Funny Looking White Fella Running

Above - The view of Al Ain from the top of Jebel Hafeet.

Above - Local kids swimming in the spring falaj at Green Mubazzarah.

Above - The Green Mubazzarah, set into the mountain valley at base of Jebel Hafeet.

Above - Green Mubazzarah, popular picnic area for locals.

Above - Kids swimming pool at Hilton club.

Above - Not too many Roos or Wombats on the roads here, but watch out for the Camels!

Two weeks in, feels like 2 years, but i am much more relaxed about my new environment and what i am in for.

Mind you, the work expectations change everyday here, and everyday there is a new crisis of mammoth proportions. There is an apparent reluctance to act on strategies or solutions, even when i tell them i will devise and implement it for them. Being an emerging organisation that has grown in such a rapid way, has created a vast array of issues relating from available local talent, suitability of positional type, cash flow, communication barriers (about 5 different languages spoken by the staff), a reluctance of the labour force to modify their techniques or equipment and a culture of 'one upmonship'. But I'm not writing this journal as an account of the work, but the overall living away from Australia experience. I must add though, that as frustrating as these listed issues are, they are all part of the experience and sometimes even the most hopeless situations are a little amusing.

Well, last Friday, i went for a drive to the top of Jebel Hafeet, the highest mountain in all of the UAE. Along the way, you pass the Green Muzzabarah, a valley area used by hundreds of locals daily for picnicking and bbq'ing and playing in the spring falaj systems. This is a really pretty area, spectacularly set at the foot of Hafeet. The area is planted with turf and the local ground cover, Sasuvia, to provide a brilliant green setting. This greenery is all planted straight over the desert sands and mountain rocks and is irrigated daily to keep it alive. The water is taken from a natural spring exploding from the same area. This warm to hot, highly mineralised water is also channeled through many falaj systems and the local kids play and swim in these. The water is also channelled into to bath houses. these bath houses are segregated based on gender. That is, the women must not been seen bathing by men, and are therefore bathing in high walled and roofed houses. There is the same for the men.

The drive up to the top of Jebel Hafeet is long and slow due to the winding road and steep batter. At night time the roadway is lit up and looks like a road leading to Heaven. From the top of Hafeet is becomes blatantly obvious how flat the rest of the country is, and should global warming lead to the expected rises in the oceans, then the UAE had better prepare their Wadi's (large dry creek beds).

I received an email from Merv regarding advice for the gym. Nel informed him that the etticate is as follows: 1. Always make sure someone is watching you. 2. Always make sure that the "Guns from Navarone" are on display. 3. Always fain an injury and prove your strength by working through the pain. This technique is guaranteed to work 60% of the time , all the time. Thanks, fellas, I'll take that on board.

Other latest events to occur. Prepared my wish list for the furnishing of the flat. FS will be pleased to learn that I ordered the large 9kg washing machine, and the large 380ltr fridge. I have ironing down pat now also. Call 816 on the hotel phone, someone comes to my room, picks it up and later that afternoon, i have 7 shirts washed and ironed...brilliant system!

Lastly for today... i went running the other evening. Was wearing a pair of floral boardies, and the truckie singlet, had the ipod on and sneakers, no socks. Got to the lobby down stairs to be greeted by many stares and snigger's and whilst i was out the front stretching-up, i saw the reception desk ladies grab their manager and the porters to come and have a look at the funny white fella. You see, whilst the UAE is quite liberal in the rules of the Muslim culture (by comparison to Saudi Arabia for example), Al Ain is still a lot more rurally based and steeped in tradition than it's neighbouring cities of Dubai or Abu Dhabi. And though i was not offending anyone (you would not wear shorts in the rural areas outside of the city for instance), it was a bit novel for them to see such a funny looking fella, with his bowed, hairy legs, red faced and sweating, wearing what must have looked pretty ridiculous to them. None the less it was good to see some more smiles, even at my expense.

I am hoping to move into the flat within the week. To be honest i think i will be writing this for several more weeks based on the speed of events here. It is Australia day tomorrow, I'll sink a beer somewhere and try to find something else to do around Al Ain, as it is also Friday, the day off here. Skype has been good for seeing the kids and FS and talking with them all, and obviously i miss them all so much. I think I'll be home for a couple of days in the first week of March before coming back again. I have to do a visa run before 60 days, and whilst they send everyone else to Iran for this, I've insisted on heading back to Oz to see the family and hopefully do some planning for the future, whatever that is?

Surviving the First Week

Above - Al Jimi Mall, the big one in Al Ain. Everyone seems to go there at night. Has everything you could think of.

Above - One of 3 bathrooms in flat.

Above - View of the street out the fron of the flat.

Above - Dining room.

Above - Front door and some of courtyard.

Well, i made it through week one..fewwwu. I hope that is going to be my hardest week, regarding the homesickness and feeling lost. Already i feel better about things, at least for the remainder of the 3 months posting.

I'm still based out of the Hotel Massa, whilst the hotel is nothing to write home about, it does give me somewhere to rest the head and is only 10 minutes from the office. I have attached some photos here of the flat my hosts have organised. It still isn't furnished yet, but i have been applying some pressure for this to happen, and was told to make a list of the furnishings i needed..sounds like a good opportunity to get that plasma wide screen. I want to get into the flat asap, i really think it will help me to get even more stability and a sense of 'home away from home'.


There are 46 stations on the TV, 2 have English languages, the BBC, which has 24 hour updates on all the war-torn fighting in the middle East and Channel 2, which is the movie channel, playing the very average 'B' films from the 1980's. I did stumble across a 3rd channel which had CSI just finishing (series from 4 years ago) and the 2nd episode from series 1 of McLeod's Daughters. this reminded me of FS.


I'm still hardly eating, just with the way the days go, i probably eat once a day and it is usually the Arabic and Lebanese wraps or chicken, very tasty though. The boss here is a very big fella (wide), and loves taking meals at 10pm, at pizza hut or Maccas. I'm trying to turn down his of offers of dinner together as politely as possible, whilst 2 other guys here are always heading to the Ramada Hotel at 11pm for a couple of drinks and to watch the Colombian singers. I went once, 2 beers cost me 40 Dhs or $16 Aus. I have decided that i need to get straight to bed when finishing work, or i am too trashed the next morning...funny, nothing changes.


I was really excited yesterday, i used Skype to call home and was able to have a good chat with Fs and the kids and we could see each other with the web cam. It was pretty good, in that there was bugger all delay, and the image was good too. It was so good to see the family. B1 and B2, are more talkative on the skype than the phone which is nice. B3 was excited and talked about a concert and really wanted me there (FS later told me there isno concert), but he was excited and loved telling me he missed me and loved me. B4 was smiling and calling Dadda the whole time, i could see him trying to jump into the computer where my image from the webcam was displayed.


I joined the gym at the Hilton yesterday also. Whilst i have no idea when i will get there, i am going to try to structure my days a little better to allow time to get there for a swim, pump iron and look at myself in the mirror...that is what you do right? i am also hopeful of meeting some others through the club also.


I am heading to Dubai for a meeting this evening, and have tomorrow off work (Friday weekend) and also the Saturday for a change, it is the Islamic New Year. not sure what i will do, although i will probably try t catch up a little at the office, but am hoping to go out to the Al Ain, sand golf course, apparently a full sized course, all sand...i should be used to the sand from my efforts at Longy G.C. Speaking of which, i am missing not being near the surf, but was glad to see on the realsurf website that it has been very flat, sorry guys.


There are so many interesting things about the UAE, Al Ain, mainly the people. there are over 161 different nationalities living in the UAE. Everyone calls me Mr Nick and all are so friendly. I may shake hands and say hello to the same person 5 times a day in the office, such is their politeness and friendliness.


Weather here at this time of year is great, very sunny, mid 20's everyday. All the locals have complained about how cold it is, and the local Al Ain Times, ran an article about how shivering everyone has been and reminding people to put their heaters on at night. putting it into perspective, i have been wearing nothing more than a collared shirt.

Tour to Oman

Ignore the dates on the photos i have now adjusted my camera settings.

Well, the Friday arrived and i am now over my jet lag; being a Friday I have the day off. The weekends in the UAE used to be Thursday and Friday but the Government recently changed this to be Friday and Saturday to make themselves more compatible with the rest of the world. The reality of course is that unless you work in a government department, which i am not, you only have the Friday off and the other days are usually 16 hours long...Yes, that is right 16 hours.

Anyway, i jumped onto a group of hikers organised through the Natural History Group. This is essentially ran by a group of very passionate intellects, whom have lived in and around the UAE for the last 10-20 years. They are manly Canadian fellas, but the group has lots of Australian's, Canadians, German's and English.

