A Busy Weekend

A couple of days later than I intended due to being distracted by Burnley's famous victory over Blackburn Rovers on Sunday, here is my latest diary entry. Life continues to be busy both at work and at home. Nothing about work this week, I'll focus instead on a busy last weekend.

Henry was away most of the weekend at a drama workshop, about which more later, so as Jo and I were going out on Friday night, during the day we decided to take Archie and Flossie to a local splash park. We'd not been there before, despite it being very nearby. It was very reasonably priced to get in, and pretty quiet despite the weather really starting to heat up.

Archie and Flossie had a great time, rushing backwards and forwards between various rides. Flossie loved the "lazy river", I can't imagine why (the clue is in the name), and the slides. Archie loved the "bungee trampoline" (I have no idea if that is the right name for it), going on a number of times, demanding to be bounced higher each time.

Eventually we had to tell them the park was closing to get them out of there, although they were suspicious as there were still people going in there as we left. We'll definitely be going back again, quite a few times probably.

Once we got home there was just time for a quick change and to order a pizza in for Archie and Flossie, before the babysitter arrived and then it was time for Jo and I to get our taxi.

We were heading for "Fight Night" at the du Forum on Yas Island, having been persuaded to go by a couple of friends. The evening was to consist of ten bouts involving different disciplines, including boxing, mixed martial arts, and others I cannot for the life of me remember. There was also the prospect of "vertical athletic displays" between the bouts (it's forbidden to call it pole dancing here!), although that was of no particular interest!

Before the competition began we went for a lovely meal at the Blue Grill at the Yas Rotana Hotel. Having over indulged we managed to drag ourselves to the Forum just as the evening's entertainment began. We were delighted to find that we had ring side seats, and that there was actually a good crowd and atmosphere, we had been worried that we may be the only people there.

The evening itself was very enjoyable, fueled by a few drinks and not taking it too seriously. There were some ferocious fights, although it was a good idea not to think too hard about the danger involved for the fighters. The "ring girl" was hilarious, without intending to be, but it would be disrespectful to say too much more about her. And as for the "vertical athletics", of course that was very "entertaining".

To finish off the evening we popped across to the Yas Viceroy Hotel, next to the Yas Marina Circuit, and spent an hour in the Sky Bar. Despite it being late it seems that the track was open for local Porsche owners to take their cars for a drive around the track. Jo now wants to know which evening is for Toyota Fortuner drivers to do the same thing.

After a relaxing morning on Saturday, recovering from the excesses of the previous evening, we went to Carrefour to buy a few bits for our camping trip this weekend, which we are all excited about. It was then time to go and see Henry in the show he had been preparing for all weekend.

He was attending a drama weekend hosted by British Schools Middle East, where drama students from two schools in Abu Dhabi, one in Egypt and one from another country (I can't remember where) came together to work with a well known drama group. They did various workshops during the weekend, culminating in putting on a performance on the Saturday afternoon. Henry really seems to have enjoyed himself, and hopefully got lots out of the weekend, and the performance itself was very polished given how little time they had to prepare.

After the show Henry went off to a dinner to celebrate the end of the workshop, so the rest of us went off for tea at one of the more recently opened shopping malls in the city centre, as if the city doesn't already have enough malls. The restaurant we were intending to go hasn't opened yet, so we ended up in Nando's, which has only opened very recently. Whilst the food itself was delicious, resulting in four clean plates, the service left a great deal to be desired. There is definitely more staff training needed.

So, all in all, another very enjoyable weekend in "the Sandpit", and we returned to work and school on Sunday morning refreshed exhausted for the week ahead!

Thanks for reading, see you all next week.

 

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Trip to Fujairah

One of the things we've been looking forward to about living here is the opportunity to visit parts of the world we have never been to before. I'm not sure what Jo's score is but so far I have visited 14% of the countries in the world, so there is lots more to go at.

But before we go further afield there is still plenty of the UAE for us to visit. Of the seven Emirates we have done Abu Dhabi (obviously) and Dubai so far, so at half term we were determined to tick another one off the list. We decided on Fujairah as we had heard good things about it, plus we wanted to scout out some potential camping spots for later in the year.

