Sunday was National Day and a public holiday in the UAE. I didn’t have much planned until the evening except have lunch at home with my parents and wait for the sleazy hairdresser. Late that morning one of my friends from Wine Club asked what I was up to and did I want to meet for lunch? I told her I’d meet her for coffee after lunch instead. I met her and another friend from Wine Club at Toscana at the Madinat Jumeirah. They’d had lunch and were sipping prosecco by the water – so I joined them. It was a lovely warm December afternoon and we stayed there till almost 6pm.
That night a friend had invited me to one of his friends’ birthday drinks at Okku. I love Okku and I love Okku on Sundays! We got there a little after 10pm and hung out at the bar – we didn’t really meet many new people as we were chatting and drinking and it was quite crowded. Sunday is retro night at Okku so they play a lot of music from the 80s and 90s – they started with ‘Africa’ by Toto which is one of my all-time favourites. They also played ‘Ain’t Nobody’ by Chaka Khan, ‘I Can’t Wait’ by Nu Shooz, ‘Self Control’ by Laura Brannigan, some Michael Jackson and a lot more songs I loved. We left a little after midnight as my friend had an early start the next day.
The rest of the week was pretty dull until Thursday. I had my second piano lesson on Thursday afternoon – it went well. I hadn’t practised on my own as much as I would have liked – it’s difficult at home and I usually wait until I have the place to myself before practising. But still, the class went well. I spent most of it playing variations of a piece called ‘Love in Portofino’ and Elvis’ ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. My teacher said he would also give me some classical music to learn so I was happy with that.
After my class I decided to walk home – it’s really not that far – and I stopped at Tim Horton’s for a French Vanilla cappuccino on my way back. It wasn’t too hot either which was nice.
That evening I met up with a friend and one of her friends. I’d met her friend when we had dinner at La Petite Maison a few weeks before. We went to the Jetty Lounge at the Royal Mirage – I’d only been there once and that was back in May. We got there at about 9.45 and every table was taken. We added our names to the waiting list and sat at the bar until a table became available. We had three Margaritas each and ordered two of the ‘Mexico’ platters – tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa and jalapeños. After drinks we decided we’d meet a couple of other friends at the Cigar Lounge at the Address Downtown. It wasn’t a very late night – I was home by 1.30am.
I was home all day on Friday until the evening. My cousin had organised her son’s birthday party at the India Club in Oud Metha. My parents and I got there at about 6pm – the kids were playing cricket indoors and the women sat outdoors having tea and sandwiches and chaat. I was only there for just over an hour as I was meeting some friends for drinks elsewhere.
I went to Sho Cho for drinks with some friends – we were five girls in the end. We had several glasses of wine and then moved on to Boudoir because they had free champagne for women until midnight. Score!
There were more drinks and some dancing. We were there till just after 2am and we’d started to feel peckish by then. We walked over to Japengo Cafe but their kitchen had closed 10 minutes before. I suggested we go to Zaatar w Zeit next to the Shangri-La. We sat down and ordered fresh orange juices all round. I had the halloumi and beef bacon wrap (amazing but probably 10,000 calories) and we ordered some French fries to share. I walked home from there as it was just a few minutes away.
I spent all of Saturday in my pajamas.
I love my life.
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Notes by Nectar 