Dubai Media City Archives - Undefined Declarations

UD Insider: Dubai School Children Get Fit at the First Ever Kids’ Run

Dubai kids from the 9 to 12 age group category getting fit at an outdoor race at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre.

Under the patronage of HH Sheikha Al Jalila Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Etisalat sponsors the first ever Dubai Kids’ Run

In an effort to educate the UAE’s youth on the importance of healthy eating, regular exercise and an active lifestyle, the first ever Dubai kids’ run was launched.

The two-day event – which took place over the weekend – was organised by CPI Media group, and the UAE Athletics Federation. The UAE’s telecommunications company, Etisalat sponsored the race that was held at Dubai Media City’s outdoor Amphitheatre.

The race brought together the kids of Dubai in a social and fun activity that embodies a strong community spirit.

The 2 kilometer-long race catered to two groups of children. The first race started at 9:30 am and was for kids between the ages of nine to twelve. Children from ages four to eight years old ran straight after that, accompanied by their parents.

Liesa Euton, Race Director says: “We wanted to have a smooth course for the children – not too long and not too short – because we want to give them just a little bit of a challenge.”

Collectible medals were given to all the participants at the end of the adrenaline-filled race.

The first-place winner from each race category received an IPad Mini and a hamper including a variety of gadgets, gift certificates and a three-month gym membership.

The top five winners from each category have also received goody bags worth over 3,500 AED.

The event attracted more than 5,000 people, amongst cheering parents and active children.

With more than 2,000 kids participating in the race, the Etisalat Dubai Kids’ Run will be an annual event in the Dubai calendar.

Ahmed Kamali, President of the UAE Athletics Federation says: “We put this run in the calendar, so that it’s going to be like any of the future races; like Dubai Marathon for 17 years, and Dubai Women’s Run for the last 6 years. So hopefully, we are planning to have this forever.”

11 year-old Raedan Chettiar came in second place in the boys 9 to 12 years old 2KM Solo category.

“He plays football with his coach, who trained him for two weeks only.” Raedan’s mother says.

“He’s a very active boy; he plays football and cricket.”

Raedan’s coach trains a group of kids at Dubai’s Zabeel park as a part-time hobby. The kids run around the spacious park and play football two or three times a week.

The Etisalat Dubai Kids’ Run proved to be a successful initiative to promote healthy living and fitness amongst the tech-savvy and modern Dubai kids.

An even bigger step forward can be taken by eliminating the unhealthy snacks and sugar treats that were served at the fun fair after the race.

Hopefully, future events will include a variety of healthy snacks, treats and smoothie stands.

Photo Slide Show link:

Click Here.

Link for Etisalat Photo Slide Show:

Gwinn Steens, the first prize winner in the Girls 9 to 12 years-old 2KM Solo Category running towards the finish line at the Etisalat Dubai Kids’ Run.

Six and a half year-old Sasha from France after receiving his medal, at the end of the first-ever Dubai kids’ race at Dubai Media City’s Amphitheatre.

Sasha’s parents, younger sister and grandmother (not in the photo) were all present at the race venue in Dubai Media City to support and cheer him at the inaugural Dubai kids’ run, on the morning of Friday, March 20, 2015.

Shriyash, 6 (left) and Shrinya, 3 (right) pose proudly with their medals after the Dubai Kids’ Run on Friday. The siblings’ mother admits that while her son is very active, her daughter is a little lazy.

The first ever kids’ run was sponsored by UAE’s telecom company, Etisalat.

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?

You may have noticed that I have been covering a lot of music shows in my recent posts. You may have also taken a look at my about page where I mention some facts about myself and how I am 30-something. So you might be wondering why I am living a 20-something lifestyle in my early thirties?

While most people my age could be settling down by getting engaged or married, or possibly already have a bunch of kids at school age, I’m still celebrating my spontaneous twenty-something- like days! I like to contribute this to the fact that I grew up and have lived in Saudi for most of my life. And must add; to somewhat over-protective and controlling parents. Who seemed to give a good amount of importance to people’s opinions and judgmental views. You can’t completely blame them though. Saudi society is quite fierce and tough when it comes to conservativeness and liberality. It’s a very complicated topic that I would need to dedicate a whole post to explain it, and it still wouldn’t be enough!

