Trick or Treat

My week long business/leisure trip to London was great!  I visited the Tate, National and National Portrait Galleries, British Library, British Museum, and London Museum.  Plus I did a lot of walking.  The weather was a bit cooler than I expected but at least it wasn't uncomfortable walking around the city like it still is in Abu Dhabi.  I hadn't been to London in over nine years and I met up with an old friend too. 

Darcy finished her last day of work on Oct. 29 and is looking forward to a break.  She booked our hotels in Paris, Brussels and Bruges for our two week trip in late November and early December.  The weather here is still fairly hot as we head into November but it should be a bit cooler by now.  The Formula One race here has dominated the local news this weekend.  I'm not really much of a F1 fan but it is interesting to see all hype behind this event.

Although Halloween is not a big day here we still bought a carved a pumpkin.  It was expensive since it had to be shipped from either North America or Europe.  But it was huge and looked neat lit up.  Check out Darcy's Facebook profile for a photo. 

Whale shark springs big surprise at beach club  we stayed one night our first summer here.

How should a mosque look?  The mosque has a 21st century design.  It's not very large but it took years to build.

At last, another way off the island and another article about the new bridge. 


New route halves time commuting to Abu Dhabi I drove it last Thursday and the new highway is fairly quick to reach from our place.

Single card for residents next year - I hope there's more success with the implementation compared to the first national ID card attempt.

UAE is top Arab state to live in  The full report is at http://www.prosperity.com/rankings.aspx and Canada is ranked #7.

Clinton to meet Abbas in Abu Dhabi They'll likely meet at the Emirates Palace which we'll drive close to on our way to the mall today.  I wonder if we'll see any black limos.

Debate over Arabic instruction heats up Ironically many Arabs in schools say they don't get very good instruction with learning English!

Waypoint on the old silk road

Planning trips abroad

I'm off to London on October 14th to attend a two day conference.  Then I'm spending four extra days to sight see the city and hopefully meet a friend that I haven't seen in seven years.  I'm staying in a low budget hostel that is close to Hyde Park.  Meanwhile Darcy's last physical day at her job is October 29 and her separation day is Dec. 23.  She's going to use up her remaining vacation time in between so we're going to visit Paris and Belgium for a couple of weeks. I have a bunch of unused vacation too that I need to use before the end of the calendar year.

The weather is slowing cooling off and I braved the elements and did my first evening corniche walk earlier this week.  The corniche beach extension project has extended all the way to our neighborhood.  So there will be almost two kilometers of beach.  But the grand opening of the entire stretch has been delayed (no surprise!)

Motorists blind to dangers of tinting  - we have 30% tinting for our car and it's fine.

Drivers face fines and seeing their cars impounded but they still want tints


License plate I 44 fetches 2.3 million Dirhams - that's about $626,000 USD


Police call for ban on passenger minibuses

Life after the meltdown

Parking problems the space race - luckily we don't have to pay in our neighborhood....yet!  I guess we should keep an eye on the parking permit website.


DNA database set to start in a year

Burj Dubai not quite a tower but a free-standing structure

EID Mubarak!

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan has come and gone since our last posting.  EID began Sunday morning so I have three days off while Darcy has the week to relax.  We had wanted to return to the Bab Al Shams hotel where we stayed last year.  However, the rates had gone up significantly.  There was a newspaper article recently written that said many UAE hotels charge more if rooms are booked directly through them versus using travel sites like travelocity and booking a package.  That's unfortunate so that might deter us from staying in many hotels here.

Hard to believe that fall starts in a day or two.  Perhaps we've become more tolerant of the climate here over the past three years but this summer did not seem as oppressively hot and humid as past ones.  However, we've had to contend with more water leakage problems and putting up with extremely dirty windows.

Darcy and I will drive to Dubai during our break to see the new Dubai Mall.  There is a huge bookstore that is supposed to be the biggest in the UAE.  I can't remember when I last stopped in Dubai but it's probably been at least a year.   I have a new co-worker and it's a chance for all of us to see some new sights.  Speaking of traveling, we booked tickets (online deal with Lufthansa) to spend two weeks this fall in Paris, Brussels and Brugge.  We're looking forward to it and friends of ours here went there last year and loved it.

Abu Dhabi plans to build 17,000 villas for Emiratis

The spy who came in from the sea

Riddle of fasting in land of the longest day

Controversial Canadian ferries bound for new duty in the gulf

Metro chaos prompts information campaign

Large colony of flamingoes found

Going for a swim?  Bring your wallet

Survivors of our spiritual past

Ramadan Kareem!

Marhaba everyone!

We've been back in Abu Dhabi for two weeks now and we're back into our routine.  Saturday is the start of Ramadan and one of the nice things is that our work day is reduced to six hours.  I'll leave my office a bit earlier to exercise twice a week and I'll stay late on the other three days.  So I'll end up working more hours a week over Ramadan but still fewer than the normal 40.  After that is the EID break and then I'll need to start figuring out when to begin using my twenty work days of vacation this fall.  It will be nice to have all these breaks this fall in the midst of another busy semester at work.  I finally have a new co-worker so it will benefit the library and especially public services!

Our vacation in Alberta and B.C. was great and naturally too short. It was great to see my brother and sister-in-law after three years. Another highlight was seeing the Pacific Ocean on Vancouver Island. We really enjoyed staying at the Middle Beach Lodge.  The $35 seafood dinners were great, view from our balcony and beaches were wonderful.  The weather was unseasonably hot and we got a sunburn despite wearing sunscreen, sunhats and keeping our shirts on.

The long 25 hour journey from Vancouver to Edmonton to Toronto to Frankfurt and finally Abu Dhabi was luckily uneventful.  I'll mention that the Frankfurt Airport is not a very attractive or comfortable place.  They are doing a lot of construction but I don't know how it can improve things.  It felt like one was in a prison by being rather dark and having few windows. 

Below are some interesting stories from our neck of the woods:

A bygone age brought back to life
Love that stands the test of time
Saudi ready to unveil its future
Shoe repairer's soul is in the souq
The poetry in personal messages
Abu Dhabi's last wind tower to be preserved

Ila Aliqa Abu Dhabi!

Well, we made it though another academic year and it's vacation time!  This is our third time flying home for summer vacation and it always seems surreal when the departure day arrives.  A friend is going to drive us to the airport so we'll have plenty of time to relax for our 2 am red eye flight to Frankfurt. Then it's on to Calgary and Edmonton.  So another 24 hour flight home.  Luckily I can earn Star Alliance airmiles.  So we'll be back blogging in August!

Aggressive plan to increase university enrollment

Retail rents fall for first time in at least ten years


Air conditioned bus shelters on the way

Tourists are beckoned to the Gulf

Emiratis explain why they resigned


UAE birthrate falls by nearly 50%

Scientists finish tests on UAE's first satellite

Abu Dhabi to extend length of school day

Welcome to Summer!

Life in Abu Dhabi has slowed down as many people have started leaving for their long summer vacations.  Traffic isn't quite as bad and the mall didn't seem quite as busy on Saturday.  I'm down to four work days until we leave for Canada.  Luckily I have the flexibility of working shorter weeks otherwise I'll lose my time.  Unfortunately Darcy doesn't seem able to take time off like I can.  I still don't think that the weather has been as hot and humid this spring was in the past.  Of course we may be more tolerant of it now.

I've been busy trying to make online library tutorials.  They're at http://www.youtube.com/user/PILibrary.  I'm not a great public speaker and the tutorials don't have a crystal clear resolution but they've been fun to make.  I have to rely on using free screen casting software and Apple's iMoive program until my library can get a license for Camtasia (an all-in-one package).

