Oh Man, Oman...Time To Catch Up

Rich here...ghost writing for Jennifer again. Since Jennifer has been busy taxi driving the girls all over the city, I figured I would get you all caught up on some recent travels/activities of the Berner family. Now that we are through most of the craziness of the UAE trying to get things like working gas, electric, cable, internet, driver's licenses, residence visas, cars, etc., it's been nice to finally get out and explore a bit of the region. Below is a multi-media extravaganza :) from some of our trips...you can click on any of the pictures to see big versions. Sorry for the length of the post in advance, but there is much to catch up on.

Oman

Earlier Jennifer wrote about Eid, which is the celebration at the end of Ramadan where Muslims celebrate the time when they break their fast...similar to Christmas in that there are parties/meals with family and exchange of presents. Well we later learned that that was actually Eid ul-Fitr and there is another Eid called Eid ul-Adha, which is approximately 70 days later and is the time Muslims commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God also the time of the "Haj" or pilgrimage to Mecca. The good news for us is that we got 3 days off and decided to take the girls to Oman.

Well even though we are through most of the expatriate process, the UAE is never short of surprises, which was the case as we tried to cross the border to Oman and found we had to go back to the UAE border because we never got exit visas, which began about a 2 hour process of driving to different stations, talking to different people and getting different stories about the 6 things we had to do to actually cross the border. But after a crazy start it turned out to be a great trip. Below is some video from the hotel we stayed at.

The hotel is actually 3 hotels that are interconnected that make a small town in the side of a mountain (One for adults only, one focused on families with teens and one focused on families with young children). It was a great trip with tons of kids. The girls actually had 2 or 3 friends each their age they met and played with the whole time at the pool or the kids club. Some fun pictures below. Bottom left was a pre-dinner foot massage on the beach (Highly recommended).

Atlantis

After we got home from Oman we took the girls to the Atlantis water park, which is the largest water park in the Middle East and only a short drive up to the tip of the palm.

Emma's is finally at an age that she is willing to try most of the rides with dad...Lily has quickly taken over her spot as the petrified one.

Lily's B-day

Jennifer wrote about how much she liked Things Remembered before, not surprisingly she (I mean we) decided to have Lily's 4th birthday party there. It was a big hit with Lily and all the kids. A great business idea to take back to the states for you entrepreneurial minded folks out there.

Thanksgiving

We were really missing home on Thanksgiving but tried to make the most of it by continuing the 28th Annual Berner Turkey Bowl with another Family at a bowling alley in Dubai. While it was more advanced than any bowling alley I'd ever been to, i.e., bumper lanes automatically come up when it's the kids turn, I'd have to say I was very bummed as we were driving there when I realized it was not connected to a hotel and therefore would not have any alcohol...bowling without dinking???? Unheard of...but I did finally break 100. Some fun video from the kids play area below.

We had a Turkey dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, Dubai. Far from mom's stuffing, but actually pretty darn good meal.

Grand Opening of The Palm Jumeirah and Atlantis

Click on the picture below to see a video from CNN of the fireworks to celebrate the grand opening of Atlantis and the Palm Jumeirah. Jennifer and the girls got see this, but I unfortunately missed as I was in South Africa...so bummed as I heard this show was grander/more money spent than on the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Dubai Mall

The Dubai Mall, which is at the base of the Burj Dubai (World's tallest building) officially opened this month and took over the title of the World's Largest mall from Mall of the Emirates (Also local and home of Ski Dubai). Picture the Bellagio on steroids and add a professional size ice rink with a jumbo tron the size of one you'd see in soldiers field and the world's largest aquarium. The pictures below were taken from my cell phone from a tunnel through the aquarium that had tons of sharks swimming along the tunnel...very cool...the girls loved it.

Sheikh Mo Visits Cerner

I was lucky enough to meet His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the ruler of Dubai when he stopped by the Ministry of Health Booth to learn about the Ministry's plans to automate healthcare with Cerner.

RB...tucked away in the back getting bowled over by the entourage. There is so much media around this guy, you would think he was an A+ list movie start.

So Come on Out

Well this August gave us new meaning to the saying "It was so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk," but right now just about everyday is 80 degrees, no humidity and not a clound in the sky. So if you don't have vacation plans for 2009 come out and see the Berner's. We'd love to have you. Picutre from our balconing this week.

