Season's Greetings!

I can't believe that Christmas is less than two weeks away! Luckily the cooler weather and shorter days make the season feel a bit like the holidays. I went Christmas shopping today and a helpful clerk from Lebabon wished me a Merry Christmas. It probably doesn't sound like it's worth mentioning but it's the first time that I've heard the word Christmas spoken by a non Christian. I didn't expect to see as many signs here proclaiming Christmas and having photos of Santa. I saw one sign that had Happy Holidays in English and Arabic. A Marks & Spencer store has a three story Christmas tree! There's also a large model of Santa with his sleigh and reindeer.

We've had our Christmas tree decorated for a while and it looks nice. I haven't had a tree this big since 1993 while this is Darcy's first large fake tree. We're able to use diffusing pine scented oil in order to make our tree feel more natural. I need to wrap presents and put them under our tree. Darcy wants to do some Christmas baking next week. It's too bad that we both didn't bring our family recipe books!

Darcy's Old King Cole play finished its three day, four performances yesterday. It was interesting to be a backstage hand from my standpoint. However, my brief involvement in the play was a time committment whlile Darcy's was much bigger. I don't know how people can memorized lines and act at the same time. It was difficult enough for me to remember which props had to be moved around in between scene changes!

That's about all for now....

Catching Up

I see that Michael has not been posting on the blog...well...guess I will have to take on the burden of bringing everyone up to speed.

We spent the weekend of American Thanksgiving having a traditional turkey dinner with friends. Much good food was eaten, much wine was drunk, and much fun was had playing cards. I do have some incriminating video from the night in question, but I will be nice and not post it online for the world to see :)

Believe it or not, we have had MORE rain!!!! Last weekend it absolutely POURED all day Saturday. There have also been a few other scattered showers in the past week or 2. I think we have now had the equivalent of over a year's worth of rain...and all in about 10 days! Michael and I always seem to bring atypical weather with us wherever we go.

The rain put a bit of a damper on the National Day celebrations here, which took place from the 1st to the 3rd. National Day is the anniversary of the UAE becoming its own country independent from the British--previous to 1971 it was a protectorate. It's strange to think that the country is only about as old as I am, and that all this urban development has taken place in so short a time. Wind the clock back two decades and there was not much more than sand, small fishing villages, and beduin tribes living off dates and camel milk. It's amazing how much this area has accomplished in so little time.

Michael got a long weekend for National Day, which was nice. There were fireworks on Friday night...we could see them from our apartment building's front door, but sadly I forgot to bring my camera down with me when we went to investigate what "that loud banging noise" was. Both Friday night and Saturday night the Corniche road was packed to a standstill with people out celebrating. Cars full of people all hanging out the windows cheering; people standing up through the sunroofs and riding on the roofs and hoods of the vehicles; loud music playing, and lots of noise as people spun their tires or gunned their engines until they backfired. Some people were dressed up, and some people had decorated their cars with hearts in UAE colours, flags, and pictures of the late Sheik Zayed and his two oldest sons, the current ruler of the UAE and the crown prince and ruler of Dubai. There was dancing in the streets--even some women who uncovered their hair and tossed it around Khaleeji style!--and much fun. We captured some of the chaos with my camera, and posted a rough video of the night on our video site at darcyandmichael.blip.tv. Blip.tv does allow you to imbed your video on blogs or other sites now, but I haven't been able to get it to link up to this blog properly yet, so for now you will have to click off Inshallah to see it.

The rehearsals for the Christmas Pantomime continue, though I am starting to be afraid that we will NOT be ready for our opening on Wednesday! Michael has been recruited to work backstage, so he will be back there with me during the shows, which is nice even if it will impede our ability to get photos of video of the show in progress. I have all my costume bits finally, and with the waistcoat, ruffled shirt, four inch stilletto boots, and tricorn hat with feather I look more piratical than Lord Chamberlainish, but my costume is less embarassing than some so I am DEFINITELY not complaining. Just this week, we finally managed to find a song for me to sing...Woman in Love from the movie version of Guys and Dolls. Cutting it close much? whew! I am also a little worried about the fact that I have to spend much of the first act hopping in high heeled boots that don't seem to fit very well. BUT, the show goes up on the 13th, and three days later it will all be over, so I am trying not to worry about the incidentals too much.