Our friends Rob and Karima gave birth to a daughter (Lily) last weekend.  I think it was my first time holding such a young newborn (12 hours old)!  Darcy and I were named Lily's honorary aunt and uncle.
 

Inspectors fail half of Sharjah's restaurants

GCC Immigratio Heads Propose Dual Residency

Where your money goes

Press Freedom Center Struggling in Qatar

UAE roads are among the most deadly: UN

DNA could illuminate Islam's heritage

Dubai bans Iran protests

Construction firms ducking heat rules

Drivers relieved as lorry chaos appears over

UAE reports high website censorship

Good bye to May and hello to June

Well, another month has flown by and it was a somewhat uneventful month.  But with living here that's a good thing!  We got our visas renewed for another three years and it was a surprisingly quick and painless affair.  I even got reimbursed 100% for the processing fee. 
We will have been in Abu Dhabi for 3 years on June 2.  The time has gone by fairly quickly and we've now reached the minimum amount of time that we initially committed to staying here.  So we'll now take it one year at a time as to what to do next.   We leave for Edmonton in 1 month!

Temperatures soar past 50 celcius  

Villas show their (not so old) age

Search starts for the UAE's first female mufti

Majlis is a key feature of civilization in the UAE Al Hosn: A Pocket of Peace - Darcy's former supervisor is quoted in this article. We live on the northern edge of Al Hosn and we love it too. Although the construction is getting bad.

Slowly transitioning into vacation mode

This week is my first 3 day work week and it feels pretty nice!  I can spend a bit more time at the gym and watch some dvds that I bought years ago in Florida.  The heat and construction noise continue to go up but what can one do?  We went out for dinner last night at the Beach Rotana Hotel.  That's where we lived for 6 weeks when we moved here in 2006.  We couldn't believe how much the skyline to the northeast had changed!  The expanse of water across to Reem Island from the hotel had been shortened considerably.  And there were numerous buildings under construction along with a freeway.  I don't think that the hotel beach there has much of a view anymore.  Poor Darcy is frustrated by some big personnel changes at her work - 'nuff said!  It's now 7 weeks and counting until we leave for Edmonton...

Shoppers are paying a premium - ouch!!

Mosques campaign seeks donations 

Sir Bani Yas to host four new lodges - Looks like we may want to visit there again some time...

Young men need more motivation, study finds-a report like this being made public is astonishing!

Dream hospitals unveiled - this is desperately needed

Big spenders at Big Boys Toys

UAE could help clinch climate deal

Lack of confidence hampers Emiratisation

Post office plans home deliveries

Earthquake strikes off coast of UAE

Welcome to May!

The month of May began with a really hot day so summer is just around the corner.  When we get into our car the temperature gauge reads in the high 40s celcius or about 100 farenheit.  My walks on the Corniche may be over until the fall.  Darcy and I start our summer vacation in exactly two months on July 2.  I've been enjoying my three day work weeks to use up excess vacation time. The construction noise around us seems to be getting worse plus Darcy has to deal with it at work. 
Meanwhile we're still investigating making a will.  It's more complicated with living overseas but there is a company in the city who acts as a go between with a major provider.  We're just getting clarification about fees.  What's more complicated is getting life insurance.  We're getting quotes from two different companies but we want to think this through carefully. 
We're going to have to bite the bullet and get our plane tickets for our Edmonton to Vancouver return trip.  The fares are awful and have actually gone up by about 200 CDN for WestJet!  So we'll pay just over 600 CDN for both of us which is the same as what we paid last year.  Luckily the airfare from Abu Dhabi to Edmonton is cheaper this year.
Work in somewhat uneventful for us.  Although I'd like to start making some online screen casting tutorials for some of our databases and library catalog.  Below is an assortment of regional stories.

UAE bars pork imports - the WHO has confirmed that the swine flu is spread by human to human contact and not from eating pork!

Conference centre soars with falcons

National anorexia levels astonishing - ironic considering that the UAE also has terribly high levels of obesity too. 

A rower's tearful tribute to Zayed

Labour day may become a permanent UAE holiday

Rights body reviews abuse video claim

Sheikh unveils his replica ark

Access to universities to be widened

US university to launch DIFC campus


Abu Dhabi room rates highest in world

Expats urged to embrace culture

How well do you know the emirates?

So, could you pass the emirates patriotic test?

WOMAD in Abu Dhabi

We attended the three day WOMAD (Peter Gabriel's World of Music, Arts and Dance) concert on the second day.  It was good but sadly security was being selective in allowing people in.  Beside us just as we entered were a couple of guys from Indai, Pakistan or Bangladesh.  An events guy held up his hand to them while we proceeded.  It had nothing to do with them being bachelors as we saw a few single male Europeans inside.  So the laborers were forced to watch from the fence outside.

The first group was The Dhol Foundation.  Details are here.   The second group we saw was Abdullah Chhadeh & Syriana. Details are here.  The last group that we saw was The Kamkars.  They had ten performers.  We saw all five performances on the third and last day and seeing Robert Plant was great!  Heck of a deal considering that it they were all free.  There were more non Westerners in attendance yesterday which was nice to see. 

I had today off and worked out and then I met Darcy for lunch.  I then walked home (only took 30 minutes but it was bloody hot out.  However, it's nice to work four day work weeks.  Below are some interesting stories....

WOMAD festival opens with a bang

UAE laws translated into English

Sharjah's tour guides put on right path

Emirate to close its bars and nightclubs

Mubadala issues first annual report

Personal odyssey into wilderness

Dubai's dark side - other stories about the UAE produced by ABC news are available

WOMAD is coming

Last week was the Red Bull Air Raee along the Corniche.  This coming weekend it's WOMAD!  The performances are free and they are about a 30 minute walk from our apartment.  Temperatures will get close to 40 Celsius or about 100 Fahrenheit so it will be hot!  The last performance will feature Robert Plant!  It would be nice to see him even though it will likely happen late on Saturday.  Luckily I have Sunday off.  Since I have a lot of vacation time to use I've decided to work four day work weeks until the end of June.  I'll still have over 30 work days to use up in the fall.  What to do....
Democracy wrong choice for UAE

Canada to recruit more Gulf students

Libraries Undergo a Sea Change

Global crisis is behind us says Sheikh Mohammed - that's a bold statement!

Pull the udder one - male goat produces milk

Dazzling start to daredevils' season

The view from inside the camps

Arabtech pledges to improved its labour sites

Arab societies should be more proactive

Abu Dhabi wildlife center opens its door to the public

Giant labour camp to house 32,000

Elongated oyster shell hotel for lulu island - we live very close to the island

Capital district plan celebrates identity

thinking about more vacations

Darcy and I had a wonderful time at the new hotel on Sir Bani Yas Island for her birthday two weeks ago.  It will rank as one of our special places along with Jasper and the Everglades.  The weather could have been better but it was interesting to experience tremendous lightning storms.  It rained a lot but apparently not as much as in the northern emirates.  We still managed to do four outdoor activities: archery; wadi walk; game drive; kayaking.  The hotel opened only six months ago so they are still hiring staff and developing the island's infrastructure.  The conservation efforts are impressive since the island is really just a big area of salt and minerals.  A majority of the plants need watering from miles and miles of connecting hoses.  There are many gazelles and other animals that have been brought from Africa (ostrich, cheeta, peacock, oryx). 

Other news is that the Formula One race to be held here on November 1 has been selling tickets briskly.  They went on sale a week ago.  Construction noise in our neighborhood and Darcy's work is bad.  We hosted a baby shower for a friend on Friday and Darcy did a great job.  There was a lot to eat!  Finally, I'm in an unusual dilemma of having to use up 45 days day of vacation by the end of the year or risk losing all of it.  That's excluding time off that I've booked for our summer vacation and 15 days that I can carry over into 2010.  Guess I've been working too hard and not taking enough time off!  Darcy doesn't have as much time off and I don't want to have to take vacations by myself.  Hmmm.....maybe I can work four day work weeks the rest of the year!

