Random Dubai

I can't think of another way to say it, but just wanted to write a little about ... just Random things in Dubai! Just to give a little preview of life here:

• The more I'm here, the more I feel I'm becoming.... how should I say? Un-politically correct? People can be quite racist and discriminatory... and it can rub on you when everyone is like that.  I think even after 6 months, I've become a lot more cynical than I have ever been. 
• BIG ideas, little follow-through. People have BIG ideas (lots of over-promising) BUT.. .little follow through. If you can imagine how simple things are fairly complicated, you can only imagine how BIG things might be! :-) Especially with the ever-changing logistics here, and of course there is an element of laziness (sorry to say, mostly from the local population, if they are involved).
• Which, speaking of, if one wanted to open up their own business, good luck. The logistics and red tape here is changing daily. The other thing is that a local MUST own 51% of your business. Yes, you read that correctly. And no joke, they don't have to do ANYTHING! Just sign a few papers that they are co-owners, and you get plenty of pocket change!
• Medicine. So at home it's not abnormal to get different opinions, and generally you may go to 1-2 different docs, and it's more or less in the same ballpark - diagnosis, interventions, etc. Here... it honestly is night and day difference and people go up to 4-6-8 different docs. Some of it is going till they find someone that will tell them what they want to hear, others it's just "why not?" because insurance pays usually pays for it. 
• Speaking of, insurance is generally pretty good here and I do see abuse from patients where they come because they can and "why not?" and other times it's just really random of things they cover and things they don't. 
• Activities - here you REALLY can find everything. They have every sport/activity you can think of. Which is great of course, BUT it's the $$ of it all that makes the difference.
• Life here is... expensive. They say "no taxes" but they have different ways of throwing in charges and fees. Sometimes it can be quite ridiculous. Having said that, it is REALLY hard to save because it's easy to get succumbed to the "comfy" life here. 
• This may sound funny, because at home it would be a BIG deal, but here most complexes have pools and gyms. At home it's such a luxury, but here it is super common. Which actually has been good for my line of work because generally swimming is recommended for rehabilitation and is not a far-fetched request to ask for. 
• Superficial and fake. That is the way many people describe Dubai. I can see why. Aesthetic wise, very much so, people wise - not so bad. Yes, there are people who of course will do anything in their power to show off, but it's not that bad. 
• Clean and neat - that's Dubai. When I went to Ras al Kheimah a couple of weekends ago, I literally almost exclaimed out loud that there were potholes. Potholes! In Dubai I have yet to see one! Ha! 
• Gas here... SUPER cheap (finally, something cheap!). I do have a small car, BUT to fill it all the way from empty is a whopping $20-$25. Yessssssss! 
• Dubai is fairly liberal.... at first I was fairly conservative, but now I walk around with tank-tops and shorts, and it's fine.
• I've mentioned it before, but it still take me by surprise how... comfy it is. You literally don't have to go anywhere, they have delivery for everything and also things like people to hand-wash your car when you park at the malls. It just goes on and on!
• The mean age here is 25-35, really, young, motivated, and ambitious people that have great work ethic. I feel at home (maybe I'm mistaken?) we work to live, here it is you live to work... people except loooong working hours and I rarely rarely hear complaining. 
• Having said the above, about the age group, believe it or not, there is a "party" scene here. Only thing is that it has to be affiliated with a hotel because that is the ONLY place you can serve alcohol, a hotel! Also, the only way you can buy alcohol is either at Duty Free at the airport when you arrive, or get an actual "Alcohol License" that you pay for and have a limit on how much you can buy a month. I find that pretty funny. And no, I am NOT part of that "party" crew and literally can count on one hand how many times I've had alcohol since I've been here! Gasp! 

Okay, those are my thoughts of the day. I'll try to write more as they come! :-) 

Top #25 Dubai Expat Lessons

Oops... it's actually 27, I realized I had some doubles, but eh, too much effort to go back and change them. :-) Soo... wanted to take this time to review the Life as an Expat Lessons that I started in my earlier blogs. I did this as a little reminder to myself and hopefully will give some tips to people coming to Dubai! After looking at it, I see I have some repeats, mostly to be patient! ha ha!

