Oh, it's good to be back online! Moving house meant changing ISP which was a bit of a pain as it took time with the usual running around and paperwork required to get anything cancelled or set up here. Worth it though in my book, as I can now access flickr.com and Skype!
We're on the move again! Just within Dubai this time but into a place with a bit more room for a growing Gypsy family!
Having only lived in apartments during our married life together, we are extremely excited to be moving into a house. Or as they call it here, a 'villa'! Yes, very posh isn't it. Unfortunately though, it's more like a shoe box. Nonetheless, a villa it is, double-storey and with its own garden too!
I guess you could say it looks like we're settling down to family life.
The LCD display on my old Sony stereo has given way for the third time in about as many years. I picked up this little baby from Tokyo's 'Electronic City', Akihabara, during the summer holidays of my first year of university while on my travels in Japan. At the time, the model was pre-world release (test market for Japan only), and I still remember asking myself if I'd gone mad while I lugged the box along with my suitcase along the subways of Tokyo during the last leg of my trip.
...My old faithful...
...our new iPod and Jamo docking station...Gypsy Boy's brother left Dubai last Friday after a 2-week stay with us. The last six weeks or so have been an extremely busy one for us, with the festive season, entertaining visitors, and farewelling friends. During this time, we've had the foldable beds out in the lounge and some of the furniture rearranged to accommodate.
...aboard an abra...
...Farewell Joy & James...
...at Hatta...
...at Hatta Fort Hotel...Like other parts of the world, the Christmas season in Dubai seems to have arrived earlier this year. Christmas jingles are being played regularly on the radio and lots of shops and malls being decked out with the usual red, green and gold decorations. Shoppers also seem to be out in full force doing all their Christmas shopping.
Still, I'm finding it hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I guess it's the fact that when it comes down to it, Christmas is just an ordinary work day here, and holds not much more than commercial value. For Gypsy Boy and the rest of the workforce, there's no wind-down period either, if anything work seems to be building up!
Anyway, I thought I should at least make a bit of an effort especially seeing that we will have family arriving in 2 days who'll be staying to celebrate Christmas with us in Dubai.
...Our little X'mas Corner...While cooking dinner last night, I noticed the water pressure in the kitchen was unusually low. Slight panic hit when I remembered that the restaurant downstairs has been under renovation and doing some pretty heavy duty drilling of sorts. Thinking maybe they'd accidentally hit one of our water pipes, I did a quick check on the rest of the taps in the apartment to see if the water pressure problem also applied. It did.
There's really only one person to call when something like this happens, The Watchman. I believe every apartment building in Dubai has one of these guys who basically lives on site and looks after any security or other trivial issues that arise with the building or its tenants. Our Watchman seems nice enough, but I have huge troubles understanding him and probably him me - especially over the phone.
Nevertheless, a quick phone call to the watchman confirmed that there was a problem with the water and that DEWA (the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority) had been notified and were on their way to fix the problem.
I didn't realise the extent of the problem until Gypsy Boy arrived home from work and reported that the lifts weren't working and that the lift lobby on our floor is flooded with water pouring out of the ceiling! By this time, there was absolutely no water coming out of the taps but it was just as well that dinner was ready.
Funny how you never realise how important something is until it's gone. Even for the few hours we didn't have running water, it really was inconvenient trying to do the simple things like washing our hands, doing the dishes, having a shower and brushing our teeth! Thank goodness, water supply returned to normal around midnight and as I type, they are still working on fixing the lifts.
With the introduction of recycling in the early 1990's on Auckland's North Shore [where my family lived in NZ], the City Council ran huge campaigns educating its residents about landfills, how to recycle, and the benefits of going 'green'.
This made quite an impression on me and as a young pre-teen, I took the role of making sure no recylable bits ended up in the rubbish bin by fishing them out [well, whatever was at the top of the pile anyway] and reminding the main offenders in our household about recycling.
