A meltdown, flat tires and snow.

Last night, I had a total meltdown. Tears and all. Mostly, I have felt very positive, or at least neutral, about my Dubai experience. Last night, all I could see was the negative, which is not like me. Scott worked pretty late for the 2nd night in a row (tonight makes 3 late nights in a row...he walked in at 11:30pm tonight), I was having renter's remorse about the villa I chose, and I was feeling isolated in our apartment. When Scott got home, the floodgates opened.

I woke up puffy-eyed, but feeling better today. Tyler and I spent the morning just hanging out, and we left for school around 11:40am which is our usual routine. On the way to school, Antony, our driver showed me that a light was on in the car. The display told us that the tire pressure in the front right tire was low. Once we got to school we discovered just how low it was.

The tire was about as flat as it could possibly get. I retrieved the manual from glove box, emptied the back of the SUV, and lowered the spare. Neither Antony nor I could figure out how to get the spare off the cable, though. Aaaargh. I called the rental car company whose response was "Don't you know how to change a tire?". Now that is customer service. Asking a woman to change a tire in the 105 degree heat. Nice. Antony and I piled into a cab, he dropped me at the apartment, and he saved the day by convincing a friend to come and repair the flat even though the shop was closing at 1pm for Ramadan. Crisis averted, and oddly enough, I made it through the experience without a second meltdown. Scott was relieved that I didn't head for the airport.

After a less than spectacular morning, I was determined for us to have fun after school, so we headed for Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates. What a blast! The boys have been begging to go to the Snow Park at Ski Dubai, and it did not disappoint. We cavorted around ice sculptures and ice mazes, they went sledding and tubing, and they exhausted themselves. When they were tubing, 2 boys were making sure everyone took turns. One boy asked Alex where he was from, then decided we should pretend there were snowballs firing over the sled run, since there is so much gunfire in America. LOL. When I told him I was American but had never seen gunfire, he responded, "Don't you watch CSI: New York?". I convinced him that I had even lived in NYC and never seen gunfire. Gotta love the images portrayed in the media. Turns out he and his friend were from Glasgow and Australia.

Of course, now I have the itch to go skiing...

Photos from our icecapades are posted here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/CathyOgur/SkiDubai#
Enjoy!