Where I am hanging my hat

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel.mi?marshaCode=dxbae&stop_mobi=yes


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Location:44 B St,Dubai,United Arab Emirates

All Dressed Up

Yesterday was a wonderful lunch with the ladies in one of my offices here in Pakistan. We shared many giggles over lunch and I learned about arranged marriages, dating, and the woman's place in society. It was quite eye opening and I respect these ladies who work for us as it is not the norm in society and in many cases they are working to support their parents and siblings.

After lunch it was time to shop and find a few outfits for me to wear. Wearing western clothing is okay but it does draw attention and wearing traditional outfits is required if I go to any of our project locations. These kamiz can be quite intricate in beads and embroidery.


Me in the fitting rooms as the girls laughed, I was wearing my shirt and on dome occasions put my head through the wrong hole!




Here is one of the two outfits, the checker reminded me of NASCAR and found that a appealing.





I am now typing this from bed at 11am as I spent the entire evening until an hour ago sick. Being sick abroad is slightly nerve-raking but it seems that after 11 hours of being sick I can now focus on getting a little sleep and hydration.

Tomorrow I start my trip home and head to Dubai.


-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Khayaban-e-Suhrwardy,Islamabad,Pakistan

Since I am missing my family

I have one more week until I am going to be home, and since I am missing my family, I thought that I would share Reagan and Thatcher enjoying Christmas...







Reagan is always so good posing for pics in front of the fireplace - Santa is watching!

Thatcher has a nylabone and could care less if her stocking is full or not!

She is as lazy reindeer!

Reagan showing off his new sweater with hood!

Our beautiful Christmas tree and decorations, I love it!

Moonlighting in Pakistan

After a long but very productive day at work, and a fun "happy hour" with some staff at a coffee shop, I was welcomed back to the hotel with the sounds of Christmas music and the smell of gingerbread. Yesterday, construction was completed on my gingerbread house complete with flashing Christmas lights, but tonight they took it to a whole new level - it is open for business! Yes, you can buy chocolate Santas and gingerbread. I love it! While working my first shift, I even saw a Santa suit on the ground, so more excitement is to come. I am pictured with the manager (who is always awake and greeting me with a smile) and the doorman (who I have to admit, I had been scheming on how to get a good pic because of the uniform and mustache - mission accomplished). So Happy Holidays from Islamabad to whereever you find yourself this season!

Dinner party with the rich and powerful...

And here I am dressed for the dinner party. It is so hard to know what to wear as you have to keep in mind covering your BUTT! I don't own many things that cover my butt in regards to tops - I have always figured that skirts, shorts, pants did the trick. I added the scarf because well, I look like a football player with no neck when I have on a turtleneck. So here is the final product. I have to say that I felt as though I was in my pjs, getting ready to lounge on the couch by the fire and read or watch a movie - I in no way felt dressed to meet people with money or weilding power in Pakistan government - but off I went.

We arrived in the neighborhood where PM Jamali lives. There was of course heavy security points to move through. The house was enormous, think mcmansion plus with plenty of staff on hand to help with maintenanance and serving their employers. There was no alcohol, so it was fresh juices before dinner, then traditional Pakistani food for dinner which included fish, ground meats, spinach in HEAVY oil, rices, and other dishes that I couldn't recognize - but all spicy. Dessert was also traditional so I went with what was a carrot dish, Gajraila.

After dinner, I joined the wives upstairs for tea which was so enjoyable. These ladies, wear salwar kameez - which are longer shirts with pants/leggings/jeans underneath. Some had a scarf around their head and others did not. Their views of how they feel were different then I had suspected, but these are women of wealth, who I believe have progressive husbands. It is true, I do not do much over here - chivary is very much alive with the men that I have interacted with and that is how they felt. The salwar kameez that they were wearing were beautiful with beading and embroidery and very stylish - I might go get myself one. I believe that in Islamabad it is different then in the villages of Pakistan and in other muslim countries.

Margalla Hills

I went for my hike and it was fabulous. Though I was told that this was an easy hike, ummm, easy. But I suppose if K2 is in your backyard, it is all relative. We did an hour hike which was fairly vertical to a look out point where I was able to look out over Islamabad. Unfortunately it was not a super clear day, but still amazing to see. It is wonderful that these hills are so close, practically in the city, for everyone to use for recreation.

This evening was a pleasant surprise as I was able to enjoy a glass of red wine with my dinner. Granted we had to bring our own, but still, it was quite nice. I realize that this is a rare but it was so nice!

Shop 'til you Drop

Well, not quite. This evening was filled with rug shopping and though these rugs are beautiful, I just have no place for one. The rugs are Afghani and Pakistani rugs and hand embroidered. Rugs that are 6'x9' take one family a year to make, cost approximately $1700, but would cost around $5,000 or higher in the states!

In one shop I was able to buy a traditional top that I will wear to a dinner that we are hosting later in my trip and a beautiful piece to hang in my office.

My boss quested that I look for donkeys, but I have to represent with elephants, even if this is just a beautiful piece from Pakistan. The bead work is nice and there is crushed velvet, as close to velour as I could possibly find here. I am so missing my velour!

We finished our evening with dinner at Me'lange Cafe http://melange.com.pk/ . The best part was walking in and feeling as though I had just walked into a New York nightclub. The house music was pumping and there was fashion360 on the tv screens showing Dubai Fashion Week. I was listening to techno mixes of songs like Rhythm is a Dancer. This cafe is connected with a store featuring 8 different designers. As they were closing soon, I quickly walked through while listening to the soundtrack of Top Gun. All I could think was can this get any better?! Well, dinner was amazing. A spicy, VERY light, thai inspired soup, SUPER thin crust margarita pizza, and a rich molten chocolate for dessert. That was not something that I expected here in Pakistan, but it was a nice surprise.