New years eve

The fog never really lifted today. I took this picture about 5 20 p.m.

enjoying the holidays

Christmas Day got off to a slow start as Darcy's workplace did not allow their staff to go home until 2 pm.  So I spent the day at home waiting for her to come home.  But I had fun tracking Santa Claus's night journey online.  We had a delicious turkey dinner that did not take nearly as long to cook as last year.  Darcy and a friend baked cookies earlier in the week and we've pacing ourselves with eating them.

We got more books and dvds for Christmas which was great. I'm making progress with reading books that I've received as gifts over the last few years.  But we've yet to make much of a dent with our watching tv shows and movies from our huge dvd collection.  We've had a few foggy mornings over the Christmas break too which was a bit unusual for this time of year. 

Today (Dec. 28 is Islamic New Year) is our last day off before heading back to work.  It will be a short three day work week as Thursday is New Year's Day.  After that it will be sparse for holidays until the summer.  It will feel like working in North America!  I guess we have become accustomed to working few days with living here.  But we have carried over a lot of vacation days from last year so we we'd like to take a few short trips in the spring.  Below is an assortment of interesting newspaper articles.



Firms race to restore service

Internet cut a ‘rare’ occurrence

Abu Dhabi airport gets busier

Traffic chaos as major road closed - luckily we live on the other side of the Abu Dhabi!

Wealth fund may be Madoff victim - we live just to the left side of that big blue building in the photo

 ‘Living on a boat makes sense’

The good life at risk - this is disturbing

 UAE Folk Tales/ Narratives/ Legends

No sleigh bells, plenty of cheer

Jebel Ali's secret cavern is lost forever

Plans afoot to make Abu Dhabi souq permanent

Christmas day in Abu Dhabi

Foggy and Cool-almost seasonal!

Feel our pain...

Back to work....

Well, it's the end of our vacation.  The old cliche of not knowing where the time went is true.  But I'm well rested - although don't ask me when I have to wake up at 5:30 am tomorrow!  I managed to exercise a bit by taking walks along the corniche, going on my bike using the indoor trainer, and doing some yoga.  So it's back to tackling projects and putting out fires at work.  Darcy's alergies flared up and she's not been well for the last few days.  But she managed to bake delicious short bread cookies.  Hopefully we'll get our national ID cards this week - wouldn't that be a nice Christmas gift!

Expats lag behind on integration

Gateway to seafaring heritage

Days of paid parking draw nearer

UAE could be ‘research hothouse’

Enjoying our long break..

It's been almost a week since our 12 day vacation began.  This year the UAE's National Day and Muslim EID break come almost right after each other.  So many people get an extra long break this year.  The fireworks were okay but they did not come close to rivaling Dubai's.  The media/gov't (they essentially are one and the same here) reported that Abu Dhabi's fireworks would be the biggest ever. 

We've put up our Christmas tree and Darcy baked a wonderful gingerbread cake last night.  We'll try and do some Christmas baking this week.  The weather has FINALLY cooled off enough where we can open our windows for hours.  There have been thunder and lightning storms too - how exciting!  It's nice to see clouds and rain for a change.  The northern emirates even had hail.

Last Monday Darcy and I registered for our national ID cards at a place reserved for ADNOC employees.  My workplace is run by ADNOC so I was lucky enough to use their facility rather than going to the few horribly disorganized EIDA (Emirates ID Authority) offices.  Hopefully we'll get our cards in the mail before the end of December and put that messy chapter behind us.

I've been busily pimping out (using Darcy's words) my iPod Touch.  There must be hundreds or even thousands of applications that you can easily download.  I've only paid for one app while the rest are free.  Some are Facebook, New York Times, Maclean's and Instant Messaging that syncs with Yahoo and Google.  I've also been trying some free games like Chess, Connect Four along with some arcade style ones.  Some really neat games are Nintendo like WII ones like iBowl and iGolf.  The graphics are improving and the technology, in my view, puts traditional hand held games like the PSP to shame. 

Abu Dhabi unveils interactive website for residents and businesses - ummm.....so what's the website's URL?  Current gov't website doesn't have the content that is mentioned in this article.

Shaikh Khalifa's full speech on National Day

Thousands yet to register for ID cards

Roads to receive new attention

Low paid applicants denied driving licences

Telephone is a ringer for royalty - my first observation was that it looked like mold growing on the phone

Global crisis forces Dubailand review - the global recession has hit the UAE!

Tourism growth to slow to 5%

Last pearl of history in danger

Just another typical Abu Dhabi parking job

Boom!

Decorating our tree on National Day

Home for the holidays

It's the weekend again (last one for November?!) after another terribly busy week of conference going and putting out fires at work.  We had U.S. Thanksgiving Day dinner with friends followed by playing Wii's Guitar Hero game.  Lots of fun!  Unfortunately my hockey team continues to lose.  Maybe it was from listening to the game online at work for the first time this season. 

Next week will be a short 1-2 day work week.  We have our ID card appt on Dec. 1 but it could take less than 30 minutes or hours.  It depends on the competence of the ID card people.  We gave up with the Post Office mailing back our barcodes since it's been over a month now.  I've not posted any stories this time about the continued ID card snafu.  It's redundant to point out the incredible mess that the media has reported and not reported.  There are some interesting blogs about people's experiences with trying to register.  All you can do is shake your head at the whole affair. 

Then we will relax at home for the UAE's National Day and EID breaks.  We're looking forward to catching up on reading, watching dvds and trying to play our dumbeks.  A lot of street and building holiday decorations were turned on today so it looks quite festive outside.  Hopefully it will dry out a little bit more so that we can leave our apartment windows open for more than just a few hours... 