Last night we attened a wine tasting hosted by one of the local liquor shops, which was fun. It was in the same hotel we were staying at when we first got here. They provided grazing food and desserts, which were quite lovely, and there were 10 tables of wines from different countries to be tasted and compared. Nice to be able to sample some expensive wines, chat with the experts, and compare all the different varieties. I know, what a decadent life we lead :)

Apart from that we are just trying to get ready for Christmas. We have finally mailed our cards, and we are putting up our tree this weekend. We do have a couple of parties to go to already, and after the play is over I will have to seriously start cookie baking and planning our Christmas dinner. Michael is being his usual UNHELPFUL self as far as Christmas wish lists goes...he always asks for boring things like socks or shirts or other things he "needs." I keep on trying to tell him that presents are not for things you NEED but things you would LIKE--fun rather than necessity--but he seems to remain unconvinced. Well, at least he can't ask for a cheque this year! Any money I gave him would be his already!

Enough for now...hopefully Michael will provide the update next time!

It's raining!

We got quite a surprise today. It rained at about 1:30 this afternoon! I noticed the sky getting dark...then the rumble of thunder...I grabbed my camera and got outside just as conditions went from a sprinkle to a full-on downpour. The clouds were very low, and moving incredibly fast--I could see them being pierced by a tall building across Khaled bin al Waleed street. Winds were gusting very high; high enough that a chair at the side of our building flew out into the parking lot and hit a car! Trees were whipping around and I could see fierce gusts of rain and wind whipping down the street. The gutters and streets were flooded. I felt right at home, back in the middle of a typical Florida afternoon storm!

Apparently the UAE gets about 6 to 10 cm of rainfall yearly. After today we should be at least halfway there...

happy housewarming!

This has been a pretty party-full weekend. We had our own housewarming party last night! We think it went fairly well...we didn't really run out of anything, lots of people came, and everyone seemed to have a fairly good time. The last guests did not leave until after 3am, so it was a pretty late night!

I had to do some last-minute shopping for decorations and such, and I was also lucky enough to find some household things that I actually liked in the stores. Maybe it was just that the seasonal stock and end-of-range sale stuff this summer was not to my taste...or maybe after a couple months off from house shopping I don't feel so burnt out on it all...but I like a lot more of the things on offer right now than I did when I was out every day trying to find the "least offensive to the eye" furnishings. I got some new curtains for my sanctuary, some cushions for the couches to match the ones from the souk in Sharjah, and some nice candleholders and accessories. We also borrowed a drill and managed to hang one of our divider/curtain thingys that we bought at IKEA months ago...we tried to hang both but encountered problems drilling into the solid concrete seems to comprise our ceiling and all our walls. As it is, to be honest, I am not really 100% convinced the one we did manage to hang will not fall down at some point. But at least it held up for the party!

So between shopping for the house, shopping for the food, shopping for the drinks, uploading music to our computer and figuring out how to set up iTunes to be our DJ for the evening, cleaning, decorating, rearranging the furniture and preparing our buffet I was pretty busy this week! By the time the party was set to start I was almost ready to go to bed for a nap! But, we had a good time and it was all worth it in the end. Bigger parties like this one actually may not be as common here as we are used to. Michael said more than one person commented during the night that smaller dinner parties are more the norm. Both types have their charms but every once and a while it is fun to get everyone you know together and have them meet each other!

I've created an online gallery from some of the pictures we took...you can view it by clicking here.

Hallowe'en party

This evening, our friend Rachel hosted a Hallowe'en party. It was a relatively small gathering...a dinner party rather than a big event. I got to meet some more people from the PI and FINALLY see Rachel's apartment and her two new kittens, who are very tiny and VERY cute!

I didn't know about the party until a couple days before, so it was a bit of a last-minute scramble for me to get a costume. I ended up improvising an "American Tribal Bellydance Lite" costume from some things I brought from home and a few pieces of fabric I bought in Sharjah. Michael wore his biking gear and went as Lance Armstrong.

