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?

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

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......

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

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

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

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...

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

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

Another weekend goes by too quickly....

It's Saturday night now and the weekend, as usual flew by. This past weekend was typical of sleeping in both days, reading the newspaper, browsing our favorite websites, watching some dvds from our numerous boxed sets, doing household chores and grocery shopping.

There are many things that we need to do and would like to do. We still have to plan our trip to Istanbul in late April. We're finalizing our plans for flying to Canada in late July for three weeks. Speaking of traveling, here is an article about the booming air traffic in the Middle East. I guess one reason for that is so that people can visit all the theme parks that are opening now and in the future.

I joined an online usergroup called the Emirates Natural History Group. I get alerts when there are free activities at the city's Cultural Foundation. The building is withing walking distance of our place. The sandstorm yesterday blew in sand from the beaches onto the Cornich road and also knocked over some signs. The temperatures have dropped but unfortunately we have to keep the windows closes. Otherwise sand will blow inside.

Emirate Palace in Abu Dhabi is hosting another vanity license plate auction and this story discusses it. Where else could an outrageous event like this happen - besides Dubai?! I came across a blog about events in Abu Dhabi. It's new and it's not clear who the author is but it looks promising. Many blogs and sites about the UAE usually focus on Dubai.

A post for Troy and Jennifer in Cincinnati: job hunting in the UAE

(Post edited for name correction--Jennifer, please accept my most abject apologies for the error! How embarrassing...ds)

Hi Troy and Jennifer,

I just saw your comment on our last blog post. I clicked through to your profile, but I couldn't see an email address there for you, so since you indicated that we could reply to you by blog posting I'm writing here.

It took us just about a year for my husband to find a job in the UAE, so we understand your frustration. Hiring processes here are very slow and bureaucratic. But it can be done.

The tendency here is towards very strict, literal interpretations of language. Be as specific in your employment profiles/job applications as possible. If the job asks for experience in Microsoft Word, and your application/profile says you are experienced with word processing software, HR may screen you out because you didn't mention the specific program instead of contacting you and clarifying your skills. If the paperwork requires a non-objection letter/certificate, and your documentation does not specifically use the words "NON OBJECTION", it will be rejected.

Also be prepared to do a lot of follow-up and, if necessary, re-applying. Your information will not automatically be kept on file, and you will often not get clarifications or updates unless you ask. In keeping with the point above, ask lots of very specific questions even if you think they are obvious or "stupid"--you wouldn't believe the things you won't get told if you don't ask.

Job turnover is pretty high just about everywhere, because the normal contract length is three years. So again, patience and perserverance is probably the best strategy.

You didn't say much about your personal experience, and you probably wouldn't want that kind of discussion posted up on the internet anyway, so if you'd like to continue the conversation feel free to email me at dsharman (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thanks for reading our blog--we're glad you enjoy it!

--Darcy

Gearing up for a new semester

I resume my primary job of teaching library information literacy classes on January 27. I taught 67 in the fall to 943 students so I predict I'll teach about 70 this term. I begin the week with teaching library resources to the new Islamic Studies class so that will be interesting.

Abu Dhabi has begun building a green city called Masdar City. There will also be a new post secondary institution aligned with this development called the Masdar Institute. For me these initatives are fare more interesting and vital to the region and the world than most of Dubai's engineering marvels (biggest mall, tallest building, etc.).

Our fair city continues, I think, to quietly upstage Dubai by hosting an Islamic Arts exhibition at the Emirates Palace. It should be an educating experience too. It's too bad that we couldn't have also built a new Museum of Islamic Art like Doha did.

I won't say too much about Bush's trip to the UAE. I think it was a short vacation for him to see the area for the first time. It's unfortunate that Bush had to be the first sitting President to visit the UAE. His only speech during his week long trip was at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. The next day Bush traveled (by car?) to Dubai. All residents of Dubai were told to stay home or at least not drive so that Bush's convoy would not get stuck in traffic. It was strange to see photos of Dubai's empty streets - imagine shutting down a city of over 1 million people for 1 day!

