How to wear shorts in November.

What's new?

We went away for a few days to beautiful Fujeirah for the Eid holidays last week. Gorgeous beach, loads of sun, mountains and endless amount of fun. But let me tell you folks - outside of Dubai, the other emirates in the UAE are not so welcoming to shorts and tank tops - atleast not outside of the resorts. I wish I could understand the words people were muttering under their breath (and i'm sure out loud as well) when I walked into a grocery store in Fujeirah with my cutest pair of yellow shorts and a v-neck tee. I imagine they were saying "wow, nice legs" or "whoa, that girl has gorgeous hair" or maybe even "i love those shorts on her - wonder where she got them" or "the colours yellow and salmon are surprisingly a great combo" 
.. yea, i'll keep dreaming. 
Women in their traditional garb were literally covering their children's eyes and men stopped mid-sentence to stare. I have never been more uncomfortable in my life! This is officially the moment I realized I live in a conservative Muslim country. Hope y'all enjoyed the show Fujeirah.

Other than the events that week, we got a new TV and like all customer service in Dubai - this was no different.I can't, I'm over it now...it was from SharafDG #justsayin

The christmas tree is up and the carols are on loop, but we're still decorating

Time's flying right now- can't believe November is almost done! Nothing really significant has happened but I have a lot to look forward to...

The next two weekends are jam packed with Rugby Sevens, Akon and Creamfields and CHRISTMAS! Stay tuned folks.

Enjoy the rest of my bloggity blog for the next little while. xoxo

How to glitter.

Today, I sold five of my paintings to raise funds for the church and also volunteered to do some face painting for the kids at the festival. Simple enough, right?

Things I Learnt today

1) Do not assume that 4 year olds are potty trained. They can and will pee on ur leg.
2) Glitter adheres to pee especially when a fan blows it up into ur skirt
4) Therefore, it is possible to have glitter on ur britney ...at church.
5) Bossy little girls demand extravagant designs repeatedly
6) 100% humidity at about 32 degrees celsius is "good weather"
7) Buying gold and diamonds at a Dubai church's auction is pretty much mandatory. (wwjd?)
8) Wearing anything less than 2 percent of your body weight in gold is abnormal.
9) My brother's pretty confident that Jesus parted the Red Sea and walked on it.
10) You can befriend a fat baby by flashing ur wallet at her ....and then return her when your done.

That being said, I had a fun day. The food was awesome and the people were hilarious!

Anyways, here are some pics from this week! unfortunately no pics of all the gold and diamonds...

little orphan cat staring at the fish at a local fresh food market

They actually fed the cat fish heads. Happy kitty?

The world taunting me. I got this little "feel good tip" on the other end of my teabag three times so far.

Painting for church

Lilies!

Church stuff

Honey Noodles with ice cream. Just say "NO" kids...

How to get licensed.

I remember getting my license in Canada. You get a token, you wait in line, you get an instructor, you pass the test, you give them ur SIN card (for lack of a better ID) and pose for a drowsy looking photo while getting your eyes checked. To assume that this would be a normal process in most countries is really far fetched. And I learnt it the hard way....

Day 1
7am - knock knock "WAKE UP CHINKY"
- "Dad, why can't I just take a cab there later on?"
- Because you won't be taken seriously. and you need a shitload of documents.
- "I'm awake"

So we go to the RTA - (Road and Transport Authority), to get my Canadian license transferred to a valid UAE license. I was pretty excited, not gonna lie. We strut over to the "help desk" only to find a drowsy looking guy who legitimately seemed disturbed to see people in front of him.

- "Hi, I have a Canadian driver's license and need to get a UAE license"
- "Fill out this form"
- Required on this form are

1.  2 passport sized photos
2.  copy of ur passport with visa page
3.  current driver's license
4.  an eye test
5.  letter from your sponsor.
    

Jeezus - would you like an arm with that!? But it doesn't end there, we knew that we would have to get a letter from the Canadian consulate as well. So just to clarify:

"Do we need a letter from the Canadian consulate?""YES. and also your [my dad's] passport and visa copy"
"Thanks genius"

9am at this point ; I was expecting to be home and back in bed. Instead, my Dad and I are cruising down Sheikh Zayed Rd (the 401 of dubai) jamming to Chaka Khan's "I'm every woman" on the radio. Yes, we are on our way to get a letter from Canada to say my license is legit.

"Get off in front of UNB and go behind Bur Juman"
"Dad, you're actually speaking code to me right now"
"Just get off here and go towards the Canadian flag"
"Got it"

7th floor is Canada- literally. I get there and it's red and white and glorious everywhere with poppies in front of every counter. Ok, there were only 2 counters. But it felt like home! (Except for the part where they confiscated my phone and made me walk through a metal detector)

"Hi, I'm here to get a letter to validate my driver's license"

"No problem, come back in the afternoon between 12 and 2, we will have it ready for u"
"Um, I have an appointment at 1, is it possible I can get it any earlier?" (Lies, I just like to challenge authority)
"Yes, it's not too busy, you can wait a half hour and get it"

Great! I needed a break from my blackberry anyways - I'm sure I can sit here in solitude and pretend i'm in Ontario for a while.

15 minutes later: "Hi, ms. Merwin? Your papers are ready" - "That'll be 60 dirhams"I handed them over a 100 dirham bill which was immediately declined "I have no change, however, you can go to the supermarket downstairs and get change"

How to keep busy. Sort of.

It's been 2 weeks since I last posted and I feel like I've drifted off a little bit from the blogosphere already! I am determined to keep this going. So, this is what I've been upto ....

• Trying to get a blackberry to work. I don't want to make this a whiney blog but OMG, DU get your effing act together and get me my BBM already!!!  
• I sincerely take back everything I said about Rogers - I was wrong, DU has the absolute worst customer service I have ever experienced
• I give up.
• WWJD?
• Trying to get rid of my old phone with Rogers
• Disaster, that is all.
• Get my driver's license issues sorted out
• Canada lost my permanent license in the mail. Lovely!
• Investigating a certain "lapdance" situation. (Those who need to know already know - but Sharyn, you need to hear this lol) 
• Watching a thousand hours of Gossip Girl
• Seriously missing Halloween and all the drunkenness and wigs and glitter that it brings.
• Deciding whether my Dad should move to Qatar - this story isn't even ready for the blogosphere.
• Working out 
• the benefits of a gym & pool being a flight of stairs away are endless!
• unfortunately, KFC, "Chicken Tikka Inn", Subway, "Just Falafel", "Arz Lebenon" and a handy little Gelato shop are also like 2 minutes away.
• Sunning
• I never understood why dark skinned people can't love the sun; I love my perma-tan =)
• Don't worry, I've been slathering on sunblock - like 60 proof is hella necessary though
• Shopping
• Honestly, does forever 21 ever NOT have a sale?
• More importantly, somebody needs to explain to me why they have "winter" gear in stores. Scarves, sweaters, jackets, boots, etc are everywhere!
• I want to see someone rocking winter boots in this country - I promise I will blog about you and creep a pic of u. watch out.
• Sleeping
• All those hours of sleep I lost in my four years of undergrad have ALMOST been made up for.
• almost.

SO Really - nothing new happened in the past two weeks. Hopefully November will be a little bit more eventful and the blogs will get more interesting. Until then - enjoy my mindless blabber folks.

XOXO - I blame GossipGirl