More Ramblings

Above - Al Ain Zoo, African Savanna.
Above - A Jaguar, or is it a leopard? Big Cat either way.

Above - Grizzly Adams.

Above - Hmmmm, a Hummer. Very common in UAE.

Above - Scorpion in an palm oasis, these too are common.

Above - My new landscaper's ute, i was going to pose like a 'biker-slag' on the bonnet, but thought better of it. Besides, its not really mine!

OK avid readers, sorry it's been a while since the last post, can't imagine how you've all gotten through your lives without an update from the UAE, but here we are again. Only 17 days, 12 hours and 38 minutes until i arrive home. Who's counting though heh?? I am very settled in Al Ain now, and have quite a fondness for much of the town / city, but nothing compares to home, and at the end of the day there is still so much uncertainty on whether I'll be staying on, that this is weighing quite heavily on me and making home more and more attractive all the time. We all know the story, basically I'll be stoked to stay here for a year or so if the family are here and everything is bedded down, contract wise. Despite this stuff dragging out since last November, the long term gig seems just as far away now in terms of things being settled, so to cut out the uncertainty on the home front, I've given the deal until March to be finalised, so all parties can move forward. That means the next few weeks are pretty hectic!!

So, other than the usual work stuff, I've managed to squeeze in a couple of runs along the Wadis, been to the gym once or twice to "work through the obvious pain, making sure the 'guns' are on display at all times". Not being a gym person, this has caused some issues the following day, to the point of hardly being able to lift my arms; can you imagine playing the daily charade game in this state!!!

Went to the Al Ain Zoo last Friday. I can honestly say this this is a great zoo, with plenty of movement and active animals. The displays / cages (depending on your animal activism stance) are really good and the flat layout is much easier to walk around than Taronga for example. There are some nice parks inside the zoo and those blow up slides etc too. For an adult the cost is 10dhs ($3 Aus) and kids are only 5 dhs each. Same story though, walking around a zoo by yourself is fine to a point, but a little lonely. (bring out the violins). Some of the displays, you look down from above. The wall is only about 1 metre high, this gives you a great vantage point to see the animals moving around their enclosures, but when you consider there is absolutely no stopping access to anyone game enough, or unlucky enough to have a kid fall into the enclosure, your heart starts to miss a few beats when you see a small kid leaning over the rail, past his tippy toes to get a better look.

I was going to make some notes about the cars and driving in the UAE, but this is a blog all to itself. There is no simple way to sum up the experience of driving in the UAE, so i'll save this for another blog one day.

One of the runs i went for was with the AA Hash house harriers. The motto of this world wide runners group is that they "are drinkers with a running problem". This is the first HHH group I've been apart of, they are great people, know how to have a good time and whilst the run is a part of it, the drink and camaraderie is certainly the focus. The group is made up of mainly Aussies, Poms, Canadians and Brits. I may have already mentioned this previously, but every expat i have met in the UAE (Al Ain), is here as a university lecturer or working in the hospitals. Al Ain is also the education city of the emirates. So if your a teacher, lecturer or involved in hospitals, you'd have little trouble landing a job here, and doing very well for yourself, or at least living a different experience. Most people also seem to have been here for at least 10 or more years.

Bragging rights - Here's to B1 for smashing an unbeaten partnership of 76 runs from 6 overs at cricket last weekend. Very proud dad here mate. And to B2 for being elected into the SGC (student group council), very proud dad again. B3 for still calling out to 'daaaaad' at every plane to fly over-head(lucky we don't live near Mascot), and B4 for trying to crawl through the computer monitor to see me when talking on skype. But most of all to FS who has not 'lost it' at me yet for leaving all behind to pursue this crazy gig, and keeping it all together at home, (don't mind the broken windows, doors and 6 foot high lawns).

Will try to send another Blog within the week. Cheers to all.