Top #25 Life as an Expat Lessons:

Lesson #1: Patience is your Friend

Lesson #2: Always, always be as polite as possible when dealing with locals here. I can't emphasize that enough. Whatever sounds the most cheesy and fluffy to you, that's how you communicate.

Lesson #3: Per other expats or people that have moved to new places: It takes 6 months to a year to get adjusted to your new life.

Lesson #4: If you want to show off, this is the place to do it.

Lesson #5: At all costs, network and make connections as much as you can. Here it can really get you places.

Lesson #6: Always make a good first impression.

Lesson #7: Arab nations are typical very disorganized, and Dubai is no exception. Be patient.

Lesson #7:  Take advantage of what's in front of you (i.e. me working in a medical hospital and getting free-bee consults and getting 'worked in' for medical needs like radiological imaging).
Lesson #8: If you can avoid it, NEVER have a local drive you! It is a death sentence waiting to happen. They are known to be horrible drivers.
Lesson #9: Any race, whatever distance, is pretty much referred to as a 'marathon' here.  Find out beforehand what the actual distance is (5K, 10K, actual marathon) if you plan on running a race!

Lesson #10: Things in Dubai are always changing, logistics, procedures, so always do your research!

Lesson #11: There is no such thing as "straightforward" here, if you need to get something done, expect to do it in about 5+ extra steps than what you are used to.
Lesson # 12: It's not what you know, it is WHO you know.

Lesson # 14: Be careful with overpromising. It is fairly common to that here... and nothing usually pans out. 

Lesson # 15: Dubai is all about Titles... and stamping. Pretty much everything has a VIP section so people can feel important, and pretty much every formal document has to have some kind of stamp on it.  They looooooooooooooove stamps. 

Lesson #16: Don't assume you will get information because you asked for it. You have to keep asking, otherwise you will NOT get any answers and whatever you asked for will not happen. 

Lesson #16: You cannot start a life in Dubai without your employment visa.

Lesson #17: Hardly anything in Dubai takes less than 3 tries.

Lesson #18: It is customary to tip for any service if you are a sheikh or uber rich local. 

Lesson #19: Take advantage of the central location to the world here in Dubai, and try and get out and see something new! 

Lesson # 20: DO NOT come to Dubai without a fair amount of money in your pocket! 

Lesson #21: One word: Downsize!

Lesson #22: It takes 6 months to a year to get used to living in a new environment.

Lesson #23: Once moving to Dubai, you have a VERY good possibility of getting the Dubai Stone - basically gaining 5-10 lbs. Ouch.

Lesson #24: Here in Dubai it is a bit of a workaholic atmosphere.... still try to ENJOY and take time for FUN!

Lesson #25: In a land of luxury, indulge!!! Take advantage of it and treat yourself every now and then!

Happy Birthday to ME!

When people think about hallmark bdays, it's usually becoming a teenager, turning 16, 18, 21, 30, and then you get into the decades. For me it was those plus 27 y/o (my GOLDEN bday) and 33 (I'll just spill out my age!). Why? Well, dad met my mom when he turned 33, and he's always said 33y/o was his lucky year (awwww) and every year for his birthday he would always make some kind of comment about being 33, and we would always (and still!) write that on his bday cards... even when he was turning 45, 50, 55, and so on. 

So the pressure was on when I was approaching 33 because I always had it in my mind something BIG would happen.... or I would make it happen. Unfortunately my older sister was of no help because her 33rd birthday came and went with NO excitement, so there was slight doubt what a fabulous year it would be... slight, but I wanted and needed something big to happen.  As marriage wasn't coming anytime soon, the next best thing was to make a LIFE change. It sounds silly, but really, when that 33rd birthday rolled around, I just knew I HAD to do something. Good thing was I was at the tail end of a full year of travel, so I was pretty much open to anything! 

So here is my last year, the infamous 33rd birthday year, in a nutshell:

-Celebrated my 33th at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, a 7-Star hotel. Spent the next 5-6 weeks networking, interviewing, and making job connections.

