School Days

Another weekend comes to an end all too quickly. It's been the first one where we've been able to focus on doing nice things, rather than rushing round doing various jobs associated with moving to a new country.

It is Flossie's birthday today so we went out for a family meal to a local restaurant last night. We had a lovely time and Flossie was very pleased when they brought a special dessert out for her and sang "Happy Birthday", even though it was quite a posh place.

Flossie with her special dessert

She got another rendition this afternoon at the Al Yasmina School Picnic, held to welcome new and old families to the school (and to drum up support for the "Friends of Yasmina" I think). In fact she got two renditions, one in English and one in Arabic.

School is going well so far. The only disappointment being that Flossie hasn't got into Al Yasmina yet (where Henry and Archie are going for those that don't know). She is still third on the waiting list, with no signs of this changing particularly soon, despite Jo's best efforts.

This means that she has to do a 30 to 40 minute journey to and from Pearl Primary each day. I can drop her off most mornings as the school is less than a mile from my office, but Jo has a pressured hour each afternoon when she has to pick Flossie up at 1:45pm and then make it back to Al Yasmina to pick Henry and Archie up at 2:25pm. Every day it is touch and go whether she will make it in time, but she's got a very impressive record so far. It means she has quickly learnt to drive like a local, but that is for another blog entry.

Anyway, Flossie is making the most of it, and has settled into her new school really well, making lots of friends and winning "Star of the Week" in only her second week for trying so hard.

Well done Flossie!

Archie and Henry have also settled in well, making friends and enjoying most of school life. Mind you homework has started in the last few days so that could all change very soon.

The school drop off and pick up is an experience in itself. Everyone wants to park as close to the school gate as possible, possibly due to the heat, more likely because they (we) are all lazy. This means that people will park anywhere, including the middle of the road, and think nothing of blocking others in, which can be a problem when you need to make a quick get away to pick up at another school (see earlier).

Some parents don't do the drop off themselves, instead they send the maid and / or driver to do it. This causes even more chaos. Some families seem to bring the whole family, including the maid and driver, all adding to the confusion.

Mind you, nothing has yet beaten the occasion, a couple of weeks ago, when a pet monkey escaped from its home near Pearl Primary, and headed straight into the middle of the school drop off crowd. Chaos quickly turned to utter bedlam as frightened adults and children scattered in all directions.

Thankfully nobody was hurt, and the monkey was soon recaptured by its owners and taken home. The father of a girl in Flossie's class works for the Environment Agency here, and he is now involved in an attempt to confiscate the monkey in question. Apparently they can't enter a property to do this, they have to wait until the monkey leaves the house again. I have visions of the house being surrounded by policemen hiding in the bushes waiting to pounce!

It's all part of the surreal life we are adapting to here. The approach to children's birthday parties is another example, but again that is for another day.

As always thanks for reading, and the kind comments from various sources.

Posted with Blogsy

Searching for Alcohol

Two weeks in the villa and we are still without broadband, despite Etisalat installing the router yesterday, which is now taunting us with its little green flashing lights. This has probably been the worst customer service we have experienced since arriving in Abu Dhabi.

My dongle continues to keep us going, and a nice cold beer in the evening is reducing the stress from their continued failure to deliver. I'm having an extra beer this evening as Jo is about to remove the stitches from my head, to save me the bother of going to a doctor.

Being able to have a beer is no small thing in the UAE. Since Abu Dhabi is part of a Muslim country there are stringent rules about alcohol consumption. It is important to observe the laws and customs so as not to find yourself in jail.

Alcohol consumption is only legal for non-Muslims and even then alcohol can only be drunk within a licensed establishment (tends to be hotels and not many other places) or private venue. There is zero tolerance for public drunkenness and drunk driving (ie: driving having drunk any alcohol at all).

If you are a non-Muslim resident in order to buy alcohol for consumption at home you must obtain an alcohol license, and then buy the alcohol from a specialist store.

Thankfully in the last year or so the Government has streamlined the process of applying for an alcohol license. Rather than attending the Special Licence Office (SLO) in person (and getting a numbered ticket for the queue no doubt), you can apply online.

The online process is fairly straightforward. You upload copies of your residency visa, Emirates ID card, and importantly, a letter of no objection from your employer (I've not heard of any examples of an employer refusing to give permission but I'm sure there will be some out there!).

The final part of the form is where you nominate the alcohol shop where you want to collect your alcohol license from. There is a list of maybe 20 outlets across the Emirate.

Now I completed my form on the afternoon of the day that Jo and kids arrived in Abu Dhabi, and also the afternoon that my crown came out embedded in a Reisen chew. This meant I was a little distracted, and forgot to make a note of where I had nominated to collect my license. Never mind I thought, when I get confirmation of its approval they will no doubt tell me where I can collect it.

