Thursday, August 21, 2008

Halas!

This is it I think, my last post for this trip. I’m halas- finished, tired, had enough, want to go home. This last month has had some great highlights but has had some frustrations as well. My lost license has been a real issue for me. In Qatar I did a lot of the driving for the team because I was the one least likely to drink. Driving gives you some flexibility and independence. Not being able to drive has been an absolute frustration and very stressful. Because of this John has had to do the bulk of the driving. As he did very little in Qatar it takes a while to get the hang of things.
Another frustration has been the work. We have been helping sort people out and get them accommodated. There have been some really interesting situations that we have come across and working with the lads has been fun. But I’m missing the professional stimulation of my normal role in this part of the world. Today I hemmed and hung Sue’s curtains, fixed the gas connection to her new stove and changed her kitchen around. I fixed the lock on Ann’s door and sorted Alvin out with a masonry drill and plugs to hang pictures. I sorted out some documents and photos to get the Internet installed in the villas. I’m sort of over it. I’m also missing the Arabic connection. For the last month I’ve truly been expatriate. No real opportunity to interact with the Arab community. No way to develop language and culture. Its wedding season at the moment so after dinner I sat out on the lawn in the front of the hotel where the man side of a wedding was taking place. 150 emirati men from the two families singing and sharing food and drink. A few of the young men came across and were showing me their sword tossing. They were throwing these swords 5-6 metres in the air and catching them. One of them had a bleeding thumb and showed me where he hadn’t quite grabbed it right. He offered me a go but thought better of it. That’s pretty much been the sum of it for the last month.
It’s also a time of change. Sue stayed in Qatar. Julia and Colleen (Damien will be heading home for a while) are staying in Al Ain and John and myself are heading home. So the team is splitting. Having been very tight as a group for so long it will be hard getting use to not operating like that.
I’m also wanting to be home. I’m not looking forward to the cold to the 30 degree change in temperature. When people see me they’ll think I’ve put on weight. It will just be the five layers fo ice breaker I’ll have on.
So this is Halas. (Well I think it is) This has been the best adventure. I have come away from this with a completely different view of Arab /Muslim culture and living. It is well worth the journey. I feel completely at home in this part of the world. I have met some people who have truly changed my life up here. Really grateful to them.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. I’m sure I’ll be back here soon
Massalama, salam aleykum
Heavyfish

Jabel Haleef

Other Martin

This is other Martin. English Martin. Martin who has been helping us fit out villas and apartments like the one behind him. You can see Damien in the background. This is just before he drove into the front yard with the appliances and beached the van again. Anyway Martin is semi retired. He has a PhD in Nuclear Physics, use to run the health and safety body of the seventh largest regional authority in Britain with a budget of 57 million pounds. At teh moment he's helping us change plugs and install washing machines. He's loving it!

Sands




We had to make a trip to Abu Dhabi to pick up our luggage and some more curtains from Ikea. We are based in Al Ain and the sand is red compared to the yellow coloured sand of Abu Dhabi. Not sure about the geology but I assume it has something to do with the rock formations we have in land. The road to Abu Dhabi is tree lined with date palms down the middle so you only get a few glimpses of the sand as you drive. Jon drove down and was driving back until I decided I needed to. We were doing 160 and when the thump thump thump of the lane markers jogged him he realised he was falling asleep.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

A quick ski

In the Emirates Mall they have this ski land area. An indoor ski field. I think it is about 400 meres. Was quite keen to have a go as Faz is keen for a trip up the mountain once I'm back. By the time we got to the mall on the bus it was Friday afternoon and quite busy. So chose to take a couple of pictures instead. Many under the ski jackets are wearing dishdashes and thobes. Sorry photo was through glass

Old Charm

The city is not all glitz and glamour. It still has that bustling souq feel like Doha in parts. In the older part of the city it had a similar feel with lots of alleyways, little shops and traders.

