Dubai - settling in

[stephanie teeter <stephanieteeter@yahoo.com>]

Time is flying by. We've been here for a week now. The
first wave of people and all of the US/Canada horses
arrived by March 3, the second group arrived a week or
so later, and most of the remaining crew, press,
support staff will arrive this week. Most of us  have
at least one person to help with the day-to-day stuff,
with the rest coming this week. There are supposedly
riders from 37 different countries participating, and
the Organizing Committee is covering all expenses for
each horse and rider and two support crew. And we are
being very well taken care of! Lacking nothing and
have most things in excess.

Our routine: Breakfast is served at the Village from
7-9 AM. Buffet - 'normal' food, fruit,coffe. The barns
open at 8am - staffed with an official steward. We
arrive at the barn, take the horse's temperatures
(twice per day), clean the stalls, turn the horses
into the outside paddocks. We have riding privileges
on half day schedules. Due to Federation  quarantine
requirements the horses need to be separated until
race day. So we have a specific trail that we can
ride, and we alternate with the Australians -
morning/afternoon. The mornings that we don't ride, we
get organized, make sure feed/bedding is delivered,
hang out. The barn is closed between 12 and 2 PM so we
have to be back from morning rides in time to put the
horses away, clean up, and leave by noon. Lunch at the
Village between noon and 2PM and then back to the barn
- either for an afternoon ride, or turn the horses
back out and just hang out. We've been able to help
each other out a lot, so there has been plenty of
opportunity to leave early for shopping, tourist
stuff, naps, whatever. Dinner is served at the village
between 8 and 10 pm - though since the Dubai hotels
became available a lot of
us are doing dinner at the hotel. Food is most
excellent!

It is a very pleasant relaxed atmosphere - we're all
so happy to be here and are really being treated
royally. The OC (Faisal Seddiq Al Mutawa) threw an
impromptu desert party Sunday night - pitched a large
tent out in the desert, shuttled everybody out there
in 4WD rigs. Dinner, live music, belly dancer - and a
marathon dance contest which was won by Karen! (she
and her sister Cindy have been Arabic dancing for
years). (The contest winnings prompted a great
shopping outing the next night :)

The weather, temperatures have been pleasant overall.
It got really really hot for a few days 37C - 90+F .
More often it's been in the mid eighties with a breeze
during the day – cools off to the 60's and 70's in the
evening. The wind often picks up in the afternoon -
sometimes to the extent that visibility becomes an
issue - blowing off the top of the dunes, swirling
around the tires of the autos on the road.  Sunshine
every day - sometimes fog in the morning. It's fairly
humid right on the coast, but not so bad inland.
Actually feels a lot like S. California. 

The air is silky and warm and I absolutely love it
here!! It is a very high energy country – new
construction everywhere, many different cultures (only
20% of the population is composed of UAE Nationals –
the rest come live here for work and commerce). It
feels that UAE is focused on growth, tourism,
commerce. Beautiful parks, and the architecture is
amazing – tall tall buildings, very modern and each
high rise seems to be competing with the others for
beauty and originality. They are creating large
cultural centers where they capture and replicate the
country’s heritage. An interesting mix of old (women
in traditional Arab dress, camels, desert tents) and
new (high-rises, cell phones, SUV’s). 

That's about it for now – all the horses are doing
great, the riders and crew are happy and relaxed.
Gearing up for next week…

Steph


--- kap@ascent.com wrote:
> 
> Hi, Steph,
> 
> Thanks for the update....and keep them coming.  Your
> stories are really
> interesting!  Can't wait for the next installment.
> 
> K.
> 
> 
> Karen A. Prendergast
> President
> Ascent Technology, Inc.
> Suite 380
> 64 Sidney Street
> Cambridge, MA  02139 USA
> Tel: +617.225.0850 ext. 101   Fax: +617.225.0822
> 
> 
>                                                     
>                                                     
>         
>                     stephanie teeter                
>                                                     
>         
>                     <stephanieteeter@        To:    
> kap@ascent.com                                      
>         
>                     yahoo.com>               cc:    
>                                                     
>         
>                                             
> Subject:     Re: Dubia - Getting There              
>                 
>                     03/11/2001 11:44                
>                                                     
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>                     AM                              
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> >>She wondered if you ran into any
> > problems taking the horses
> > through Europe because of the outbreak of foot and
> > mouth disease.
> 
> No - we didn't have any problems. The horses were
> never
> taken out of their cargo box - and kept in a
> quarantine barn during the layover. tho... I'm a
> little
> nervous about the return. It's much more epidemic
> now
> than it was then. Maybe we'll have to hang out here
> for a little extra time :)
> 
> Steph
> 
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> 
> 


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