We booked an apartment at a hotel just outside Dibba, the second biggest town in Fujairah, situated in the North of the Emirate, just across the border from Oman. It was a drive of 160 miles, but the roads were good all the way so it took just under three hours, including a brief stop for lunch.

As we got closer to Fujairah the landscape started to change from sand to rocky mountains. "Mountains" may be too strong a word as they only rise to 1,000m, but that's what they are called, the Hajjar Mountains, or "stone mountains". Anyway they presented a picturesque finish to our journey.

We found our hotel, the Radisson Blu, without too much trouble, checked in and headed to the adjoining beach to enjoy the last couple of hours of sunshine. In the evening we went to another hotel a few miles away and had a lovely Indian meal for our tea.

Much of Friday was spent on the beach, or by the pools, but in the afternoon we went on a boat trip up and down the coastline. The kids really enjoyed themselves, especially when the boat was going at top speed. We saw some interesting sights as well, one of the local sheikh's beach house (complete with helipad), a fish farm (I think it was sea bream they were farming) and a fleeting glimpse of a sea turtle's head!

We also saw the beach which you can apparently camp on. It looked fine, with a couple of small shops for provisions, so we may head back over there with our tent at some point during the rest of this year.

Saturday came too quickly and it was time to check out. We decided to head home via the town of Fujairah itself. En route we happened upon Al Bidyah Mosque, the oldest mosque in the UAE, dating back to 1446, so stopped for a quick photo.

Onwards to Fujairah. The town itself is pretty industrialized, with lots of development going on like in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but didn't look particularly touristy so we didn't stop.

We did though happen on a lovely park and stopped there for a picnic lunch and a game of football. We've been impressed with the number of parks there are dotted about the major cities of the UAE, all with great facilities, and often very quiet. Jo finds a new one pretty much every week, and Archie and Flossie enjoy trying them all out.

Before too long it was time to get back in the car for the long slog home. All in all we had a fantastic weekend and will definitely be heading back over that way again.

As always, thanks for reading.

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Archie's latest video

Archie's latest video, highlights from his weekend in Fujairah. All of his own work, with a little guidance from Henry. Blog post about a great weekend coming soon.

 

 

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One year on

It was a year ago this week that I first got the phone call asking if I would be interested in being put forward for "a great role in the Middle East". I can vividly remember discussing it with Jo and deciding to find out more just for the hell of it. One thing lead to another, and twelve months later here we are, fast approaching the end of our first six months, enjoying our new lives immensely and relishing the challenges and opportunities at work. Life certainly takes unexpected turns on occasion.

It's half term already in the UAE, 2014 is flying past. The kids only get a couple of days off but we are taking the opportunity to explore a bit more of the country having had a fairly quiet January from that point of view. Tomorrow we are heading off to Fujairah for a couple of nights in a hotel. Fujairah is one of the other Emirates which make up the UAE, and the only one with a coastline solely on the Gulf of Oman, and none on the Persian Gulf. More about that when we return.

Flossie was "Star of the Week" last week

Since I last updated you it has been Jo's birthday, the celebrations of which she managed to stretch out for five days, starting with Friday Brunch at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and finishing with ladies night at the same hotel yesterday. I think I can safely say that she has enjoyed herself greatly.

Brunch with friends at the Ritz Carlton

We've also had another sports day for all three children, and Archie has had his swimming gala, finishing second in a couple of races. He also spent his first night away from Jo and I when he hasn't been at his grandma's, when his class had an "Aussie Sleepover" at school. He was very excited in the run up to it, and had a great time, although a week later and he still doesn't seem to have caught up with his sleep.

Sporting activities

Other than the above, the Candy Crush addiction continues, although I've now been stuck on the same level for a few days so maybe this is where I go cold turkey. I did drag myself away briefly to try the Flappy Bird craze but soon gave up in frustration, thank goodness that has now been withdrawn by its creator!

Hope all is well with you wherever you are, and that those of you back in the UK are coping with the wind and the floods.

Thanks for reading as always.

 

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A sweet addiction

I can't believe that January is almost over. Apologies that I haven't been blogging much, but it has been a busy time at work, and weekends have been busy too. Although I do have to admit that there have been times when I could have been blogging, but I decided to play Candy Crush Saga instead.

