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!!!

Annnddd.... THIS is why I came to Dubai

If you're one of the 203483204823400328 people that have asked me, "umm.... why Dubai?" You probably heard a whole hodgepodge fill of answers.... everything ranging from I always envisioned myself doing something BIG during the year of the age of my favorite number. You know 27 y/o, he he :-) .... to wanting a change in life. Some may say a 3rd decade of life crisis, but whatever it is, I'm here! Honestly, one of the REAL reasons I came to Dubai is professional growth. In Chicago... or the States for that matter, the sportsmedicine field is TOTALLY oversaturated. It's a competitive market and to get involved in BIG events for a company is huge, and for an individual to participate, it's another cut throat process that takes years to get to. In my field, athletic trainers do most of the on-field stuff, you will rarely see a physical therapist running out if someone injured his knee, for example. We do more behind the scenes stuff, and again, to work for a professional team takes a LOT of work and connections. It's not even a matter of your skills, it's a combo of luck, connections, and being at the right place at the right time.

So here I am in Dubai, where sportsmedicine is completely UN-saturated and NOT involved. In fact, just being here almost 5 months, I can pretty much name all the doctors and PT clinics that are involved in sportsmedicine. In Chicago for example, after living there my whole life and working in the field, I could probably name 1%.

Anyhoo, to get to the point, my center, the Dubai Bone and Joint Center, got the rights to be the medical help for the Dubai 2012 Tennis Open! I don't know the technicalities, but it didn't seem to be that hard. So we had a couple of doctors and nurses to be the medical help, and then me and 2 of my colleagues were to help in the PT department. My colleagues and I had NO idea of what to expect... we went over some taping techniques together, and that was about it. I asked my good friend Willlllllllll, a semi-pro tennis player (hehe), some common tennis injuries, but after he replied, "pretty much everywhere," which did NOT narrow things down whatsoever, I just hoped that my education, experience, and skills would prevail. But really, tennis is one of those sports where injuries happen everywhere - shoulder, elbow, wrist, back, neck, hips, knees, ankle. What surprised me the most out of the experience was most of the injuries we saw were low back and feet, particularly toes. As my brief stint of playing tennis last summer has completely washed away, when I was actually closely watching it, I realized how much trunk and back rotation/extension there is, AND how much time is spent on the toes. Ah ha!

Anyway, back to the tournament.... basically the ATP (Association of Tennis Players.. or is it Professionals?) has their own PT's that they employee. Between them, at least 1 comes on tour with them. So basically, the tennis players are familiar and know these PT's. The one that came to Dubai has been working with them for 7 years. Our role was to be his back-up, basically, if he gets tide up, to help anyone that walks in. BUT, to keep in mind that these are professional players, are super particular, and to not take offense if they don't want to see us because they don't know us and don't want to risk anything. I was more than okay with that. So after spectating the woman's semi-finals and finals, it was the men's turn and then the real action began.

The week FLEW by and was probably the busiest week I've had yet in Dubai, overwhelming and exhausting, but yet FUN and AMAZING! Basically, the days that I was working, yes, there was some sitting around time and time that I was watching him work (which, in itself was great because he is an AMAZING therapist with really great hands-on skills), I really got to treat the players, eeek! The early days were the most busy because that's when you have all the qualification rounds, so some of it was stretching and sports massage, and others were "my back hurts," and that translates to "my back hurts. Fix it now... I have a game tonight." Which was a little different for me, BUT I managed to handle it. That's what made this experience so great was it really made me expand my critical thinking skills because in regular rehab you have all the time in the world to assess, examine, treat... re-assess, examine, treat. Here, and the PT Chris really emphasized this, it is speedy quick differential diagnosis, treat, and.... most often they come back after practicing or a game and will tell you if it worked or not. Lots of pressure, huh? So professionally, I learned some techniques from him, and also feel like I improved my manual skills. Later in the week when I got more comf there and the players recognized me, it seemed more smooth to work with them either by myself, or start, and then have Chris take over.

