Above - In Australia the local lawn mowing guy has a ute with a dog in the tray. The UAE's postmen moonlighting on the side.
Above - Lunching at the Madinat, our favorite restaurant is Toscana, situated right on the beach canal with great alfresco dining.
Above - Jumeriah Beach during October. The beaches in Dubai are nice, even though the sands are mostly re-claimed sea-floor, meaning that there full of shell grit.
Above - FS and the boys chilling on the beach, Dubai.
Above - Further down the beach, kite-surfing is really popular.
Above - Back in Al Ain for the Internationals Cricket match at Jahili Park. All the Indian and Pakistan labourers in the area were gob-smacked to see the ladies playing.
Above - Sanaiya; Not exactly 'Ladies of the Night', more like Men of the Morning. Dozens of men wait each morning for the hope of being employed as labourers on building sites and factories etc. The average labourer wage in the UAE is about AED700/month which equals about AUD$280/month. For this they have the pleasure of working 6 day weeks, 10 hour days!
Above - Back to the expat world, B2 makes a clean break against Abu Dhabi and is proving to be fleet footed and handy at both fly half and wing.
Above - B1 after a solid victory over Abu Dhabi. We relish any of our wins over the 'big-city' teams such as Dubai and Adu Dhabi.
Above - FS and NS at the annual Dinner in the Desert Ball, held this last October.
Above - Halloween is a pretty big deal over in the UAE, probably an influence of the USA expats. All the kids from our Oyoun Village get in to the spirit.
Above - Witch FS, Sindbad the Sailor B4, and Pirate B3.
Above - An afternoon picnic lunch on the plains of Fossil Valley in Oman turned out to be invaded by a troupe of grazing camels. They literally took over our picnic, chewing rubber toys, stealing chocolates and fruits and trashing the esky and plates. NS was chased around a tree while carry a bag of marshmallows, while FS and the kids headed straight for the car!
Above - Some mountainous and valley sites in Oman.
Above - A bit of family time during a walk through the Al Ain Oasis.
Above - I took the boys a a half-arsed 4x4 drive one afternoon. We thought we were pretty gnarly before coming across this massive dune buggy which literally flew over the dunes...the locals are crazy at anything they do.
Above - B1 and NS camel riding during a safari trip. Poor camel looks like it's straining under the weight of our 'brave' B1.
Above - From out of now-where an Egyptian belly dancer appeared during our desert safari trip. Nice uumm...bells.
Above - Thinking we were the only ones out 4x4ing, we came over the crest to see every man and his dog out there. Great fun when in someone else's car...the sand duning smashes the engines.
Above - A stay at the Hilton Hotel in Jumeriah Beach during December was a special treat with a first taste of Xmas.
Above - Xmas Eve party at our villa. Some of the Oyoun Village gang, Allison, FS, Lorraine and Karla.
Above - Xmas morning 08'. B4 loved his spiderman outfit, even if he couldn't breathe properly in it.
Above - Xmas morning, B1 sporting his Aussie boxers.
Above - Our second Xmas away, but all together is what counts. The whole tribe during our Xmas Eve bash.I think the last post was waaay back when , during August some time. I spent the last blog recounting the numerous waves of perfection encountered in the Maldives, only to be met with a lot of puzzled responses from people who knew little about surfing, and thought I'd starting writing in a some sort of a secret foreign language or code. I make no apologies for such, because the post was aimed at those who would appreciate the groomed swell lines and every drop of excitement that went with going on such an awesome trip. I'm certainly glad i wrote the blog in question soon after arriving back from the Maldives, as it has been four months back now, and if I'd left it till now, my memory would have served me to taking off on perfect 15-20 foot waves and scoring 14 second barrels, whilst riding switch-foot. None the less, i certainly hope i can make another similar trip before this life is over, but be sure to take my surfing buddies and surfing prodigies with me next time. Mafi (NO) more surf talk, i am too easily distracted in the matter.