Can Abu Dhabi be a pedestrian city?
 
City retains essence of centuries-old culture
 
Women-only bus service for Dubai
 
Expats gloomy on property value
 
Identity concerns over marriage rate
 
Jewellery sale evokes romance of Umm Kulthum
 
When pavement turns to jungle
 
Abu Dhabi motorists face paid parking 

Our 200th blog post

Welcome to our 200th blog entry!  I don't know if many people have been following our blog since we started it almost five years ago but we've had some exciting times.  Darcy posted our first story way back on June 4, 2004 by announcing our engagement.   I wonder what the next 200 blog posts will be like.  Hopefully this global repression won't be around but the deepening crisis is worrisome.  It's affecting the UAE but we are fortunate to still have our jobs.  Below is the usual assortment of newspaper articles that highlight some of the things that have happened here recently.

Kurri on lookout for fresh talent  One of my all time favorite Oilers players!

The treasure trove of the QE2 I've seen the Queen Mary and it would be neat to see the QE2 if the refurbishment is done correctly.

 Frustrated in Abu Dhabi, renters flock into Dubai - the situation was reversed only three years ago!

Sandstorm engulfs Saudi Arabia and Kuwait - the storm had weakened considerably when it hi Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

How the super-wealthy stay afloat in stormy weather

Red tide threatens sport-diving clubs

Police chief says YouTube spreads hatred, but regulator will not block it

Robots no hindrance to camel racing’s appeal

Death toll confirms the risk of walking

1,000 new hotel rooms for Abu Dhabi

'Second downtown' closer to reality

Capital begins to take shape

Marching forth to a long weekend

It's only been a little over two months since our last long winter break but it has seemed longer than that. The birthday of Islam's Prophet Mohammed is on Monday but Sunday has been declared a holiday for most people to make it a long weekend. We're going to go back to the public beach on the Corniche. It's been about four months since we were last there! I guess the weather was too cool. I'm also taking this Monday off as I've stockpiled a lot of time or leave as they call it here.

The excitement over the iPhone finally being sold in the UAE with a warranty (but still unlocked) quickly abated. Etisalat's outrageous pricing schemes and bungled customer service will likely result in few being sold. Many people will probably continue to buy unlocked phone and simply use pre-paid cards. Poor Darcy's hopes were dashed as she really wanted an iPhone. Maybe she'll like thethird generation iPod Touch. You can currently download apps to make calls in WiFi zones on the device.

One of the podcasts that I listen to on my iPod Touch is about business. The story about What a difference a year makes is from this podcast. Anyway a new term that I heard is called Repression. It's supposed to mean an economic downturn that's worse than a recession but not as bad as The Great Depression. I think that it's a pretty accurate description of what's happened world wide in the last six months. Maybe the media and politicians should start using this word rather than the innocuous phrase economic downturn. Perhaps my reading of the book The Long Emergency has impacted my take on current world events too.

The last bit of news is that we've booked our flights to Canada for our four week summer vacation. The overseas airfare prices have dropped from last year by a few thousand dirhams. Unfortunately flying domestic in Canada remains unchanged from last year. We've booked three nights to stay at our favorite place in Jasper along with three nights on the Pacific Ocean side of Vancouver Island.

Capital’s parks draw the crowd

Dust off the United Arab Emirates

Etisalat puts conditions on iPhone sales

US clears AMD and Mubadala capital deal

New car speeds to lofty launch

Prophet’s birthday a time for reflection

Relics prove snakes had ancient charms

The difference a year makes This story comes from an NPR affiliate but it's still interesting about the change in Dubai

Emaar may cancel projects the repression deepens here....