And some closing words from the girls:

Maasalaamah,

H.H. Sheikh Richard bin Richard Al Berner

South Africa & India - The Haves and The Have Nots

Assalaam Alaikum – Rich here ghost writing for Jennifer. Just had an interesting couple of trips to South Africa and India last month I thought you all might be interested in reading about/seeing as they are both very interesting places. The difference between the haves and the have nots in both cities is pretty unbelievable. Both have some very historic and luxurious parts of the city juxtaposed against some truly 3rd world/developing country poverty like I have never seen.

Let me start with South Africa…The picture to the left is taken from Table Mountain above Cape Town and over my right shoulder in the distance is Cape Point, which is essentially the place where the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean collide. The views were breathtaking and it was pretty amazing to stare out at the convergence of these two bodies of water and think about all the explorers trying to sail around this point.

Here is some video from the top of Table Mountain. I had to take a very steep/scary gondola up the side of this cliff to get to the top. Considering I got stalled with a group of about 20 going up and coming down, my level of confidence in the quality controls in South Africa weren’t exactly high.

Below are pictures of the beautiful scenery from downtown and some of the interesting animals I saw on my way out to a meeting at a hospital in the wine country. It was set against communities of shacks…literally whole towns of people living in shacks…representing the dichotomy that exists for people in Cape Town.

Now what is interesting is in the bottom right picture you can see the new houses the goverment is putting up to replace the shacks, but they face the problem that many people that qualify for the new houses sell their house or rent it and go back to living in a shack.

Another good example…the guy in the picture to the right was my driver for the day in Cape Town. Since he had been working all day for me and I was enjoying his company and figured he had to be hungry if I was, I invited him to the top of Table Mountain to have a late lunch with me before I had to head out of town. He lives in a shack behind his brother’s house and has lived in Cape Town his whole life. He has probably driven thousands of tourists up to this mountain, only to wait at the bottom for their return. When we got to the top I realized he had never been up to this point because after lunch he said, he had never seen anything like this and he would remember this experience for his whole life…just another good example of how we should all count our blessings.

India

India was similar in that it was amazing how quickly you could go from some of the most luxurious places I have been to utter poverty. Most people probably know that India has over a billion people, but I couldn’t believe when I learned they actually have 4 cities bigger than New York…some say Mumbai alone has 20 million people. Below is a great video from outside the hotel I stayed at that demonstrates the craziness against the serene with only a wall diving the two. And I thought the roads in Cairo were crazy. I actually saw in real time 2 accidents including a hit and run on my way from the airport and two that had happened just before I got there.

And below are a few good pictures taken from the cell phone. The one on the left is from the top of the Cerner building. The one on the bottom is a typical amount of traffic you see at a stop light…you see hundreds of those 3 wheeled taxis all over the city…it is almost like they are playing bumper cars.

Thankfully my flight took off 2 hours before the attacks started so I was home safe and sound when the proverbial fit hit the shan. And no mom…India is not currently part of the region I manage so I won’t be going back soon.

Miss you all...Maasalaamah,

H.H. Sheikh Richard bin Richard Al Berner

Taking a Break From the Sun!

Hello all,

The girls and I decided to take a little break from our cooler, 90* weather we've been having and spent the day at Magic Planet and Favorite Things. Magic Planet is located within the Mall of the Emirates, Dubai's current largest mall. The next largest mall has just officially opened, the Dubai Mall, but with most of it still under construction, and only about 500 of the 1200 stores open, I will still give Mall of the Emirates top billing!

Magic Planet, located close to Ski Dubai, is in the back upper part of the mall. You essentially get a Magic Planet debit card at the cashiers stand. You tell the worker how much money you want to put on the card, he/she loads up the card, and you're set up for some fun. As you can see from the pix there are quite a few rides for the kids to ride inside and we're not just talking kiddie rides! They have lots of the interactive video games, rides, and some Chucky Cheese type games where you earn tickets to get some cheap prizes. There was never a line and some of the rides after the ride stopped, the operator just let the girls stay on and started the ride again, of course after swiping my card again twice! That's the deal with the card, you or the operator of the ride just swipes the card through a small machine located at each ride/video game and it deducts the cost of the ride from your card.