So, four months have past and before i recount where exactly we are today, i should make a quick mentioned of what has happened during this time. Firstly, the weather, the bloody hot weather finally dissipated and the summer was over by about mid November, with temperatures dropping to perfect low 30s and high 20s. School resumed in September, with B1 moving into highschool, (yr 7), B2 into year 4, B3 from Nursery to Reception, B4 continuing on at Kindy 3 days a week, FS taking a 3 day job as the head ILN coordinator, and turning it into a 6 day a week job with all of the preparation and after school work she has been doing to get things running there and myself reluctantly continuing to battle with, what seems at times, senseless and counter-producing systems and bureaucracies, (i remind myself daily that it is these frustrations and local short-comings that are the very reason we have the opportunity to travel and work here though). The boys started up training and playing rugby again, amongst other after school activities such as music and swimming. My days were getting longer again with alot of travelling to Dubai and Adu Dhabi on a daily basis,spending little or no time in Al Ain, except to 'work' from home occasionally, and of course all the hours Fran was spending with the new job meant things were going from being very relaxed to bloody hectic. A solution was needed?
We tried to sell the boys at the local souk, but their long hair and argumentative manners no longer meant they were different from the locals; so the prices offered were not enough, and we were better off keeping them around even though they were the ones causing all the mess around the place. (don't get me wrong here, the boys are great. It is only recently as they have grown bigger and wiser, and i have perhaps also wised up a little...albeit at a slower rate...but I've started to reflect on what i was like as a young boy/man, and i am starting to realise what the hell FS and I are about to be in for over the coming 10-15 years, oh my god), anyway, again i have digressed, but i am procrastinating at the thought of writing for all to read, that yes, we have fallen into the UAE comfort trap, the class ridden society lare, the potential lazy man's zone, yes...we...have...gone...and...hired...a...a....a....(just type fast and say it you coward)...afulltimeliveinmaid. There, i said it, and if you can't read it too bad!
Truth be know now, it is not a big deal over here to have a person for this. We have always been very skeptical of the idea, but push came to shove and FS was doing the pushing, so the thought of a live in maid (helper we prefer), was finally accepted. We were really fortunate to find Marpuah, she is a lovely girl from Indonesia, 28, about 4 foot tall and only about 3 words of English to speak of. The process for employing a house helper is pretty far-fetched and actually a bit daunting. There are actually 'agencies' all through the cities specialising in the recruitment of such help from countries like Indonesia, India, Philippines, Sri Lanka and the like. In a nut shell, you flip through a booklet with passport size photos attached and a brief bio on each applicant, (can cook, can speak English, good with kids etc), in the 'shop' you're sitting there flicking through the booklet all the time feeling like your potentially demonising these third world people, and around you are the women who have already been flown over and are awaiting pick up from their sponsor/employer, or some who have been rejected and now sit in the shop window waiting for someone to walk past and hire them. As i said, this is a very daunting experience, i can't imagine how the poor women are feeling while waiting in the 'shop'. At the end of it, we were so fortunate to have found Marpuah, but of course i now worry about her too with regards to not knowing what we'll be doing or when we'll be heading home or some where else.
It's hard now to recall all the interesting stuff over the last 4 months but we've had a couple of memorable events that spring to mind. Firstly, was Fran's return trip from Australia, where a drunken passenger tried to attack her, to the point where 3 other male passengers had to intervene and wrestle with the bloke and pin him down until the flight security arrived. The guy was then handcuffed to the seat by his hands and feet. He kept yelling threats at Fran and some other passengers, until finally the captain was alerted and the flight was diverted to Singapore, the fuel load was dumped and the bloke was escorted off the plane by the Singapore authorities and later arrested. Funny thing was, i didn't hear a thing sitting up in business class!...Just kidding, i wasn't even on the flight, God help him if i was there and this sort of thing had happened. I got in touch through Etihad, with one of the guys that intervened and helped FS and the boys through the whole drama. He was really gracious and was happy to tell me that he,"landed a good knee to the head of the guy when he started throwing punches and biting them"...Between all the flights they've had so far, I'll be lucky to ever get the family on a plane again. N.B: I am yet to have ever flown with them, so I'll be doing no more solo flights.