A week later I was pleased to receive the email confirming my license had been approved, but to my horror it simply said it would be available for collection from my "nominated outlet"!

With my blood pressure increasing I quickly sought out contact details for the SLO, no telephone number, only an email address of course, and sent an embarrassed message explaining my problem and asking if they could tell me where I was meant to be going.

I fully expected to get a response saying that as I couldn't remember a simple thing like that it was probably best that I didn't have access to alcohol after all. However, all I got was an automated response acknowledging my email and saying it would be responded to within 48 hours.

The next strand of my plan was to compile a list of all of the alcohol shops in Abu Dhabi, and start contacting them all to see if they had my card. Of course this list is only available at the point of the process where you have to nominate, which meant that I had to create a new (probably fraudulent) application in order to access the required information. I made sure to cancel the new application before exiting the site.

I started googling the various outlets to get their contact details, and had sent a couple of emails before I noticed that my email from the SLO included the comment that "your nominated outlet will be in touch to arrange collection". Thank goodness for that!

So began the waiting game. Hoping, every time my phone rang at work, that it was an alcohol shop rather than a potential client offering me a multi million dirham contract. However the call never came (neither has the multi million contract yet).

I was starting to think that I would need to trek round all of the outlets when the SLO came up trumps, and emailed to tell me that my nominated outlet was the one closest to our villa. Perhaps I should have realised that would be the logical choice!

With a great sense of relief off I went to collect it. There was a minor panic when they couldn't initially find it, but then it was discovered in a box in the back storeroom. It was in my possession at last!

The license is in the form of a "credit card" (another one to add to my growing collection), which comes together with a book explaining the dangers of alcohol, and setting out the rules which must be followed, as reproduced below:

1. Individual alcoholic beverage licenses can only be granted to non-Muslim residents of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, over the age of 21.

2 The maximum limit of alcoholic beverages purchased is 20% of one’s basic salary.

3 Purchased alcoholic beverages are for personal use only and resale is strictly prohibited.

4 The licensee can consume purchased alcoholic beverages only at one’s personal residence, or at any private residence where he/she is a guest.

5 Purchased alcoholic beverages cannot be displayed or carried openly in public.

6 Licensee can purchase alcoholic beverages only from Abu Dhabi-licensed retail stores.

7 The licensees are only allowed to purchase up to the monthly alcoholic beverages limit.

8 Anyone caught inebriated in public spaces or in the road will be jailed as per UAE law (including driving under the influence, where the zero tolerance rule is observed).

9 The license will be withdrawn upon any violations of the previously mentioned rules and regulations.

10 The license must be renewed on an annual basis.​

A few important points to remember there, and I must remember to make a note of my nominated outlet when I come to renew next year.

Actually going to an alcohol shop is a slightly surreal experience. They don't advertise themselves too openly, and certainly have no window displays. There are clear signs at the door saying Muslims are not allowed, and video cameras appear to be monitoring who is coming and going.

Once inside it is pretty much like a UK off licence, and full of desperate looking expats rushing around clutching boxes of booze. At the till you theoretically have to show your license (but of course after all that trouble they rarely bother asking for it), and once you have paid your alcohol is put into strong black plastic bags for you to carry to your car. It is hard not to feel that you are doing something very naughty as you scurry out of the shop to your car, avoiding all eye contact.

Anyway, I'm sure it will get easier, especially when Jo has her own license. At the moment she has to send me a text asking me to go to shop on my way home, something it know she is scared to do given how grumpy I used to get if she asked me to stop for some milk on the way home from work in the UK.

This has turned into a bit of a marathon post, but as always, thanks for reading.

PS: Having another beer now as five of the stitches have been removed, without too much pain. The sixth one is proving elusive as it is buried in a scab so we are saving that for tomorrow when I've been for fresh supplies.

Posted with Blogsy

"Daddy, wearing goggles would probably be a good idea in future"

Two weeks after moving into our villa we are still waiting for our broadband to be connected, and it could be days or weeks before this happens so today I decided to invest in a "dongle". I've spent a happy couple of hours playing with my "dongle" to get it working at peak performance, and am now happy to announce that the blog is back (although the calls for its return have not exactly been deafening I have to say!).

Obviously a huge amount has happened in the last couple of weeks. I'll return to all of that over the next few posts, but I should probably spend this post dealing with my "little" accident this week.

I wish I could say someone else was to blame. I wish people would believe me when I say that I knew exactly what I was doing and all I wanted to do was test out the UAE healthcare system. However the simple fact is I was completely stupid.

The background is that Archie has been learning the front crawl in his swimming lessons at his new school. He was keen to show me how he was getting on, so last Tuesday after tea we headed over to the pool for him to do just that.