-Came back home with job opps, but nothing confirmed... until officially in July by my current company :-)

-Practically single handedly packed up/cleaned up the house where I've lived for the past 25+ years, including a lot of my family's stuff. This included major selling/donating/giving away stuff... I'm talking garage sales, consignment, Mom Mail/Craiglist, you name it. This was practically a full-time job and a very emotional one because I was literally packing up/selling my comfy beautiful life in my favorite childhood and adult home and town (I love you Oak Park!)

-Wrapped up the logistics of my life in Oak Park/Chicago... this included many small but important details like bank stuff, change of address, renewing drivers license, etc etc etc.

-Worked part-time to keep up my professional skills up and caught up with most, if not all, friends and family.

-Made a road trip out west with some close friends, a last hurrah!

-Learned to play tennis, did yoga/pilates, got back into swimming, kept up with running and ran a 1/2 marathon, and got into biking again (but I admit, more social biking).

-Hosted a BIG o goodbye party!

-Had a HUGE breakdown before I left.

-MOVED TO DUBAI!!!!! 

-Suffered and rehabbed myself with my first ever severe injury -> 2 herniated discs (darn all that moving and packing!)

-Got my life started here - bank accts, driving license, apt, bills... while working 50+ hours a week in a NEW country where I know literally a handful of people and had to figure out how to do all this stuff on my own.

-Finally, and this is a BIG one for me, kinda slowly am starting to learn how to COOK! Yes, I hope you are sitting down to hear that, especially for those that know me. :-) And no, I am not embarrassed or ashamed to say I've somehow avoided cooking for 33 years of my life! 

So .... yes, a pretty BIG year! What lies ahead for this 34th year (eek!) is yet to be seen. For now my goals are to get involved with a new activity/sport, network more with sportsmedicine stuff, travel to NEW places (I already have Uganda/Rwanda and Antarctica on the list!), and basically ENJOY life here! Now, I admit, my life is about 70-80% work, work, work, and the rest is.... ummm.... rest, rest, rest! :-) ha ha, like an old lady. But "halas" (as they say here) - enough waiting around, time for action!!

To start off my bday right, I am going to Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), another Emirate, one of the 7, of the U.A.E. for a little getaway weekend - I want to watch TV (I don't have one here! On purpose!), lounge, relax, pleasure read, get some SUN by the beach, get a massage, and just DETOX by NATURE! Supposedly there are some little mountains there (Hajar mountains). Although some may find it strange I am going by myself, but honestly, and I'm not complaining about this, but when your profession is listening to people complain all day and you almost literally and figuratively break your back for other people, I just really want to do something by myself and for myself! Doing what I want when I want and so be it!!!

Lesson #25: In a land of luxury, indulge!!! Take advantage of it and treat yourself every now and then!

So my next update will be one year older and wiser!!! :-)

6 months down, ??? to go

Da da dum, I didn't think I would make it, buuuuut here it is..... I'VE OFFICIALLY BEEN AN EXPAT FOR 6 MONTHS!!! And actually, I just realized that I 1st came to Dubai almost exactly a YEAR ago as a tourist. Little did I know at the time that I would be LIVING here... also makes me appreciate those lazy days where I was lounging at the beach/pool relaxing. Ahh... the good 'ol life! Now I'm a working girl!

I actually just skimmed my blog all the way from the beginning, and as I wanted to do this blog in the first place kind of like a little diary to my life here, it definitely is a trip down memory lane! The things that I was concerned about seems so forever ago!

To recap these last 6 months, nothing like categorizing!

Logistics:
As many people ... actually, almost ALL expats have told me, the logistics of getting settled here is somewhat of a nightmare. Things aren't clear, they take forever, and ... have I mentioned that nothing is clear or straightforward? So I would say the 1st 3 months were the most challenging primarily for that reason! Now that almost ALL things are settled, things are much much better and life is much .... easier :-)