Here are a couple photos of my costume, and a group photo from the party. You can see my new sanctuary curtains in the background of my photos!

post vacation details

Well, we are just back from a week in Sharjah and Al Ain. Sharjah is an emirate to the north of us...so close to Dubai that they are kind of blending together as construction expands the sprawl. It markets itself as the cultural capital of the UAE because of it's many heritage and arts attractions. It's much more conservative a culture, and still dry, unlike Dubai or Abu Dhabi. We were in the older area of town, which was interesting to say the least. The kind of place where you have a restored historical fort next to a normal looking highrise bank building next to a crumbling slum where the poorest labourers live. I would stay in this same location again, actually, because it was a facinating mix of places and people within walking distance of the galleries, historical and heritage areas, and souks, but I would NOT stay in the same hotel. we were right above a taxi stand and a square with a tent market selling cheap goods where hundreds of the local Indian and Pakistani men came to socialize and hang out every evening. So very noisy 24/7, very crowded, and extremely difficult to drive in and out. Strangely, the traffic and the crowds disappear about a block in every direction! Also, the restaurant in our hotel was terrible. I actually got sick one night we were there, though fortunately it came on quickly and did not last long and I was fine for the remainder of the trip.

We saw many more men holding hands and walking with their arms around each other than you do in Abu Dhabi. Actually, we saw very few women on the street period! I don't know if the population in this district was made up more of men who left their families at home to work here, or if it was just because more of the women were at home or running home-related errands, due to the more conservative mindset, rather than out on the street with the men. We saw very few other Western expats there.

We paid a visit to the central souk and ended up buying a couple of Caucasian carpets--deep reds and greys, and bolder tribal patterns. The souk is also known for its jewelry stores...I don't think I have ever seen so much gold in one place in my life! Beautiful Asian styles, totally unlike the things you see at home. We also visited some historic buildings and a couple art galleries.

After 3 nights there we travelled on to Al Ain, an oasis city in Abu Dhabi that borders on Oman. *Much* nicer accomodations there--the only options in Al Ain are 5 star!--and it is a quiet, peaceful, relaxing city. Unlike the other places we've seen in the UAE so far, the city is made up of low rise buildings, and since it is an oasis there are lots of trees and working date palm farms. There is also a mountain--Jebel Hafit--that we could see from our hotel room balcony. The woman we had our first UAE job interview with lives there, so we got to meet her in person; she took us up the mountain and out for dinner one night and met us for coffee the next day, where she introduced us to some other librarians that live and work there. We visited local coffee shops, the Al Ain Palace Museum, a couple of the oases, the Al Ain National Museum and Sheik Zayed Fort, and also managed to find time to relax by the pool and hang out.

So for the most part a very good vacation.

Almost every woman I saw had lovely henna for Eid. I wonder about it though...whether it was wholly natural or not. The colour was such a uniform mahogany, and often little to no variation from fingers to hands to wrists and forearms. It would be sad if adulterated henna was the norm here. I still haven't gone out and found a salon to do henna on me, so i don't have any personal experience yet. Mostly the very flowery Gulf/IndoArabic style, with a lot of dipped fingers.

Lots of the little girls were out in their sparkly new Eid clothes...so cute!

where we were this evening

Turkish coffee, shisha and chocolate...mmmmm....

crazy streets

Well, since we have a new car it was time for me to bite the bullet and start driving. Not a wholly comfortable proposition. Traffic here is....well....slightly less than sane. Especially during Ramadan when everyone is lightheaded from hunger and dehydration! Tailgating is routine, as is speeding and merging without warning or ensuring you have enough room. Add to all this the fact that if an expat and a national get in an accident, the expat is automatically at fault...and...you have a recipe for nervousness! However, after a couple of successful short trips to the mall and the grocery store, and a drive from Michael's work back home (a half hour highway drive), I am feeling a little more confident on the road. So far so good! Michael has created a video about the car...take a look for it in our video postings at http://darcyandmichael.blip.tv.

So far I have learned that the concept of "letting someone in traffic" is definitely not understood. I tried to let someone merge my first trip out and caused confusion, to say the least!

Of course, we do still have to take taxis to go out anywhere where we will be drinking. There is an absolute zero tolerance policy for drinking and driving, due to Islamic views on alcohol consumption. Being caught in a car with any alcohol in your system at all is an invitation for legal problems. Apparently the current city taxis are going to be phased out during the next year, which will mean that taxi fares will go up by a lot. But then if you double the price of a one or two dollar taxi ride, you ar still getting around pretty cheap!

This weekend was a pretty busy party weekend for us. The tradition of Ramadan house parties continues even if bars do now open during the holy month. On Thursday night, the cast of The Flesh Game met for a belated cast party/potluck dinner. Our director had gifted us with a bottle of champagne on the final night of the show, and this is the first time we had been able to get together to drink it! Last night we were at the home of a couple we met through the PI (the husband works there) for dinner and drinks. They've posted some pictures on their blog...if you'd like to see us and some of the people we know here you can click here.

Other than that, we are looking forward to our vacation trip to Al Ain and Sharjah at the end of the month. There are supposed to be a lot of good souqs in Sharjah, so we are hoping to get some Christmas shopping done!

Celebrating Thanksgiving and a new addition to our family

Happy Thanksgiving to our friends and family in Canada! Darcy cooked a delicious dinner and we had nice Chilean wine. Big news is that I drove home our new car on Saturday. Darcy had a name picked out for it - Galahad. The car is really nice and it seems really strange to be driving a brand new vehicle! I have to pay the interest free loan back over four years. The price was about $28,000 USD which is pretty good. We took some photos of the car and we're in the process of making a video of our new addition to the family. Stay tuned...

a new bike!

Well I continue to spend money like there's no tomorrow. Last weekend I went with my work colleague to Dubai to the only reputable bike store in the UAE. It's called Wolfi's . I decided to buy a road bike as my previous bikes have been mountain bikes. This way I have two different types. I had no intention of buying one but I test road two (rode around the block) and really liked the light weight feel. So I decided to treat myself (again) and bought a Scott CR1 . The gave me free clip shoes and clip pedals. But I also needed to buy one pair of shorts, fancy bike shirt, gloves and a helmet. But I think it's worth the high price tag in the long run and I told Darcy that she can spend that much on herself too.

I'll put the bike in the car and drive to work sometimes to ride near the university. My colleague rides out there and there's not too much traffic yet. It's a new development area and It's flat like South Florida so I should be able to get a good cardio workout. The timing is good as the Calypso cardio machine that I've been house sitting for will be picked up in a few days. I can also bike on the corniche bike path that follows the water. It's about four miles long but I'll have to watch out for pedestrians. People often walk on the separate bike path.

The citation for my journal article is:

Article title: A Library of One's Own: A Survey of Public Access in Florida Academic Libraries
Subjects: Academic libraries, Library resources, Public access, Polls & surveys
Author(s): J Michael Shires
Document types: Feature
Document features: Tables, References
Publication title: Reference & User Services Quarterly. Chicago: Summer 2006. Vol. 45, Iss. 4; pg. 316, 11 pgs
Source type: Periodical
Text Word Count 7261
Abstract (document summary): Public users represent a small but growing clientele in academic libraries. Many academic librarians grapple with the issue of serving public users, partially because of shrinking academic library budgets and growing user demands. This article presents data from a 2002 survey about public access in Florida academic libraries. A Web-based survey consisting of nine questions was sent to sixty-six libraries, of which thirty-six responded. Results show that while a majority of publicly and privately funded academic libraries allow public users to access their resources and services, many do not actively promote themselves to the community at large.

I'm still waiting for the new car to arrive. It should be ready to be picked up by this weekend. The big news for Darcy is that she auditioned for another play called Old King Cole and won the part of Lord Dan. The character is called a principle boy where a woman plays a man. It should be interesting for her. Since she has a role that means that I will be a stage hand in the play. I'm not sure how good I will be....

A Productive Week!

This week ended on a high note as three things that I had been waiting for finally arrived. The first item was that I picked up *the document* (code word for liquor permit). Western expats tend to use that phrase in public and not offend the majority Muslims. The permit looks a bit like a passport and is valid for one year from the date issued. I paid 180 dirham fee for the two of us which translated into our monthly liquor allowance being a generous 1,500 dirham. You first decide on how much you want to pay for the liquor application fee. That figure is taken into account with your monthly allowance and then calculated based as a percentge of your monthly salary. It sounds a bit confusing but our amount is more than enough. A bottle of rye (whiskey for you Americans) and an average priced bottle of wine is around 80 dirham or about $22.00. We're thinking of having our apartment warming party on October 20 so we'll be able to buy booze for it.

ThenNext piece of good news is that I received a cheque from my work to buy a car. I finally decided on getting a 2007 Volvo V70 stationwagon and I managed to get the price down to 100,000 dirham ($30,000). I went to the dealer this morning and gave the money and signed paperwork for registration. I will get special window tinting called V-Kool. Apparently it uses NASA technology that heavily reduces heat and other harmful rays from entering a car's interior and without using really dark tinting. It will cost about $600 but I think it will be worth it. I should get the car in about a week.

I saved the last bit of news for last. My article that took me almost four years to write was finally published! It appears in a peer-reviewed American Library Association publication called Reference and User Serivces Quarterly. The article's title is A Library of One's Own: A Survey of Public Access in Florida's Academic Libraries. I wished that it had been published before I left Florida but c'est la vie. It was a lot of work to write it but I owe my thanks to many at my last job with helping get it published. Darcy and I need to get ready to go out now so until next time...

Ramadan Kareem

So, this week marked the beginning of our first Ramadan here.

Ramadan, apparently, is the time when the Qu'ran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. During the month, the gates of heaven are open and the gates of hell are closed. It is also a time of charity, generosity and sympathy towards the poor.

Muslims are fasting for purification from sin, and in sympathy for the poor and hungry, from sunup till sundown. They are are also not allowed to do things like smoke (you could swallow the smoke and thus break your fast) or chew gum (which produces saliva that breaks your fast). Apparently really pious Muslims will even spit all day rather than swallowing any saliva! They are also supposed to eschew sex during daylight hours (at night is okay), follow Islam's proscriptions against gossip, lies and bad speech more strictly, and read the Qu'ran through at least once during the month. There are Qu'ran readings every night in the mosques for a couple of hours after the last prayer...we can hear the ones going on across the street in our living room!

Before the dawn prayers, usually around 3am, they have a small meal called suhoor. Then right before the sunset prayer, they break their fast with a small snack--traditionally an odd-number of dates, soup and water. After prayer they have the first real meal of the day, called iftar. All the restaurants in town are having big iftar buffets, of course, many with an "arabian tent" decor and including shisha, etc.

Pregnant women, old people, prepubescent children, and sick people are not required to fast. Neither are menstruating women, though they have to make up the days of fasting after Ramadan is over. I am wondering if that last is an example of pollution taboos or an acknowledgement that a menstruating woman's body is already purifying itself! I'd like to think the latter, but don't really hold out much hope. People who don't fast are supposed to feed the needy each day they miss.

What all this means for us expats is we cannot be seen eating, drinking, smoking, etc. in public from sunup to sundown. Store and office hours are reduced, so one must take that into account when running errands, and apparently we should be more careful than usual about modest dress.

In the past, bars have been closed completely during Ramadan, leading to the expat tradition of stocking one's liquor cabinet and having Ramadan parties every weekend. However, as of last year, the bars are staying open. I am assuming it's because our neighbor, good old Miami-meets-the-Middle-East Dubai with its more liberal ways, has been keeping their bars and nightclubs open for a while now, and Abu Dhabi is feeling the need to be competitive. Yet most of the expats of my acquaintance are actually unhappy with the new policy, and most are having parties at home this month rather than going out anyway! It seems Ramadan work hours in some places are also stretching longer than in previous years. Just another example of global homogenization, I suppose :(

Play and Video News

So, my play went up last week. I think things went really well, all things considered. There was only one night where I forgot any of my lines--the one night almost everyone I knew was there, of course!--and people who saw the shows seemed to enjoy them. I was lucky in that I think I managed to get into the best cast of all four plays. The women I performed with were all really nice and I'm glad I got a chance to know them! Our director gave us a parting gift of a bottle of champagne, so we are having a party in the next couple weeks to get together and drink it.

Michael took a couple of tiny video clips with his digital camera, which I've edited and put up on our new...video blog! Yes, we finally found a site to host all of the videos we end up making. If you'd like to see a bit of the play in action you can surf to http://darcyandmichael.blip.tv.

So next up is the Christmas Pantomime. I auditioned on the weekend, and I have managed to snag a role--Lord Dan, King's Chamberlain. Yes, you read that right, I am playing a man--and a womanizing, terror-of-the-maids-quarters man to boot! Apparently, along with the tradition of the cross dressing "dame" character, it is common for Pantos to have "Principal Boys", which are men's roles played by women. Not my typical casting to be sure, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun!

