Hello, welcome to Matt and Katie's Blog! We originally started this for our friends and families, and to help acclimate to the desert heat. It's taken on a life of its own, and we're now using it to share the best of what we see, point out our mistakes, and, with any luck, help others around us THRIVE. Enjoy!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Atlantis - The Lost Island of Dubai Is Found
Of note, the intelligentsia at Atlantis decided to "rescue" a juvenile whale shark off the coast of Dubai two weeks ago, and it's here in the aquarium. Apparently, the water temp and salinity of the gulf were too much, and the biologists decided it was better off in a tank. I'm not sure that was the best call, but then again, I'd like to see you stand up to a 12 foot, 3 ton fish interested in the round-the-clock feeding.
Hopefully, we'll get to explore it more soon, but here are the are latest photos for the world's newest resort:
Katie, could you pass the Grey Poupon?
We have a new starlet in the house - at least according to the National, the UAE's daily newspaper. A couple of weeks ago, Katie auditioned for a part in an Indie movire called "Expats", a view into the expatriate world of Dubai. Nevermind the shear relevance of Katie playing an expat in Dubai - this a movie that exposes all of the issues of Western families that deal with the personal and professional world of the Arabian peninsula.
During the audition, Katie was written up in the Dubai newspaper with the director of the film. Without further adieu, the rest of article is here:
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080907/ART/500915379/1007
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Study Hall
Monday, September 22, 2008
Never Too Old for Mommy!
Running into cousin Jim at the Mall of the Emirates! Dinner at Restaurant Nineteen at the Emirates Golf Club
Mom's trying the shisha!
And riding a camel!
Tea time at the Burj al Arab Sky View Bar
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
At the End of the World
While flying to the US from Dubai earlier this week, my flight path took me in over Norway, the artic circle and Greenland. Norway was just a study in lush green vegetation, and the article circle, well, blue. But I snapped this picture of Greenland, which is supposed to be an ironic icy wasteland:
If you look closely, you'll not only see three glaciers receding and spilling into what is now a melting river. You'll also see how much water those glaciers actually hold. That glacier on the left is over 4000 ft high - you see the cliff at the edge breaking off right in front of us.
This caught my interest because of something that I caught in the 5 minutes of an Inconvenient Truth that I've watched.
30 Years ago, everything blue in the top picture was a mile-deep sheet of ice, and you wouldn't even know there were mountains there.
An ice cube on your counter will melt in 5 minutes or so. Apparently, at the rate we're going, an ice cube a mile deep and two miles wide doesn't take much longer.So, to everyone out there who thinks that this problem will take forever to materialize, and "how can so much fresh water melt and raise the oceans?", we're all completely wrong.
Sister, Sister
Just a Typical Day in Dubai
It all started when I was running late for one of my meetings. The area I work in, Garhoud, is notorious for it horrific parking situation. Every morning I battle to find a space and when you do find a space everyone parks one another in. The only remedy to this problem is that people leave their business cards on the windshield and you are expected to call them if you need them to move their car.
Today, I was able to find a spot but to my dismay, when I went to retrieve my car, there was a car parking me in but, the car was still running with no driver to be found. I walked around the car and peered in the tinted windows but couldn't see anything. After two minutes of waiting and the frustration of being late for my meeting growing, I decided I needed to take action. I jumped in the driver's seat to reverse the car enough so that I could have room to pull out.
As I the throw the car into reverse and look over my shoulder… I scream. Not just any scream...it was the kind of scream that you hear in a horror movie.
A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
On Shaky Ground!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Ramadan Kareem! Our First Iftar Dinner.
Friday, September 5, 2008
It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane, it’s Super Matt!
This set the stage for the soccer competition which quickly got off to a good start with a near miss shot on goal by Matt. The ball bounced back to him and when he hooked it back with his foot towards the goal, he managed to miss the goal but score a perfect bank shot on the basketball net overhead, the crowd just went wild! After hooking a few more in the goal with that tricky left foot, the game was won! People were rushing up to Matt high-fiving, cheering his name, patting him on the back. Who knew I was with the Tatweer David Beckham? It was time for the final sport, and we wondered if Matt could continue his winning steak through the next competition, we looked to the board and saw that next up was….basketball. We decided that it was indeed, time to go home!