I was impressed with how well he was doing, and then Flossie insisted on showing me her technique too, which was almost as impressive. Archie then asked if I can do the front crawl. I was honest enough to admit it has never been my strongest stroke, but said I would have a go.

Did I bother putting goggles on? No. Did I decide to swim the length of the pool rather than the width? No again. Did I decide to go slowly given that the pool isn't huge? Another no. Did I stop before hitting the side of the pool head on? Absolutely no. I smashed straight into the wall, and straightaway knew that I had done myself some serious damage.

The next hour or two is a blur. Suffice to say the staff at the gym were fantastic, as were the ambulance men, and the doctors and nurses at the hospital. Jo was wonderful, as was Henry who was left at home looking after Archie and Flossie with the help of a friend Jo has made over here. Archie and Flossie were understandably upset to begin with, after all they were on their own with me at the pool, and there was a lot of blood. But they soon calmed down and spent the evening making "get well soon" posters for me.

Ouch

It was fairly quickly established that despite the amount of blood, and the very odd shape my head had gone, there was no internal damage, nor was the skull fractured. A CT scan confirmed this, and three hours later, plus six stitches in the cut, I was back at home.

The good thing about the incident (!?) is that it has brought our newly developing community together. We were touched by the numbers of offers of help on the night, and the well wishes the following day. That is good, but maybe I could have found a less dramatic way to break the ice!

As I think about the incident again, I do recall being pleased when, as we rushed to hospital, the paramedic peered over my rather large tummy to check something and offered the opinion that I must be an athlete as my heart rate was so good. I'm sure that happened, but then again I was a little delirious...

Flossie summed up nicely how stupid I had been, by announcing on Wednesday evening that she had been thinking about what happened and had decided that it would probably be a good idea for me to wear goggles when swimming underwater in future. Simple idea but absolutely spot on.

The stitches are in there somewhere

Apologies to family and friends back home who I gave a fright to, but rest assured all is well now, and I promise to get those goggles before I dare go near the pool again.

As always, thanks for reading, it's good to be back!

Posted with Blogsy

Quick Snippet

Quick update on villa situation. The issue last night was that "narcotics" had been found in the container two before ours in the queue, which meant that all customs attention was focused on that rather than looking at any other containers. In the end we've been informed that our container will be cleared early tomorrow morning (as long as they don't find Jo's Marmite), and delivered to the villa at around 10am.

That's good news, although when Jo visited the villa today she discovered that whilst the maintenance work has been carried out, the villa has not been cleaned, and believe me, it needs cleaning. As a result of Jo kicking up a bit of a fuss, a minibus full of cleaners turned up late this afternoon to start the job, so hopefully by the time the container arrives the lounge at least will be clean!

The Internet man also visited the villa today, but disappeared fairly quickly tutting about it being "broken", so I'm not sure when it will be connected. Hopefully quite soon.

School continues to go well, Archie and Flossie are making more friends every day, and Henry is impressed by the facilities available at the school, and also by a number of his teachers.

I'll update when I can, subject to availability of Internet.

Thanks for reading as always.

Posted with Blogsy

Quick Update

I'm conscious I haven't posted an update for a few days, as life continues to be hectic. Here are a few brief points, and I shall try and do a fuller update in the next couple of days:

1. Kids have started school, and so far, all seems to be going well. Archie had his first Arabic class today, which I'm not sure he enjoyed that much, but I'm sure he will warm to it!
2. We are hoping to move on Wednesday, although we have had an email this evening saying that there has been a delay with customs clearance. I'm not sure what the implication of that is, fingers crossed its not too serious.
3. Work continues to be busy, but enjoyable. I'm busy working on a number of proposals, so hopefully there will be some good news on the new work front soon.

As I say, I'll try to do a more detailed update tomorrow or Wednesday. Bear with me!

Posted with Blogsy

That Was The Week That Was

I can't believe that I'm already at the end of my first week in the new job. This is a public blog so I can't disclose any confidential information, suffice to say I'm certain I'm going to enjoy the new role. There is lots for me to do, but lots of good things to build on.

I've already been out to a number of meetings with potential clients. I'm learning about all sorts of businesses, including operating mega ports, digital oil fields, developing enterprise skills in UAE nationals, and reclaiming land from the sea. I've met people from all sorts of countries, including the UAE itself, India, Pakistan, Sudan, France and one or two from the UK. All have been friendly and welcoming.

View from my office window

There is definitely a lot to get on with, but it is all new and exciting, which is good.

Out of work there has been progress as well. We have signed our tenancy contract, which means we have been able to arrange for the electricity and water to be turned on (hopefully this will happen tomorrow or Saturday), which means that the landlord can get on with sorting the villa ready for our arrival.

