The pictures below were taken during a cab ride. The picture doesn't give the Burj Khalifa much justice, but it is unbelievable how tall the building is. There is nothing around it that even compares to it, which makes it deceiving. However the buildings around it are not small at all, but it is tough to compare to a structure that stands 160 stories high or to explain it better, over 2 times taller than the empire state building. The other picture is of the Burj Al Arab, which is the world's only "7 star hotel." Must be nice to stay there, since every room has a jacuzzi along with the fleet of Rolle's Royces's which accomodate the guests around the town. I definately plan to explore both sites in more detail sometime in the future, I am only getting myself into trouble if Kait sees the hotel, might need to upgrade the living situation to even compare to the hotel...
More about the cab ride and teh destination since that was an experience in itself...
I am still in process of obtaining my employment visa, which will allow us to be residents of Dubai during our stay. Newcomers only have 30 days in country, which leaves us only 7 more days to take care of this. Long story short, Dubai rules and restrictions stink!! Once the overwhelming paper work is completed, the passport is sent to the Dubai government, 7-10 days later, the employment visa is in process, 7-10 days later, the visa is returned, from here a medical examination is set up, 7-10 days later, the employment visa receives its final stamps only adding to the money scam involved with expats living in Dubai. Once this is completed, then we have to follow the same process for Kait with the marriage license, only difference is that her visa does not need to go through the lenghly time process that mine took. If I hear 7-10 days one more time throughout this process, I am going to pull my hair out! I forgot I don't have much hair after my summer hair cut:)
Once I arrived at the hospital, it was definately a culture shock since it was not what any American would expect. The hospital was in a beautiful neighborhood and blended in like any other house. Once the gates opened, a rush of visitors swarmed the front desk in order to get the medical exam required for the visa. I would describe it as a free for all of a walk in clinic mixed with the DMV...
The front desk receptionist informed me that I needed a copy of my employment visa, which I only had the original. I asked if she made copies and she said that she was not able to and I also asked where I could get this done and she responded with "I don't know, but not here." This put further doubts in my mind that I would ever be reciving my final visa. I ventured to another receptionist and asked for help with obtaining a copy. She replied that it was against hospital policy and she was unable to do it. It was at this time I had to put on my puppy dog face and beg for help. She agreed to help and from here it was a top secret process. Once she came out from behind the front desk, she took my visa and hid it under her dress like it was an illegal operation. A few minutes later, she returned with a copy and I parted ways back to the original reception desk. From here, I was able to receive the necessary blood test and x-ray examination which is needed for the visa processing.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that I receive the visa quickly so that we can move on to finalizing Kait's. If not it looks like we will be taking a weekend trip out of Dubai, any suggestions where to?
That leads me to another topic, there is a pizza eating contest this Saturday at a local Italian restautant. The winner receives two round trip tickets to Italy, is this not fate or what? I have had 25 years of pizza training experience and might need to give it a whirl...
~Kyle