Personally, wow! To be in the same small treatment room having conversations with Roger Federer, Andy Murrey, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Juan Martin del Potro, Mardy Fish, Brdych (Czech), Bubka, Lacko, and much much more... words can't even describe it. At first it's like, la de la, these are normal people, then it's like "OMG! This is Roger Federer I'm talking to!" Who, by the way, is the most calm person I've ever met. He was in/out a lot of the clinic throughout the week and super super low key. I was working on his Swiss companion, and they were chit-chatting, and then the official comes in and is like "Roger! You're game is NOW! Let's GO!" And he was like "oh? Okay! Welp, I gotta play a game, see ya later!" And like la de la. It was soo funny. He's seems a little money oriented, but hey, to be "old" in his 30's continually ranked top in the world is something to speak for. Andy Murrey is a bit dull and dry, but I did hear him laugh a little when he was talking about the elevator going up and down the Burj Kalifa. It was also funny to be in the room listening to "locker room talk," i.e. talking politics of tennis, talking trash about the woman's tennis (wow! If anything I've learned, NO ONE likes the woman's tennis. Especially the ATP staff and players. Dang!), and of course typical guy stuff about woman. I also got to bond with a few up-and-coming players and it was fun just asking them about life on the road and life as a professional athlete. Most... okay, ALL, pretty much hate all the traveling you have to do, but love the game. I learned a bit about the "inside" world of tennis, i.e. how tournaments such as Dubai PAY these top athletes up to a MILLION USD to just SHOW UP! THEN, if they win, like Federer, he got an additional almost 1/2 a million for winning, 2nd place is $200,000, and so forth. Wow.

Here are some snaps from the week:

Roger Federer

Andy Murrey in action

Federer again! On a side note, he actually has an apartment here and LOVES Dubai, and Dubai loves him! This was his 5th time winning the tournament! 

Above is Tsonga from France... hi-lar. Quite funny to watch, I was sitting close to the serving area, and when he was on my side, he kept on yelling in French to his racket and... was quite a showman. Fun to watch! :-)

 Juan Martin del Potro.... from Argentina. I saw him a lot in the clinic, quite a good looking BIG guy (especially compared to the lean and thin ones like Novak). I had met this British couple, and the wife was obsessed with him so it was funny while he was being treated, I was sending her goofy texts about seeing him half-naked, etc. And also his trainer would come in and bring him food and then he wouldn't eat too much and leave it, and then Chris and I would finish it off, so she thought it was so funny we were technically sharing saliva.  Hhahaaha (or guess you had to be there?)

The PT Chris and our very own Dr. Marie, who is a pediatric neuro doctor. How she ended up on court, who knows? Even she said, "I had no idea what I was doing. I've never even touched an athlete before!" Fortunately, Juan Martin didn't need anything. Ahhhh... Dubai :-) 

Semi-finals. Federer vs. Juan Martin del Potro, great match! 

Myself with this funny British couple I met Day 1, we became BFF's throughout the tournament and they were super nice and hooked me up with some tickets too! She was a huge del Potro fan. 

My PT colleagues and I with Chris (the tall guy in the blue shirt!)

For the finals, I snuck into the VIP sitting area with my VIP badge. Got a great view of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.... who pretty much owns Dubai. He's the one in the green. 

The finals! Andy Murrey vs Roger Federer!

 Federer wins!

Federer with his cool ship-like trophy!

Celebration! 

And although, yes, this may be hard to believe, I was professional when the athletes got down to their underwear. I even stayed professional and didn't ask for any pictures (No, not in their underwear) or autographs. I really really had perfect opportunities, but felt weird... and again, was in a professional environment. My buddy, Novak Djokovic, on the other hand, had his own PT so I didn't see him in the PT clinic, BUT proceeded to stalk him fully. The 1st day I literally was just wandering around because there was a sandstorm and they were holding up the practices, I just saw him walking by, with only like 2 people with him. Now WHY was did I NOT have my camera with me and WHY was did my stupid phone NOT even have a photo icon on it? Almost died! Daaaaaaaaaaaamn it! The 2nd day he won his game and I followed him off this little spectator aisle where he signs autographs and takes pictures, and because I have this VIP ID badge, caught him after that and got some kinda close pictures. The 3rd day, I somehow made my way to this Players Dinner, and again, got in with my badge. Walked in... and there he was! Again, with no one around him. Thank gaaaawd the PT Chris was there, he knows him, and HE went up to him and said Hi and then I said in my broken Serbian, "can I have a picture with you?" and "I'm from Chicago!" He laughed and said okay and we took a picture.... then I realized that I had the flash turned off from the match I just had come from. D'oh!!! Noooo! So my .2 sec opportunity was there and he was gone. Oh well.. something is better than nothing! After that it was again some stalking after his matches, but I was happy with at least the picture!

