TURKIYE TURKIYE!!! what a night

Not only did i watch the whole Soccer World Cup in Beirut, Lebanon two years ago, i now have to watch the EURO 2008, which takes place in Switzerland, home sweet home, in Dubai. When will i ever have the chance again to support our “NATI” IN switzerland and scream “HOPP SCHWIIZ” from the top of my lungs? Then again… its only soccer.

I went out to my favourite bar here in Dubai, called Barasti in Dubai Marina, a bar right at the beach packed with EXPATS, with my German friends to see the game Germany against Turkey. I was totally surprised that the Turks outnumberd the Germans by war. I had no idea that there were so many of them here. But thats Dubai, simply everybody is here.
The Turks not only outnumbered the Germans they drowned them out as well. TURKIYE TURKIYE…. Screaming, jumping, dancing… My friends were the only ones trying to keep up with them. But what two little voices do against a whole choir?!
Only when the Germany made their first goal you suddenly noticed that there actually were some more German fans after all.

For you to imagine the whole scenery. We all sat on the grass outside the restaurant infront of the harbour with all the fancy yachts. Smoking shisha and having drinks.

Right when the game got to its climax we suddenly lost the direct connection to the game. DAMN. Then you saw people on the phone, jumping up and down, screaming and dancing. Confusion – did the Germans score, or the Turks? Oh who cares…
Thats Dubai – where you even get the end results from the live soccer coverage over the phone from home.

It was a fun night. As a neutral swiss i didnt care about the outgoing of the game anyways
But on Sunday i will cross my fingers for Spain. Sorry guys…

Interim Result

4 months have passed since i started my latest adventure, packed my suitcase again and moved to Dubai. So i figured it is about time for a little résumé.

Maybe for once i dont start with my job right away but with my apartment. Right now i feel like im living in a refugee camp. Not only has some guy been sleeping in the hallway on a spare bed – so right when you come out of your room – hung over from too much partying the last night – you fall over him – this morning another guy was sleeping on the couch in the kitchen.
For those of you who dont know – im already living with 7 other poeple in this flat. Right now we are 12!!!! I have no idea how many more are coming… But it is definitely NOT relaxing. Not to mention the clash of cultures when French, German, Pakistanis, Canadians and French people are living together.
Unfortunatley is it still the only accommodation we can afford. One the of the only other options is International City, which is a huge complex in the middle of the desert, planned for some 60.000 people to live there. As located in the middle of nowhere you of course need a car to drive into Dubai. Another cost factor not to be underestimated. Ignoring the madness of Dubai traffic – a story of its own.

In terms of my job it is just not getting better.
As most of you already know i still havent started my theses yet. Two weeks ago i wrote an email to my boss explaining my problem to my boss. Due to either his lack of interest or his emmense travel agenda i havent gotten any response so far.
When it comes to the job itself i either don’t have anything to do at all or im helping out the others with their job. And it’s questionable if it will ever change.
Furthermore some power games are played in the background. Weird enough for an office of 7 people. There are attempts to play me off against my collegue and the other way round. At least that is the feeling I have so far.
So all in all its neither the job, nor the payment nor the environment I feel comfortable in.
Plus I seriously have to focus on finishing my thesis so I finally have my university degree.

So be prepared for me to come back home. Somehow I’ve started to say goodbye to Dubai, to my latest adventure. At least for the moment.

Camping at the beach

or the most chaotic camping trip…

On a normal boring hot Friday afternoon i was sitting on the balcony with Ryan, my Canadian flatmate and enjoying the peaceful quiet afternoon. He had to go and make a visa run (visa renewal by crossing the border to Oman) the next day and suddenly came up with the idea of how nice it would be to spend the night at the beach and make the visa run the next morning before returning to Dubai instead of making the whole trip on one day. And off we were to the next Carrefour (a french international hypermarket where you can just buy everything) to buy a tent, a candle and a torch. Back home we packed the car as fast as possible and headed towards Fujeira. At least that was the plan. Unfortunatley after one hour we hardly were out of Dubai. We underestimated the traffic on a Friday evening. After two hours of traffic jam we still were nowhwere and it was getting dark and it was getting hard to read the signs. At some points there were no signs anymore at all. Too bad when every intersection consits of a huge roundabout with 7 exits. Well streight always seemed to be a good option – at least until the paved road ended and we were suddenly driving offroad. We were driving in a Toyota Yaris by the way – so not the best car to make offroad adventures.
After hours of driving around blindly we finally found ourselves at the sea. YES at least now we knew where we were, although it wasnt the right direction. Flexibel as we are we changed our plan and decided to head streight up to Ras al Kheima, find a place to camp somewhere there and cross the border there. So far so good. We managed to find the raods until the border, the only problem we had: There was no beach ANYWHERE. When we reached the border is was like midnight and the border was deserted. As my passport was still with the immigration office i couldnt cross the border with Ryan, and he didnt want to leave me standing there alone in nowheresland. So no visa run for the day. But where to sleep and what to do? We decided to go back to the original plan and headed back to Fujeira anyways where Ryan knew a beach to camp.
Driving through the mountains at night with a full moon shining on us was amazing. Quite the experience. After 9 hours in the car and passing through 6 of the 7 Emirates we finally arrived at the beach.
The beach was like a 200 m wide beach, next to the road and therefor lit by the streetlights and right next to a Hotel. And we again forgot that it was a Friday – the whole beach was full of garbage. At least we had enough light to put up the tent. The glass is always half full.
At least till I found out that i forgot my swimmsuit back home. Nice…
Well exhausted as we were it wasnt a problem to fall asleep – until the sun was burning hot at like 6.30 am in the morning. Plus a whole group of Filiponos decided that this was the time to start a picknick at the beach. I have never heard a group of girls screaming like them. No way we could continue sleeping. Furthermore some Indians were walking around the beach cleaning up the Friday mess.
Totally tired and exhausted we decided that packing and heading back to Dubai to get some breakfast wouldbe our best option. On our way back we found – of course – a really nice beach off the road with palmtrees and no Filipinis. At least we didnt get lost on our way back. The shower and the bed have never been so comfortable.

The next trip can only get better!