For now, I just felt like I could use some justification for my sometimes immature and crazy behavior 🙂 Like making sure that I don’t miss out on any cool concerts in town and dragging my “more responsible” and mature friends to them.

So I basically didn’t get to do many things that people in their twenties would do. Although I did argue my way around to some cool concerts in Bahrain when I was a teenager (yes, I was rebellious since then!).

Sometimes, I wonder if my late-lived twenties phase will ever end. Because I enjoy it so much that I would never want to live a different lifestyle!

Moving on to Train’s concert, I used to listen to the amazingly talented American pop rock band as a teenager growing up in Saudi. Yes, my parents were not that strict :p So to me, their show was more of a trip down memory lane to my 90’s in Saudi. When life was much more simpler and easier. When all I cared about was which magazines I wanted to get with me from Bahrain when I went there in the weekend. Yeah I was a weird teenager too! But doesn’t everyone love and long for the 90’s? I personally would go back to those years at any given time.

Arriving to the concert venue, me and my friend were surprised at how quiet it was! there wasn’t even any music playing at some point. And while I expected to see other 30-something Train nostalgic fans at the concert, all I seemed to see were teenagers and a generally younger crowd of people who didn’t look like they were old enough to sing along to “Drops of Jupiter”! My friend had also pointed out that it was her first time to see a five year-old girl at a concert 🙂

Nevertheless, Train put on a great show and sang many of their new and old hit songs. Such as “Hey Soul Sister” and “Meet Virginia”.

They also got the crowd engaged in some songs by asking random people to come up on stage and sing or dance along with the band.

At the end of the show, the band left the stage before coming back to sing my all-time favorite hit for the band: “Drops of Jupiter”. I was glad that I didn’t leave when my friend decided to leave after they left the stage the first time, as I would have missed them perform the ever popular and great track “Drops of Jupiter”. I think I was going to break down and cry when I saw them leave the stage before singing my song!

You must have guessed that I was the only person in that young crowd who was super excited and singing along to “Meet Virgina” and “Drops of Jupiter”! Yes, Dubai makes me feel old. But I stand my ground and continue to act and behave like a twenty-something 🙂

I must confess that I did manage to record some good video clips at the show. But since I am still not familiar with posting videos on this blog (more like, don’t feel like uploading them on you tube as I found out that this needs to be done), I will not be sharing my priceless Train videos for now. Who knows, I might get the motivation required to actually upload videos one day 🙂

So, was my one hour and 15 minutes or so of 90’s music nostalgia worth it? I’d say hell yeah! It was worth every second of the warmth and simplicity and joy it brought to my forever 90’s soul.

Since I’m having issues with my photos, I will only post the links for my favorite Train songs. And I will try to upload more images once I sort out the technical glitch.

Enjoy and long live the undying 90’s spirit!

Gourmet Food, Sun and Live Music!

Taste of Dubai is a fun outdoor festival revolving around food and music. It’s held annually at the Dubai Media City Amphitheater; the same area where the Christmas festival took place and I wrote a post about it here.

It was a Friday, and on that day the festival started in the morning and went on until midnight. I didn’t have a set time as to when I would go, but I was glad that I went during the afternoon (around 4:30) and stayed till around 8:45 in the evening. I was also thankful that I put some sun protection cream on my arms before heading out, because it was sunny and the sun cream did help me get a nice tan.

What most of you would be wondering now is what did I eat? Well, let me show you with pictures:

Steak fillet with a crab cake on top from Ruth's Chris Steak House — Steak fillet with a crab cake on top from Ruth’s Chris Steak House

Sirloin Steak Cubes with Potato Gratin from Seafire Steakhouse and Bar

Dulce de Leche Creme Caramel (Asado) and Chocolate Mousse (Ritz-Carlton)

I would have to say that my favorite dish was the sirloin steak with potato gratin from Seafire steak house. It was perfectly made and tasted so good. The other steak I had from Ruth’s Chris steak house was kind of average. Maybe the combination of crab cake with the red meat didn’t appeal to me that much. And although the seafood Phad Thai from Mango tree was good, I must admit that I did regret filling my stomach from their stand, mainly because I had recently eaten there with my dad a few weeks back. And so, a better choice for me during the festival would have been to sample other restaurant’s dishes. Especially the ones that I don’t get the chance or time to dine at on normal occasions.

