Dubai DL 2

Rain, Rain, Rain and a Marathon

If the Middle East desert countries, the months of December – February are the ‘rainy’ months…and by that I mean it might rain a few days within that time period. It also the time of year where the weather is the most pleasant…highs in the 70’s and lows in the low 60’s. Usually, the humidity is low and the wind is blowing and it’s suprising how cool 70* actually feels! The week of January 13 proved to be quite strange. We had school on that Sunday (the 13th) and it was raining during part of the day. We got word that George W. had arrived in town and that on Monday, he would be touring around the city. It was decided that it was to be a ‘public holiday’ because several of the main roads were going to be closed for the day. The pictures that came out of that were incredible. They had Dubai looking like a ghost town! It continued to rain most of that day and into the next, but only harder. We had school on Tuesday but since many roads were flooding due to standing water and the traffic was worse than usual, it was decided that all schools should close the next two days! It pretty much stopped raining on Wednesday but the water on the roads had nowhere to go, so there was still a lot of flooding that was interrupting the flow of traffic. My school managed to have a ‘work’ day for teachers, so I only ended up having two days off that week. A cynic might say, “Dubai can build the tallest building in the world and create islands out of nothing in the middle of the gulf, but they don’t have a drainage system that can deal with a few days of heavy rain?” Hmmmmm. I won’t it b/c I’m no cynic!! I guess when it only rains about 10 days a year, you just have to put up with the fews days of flooding that you do have in the course of a year. But after the three days of hard rain, the aftermath was spectacular. The air was clean, free of dust, and the buildings got a good washing. For a few days, it was just spectacularly clear. The air was fresh, the temperatures cooler than normal, and the water of the gulf just sparkling in the sun. On that Friday the ‘richest marathon in the world’ took place in Dubai. The purse was over one million dollars with an extra million if a world record was broken. It began at 7 AM and a few of us went over to a friend’s apartment on the Beach Road to watch the runners go by. They passed us twice, both down to the turn around point of the marathon and then on their way back. At both passings, the leaders were on record pace. However, it was not to be in the end as the leader and current world record holder, Haille G. faded in the last 10 K and finished 27 seconds from his record and along with 1,000,000 less dollars in his pocket, although he did pick up $250,000 for his win. It’s really amazing how fast those guys run over the 26 miles. They were running a sub 4 minute mile the entire way! Average citizens also ran in the race, so it was fun cheering everyone on as they ran past our place on the street. I’ve never seen a live marathon before, but I’m here to tell you, there were no barriers what so ever between the spectators and the runners. I could have bumrushed one if I had wanted! I’m quite sure that I’ll never run a marathon but watching one does make you think you might want to consider it! Well, consider and then negate! Good day in Dubai for sure!!

Maid to order….

After surviving (barely) since August without a maid, I recently hired one through an agency. It’s illegal to do so otherwise, although some do. You run a risk though because if you are ripped off, you can’t very well go to the police since you are breaking the law yourself! Anyway, I arranged for a ‘houseboy’ from an agency that only employs Nepalis. He will come once a week and do everything!! The cost is much cheaper than the US but much more expensive that in Asia. The ½ day is four hours at around $9.00 an hour. Unfortunately, most of that money will go to the agency, but I’ll tip him pretty well since he’s a Nepali ‘homie.’ As is the case with most Asian workers, he is in Dubai working to make a lot more money than he would by remaining at home. (For those in the know, he is from a little village outside of Pokhara). If things work out well with him, perhaps I’ll see if he can make me some dal bhat some days!?

Coaching….

As I’ve stated before I’m coaching the varsity and JV boys tennis teams. The varsity tournament was hosted by ASD and despite having some pretty good players, we came in last! “FIF” if you know the Dave Chapelle skit! I was able to redeem myself with the JV boys as we went to a tournament in Alexandria, Egypt and finished in 1st! The girls also came in first. The boys celebrated with buzz haircuts from an Egyptian barbershop; the girls did not!! The buzzing was a pretty funny experience as no one in the shop spoke English, but since I can mime ‘buzz’ and I know the word for two and three, we were OK. Except one boy….he was the one who wanted the buzz the least, but he ended up getting the closest cut! Alexandria was a very nice city. It’s on the coast and the temps were only in the 70’s and 80’s with a nice refreashing breeze blowing! We stayed right in the heart of the city where the streets were narrow and shops shops lined them…sewing shopping, little stores, butcher shops, etc. It made me really long for Kathmandu and realize (again) what Dubai is not! Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great around 300 BC and there is tons of history to be discovered there. Too bad the tournament took up most of our time, but we did manage to see little bit. For those in the know, it’s is much different than Cairo. It’s much smaller and has a very European feel to it, both in attitude and architecture. It was a great trip, and it was so much fun (again) to be traveling the world with a group of students. The C-Fair party train rolls again!!