Since coming to Dubai, I have to say that recycling is not made as easy. Most people live in apartments and use the provided rubbish chutes on each floor. I've not seen a green bin since we've landed here outside anyone's property and definitely not in sight at apartment blocks.
I have to admit I got lazy and everything was going down the rubbish chute. I did feel guilty though knowing I was tossing out recyclable materials that would end up in some landfill. However, after a bit of research on the web, I have managed to find that there are a few large public recycle stations around the city.
Since then, I'm proud to say that I've been separating all my recyclables and taking them down to a recycle station each weekend where we have been going anyway to take Gypsy Dog for some long walks. I'd forgotten how much rubbish this cuts out - for us, at least two thirds!
Really, it's such a simple thing that everyone can do for the environment. So I encourage all of you to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
If you don't know how, find out more about recycling here.
We decided to subscribe to Showtime last weekend and the installation guys came to set it up a couple of days ago. It's actually the first time we've ever had pay TV in the Gypsy household, and we are lapping it up.
Ok. So an update on our rental situation. The one year lease on our apartment officially expires on the 6th of December this year. However, in a clause on our lease agreement, we have to give 3 months written notice if we do not wish to renew our lease upon expiry - a common phenomenon here.
So 10 days ago, I decided to ring the landlord's office [who by the way owns all the apartments in our block, plus some other blocks, plus a real estate agency, plus...ok I think you get the picture], keen to find out what the rent is for the new year and was informed by them that the renewal letters have been sent out and should arrive within 2 days. Should I have any trouble they said to see the building manager [over here better known as 'The Watchman'].
Well, the much awaited letter finally arrived yesterday evening - the 12th of September. Interestingly enough the letter is dated 6 days earlier, coinciding with exactly 3 months before the expiration of our lease here. Hmm... To top it off, a boxed paragraph at the bottom stating that tenants are reminded they have to give 3 months notice as per clause 123 in the lease agreement.
Now how does that work?
In the weekend, Gypsy Boy and I decided to check out some of the new buildings in our neighbourhood. There's a lot of construction in this developing area and we've noticed some very swanky, new apartment blocks coming up.
As the lease on the apartment we are renting is coming up for renewal in December, I thought it would be a good idea to check out what is available in the market. Rents have been crazy over the last year, but given that there are now so many new apartments almost ready to be released in the rental market, one would think that there'd be some sort of glut prompting market forces to bring down rents in Dubai.
Well, this is clearly not the case. Not yet anyway. One of the new apartment blocks nearby, is a pretty terracotta building with Parisian style balconies finished with ornate wrought iron railings. Inside, the apartments were spacious, light and really would've met all our needs and more. What is interesting is, 2 weeks ago a friend had enquired and found out any 2 bedroom in this same building was going for 100,000 dirhams per year. Now, they are asking for 115,000 dirhams!
Such is the current rental situation here. To put things into perspective, 115,000 dirhams a year works out to be approximately 940NZD per week - in rent! We're talking no sea views, no views at all really. Good area, but still 15 kilometres to the CBD...
It will be interesting to see what the rent will be for the new year in our apartment. Apparently the renewal letter is already in the mail. Oh, the suspense!
Unpacking is taking so much more time than I'd envisaged. We also got lots more stuff than I remembered...
Anyway, unfortunately that is what's taking up most of my week so there probably won't be any terribly exciting news to blog about till after the weekend. Going to spend the day with my lovely friend from Northern Ireland on Thursday and on Friday, plan on going on a sponsored walk in support of
K9 Friends [a volunteer organisation rehabilitating and rehoming unwanted dogs].
Till then, I'll be battling with a sea of boxes, paper and bubble wrap.
Finally got round to chasing up on getting gas installed yesterday. Cooking with gas is cheap, quick, and gives you so much more control! I love it! Ahhh, the things that get me excited...
Spring Festival [aka the Lunar or Chinese New Year] is coming. It is traditional to have a spotlessly clean home filled with lots of delicious fruit and foods to welcome in the New Year.
Guess I'd better get cleaning! Ooh, and shopping!
