3 months halas

The internet definition of brunch: 'A late morning meal eaten instead of breakfast and lunch'. The Dubai definition of brunch: 'Eat and drink as much as you can til you're stuffed on a Friday afternoon for a flat price'. Brunch is a bit of a Dubai institution and I can't believe I've not got round to doing one before really. Eight of us headed to the Glasshouse restaurant at the Dubai Creek Hilton on Friday afternoon and filled up on as much food as we could manage (I had pork belly, followed by a full English - oh yes - plus starter and desert), washed down with a seemingly endless supply of champagne (don't think my glass was ever less than half full) and cocktails. The food was amazing - apparently prepared by the same team that work in Gordon Ramsay's Verre restaurant in the same hotel. We rolled out of there at about 4.30 totally stuffed. However that was just the start of what turned into an extended lunch/afternoon/evening/night out that took in Quarterdeck's by the Creek in Deira, my apartment for some duty-free drinking and very loud music and guitar, and then predictably Rock Bottoms - it's becoming a bit of a habit visiting there. Needless to say the next day was a bit of a struggle that was best dealt with sweating it out by the pool in 35C temperatures, having had to get up at 9am for the Du man to come and install my tv decoder, internet and phone.

So this is the end of my first three months in Dubai - I'm heading back to the UK this week for 10 days for my mate Al's wedding and TJs stag do. The time I've been here has absolutely flown by: in some ways it seems like I've only just arrived, but in another sense looking back over what's changed since I got here and how much I've settled in, it seems like I've been here a lot longer. I do feel pretty comfortable living here now. Work-wise everything is going great - I'm commuting down to Abu Dhabi a little more than I'd like to be, but shouldn't be doing that so much for too much longer. I've made some great friends here and am having no problem balancing the hard work with enjoying myself as well. All in all a pretty successful start I'd say.

That said, I'm really looking forward to getting home for a bit to see everyone again - it does seem like a long time since I saw my friends and family. With a stag do and a wedding, and working three days in London, it's not going to be the most relaxing trip but should be good all the same!