Our container is being processed by customs on Tuesday, and will then arrive at the villa on Wednesday, when we will move in. On Friday a large delivery will arrive from Ikea, and thankfully they will build everything for us. So by next Saturday we should be properly in and getting ourselves sorted.

Archie and Flossie enjoying their five hour Ikea experience

And possibly the best news of the week is that the first school day (well it was only an hour actually) went well for all three children. Flossie is still third on the waiting list for Al Yasmina so I took her off to Pearl Primary this morning. She was a little nervous, but did really well, and got on with meeting her new classmates and having a look round the school. Jo took Archie and Henry to Al Yasmina, and again, they both got on absolutely fine. All three of them seem to be looking forward to their first full day on Sunday, which has to be a good result.

Day one of school (please note Henry refuses to have his photo taken in his natty green trousers)

Other than that Jo has done a fantastic job of keeping the kids entertained this week, and getting to know lots of people staying at these apartments who are in the same position as us. She has been introducing lots of children to each other, which I am sure has contributed to our kids feeling more relaxed about going to school today.

Thanks for reading as always. More coming soon.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Brief Update

Proper update coming in next couple of days, but for those of you who keep a more regular eye on the blog, a quick update.

I've done three days at work now, and have enjoyed every minute of it. There is a good team already in place, and lots for me to build from. I had my first meetings with external people today which demonstrated to me that there are huge opportunities in the marketplace for the firm. There is lots to get stuck into so my "to do" app is going to come in very handy!

Out of work things continue to progress. Our estate agent now has possession of the contract for our accommodation, which I will hopefully be able to sign tomorrow. We have started the process of clearing our container through customs, and Jo is busy compiling an Ikea order to ensure everyone has somewhere to sleep.

The kids seem happy with being in Abu Dhabi, although this may be biased by having spent lots of time on the beach or by the pool. They go for their school taster sessions on Thursday, and Archie was a little disappointed to learn that he can't actually decide not to go to school if he doesn't enjoy that visit!

As I say, proper update coming in the next couple of days.

Thanks for reading, etc.

Posted with Blogsy

Crowns, Cars and Uniforms

It's a few days since my last update, and today was my first day at work. More about that another time but for now let's rewind to Thursday.

Jo and the kids spent Thursday morning settling into the apartment and enjoying the pool. I headed into Abu Dhabi for my first experience of the local healthcare system. On Wednesday afternoon I had lost a crown from one of my teeth (no idea how it happened, it was certainly nothing to do with the Riesen chews, honest), so I had managed to secure myself an emergency dental appointment before the weekend.

I'm not the biggest fan of going to the dentist at the best of times, so wasn't looking forward to the prospect of doing it in an unfamiliar country. However, I need not have worried, as the whole process was very straightforward and the care was very good (although getting a text message seconds after leaving the premises asking if I'd enjoyed the experience was perhaps a little much). I need to go back in a few days to have the new crown fitted, but the idea of doing that is far less intimidating than it could have been.

The next job was to pop into the office to collect the Arabic translation of my driving licence, and then to head to the Service Centre where I would hopefully be able to exchange this for my UAE licence. If you've been following this blog from the start you can probably imagine how it went.... take a numbered ticket and wait to be called forward to the counter.

The lady dealing with me didn't understand much English (why should she?) so it was a fairly challenging process. The first hurdle was to get her to understand what country I am from, I would have thought the translated licence would have helped here but it didn't. After running through various countries including Bermuda and Bahrain, an Emirati man sitting at the next counter helped with the translation, so we could move onto the next question.

The next question caused a great deal of excitement between the lady on the counter, the lady at the next counter, and their boss who was sat at a desk behind them. They spent at least five minutes discussing it before asking the Emirati man to translate again. I was getting a little concerned by this point, so was relieved when the question was only "do you want a licence to drive a small car or a big car?"! Not sure why it caused so much excitement but there you go.

Having battled through the rest of the questions I handed over my 200 dirhams and had my photograph taken. At this point I was sent back to the waiting area, I thought to wait to be called for an eye test. However five minutes later I was called back to the counter and presented with my licence. All in all probably 20 minutes from start to finish, you can't really complain about that.

Once I was back at the apartment it was Jo's turn to head out, with Henry, to the uniform shop. She was a little concerned about this due to the chaos I had described from earlier in the week. However she returned a couple of hours later, with everything she had gone for, telling me it had been one of the more organised uniform shops she has been too, and certainly better than anything she has experienced in Bolton!

The rest of the day was spent by the pool and going out for dinner, so all in all another good day.

As always, thanks for sticking with me, and for the kind comments.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy