pics around al ain

The first two pictures are of houses facing out to a carpark in Al Jahli. The standard of housing gets a lot less salubrious than this for some workers.




These next few shots are of the desert out past Jebel Hafeet and a couple of shots of the mountain itself.





These last few are more shots of Sanaiya; the industrial area.

trekking Europa

It's the end of another week ... and only 63 sleeps until our European trek. We've organised a week in each of Provence, Venice and Budapest, but we'll play it by ear/budget for the remaining weeks. We've pencilled in a few days in the south of Germany and a few days in the north with no firm plans. Apart from that I'm torn. I want to go in two directions; one to Greece and Cyprus, the other to Holland and Belgium.

It's sad really that I'm concerned about such matters when the news is full of price rises for basic food items and the devastating impact that'll have on millions. There are probably billions of people who'd trade places and take on my problems if given a chance.

I know that I'm very lucky to have the opportunities that I do. I daily see the contrast between my life and that of the shop keepers and labourers here.

sight seeing in Al Ain

You've got visitors coming into town on a whirlwind tour. Where do you take them?

1. The Al Ain Museum - My social buddy took me there when I first arrived and I enjoyed it. The static exhibits are a bit the sameish, but they're okay to poke around for a while. I really enjoyed the videos though. They're quite long, but they are an interesting account of the history of the area. The nearby oasis is worth a walk through if it isn't too hot. And then there's the markets opposite.

2. Jebel Hafeet - That's an obvious attraction with the obligatory stop off on the way down at the Mercure for a coffee or a meal.

3. Green Mubuzarah - (how do you spell that?). It's a picnic area with running hot springs. Interesting.

4. Airport Road - There's the road out the back of town and the road to the airport. They're pretty stunning on a first viewing. Well the airport isn't stunning, but I like the plane sculpture on the roundabout; particularly when the water is running. There's quite a variety of desertscapes in a small area too.

5. City Centre - the look of the shops, particularly in the backstreets is fairly interesting.

6. Roundabouts - Can you do a tour of the roundabouts? Seems a bit boring, but I'd actually like to do a roundabout tour and take pics of each roundabout. Have them all recorded before they disappear. I"m sure I'm not the first person to think of that. There are probably several people with lots of roundabout shots and a few with a comprehensive collection. I wonder if anyone has a pic of the clocktower roundabout before it was dereoundabouted.

7. Camels and Building Site - Apparently if you go out on the road to Jebel Hafeet and Green Mubuzarah, but don't take the hafeet turn off, you end up on a road out the back of the mountain that has wall to wall camels and a huge shopping complex that's under construction. Why would they build a shopping complex out there? It's the middle of nowhere. Either it's a completely hair-brained scheme, or it's a good example of forward planning.

8. International Hotels - for a coffee and dinner. There's the French Bakery.

9. The Zoo - haven't done the night walk. I wonder if that's still on, or if it's getting too hot.

10. Malls - yea. I guess.

11. Cinema - There's the one at the mall and there's the one at the Rotana. Why don't they have a gold class cinema? I like a bit of pampering every now and then.

12. Palace Museum - that's an interesting look at how life may have been in the past.
...

I guess there's more, but I've run out of ideas for the moment.

not before time

A few days ago the Gulf News carried this story. Yay! I'm happy.

'Al Ain Municipality bans smoking in all public places
WAM
Published: March 31, 2008, 15:21

Al Ain: Al Ain Municipality will ban smoking in all enclosed public places as of April 15, according to an administrative decree issued by Awad Khalifa Bin Hasoum Al Darmaki, Director General of the Municipality.'

city centre

The city centre can be scary. While most roads in Al Ain have three car lanes in each direction, much of the city centre is older and less planned than the newer parts. There are many narrow two way streets with one lane each direction. Toss several double parked cars into the mix and you've got a scary scenario at busy times of the evening. It's not a place I like to be at certain times.

However, the city centre does have some charm too. The coloseum roundabout is stunning, the lanterns on the flyover are pretty and there are bits of beauty dotted here and there.

Sanaiya

Sanaiya is an ugly place and scary as all %$#@! It's an indsustrial area full of poorly paid, overworked guys with little or no education. Men outnumber women 1000 to 1. However, that's not why it's scary. It's the driving ... probably that's a result of the testosterone. Cars and oversize trucks compete on the roads dodging and weaving. Groups of male pedestrians criss-cross the road any time they see half an opportunity. It's a battlefield and I always breathe a sigh of relief when I'm safely out the other side!





The buildings are mostly old and run down and were poorly built and conceived in the first place. Sanaiya is a 2 minute drive from Ramsay Street where many of us-mob, who came in July last year, live. Despite its ugliness though it does have a certain charm. Somewhere in the shapes, colours, sounds, squalor, danger, fading signage, sand and mountain-backdrop there's something likeable.

man-eating mozzies

There are giant man-eating mosquitos in Al Ain. I've never seen such big ones. They're quite easy to see and swat, but there are sooo many of them. We had to leave the classroom the other day to get it fumigated because we were all chatting away and simultaneously swatting mozzies. Apparently the college is being fumigated over the weekend and the surrounds are being 'fogged.' I hate to think what 'fogged' might mean. It conjures up visions of giant DDT clouds.

I keep wondering what diseases the beasts are carrying. I'm told that malaria disappeared from this area in the dim and distant past, but I'm also told (lots of rumours flying around in Al Ain) that if you are diagnosed with malaria you are refused treatment if you claim you got it here. However, if you got it in another country, you'll get treatment. I've heard of problems being legislated out of existence and of unemployment queues being substantially diminished simply by redefining terms. Simply refusing to acknowledge a disease as being away of getting keeping the records clean is another lateral thinking approach!

bizarre news stories today

A story I spotted in a Brisbane paper today about an incident in Florida, USA - Stingray leaps on to boat killing woman. Stingrays don't leap out of the water and attack people! That's just ridiculous! What was the ray thinking? They're only supposed to attack when they're under threat. A woman sitting in a boat shouldn't be a threat. How bizarre.

And one from a Melbourne newspaper - Infected Australian computers fetch top dollar. Say what? Apparently if you infect 1000 Aussie computers with viruses, you can score $100 USD from Russian bad guys. UK computers are worth $60, US computers $50 and Spanish computers $25. Why is anyone paying for this and why are Aussie computers worth more? Apparently the computers are being hijacked for mass-mailing SPAM. Aussie computers are hot property because Aussies are the slackest when it comes to protecting their computers so it means their computers can be hijacked longer than UK, US or any others.

And finally, Perth man sells life on Ebay. A man in Perth is selling everything on Ebay including his home and all of its contents as well as his car, clothes, introductions to all of his friends and even a trial at his work place. Apparently he's recently separated from his wife and he's not happy with his life. He's going to sell everything and start again.

road to Fujairah

We jumped in the car with the duo (T & C) yesterday without any particular plans. The car took us to Fujairah where we visited an old fort. The drive off the main road and up to the fort was a bit hair-raising given that it was a narrow road with lots of blind corners and we were armed with the knowledge that others are quite happy to do 140 kms on roads like this based on the assumption that there couldn't possibly be other cars around. We managed to get to the fort and back without mishap. The road took us past a new village that noticeably had one mansion and lots of dorm-like housing for workers. We continued along the road to the fort and ducked around the back where we were greeted with stunning scenery. There's a wadi rich with plant life and a hillside opposite dotted with caves.

Furjairah itself was interesting to see. There's a really weird seaside picnic area with multiple drive-in booths with individual shelters for cars alongside seating for 8 - 10 people. It was a little reminiscent of drive-in movie theatres back home. The place had a forlorn feeling of a bygone era. It looked like it would have been a happening thing in 1963. Other parts of the town were quite modern with high-rise buildings and international hotels.

On the trip home we headed back on a new road that is totally unsigned. It runs from Kalba through to Al Madam. It's a regular freeway with two lanes in either direction and is fully paved; an easy drive. There are a couple of tunnels along the way and some wonderful mountain views. Parts of the road have attractive fencing and footpaths which is quite strange given that it's apparently in the middle of nowhere.
There are a couple of government buildings and some very swish looking housing dotted here and there, but otherwise nothing.

One thing noticeable on other roads on the route was the free roaming camels. There were many on the sides of the roads. Two steps to the side and the'd be right in front of the car. From what I can gather this used to be quite common all over the Emirates, but it is unusual now. Rumour has it that if you hit a camel, you are liable to pay the owner the price of the beast. Rumour also had it that this was a bit of a racket in the past when unscrupulous owners would lead their old or sick camels onto the road and wait.

two things I hate about Al Ain

The weather is beautiful again today. I've got the windows and doors open and there's a gentle breeze. I live close to a small store which is very convenient at times. However, I've got a couple of gripes about it all.

1. Why do delivery people turn up to the store at all times of the day and early evening leaving their truck engines running for up to half an hour at a time? The noise is horrendous and the contribution to excess engergy use and to air pollution can't be good! Not to mention noise pollution ... even after closing our double glazed windows the noise is disturbing.

2. Why do customers think it is reasonable to drive up to the shop and hoot their horns? When he's there the guy working in the shop rushes out to assist them. Is it really too much to get out of your car and take 6 steps into the store? Why do people think it's reasonable to have the shop guy at their beck and call? The hooting is annoying especially when the guy isn't there (he's often out on his bike making deliveries of water, gas or other items.). It seems that a locked shop door isn't enough of a signal and people sit there hooting for several minutes before they finally give up and tear off down the street; often at break neck speed.

The delivery truck that prompted this entry has been making a racket out the front for 40 minutes now.

Just as I hit publish, the driver got back into the truck ready to take off. I caught the culprit on camera albeit through the flyscreen!

massive price rises

I dined last night at my fave Al Ain restaurant in one of the International hotels. One of the things I've always liked about it is that the service fee of 10% and the tourism fee of 6% are built into the prices, so it is easy to calculate your bill. At the other hotels you have to total your bill and then add 16%, so you sometimes forget and get caught off guard with a higher cost. Having it included from the start seems much more honest to me. Well low and behold (I think that is the first time I've ever used that expression!) the menu prices at my fave were the same, but a bit of paper stuck on the bottom said 'add 10% service fee and 6% tourism fee.' In one little sticky bit of paper, they'd upped their prices 16%! So disappointing. So costly.

An article in the Gulf News the other day talked about the huge increase in the cost of food. In the last year rice has gone up 51%, chicken 66%, cooking oil 80%, potatoes 23%. Overall the increase is 36% in a 12 month period.

Apparently some people are going to neighbouring countries to stock up on cheaper supplies.

The rises have been blamed on the currency being pegged to the US dollar. This has meant that imports cost a lot more. A further rise of 70% is expected this year. There doesn't seem to have been a great deal of discussion in the news though about unhitching from the dollar.

And to make things worse, many of us didn't get a pay rise to offset the cost of living rises. Bleat. Bleat.

crimson skies

I got up at 4am today and looked out the window, as you do. Jebel Hafeet wasn't there. Usually it's somewhat visible at night because of the lights snaking up it. Last night it wasn't there. It was cloaked in a crimson sky. It was the most amazing colour. The world seemed to be on fire. I've not seen anything like it outside of war / armageddon type movies.

who knew?

NDD is a factor in ADHD, depression and violence. Reseachers have found that NDD is associated with health and societal problems. Reducing NDD may well reduce the incidence of these other problems. What is NDD? Nature Deficit Disorder; a lack of trees and greenery in our environment.

Sounds like an idea worth pursuing. I heard a program on the radio last night Greening our Psyche where the point was made that 'our brain didn't grow, evolve and adapt in an environment of grey filing cabinets.'

Poets and artists have long admired greenery. Psychologists have begun using it in therapy. However, town planners have seen it as something that is 'nice' if we can afford it, but not a necessity. Is it a necessity? A study in Chicago looked at 14 fairly identical public housing developments where low income people, often single parents with young children, lived. The apartments tended to be small and overcrowded. Children had little opportunity to play outside. Researchers found that the incidence of violence and crime was highest in the developments that had fewer or no trees.

Apparently greenery seems to psychologically rejuvenate people. We are better able to withstand pressure and more able to control our impulses. The research claims that by greening the worst affected housing developments, crime could be reduced by as much as 7 percent. The Chicago Housing Authority has taken the research on board and is now greening the developments. Trees, grass and playgrounds are now appearing where before there was nothing. Green spaces are increasingly being viewed as community living rooms.

Interesting to see if the crime rates do drop and if depression and ADHD reduce. It seems like a safer, cheaper, healthier approach than medication.

But what about desert dwellers? Are we doomed?

Pic from http://www.lhhl.uiuc.edu/girls_self-discipline.htm

buraimi

My favourite kind of pharmacy. I'm all for science in medicine. I wonder what basis 'non-scientific' pharmacies run on.

new car

Hey! We got the new car ... and it only took a week longer than we were told it would. That's not bad! It's all white and shiny!

We were at a dinner last night where people who'd been here a while were talking about cars and driving in Al Ain. There were stories of deaths, accidents caused by being hit from behind, a car just the other day lying upside down on the median strip with people trapped inside and wheels spinning forlornly in the air, and one of a recent incident near Al Ain mall where a large 4 wheel drive, rather than stop at a red light, chose to drive over the top of the car in front and come to a stop with it's back wheels dangling through the front window.

It seems that a Hummer would have been a wiser purchase than my little 4 cylinder job, but then ... I got the car I was prepared to pay for. I just have to hope that it remains all white and shiny and manages to avoid bingles.

blog attack

I've had three comments on my blog recently that make statements like

'Doushura said... For a more complete comments, I would advise you to be more detailed information, for example 'here or here.'


When I mouse over 'here' and 'here' I can see that they are both links to websites. One is a link to a site with the word 'pharmaceutical' in it. What is this all about? It seems like SPAM has arrived in blogdom. To post to a blog though you need to type in the free form group of 6(-ish) letters that appear at the bottom. This suggests that the spamming is manual rather than mass.

This is all a bit disappointing. We have to contend with daily email SPAM (despite paying for SPAM filters) and now it's arrived in blogs too.

the universe unfolds

We took the big step on Tuesday of putting down a deposit for a shiny new car. We were told that it would be registered and ready to drive away on Thursday. We've been here long enough to know that that wasn't going to happen. This is the middle east. Things don't work like that, and of course they didn't work like that.

The car dealer can get much cheaper finance through the banks than we can, so we left it in his hands to organise that. Well, the first three banks he tried rejected us. Why, you ask? The problem is that we've got a joint bank account and our bank statements list K's name first. It shows his Surname, his first name, his middle name and then the statement says '& Mrs' but it doesn't get any further. So my income is going into the account, but my name isn't on the statements. The other banks don't like it and they say they'll only give us the finance if the account is in my name only! Sigh! We haven't heard back from the 4th bank yet. The 4th bank is our own bank, surely they won't reject it ... ? I guess we'll hear the next instalment of that saga on Sunday.

There is another spanner in the works ... of course. To get a loan you need to have a salary statement from your employer. I got one of those a while back when we first started thinking seriously about getting a car. The catch is that the salary statement can't be more than 30 days old. Mine was 28 days old on Tuesday when we put down the deposit on the car. It was 30 days old on Thursday. So I'm guessing that the next thing that will happen is that our own bank will approve the loan pending a current salary statement. The last one took me almost two weeks to get by the time the employer had lost my application for it and I'd reapplied, then they'd given me one with wrong information and finally 14 days later I got the right one.

So I've got a car in waiting, but I don't expect to see it in my carport any time soon!

What drove us to finally make a move to get a car was our utter annoyance at the hire cars we were getting. The one we've got now reeks of cigarette smoke. As soon as you put the a/c on there's a huge dose of eau de fag. The car doesn't have central locking let alone keyless entry ... how did we ever survive without those necessities? The auto gear shift is clunky, there are scratches all over the body and to top it off it costs Dhs 200 more than we were paying when we left for hols a few weeks ago.

If the universe unfolds such that our shiny new car never actually gets to us, we'll let it rest there and say it wasn't meant to be and we'll probably keep hiring for a bit ... or maybe we'll just walk everywhere! But, all being well I'm hoping to be the proud owner of the new beast by week after next, or the week after that. Inshallah.

green green green - back in australia

I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges
Of drought and flooding rains
I love her far horizons
I love her jewel sea
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me

(from a poem which every Aussie child learns in primary school – written by Dorothy McKellar 100 years ago.)



GOLD COAST
Strangely my first impression on going back to Aus and the Gold Coast is of green trees, green grass and beautiful skies. It’s lovely to smell the fresh sea breeze and to walk around the Broadbeach restaurants and beaches. There’s been a lot of rain. The dams are full, but the water restrictions are still in place and may become a permanent feature of life in Aus.

MOURA
(On the road to Moura)

Our travels took us up to Moura; two hours inland from Rockhampton. Rocky was flooded with the Fitzroy river having burst its banks leaving some houses with wet feet. Floods are not an uncommon phenomenon though and the typical house in the area is built 2 metres above the ground. So no major damage was caused.

MELBOURNE
(Bathing boxes on the beach at MtMartha - just outside Melbourne)

We traipsed 3000 kms south down to Melbourne which is gorgeous; so green. We’re thinking that when we move back to Aus we might buy an apartment in St.Kilda; the suburb we both grew up in. It has wonderful restaurants, coffee shops and the beach, and it’s just a short tram ride to the city.



(Shots of the city centre. Melb is a great mix of old and new and has lots of greenery even in the CBD.

BANGKOK
We spent a few days in Bangkok with which we quickly developed a love / hate relationship. Frankly, it reeks. The stench on the streets is unbelievable; quite overwhelming at times. I gave up smoking more than 25 years ago but during one short stroll from the river to the station I felt like I’d inhaled 25 years worth of cigarettes (that’s over 180,000 cigarettes!). The pollution just seemed to hang there and the air had a black pall to it. In addition to the pollution there’s an ever present stench of rotting food, mingled with sewer and intensified by the heat, which attacks the olefactory nerves! (The river banks are a constant contrast of old and new of wealth and squalor.)
(This was one of the nicer street markets we saw.)


However, a lot of time is spent above street level. We were introduced to some sensational places including a Jazz bar with the all time coolest band. They played largely favourites from the American song book. Two of the band were from Chicago, one from New York. The bass player was from Aus. She was fantastic. I’ve never appreciated that instrument so much.
The drummer was wonderfully sparse. He used brushes most of the night. The sax player was great as was the singer / pianist. The venue was just wonderful with comfy arm chairs, no overcrowding and good food and drink. Our friends also urged us to see the Moon Bar, but hadn’t told us much about it. We were blown away! Sensational; a must-see on any Bangkok trip.

tuscan dreaming

I've got it into my head that I want to go to Tuscany in July. I hadn't given it much thought before today, but suddenly it's a 'must do' despite two huge drawbacks; firstly the net is covered with stories about thieves and pickpockets targeting older travellers (I think that includes me these days!!) especially around stations and areas where tourists hangout in Firenze. The second drawback is that I have it on good authority (Seinfeld episode from about 1997) that it's impossible to find accommodation there. Seinfeld wouldn't mislead me on that or any other issue, I'm sure. So I'm gonna be Tuscan-dreaming for the next few months, or at least for the rest of the day.

The other big issue on my mind is cars; to buy or not to buy? All the arguments are in favour of buying rather than continuing to rent, but I seem unable to take the step. I'm afraid of commitment! I thought that was supposed to be a guy thing!

Some days I decide, 'Yes, I'll do it.' Others days I decide, 'No, not yet.' There are also days when I struggle with 'shall I get car X which is very sensible and gets lots of good reviews, or should I get car Y which is gonna be more fun, but is more expensive and doesn't get such good reviews.' So I can't decide whether to be sensible, a little reckless or just plain indecisive. Indecision is still winning out.

it rained today

Yay! It rained for about 5 mins while I was in Khalifa Street today. Sensational! It was continuous rain, but not all that heavy. Interestingly the water didn't have anywhere to drain and there were huge puddles in the right lanes of the road.

This is where I should have a good picture of Khalifa Street puddles, but I was enjoying the rain too much to even think about getting a pic.

jebel hafeet goes missing

As I look out my lounge window I see grey sky where the mountain used to be. Jebel Hafeet has gone. It is no longer there; finished, kaput, nichts.

One wonders how it could have been moved over night and where it went. Did a conga line of large trucks come and 'disappear it' in the middle of the night? Is it being used for off-shore palm fronds in Dubai? Were aliens involved?

There's an obvious crack waiting to be written here, but in view of the unfortunate naming of a teddy bear in a near-by country, I'd best refrain.

The simple answer to the mystery is desert storms. The air is full of sand effectively screening the mountain from view. I've not seen it quite like this before. The atmosphere is heavy and pregnant with expectation and perhaps anticipation of imminent relief. It seems that rain is needed to lift the heaviness and clear the air. I wonder whether that happens here.

I'm hoping that I can soon report 'It rained today.' In the almost six months that I've been here I think I've seen about six drops of rain - one for every month. Rain would be nice. Funny how much you can miss it!

OSCAR

Oscar died in Australia today. He was 11 years old and was taken by a tick. I'm going back to Aus in a few weeks and hadn't realised how much I was looking forward to seeing Os again. He'll be terribly missed.

Os we all loved you dearly. RIP.

christmas, birthdays and all that

I'm another year older. A year ago I hadn't imagined myself celebrating my birthday 10,000 kms from home, I hadn't imagined having 5 waiters come to my table carrying a tiny cake with candle and singing 'happy birthday' and I hadn't imagined dining with new friends. The other things I hadn't imagined were manifold, amongst them the increasing saggy-baggyness of my skin, my increasingly drooping eyelids and the increasing number of wrinkles. To be fair though, I am sitting at my computer with strong morning uplight reflecting my face onto the screen in front of me. Frankly I'd rather not have to be looking at it!

Christmas has come and gone. We had a lovely Christmas dinner with half a dozen of our neighbours. The hosts went all out. The table and dining room were beautifully decorated in red and green with sparklies all around, the food and drink were top notch and the company was wonderfully engaging. Christmas day itself was topped and tailed by other 'does' around and about the place. It's been a lovely few days.

I ventured off to the zoo with my students on Christmas day. We had a ball.

The bird show is always a highlight. It was quite up close and personal as there were only 14 of us. Later some of the girls were even brave enough, after a few minutes, to have snakes dangling from their arms. Unfortunately it's not appropriate to take pics of the girls, so I didn't get many shots. This is the largest falcon in the UAE.

Now the New Year is almost upon us. My plan for this year is simply to survive another year reasonably intact. That's not so ambitious and should be achievable.

On a completely different note, we had pizza for lunch the other day and later ventured out into the laneway at back. I spotted a room full of sheesha pipes with these three out the front in the process of being cleaned.

muscat

We ventured right into the thick of Oman for the first time. The border crossing was messy. You have to drive through an immigration post, then get out of the car, fill in a form, hand it in to a guy who takes the form, checks the passport and stamps it. Then you have to pay to leave the country, get back in the car and show some papers at the exit booth. That's to leave UAE.

After that you drive through a kind of no-man's land for 5 - 10 mins before finally driving past an Omani immigration booth, handing in your passports, getting out of the car, going into a fairly swish building, queueing up to get your passports back, queueing up to pay for a visa, filling out some forms, queueing up again to have the forms and passports checked and finally being able to leave. But, hey, not so easy ... there was the issue of the Omani insurance that, though it had been paid for when buying the car, was not evident on the card we had. So we couldn't get past the immigration exit booth and had to go back to immigration to repay insurance that had already been paid! During our initial stint inside the building the other woman in our group was questioned about where her husband was (he was standing next to her) and K was looked upon with suspicion and questioned about why HE wasn't working in UAE. The implication here was that as a man he should be working. Never mind that he is actually working, just not in UAE and not for a UAE organisation. Also it seems that a woman on her own shouldn't be travelling. She should be accompanied by her husband. We were left wondering if these moral judgements made us unworthy travellers in Oman and why on earth the bureacracy couldn't get the insurance right. None of this was consistent with the stories we'd heard about how lovely and friendly the Omani people were.

An hour later, after passing a lone mosque set in the mountains, we found ourselves in Sohar. We'd heard about the beaches there and decided to check them out. Our drive took us through some narrow back streets that were really interesting for us. The housing was very basic brick huts, some with ornate doorways. Groups of men and youths were sitting in doorways (it was a holiday). We didn't see many women, but a few colourfully dressed girls were about. We got the impression that we were reasonably interesting for the locals too as they were all waving and saying hello as we drove by. Had no westerner gone this way before?

The sea seemed to be undervalued. A few old houses backed onto it, but none made use of the views. The sand was littered with debris; soft drink cans and papers. We found a relatively clean area and had a picnic lunch (making sure not to add to the debris!!). After lunch I ventured down to the water and was shocked to find that the 'lumps' I'd seen from the distance, and assumed to be jellyfish, were actually goat pelts. They were mainly skin and fur with the odd hoof. One goat consisted of just a pelt and a head. I quickly remembered that it was Eid. At this time of year the locals sacrifice an animal in memory of Ibrahim's sacrificial offering of his son to God. Along the highway out of Sohar towards Muscat there were goat carcasses strewn here and there. Although I knew about the practice, it was difficult being confronted with it in this way.

Things picked up once we hit Muscat. It is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful city with many forts, magnificent mosques and an array of interesting buildings, old and new. There was no confronting evidence of sacrifical practices. We indulged ourselves well beyond any kind of sensible budget and stayed at the Grand Hyatt. Wow! It was sensational; a feast for the eyes. Every interior, every exterior view was magnificently opulent. From our room we had a view over the beautiful gardens and pools out to the Indian ocean.

Muscat is set in a valley with the white houses and buildings nestled against a magnificent rugged mountain backdrop. The roadsides are green and planted with colourful flowers again contrasting with the red / brown of the mountains and the white of the buildings. There were no signs of rubbish. Everything was kempt and picture perfect. Later we drove through some of the less salubrious parts of town. They were interesting in their own right. The older areas had narrow streets with fairly shabby housing. All of the housing seemed to have air-con and satellite dishes though. Some of the areas in, around and just out of the city have magnificent views of housing, mountains, bay and / or ocean. It is picture post-card perfect in all directions.

We visited a wonderful village. Goats and chickens were wandering freely in the sand, scrub and laneways. A few locals were sitting about or getting on with their day to day lives. Wooden boats rested on the sand attesting to the importance of fishing in this village.

Everywhere we went was either sensational to look at or remarkably interesting. I'd happily go back to do some exploring. I'd even give Sohar another look in, but not at Eid! The return across the border went reasonably quickly and without frustration.

don't get sick on saturday

The hospitals here in Al Ain are plain weird. It is difficult to locate the appropriate outpatients desk and then once you get there, you don't know what to do. Should you queue up? Should you go straight to a desk where people seem intent on ignoring you? What are the procedures? Should you let your spouse keel over and die while staff happily ignore you both? I decided against the latter and insisted on getting some attention. My spouse was quickly seated while I was sent to the other end of the hospital to register. Once I'd registered, I had to make a point of asking what we had to do next, because I wasn't told. Armed with the appropriate information, K and I went to the nurses' desk and again I had to let it be known that we needed to see a doctor quickly.

Saturday, I have to tell you, is not a good day to get sick as the hospital has a lot in common with the Japanese subway where they have staff employed to stuff half a dozen more people into the already overcrowded carriages!

We soon jumped the queues and got to see a nurse who wired K up to a machine and then attempted to administer some oxygen. Unfortunately the oxygen cylinder was empty, so an orderly was quickly called to bring in a new one. The new one was wired up and the mask was put over K's face. With his entire body pinioned under a series of leads going off in all directions, he started trying to get to his hand to his face and was told to leave the mask alone as he needed oxygen for his heart muscles. He kept struggling. The nurse took the mask off his face and K informed him with his last gasp that he couldn't breathe. It turned out that the replacement gas cylinder was empty too! A third one was soon delivered. After the ECG K was given some meds and choofed off to another room for blood tests. Two and a half hours later some of the results came back! I was despatched to an office in Area B. I wasn't told what for, but I dutifully went. It turned out that I had to pay my 50Dhs insurance excess. An hour later the rest of the results came back. Half an hour after that he saw the doctor, who was very good!

When queue jumping takes over 4 hours you have to feel sorry for those who patiently wait their turn!

The whole time in the hospital you are not sure where you are supposed to go or what you are waiting for. You get told to go to various locations, but you are not sure why. It seems that the staff know their routines and what everything is, and it is assumed that patients know it all too!

The standard of medical care is good (apart from the odd incident of almost suffocating patients with non-existent oxygen), but the standard of communciation about where to go and why is very poor. And ... I'm not sure that there is actually a triage. It seems that to get urgent attention you need to jump up and down a bit.

Well that was my Saturday! How was yours? Oh, K's much better now.

the honeymoon is over

I've read about the phases we go through with new events in our lives like working or studying overseas. The graph starts about 70 percent up the vertical axis (denoting satisfaction level) and increases albeit with a few dips over the first couple of weeks as our emotions range from anticipation and excitement through to frustration and disappointment. This is quickly followed by a honeymoon period, often lasting about three months, where the graph peaks. During this time everything is wonderful. The odd setback is hardly noticed.

After this there is a sharp dip where we wonder what we are doing in this strange place with these strange people. Why are we doing what we are doing? Should we have come here? How long can we manage to stay? What is going to go wrong next? Were we crazy to embark on the venture? The graph bottoms out.

This period can last weeks to months and is then followed by a recovery period during which we tend to go up to between 60 and 80 percent on the satisfaction level scale and pretty much stay there, though it can be interupted by a period of homesickness.

For me the honeymoon is over. I'm tumbling and hoping I've bottomed out! Can't wait for the recovery phase to hit. It will hit, won't it?

istanbul

Darkness. The narrow cobblestone road glistens, reflecting shoplights as a light rain falls. A man walks by hands in coat pockets. A girl wrapped in a woolly hat and scarf passes by chatting on a mobile phone. Couples hand in hand stroll by as the rain drizzles. A man in uniform comes running around the corner and disappears down the stairs into the Turkish Delight shop opposite. We watch it all from our vantage point by a large window in a warm and cosy restaurant.

We just got back from Istanbul. What a fabulous city!

It’s late afternoon and we drop into a sweet shop for something to have after dinner. The girl behind the counter urges us to try a piece of Turkish delight with pistachio in it. Yum. Next she wants us to try some pistachio with orange, then some chocolate delight, then some … and it goes on until we tell her we couldn’t possible try anything else. It’s all delicious. We purchase some of the things we tried and some we didn’t. There are some absolute gems amongst them. The 5-star winner is the pistachio nut surrounded by chocolate flavoured Turkish delight and then choc dipped with pistachio powder on top. Who thought of that one? Sensational! Some of the sweets are cut from 45 centimetre wide, 60 centimetre high cylinders much like the cylinders that kebab meat is cut from.

Some of the shop names make us laugh; ‘Dagi’ has to be a bad name for a fashion shop! The person who named the 'Hotel Ufuk' probably wasn't an English speaker!

We found that the restaurants advertising 'authentic Turkish food' were very ordinary while the little cafes (borek shops) were fantastic; cheap and delicious. Interestingly we didn't come across what we understood to be Turkish food. We were familiar with Turkish food from Sydney Road in Melbourne, Australia. This kind of food didn't seem to exist in Istanbul, or we couldn't find it, and we are wondering if perhaps it is peasant food. The Turkish bread in Melbourne is senstational, and is quite different to the bread in the restaurants in Istanbul where it was largely Greek style white bread.




I adored the Blue Mosque. The Hagia Sophia was really interesting. It has a history of hundreds of years as a church before being converted hundreds of years ago to a mosque. Although I enjoyed visiting the Topkapi palace and the Dolmabache, I found that I got a bit of a case of 'opulence fatigue.' Gold plated walls and ceilings are amazing, but you can only maintain interest for a limited number of rooms. The remains of a Roman hippodrome are pretty amazing.

I'd never realised previously that the river Bosphoros splits the city in two with one side being on the European continent and the other being in Asia. But then, I'm sure that there's an awful lot I haven't realised!

election day

It's election day in Aus. My daughter is casting her vote for the first time and, surprisingly, she is actually revved up, has done her research and has been instrumental in getting her mates to do their research and take their vote seriously.

My son and his girlfriend are actually running a polling booth in central Queensland. Previously my son has shown lacklustre interest. This time he's right in the thick of it.

Voting in Aus is compulsory with a monetary penalty for not doing so. K and I had a 'vote and dine' trip to Abu Dhabi yesterday, so we've done our bit.

I'm ecstatic that my kids are taking their votes seriously; it's so good to see the younger generation feeling like they can make a difference. I remember when I felt empowered! Ah, thems were the days! NowI've become one of those jaded, cynical, older people. I vote in a safe seat that is held by a party I'd never support. My vote will be a vote against the incumbent, but it won't dislodge him. I wonder if there is any point.

I'll be watching the live streaming broadcast this afternoon hoping that my vote will be part of a swing that will see seats change hands and hoping that the results will continue to enthuse the younger generation and make them feel like they can have an influence. How good would it be to see the young actively involved and pushing for change to make this a better planet to live on?

november

There's been an extraordinary number of birthdays here in Al Ain this month. There must be something about expats and locals alike that happens in February.

no fuss hairdressing

A hairdresser who comes to your home here in Al Ain,cuts your hair, chats pleasantly while she works and then leaves! The whole ordeal is over with in no time. What a find!

I don't usually like going to the hairdresser because I don't like the whole 'pamper me' thing. I far prefer the 'do it quick and efficient' approach to hair cuts. I'm a happy customer today.

Al Ain has lots of little secrets waiting to be uncovered.

expat trap

I'm starting to feel comfortable with this expat lifestyle and I can see how people find it difficult to ever go back home! The salary here isn't fantabulous, but it is quite reasonable and more than most EFL teachers would get in their own country. The cost of living is cheaper than at home and a huge plus is that we don't have to pay health insurance, accommodation or tax. The teaching and professional development standards are excellent. There's lots of opportunity for travel. The holidays are wonderful.

If we go home, it becomes something of a struggle to make ends meet. Why would you do it?

family, fossils and the zoo

I've been to Aus and back since my last post because my brother-in-law passed away quite suddenly. Although it is sad, there is some comfort in the fact that he was happy and quite active in his last few years. He regularly rode his bicycle 200 kms or more on the weekend. That's like riding to Dubai and back! He had lots of friends, family and was involved in the community in a number of capacities.

His passing struck my niece and nephew hardest. They lost their mother 10 years ago and now their father. Their courage in the circumstances was amazing. They are both married with young children. Both have a three year old and a one year old. They organised the funeral at which they both spoke. They met all of their father's friends and relatives and remained composed throughout. As well as managing their familes and the funeral, they had to sort out their father's business affairs. He was a lawyer who worked from home and had a large client list with many cases half done and in urgent need of attention. Neither of them work in that area, but they managed to contact the appropriate people to help them sort through it all. In addition they had to find the will and start thinking about what will happen to the property. I was amazed by their ability to cope. I was proud of them and know that my sister, their mother, would have been very proud of her children.

On a far more mundane note, I finally ventured over the border into Oman. We went to a souk in Buraimi and on to a hotel for lunch. Later we peeped at fossil valley which is quite a sensational landscape. Speaking of fossils, I wouldn't have been surprised if John Wayne had ridden by on horseback wearing his red and white kerchief. It is a stunning landscape.

Oh, and I recently went to the zoo. I just love it. We went during Eid but having heard about the likelihood of crowds, we got there at 8:30 in the morning so it was reasonably quiet. Some of the exhibits are a little sad. There is a lone gorilla who was intent on showing his back to any onlookers. The monkeys looked a little cramped. The highlight was the giraffes. It was quite funny to see a keeper wheeling a wheelbarrow along being followed by giraffes, deer, ibises, emu and an assortment of other animals. Clearly it was breakfast time!

driving in Al Ain

This strikes me as being a telling juxtaposition of postings! If anything drives me out of Al Ain, it'll be the traffic. It's just manic. We took a wrong turn last night at about 9pm and ended up in the city which was not quite what we had in mind. It was 10pm before we managed to get out the other end!

To say the traffic was bumper to bumper is to put it mildly. It was side panel to side panel, front right corner to front left fender, back left fender to bumper. If there was half a centimetre to spare anywhere, a car was sure to see that as an opportunity to jump in. Pedestrians were leaping off dark sidewalks criss crossing the traffic, so anytime cars moved at more than .25 of a km an hour brakes were slammed on suddenly. A couple of times we wanted to go one way, but someone more determined and more assertive muscled their way infront of us and forced us to go another direction. At one stage we ended up in a grid locked car park we hadn't intended to be in. It took a 53 point turn and some derring-do to get out. It was impossible to see what was happening at roundabouts because there was almost always either a 4WD or a car with tinted windows on our left.

I should laugh, but it really is quite stressful.

all grown up

I got my licence. I got my licence. (sung to the tune of the kids taunt ... nah nah nah nah-nah.)

a good day in doobs

I went back to Dubai last weekend for the first time since 'the accident.' I felt quite safe as we were in a ginormous 4-wheel drive. My previous impressions of Dubai were that it was one huge construction site with unreasonble heat, traffic accidents and ridiculously big shopping malls.

This time it was a magic place. At sunset we wandered through the narrow cobblestone laneways of a souk near a river where dhows were making their way up and down and the call to prayer was sounding in the background. (The cost of a dhow trip is Dh1 unless you are a westerner in which case they'll try to charge Dh10. If you happen to be Japanese it seems that the cost is likely to be Dh100. The thing to do apparently is to hand over Dh1 and laugh if they try to tell you it is more.) We'll save the dhow trip until next time as the spice market across the river wasn't open; and that seems to be the place to go.

That evening we went out for dinner and had drinks on a lantern-lit terrace by a river upon which once again dhows were criss crossing. It was beautiful; straight out of a fairytale. I wouldn't have been too surprised if Aladdin had flown by on a magic carpet. The weekend was topped off by getting up at 8am on Saturday morning just in time to watch the Australian Football League Grand Final live from Melbourne. A sensational, unexpected treat; and Geelong won for the first time in over 40 years - way to go Geelong!

So what do I think of Dubai? Well, it has bad days, but it definitely has good days too.

damned

Why does technology insist on being 2 steps forward and 1.99 steps back? It's soooooo frustrating sometimes. 'They' say (and we all know what an authority 'they' is) that problems with technology are as stress-inducing as divorce. I've never tried divorce, but I can attest to the absolute frustration and elevated blood pressure induced by FTP program glitches and various other technological mishaps. It's a wonder that my laptop hasn't been flung across the room to lie shattered into teensy slivers. A compounding factor is that my website host is in Aus and is virtually incommunicado.

On the other hand, I can't imagine life without technology.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

jebel hafeet

Have I mentioned that I can see Jebel Hafeet from my lounge window? It's the highest mountain in UAE, though to be fair, it isn't very high at all. However, in a largely flat landscape it is significant. It has a paved road snaking up it which is lined with street lamps and looks just sensational at night. It really does look like the stairway to heaven.

time to grow up

The hardest thing about being an expat here in Al Ain is the sense of being a child again. I feel like I can't do anything without assitance. I need to get my driver licence, but first I need to get my Aussie licence translated. Where do I do that? Why can't it be at 352 High Street near the corner of Smith? Why does it have to be past this roundabout towards Choitrums (how do you spell that) down that lane with the women's tailor on the corner, three doors up, take the stairs ... etc. And what time are they open during Ramadan anyway? I need some more water delivered. Why can't I give the guy a street address? Why do I need to describe it in terms of landmarks to someone whose language I can't speak and who only has a bare smattering of my language? Why haven't I figured out yet how to get some stamps to post a letter? How on earth do I get my electricity bill? How do I pay it? Aggghhh.

Either this is going to beat me, or I'm going to beat it. I think I have to just grow up!

ramsay street - listen to moi

What does it mean when you get in a cab in Al Ain and give them directions to your apartment ... dewar Sanaiya, cedar, yameen ... and so on, and the driver, who has very little English, says, "Ah, Ramsay Street?"

Okay, I find it hard to believe too, but I'm told that it happened! I think that I got it third or fourth hand ... and now I'm passing it on.

For anyone who isn't an Aussie or a Brit, that may be a bit cryptic. Ramsay Street is an imaginary street in Australia that's the setting for an Australian soapie called 'Neighbours.' Ramsay Street residents all know each other and each other's business and are forever in and out of each other's houses borrowing cups of sugar, giving advice or offering a shoulder to cry on.

When we arrived here, we jokingly dubbed the apartments 'Ramsay Street' because of the large number of Brits and Aussies here, and it seems that someone's been training the taxi drivers. Hmmmm.

Another Aussie show that's been talked about here at Ramsay Street (Al Ain) recently is 'Kath and Kim.' If you get a chance to see it, then do! It makes one cringe so much that it's funny. Kath and Kim are a middle-aged Aussie woman and her adult daughter living in the suburbs of Melbourne, Aust. They live in an imginary suburb (I think/hope it's imaginary!) called Fountain Gate. We see their every day problems with husbands, weight loss, shopping and so on. They send up life in the burbs (suburbs) in Australia delightfully. Critics refer to them as the 'foxy morons.' The women who play the roles of Kath and Kim are the creators/writers of the show. Kudos to them. They've done it brilliantly. One of the catch cries from the show is 'Listen to moi. Listen to moi.' (moi=me). Totally cringe-worthy.

The pic of course is 'Ramsay Street' Al Ain.

and it hasn't even been a month

Before I came to the UAE I read and heard so much about the roads here and how they are wild. Accidents, I was told, are a far too frequent occurence and an inevitable result of too much speed. I haven't even completed my first month here and already I've been involved in a traffic accident.

Two buses, too much speed and then indecision at a red light. Our bus slams on the brakes and comes to an abrupt holt jolting us all forward and then back. Then miliseconds later ... kabang! The second bus runs up the back of my bus shattering the back window and again throwing all the passengers forward and then back. Whiplash and confusion all around. People in shock. People holding their necks, some crying, others limping. Taxis taking people to hospital. New buses to ferry the other stranded passengers to our destination.

And all of this by 11am. The day ended reasonably well and I believe (and hope) that no-one has a lasting injury. It's certainly a day to remember. I hope it's the last experience of a traffic accident for all of us.

week 3 in Al Ain

What a funny place this is! I'm learning about local time. There've been a few problems with our apartment. There's been a burst water tank (and consequent flood), a tap strategically placed so that we couldn't use the oven and various minor issues. However, as it's a brand new apartment, we can take these things in our stride. Luckily we have contacts to ring and get these kinds of things sorted. The drama in all this though is the constant waiting. The guy to fix the plumbing issues is supposed to turn up at 9am. By 3pm he still isn't here. We ring a few times and are always told that he'll be here in half an hour. He eventually turns up at 11am next day and decides that he can't do much until the guy who fixes the electrics does his thing. The electrian guy turns up 5 hours after the appointed time, does half the job and says he'll be back in the morning. He arrives the following evening and finished the job. Then we have to wait again for the plumber guy and then the guy who's gonna fix the tiling that's been damaged by the electric guy and the plumber. This situation is repeated again and again with each problem that we discover! So we're forever waiting.

Luckily for me, I get to go to work during the day. K is supposed to be working from home, so he gets to do most of the waiting. Of course, K can't actually do much work yet as the net connection which is supposed to be 2mg is less than a quarter of that speed, so the provider is going to pull up the cables which they laid last week and relay them next week. So our net connection is likely to disappear.

Whenever someone turns up to do something at the apartment, there is always one guy to do the job and two who just watch. I haven't quite figured that one out yet. A couple of days ago an Arabic guy turned up with 3 guys who spoke no English. While the Arabic guy was talking to K, I was communicating with one of the non-English guys via sign language. We had a good understanding of what I wanted and what he was going to do. We'd sorted it. The Arabic guy then turned to me and said something quite incomprehensible. I said, 'sorry?' He repeated it. I said 'Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean.' He repeated it looking quite annoyed. I had to tell him that I just didn't understand. He asked me, in a very irritated tone, if I spoke English. I had to laugh.

So far I've learnt about 10 words of Arabic. They enable me to communicate reasonably adequately with most taxi drivers. Most of them seem quite amused at my pronunciation, but that's fine. It's kinda fun and a bit of an ice-breaker.

I daily feel more comfortable here. Tomorrow I'm off to Abu Dhabi to check out the 'bluer than blue ocean' I've heard so much about.

cigarettes and taxis

The standout items from my first week in Al Ain are that cigarette smoke is ubiquitous and it's challenging to get in a taxi and end up where you want to end up.

In Aus smoking is banned in hotels, restaurants and most work places. It's restricted in outdoor areas. So we've been quite spoilt. Al Ain is a bit of a blast from the past with smoking allowed in most places. Some restaurants seem to have non-smoking areas, but no one has told the smoke to keep within those boundaries and it wafts around as it pleases. Even our hotel room reeks of smoke. I can normally tolerate a bit of smoke, but it is quite overwhelming here as we seem to be subjected to it all day only to retire to the hotel room and inhale it all night.

I'll finish the rant at that point as smoking is obviously something I have to learn to be more tolerant of.

The taxis are all fun and games. We've had some really good taxi drivers with quite good English, but several who have no English, not even 'yes' and 'no.' We can't even show them maps of where we want to go as they are illiterate. They don't understand our poor pronunciation of things like 'jebel bil maya roundabout.' I haven't figured out yet where anything is in relation to anything else, so I don't know my way anywhere and have to rely on the drivers. I even had trouble at one stage communicating 'Hilton Hotel' to a driver. After numerous attempts he eventually got it. He put the stress on 'ton' rather than 'Hil' which explained why he had trouble understanding my prounuciation.

We're moving out of our hotel today and into our apartment. That's a bit scary because at least the hotel is a landmark and it's not too difficult to get drivers to understand. How on earth can we consistently get drivers to and from our apartment? Clearly I'll have to work out where things are myself so that at least I know where I'm going. It's funny to think that in a few weeks this will all be quite easy, but now it's challenging.

zero

Teleporting - when's it gonna happen? How can I invest? How can we make it happen sooner? Long haul travelling ... well frankly, it largely sucks (not that there are any complaints about the staff or service).

We arrived in Al Ain at 3am this morning and were hit with a burst of 37 degree heat as soon as we walked out of the airport. Amusing! We were escorted through passport control and the visa process went through quite easily, though I did feel some guilt at the queue jumping. Scores of people were waiting and we were taken the front of the queue each time.

I've only been here a few hours, but what has struck me so far is the number of staff involved in each service. For example we had brekky at the hotel this morning and each time a plate was emptied or we finished a cup of coffee, someone was at our side offering us more (it was a fixed price smorgasbord, so there was no finanicial incentive for the service). There seem to be scores of staff at the hotel sweeping leaves and sand from paths, polishing floors and doing various jobs. This could take some getting used to.

I'm not sure about the tipping situation. The hotel staff don't seem to expect it, so I haven't given anything. I'd have no idea how much to tip anyway. A website I just checked out said that 2 - 5dhs was a good tip. I'm not sure though and would be interested to hear from others on this.

Oh, and the other point to mention (again) ... it's a bit hot outside!

one week to go

Bags not packed. Electricity, phone, internet disconnections not organised. Kitchen not packed. Lawns not mowed, gutters not cleaned, pest control not done, palm fronds not cleaned up, contact for services like pool cleaning, pool fencing, council rates and so on not redirected to estate agent. Hmmm. I think I'll have a busy week this week.

On the upside though, a lot was achieved last week. Best of all my 18 year old daughter and her friend finally found a house in Brisbane. They'll be moving out in a few days, thus making the rest of my packing and the house cleaning and letting easier to organise and putting my mind at rest. J will be fine.

The big challenge for this week is firstly to make sure that all the loose ends mentioned above, and those not mentioned, are tied up and secondly to somehow squeeze our worldly belongings into 54kgs of luggage. I keep wondering why the luggage itself has to weigh 4 - 5 kilos per case. Surely they could get it lighter!

sand storms

I've read that you can get a great view of Al Ain from the nearby mountains, but the downside is that the city is usually covered in a yellow pall.

I've been wondering just what the dirty air is. Is it pollution? From what I've read Al Ain doesn't seem to be an industrial city. I'm thinking that the yellow may be sand in the air.

two weeks to go

I've discovered with some amusement that there're at least two stages to solving problems. There's the macro panic and the micro panic. For example:

MACRO:
OMG What'll we do with the cat and dog when we go?
Solution - Stage 1: Ask all our friends and rellies. Finally ... T, our son will take them.
Response: Great! Problem solved.

MICRO:
OMG. T lives 8 hours away by road. How will we get the pets to him?
Solution Stage 2: Make some phone calls, get some quotes. Finally ... send the dog by plane and cat by road.
Response: Great! Problem solved (again).

Hmmm. The transportation won't happen for a couple of weeks. So is the problem actually solved at this point or have we got a virtual solution, or maybe a solution in waiting?

Life must be a bit on the humdrum side when one's waking hours are consumed by such thoughts.

Things are plodding along nicely with lots of problems (mostly employing the two stage panic technique) disappearing and the 'to do' list being whittled away.

The cold here on the GC is unrelenting. It is the coldest winter on record. Usually the highs and lows in winter are 12 - 22. This year they are 0 - 19. What's the point of moving north for the warm winters when the lows are just as cold as in the south?

three weeks

I wonder how easy it is to upload pics here. I'll give it a go.
This is home on the Gold Coast (to be later contrasted with 'home' in Al Ain.)
Firstly, the beach.

Next, my lounge room.

And a frill necked lizard in my front yard.

And ... it turns out it's very easy to upload pics.

three weeks to go

Another week has raced by. We've chipped away at the many tasks that need doing. Still need to bring the house up to scratch so we can let it. Lots of little things like smoke alarms and a few big ones like spend billions (okay not quite that much!) on a new pool fence in order to meet safety regulations.

Flights are organised.

It's Saturday night and we just got back from spending the day in Brisbane watching hockey. I'd have liked to have gone to the Gabba to see a game of Aussie Rules Footy tonight, but K and our hockey playing daughter had run out of steam! Pikers!

The local Chinese takeaway is supplying dinner tonight. ... I wonder if there will be many/any Chinese restaurants in Al Ain. They're all over the place in Aus, many dating back to the gold rush days of the 1850s when there were many Chinese here.

Just found out that the Socceroos (Aussie team) copped a walloping from Iraq in the Asian Cup last night! Sigh.

Time to go hunt and gather dinner (from the local Chinese).

four weeks to go

It's sooo cold here on the Gold Coast at the moment. This is the coldest winter in 50+ years. The problem is that winter here usually isn't cold, so no-one has much in the way of heating. We're underprepared for it. I just checked the temp in Al Ain. It's just after 4am and the temp is already 29 degrees. That sounds a bit like the other extreme, but then if there's aircon, the place is equipped for those temps.

I'm sooo ready to leave the cold behind me. I'm over it!

Not much has happened in the last week. There're boxes all over the place and our abode is looking more like a house than a home as pictures, books and knick knacks disappear into the bowels of the boxes (do boxes have bowels? nah ... didn't think so!).

KG hasn't told his workplace yet that he's off for a bit of a jaunt across the world. He works from home and rarely makes the 20 min trip into the office. Maybe it'll be years before they even notice that he's 12,000 kilometres further away.

I'm off to do a stint with the boxes.

five weeks to go

I'm starting to feel a mixture of impotence and urgency. There's so much to do, but I don't know where to start, so I'm doing nothing. Probably not the best approach.

Australia Post have confirmed that both sets of documents have arrived safely at their destination in Al Ain. However, they haven't updated their online tracking system to reflect this and the college still hasn't confirmed receipt of the documents. But, hey, they gotta be there!

Apparently we are getting a two bedroom apartment near the college. It isn't dog-friendly. I've been apartment hunting with my 18 year old daughter here in Aus (cos we're turfing her out when we go!). She's looking for a 2 bedroom apartment. We've seen shoeboxes for mega-bucks rent per week. And we've seen some that are half-way decent, but aren't in the trendy location an 18 year old likes to hang out in. I'm hoping we find something for our daughter pronto and that our 2 bedroom apartment in Al Ain isn't a shoebox. Our daughter is interstate at the moment playing in the National Hockey Championships, so the apartment search is on hold for another week until she gets back. Time is fleeting - there's a rental accommodation shortage here at present. Worst case scenario she'll stay in our house (which isn't in a suitably trendy location) until she finds something. We'll lose rent money, but at least she won't have to sleep under a bridge!

We've got two possible homes, with relatives, for the dog so hopefully the dog issue should be sorted in the next day or two.

The removalists came in on Friday to give us a quote. We were reprimanded for not swinging into action a month earlier. Sigh! The quote will be back mid-way through next week, so hopefully we can give more serious thought to what to take and what to leave and we can start sorting through years of accumulated 'stuff.'

Sometimes I think that the current issues are kinda fun and keep the old brain ticking over. Other times I wish that I could fast forward a few weeks to avoid the manifold mundane decisions that need to be made.

Looking forward to the drive to Al Ain and the sights along the way.