I'm sure you all know what Candy Crush is, but in case there is someone out there who doesn't, it is a "match three puzzle video game" (thanks Wikipedia), which in March 2013 apparently had an average of 46 million users a month. I'm rather late to the party, I've been aware of it for some time but have avoided downloading it as I had heard how addictive it could be. However that all changed a couple of days before Christmas when Ann (mother-in-law) persuaded me to have a go. Thanks Ann! ;)

From that moment I was hooked. Christmas and New Year passed in a blur as every spare moment (and some moments that weren't strictly spare) was spent playing, and this has continued throughout January although at a much reduced level as I have had to work as well (how inconvenient!). I've managed to make reasonable progress, enough to keep me returning anyway. And for those wondering, and I've had at least one email asking, you know who you are ;), yes, in the early days I did pay 69p once or twice so I didn't have to wait for my lives to build up again, but my total spending has been less than £3, and since returning to the UAE I have not spent a penny.

Away from Candy Crush our weekends have settled into a routine during January, usually involving doing something with friends on one day, and spending the next recovering. Two weekends ago we hosted a dinner party, which seemed to be a great success, although the song selection on Spotify did cause one or two tensions as the evening went on. This was due to the men (obviously) choosing proper music, but the ladies objecting to most of our choices as they didn't involve Gary Barlow, or couldn't be danced to.

Anyway the evening finished without major incident, other than one person landing flat on their backside whilst "dancing", and two people ending up with scraped knees due to forgetting about the steps outside our front door as they left. Needless to say the three individuals concerned were all female!

Last weekend some Australian friends on the compound decided to celebrate Australia Day with a "Aussies v Pommies" sporting challenge, involving cricket, netball and basketball. They had rounded up a number of their sporty mates, whereas the plucky English (plus a token Scot, Welshman and French man) were somewhat thrown together. Whilst we put up a brave challenge, unfortunately we were very narrowly (honest) beaten in all of the matches. We shall be better prepared next year, believe me, but it was a great afternoon and evening.

Action shot from the netball match

Work continues to be busy but in a good way. I'm splitting my time between Abu Dhabi and Dubai due to my new role, and continue to meet a wide variety of clients and targets. In the last week alone I've met organizations in the following sectors: health, education, dairy, retail, hotels (I knew my degree would come in handy eventually!), financial services, manufacturing, government, and night clubs. I certainly can't complain about the variety, and the important thing is I am really enjoying it.

Arab Health Exhibition in Dubai this week

Yesterday I did a 2.5 hour presentation at the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, sharing my thoughts on audit committees, a relatively recent concept for the UAE. I wasn't sure whether I was going to be able to fill the time but there were plenty of questions from the audience so in the end it wasn't an issue, indeed I could probably have gone on for another hour! I managed to attract an audience of about 60, and got some really positive feedback, which I am really pleased about.

Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce

Jo and the kids are fine, having settled back into their routines. Flossie's reading is really coming on, Archie is enjoying playing touch rugby (despite rarely touching the ball, bless him), and Henry has relaunched his film career (see trailer below). Jo is as busy as ever, out and about exploring new parts of Abu Dhabi amongst many other things, and seems to be emerging as the social hub of the compound, the person who knows everyone, and everyone knows her.

That's all for now, I'll try and post a little more regularly from now on.

Thanks for reading as always.

 

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The end of a busy week

I'm sitting down relaxing at the end of a busy week. For various reasons I've had to trek to Dubai every day. It's an 80 mile journey but motorway all the way so it's not a hard drive, just a little boring in places, although I still get a buzz as I drive through Dubai itself and see the various skyscrapers, and particularly the Burj Khalifa.

Things should settle down next week and I'm hoping to settle into a routine of one or two days a week in Dubai, but most of my time in Abu Dhabi. Fingers crossed anyway.

Thursday is our new Friday evening, and therefore tonight should be "curry night" as it always was in the UK. However we have tried and rejected all of the places that deliver around here as the curries they delivered, somewhat surprisingly, weren't up to the standard we were used to in Bolton. Instead we've just had a lovely steak, so I'm hoping Thursday night may now become "steak night" instead!

The focus of our weekend plans is a dinner party we are hosting tomorrow evening. There will be ten adults and goodness knows how many children, and the plan is to feed the kids, then pack them off upstairs whilst the adults get on with enjoying themselves. Jo has been busy preparing today, including buying all the little bits we need that we didn't bring with us.