Beware, snakes on our beaches

Atlantis opening sparks party fever


Abu Dhabi University aims high

Alcohol stores get stricter on licences

"I love the Emirates" campaign promotes identity and culture

Hummer driver gets ten years for murder

Hotels told pollution is excessive


QE2 arrives in Dubai to start new life

Property firms cut 600 jobs


Khalifa identifies UAE's key concerns

Corniche sunset

Miracle

no end to UAE ID card registration mess

The weather continues to cool off and dry out so night walking is more enjoyable now.  We have a hunch that either our apartment or the entire building's electrical outlets are defective.  We've had to buy a second portable vacuum cleaner, a third coffee grinder, and a second floor lamp because of electrical problems.  The motors and lamp simply shorted out and now our upright vacuum's motor was found to be defective.  Hopefully ADNOC's housing people can diagnose the problem.  Luckily our computers and stereo systems haven't been affected.  They've been plugged in using power bars although we've had those short out too. 

As usual the national ID card registration fiasco has continued with the media reporting more critical stories of the bureaucratic mess.  We're 99.99% sure that the first time that the new registration deadline for skilled expat workers was reported to the public in Arabic and English was in mid October.  The government says that it was July.  If the authorities follow through with their plans to suspend government services to over 300,000 people that logistically can't register before Dec. 31 then the UAE will be (to put it mildly) in big trouble.  See the first article below. 

So it's now been three weeks since we submitted our forms for phase one of the registration process.  We were assured that this no hassle process was to take less than one week - hence the 40 AED fee.  The good news is that the holidays are fast approaching so some of our time off from work, can be spent looking for a Plan B and Plan C. 

Otherwise life is okay - routine but never boring.  Work is hectic as usual due to juggling multiple projects because of continued staff shortages.  I will attend a two day conference in Sharjah next weekend.  We both hope to catch up more on reading our backlog of books and watching dvds during the long December break.  It's been fun downloading free iPod Touch apps including one for IMing.  We also downloaded Google's new VOIP chat and it surprisingly works for Macs (unlike Yahoo Messenger). 

At current rate, 350,000 will miss deadline

Telling it like it is.....or not

Over 75,000 ID forms distributed by UAE post offices in four weeks

Abu Dhabi to counter downturn with Western tourist

UAE takes stock of major projects

Ballooning US debt threat to Gulf economies

Price fall in prestigious developments

Surf the internet for free while you smell the roses in Abu Dhabi 


Parking free for all to be eliminated

Canadian supplier to import high end halal bison and elk

Dubai car park baffles drivers

Moon

the never ending national ID card registration saga....

Another month flew by and we're now into November.  The month got off to a good start with the election of Barack Obama.  I'm cautiously optimistic that he can make headway with issues in the Middle East.  Unfortunately the UAE's major snafu with national ID cards has worsened.  We naively thought that using the Post Office would save us time.  It did not.  Two weeks later and the bureaucrats don't know where are forms are. Hurry up and wait we've been told.  The media has become very critical of the registration process as it affects about half a million skilled expats here.  The Dec. 31 deadline looms....I've posted some stories about it below.  So we decided to cancel plans to travel to Morocco as it's too risky to be gone for half the month of December. 

My work has rearranged its bus routes so despite the pick up time being the same (6:45 am) my stop is now the first.  The good thing is I can get my own seat.  The bad news is that the ride to work takes almost one hour.  We cover about half of the city now with picking up people.  But I sleep most of the way to work.   I prefer working later in the day so I'm able to take the 8:15 am bus three times a week.  It doesn't take as long to get to work which is good.  So between working later and working out twice a week I get home every day at 6:15 pm.

We're going back to our usual spot on the Corniche public beach on Saturday as it's been three weeks since we were last there.  We'd both like to take Christmas Day off and spend the day there.  We can bring our new portable iPod speaker and play Christmas music on the beach!  The weather has cooled off and I've walked a few times outside at night.  Unfortunately it's still too humid to open the windows.


One voice to cut through confusion

Bank access could depend on ID card
 
Identity card chaos makes deadline an impossibility
 
ID card registration strain
 
UAE tops league of wasteful countries
 
Measuring the family footprint
 
Mega-mall opens with high hopes
 
Taxi call centre opens in Abu Dhabi

Ban on old cars to improve air quality significantly

Increasing number converting to Islam

Date changed for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The frustration of being a bidoon

Registering for the new UAE identity card

The weather has definitely cooled and dried out over the last week.  So I've done a few walks along the Corniche at night.   The big news event this past week was the sudden announcement by the government to change the deadline for skilled expatriate workers to register for the new national smart card from 2010 to Dec. 31 of this year.  UAE nationals had until the end of 2008 to register for the card.  We had known about the new card for over a year.  The two year deadline in conjunction with employers *likely* being responsible for getting the cards for its employees were somewhat reassuring.  But this new development has resulted in a mad panic for hundreds of thousands of people to register.  A few articles below discuss the ordeal plus there is the usual assortment of fun articles.

One identity card, multiple uses

ID card deadline brought forward

Why the rush?

Crowds overwhelm ID card registration centres

Six New Parks Planned in Abu Dhabi - wow!

Outside and online: capital to offer free internet in parks - wow again!

Through child's eyes, director shows UAE's dizzying transformation

Warning on gap in climate research

Water price should go up says scientist

Experts invited to guide capital city's green plan

Cheetahs to roam free on island

Second annual camel festival aims to preserve UAE's rich cultural heritage - a related story says that a pure bred camel featured in a beauty contest was purchased for almost 3 million US dollars!

Comedians explore the Muslim experience

ADIHEX Update

In my last post, I told the story of meeting one of the Saluki contest winners, who was tired and very sweet and came over to lean on me. Karima caught a picture of that moment, and gave me permission to post it here, so here it is:

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Yesterday we bought a Bose portable speaker system for my iPod Touch.  The Bose store also gave us a free carrying bag.  The sound is great and it's so neat now to have all our music on our iPod (backed up of course!) and hear it on such a small system! It was not cheap but it's definitely worth the price.

Today we went with friends to visit the annual ADIHEX show.  There was still the heritage area but it seemed to be overshadowed by the massive gun exhibits.  It wasn't like that last year.  It was weird to be holding a Kalashnikov rifle.  Can you buy those at gun shows in the U.S.?  I don't see the connection that gun has with hunting - unless it's people and not animals! One neat area was the pimped out dune buggies.

Monday is Thanksgiving Day in Canada so we're celebrating it on Sunday at a hotel.  The Abu Dhabi Canadian Business Council is helping organize it.  Below is the usual assortment of stories from our neck of the woods. 


Abu Dhabi to host final GP of 2009

Khoury launches NYU cultural season - I attended this and although I hadn't ready the book I found the lecture quite interesting.  Turnout was about 50...


Thanks but no tanks, Sammy says - this is unbelievable....


Dubai's new dream hotel has a nightmare opening week - serves them right - see above story

Last Arabian leopard may have left the UAE - how sad - makes me think of the BBC produced Planet Earth
series and the fragility of nature and animals. See the story below too

Conservation is an endangered activity 

Cartoon star is face of Dubai - what?!  why not Freej or Ajaaj?

Genetic disorders afflict Arab world - this is still a somewhat taboo topic here.

Masdar to harness electricity from exercise

Dubai's new terminal 3 unveiled - the world's largest airport terminal building - yet another milestone for Dubai!

Palm Deira blueprint unveiled

Cityscape: Nakheel aims for the sky -  buildings over 2 km high?!!!!

Adventurers head for Abu Dhabi

Authority to tackle culture differences

Doctor calls for open play spaces - the last sentence is so true....

Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce urges rent caps due to shortages

Abu Dhabi Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition

Today we went to the Abu Dhabi Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition with our friends Rob and Karima. Not sure if we posted last year, but we went then too. The show combines heritage displays, camel and horse auctions, Saluki beauty contests, falcon sales, weaponry, and hunting and camping supplies. It takes up the entire exhibition hall, and only runs for one weekend.

Visiting the weaponry section can be disconcerting. Especially when, like this year, you have a seven-year-old child in the exhibit with you who wants to touch an try out everything. Guns, guns and more guns...all out on display and available for you to inspect and purchase. Funny, I have no qualms about archery or fencing as sports, but when it comes to shooting--even target shooting--I get very uneasy. There were video-arcade-style target ranges for people to try their luck at this year. Rob and his son Ocean tried it out, and didn't do too badly.

There were many more falcons on sale this year, and we got to watch some Emirati men doing some serious shopping. Don't know exactly how much a falcon would put you back, but they were paying in thousand-dirham bills! We also went back to the horse stables to see the horses that hadn't yet been auctioned off. The handlers were happy to show us around, and encouraged Ocean to try riding some of them (!), but we declined...

Below are some photos from the show, to give you a taste of what it was like:

Lots of serious dune-bashing vehicles on show. Here's my favorite--black with MAJOR flames:

A close up of one of the falcons on display. I would LOVE to learn falconry; I think working with and training them would be fascinating. We saw a booth from the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, and found out they do educational tours. We're thinking of going some day for a visit:

One of the horses at the auction:

A Saluki, which is a breed of hound/hunting dog highly prized in the UAE. This one was wearing a ribbon saying he'd won best in show in the annual Saluki Beauty Contest that takes place at the exhibition. He was visibly tired after a long day and this was the best photo i could get. I kneeled down to say hello and he came right over to me a leaned on me trustingly...so sweet:

Finally, here's a cute picture of Rob and Karima's son Ocean dressed up as a desert warrior in traditional Emirati clothing. Posted with parental permission, of course! I believe they let him keep the belt and headscarf:

Our First Trip to Abu Dhabi's New Beach

Yesterday the weather was finally clement enough for us to venture out to Abu Dhabi's new public beach on the Corniche.  The opening of this beach has not been without controversy.  First it was free and open to all.  Then it was segregated into "bachelor" and "family" sections to prevent harassment.  Finally an entrance fee was instituted...with men being charged double if they were not in a group that contained women (a "family").  I'm sure some of these things can be attributed to the Michelle Palmer sex-on-the-beach-in-Dubai scandal, but authorities have also been quite open about the fact that a major motivation is to keep the labourers off the beach by making it unaffordable for them.  So now they are relegated to walking the corniche and staring over the wall until a guard comes and shoos them off. The UAE always seems to come up with some way of making even the simplest pleasures complicated.

All these reservations aside, the new beach is very nice and we had an excellent day. We packed a picnic lunch and were there from mid-afternoon to early evening. The weather is still quite hot, and the water is quite warm, but there was enough of a breeze to make you comfortable with the temperatures if you stayed in the shade. The Heritage Village is right across the water, so the calls to prayer from the mosque and the music from the Eid celebrations floated across the water off and on the whole time.

The beach is open until 10 at night, and it's beautiful after sunset. The paths are all lit up with ground lights, and the beach umbrellas and shaded benches (permanent structures on the sand) have built-in lights so you have enough light to have a picnic by. I would love to pack up and come for dinner one night. It's less than 10 minutes to drive there for us...and it's also right across the corniche from my work, so we are well situated for frequent visits!

Here are some cell phone pics of our day:

I did some henna for Eid a couple days prior...so I took a picture of it with the beach as background.

Me on the sand:

A shot of both of us.

Enjoying the EID break....

Not much exciting to talk about. We're into the second day of our EID break and it's been nice to sleep in, browse the web, watch movies and read.  We've made no plans for the week so we don't have to rush to do anything - very therapeutic!  We'd like to visit the new public beach on the corniche but we'll have to wait until EID officially begins (Oct 1 hopefully). Then we can have a picnic outside during the day.  Back to reading my books and playing games on my iPod!  
 
Emirati Iftar Experience for Expatriates in the UAE

Economy Needs More Graduates

Ease Yourself Into EID Feasting, health experts advise 

Challenge Lies Ahead, says rights report

Accounts Differ on Human Rights

High Rate of Divorce Costing Dh807m


Counsellor Treating More Cases of Business Burnout


Abdullah Addresses the United Nations

New Signs Baffle Dubai Drivers - It would be more logical to also publish new maps with the sign changes and have a huge marketing campaign.  Is Abu Dhabi next?

Store prepare for EID shopping spree - now read the next article!

Holy Month straying from tradition - interesting contrast to the previous article

No Tension with UAE says Iranian President

Cultural Tourists Key to Economy

almost the end of a long 4 day work week

I don't know why this shortened 4 day work week has seemed so long.  Perhaps it's because of our relaxing trip to the Bab Al Shams Hotel last weekend.  It felt like being in an old Arabian fort.  Darcy posted lots of photos on Facebook.  There were hardly any *hardships* desptite it being Ramadan.  We could still drink (non alcoholic) poolside.  The Al Hadheerah restaurant was very nice but the humidity worsened as the night progressed.  Maybe we'll go back next year when the new section of the hotel opens.

Work is crazy as usual - we desperately need a Systems Librarian.  All my other projects seem to be on hold as technical problems occur.  Darcy is also being pulled in many directions so it seems like we just spin our wheels half the time doing a thousand things and not seeming to be making much progress anywhere.  But that must be the case with a lot of people nowadays.  Severly understaffed and overworked. 

But luckily we have next week off for Eid al Fitr to relax.  We've got to back up our Mac laptop onto our two portable hard drives.  We have less than 1GB of space on the Mac.  We've also got a ton of books to read and dvds to watch.  I also have a ton of websites saved in delicious that I want to look at.  Darcy found a great one at http://www.wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=1622.  Yes - the stories were terrible but these old comics are fun to read.  I've got many of these issues packed in mylar bags in storage.  The weather is also starting to dry out a bit so maybe we can have a picnic on the Corniche Park too.

Below is the usual collection of stories, with some outrageous ones, from the past week….

Visitor surveys to help tourism plans

Emirates Palace launches a lavish Million Dollar Package - only in the UAE!  See the last article about the nation's newest hotel to open.  Will this bling competition never end?

Sweet sustenance - looks delicious!

Ramadan enters its holiest phase

Welcome to a costly tax-free life

University housing angers new staff

Khalidiya fire prompts airlift rescue

Abu Dhabi fire rescue

Air Wing patrols for rooftop shanties - 60,000 buildings in Abu Dhabi!

Lack of food and nicotine 'leads to accidents' - that's a no brainer.

Are plans for a 1.5 mile tower in Dubai a valid development or a building project too far?

UAE's first satellite 'ready to launch'

Princess Haya calls on people to join green project

Ramadan in Saudi Arabia is a different experience

Motorway to offer quicker path to Dubai - hmmm...140 km/hr speed limit?!

Academic City plans campus facilities - 40 campuses yet only 40,000 students?

Atlantis rises to the occasion - the Leap of Faith water slide has an 85 foot vertical drop with a transparent tunnel that passes through a shark filled aquarium?!  Only in Dubai.....

Meditation pool

Lamp by our door

Arrival

Socked in by dust and sand from Saudi Arabia

It's the end of another hectic work week.  Darcy has been unwell for most of the week by a stomach bug.  I've not been 100% either but hopefully she will be well enough to relax for two nights at the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort Hotel this weekend.  We leave on Friday and the dust and sand storms are supposed to subside by then.  I've been able to work slightly shorter hours during Ramadan and Darcy has been working six hour days.  She'll get one week off for Eid while my work hasn't posted its schedule yet.  Hopefully we'll get time off from work to take a two week trip to Morocco during the first two weeks in December!

Below are stories from what's been going on in our neck of the woods.....

Police to enforce key-cutting permits Just what we need - more bureaucracy!  I've gone to the store that's mentioned in this article.  There is a tiny key cutting store in a run down walk apartment that is across our street.  I wonder how this law will affect them.

New logo for 2030 plan

Gulf real estate a stable investment unless crisis hits, says official - hmmm....there's no real estate market bubble in the GCC?

Isolated students enjoy free flights

Ramadan violators penalised Dh1,000 - I'm tired of tourists complaining about not knowing what the basic laws are here.  Reading a Lonely Planet book will explain the important dos and donts when visiting or living in the UAE.  A no brainer is don't eat, drink or smoke in public during the day during Ramadan whether you're Muslim or not!

Love of homeland grew overseas
More tremors felt in Emirates

Keeping it oud school

Trying to relax during Ramadan

Luckily I've been able to work a couple of normal 6 hour work days during Ramadan.  Unfortunately I also caught a cold.  There are a lot of sick people as fasting all day and a lack of sleep for a month can wreak havoc on your body.  Not much exciting news has happened here besides finding out where I can get our vacuum cleaner serviced.  It's always an adventure to find a store here because there are no street addresses. We did not feel the earthquake or its aftershocks.  That's a good thing. 