After we had our thrill of Magic Planet and our card was pretty much depleted of all cash, we left and headed over to Favorite Things. I needed to put a deposit down for Lily's birthday party that we are going to have at a place called Favorite Things. A brilliant concept! This place you pay for your child or children to come and play for an hour or more. They have a separate section for 3 years and younger. The other rooms are all connected and your kids can meander through to there liking. One room is set up like a Hollywood dressing room, where kids get get into costumes and have their faces painted. One room is strictly for water play. One room is all arts and crafts. One room is all climbing equipment. One wall is a rock climbing wall (very small). And then they have the party room, where they serve food, play games, and presents.

The brilliant part, since I know there are places like this in the States, is that on one side of the rooms is the door etc..just like normal but the back wall of all the rooms is glass and on the other side of the glass is a small mother/child clothing store and a cafe with a coffee/drink (no not alcohol!) bar. So while you are having coffee, lunch, actually having a conversation with an adult, you can watch your children playing in all of the rooms! Now the 3 and under room, you actually have to be there, but they have a separate sitting area for you.

So I put Ava/Lily in the 3 and under room, went to the cafe, ordered a coffee, and then the waiter brought it back over to my section!I had my coffee sitting watching the girls play and then when finished actually went in to play with them. So not only do they have staff waiting on you at the cafe, they have staff working in all the rooms helping the kids do whatever it is they want to do, even in the toddler section.

Brilliant! Miss you all....Love, Jennifer

"YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY"

Hello to all,

I thought we should talk a little about the traffic and driving here in Dubai. Can we all say, CRAZY... Today I had the lovely experience of driving behind this woman in a red 4 door Nissan sedan. I know this and remember this because she almost killed me and Ava this morning!

Ava and I had dropped the older girls off at school and then we stopped at the Park and Shop for some grocery essentials before heading home. The Park and Shop is located relatively close to Sheikh Zayed Road, which is the main highway here in the city, otherwise known as 11, but everyone calls it by the above. I decided it would be the quickest route home even though I hate to drive on it. Everyone thinks they are the next Jimmie Johnson on that highway. And if you saw and read about all the accidents you would know that they are all NOT the next up and coming Nascar driver. Anyway, the way our exit for the Palm Jumeirah is set up, is that Sheikh Zayed splits at one point and the 3 far right lanes can now access the Palm and Internet City exits. Even if you stay in the far left of the 3 lanes after the split you can still access the main part of Sheik Zayed by just staying in the far left of the three lanes and it will feed you back on to the main highway, (it is only separated by a small wall). Anyway I was following this woman in the far left lane after the split with traffic next to me in the middle lane and the far right lane. All of a sudden she decides to brake, oh and did I forget to tell you that there was no one in front of her, so her braking kind of caught me off guard. But what really caught me off guard was her deciding next to come to a complete STOP in the left lane of the freeway! I really don't ever honk at anyone but this time I laid on the horn. Then she had the audacity to turn slowly to the right and now she is perpendicular with the oncoming traffic in the middle lane. As I passed I'm looking behind me to see what the #$%^ she is doing and watching the car approaching her in the middle lane slam on his brakes while she is completing her turn to go the wrong way now in the far right lane. I knew exactly what she was trying to do, it was like she realized she wanted to stay on Sheikh Zayed and she didn't realize that if she had just stayed in the original lane that we both were in she would have been feed right back on to the main part of the highway. All I thought was that poor woman was either going to kill herself or someone else in the process of her crazy stunt.

People regularly go over 100 mph in the city, even in traffic. They weave in and out of lanes on the freeway going at such high speeds. They will ride literally in your back seat flashing their lights until you get out of there way. One of my friends had an Emirati comment to her that the government should make one lane designated to all the locals because only the locals were good at driving at fast speeds! I said I don't think he reads the newspapers with all the traffic accidents listed.

Every road has on the side or in the medians picture takers. So if you are speeding it will actually take a picture of your car and give you a ticket. Except you don't know that you've gotten a ticket until it comes time to renew your registration, when the woman behind the desk tells you that you've been fined X amount of Durham's for X amount of speeding tickets. We've heard of people having to fork over thousands of dollars to pay for the tickets to get there registration. The other negative about the picture takers is that we all know where they are located. Even I do it, once I know I'm approaching one I make sure I'm not going more than 10 km over the speed limit. Other people you will see pushing 100mph and then slam on the brakes to get by the picture taker and then resume speeding as soon as they've passed!

