First Weekend in Dubai (part one)

I had a very lazy Friday. We slept until we woke up (I still woke up around 7:30). I made coffee for Craig (he gave in during the week and purchased a french press and some Starbucks coffee) and tea for myself. And Craig fried an egg for me:

I spent my morning reading while Craig worked on his computer. The unfortunate part of the twelve hour time difference between here and Los Angeles is that he never actually stops working. (Not that he ever does, to be completely honest, but it's more obvious here.) By the time we've finished dinner, the L.A. office is waking up and sending email. In the evening, Craig tries to keep up with the new flood of email.  In the morning, he responds to the rest of the flood. Just when the L.A. office is closing down, he goes to work here. And the cycle repeats. Although Friday is the first day of our weekend, Craig had all of Thursday's email to respond to on Friday morning.

But he finished all of that in time to meet a friend for lunch. His friend has recently relocated from London to Abu Dhabi with his family. Abu Dhabi is about ninety minutes away. So they came up to meet us for lunch at the Dubai Mall (of course). We ate at Social House again, but we both ordered pizzas this time.

Craig ordered a "meat lovers" pizza. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but there are no pork products on this pizza. The sausage and "bacon" are made from beef.

I ordered a cheese and mushroom pizza, asking them to leave off the honey that was included in the menu description. Honey? On pizza? The sun-dried tomatoes were remarkably sweet, so maybe it would have worked, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it. I love honey, but I have no desire to have it on my pizza.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch and we got to see the fountain show again. It was interesting to hear about their adjustment to the UAE. It's got some unique quirks.

We did a little shopping at the mall before we came home. Craig and I are finding it hilarious how often we "need to go to the mall" here. We've never wanted or needed to go to a mall so much in our lives.

We had dinner at home. We had picked up things to make a charcuterie - sliced meats, several cheeses, and fresh bread. It was nice to relax in the apartment for a bit. Of course, Craig had to meet with the team twice - once for a team meeting before part of the team heads back to L.A. and once to make a call back to the L.A. office with the team (see above for how his work day never ends). But it was a nice start to the weekend.