Maid Life

I recently hired a full-time maid.  This woman, Charity, from the Philippines comes to my home 6 days a week and helps with tons and tons of tasks in my small one-bedroom apartment in the Dubai Marina.  She meal preps, helps me grocery shop, does my laundry, changes my sheets, makes my bed, cleans the floor, the bathrooms, and keeps my home in perfect order.  

She doesn’t live with me but instead commutes each day.  She’ll arrive anytime I say and can make breakfast if I want, or prep a smoothie.  Typically she’s at my place for 1-4 hours a day.  

(I’m just a single guy…so I don’t need too much…right!?)

The cost is …$55 USD per DAY.  About $1700 per month which includes tax, insurance, transportation, salary, and an agency I work with that screened her.

It’s Day 7 and I literally could NOT imagine a time not having a maid.

She helps me save soooo much time doing things I have to do but DON’T want to do.  Imagine having your meals all prepared in advance and portioned out.  I am counting my protein and calorie targets, so it’s essential that it’s accurate.

I cannot highly recommend enough to get a maid.  I really like that she doesn’t live in my home, but apartments here do come with maid quarters.  

The question is, when I go to Warsaw Poland in a month, do I bring her?

…I probably will 😉   

Dubai Heat

For four months of the year, Dubai is a bit hellish in terms of weather.  The air conditioning helps a lot and the city is designed to withstand the heat.  You go from an air-conditioned vehicle to an air-conditioned building to even air-conditioned “outdoor seating.”  

It’s about 102 F or 33 C at the highs.  But what gets to me is the humidity.  Even at night, a stroll for 15 minutes usually results in me sweating a bit.

66% of the year Dubai’s weather is incredible.  November-February it’s sunny, mild, and nicely warm.  You can be at the beach in January!  This is one of the huge perks of why I chose Dubai.

But the summer is getting hot.  

No place is perfect…and this is one of the flaws of the city.

I have an international lifestyle and location-independent businesses (meaning I can run it anywhere in the world with just a phone and a laptop) so I have planned my summer retreat in my second favorite city in the world: Warsaw, Poland.

It’s European, it’s walkable, it’s got beautiful parks, it’s close to other European countries (2 hours from Italy!) and the people are grounded, friendly, and quite attractive 😉

Getting Punched

One of my goals this year is to “Learn To Fight”

I hired a boxing coach and train twice a week with Euro, my trainer from Africa, here at Fit Box Gym JLT in Dubai.

It’s a grueling workout and I am dripping with sweat.

But I needed to actually fight someone who wasn’t my couch.

I went sparring last Friday and was nervous.

What would it be like?

Safe to say, it was kind of thrilling, super exhausting, and I’m so happy I tried it. I took breaks when I needed to.  I listened to my body and faced off against guys my height or bigger or smaller or stockier.  

I even found someone I can spar with regularly.

We just sparred yesterday with my coach supervising me and giving me great feedback.

My head got hit a few times.  And my forearms (a lot).  And my stomach.  I’m not fast enough to dodge yet. 

(By the way, we are wearing a mouthguard, head gear, and gloves.  We stop when needed, but I still get pushed to my limits.)

My head is throbbing a bit, but I feel ok. I lived. I’m ready for more…but I may need a few days to recover.

It’s important to guide your OWN training to where it needs to go.  If I didn’t ask to spar, I wouldn’t be doing it. If I hadn’t asked to find a partner to spar with my coach supervising, it wouldn’t happen.  

Trust professionals, but also you need to lead the journey to the goal.