Opening Day

Pitchers and catchers may report in 19 days but here in Dubai baseball season is already in full swing. Last Friday we had our opening day ceremonies complete with the boy scouts presenting the flags (both the UAE and the USA...sorry Canada) and the singing of both national anthems. The UAE anthem was more instrumental than vocal but it was a nice effort all around.

This year in Dubai Little League there are over 400 players in 6 divisions and the players come from 29 countries so our league is good example of the global reach of America's game.

Bret is in the pitching machine league for 7 &8 year olds and plays on the Orioles while Cole plays T-ball with the 5&6 year olds and is on the Phillies. Nick is Bret's coach and helps out with Cole's team on game day. So far both kids are having fun, making new friends and improving their baseball skills. We are thrilled that the boys have an opportunity to play ball while abroad. Now if we can get Cole to make it from third to home without doing a face plant about ten feet shy of the plate (true story).

Bret's first at bat of the season...singled and scored!

Bret's first run of the season. His team ended up winning the game 13 -7. They followed that up with a 29-10 victory over the Diamond Backs, which was particularly fulfilling since the coach of the other team used a megaphone to communicate with her players.

Cole's first game. He did very well...caught a few ground balls and even threw them in the right direction. He also was responsible for about three dog piles while fighting over the ball.

Cole's first at bat. He hit a single and later scored...well, they all score in T-ball but I was proud nonetheless. Overall, much better than Bret's first T-ball at bat in Texas where he hit the ball and ran directly to second base. We were certain that the baseball crazy Texans were going to run us out of the league.

Rain Day???

This week, much to our surprise, has been very rainy. We never thought we would see this much rain here, especially after the first 5 months we saw hardly a drop, with constant blue skies. The local newspaper said "The deluge that has waterlogged Dubai is the largest amount of rainfall ever recorded in the city - 108.8mm of rainfall was recorded since last Friday beating the old monthly total record rainfall of 89.5mm." Well, needless to say in a city that is pretty much one big slab of concrete with a poorly planned drainage system (c'mon, it's the desert, right?) major flooding occurred. The city shut down, the second time in one week after our unexpected president's day. The roads and parking lots turned into ponds. It was so bad, that schools in Dubai and the northern emirates were shut down for 2 days. When I picked up the kids from school on Tuesday, we had to trek through about 8 inches of water in the parking lot to and from our car. The kids were excited about their day and a half school week, while I feel like the kids haven't been to school in ages. Last week they only had a 4 day week due to the Islamic new year, and that was their first week back after the long winter break. Can't a mom get a break around here?

The kids and our next door neighbor Hugo using umbrellas for the first time here

The road outside our neighborhood. I took this while I was driving (unsafe) which explains the glare off my windshield.

The water on this road was about 2 1/2 ft deep and cars were stalled all over the place. We drive an Explorer, like the one in the picture, and the water came up to it's tail pipe. The day before this, I was driving under an overpass and came to some water and my car stalled for a split second. You know the rule about how if you don't know how deep the water is you shouldn't drive through it, well I kind of ignored it - not smart.

The kids and some friends at the park on one of the rain days.

Beach - not bad for January.

Kids and neighbors enjoying the day off fighting as Jedis.

Drew's 2nd major milestone...finally

George W. Bush Day!!

President Bush will be in Dubai tomorrow. This is the first time any sitting US President has visited Dubai, and boy is everyone making a big deal about it. The government has closed everything and the day is now a National Holiday, we found out at the last minute. I got a text on my phone from the school superintendent at 5:00 pm informing us that tomorrow is now a holiday and that there will be no school. The kids are stoked for the unexpected break. Tons of roads are closed in preparation for his visit and traffic was horrible today, worse than the normal horrible. All of the main roads, bridges and tunnels will be closed, except for the one that runs right near us, so I don't think we'll be going anywhere tomorrow. Nick even got an email from the GE security team telling him not to go anywhere near the president's planned stops. Here is an excerpt from an article in our local newspaper about his visit.

"A slice of the famous Emirati hospitality awaits US president George Walker Bush, due to arrive in Dubai on January 14, the day after his visit to Abu Dhabi.

The US President will be staying at the luxurious Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, on January 13, where he is expected to deliver a speech in the evening and meet UAE-US business group leaders.

The hotel, which promises to offer "a majestic experience fit for a king and deserving of an emperor", boasts 302 grand rooms, 40 splendid Khaleej and Khaleej Deluxe suites, Four Royal Khaleej suites, 16 three-bedroom Palace Suites, divisible into a total of 48 one-bedroom individual suites, each combining the ultimate in luxury.

As per an official in the hotel's room reservation department, the "Palace Suites" have been booked for the US President and "for security reasons, they booked all of them". The hotels most expensive suite is the 680 square-metre three-bedroom, Dh42,000 ($10,900) a night Palace Suite. Special security arrangements are in place for the President's visit, confirmed the hotel's security manager, Benny Paulose. "The hotel will be closed to the public from January 10 to 15."

Wow!?! Look at those tax dollars hard at work! Crazy stuff. As I'm sure you can guess, many people in this region don't think very highly of President Bush, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. My hope for the next President in this election year is for he or she to turn the view of the US around in the Middle East, and I guess most of the world for that matter, so that I don't have to hide away all of the kids' flag shirts (which I did when we got here, you know the Old Navy ones and the cute ones with baseballs and bats). Last week at Cole's T-ball practice, one of the kids was wearing a shirt that said "It's cool to be Canadian." I thought to myself, would I let my kids walk around here with a shirt saying "It's awesome to be American?" Probably not in this day and age and that's pretty sad. Hopefully one day, the kids can wear their flag shirts and be proud of them, wherever they are. Anyway, we'll be enjoying the day off. Thanks President Bush.

"Winter"

So, it's January and I guess "Winter" has arrived here in Dubai. I use the term winter loosely because the high was still 77 degrees today but it has actually been raining (more like sprinkling) for the past few days. I was driving today and I had to stop for a minute and figure out how to use my windshield wipers. I have never used them in the five months that we have been here. Also, there were a couple of days last week where I needed to wear a light jacket. Now, I know, I am kind of a wimp when it comes to being cold, so anything below 75 is cold to me. It has been a welcome change, though. I am pretty darn sick of my summer wardrobe. I've been pulling out sweaters, pants, long-sleeved tees - anything that isn't part of my usual attire. I see lots of people in their winter dress. I see coats, hats, gloves and scarves and I don't think the daytime high has dipped below 65, with lows in the mid 50s. It reminds me of when we lived in Albany, New York, and Bret was playing soccer. It was the beginning of June and the temperature had just reached around 80 degrees. The coaches decided to call the game halfway through because it was too hot. I guess everything is relative.