takes the results to the UAE office to officially get the visa.  I will be now applying for my Saudi business visa, in which I can head in to Saudi. From there I can apply for a residency visa. There has been some debate how long that will take, but Katelyn and the kids will plan to come out mid August regardless, whether that will be in Dubai or Saudi.  We’ll see I guess and try to be patient.

I am attaching a few photos (sorry some are so bad. I am going to buy better camera):

1st- The church

2nd-  1st day of work

3rd-  Skype with Bode

I will try to take pics of more interesting things in the future.

Well I hope all is well. Take care.

(look how much he loves to look at his daddy)

 

UPDATE #4-June 14th

 

Good Morning,

Well the 2^nd week of work is in the books and it has been an interesting week at that.  Once again most of the team is out on projects or meeting with clients.  I will rarely be in the office once I get on the ground in Saudi. Most the team returns to the office every Wednesday (for Saudi) or Thursday (for Dubai) to get a lot of the administrative functions done and meet with the team.  So this week was pretty lonely in the office. There are a lot of people in the office per se, but they are in other divisions of GE or GE Healthcare.

I have been preparing a presentation and cost structure that we are going to present to the Minister of Health, his Excellency (yes we actually call him “Your Excellency” ).  I volunteered for it as most of the team seems like they are drowning in work, I am sure I will know the feeling soon enough.  Taking on the proposal has been helpful in understanding the business.  I hope it goes well. They want me to be there to present the proposal, but I do not think I will have my Saudi Visa in time.  I applied for it and of course it is a long process. It goes something like this: first I need to be invited to come to Saudi, then I have to get a letter of the invitation, then I have get another 10 passport photos, sign lots of documents saying I will be respectful and not drink in Saudi (hopefully Coke will not be a problem), then sign more documents and then send it to the Saudi Embassy here in Dubai. That is just for the business visa not the residency visa (the UAE residency visa came and it was easy comparatively.) Like I said before, they have a guy that knows the system and gets it all done for me. They believe it will come on Sunday or Monday, then I will head into Saudi. I am excited to get there because that is where my work is, but I know it will be a shock to my cultural system. Dubai has been easy to navigate and I really feel like it is a large US city with tons of expats.  Anyway, I will keep you posted on that front.

Other than that it has been a low key week, other than my super infected toe. For your sake, I will not add a picture of it, but it has been killing me. I cut my toe nails a little tight and now I have a toe the size of my big toe. (Let’s be honest, he had an ingrown toenail…) The first few days I tried to man up and just take it. I knew I had a problem when I woke up on Tuesday and could barely put any pressure on my foot, let alone a shoe.  I was able to limp my way to the pharmacy and get some antibiotics (it’s great here, no Rx needed) and some rubbing alcohol. I got to work and went into the bathroom and commenced to perform surgery on my toe.   All my time working with physican’s paid off and I felt almost like a doctor. Anyway, I finally dried my eyes from the tears caused from rubbing alcohol in a wound and continued to work with my shoes off all day. Yes, I was that co-worker who was strolling in the office with their shoe off, but it hurt like crazy putting my shoe back on.  Anyway as you can tell it was real exciting for me and just in case you were wondering it is feeling better.

Last night I got a call from another co-worker of mine (Aduljabbar Zhud), who started the same day as me. He work in the Healthcare division too, but in supply chain etc… Anyway, he is a Palestinian man with a Jordanian passport.  He is a super nice guy. He has been staying at the same hotel as me and we often each breakfast together. It has been rewarding getting to know him and his background. He is married with 2 children who have disabilities. (Side note, having a child with disabilities here is somewhat looked down up and there are not many resources for parents and families.) Anyway, he called me yesterday evening to see if I wanted to get out and go to the mall because he had to take something back to a store.  We had a great conversation and it was really nice hearing his point of view of American foreign policy and how some people view the American government (not Americans per se.)  I asked him a lot of questions and he was open in telling me his true feelings and allowed me to share my feelings and correct mis-conceptions he had. He shared with me his experiences when he has to cross the border from Jordan into Israel. It sounds like a horror story.  Check points, strip searches, etc… and getting on and off buses (4 different buses to get to  5 different check points. Palestinians cannot drive into Israel so they have to leave their cars at the 1^st check point then take buses through the following checks points and then a taxi to where they want to go in Israel.)
(Perhaps Wade will now understand why I have always been so sympathetic to my beloved Palestinians.)  Overall it was a rewarding experience and I am sure we will hang out again. He has been a good resource to the area (Dubai) and the region.

Other than that the week has gone by well and it has been great speaking with many of you.

Anyway, this week’s photos are from the Burj Khalifa (world’s tallest building). My co-worker Bernie, the Italian, lives there with his wife. I went out with them last Saturday night and took some pictures from the 128^th floor.

1- A look down from the 128^th floor to the mall on the left and houses on the right.

2- Next to the Burj, the desert comes pretty fast.

3-I drink this a lot (plus a diet coke or 2 or 3) (He obviously didn’t listen to me.)

Have a great week and weekend.

Wade

 

Wade heads into Saudi today. Something tells me the adventure is about to get a lot more adventurous. I wish so badly I was with him.