Work:
Besides a new life experience, I came here to 'expand my horizon' with my practice, my skills, my education, and mostly interacting with people in my profession from all over the world. That's obviously something that doesn't happen overnight and that is something I need to work on and be more proactive with. I would like to take more time and interact with other clinics, physios, and that will take some time! The good thing is here in Dubai, I feel I finally have time to look up things that previously I was seemingly too busy to do. I have had to learn a lot about dealing with different cultures and backgrounds and that has been the biggest change with how I practice. At my clinic we probably see about 20%, if not less, local Arabs, and the rest are Expats/Westerners. Which is fortunate because Arabs are.... umm.... a little more challenging to work with (not always). Westerners can be in their own way, but it's just interesting. I have good interactions with the docs I am working with and I feel they are recognizing me more with my work. Of course like any work environment, it's not always a ray of sunshine, there is mismanagement and disorganization, but hey.... I did come here for a learning experience! :-) I DO feel I work a lot, 50+ hours a week and now it is more of WORK than work&life balance, but that will hopefully change. Which, speaking of... :

Life:
I realize I've stopped with my little Lessons I started with, but here is an important one:

Lesson #22: It takes 6 months to a year to get used to living in a new environment.

I think before I came I was looking at it almost as travel experiencing, like "I'll get there, I'll find my way and everything will be fine!" But UNLIKE traveling where you are always moving and when something sucks you can go, if you like it, you stay. HERE... I'm obviously 'stuck' here :-) I've really felt FINALLY these last couple of weeks that I've feel "settled." As I've gone on and on about, finding a place to live and be on my own was HUGE, again, maybe a lot more than I thought.

On another note with my Life here.... I've cleaned up my 'bad' eating and darn it, I was a victim of the Dubai Stone,

Lesson #23: Once moving to Dubai, you have a VERY good possibility of getting the Dubai Stone - basically gaining 5-10 lbs. Ouch.

Why is that? The culture of the people is to eat late... and a lot. There are a TON of brunches, buffets... .and opportunities for excessive eating. At home in the States I feel it's very in and out, you come, sit, order, and you're out in an hour or so. Here.... dinners take hours.. and more hours. It is more of the social experience, starting with several "mezzi" (little appetizers), then dinner... then shisha (the watered tobacco), then dessert, the more shisha, and.... eating lasts as long as the conversation, which again is hours. And have I mentioned again that meals and dinners typically start very late? :-) The other thing is, and I haven't done this yet, but here they have delivery for EVERYTHING (like Ace Hardware delivers for free, the pharmacy, obviously snack/food places), so it is very convenient to just eat, eat, and eat!

Anyway, I got rid of my stone, fortunately, but NOW.... and this is my goal for the next 6 months, I need to pick up my exercising (which, as most people know me, I'm usually fairly active) and also get more of a work/LIFE balance.... meeting people, going out, getting more involved in the many, many things Dubai has to offer, especially with fitness/exercise activities.

So here is a lesson (to myself):

Lesson #24: Here in Dubai it is a bit of a workaholic atmosphere.... still try to ENJOY and take time for FUN!

Thanks to all my family and friends for supporting me through these tough 6 months in a new country! I'm lucky and fortunate to have you in my life!!!

6 months down, ???? to go!!

Some Home Lovin' in Dubai

Well, it took almost 6 months, but I just had my 1st official visitors. Not just ordinary visitors, MY PARENTS! They were tying in a medical trip to Serbia to visit me, so unfortunately, they ONLY had just 4 full-days to see me and Dubai. They also made a point to tell me NOT to over-schedule them (hehe), because they really REALLY wanted some R&R and chillax'n time. Noted.

So, knowing that my parents were coming, it was time to step up the ball game on... pretty much everything! As far as ME: 1. did that CLEAN diet (previous blog) to not be a balloon when they see me 2. Got my hair cut (hehe, yes, after almost 6 months!) 3. Starting dressing up a little more (this is more because I made this big stink at how nice people dress here, and my mom would have a heart attack if I wasn't one of 'those' people after I made such a big deal out of it! I needed to practice!).

The 2nd thing was the apt, which I totally cleaned up, got some last "big" furniture (dining table), and got made it more comfy.

The 4 days went by SUPER quick, as I predicted. And yes, it took all of about a night's sleep before my mom started a little nagging, he he, but it's all out of love. :-)

Here are some of my fave pictures from the weekend, yes some max'n and relax'n, but also some high stylin' life in Dubai!

Above and below: At the Burj Al Arab, one of the World's most luxurious hotels! 

