Mallorca & Barcelona

Upon returning from one of the most relaxing trips we've ever been on, I was struck down by a crushing flu, from which I've only recently recovered. As such, I've been slow to return to my usual duties, and haven't written anything here in a little while. Mallorca and Barcelona were a welcome escape from the hot, dusty monotony of Dubai, and we enjoyed every sunny, obligation free minute if it. Most of the pictures above are from Mallorca, although Vanessa can be spotted in the top most picture as she patrols Barcelona's Boqueria Market for interesting treats.

Just before we left for Spain, our lease expired and we moved out of our overpriced studio and into a sort of high end rooming house. We now have domestic help for the first time, and count on our new pal Rajan for ironing and once weekly cleaning services-- all told, these rather minimal chores cost us 200 AED per month, or about $54.49. We've managed to cut our rent in half, but only after a good bit of wrangling. The transition form living by ourselves, to a shared living environment has been fairly smooth, as the new household is run something like a hotel.

As our lease was set to expire, we'd been looking around and after seeing several places, we informed Nabil that we were thinking of leaving. We used to think of Nabil as our crazy adoptive Arabian Uncle, but upon informing him that we wanted out of our lease, he responded that our lease required three months notice in order to move out. We re-read the contract and found that what it actually said was that we were required to pay the entire balance of the twelve month lease if we left before the lease period ended. I actually took the lease down to the Dubai Municipality rent board, who were very helpful, and informed me that Nabil was, to use the local term, pissing in my ear. So, we now find ourselves estranged from our chainsaw loving Arabian Uncle, and have the remaining task of trying to recover our deposit from him. All in all, it was worth the strife, and we're glad to have moved on.