On a funnier incident, we were doing a little day trip through Oman, showing off some of the Wadi's and Oasis to a friend who was staying with us that week. We got to find a couple of scorpions, met some local date palm farmers, did a little bit of 4x4 across the rocky plains of Oman and finished with a picnic lunch on the desert plains of Fossil Valley. We set up a small camp at the foot of a large Gaff tree and lit a fore for some toasted mashmallows. The rug was laid out, the food spread across it and it was time to chill out and enjoy some food and drink. Ten minutes later, we're being ambushed by not 1, not 2, but 3 camels who were out grazing on the desert grasses and weeds. To put this into perspective, camels are not really a tame animal, they are large and smelly and will try to eat anything, not neccessarily successfully, but try none the less. We were fine with their arrival at first, until they decided to come a bit close and went straight for B4 plastic toy dog, unsuccessfully chewing it, but certainly providing plenty of slober and stink. B4, B3 and FS were scared witless and bolted straight for the car. They were followed by B1 pretty smartly when the camels picked up and tossed the esky full of food. B2 hung tight until the camels noticed he was holding a bag of marshmallows and proceeded to him. He chucked the bag to me, "don't let them eat them dad!", and then bolted to the saftey of the car with the others. Thank-god we were based near the tree, i spent the next 10 minutes hiding and dodging the camels using the tree as my sheild. Glancing over at the car, i could see half of them laughing and the other half crying. It was time to stand tall, protect the family and show my male dominance. Bravely stepping out from behind the tree i called to the camels, they tirned to face me, slobber dripping from their mouths dags from their bum. There were three of them and 1 of me...good odds i thought. I strode towards them, ready for the inevitable fight that would ensue. I was within 1 metre and realised i still had the bag of marshmallows with me. I realised these things were bloody big and were not goiing to fight fairly. Reaching into my pocket i knew i now had only one chance...cuck the marshmallows in different directions, split the camels, collect the picnic stuff, jump in the car and do the harrold holt! It worked and we all recoiled with laughter at our failed picnic as we sped off in a puff of blown sand.
The only other news, not unique to the UAE mind you, is the world economic crisis. At the beginning of December, we were all hearing of the slow-downs and hardships of the USA, and UK and talks that Australia would likely pass through unscathed, in terms of recessions etc. Everyone was saying the UAE would be immune from such economic woes because of their Oil Money and development. 1 week later, the Dubai government announces thay have a $200B bad dept and any development not already 15% complete is stopped indefinately and all other projects in planning phases are shelved. Thousands of expats have already been laid off and alot more are expected over the coming months. In my case, i have been fortunate enough to have aligned myself with some clients who are running key-stone projects with a 'must proceed at any cost' approach for upcoming events such as the Formula 1, some Sheiks palaces and other projects, this has meant that there is plenty of work for the short term in any case. Getting paid by anyone here is another matter altogether at the best of times and the economic woes have only exemplified this, so as far as our plans go, we'll wait and see, but 2009 has definately got a lot of travel included in it for us.
Fran's mum arrived Xmas eve and is staying with us for 3 weeks, it's always nice to have people come and stay and being xmas will make this even more special. We had a cracking party on Xmas eve at our villa, with most of the people of Oyoun (we call it Onion) Village swinging by for a BBQ seafood feast and a few too many beers. Santa even made a special surprise visit. Xmas day was great fun, really relaxing and enjoyable to lounge around, play the kids new toys etc and generally have a lazy day in the winter sun. It's the Islamic new year today, generally speaking, December has been a great month with loads of days off for Eid, Xmas, National Day, Islam NY and also the Gregorian NY. We're looking forward to doing some more exciting things over the coming months and logging it all here.