We have gone out three times for Iftar now.  Twice to a friend's place and last night at the Emirates Palace.  All were very enjoyable and we had way too much to eat!  I just learned that the new iPod Touch has been unveiled.   Darcy says she wants one for Christmas.  We're looking forward to our two night weekend getaway next week at the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort.  They have a Ramadan special until the end of September.  We also need to start planning our proposed trip to Morocco in December. 

Below is the usual list of selected stories that we've found on our RSS feeds....

Who speaks for Islam: Part II

The changing face of tradition

Vimto's appeal is undiluted - I love this drink!

Text messaging spikes 84% first day of Ramadan

Malls cater with late hours for Ramadan

University warns of overexpansion

Festival draws region’s talent to capital

Building a city from the sands

Author laments architect’s departure

Survey recognises Abu Dhabi’s environmental credentials

Buildings cleared as tremors hit UAE - fortunately we didn't feel anything but we have noticed a few hairline cracks in our walls....

Increased seismic activity in Iran could affect fault zones in UAE

Selling the Abu Dhabi dream

Emiratisation and the curse of entitlement

Abu Dhabi TV takes tribes series off air

Bidoon offered chance of citizenship
 
Registration plan for stateless

Khalifa urges promotion of moderate Islam
 
Crisis looms in Sharjah
 
Adnec green move fruitful
 
Ringtone menace upsets worshippers in UAE mosques
 
Abu Dhabi residents getting an earful from construction
 

Kiran peacocks!

Old henna/new henna

Ramadan Kareem!

We're into the second week of Ramadan now and we were invited to a friend's house for an Iftar dinner.  It was delicious!  Unfortunately I can't remember the names of all the dishes and drinks.  We went to the mall last weekend and many stores were shut down during the afternoon.  Most open in the morning and then shut down around noon or 1 pm.  They they re-open around 6 or 7 and close around midnight.  I've been able to work a few shorter work hours during Ramadan as the law stipulates here for most people.  I like being able to start work at 9 am though! 

Below are some interesting stories that I've found.  It seems that my media list is growing longer....

National Library of Iran

How to eat healthily during the holy month

Address system nears completion - long over due but it will be a steep learning curve for the taxi drivers

Atlantis opening on track despite blaze

Police warn against accidents during Ramadan rush hour

Helicopter crash kills seven oil-rig workers

Canceled Muhammad novel finds new publisher

UAE ‘astonished’ by Iran’s claims of mistreatment

Abu Dhabi plants seeds of $1bn Hollywood-style film industry

A piece of Jerusalem in Abu Dhabi

Other cities don’t have the guts

Who speaks for Islam: Part I

Sufi chants bring Ramadan evening to life in Abu Dhabi

Number of banned books on decline as nation takes more tolerant stance

Ramadan decor

approaching Ramadan...

Getting back into my daily morning stretching routine and having a few TCM and chiro treatments have helped my back and left leg in the last two weeks. I have to drive to Sharjah on Sunday - ugh! It's about a two hour drive but the traffic is horrendous. I hope that I make the right turn off to take the shortcut. Otherwise I will be very late.


We were invited to a brunch at a hotel here. Most Western hotels have Friday brunches with all you can eat buffets and some, including ours, offer bottomless champaigne. But they charge for water! So Ramadan is expected to start on Sept. 1. Business hours are reduced as Muslims fast during the day and also pray and read the Koran. So Darcy and I will work 9 to 3 which will be nice.

We didn't get our $600 USD economic stimulus package cheque from the IRS. I didn't expect to get one but I guess it was because I still file tax returns. Let's hope that the IRS receives my request to send another cheque. They said that it would take 6 weeks.

Below is the weekly roundup of interesting news stories......


Imams meet authorities to set holy month objectives

Job training for Emiratis ‘fails in key subjects’

Iran blames ‘big powers’ for island dispute

Forgotten cemeteries lie in disrepair

Cemetery is a mystery

Mark of faith sparks debate

Tall, blonde and ‘evil’: Barbie bedevils Iran
 
Paid parking waiting for green light - uh oh - we're going to have to start paying to park our car on the street

How to register for UAE national ID cards - guess we'll have to get our new cards soon

President defends relevancy of foreign universities - interesting stories about the tremendous growth of higher ed and the challenges that it faces

Universities warned against chasing student ‘gold rush’

At branch campuses, whose roots?

Brand UAE: only the best will do

UAE wants end to red tape in all govt depts - good luck!

With no will there is no easy way - hmmm....see the above article about simplifying bureaucratic procedures...

At least the venue is nice!

Welcome to the jungle

HCT annual conference 2008. Tried to rotate this photo after sending it and it just didn't work...sorry...you'll have to look at the screen sideways!

Struggling to get back into the routine

I hate IE! It crashed as I was writing my latest blog post and I forgot to draft it in Word. So I have to start from scratch again. Of course Word is prone to crashing too so I have to remember to save every couple of minutes.

Anyway we’ve been home for almost one week now and we’re catching up on our sleep. It’s been easier waking up for work as I’ve been up before 5:30 am. But I get dozy in mid afternoon. My sciatica really bothered me upon returning home. Spending 19 hours in planes on our way home was not good for my wonky back and left leg. But having an accupuncture, cupping and massage at my neighborhood Chinese place did wonders. Plus resuming my daily morning yoga stretches have helped.

Adjusting to work was difficult and I had to teach a class on my first day. The humidity has been surprisingly low and it’s been overcast too. I figured out that our wifi router can only support two devices at any one time – weird. That’s why I couldn’t sync my iPod Touch along with our two laptops. Although my Toshiba laptop was turned off the router still had its profile in its memory. So I had to turn off the wifi connection on the laptop to allow my iPod to access the wifi.

I’ve got all our music and many photos on the iPod now. I’ve subscribed to podcasts from my hockey team and EDUCAUSE. So I’m down to having 9 GB of space left. Luckily Darcy bought the top of the line 32 GB model!

Below is the weekly round-up of selected news stories from our corner of the globe.

After labour, it is right back to work

Middle East weighs Obama after emotional glow fades

Hummer driver 'killed expat in fit of road rage'

Prisoners expected to be pardoned over Ramadan
 
An island clings to its simple life
 
‘Breakthrough’ desalination system could benefit UAE
 
Oil spill strategy on hold until 2009
 
Ramadan offers real taste of UAE
 
‘Easy-living culture’ hobbles UAE sport
 
Meagre pay rise angers academics
 
UAE students justify cheating, research reveals
 
New Dubai residents gain up to 12kg during first year

One with nature

Oman’s oasis

You Still Can't Write About Muhammad

To Canada and back.....

Well we're back in the heat and humidity of Abu Dhabi.  Darcy and I had a short but enjoyable time in Canada.  We visited friends and family but unfortunately there wasn't enough time to see more people.  We've been travelling home for vacations for 8 straight years and there is never enough time to do everything that we set out to do.  But it was still refreshing to get away and enjoy being outside, seeing greenery, watching clouds and rainstorms and having a few drinks with family and friends. 

My highlights of the trip were celebrating my birthday on Vancouver Island and in Edmonton.  Darcy got me a 32 GB iPod Touch!  My dad and I visited a few small towns northeast of Edmonton.  I saw the church in Lamont were my grandparents were married in 1939.  We also found the grave site for my great-great grandfather Joseph Schreyer in the tiny town of Radway.  He was an officer in the Austrian army in the 1880s so that would be interesting but difficult to trace.

The plane trips home were very long: Edmonton-Vancouver; Vancouver-Toronto; Toronto-London; London-Abu Dhabi.  We spent 19 hours flying (excluding layovers, delays, claiming lost baggage).  We've yet to get our bag despite reassurances that it's at the Dubai Airport.  It has all our books that we bought or were given as gifts.  We hope that our bag is found and returned in a day or two.  So combined with still being jet lagged and having to return to work on Tuesday we're not exactly in the highest of spirits.

As always I've found some stories below that may be of interest:.

High salaries pull in expats

At branch campuses, whose roots?

The mystique of a sheikh

Five new universities make the grade

68 new dams to capture water

More want to learn about UAE's culture

Meagre pay rise angers academics

FYI ...

It NEVER Goes above 50 degrees in Abu Dhabi

Dates!

Mmmmm...they taste as good as they look!

Testing out my Mobile phone photo blogging utility here :)

Ila Aliqa Abu Dhabi!

I had Thursday off to supposedly relax and organize myself but I spent doing much of the latter. I couldn't sleep much last night and I woke up early this morning. Our Internet connection has been terrible today. I've had trouble emailing and many webpages won't load properly. Typical of Etisalat. We pay 189 Dirhams a month ($47 USD) for 512 connection speed and it's crap most of the time. I went on my bike for 30 minutes today and treated myself to an hour long Chinese massage and accupuncture treatment. Only costs about $35 - heck of a deal! So we leave in about 3 hours - seems surreal though. So it will be about a 9 hour flight to London Heathrow and then about 12 hours to Vancouver. We will share an aisle seat to stretch our long legs.


Below is the weekly round-up of stories from our region. See you later!


Index to video news stories from the UAE's Gulf News newspaper

Mind Your Language, Behaviour and Dress in the UAE

Skilled Expats Hit by Inflation

Oil threatens Fujairah fishing industry

Under the Abbaya: Female Producers in Saudi Arabia

Liwa Festival is more than just about dates

Government to clean up toxic landfills near capital

Rubbish piles near Abu Dhabi

Million dollar holiday at Emirates Palace

One week to Go!

We'll be Canada in one week from today.  The temperature and humidity have started to climb so we're lucky that it was temperate for this long.  We moved into our apartment two years ago today - sure doesn't seem like it.  I just realized that this is my last full weekend of being in my thirties - yikes! Poor Darcy is struggling at work with doing original cataloging of Arabic material.  I'm trying to finish some projects before my last work day on the 23rd.

Below is the weekend wrap up of stories from our part of the world:

GCC Cruises into New Naval Age


Swirling Standstorms Blind Pride of Fleet

Small Emirate Shares Giant Plans

Abu Dhabi Grows

Pricey Oil Helps Abu Dhabi This is interesting but one sided video news story of our fair city.   A majority of the unskilled laborers are from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and heir living and working conditions are atrocious.

Temperature Shoots Up to 52 Degrees Celcius


Registering for New National UAE ID Cards

Etihad Boosts Emirate's Future with 41 billion dollar deal
that's a big gamble to take!

I am fed up with this congestion!

Dubai vows to eradicate lewd beach behavior

Face scan system launched at Abu Dhabi airport 
Another historic first for the UAE...


Ninety years ago the Arabs gave their opinion and were ignored

The Last Supper
We've not visited this restaurant yet despite it being not too far from us.