Above and below: At Atmosphere Lounge, Burj Khalifa - the current World's Tallest Building!!! Above is a view from the 123rd floor!!!

Above and below: At a desert safari, and yes, my parents are the coolest people I know! They got such a kick out of both dressing up and riding a camel, it was just hilarious. :-) 

Above: The Serbian family friends that hosted me, my parents, a doctor that works for my clinic that invited himself to join us, and ME!

And finally.... this is AFTER their trip, a nice messy apartment to clean up and totally exhausted! ;-)

All and all, it was waaay to short and I feel I showed them too much of the "high" Dubai life, which my parent's impression is "this is Vegas on steroids" or "Vegas, Miami, and Cancun all in one." Next time I'll show them the more local side of Dubai. They were super sweet and brought me some home goods (big goods, like umm... a foam tempurpedic mattress, some linens, and much much more!) and of course, some home lovin'. 

I passed the test, so now... my doors are officially open for visitors! You are all welcome! 

CLEAN

I realize blogging about being an expat is not just about the technical side of life here, which I have been very detailed (hehe), but also the "other stuff."

Now that I am 5.5 months into my life here in Dubai, I finally am seeing the brighter side of life here... and time is FLYING... FLYING by. I feel I will blink and I will be back home and my time here will be over.

But in the meantime, here are my updates:

-Yes, I FINALLY FINALLY moved into my apt. I didn't realize what an impact it would have, BUT I feel sooooo much better! It's been a BIG time consuming process to furnish an apartment, but then again, I have time and am not trying to make it perfect right away. Just so it is presentable for my parents big arrival later this week (YEA!).

-Work has totally slowed down, which for me personally is good because I feel I have time to breathe and concentrate on other stuff, again, cleaning up and organizing my apt (hehe). For the organization, probably not so good, but eh, I'm salaried :-)
-I FINALLY took advantage of the amenities at my complex... went to the gym, lounged by the pool (which is big enough even for lap swimming! I hope to get to that soon!) and met a tenant that supposedly is going to introduce me to some beginning tennis players, so we'll see.
-The friend that I was staying with taught me how to cook a soup and stir-fry and how to make a lentil dish (dahl), soo.... that is a BIG change for me to be cooking!! Well, I should say "cooking" because it is like .2 dishes.

And finally.....

-CLEAN: What is CLEAN? Well, during one of my 2309482309428390423 emotional frenzies, I got on a kick about my diet. Yes, a big part of Dubai life is EATING and lots of it, but while I was staying with my friend, who happens to like buffet eating, we went to numerous buffets AND I took the liberty of eating the ample amount of chocolates, sweets, CHEESE (I looooove cheese) she had around the house. Worse thing is.... at night too. Wah wah. Needless to say, I was feeling TOTALLY blah and gross. My good friend Allison (thanks ABG!) told me about this 'detox' program called CLEAN, so I got this book (by Alexander Junger, M.D.), and yes, there are 2309842390423904293084 books out there about detoxes and healthy eating, but I just like the way he communicated (he's a cardiologist) and the program just makes sense. So I got spastic and was going to do the main 3-week program ASAP, but then calmed down and realized that it's best to follow his recommendations ... and that is to do a pre-clean and THEN do the 3-week "detox." So as many people know, eating is very much correlated with psychological and emotional well-being, so KNOWING that I was going to do this pre-detox, I found it okay to be a little Miss Piggy before I started.

So you might think the transition would be hard going from Little Miss Piggy to:
-NO dairy
-NO gluten, breads, carbs
-NO sweets
-NO alcoholic beverages
-NO coffee, caffeinated drinks, soft drinks. Pretty much just water.
-Having a 12-hour gap between your last meal and your first meal

What do you eat then right? Fruits, lots of veggies, fish... umm... more veggies. :-) Interestingly, no bananas, no tomatoes, no eggplant, peppers, oranges, grapes, strawberries, corn, pork beef, sausage, raw meats, soybean products (soy sauce), mayo, peanuts and peanut butter, fruit juices, ketchup, breath mints, blah blah blah.