 (Semi finals above, where Novak LOST to Andy Murrey. Hmph). 

So my days were all day at the Tennis and/or working all day at my clinic, and then coming to the tennis to half and half watch the matches and stalk the tennis players in the PT clinic. Later in the week the work slowed down, and then had some late nights showing the PT Chris around Dubai. Phew! I was TOTALLY exhausted and never have watched so much tennis in my life! I literally went 9 days in a ROW, but that included some of woman's, most of the BIG men's game, semi's and finals. Darn it that Novak lost to Andy Murrey in the semi's! Quite the shock. Was it all the stalking I did? ha hah. It was super fun to watch, and although the weather is getting warmer here and my days are numbered, I am re-inspired to play "again." I just need to get back in shape first. Which, by the way, during all this transitioning and couchsurfing, I've fallen off the bandwagon, BUT will get back on when I move into my own place (another blog! Will be happening soon! :-) )

HOPEFULLY next year we will be involved again. Our feedback was that we were a bit shy and could be more forward in asking the players for help, BUT overall, he was pleased and it got better as the days went bay. Next year, IF we get this gig again, I hope too to be more confident AND to not be as shy and at least get some autographs or pictures! hehehe!

So YES! THIS is why I came to Dubai! NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER in 23982394329 years would I EVER... and mean EVER get this opportunity in the States! N-E-V-E-R!!!!!!!!!!! That makes ALL the 203482304823432048329433982349382 struggles I've had here to adjust sooo worth it!!! Yea!

The Act of Kindness

In our crazy world today, I won't say "rare," but it's not too common to have those 'acts of kindness' by people. Sometimes when you hear on TV or the radio someone doing a good deed, you think, "awww... that's so nice," when really, it should be normal thing. I always remember my travels to 3rd world countries when people without even shoes offering me a little treat, or food, when I was on a local bus or train. I remember thinking, "wow, there really are good people out there" and "that would never happen back home." :-) 

Well, here in Dubai, I've had the fortune of coming across few of them. Yes, this is a place that people really look after themselves, no doubt about that, BUT you can get lucky, as I have.

1st, it was the couple I stayed with for um.... not one, not two, but a little more than 3 months (not to mention 6 weeks in the spring of 2011). I can talk about their generosity and kindness all day.

Then comes Kay and family. It's actually kind of a funny story. When I came in mid-April of last year, I remember, it was a Wednesday, the 1st thing on my agenda was to send a package back home to the US for my good friends birthday a couple of weeks later. Note to any traveler: Going to the post office anywhere can give you a glimpse of life in that country. The post office is obviously run by the government, hence locals work there (in the case of Dubai, that says a lot! That's a topic for another day), and ... we'll you'll see:

So I grab a ticket, which by the way, ANYWHERE you go in Dubai, there is a ticket stand, wait my turn, put my stuff on the counter and say.... as I have in all countries around the world, "I need to send this to United States." The guy looks at me, and in slllloooooooow motion (people as I learned, generally move sloooowly here), grabs a form, tells me to fill it out. So I do. Then I have to wait in line again. I go to the same counter, and give him the filled out form. He looks at it, kinda shuffles some things around, and then says "ooohh! United States? We no send packages there!" And I said, "umm... I just told you I was sending a package to the States and it didn't seem to be a problem." And he, in his bad English, kinda mumbles something (and this is coming from being a mumbler myself), tells something to someone behind him, and another person joins, and they are all talking in Arabic about... who knows what (who's having what for dinner?). I'm just standing there and finally, after about 10 minutes, he says, "Sorry madam. We no send packages to the United States. Try the main post office." Uh oh... here we go. I tried to get out of him a 'why not' and he tried to say something about the politics that was going on that time (April 2011... when there was all this upheaval in the Middle East, Tunisia, Libya, etc), and basically the States were cracking down and were really restricting people from sending things and because it was a smaller post office, they didn't get involved in that. 