There was nearly a crisis earlier when Jo went to the alcohol shop, filled her trolley, then presented her alcohol license at the counter, only to be told it had been cancelled (the things I do to control her drinking!!). Thankfully they let her off on this occasion, but I - not Jo - have to ring up next week to find out what is going on. And there was me thinking that when we got Henry's Emirates ID card earlier this week (it has taken five months because he turned 15 during the process which caused all sorts of confusion, before they finally decided that this meant he needed to have his hand and finger prints taken as he is now an adult, but then it took two attempts to get these right) had finally completed all the formalities involved in relocating here. No such luck.

We'll try and get out to the park or something tomorrow morning to enjoy the nice weather and let the kids burn some energy off. I'm nursing a bad back and bruised ribs (maybe I was a little too enthusiastic in the impromptu football match last weekend), which have been pretty bad today, so I'm suspecting I may need to fit in a trip to the doctor.

I didn't manage to get round to doing the lifelogging post I promised in last week's post. I can sense the disappointment from here! Hopefully I'll get chance in the next few days so try and contain your excitement.

Until then I'll leave you with a few of the pictures I have snapped this week whilst out and about.

Can't complain about this as the view whilst eating lunch

Random view whilst sat at traffic lights

The view from a client's meeting room, including the Burj Al Arab on the right hand side

The sun setting over the desert this evening

As always, thanks for reading.

 

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Many Happy Returns

There has been a public holiday today to mark the Prophet Mohammed's birthday, so we have had a three day weekend to recover from the first week back at school and work. Everyone seems to have settled back in ok, although we've been spared homework so far so it's been a fairly gentle start.

We've had a good weekend, whilst not too busy. On Friday morning Jo, Archie, Flossie and I headed down to the Corniche for a bike ride. It is about five miles from one end to the other and both Archie and Flossie did really well, Archie completing the full ten mile round trip, and Flossie managing about nine with some encouragement, and strategically timed picnic and ice cream stops. The weather was perfect for being out on our bikes, and there weren't too many people to dodge out of the way of two kids zig zagging their way along.

Friday evening saw us at a BBQ at a friend's house on the compound. They are from Canada originally so are expert BBQers, meaning we enjoyed some great food. We staggered home at about 11pm as the kids, and the grown ups, were ready for their beds.

Saturday morning was spent "relaxing" / recovering from the previous evening, then we dragged ourselves out to a local park in the afternoon. Khalifa City A is dotted with some great parks with kids' play equipment, splash zones, football pitches, BBQ facilities, etc. We decided to have a game of football, Archie and Jo versus Flossie and I. However within a couple of minutes a number of other children had decided to join the game. I never quite worked out what the teams were as there were a few language barriers, all I know is that most of the time it felt like everyone else against me. I've no idea what the result was either.

Last night we all, including Henry, went out for tea to Yas Marina. We admired some of the yachts which were moored there, including one that was once owned by Roman Abramovich, until it went to his wife in the divorce settlement, who then sold it for $300 million. Jo would like one for her birthday but I suspect that isn't going to happen!

Before I go I'll leave you with a little Slideshow that Archie made when playing on the iPad.

That's all for now, but I'm hoping to post again in the week, introducing you to my lifelogging project for 2014. Until then, thanks for reading as always.

 

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Blast from the Past

Jo was looking for this video earlier today I think: seven years ago, my goodness how times change!

Happy National Day

I shouldn't let National Day pass without a brief post on the subject.

National Day is celebrated from 2nd December each year in the UAE for two days or more (usually the 2nd and 3rd). It marks the UAE's formal nationalisation from the British Protectorate Treaties which ended on December 1, 1971 and the eventual, federal unification of the seven emirates in 1971 which combined to form the modern-day country, headed by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the federation's first president.

The occasion is marked by much celebration if this year is anything to go by. For days beforehand people are hard at work decorating their cars, homes and offices. Some people do seem to get a little carried away.....

Turning to houses, in the same way that some people go overboard decorating the outside of their houses for Christmas, some people get a little carried away. As we walked out onto the main road to get a taxi at the weekend we discovered that one of the Emirati families that lives on the compound had hired a crane to come and put a huge flag up.