I think it was so well needed, I just took to it and didn't have such a tough time transitioning. I thought the hardest part was going to be the sweets, but it was actually the dairy (again, have I mentioned that I loooooooooove cheese???). And I don't coffee or caffeinated drinks anyway, and here alcohol is not as accessible as it is at home so that hasn't  been an issue, so again, it was mostly the sweets and dairy (almond milk, coconut milk, and rice milk are okay though). So the 1st week I lost almost 3 lbs and the 2nd week I lost almost 3 lbs again. Now I know it sounds like a lot, but this is the weight I gained during these last few months (I think), so I am actually more or less back to my "normal" weight, BUT having no muscle mass says something too. And of course I am expecting to put at least a couple of them back, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

Yes, the weight loss is fine, BUT the BIGGEST difference I have seen is my face has TOTALLY cleared up and.... my mood and energy levels have been totally neutral and even. I just feel calm and relaxed. It made me think how much food affects are mental well-being (which the book talks about), and I feel my "bad eating" contributed to my 2304928340923894038 ups and downs. At home I eat relatively healthy so I guess I never really noticed this before. So this has all been an awakening to me. It has been easier to do this because I'm living on my own now so I don't have to go through the being rude not to accept food that is put in front of you think AND .... I am still in the process of meeting people so I don't have that influence of going out all the time to stuff yourself.

What next? Well, I just completed week 2. This week I am going to introduce a little bit of some 'normal' foods that I have been avoiding because my parents are coming for 5 days and there is NO way I am not going to enjoy Dubai eating life, which is a big part of life here and they will be experiencing it! Then after they leave, I will get back on it... relatively strict until later in the month (in preparation for my birthday! haha), then let loose over that weekend, and then basically start incorporating smart, healthy eating using the "include" foods and "exclude" foods the program suggests. I actually feel so good with this "pre-clean" I am not even sure I want to do the actual 3-week detox! It is basically a shake in the morning, a solid meal for lunch, and a soup in the evening. My other hesitation is I know nothing about cooking and even to make some of the recipes say for the lunch I am overwhelmed.

For more information about the program (I sound like an advert, right?): www.thecleanprogram.com.

Housing in Dubai 101

Almost exactly 5 months later, I can finally say.... da da dum, I MOVED INTO AN APARTMENT!!!

Is it unusual that it took so long? Yes. Why did it take so long? Even I don't know. Can it be done quickly? Yes (a recent patient did all of the below in 2 weeks. Hmph).

From my experience, here is my synopsis of the housing process in Dubai:

1. 1st off, you need LOTS... and I mean, LOTS, of patience.

2. The hunt - The important things to decide BEFORE you even start the hunt is yes, the obvious of price range and location, location, location, but also villa or apartment and furnished or unfurnished. As Dubai is extremely transient, there is plenty of both. As I am new to Dubai, I am still learning the city to know where is a "good" place to live, and where isn't. That took up some part of my lengthy delay in getting an apartment (and yes, pretty much all of these points will somehow lead to why I took so long to get an apt!).

3. The find - Dubai is quite interesting for real estate. There are Real Estate Agencies, but it's not nearly as organized, efficient, and professional as it is back at home. Most people here, including myself, look independently through websites like their version of Craigslist, it's called "Dubizzle.com" (seriously) and expatwoman.com. So YOU look up the apt, YOU call the number listed, then YOU meet the "realtor" at the apartment to see it, they pretty much just open the door, YOU look around and if you start to ask any questions, they are generally confused and don't know. If YOU decide to take it, that "realtor" usually gets 5% of the yearly rent and then you deal with the management for the contract, etc. Hmm... maybe I should change careers and become a realtor... I feel I can be pretty good at opening doors! Okay, I'm exaggerating (but not too much)....at home it seems like they DO a lot more.
[Behind the scenes: During the boom in Dubai  there was absolutely, and NO JOKE, NO control of the real estate industry. As you can imagine, the realtors got crazy greedy and out of control. However,  since the crash, not only have they toned a bit, but the gov't regulated obscene prices]. 
Anyhoo, yes, there are some out there that will actually look up housing for you, but it's more YOU pushing them then vice versa. The other thing is that now since the crash there are A LOT of vacancies. BUT they will make it sound like whatever you are wanting to rent is the hottest ticket in town and if you don't take it NOW, someone else will grab it. YES that does happen, really, things happen VERY quick here, but from my experience, they just use those old tricks to get the commission.