Capital’s roadside recycling bins will light up the city

Why Arabic must be brought to book

Shakespeare studied in Arabic

Translating Mozart’s musical moods

It’s colourful, tasty, tempting – and mostly unhealthy - the UAE, like North America, has a mall culture that's packed with fast food joints.

Houbara conservation plan takes flight

Developers back affordable housing - this is long overdue!

Agency blames two sectors for majority of air pollution

City motorists drive towards access fee

Dubai on the rise

STAR TREK WIDGET

Shammal winds have blown away February

Wow!  Where did February go?  I haven't blogged in a while but the monotony of work and seemingly short weekends have continued to speed up the passage of time.  I've spent this weekend recuperating from a bad cold.  I seem to get them two or three times a year due to the awful climate here.  Dust storms, humidity and breathing in cold and moldy smelling air at work play can play havoc on your alergies, sinues and lungs.

Work continues to be busy for the both because our libraries are terribly short staffed.  Budget cuts and recruitment issues are the culprits.  The global recession (it seems to be becoming more like a depression) has affected the UAE's (especially Dubai) construction and real estate sectors.  The media's initial stories of it being a healthy market correction are long gone.   Abu Dhabi seems to be bailing our their neighbors since we have cash in hand.  Dubai has been paying for most of their projects with loans.   

Darcy and I have made some travel plans.  We'll be staying at the Abu Dhabi Resort, Sir Bani Yas Island for three nights to celebrate Darcy's birthday.  They have a year long special (stay 3 nights and pay for 2).  Information about the nature reserve island, with a short video is at http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/11/04/10256726.html. 

We also bought  our airline tickets for our summer vacation. We'll be in Canada from July 2 to August 5.  Prices for flying overseas have dropped from last year but domestic flying in Canada is the same inflated fare as last year.

Sandstorms sweep across region - February was a windy month!

Commuting in style on luxury bus - we want to try this but we've yet to find a schedule online

Luxury bus service a hit with commuters on opening day

Island is haven for rare birds

Survey puts unemployment at 4%

Hotels in Abu Dhabi cutting room rates

Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down

F1 park stalls for lack of financing - the headlines last fall said that this short downturn was a healthy market correction!

Taxi fares leap 30% in Abu Dhabi

Oil tanker burns after ship collision - this happened near Dubai

Call for greater online cultural dialogue

George Mason confirms closing - this was a surprise in light of more universities opening up campuses here.

Al Ain Aerobatics Show

This weekend had a change of pace as I went with a friend to Al Ain's annual Aerobatic Show.  It was pretty fun and well organized most likely because it was not run by local outfits.  It was really hot out and I got a bit of a sunburned neck despite wearing my sunhat.  I should have brought sunscreen.   Darcy stayed home and baked yummy biscotti.  It's warmed up the last few days which hopefully doesn't mean that winter is ending.  However, that means we could head back to the beach - it's been a couple of month.

We're starting the long process of getting our Canadian passports.  The government doesn't use the term renewing hence the laborious endeavor.  They also need to extend the length of the passport from five to ten years like most other Western nations have! 



Abu Dhabi sets 7% renewable energy target - only 7%?!

Dubai: Chill Out, The Versace Beach Is Refrigerated

UAE leads world in Rolls-Royce sales

Tree planted for every visitor to island

When the desert was green and fertile

Victory is a family tradition

Emiratis’ festival brings the past to life

Dust storm!

This rolled in a few minutes ago. One second it was clear, the next you couldn't see across the parking lot.

Enjoying the winter weather

The winter break continues at my work but I've made some progress with getting projects done.  The weather has been beautiful (for me at least).  Day time highs are in the low to mid 20s celcius or about 75 farenheit.  Nights are a bit chilly and I had to wear a windbreaker once.  But it's so nice to be able to open the windows and not! 

I just finished reading a book and have moved onto another one.  I've read more books in the last few months than I have in many years.  I also enjoy reading New York Times articles on my iPod and listening to podcasts on Stitcher Radio.  The jackhammering continues on the empty lot one building down from us.  We're not looking forward to when construction finally gets underway there.  But maybe the global recession will suspend it. 