One of a number icons

The Burj al Arab is but one of a number of iconic structures that grace the skyline of Dubai. There is also Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world, the Emirates Towers, Jumeria Palm Islands. The city has so many significant landmarks.

Shopping

The malls are huge. The range of shops stunning and the bargains are unbelievable. We could have bought a few more suits but we resisted. The malls have also moved into a range of amusements and deals to attract the punters. I saw an ad in the paper for a great deal on cellphones. By the time we got there the crowds (and I mean crowds) were being turned away at eh door as their were far more customers than stock.

Dubai

Dubai is a short burst down the highway so we decided to head out for a day trip. Aaron had kindly lent us his GPS but Julia wasn't having none of that. Yep we made a wrong turn and saw more fo Dubai than we had planned. We decided that we would spend the day as a bit of a recki so joined the big bus company tour.The tour has two trips and your tickets gets you onboth plus a ride up the creek. A great way to the see the city. Now most of the buses have a small air conditioned upstairs section. The first bus we hopped on didn't have such a section. With a baking sun and high humidity we looked pretty wet when got off, embarrassingly so. Still a great way to see the city.

Did I mention we're in a hotel?

I don't know if I had indicated we were in hotels again. We arrived on the 1st of August and spent a couple of nights in the Novatel in Abu Dhabi then drove up to Al Ain and have based ourselves at the Hilton ever since. The rooms are a little lighter than the Grand Regency. We started out on 3 buffets a day but have moved to a little Mexican and Italian number for dinner as it is cheaper and the food is fantastic. we have a couple of pools, gym, sauna, spa squash court, two swimming pools, tennis courts and a 9 hole pitch and putt course. Tough but someone has to live here.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

And what wrong with this?

We had to do an extra circuit around the roundabout for this one. We drove up behind this vehicle and couldn't believe what we saw so drove around the roundabout to capture it for you. You see a lot of cars parked up on the side of the roads with flats or people driving on near flat tyres. You seldom ever see someone changing a tyre so he got a point for that. Doing it in the middle lane, well not sure if he should be rewarded for that one. Apologies the photo doesn't do it justice.

A slight set back

After a slow start this morning getting sorted as to what we were doing we had van and we headed off to deliver and install ovens. Simple with Dam being a qualified electrician nah... Open the wall. We have earth neutral and phase on our end in international wiring code (green/yellow, blue and brown) they have black and two yellows in wall. So off to Carrefours for multimeter so as not to electrocute anyone. Stopped to pick up a couple more ovens did a quick turnaround halfway down the street and into th sand on the side of the rode. STUCK. Damien was driving and is no prone to this type of error so took the opportunity to capture on film.. cause if that was me I'd want to know. You can see from the photo that the snad is right on the edge of the road. Trap for young players I say. So a bloke came out with a shovel and some boards and twenty minutes later we were back on the road a little sweatier and with sore hands (ever tired to put your hands on a car that has been in 45 degree heat for five hours)

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Of course its about ego!

I read a couple of other blogs to keep me in contact with friends as well as in the professional loop. Ewan McIntosh's blog is one of these. I was looking at his clustermap and noticed they he is working owards the half million hits mark on his page. I checked out mine today and see I have 991. Whoo hoo!! I'm just about to crack 1000 visits to beached shashimi. I can feel an academy awards speech coming on. I want to thank my Mum and Dad from continually hitting the refresh button :-).

So I'm pleased that people have found my little snippets of news and experiences of interest. I'm personally counting down the days to being home.

The nature of the work I'm doing here is rewarding on a different level. As we work through fitting out apartments we are touching base with a lot of people new to the Middle East. They have had a few extra challenges than we did. The mobile phones have a glitch which doesn't allow people to ring in from home. Land lines or Internet access haven't been installed into the apartments yet ( it a long process of someone sitting in the Internet providers offices to get them connected. We're playing rock paper scissors to see who will be there fro the next couple of days rather than installing ovens!) . TV's aren't hooked up (some are getting there now). So these people, many have come by themselves, are here alone and we are a connection for them. So it is just as important to spend time talking with them as it is hanging their curtains or installing their washing machines. It's a wonderful observation in the varying levels of resilience people have in dealing with the situation. One of the other challenges is to ensure we don't get in the way of team and community building as we will be gone in the next few weeks and so it is important that we encourage them to connect with each other rather than us. This is interesting as we may come across as being a little snobby in some social settings. A couple of times groups have come into the restaurant bar we use at the hotel and we have purposefully stayed in our little corner rather than joining them. It is very easy to become the centre of conversation as we have a little more experience in Middle Eastern living and they also think we know a lot of information about stuff here in Al Ain (we only arrived three days before them) so our presence alters the dynamic.

It's all adding to the experience

Worn Out

Was working in a two story block replacing power plugs and noticed I was working solo. Went looking for John and found him under the stairs

It's the little things

We have been working long hours and the work at times has been both physically and mentally draining. John likes to sleep rather than waste time with breakfast so he gets a phone call from me about 10 minutes before we are due to head out. This leaves him little time to get dressed as this picture illustrates

The Driving is Better

The driving is better here in Abu Dhabi. People still do drive at crazy speeds with shocking results

Qualified

We have a role supporting our colleagues in Al Ain get into accommodation. That includes installing furniture, washing machines, stoves, cleaning and hanging curtains. Yes John does have a Masters in Education and a degree in public policy along with 40 years of education experience so I think he is suitably qualified to hem curtains. That’s what we’re here for. John has also been able to develop leadership capacity. He has organized Tania and a few other residents in the apartments to iron the curtain for us so that we do the highly technical job of hemming them with iron on hem tape.

Taking a Break

On our way to install some washing machines on the other side of town and we drive past this guy having a wee moi in the tree in the midday sun. Damien went around the block so that we could take photos. We drove up and started snapping, The guy opened his eyes and freaked. I think he must have thought we were the employment police and he probably scared that he would lose his job. We smiled and drove off as he busily went back to work.

My Baby

I drove down to Abu Dhabi a couple of days ago to pick up curtains and some of my luggage that we had shipped across from Doha. Still can’t worked out where it all comes from as I sent 50 kgs home and still ended up with another 50+ here. Was looking forward to connecting with my golf clubs again as they have a pitch and putt course at the hotel and Malc and John are keen for a hit when I’m back in September. Talking with John about my relationship with my driver (golfers will understand this). Imagine my horror to find my baby hadn’t made the trip in one piece. Quite devastated really as she was a great club who helped me out through some tough times and scored a 72 off the blues at Waikanae. Might take her home and bury her in the back garden

Another 6 degrees story

There were a few people I needed to touch base with while I was here in Abu Dhabi. Gavin was heading this way so caught up with him and actually installed his washing machine today. Be back later in the week to hang some curtains. I caught Margaret who was a principal in the bay who was in my wider local cluster over here. I banged into Jo at Ikea when I was getting curtains and she was getting bits for her apartment. They have been up in Al Ain doing some training for a couple of days so spent time touching base. Susie is working for another company and is in Abu not Al Ain so haven’t seen her yet. Kay is here also and a friend in Doha asked me to look out for her friend Sue who was up here as well. It turns out that Sue and Kay have ended up buddying up and so I explained my connection with both of them. Well after a hard day I was having a swim and they had decided to catch some sun by the pool. They got talking about this Julie who is a friend of Sue’s who was in Doha. Kay thinks her husband is her second cousin… small world again.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Seperation Anxiety

There is to a certain extent a separation anxiety that exists when you are halfway around the world away from loved ones. You spend a lot of time thinking about them and what they are doing. I have written a little about the "pseudo family" - GR5 that has developed in our time in the middle east. Well we have been split up a little while in this country and it feels really strange. Julia is staying on here so is establishing relationships with the people here. Damian and Colleen are working out of the Abu Dhabi office while John and myself are in land in Al Ain. John is missing his drinking buddy. I try but struggle to keep up. It's strange . It's like the same feeling you get when thinking of the people you have left behind in NZ.

Highly Qualified Curtain Hangers

John and myself have been busy getting apartments sorted for new members of the company working in this country. We have cleaned apartments and villas and have now started hanging curtains. This has involved hanging rails, driving to Abu Dhabi to get the curtains to find that the Ikea people haven't ordered the curtains in the quantities we need. So we raided the stock on the shelves. we have 46 pairs so far and will need at least that again to get them all hung. I made a simple error writing dollars rather dirhams on the company cheque. A bit fuss with them not willing to accept the change so the credit card now has more on it than expected. SO finally have the stock we drive the 140 kms home to start hanging curtains. So we iron them , measure up, hem and hang.... crikey its lucky we are highly qualified educationalists or we would struggle with this.

Could I Live Here?

Al Ain is a beautiful city. An oasis in the desert only a short distance to the Omani border. No high rises, beautiful red sand dunes, rocky outcrops and hills with a better climate. You can drive across the city in 15 minutes, a taxi ride costs no more than 15 dirhams ($6). There are no high rises. I think the highest building is no higher than 4 storeys. It is an established city, not like Doha which is more frontier like in nature. Could I live here?.. No

The problem is a lack of Internet bandwidth for some reason. I think I would struggle with the frustration I am feeling with the lack of speed. Not being able of load pictures here is but one example. The poor Internet connection I have here has made me realise how dependent I have become on this technology.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Julia's New Pad

One of the GR5, Julia is staying on in Al Ain for a couple of years to work. She has an apartment in the Twam area of Al Ain. We took her and the rest of the newbies out there to drop off bags and bits and to have a bit of a look. She is very happy with the accommodation. It is worlds apart from Al Hitmi. My friend Kay is waiting for her apartment to be ready so she is staying with us at the hotel. My other friend Gavin will be living in this apartment / villa with his family when they turn up in October. It is huge. He'll need to drop breadcrumbs to find his way back to the kitchen.

Another John Story

We have since moved to the city of Al Ain which is an inland city near the Omani border. It has lovely red sand dunes and mountains. A couple of friends Gavin and Kay are coming to work here so have come up to help them and the 40 odd other peolel settle in. We're staying at the Hilton as we move about sorting out apartments and villas. We have been drying our "smalls" on our decks as the rooms are cool and the gear drys in an hour out there. At Al hitmi John would wonder in his lava and his Dan Carter underwear to keep cool. He is quite partial to his DCs. Unfortunately he had them out on his deck drying and they blew away. So he had to go and fosci in the date palms looking for his DCs. To date they haven't been found which he is quite distressed about. Given Dan's performance in the weekend they could be worth a few dollars!

Another little point of interest. While the Internet is slow TV reception is great. All satellite. So imagine a coupel of nights ago sitting down to get dinner at about 9 after a very hectic day to flick ont he TV to watch Manawatu do over Reubin's men. Where's Scotty when you need him. Scott I must say dinner tasted wonderful after that display. So just to let you know... you can get the NPC 120kms inland from Abu Dhabi in case you wanted to know.

A Tale of Two Cities


As we were checking out this new apartment I looked out of the window and saw some people going about their daily lives on the rooftop below. By the time I got the photo the people had gone. It appears that some of them live on the roof of the building. We were in a lovely apartment and th temperature would have been 18 degrees. Having walked two blocks to get here I can appreciate how stifling their living condition must be.