As it was Day 1 for me, I had no phone or anything. I put on my girly charm (haha), and ask him to use his phone to call a taxi, which he does. Then came the word that would be all to familiar with me later when I would come to move here, "coming." Ahhh... "coming" - when people say that, that doesn't mean they are coming. It doesn't even  mean they are on their way, it's just a phrase that means, "I heard what you had to say and this is the only way I can respond." Although I had just come back from traveling the world and have dealt with these kind of things, I figured "coming" meant 15-20 minutes? So I'm waiting... and waiting.... an hour passes. I go to the guy again and have them call the taxi again, "coming, madam. Coming." The 2nd hour passes. Nothing. I have him call that "main post office" and have them check to see not only make sure I can send it from there but also how late they were open, "yes yes, madam. Coming and it's open." Again, I found a lot in Asia, people RARELY say "no" or "I don't know." They will give an answer... just to give an answer. Middle East is no different. 

As you can imagine, I was getting a wee bit frustrated. Little did I come to realize, it was Thursday evening at this point, which is kinda like a Friday evening at home, and basically, it's impossible to get a taxi then. Impossible. But again, naive little me kept on waiting thinking, "they must be on their way." 

Then Kay walks in, you could just tell she was a pro. She knew how to talk to them, got what she had to get done... sees me, obviously looked frustrated, and says something like "how are things going?" And I gave her my little spheal how I wanted to send something to the States, they told me I couldn't, I'm trying to go to the main post office, it's my first day in Dubai, blah blah. 1st thing she says is "you will never find a taxi on a Thursday night" and 2nd, "are you sure it's open?" Well, luckily, during my 23049823043098 visits to the counter to ask him if he can call again and again the taxi service, I did know they were open, but for like another 1/2 an hour, which literally was like 3 hours after I got there. So she tells me to go with her because she has to catch a taxi as well, and she will help me. It was like an angel waltzed in. Phew! So like magic, we hail one and she ends up going with me because she could tell I was totally lost and confused. She not only goes with me to the main post office, we make the taxi wait for us, we run in, but she soothes me when we find out that anything over 8 ounces is NOT permitted to the States. At all. The ONLY way for a package to be sent is through a courier service. Ahh...... so you know there is a point when things are going wrong that you kinda don't care anymore? After literally spending practically the whole day at the post office when they could have told me this right away SHOULD have gotten me really upset, but I just didn't even care anymore.

What came out of all that is a friendship.

Kay had given me her phone number and I called her to thank her and after a week or so, she checked in on me, and invited me to this Easter party she hosts (she runs a daycare). So I went... at that time, I wasn't working and had nothing else to do, and we ended up hanging out and it was fun. Kay's almost my mom's age, and after a year of travel, it was nice to have a 'mother figure' around.

Fast forward almost a year now, Kay and I kept in touch, when I came back for "good", we went to a few dinners and enjoyed each other's company. Then she just happen to call me to check in during my week o desperation, when I would become homeless. She offered her place right away, she lives in a villa and has multiple bedrooms for her 3 sons. I was keeping it as a backup however, it ended up becoming my only option. 

So here I am now, with Kay and her family. They have treated me sooooo sooooo nicely! When I first arrived, they made a 'family' dinner to welcome me, they tidied up the room where I am staying with so much that it almost looked like it is a hotel. Then it was her helping staff - who are Sri Lankan - they have cooked traditional Sri Lankan meals. BTW, they asked me to look at my pictures from there (hehehe, they are in for a treat! I don't think they realize I have like 0234823048329 of them! hahah!), and it's just been have been soooo sooo nice!

And again, it reminds me that there are good people in the world today.

To Kay and family, and all the nice people out there who have helped me along the way, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!