Everyone will tell you that it will be a miracle if you make it out of Dubai without an accident. Most will tell you to expect at least 1 during your time here! I could go on and on about the driving, like the saying here, "Even if you can see it doesn't mean you can get to it"! You could be driving down the road or freeway and lets say the shopping mall you want to get to is on the west side of the freeway and you are on the east side. 9 times out of 10 there will be no sign saying "exit here for Wafi Mall", you just have to guess and then there are very few roads going over the freeway to get you to the other side. I have literally spent 30 to 45 minutes trying to get to some building I can see but have not a clue as what road will get me over the freeway to there. And forget about Map Quest, they only just started naming all the streets. Everyone does mail at a PO Box, which is fine until you try and tell someone where you live or how to get to the grocery store, hair salon...I could go on and on. One person trying to get me to one of the government offices that I needed to go to for our resident visa printed me out the location from Google Earth! I could make out the streets and the dot that was supposedly the building but forget about street names etc...Oh well what adventures! Maybe by the time I get back to KC I'll be in the running for the next Jimmie Johnson!!

Love to all,

Jennifer

Ramadan Kareem/Eid Mubarak!

The month of Ramadan is now come and gone, thankfully! Starting September 1 and running through September 29 the whole of the UAE observes the holy month of Ramadan. Basically, there is no eating or drinking from sun up to sun down. The government has made it a law that anyone, even Westerners, are forbidden to eat in public during this month. If caught they won’t send you to jail but they will give you a hefty little fine to pay. Now that being said, I did still drink my coffee in the morning on the way to taking the girls to school. I just had to be aware of who was driving around me, police/Arabs, before I would take a sip of it! Most all of the restaurants are closed during the day and would open back up around 6:30/7pm and then stay open until 2/3am. You could find some establishments open during the day but it was very word of mouth, ”oh I heard at the back of the mall there is a place open but the shades will be drawn and it won’t look like it is open but go in, they are serving people” kind of thing. The hardest one for me to survive was Starbucks and Costa Coffee being closed. The one establishment that stayed open the whole month was McDonalds! Those golden arches were like a beacon in a dark night! You couldn’t eat inside but the drive through and the inside were open for take away, which meant I could at least get a coffee in the afternoon!

At night the Muslims would celebrate Iftar. The radio would announce throughout the day what time Iftar would be starting, usually around 6:15/6:30 and that is the time you could start eating, breaking your fast. Iftar every night is a big celebration. Either you would be getting together to have a big dinner with your family or all of the restaurants/hotels would have tents set up with lavish buffets. At the end of the month starting around the 28th, we were all waiting for the government to announce when Ramadan would be over and the start of Eid (pronounced like Eve but substitute a D where the V is). They have to see the full moon for Ramadan to be over and Eid to start. If by chance they don’t see the full moon, say it is cloudy then Ramadan would only last 30 days and would be over but this year they actually sited the full moon on the 28th, so Ramadan was officially over and the restaurants all opened on the 29th. As soon as the government pronounces Eid everything closes and most everyone goes on holiday. It would be the equivalent to our Christmas and the week following through our New Year’s. The girls all had the week off from school and most business/government offices are closed. We took the girls to a huge Eid Mubarak celebration at the Jebel Ali Beach Resort. It was all outside, so we sat at a round table for 10 right by the stage. They had a beautiful woman singing, periodically through the night, who was from Lebanon.

Every year Ramadan moves forward in the calendar by about 11 days. Which means, next year Ramadan should start sometime mid August and run through mid September, which has me thinking we might just have to stay a little longer this coming summer in Kansas City. Maybe we won’t return to Dubai until after Labor Day so we just hit the tail end of the holy month. I’m thinking my mom might like that idea the most since it will mean more time with her grandkids!

So if you ever find yourself in a Muslim country during Ramadan be sure to tell everyone Ramadan Kareem and when Ramadan is officially over be sure to tell everyone Eid Mubarak! Basically Happy Ramadan and Happy Eid, similar to Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love to all,

Jennifer