Abu Dhabi

Struggling a little to get in a routine here in this new country. They say Abu is about 10 years ahead of Qatar from an infrastructural sense. It is a well developed and designed city. I miss a little of the wild west of Doha. Construction everywhere, reckless driving. We came intot he city on the 4 lane highway and into the heart of the city. The people I work fo rhave a large group from NZ turning up during the next few days so we are here to help with that. It is very much Just in tiem support so as mentioned no routine, hence struggling with keeping contact. Sorry folks. We stayed in a hotel right in the city. This is a view from my window. When I went ofr a walk down the road you didn't get the same sense of presence of the local people (Emerati ) like you do with Qatari. Maybe it is just the part fo the city we are in. But there are very few Abayas and dishdashes. This is a photo from my hotel room. (no it's not as the internet keeps dropping off when I try and upload). Will add photos when I get a better connection somewhere in this country.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

John's Exit

John’s exit didn’t go well. I wouldn’t call him a morning person so he was a little flustered getting sorted first thing. The first problem was when he accidentally threw his cellphone down the rubbish shoot. At least we found out where the rubbish goes after dropping it 7 stories. Luckily we had thrown so much stuff out that it was sitting on the top of a very large pile. He then got to the airport and got stung with baggage access as he had 39kgs in his suitcase. (we freighted 200kgs of luggage a few days before). He then tried to hop on with two computer bags, a carry on and a camera. He was stopped at the gate and we had to divide up some of his bags to get through. He was then stopped at the x-ray machine as he had forgotten to remove the swiss army knife…halas gone. As he went through his bag they noticed the rather large quantities of meds in his bag. The guy with the big gun took an interest so he had to find his medical letter. Looking forward to heading back to NZ with John at the end of the month. What’s the chance of a smooth event free trip??

Doctor's visit

Went back to the doctors as he med’s he had given me weren’t changing the blood pressure. I’d bought a home kit to keep track. I suggested to the others that I just double my dose and see how that worked. Their response was as you’d expect.don’t be an idiot. So I cruise along to the doctors… I was xrayed, ecg’d blood and urine tested all in a very short period of time (and all at significant cost). I was pleased that they didn’t do all the tests on the list for healthy 40+ man as one involved a rubber glove!. Anyway after melting my credit card the doctor told me to ….. double my dose. I’m wasted in education

High Tea

We went to high tea at the Ritz Carlton before we left the country. This would have to be one of the top hotels in Qatar. Absolutely stunning. I was told I had to dress up and look presentable for it. Ow how the other half live. As Julia said…I was born to this. While I was there I watched this group of woman who were meeting for afternoon tea. They were English and of several generations. Some were English Muslims and some were not. It was fascinating watching them greet each other. The common European greeting here is a kiss on each cheek whereas local customs see greetings with three kisses on the one cheek. It was fun watching as people joined the group and greeted each other. They were almost banging heads as the Muslim woman were trying to kiss the other woman on the one cheek while they were trying to change sides. It was lucky there were no blood noses

Last Quiz

With one last chance to take top spot in the quiz night competition the pressure was on perform. We started well holding first place after the first and second round. One of the problems my competitive team mates have criticised the quiz for has been the lack of really good questions for those who aren’t resident English citizens. This has been our undoing all along and yet again did us in. From 1st to 9th in ten questions. But if you could name this ( from a photo) English footballer, name the English football strip (from a photo), tell us who was the first footballer who received an MBE and who is this British TV personality (from a photo) then we could have done with you!

Our Italian

(will post photos when I have a better connection)

We tend to be the regulars at the pool at Rydges. The staff and other regular users know us well. One of the other regulars has been this guy Alessandro. He tends to come for a swim and a drink late in the afternoon. Turns out he is the head chef at an Italian restaurant in town. He comes form Sardinia and so he and John swapped “recipes” and cooking secrets. We decided we would try out his cooking. Very nice restaurant with lovely simple fresh food. The Emir’s son has eaten there a few times. Alessandro went to extra effort and provided us with a range of his dishes, fantastic.

Normal Service to Resume Soon!

Sorry folks. Had a busy last week in Qatar and have now moved countries. In Abu Dhabi. Was in Abu Dhabi city last night and have driven out to Al Ain today to do a couple of days work. Had to pack light so left power adapter plus we have some pressing work before a large group of staff turn up on Monday. Little time, poor connection, on battery power so a little limited. Have plenty to share so will try to post in the next day or two inshallah