We made it through the border check-gates at Oman and Al Ain and travelled passed the "Madonna" and famous rock formation landmark to a small oasis village ruins / now date farm. Set at the foot of some of the gnarliest rock / mountain formations, that look just like shark teeth, the village was several thousand years old and we hiked around the ruins of the former "houses" (i use the term loosely), fort and cemetery. The head stones of the cemetery are marked by an vertically placed rock at the head and foot. The locals were only small, and it was obvious where young children had died. The Cemetery was placed right next door to the stone houses, which were placed right next door to the fort.

Raiding between villages was common place up until only about 10 years ago. It was permittable for 11 months of the year, Ramadan being the exception. They would steal each other's livestock and women and children. this was thought to be good for the Arab population and it slowed the rate of inbreeding that occurred otherwise.

Of fascination was the natural springs that occurred and the methods of harnessing this water to flood their date palms, mango trees and citrus trees. Falage (a brilliantly designed irrigation system) channelling the water at a very gentle flow rate to a network of channels throughout the palm oasis. These springs are very warm, very alkaline and are derived from the foothills of the driest looking mountains and desert imaginable.

The day was really good, and it refreshed my attitude alot. Simply meeting and talking with other westerners made me feel better about my homesickness.

I logged onto a website for the international running group known as the Hash House Harriers, they meet each Monday in Al Ain in the evening to run and drink! Sounds like me on both accounts, so i will join and update all with how i go.

P.S my ironing is already better, down to about 25 minutes per shirt, to get it to a somewhat acceptable manner. FS would be so proud.

Oh My God! What have i done?

Flight over was good, scored an exit seat and had plenty of room to stretch the legs. Took the example of my boss and sucked back a couple of sleeping tablets,(i never travel well or sleep on flights), seemed to work and i knocked off for about 3 hours of the 15 hour flight.

Landed at 5.30am UAE time at Dubai Int., was picked up and driven straight to Al Ain, we travelled at 140Kms the whole way and were overtaken by every other car. Roads are mad! Got to see the sun rise over the expanding dunes, they are a brilliant red and orange colours and perfrectly groomed by the wind.

Arrived in Al Ain about 8.30am and went straight to office to meet everyone...then it hit me, BANG!!... i forgot about the language barrier being so severe, i missed the family already and felt sick that i had gone ahead with this. The worst part was going and spending time in the hotel they had arranged and being alone. I was jet lagged, knew no-one, could'nt understand anyone and generally feeling like i had left the perfect life behind, for this.

I ended up back at the office later that afternoon, and got stuck in. There does'nt seem to be a specific job they want me to do other than "everything". Where to begin is the hardest part. i forged on through the evening, they work ridiculous hours here, and felt better about everything when i was busy.

One of the guys showed me the flat they have organised for me on the way back to the hotel. It is a really big 3 bedder, with a 4th bed for the maid, (guess that's where FS will sleep if the family come over..just kidding babe!), it has a large kitchen and 3 bathrooms including ensuite, and a huge dining area. All the floors are marble and as such it is very noisy and echoey. It is unfurnished at this stage so i will stay at hotel until such time. I told my host i would prefer to move in to the flat asap to help me settle.

Observation note - Outside right now are the prayer calls being blasted all over the city...very mystic.

Into the thick of things today (my second day), had a handover meeting with 6 others that went for 2 1/2 hours and not one word of english! Left meeting and my hosts informs me he needs me to start work on the issues raised asap???

Must say everyone is so very nice here. i am relieve to have my car now and expect a phone later today, so things are better in that respect than i would have guessed.

Will learn to load photos soon.

Reality Starts to Kick-in

It's strange that despite all the talk, questions and organising for the move to the the UAE, i actually have'nt given too much thought to the whole idea, or at least, i don't think i've had a full grasp on the reality of moving away from the family for 3 months.

This all kicked in two evenings ago, I was checking the kids before going to bed myself. We had just had a really great day at a family function (Poppy's 60th), the kids as usual had been really good and had had a ball playing with all their cousins. When we got home we played cricket in the back yard before dinner, and then had a light meal of left overs. We often have our dinners outside in the summer, sitting together, laughing about our day or organising the beach for the next.

That night when looking in on the kids, the whole reality of leaving the kids dawned upon me. Watching them lay there, (quiet for a change), exhausted from a great day, and just so peaceful. I felt an overwhelming sense of what i was going to miss. i reflcted on what each of them meant to me and for one of the first times, put aside my own excitment of the new challenge, and was filled with sme real doubts if the move was really worth it.

B1 would be going to year 5 and had just joined a cricket team which he loved me to come and watch. Despite gaining more and more attitude (part of the age) i really know he needs me around alot and he loves cuddles and tingles and scratchies from his dad too.

