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?