Relaxing on Friday...

It's Friday here and it's the weekend. Darcy is out at a long play rehearsal today so I'm happily browsing the web on our Mac laptop. I'm currently listening to Florida 's National Public Radio radio station online. I've not missed not having cable television as I can get a fair amount of news, sports and entertainment online. It would be great if NHL games were available online to view.

Weather has been very humid here for the last few days. At night condensation forms on the windows outside and during the day the evaporated water leaves a mucky mess. So it's difficult to see outside. Living on an island means that's often windy so that prevents window cleaners from doing their job on the highrise buildings.

We finally got our UAE driver's licenses yesterday. We were denied the first time because Canadian citizens need to have Arabic translations of their local driver's licenses stamped by the Canadian Embassy. But it was tense for a moment yesterday as the government workers were confused by our Alberta licenses being called Operator's License and not using the more standard Driver's License term. Then there was confusion about our newly revamped Alberta driver's licenses not matching what was pictured in their book of Canadian provincial licenses. We explained that our licenses were newly issued with a re-worked design.

I have now passed my three month employment probation but I've not yet received official word from Human Resources. So I can't yet start the paperwork for purchasing a car. We're in no hurry as we've grown accustomed to not owning a car. I've not owned a car in six months. Renting cars is about as expensive as in North America. But it's difficult to rent for a day or two and the companies prefer people that rent them for a month. It works out to not being too much cheaper than car payments for owning a new car.

We need to start thinking about where we want to visit on our next vacation. I have asked for a week off at the end of October and the end of Ramadan. We'll probably vist Liwa (desert oasis), Al Ain and the northern Emirates and maybe northern Oman. I've been Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for a few days. I got a referral from a colleague and the place is in close walking distance from our apartment. The lady performs a massage, accupuncture and cupping. It's provide some relief but my problems with my left ulnar nerve and sciatica like symptons will not go away quickly. But I will continue to get treatments and the $30 dollar fee for an hour treatment is a heck of a deal!

car shopping

Over the past week I've been looking at new cars. My employer gives new hires a car allowance (equivalent of up to $30,000 USD). I'm slated to pass probation in a few days which means that I can qualify for that four year interest free loan. I've looked at the Mazda 6, Honda, Subaru, Mitsubishi and last but not least - Volvo. I liked the 2007 Mazda 6 four door hatchback as it has much storage room. The engine is only a four cylinder as the V6 is not offered in the Gulf. Price is about 18,000 under the car allowance limit and the car was loaded with options. But the ride wouldn't be really smooth and expats here have told me that the car doesn't have a strong resale value. I couldn't test drive it as they had no 06 models left and only one 07 model in the showroom.

The Mitsubishi Outlander didn't look too bad but it's classed as an SUV which we decided not to buy. Honda had no cars to test drive when I visited and the new Accords are not cheap. Ditto with Subaru which also has poor resale value. People here love Toyotas. I've been told that for safety from all the idiotic drivers that it is smart to drive an SUV. Dubai Police recorded over 900,000 traffic violations over the last eight months. That works out to 157 an hour! Sixty-three percent of those were recorded by radar. I was still thinking of looking at stationwagons but there aren't too many models here to choose from.

So I naturally turned to Volvo as I've driven them most of my life. I loved my old Volvo Max despite the mechanical problems that it had. It was a heavy car with comfortable seats and was great for cruising. So I decided to test drive a 2007 V70 stationwagon. It's got the venerable 5 cylinder 170 hourspower engine and 17 inch mags. Despite being owned by Ford the car still has the Volvo feel. We bargained the price down to 106,000 Dirham which is 6,000 over my limit. I need to go back and do some more negotiating. One of the best sites for looking at new and used cars here is Drive Arabia.

We tried unsuccessfully to get our UAE driving permit last week. We discovered that the Canadian Embassy requires Arabic translations of your driver's license to be stamped by the embassy. Plus if you license is less than one year old then you may be required to take a driving test first. I got my Alberta drivers's license in April and I stupidly didn't keep my Florida driver's license number so I may end up having to take the test. I'd like to get my license and buy a car within the next two weeks before Ramadan starts. The month long religious holiday makes for strange business hours and some people not wanting to work much (especially the poor Muslims who are fasting all day). I paid $7.00 USD and watched a Canadian Football League (CFL) game online yesterday. The CFL seems to have a new broadband service for this season so I will take advantage of it. Now if only the Edmonton Oilers hockey team could offer the same thing as the new season starts in a month!