40 Arrested in Malls for Cross Dressing


Fast Rate of Construction and Increasing Vehicles Add to Heat in UAE

Date are More Important than Oil

Using Ancient Skills to Craft Modern Designs

North Braces for Labour Surge

Library 2.0 and PDA in the UAE

I've spent much of this weekend with making my library more Web/Library 2.0 friendly.  I've been tweaking our public online catalog and creating my library's profile in Facebook.  It's kind of fun work but I really wanted to finish these projects before I go on vacation.  Speaking of which the countdown is now two weeks and counting!  The weather is getting more humid but it's still not as bad as two summers ago when we arrived.  We've been cat sitting for a friend for one month now and the short ten minute walk to their apartment is still doable.

Below is the weekly news wrap up of interesting stories from our neck of the woods.

Mild Weather Lengthens Gulf's Tourist Season

Abu Dhabi Plans a new TV Channel

Buses Bulge with Passengers

Keeping Abu Dhabi on the Move

Tradition and History


Capital Plans Network of Exercise Paths 
there are some interesting comments by women near the end of the article.

Inside Abu Dhabi's Shisha Cafes (video)

Public Kissing Can Lead to Deportation
the government needs to make their obscenity laws publicly available.

Public Decency in the UAE

Less than 3 weeks until our vacation starts!

Nothing really exciting happened here this past week.  My hometown football team (Edmonton Eskimos) lost its season opener but won its first home game.  My hockey team (Edmonton Oilers) made some big trades and the team has a new owner.  It's great to be able to listen to (in some cases) live press conferences and local radio sports talk shows over the web! 

Last week I had my *consultation* with a doctor that a friend recommended.  He's lived in Abu Dhabi for 34 years so he must be one of the longest serving doctors here.  Unfortunately health care here is similar to the U.S.  It's more like sick care than preventative care.  There are no routine medical check-ups but only consultations.  Health insurance doesn't recognize the term check up so you basically see a doctor when you're really sick.  So I paid 200 dirhams for routine blood work and a urine sample.  They forgot to check my weight and blood pressure.  I'll have to mention that when I call to get my results.  Darcy and I realized that we haven't had a proper physical done by a doctor since we left Canada in 2000.  The doctor asks you about your physical and mental health and then proceeds to do a thorough exam.

On Friday we visited the city's newest mall called Khalidiya Mall.  But as one newspaper article suggest (see below)  we didn't buy anything.  It's very close to us but it's the smallest of the four major malls in Abu Dhabi.  It has the same types of stores but there is no book store.  Shame!  But the mall had a decent Mexican restaurant.  so we had a late lunch there and Darcy ordered a marguarita but it was non alcoholic.  So we think that there are now three Mexican places in the city including Chilis.  Not a great variety.

Below is the regular news round up for the week:

Earth rise on the moon. This is incredible!

Sheikh Khalifa selects design for Adnoc’s new 75-storey head office.  It's about time too!  Ironic that the wealthiest company in the UAE has probably had the oldest office building for years.

Hot spell to continue in UAE until northwest winds arrive.  But remember that it never officially gets above 49 celcius.  Otherwise the laborers would not be able to work.  So the temp NEVER reaches 50 - riiight!

Dusty winds bring temperature down a few degrees in the UAE.  Whew - the temperature is down to around 40 celcius!

Shopping to beat boredom and the blues.  We can think of other things to do besides shop.

Abu Dhabi in 24 hours.  This is nice...

Taxis suffer as bus business booms

Atlantis rises from the palm

Workers find relief in midday break

Capital seeks to tighten the taps

Navy commanders meet in Abu Dhabi.  Let's hope sensible people in the U.S. and Iran will prevent an altercation in the Gulf. 

FNC debates anthem lyrics

The unofficial lyrics

Sheikh Khalifa selects design for Adnoc’s new 75-storey head office

Canadian urges tax on fossil fuels

Judges debate deportation order for indecent gesture in public

Abu Dhabi public beach opens.  We've not yet seen how much of the park is really open for business.

New town to keep heat at bay

Operation stereotype

What happened to June?

I don't know why time seems to pass so quickly here. Work is hectic and both of us seem like either circus clowns juggling several ongoing projects or fire fighters trying to put out blazes at work. Then the weekends come and we collapse in a heap on the couch and catch up on our various RSS feeds, blogs and emails. Then there are the usual weekend chores and errands and then it's back to work on Sunday. I also managed to watch some George Carlin clips on You Tube this weekend.
The city feels a little emptier with many Western expats having departed for summer vacation. Darcy and I will have to wait another three weeks and change before we fly off to the cool confines of Western Canada.
The outside humidity continues to rise and the last weekend our apartment windows were crying. The cold a/c inside and the hot, humid weather outside cause the glass outside to form heavy condensation. We could hardly see out so we curled up on the couch and watched movies. No point in venturing out to face the harsh elements.
Below is the usual weekend wrap-up of exciting news from our area: I knew that this was going to happen and I doubt that the entire 2 km stretch of beach will be fully operational either. That's a common occurrence here. Delay hits opening of Corniche beach. But the beach sounds nice and it's about a 20 minute walk for us.
UAE sheikh in belt beating case. This story was not reported in any local newspapers here.
'Jewish settler attack' on film.
UAE's eco footprint highest in the world.
Arabic newspapers lash out at US, UK terror alerts.
US luring more students from UAE.
Afghan men make a name in the UAE as expert bakers. There's an old four story walk up building across the street from us. It has a bakery that looks just like the one in this story. We've always wanted to take a photo but we've been too reluctant to ask.
New buses on streets of Abu Dhabi
First Abu Dhabi F1 grand prix in autumn 2009Naturally this will have some negative spinoffs like hotels jacking their prices for the race.
Road signs to assist new drivers in capital
Where there’s a will...
It's late here now so we're off to bed. I'm getting my first medical check up in over two years Monday morning so hopefully everything will go well.