B2 will have so many questions about science and nature for me that i love helping him with, plus also, i sometimes feel like his body gaurd against the rath of B1, he too is a real cuddly bear.

B3 has just started kindy this week and is a really funny kid. Since my last trip to the UAE a month ago, he has turned into more of a daddy's boy than before (mum still has top billing of course though), but this extra time he gives me now is really prescious.

B4 is without doubt, the biggest daddy's boy of the lot, and i almost feel like i am betraying this love by moving away for what will essentially be 1/6th of his life. He is like a litle baby koala the way he jus clings to me all the time. I love the affection from him.

Obviously FS is going to be a major part of my homesickness, and not just because i'll have to cook, clean, shop, iron, and everything else for myself, but i worry that she'll be so overloaded with me gone. She jokes that my going will remove one of her main hassles, ohh ho ho she is so funny...she is joking isn't she? We've together for 17 years now and this'll be the longest time apart for sure.

The goodbye's at the airport are going to be very tough tonight. May even jerk a tear from this tough guy (hav'net cried since the Dr slapped my bum at birth...geez i'm tough...part of the heritage of being a S, is'nt that right Bob.)

Day of leaving is today, still so much to do, like pack. i've had bugger-all communication with my hosts in the UAE, part of the culture i feel i will need to get used to. So far i have a flight number, and an asurance last evening that someone will pick me up from Dubai and take me to Al Ain where i'll begin straight away. i was origanlly staying at a hotel for the 3 months. this changed to a large 4bedroom unit, then to a large 3 bedroom flat, now back to a hotel until they finish furnishing a large flat for me. the job seems to be gettting bigger all the time too. The first contract i was brought in to manage for them (1.5 times the size of the company i currently manage), has just had a second, even larger contract added to it. this starts the day i arrive. Just been informed that at least 1 of the PM's working for me doea'st speak english at all! I know most of the senoir management have good englsih, so that's good. After all, i'm the ring-in in town, and whilst i bought the "learn to speak Arabic" CD, i have all of about 4 words down pat so far. Worried a little...YES!!

How did we get to here?

The story so far...

Through fate or fortune, i was lucky enough to take a chance work trip to the UAE in Novmeber of 2006, to investigate an oppurtutinity of providing some consultative management to a locally based company. I spent only a week, but during this time made every effort to learn as much about and from the poeple i was dealing with and the country that is the Unitred Arab Emirates.

I got to see and spend time in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Whilst there are enormous opportunities within the UAE, it is clear that you have to have a local partner, as contacts are essential.

I'm not a city person per-say, and for this reason, whilst i found the engineering feats of Dubai to be fasinating and almost unbelievable (try damming the Gulf, reclaiming billions of tonnes of sand and building islands bigger than some countries, as starter), i was not actually attracted to this well known city. A single person or dink would probably thrive here though. Abu Dhabi was a little slower paced, and seemed to have a hint more culture about the place. Al Ain, the garden city of the emirates, was on the other hand extremely pretty, with a maximum building code ( i believe) of 4 story limits. This low rise, spread out oasis city was much more appealling to me and it oozed culture and fasiniation.

Anyway, it turned out that the company i was there to work with required assitance with a couple of contracts in Al Ain, and wanted someone on the ground, fulltime for 3 months asap.

On my return to Oz and the family we evaluated where we were and the opputtuinity being offered. The Pros outweighed the Cons and by the beginning of December FS and I had agreed that i would make the shift for a 3 month period to assess exactly what we were able to offer the UAE based firm, the likelyhood of long term work and partnering in the region, and would we comfortably up-root the family and make the move. (we were very excited about the idea of this oppruttunity and were saying YES, to all of the above questions, but still had to do the 3 month gig up front. This meant only I was to head to the UAE for the first 3 months and hope to bring the whole family (wife and 4 kids) over ASAP. I'm heading off as at beginning of January 2007.

I quickly learnt that nothing happens quickly in the UAE and so much is based upon relationships and someone's word. By comparison in Australia, and whilst realtionships are important, our meeting s and discussios are mcuh quicker and to the point than those with the Arab culture. In Australia, contracts and agreeements are more common place also, or so it appears.

This has been reinforced to me, trying to have some sort of agreements in place for my secondment package, airfares, accomodation etc being sorted in such a small timeframe and with Xmas and New Year thrown-in between.

Anyway, it's pretty much all arranged now, and i head off for my 3 month stint on January 9th 2007. I am leaving behind my wife (FS) and four young boys. this is without doubt going to be the hardest part of the journey, one that quite frankly is going to terst us all.