Darcy and I created a video tour of our apartment but the files are a bit large. The Mac imovie software can compact it down to a maximum of 10 MB and our first year honeymoon viedo was well under that. But it would be nice to post a link to video somewhere. Unfortunately Blogger doesn't seem to offer that service so we'll check around for other sites. Using our digital cameras and Mac are easy to use to make videos but we'll likely get a camcorder at some point....

Macs rule!

That's all I can say.... :)

Our laptop has come with all sorts of crazy software. We are creating comic books and editing videos from our digital cameras and subscribing to podcasts and rss feeds and essentially doing our best to wear out our internet connection and new hardware. I'm sure that this is just new-toy syndrome, and it will settle down with time, but wow is there a lot of stuff to play with here!

We just had a long weekend...the UAE is switching from a Thursday-Friday weekend to a Friday-Saturday one, so during the turnover Michael got three days off. Everyone seemed to expect we would go away for the weekend, but this was really the first chance we had to just hole up at home and relax without having to run errands or go shopping, so that's essentially what we did. Nice to not to *have* to do anything for a change!

Rehearsals for my play are going along well...we only have a few to go before opening night! We are missing one cast member, who seems to have done a back-door exit at the last minute, so that is a bit of a worry (jus a bit!) but otherwise everything is going well. I managed to learn my lines before we started so now it's just a matter of getting comfortable with the flow of doing it "live", and the voice projection issue. The Club has one of those stages where all the sound goes up instead of out, so we have to speak up and speak out!

Other than that not much news, except I tried getting back to the yoga mat after a long haitus only to find out how out of shape all those yoga muscles are. Lots of work to do there I guess!

Connected at last!

Well, we finally moved into the modern age today. Last week we bought our first computer, and today we got our internet connection installed! Finally we will be able to access the internet at home, rather than at work or at the internet cafe. Which means you should see a lot more frequent postings!

Our computer is actually a laptop. We splurged on one of the new Macintoch ones...a MacBook Pro with dual intel processor and lots of neat software. I've been having fun figuring out how to create my own comic books, author my own movies and DVDs, and compose my own music. Michael has been playing chess, and saying he will get to all the other stuff "soon" :)

Other news here...I did get a part in one of the Abu Dhabi Dramatic Society one acts that will be going up in September. My play is called "The Flesh Game", and it's a comedy about woman at a health spa trying to lose weight. I came in with only about 3 weeks to go until opening night, so the learning curve is pretty steep!

We've been watching the news about Ernesto this week and feeling very, very glad we are not in Florida.

Setting up house continues slowly but surely. We finally got some curtains up this week, and I have started to furnish my little sanctuary room in the small third bedroom.

more photos

Here I am at work helping a student. It was actually posed as I needed photos for library signs and brochures. I'm not used to wearing a tie! Here's a photo of two quirky lamps that we recently bought. Guess who bought which!

First wedding anniversary photos

Here are two photos of Darcy with her dozen roses from our first wedding anniversary and the the setting for our dinner at home on our first anniversary on August 6.

Happy first year anniversary!

Today is our first anniversary! Can't believe that one year has elapsed so quickly. But I guess it's because Darcy and I didn't really enjoy a period of relative calm. Perhaps surviving two hurricanes within the first two months of our marriage was a sign of things to come. For me relaxing during Christmas was the only time where I had a relative piece of mind. Three months later we began two phases of our overseas move. We stayed with friends, family and a hotel after leaving Florida but it was strange for us to have no fixed address for over three months. There were many stressful times for us that tested our resolve to overcome difficulties. But we perservered during our honeymoon and we are finally beginning to settle down in our place.

Sadly today (Sunday) is a workday for me so Darcy and I can't spend the entire day together. We went out to an Arab restaurant last night which BTW was very good and cheap (50 Dirham or $15 USD). Darcy wants to cook dinner tonight which I'm sure will be good. Unfortunately I don't have a liquor permit yet so we won't be able to have wine with dinner. I plan to apply for a liquor permit in the next day or so. So we have one year under our belt with many more happy ones to come!