Brrrr......

It's been refreshingly cool here for the last couple of days. Last night (for the first time ever) we turned off all the air conditioners in our place! This story talks about the bone chilling weather. Another story mentions near freezing temperatures. It would be cold for many people here because, like in Florida, houses here have poor insulation. Many buildings have tiles for floors which make it really cool.

The Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council recently published a book called Plan Abu Dhabi 2030: Urban Structure Framework Plan. It talks about about how our fair city will be transformed within 25 years. It's an interesting document to read and it rivals Duabi in terms of wholescale change for an entire city. It's available online but the contents have been split into several downloadable sections.

January 10 is the Islamic New Year so we're enjoying another holiday! But there will be no more breaks until the Prophet's Birthday in late March. We will start planning our April vacation to Istanbul this weekend. And we'll also try and book tentative flights to Canada this summer. We've asked to have July 27 to August 18th off. It won't be as long a break as last summer because we'd like to plan other trips. We'd like to go somewhere this fall and maybe winter too.

UAE National Day celebrations

We enjoyed out four day long weekend. On the first day we had a picnic and it was so nice to spend time outside! We had another picnic, this time at night with friends. The National Day celebrations this year seemed more impressive than last year. Authorities built an entertainment area on reclaimed land along the Corniche. We watched some Emiratis sing and dance up close. The fireworks were great and took place over three nights. Unfortunatel we missed two interesting events: seeing the world's largest flag and a marching band on the Corniche. More newspaper coverage about the celebrations are here. The festivities weren't complete without the traffic at night and engines revving and backfiring. It sounded like a warzone! But it was all in good fun and little to no alcohol was involved.

Getting ready to visit Fujarah

Darcy and I are going on a PI sponsored weekend getaway to Fujairah. We're getting a discount to stay one night at the Fujairah Rotana Hotel. We're driving our car and taking two people from work so it should be fun. We've not been there before. Work, as usual has been busy for both of us. I've finished teaching library classes for the semester. I taught 67 sessions to 928 male and female students - whew! I've also been working on a powerpoint presentation with a librarian in Al Ain. We'll be co-presenting at an Information Literacy conference in Dubai in two weeks. The weather continues to dry out and we've got three windows in our living room open right now. All our windows have been cleaned for the first time in about ten month. The sand and grime in the air quickly dirties windows here and you can't clean them yourself. Some interesting newspaper articles are about Abu Dhabi's soaring oil revenues. Another factoid is that the UAE apparently has one of, if not THE most, highest mobile/cell phone subscribers per capita in the world. There are 7.3 million subscribers out of an estimated population of 4.3 million. This is craziness! But another soaring statistics, albeit negative, is the severe housing shortage in Abu Dhabi.

Travel plans

A few days ago I signed us up to go on a work sponsored weekend getaway to Fujarah on the Indian Ocean side of the UAE. The hotel price is heavily discounted so hopefully we'll make the cut.

We've seen the new taxis but we've yet to take one. Despite the subpar service that you get with taking the old gold and white taxis they are definitely part of the city's culture. It's an experience all visitors should have in Abu Dhabi.

Here are some staggering numbers about the amount of money being spent on airport construction projects here. Staying on the topic of flying, Ethihad Airways (UAE's national airline that's headquartered in Abu Dhabi) has grown quickly. But it's not as large as Dubai based Emirates Airways and its profits haven't skyrocketed as high as Sharjah, UAE based Air Arabia. Here's an article about being able to listen to our local newspaper articles online. Amazingly the new Ferrari theme park here will open in two years in time for the first Formula 1 race.

Friday night we went out for one of the few times this fall. We just haven't had the energy to do much beyond collapsing on the couch at home and surfing the web and watching dvds. Many of my co-workers have said that their workloads have been heavier this year compared to last year. So we're looking forward to our upcoming Oman trip and possibly Fujarah. We've also got to start planning our spring and summer trips soon...