There’s no business for snow businesses - this is sad but not surprising.  Also indicative of the typical confusion of how things work here.  We frequent the Caribou Coffee shop that is beside the abandoned Snow Dome.  I wonder how long Caribou Coffee will stay in business.  We like it much better than Starbucks since it's quiter and has more comfortable seating plus free wi-fi!

Men Sing of Their Faded Way of Life

Abu Dhabi taxi drivers wonder what to do next - the end of an era for Abu Dhabi

100 new buses arrive in capital - this is long overdue!
 
Architect saves artistic flair for his building designs

Business tourism helps capital to avoid trade downturn

Home sellers offering major discounts - global recession continues to affect the UAE - intitial stories of it being a healthy correction are long gone!

Spectre of foreclosure hits home

Capital plans seven new parks

Visitors say UAE women are ahead of those in US - I respectfully disagree...

Bridge at sunset image wins photo competition - i cross this bridge every day to get to work. it opened in 1968.  There is one other bridge that connects to Abu Dhabi Island.  Just to the right of that photo is the new Zayed Bridge that's been under construction for at least 5 years.

UAE and US sign nuclear deal - hmmm......

Israel/Gaza conflict

The Israeli/Gaza conflict has obviously dominated headlines here and it really made its presence known here this weekend.  Shopping malls had large donation drop offs for goods, a 7 hour television telethon raised 86 million U.S. dollars and large, peaceful demonstrations took place in four emirates.  We watched the 4,000 person rally that started close to our apartment on Saturday.
The global recession continues to impact the UAE's economy and the early comments about it being a healthy market correction have proven to be completely wrong.
Meanwhile the winter break continues for many universities and it gives us a chance to work on projects. We discovered that the new ultra luxury Abu Dhabi Resort Hotel on the Sir Bani Yas nature reserve island has a special (stay 3 nights and pay for 2).  I'd like to take Darcy there for her birthday in March.   Speaking of traveling, I should also get my annual airfare money in a week or two.  Is it that time already to start thinking about planning our summer vacation?!


Marches show solidarity

Telethon raises Dh315m

Thinkers to converge on capital for future summit

Film follows sacred journey


Rubbish piling up on Islands off Abu Dhabi 

Bucking tradition, western style

Marketing culture for global export

Freej Folklore to ‘change the way people perceive Arab theatre’

Warning: e-waste can turn nasty

Film follows sacred journey - this looks like an interesting movie.  Unfortunately we learned that the premier showing was at the Emirates Palace was by invitation only. Naturally no details were given about how to get tickets and there has been no information about its release to the general public.  Typical poor marketing as it could be a good opportunity for Westerners to learn more about Middle Eastern history.  See the link below for more info about the central character Ibn Batutta. 

Who was Ibn Battuta?

Abu Dhabi fossil sites surveyed

Park and fly takes on a new meaning

Ghost town on the horizon

Reading still popular, despite internet -  I should mention the significance of these last two articles in my library information literacy classes that I teach to our students!

Thousands flocked to National Library in '08

Welcome to 2009!

Darcy and I had an enjoyable New Year's Eve by going to two parties that night.  They were withing walking distance so it was very convenient.  It was nice to visit some people that we hadn't seen in a while.  Darcy cooked a wonderful dinner on New Year's Day as we had company that night.  We've been spoiled with having many days off over the last month so it will be tough to get back into the work routine on Jan. 4.  But we shouldn't complain compared to how few holidays we had working in North America!  Below are a few interesting stories....

Umm Al Quwain ruler dies

UAE Pictures from the Past: Umm Al Qwain

Quiet New Year gestures to Gaza

2008: It was fun, but the party's over

2008: Times are changing ... and worrying

Expats in 57 occupations banned from bringing families with them

Emirati students face Arabic tests

'The best camels in the world’

Happy New Year!!!