Another choice that I regret making was the creme caramel from Asado. When I was at their stand, I asked the lady if she would recommend the Dulce de Leche creme caramel or ice-cream, and I went with her answer. However, only to be disappointed and wishing that I had went for the ice-cream instead! Yes, that was what I was thinking the whole time that I was eating that creme caramel, which I must admit that I didn’t even finish! And that folks, is a big deal for someone who never leaves a grain of rice in her plate, because there are millions of people starving all over the world! I was greatly satisfied with my chocolate mousse biscuit-like cake from the Ritz though. I even took the second piece with me home and devoured it the next day 🙂

When I saw that there was a Mexican stand after I had already had my mains and desserts, me and my friend decided to try out Maya’s (the famous high-end Mexican eatery) guacamole. Which we both thought was surprisingly below average.

With prices ranging between 20 to 30 Dirhams for most dishes, I would say that Taste of Dubai is worth visiting if you love food and don’t mind paying that amount of money for a small portion from a high-end, gourmet restaurant.

The main attraction of the festival, well to me at least, had to be the opportunity to sit outside in a park-like atmosphere with the company of good friends and great live music.

Lynx Networking at The Dek!

At first, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to attend the Lynx networking night titled: The Creative Club Party; which was basically a prequel to the main Lynx Awards Ceremony taking place tonight. After enquiring by e-mail if it was possible to attend the networking event only, and not be registered as a delegate or attend the day seminars, I was informed that: “the event is very popular and so is only open to registered delegates.” So, I immediately dismissed the idea of going to the event, until a lady at the Media Mondays’ event commented that it shouldn’t be a problem for you to get in, since the event is held at a hotel venue.

I still wasn’t too keen on getting dressed up and showing up at the door, and risk not being allowed into the event. But then a friend suggested to go and give it a try and then let me know if he faced any problems in getting in. And so he did, and he was allowed in. That’s when I dressed up in a casual business style in a cream tweed-like jacket and a black A-cut shaped skirt that was above the knee. Luckily, my hair was done the previous day for the Media Mondays event, and so after a quick fix and wearing a head band, I was ready to go. (Well, that’s the brief version, of course there was make-up application, ironing my skirt, and wearing jewelry and perfume).

As my friend and I arrived at the funky and graffiti decorated “The Dek on 8” at Media One hotel in the heart of Dubai Media City, we immediately started putting our networking skills into the test. Still acting on the high impulse and drive from the previous night’s Media Mondays event, we went up to random individuals and started to introduce ourselves and have a casual discussion with them. The only problem being that this event wasn’t actually designed for doing that! As we approached people to start a conversation with them, we were confronted by looks of surprise and sometimes arrogance as to what we were exactly doing 🙂 Having interned at a multi-national advertising agency in Dubai over a year ago, I wasn’t the slightest bit surprised of the responses we got.

Yes, I was highly familiar with the ad agency types…I can’t generalize though. I was very delighted to meet some genuine and good friends from my internship days at JWT Dubai. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up and discuss general topics. I was even impressed that some of them could remember me after such a long time of me leaving the agency. I always thought that people who worked at ad agencies had super powers to be able to work for extra long hours, and still manage to wake up early the next day and be at the office on time! I think I could learn a lot from them on work ethics and loving what you do and having undying passion for it.

To make the picture more clear to you readers, last night when I was approaching random people at “The Dek on 8”, I felt as if I was the star of an episode of the popular MTV British reality TV show: Plain Jane. For any of you who are not familiar with the show, the series basically takes a different plain Jane girl each week and with the help of British fashion expert Louise Roe, transforms her into a more confident and stylish lady before going out on a romantic date with her secret crush. (I know, very teenage thing to watch – I do enjoy it though!). So in the same way as plain Jane would have to overcome her shyness and approach strange guys at the beach or any other public place and start a casual conversation with them, I found myself going up to random people and introducing myself and chatting them up. Except that the show wasn’t directed or produced by a TV network! It was my own life and I was the sole actor, director and producer 🙂

I can proudly say that although the event wasn’t exactly created for exchanging business cards or meeting new people, me and my friend still managed to meet a good number of people throughout the night. We had a good time and laughed our way out of awkward moments. But the most important thing is that we didn’t let anything or anyone discourage us or get in the way of our own networking agenda.

Let’s put it this way: we helped get The Creative Club Party started 😉