Flossie counted the UAE flags that we saw on the way to dinner that same evening. We were only going a few miles but it didn't take long to get to well over 100, especially as she seemed to reset to 40 every time she got to 79!

Thankfully she didn't count them on the way to Al Ain on Sunday. We must have passed thousands, including this gentleman riding his bike up the hard shoulder of the highway.

The celebrations normally culminate with big firework displays on the Corniche in Abu Dhabi, and other locations. We gave them a miss this year as apparently the city centre gets gridlocked and it can take more than two hours to complete the journey home (a journey which normally shouldn't take much more than 30 minutes). One for next year I think.

How many flags?

Thanks for reading.

 

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Al Ain Aerobatics Show

A few photos from Al Ain Aerobatic Show yesterday. Al Ain is a 90 minute drive from us, although still in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It's a two or three lane highway most of the way so we made good time, and arrived with plenty of time to collect our tickets (no repeat of the "hunt the ticket counter" that we had at the car park drift competition a few weeks ago) and have a quick look round the static display before taking our seats in the grandstand.

What followed over the next five and a half hours was an entertaining program of various aerobatic displays, fly pasts, and other entertainment, including a rocket powered bus and the UAE's strongest man pulling a fire engine in a fetching outfit that looked like it had been made out of the hide of a cheetah.

We may be biased, but the highlight was of course our very own (and I still allowed to say that?) Red Arrows, who have been touring the Middle East over the last few weeks. Archie in particular was mesmerized by them, and can describe every move that they did, including the names that the commentator gave them.

We didn't think we would last to the end, but a couple of runs for provisions (again very reasonable prices, no getting fleeced here) kept us going, and just as the signs of boredom were starting to appear the next display would start.

The show finished as dusk fell, with a couple of displays where the planes were lit up with LED lights, were shining lasers, and firing off the odd firework.

We've had a few surreal moments since arriving in the UAE, and for me another one to add to the list was watching a brightly lit plane doing a routine to Nessum Dorma as dusk fell over the desert we were sat facing. Can't say that I imagined I would be doing that a year ago!

 

As always thanks for reading.

 

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Henry's video of our recent trip to Dubai

Flossie's School Trip

Flossie has been on her school trip today, to the Heritage Village. She seems to have had a good day, being very pleased to have seen "a donkey, a horse and a camel", and telling a story about some ducks and geese escaping. It's National Day tomorrow so she and Archie are dressing up in the colors of the flag, and there seem to be all sorts of festivities planned. More about that in the next proper blog entry.

 

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Flooding of the Nile (aka Al Yasmina)

Archie's year has been doing a project on Ancient Egypt this term, and it culminated today with the whole year dressing as Ancient Egyptians and enjoying a range of activities. Jo was very creative and made Archie a fantastic costume out of pillow cases and various other bits and pieces. She also volunteered to help out for the day, which was very brave, especially as she made a dressing up outfit for herself as well!

As it turned out the weather decided to get involved as well. The annual flooding of the Nile has been an important natural cycle in Egypt since ancient times, and today the school played the part of the Nile, as the weather broke in Abu Dhabi and we witnessed the flooding of Al Yasmina (hopefully it's not going to be an annual event!).
It has felt as though a storm has been brewing for a few days, with grey skies, gusty winds blowing sand about, and increasing humidity. Finally it broke this morning, firstly in the city centre as I arrived for work, and then at Khalifa A as school started.

To be fair there was thunder and lightning, and the rain was torrential for a while. It wasn't long before the water was pouring into the school hall, and it only took a few hours before the school was closing for the day, as were many other schools in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and other Emirates. Overkill? Quite possibly.
Archie and his classmates did manage to do most of their planned activities, other than their procession round the playground. He seems to have particularly enjoyed mummifying a banana; he described the process to me earlier and it certainly sounded quite complicated.
The impact of the rain has been a little comical. It is definitely the UAE equivalent of how the UK grinds to a halt when there are a few flakes of snow. I even had Dubai based members of my team asking if they could leave early due to the adverse weather. It has been the headline on most news reports I have heard, and has played havoc with events such as the Dubai Air Show.
Things seem to have settled down this evening, so it looks as though we can tick off one of the ten days of rain we can expect in our first year here. I'm sure it will be back to 30 degrees tomorrow, joy!
As per usual, thanks for reading.

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