As another week goes shoots by, I find myself ever more involved in the commercial department of the site office and I wonder what they are going to do when I have to leave!  It has been a busy time and it is very encouraging when I see the work I am doing actually being used in the running of the project.  I wont bore you with the details nor divulge anything commercially sensitive but suffice to say that it involves amounts of money that I never thought I would be left to work alone on during an 8-week internship.  The different tasks along with general experience that I have been exposed to during the last weeks combined with what is left to come will in my opinion have been worth a year of university, at least.  There is so much more to finance in the world of construction than doing things with finite precision, there is a lot of negotiation between client, main contractor and sub-contractor and this in itself is a skill.  I have picked up that the most successful way about it is to allow the other party a few small concessions and then you have reason for insisting on standing your ground on a much higher value item.  There is no point in insisting on making the necessary profit on every item, so long as over all the profit margin is healthy.

With time running out I have vowed to get more involved with work out on site but the excessive heat and humidity limit this to about an hour and a half a day at most. However, the site manager has a few tasks lined up for me this coming week, one of which will be to inspect a concrete pour in the middle of the night because it’s too hot to pour it during the day.

On the social side of things I have been discovering that Dubai has far more bars and clubs than you might think for a Muslim country.  Last Thursday the venue was a salsa bar by the beach and despite my insistence that the only dancing I could do was at a cèilidh, after a few coronas and tequilas I was dragged onto the dance floor for what can only be described as an enthusiastic effort.  The music was really good, this is the case for a lot of the bars and venues in Dubai as they all have very good live bands playing the night away.

Friday was spent chilling out at a water park which stands just in front of the mightily impressive “Burj al Arab”, the only 7 star hotel in the world so I’m told, it’s the one that looks like a sail and has the heli-pad on the top where the tennis legends have impromptu games to promote the hotel and the Dubai ATP event.  The park itself was good fun and I was there with Ewan (another Saltire intern in Dubai) and his flat mate Joe.  Most of the slides actually went up the way for a good bit before they fell back down.  As you sat in an inflatable ring, water being shot up the slides got you moving at surprising speed.  It was also nice just to sit in the pool with the waves rolling in as the sun set behind the Burj al Arab, whilst trying not to think about having to get up for work the next day, on a Saturday!

As of a week ago I also now have a flat mate from Italy.  Rafael is out from Milan for a month or so to fix a machine his company supplied to the joinery division of Khansaheb and so he is making use of the spare room in the villa.  As well as regularly having the best pasta I have eaten (potatoes are still better), I am now known as Pierre for some reason.  Much to my amazement I have also been made aware that there are different sizes of spaghetti, the bigger the number the larger the diameter, apparently around 9 is the best.  Not having to cook myself every night is a nice change and it’s nice to have someone to chat to in the evenings, and you never know I may get some free accommodation in Milan if I make a good impression!  Who would have though that coming out to Dubai I would be salsa dancing and eating Italian food most nights.  Dubai is a weird and wonderful place.

Ciao for now