Holiday Season in the UAE!

So I was here in the UAE over the holidays.  It was not your typical holiday season, but a lovely time nonetheless.  It started with a fabulous brunch at Yalumba with a few friends just before Christmas.  This was a ridiculous long day of drinking, eating and dancing, but really quite fun.  Luckily there aren't many photos of the dancing!

The Christmas Tree complete with star....exciting in this part of the world

The joke in my Christmas Cracker

Dave with several of his drinks....he arrived late so he needed to catch up!

Me and my Christmas Party Crown

I, of course, organised a bit of a Skype session with the family back in Minnesota.  They were suffering from the Polar Vortex, so I was glad I was in Dubai. 

Skype Christmas

Jonny got Dad some blue hair dye, so he dyed his sole patch...only temporarily though!

Dawn and I woke up on Christmas morning to some lovely real bacon sandwiches.  This is a traditional thing for Dawn so we had to make them.  We opened the chocolates and candy that Mom sent all the way from the US, exchanged gifts and watched A Christmas Story on DVD.  Then we headed out to the Rivington Grill for a lovely roast turkey lunch right next to the fountains.  Very nice day. 

Our little Christmas Tree in the apartment

Our Christmas Candy all over the coffee table

My bacon sandwich

The Burj on Christmas Day at the start of lunch

The Fountains later on

I even had to put on my warm socks that night...it was no polar vortex though!

We got ourselves a membership to the pool/gym etc at the Pullman Hotel, so now we just sit on the roof in a cabana in the sunshine when there is spare time.  

Ahh pool days...

We also made some fabulous plans for New Year's Eve.  We got a great deal to head to Yas Island.  There was all you could eat and drink, lots of dancing plus a lovely room at the Viceroy.  There is an obvious theme of how we entertain ourselves!  But it was amazing.  Nice to be out of Dubai as most of those events were astronomical!  

Balcony at Viceroy in daylight

Balcony at Viceroy after dark

Dawn and I in our party hats

Dave in his kilt

Dawn changes her party hat towards the end of the night

The lovely Skylite Lounge

We took a trip to the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi as well.  It is the biggest mosque in the world.  Very beautiful and unbelievable detail.  But we did have to wear appropriate clothes.  

The Mosque

And me in my abaya

Not long after New Year, Dawn got herself a new job and packed up. We had to have one last trip to the Irish Village to see her off.  Lots of people met us there.  It was a fun night.  We all miss you already Dawn!

They had Christmas Trees too....

And Guinness on tap of course!

I also had the chance to host the lovely Alycia Stanley not long after Dawn departed.  She was here for a whirlwind 24 hours on her way to Glasgow, but we filled it with lots of activities.  Lunch at Atmosphere at the Burj Khalifa, drinks and dinner near the fountains, breakfast at the amazing Jones the Grocer and even a last minute drop in to Ski Dubai.  Come back soon Stanley!

Here we are on her arrival

Then we cleaned up a bit for lunch

At night we watched the fountains....

Here is Stanley at Ski Dubai

Now the new gig is in full swing and I am back reunited with my lovely ex-flatmate Eloise Grace.  It has been a long while since we lived together, but it seems just like old times already.  Others are slowly trickling in.  Always nice to see some friendly faces.  Lots of new faces as well, but everyone is lovely.  I am sure the gig will be great fun.

Some photos just around our neighbourhood...

I also managed to enter myself into a very short portion of the Dubai Marathon.  It was just a start, but I can already tell I will be doing another run very soon.  It actually went too quickly, and I ran it in at least 1.5 minutes faster than I ever had before.  So I was very excited.  Am definitely keeping it up!  It was really good fun.

The start line

Me at the end...

As it is starting to get busier, I will probably have less time for fun things.  But Fridays are looking like they will usually be off, so who knows.  The ones of us here on the ground already have already won the music quiz at the Hard Rock Cafe so we will need some other challenging social outings for sure!  It is already getting warm again, and I am loving it.  I may get a few visitors through here in the next little bit.  You are all welcome!  

Hope all is well with everyone.  More to come I am sure....

Sxo