Ah...the saga of living in the Middle East

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/General/10260296.html
"Atlantis party to put Palm Jumeirah residents under 'house arrest'"

I just loved the headline that went with this story about the opening of the Palm and Atlantis. I know a lady who is attempting to make arrangements to pick up kids early at school so the family can make it to their home before all of the festivities begin. Must be a real pain. But, I'm sure it's an interesting place to live. There is a lot of buzz in the area about all of this. If you internet search around, you can catch a whiff of it I'm sure.

Thinking of places to live, I was recently pricing a lease property in the Al Barsha area of Dubai for someone. It was a brand new place, never been lived in. It had no landscaping, and was what folks here call an attached villa. If you're reading this from the States, that's like a townhouse in a suburb. It had 4 bedrooms and was around 2,000 sq ft (sound like a familiar place?). Anyhow, I called the estate agent, and they are asking 350,000 AED per year for it. All the rent must be paid for up front - what they call here 'one check.' That's about $95K U.S. per year for rent. Which means that either you have to have a lot of cash in the bank or you have to take out a lone to pay the rent for the year. Well, with a credit crunch going on, it's no wonder that it feels/seems/appears that there are many empty villas and apartments in Dubai at the moment. Just an unprofessional opinion....... Out of curiosity, how does rent in the Emirate of Dubai compare with rent in other big cities: London, NY, D.C. etc....? Email me. I'm curious.

The husband and I have been invited to watch the Palm fireworks from the top of a hotel, but we had to turn it down due to the whole pox thing with poor little Munchkin #2. Plus, we're concerned about all the traffic issues that might ensue! If I manage to get my hands on any snaps or video of the event, I'll try to post them ASAP.

And the saga of life in the Middle East continues. http://www.business24-7.ae/articles/2008/11/pages/thebigdebatewillidcardsmakelifeeasier.aspx

It's the comments at the bottom of the above article that are particularly interesting. A news report just out states that professional expats have until 2010 to get theirs. http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20081119040912/Deadline%20For%20Emirates%20ID%20Card%20Extended But, the buzz going around is that these news stories are based on a misquote, and the deadline is still New Years. Sigh...the article above states that only 60,000 of the 600,000 expats who need to do this have done so. Somehow, I don't think the deadline is going to be met. Here's what Gulf News had to say about this: http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/11/19/10260911.html

Yeah, I'm feeling cynical today. Some days are just like that. Less than 5 weeks until the home country unless I can get a plane ticket sooner.