4. $$$$. So you confirmed the apartment. There IS a legal system of having and signing a contract, actually fairly straightforward. THEN comes the $$ part. 1st you need to pay (usually) a 5% deposit for the apt (this is off the yearly total). Then, as I just mentioned, 5% commission. So my "realtor," who opened the door for me, got 1/2 of that 5% and the other half went... I don't even know where but supposedly to the management for doing... nothing. Next, I think this is unique to Dubai, comes the "checks" part. So basically you have the yearly total of the apt, right? Instead of paying month by month, like most Western countries do, here you pay AHEAD 2-3-4 months. You will always hear the renter and the rentee talking about "how many checks?" And this means, how many months is paid ahead. So mine was 4 checks. So right then and there I paid for March, April, May. The catch is that when you sign the contract, you actually pre-write ALL the checks for that entire year and date it from the 1st of the 3 months, for example, and then they just cash it in on that date. So that March, April, May check was cashed in right away, then they have my other checks paid 3 months ahead dated June 1st, September 1st, December 1st, and they cash it in on that date. So because they have it and it is ready to go, ALWAYS make sure you have money in then because if you don't, it is BIG BIG trouble here (jail and deportation usually).

5. Electricity - The electricity, water, A/C is all run by DEWA. So once you get your official contract (after your check cleared), you bring that, your visa and employment visa (See? Nothing without that), to the government run DEWA office and set up your electricity. Then again, you put down a 1200dh deposit which should be returned to you when you leave. Now, I heard sooo many "bad" stories about DEWA messing things up and basically don't have electricity, but I actually had a very easy and straightforward experience, shockingly enough considering that it is run by locals. You have to do the usual like take a ticket and wait in lines, and then another ticket for another line, but all and all, for me it took like 15-20 minutes and they said it would be set up in 4 -24 hours and it actually was! Phew! But if you get them on a 'bad' or busy day, that process could take hours.

6. Internet - This is run by the local Du or Etisalat. Some places like my building make you chose one or the other. This again is government owned, and hence it is always unknown on how things will go, but again you bring your contract, passport copy and resident visa copy. After the ticket and line, then ticket and line, again, I got lucky, and maybe 30 minutes later got it set up. Here most all the packages are unlimited, but they do it by megabyte, so 1, 2, 6, 8, 16mb... so speed. I got the 8mb and it is $80USD a month, which I think is fairly comparable to home? I had a little run around with them coming to installing it, but again, it was relatively straightforward.

7. Technicalities - I happen to notice a few creepy crawlies, aka. small cockroaches, when I was first milling in/out of the apt. It HAS been unoccupied for awhile, so I figured it was a rare occurrence. Until pretty much every subsequent day following I noticed just a couple here and there. Well, unfortunately, with things like this, one or two could mean a whole family hiding somewhere. Soo.... that is the LAST thing I want to deal with and unfortunately my management doesn't pay for fumigation, but I am getting my apt fumigated. ALWAYS CHECK FOR THIS!!! Especially before moving in!!!

8. FURNITURE! So there is an easy way to do this and the hard way. I chose the hard way because I am being cheapy because I'm pretty sure I won't be here for too long and it doesn't make sense to me to invest in all these new things when I will be leaving and then have to deal with getting rid of it. So the "hard" way is basically buying things individually 2nd hand - garage sales, flea markets, and dubizzle and expatwoman (the websites for re-selling). It's time-consuming, tedious, and takes a lot of patience. BUT you can find great deals. The "easy" way is to go to IKEA (yes, they have one) and other furniture shops, pick your stuff out, and have them deliver it to you. This probably has been the biggest reason why I have been delayed in moving in, just doing the research, the back and forth to the person you are buying it from, arranging a moving truck, blah blah. As of this moment, I literally just got a bed and lamp, and this weekend am getting a sofa bed (for visitors!), desk and office chair, coffee table... and who knows what else will come up in the meantime?? :-) Things here happen very very quickly!!!

9. Have I mentioned patience?

10. That's it (I think!!)! Welcome to your new home!!!