The New Road

I LOVE the new road.  The new road is a quick way to get to school.  The new road is safe for Kevin to drive on because it has a lot less traffic.  The new road makes it SO easy to go to Spinneys.  I just LOVE the new road.  The new road is the road behind the Meadows.  They are putting a walkway over the new road so people don't have to dodge traffic to get to the grocery store.   It is a wonderful road.  The new road is now my favorite travel route in Dubai.  Unfortunately, I can't tell you how to get to my house on the new road; or how to get to school on the new road because the new road does not have a name.  Just like so many other roads in Dubai.  The new road has been open for several months now and remains unnamed!  Take THAT navigation system!  

Getting around Dubai can be a little bit of a challenge!  OK, that statement alone comes with a smirk!  A little challenge?!   When we arrived in Dubai, Jim took several days away from the office to teach me how to drive here.  How to get to the school, the grocery store, the all important mall.  He drove me to those places a few times, then he drove with me a few times....then it was time for a solo adventure!   Now, almost two years later, I can go anywhere!  Driving here for the first time was just as exciting as putting gas in the car for the first time in Holland, but that is another story!  

We bought a GPS (navigation system) when we arrived here.  I had relied so heavily upon that little black box while living in Europe, I knew I needed it here.  The first time out of the box, the lovely british voice on the GPS was telling me where to go.  After following her directions ever so carefully she surprisingly said "make a "U" turn".  She would then take me back in the opposite direction and suddenly yell out - "recalculating route" as if I had done something wrong.  I must admit that my favorite phrase is "follow the direction of the road" - as opposed to what??  After a few adventures with her, I wanted to tell her where to go! 

So in this little emirate (I did not call it a country!) that boasts the tallest building in the world; the biggest shopping mall in the world, and is ready to host the biggest horse race in the world, you can't find your way around because while they were busy building these wonderful, beautiful, architecturally amazing buildings, they forgot to print up street signs!

I have learned my way around through the wonderful directions that men think women love! They go something like this:  "take Al Wasl road until the gas station with the Subway, turn right and go to the second street with the big tree, then turn left at the yellow house with all the flower pots in front.   Then I'll be the 3rd villa on the right!"    I've got it!

You can actually tell how long someone has lived in Dubai by some of the directions they give  If they tell you to exit Sheik Zayed (SZ) at interchange 3, you know they have lived here for at least 6 years.   The GPS continues to tell you to exit SZ at specific interchanges.  The exit ramps no longer refer to the roads as interchanges, the main roads actually have names.  Most of them begin with "Al", which in the  beginning made me think that "Al" was an even more popular name here than Mohammad.  I have since learned differently!

So, come to Dubai.  Rent a car!  Enjoy the adventure!  Experience my new road.  You can find it by taking the road that runs through the middle of the Meadows past the new Enoc gas station and making a left at the dead end!