hazy but not lazy days

Summer is almost upon us and yet it doesn't quite feel like it. The skies have been very hazy for over one week and the humidity has been very low. But that's resulted in a lot of dust and sand in the air. So I've been battling a cold for ten days but I should be able to resume exercising on Sunday. Luckily Darcy's strong immune system has kept her from getting sick like me.
Many faculty at my work have left town for summer vacation so the library will be a bit quieter. Most of our friends have left town too. But I still have a lot of projects to work on including creating a Facebook profile for the library. Two new librarians start work on Sunday so that will ease everyone's workload a bit.
Darcy and I went to the Emirates Palace on Friday to see the Picasso Exhibit. It is the second exhibit that has been sponsored by Arts Abu Dhabi. The venue is terrific, world class exhibits and (for the moment) they're free of charge. I don't think this could be duplicated in many places around the world. We spent about 2.54 hours looking at the interesting art. Some of his workds were obviously pretty far out. The bronze goat statue had a bit too much detail from a certain are for my taste! We bought the official exhibit catalogue to add to our home library.
Below is the weekend update of what's going on in our neck of the woods. As always some stories underline the lack of infrastructure and regulations here. Shamal will be replaced by summer
UAE residents say system needed to locate places in emirates
This is a fun story.Emirati superhero goes globalThe superhero's website is here.
Rats nibble at UAE history
District cooling strains supply
Waste water to provide workers’ comfort at home
Rural and suburban census begins
Chat between drunk men sparked terror warning
The Captain's Cafe that is mentioned in this article is very close to us.The shisha brotherhood
We enjoyed reading this story about how people end up living where they do. Our careers have taken us to far away places!Why 'Where' Is More Important than 'Who' or 'What'
Our weekend routine continues with going to Marina Mall to relax at Caribou Coffee and then grocery shop at Carrefour. Ila aliqa!

a week of surprises

My workplace held its annual end of year dinner party for its employees. They had a multitude of prizes to give away and last year I won an espresso coffee maker. Guess what? They pulled my name again and I won a Sony Ericsson mobile phone/walkman! It's a beautiful phone and it's loaded with bells and whistles but I decided to give it to Darcy. Her phone was getting close to 3.5 years old and I liked my Motorola.
We agreed that if the Apple's iPhone ever goes on sale in the UAE then she can buy one and give me the Sony. Plus I'd like to get Apple's 32 GB iPod Touch. But the price has to come down as it's now more expensive than the new generation 3G iPhone. I'd also like it have bluetooth and a few other options so I'll wait for the next version t oome out.
My Arabic class at work wrapped up and it was fun. The class began with 25 people and finished with about 6. Naturally I didn't practice speaking, writing and reading. I'd like to take classes in the fall, if they're offered. But I know that work will be extremely busy. Speaking of work, I've got the first draft of my library's online video tour. It took a while to do and I'm now working on a video for the women's library.
The weather has been surprisingly less humid compared to past years. I actually went for a walk outside after dinner tonight! My glasses have only fogged up twice this spring. But the humidity peaks in early fall so the weather will eventually deteriorate. Below is the local news roundup... Architecture in Abu Dhabi
UAE ID card coming soon for expats
Abu Dhabi is a city to watch
New luxury Ras Al Khaimah Island planned
Proposed UAE VAT would be unpopular
SUV sales booming in the UAE
Abu Dhabi's Parking Woes
Killer Whales Spotted near Abu Dhabi
And lastly there's this article: Middle East Media Coverage criticized. I'm currently reading Fisk's book titled The Great War For Civilisation.
So that's all for now. We're going to bed now and enjoy the beginning of the weekend...Ila aliqa

Catching up on the news...

Marhaba! The spring semester has now ended but the summer term begins next week. I'll be teaching a few classes and working on other projects. Darcy is also very busy at work but the days continue to pass quickly.

A couple of anniversaries have come up for us. May 30th is the fourth anniversary of our engagement. We arrived in Abu Dhabi two years ago on June 2. It doesn't seem that long ago.

A couple of weeks ago Darcy and I visited Ajman, the smallest and poorest of the seven emirates in the UAE. We stayed one night at the Ajman Kempinski Hotel. The Petroleum Institute offered its employees a discount for staying there. Apparently Ajman is only the second emirate (after Dubai) to allow 100% freehold by foreigners. So we could buy property there. It's about a two hour drive north from Abu Dhabi and we were surprised by the amount of construction going on there. The hotel had a fantastic beach and our room had a nice view of the Arabian Gulf. One interesting feature of the hotel was the shoeshine station. See the photos below.

Abu Dhabi has a new newspaper called The Nation. It's been publishing for about one month now and it looks promising. Apparently it's the emirate's first English language newspaper. I've subscribed to a couple of its RSS feeds. The UAE ranked fairly well on a listing of peaceful countries

This is a sad story about a ghost town in the UAE. Below are other articles from the same newspaper about a few interesting stories. Awareness of pollution continues to be an issue but not enough action is being taken. There's also pollution being caused from construction.

Public transportation in Abu Dhabi continues to deteriorate as the city's population increases. I'm so lucky to be able to to take a PI owned bus to work every day! Plus housing prices continue to spiral our of control. We're going to see the Picasso exhibit at the Emirates Palace. It's still amazing that we can park for free at a conditional 7 star hotel and pay no entrance fee to see exhibits there! The Emiratization program continues to encounter some problems -especially in the all important tourism industry. Until next time, Ila Aliqa...