Highway to the danger zone...

Good Morning fellow bloggers and blogees,
That's it. I've done now and I want to go home to Tom and my family! Yesterday was the first unchaperoned visit to Madinat Zayed, which, inshallah, is to be my home for the next two years at least. It was a gruelling day getting used to travelling on the highways here and making our first contacts in a very islolated place. I'm very, very, very glad I got to experience it with five other new teachers. That is a source of comfort this morning.
The desert is so pretty and yesterday, I didn't notice the strong smell of oil that hit me on our first visit. My apartment looked just a good yesterday as it had on the first inspection. However, talking to one disaffected teacher and then being asked way over the top prices for goods in various emporia, took its toll and I ended up the visit feeling totally out of my comfort zone. I began to feel out of my depth and swamped by the Emerati culture.
Later,Tom reminded me that I need to employ my sense of humour when I feel that a trader is trying to capitalise on my lack of local knowledge by grossly overpricing his wares: Come on guys, 400 dir. for a simple abaya? DO I have the word GREEN tattooed on my forehead? It was black actually and it was very nice but, the material was not such good quality and it was way too long!
Bless me Abu Dhabians, for I have sinned: I said this place was far too expensive but in fact it's cheaper here than it is in the Styx.- I also priced up a Nikon Cool Pix camera. I had bought one the day before from a shop in Marina Mall, Abu Dhabi. I had been charged 399dir. Admittedly it was on sale. When I priced up a much lesser model of the same make camera in MZ, I found that they wanted 1,070+ dir. I'm trying not to come to the conclusion that the good people of MZ are in the habit of exploiting the incoming teachers every year. The guy in the first abaya shop said later that his prices were up for negotiation and that he would give the ADEC teachers a good deal. Too late Abaya guy, you know what? I won't visit your shop, or even that mall again.
In fairness to the traders of MZ, I visited a second abaya shop in the city market area just after. The gentleman there was much nicer than the first man and his prices were moderate: 150 dir for a similar garment. I'd still want to negotiate, but just in the same way that I wouldn't think of starting from obviously too stingy a price for decent goods, he chose a fair starting price from his point of view.
Coming home, for the first time since I arrived here two whole weeks ago now, I felt swamped and homesick to such a degree that, just for a short while, I wanted to go home.
On the way back to the hotel, I watched the sunset in the desert. It was lovely but I would have liked it even more had I been watching it with Tom. (Its a date: Desert, Tom, Chris, Johnny Cash music and the stars. Even better with some chilled wine and insect repellent.)

Then on entering the big city once more, the world slotted back into place and I watched with awe, as we drove past the beautiful buildings here, all lit up for the evenings viewers. Note to self: I need to come back in the cooler weather to walk about and take pictures and that way, all my family and friends can see Abu Dhabi at night. A truly breathtaking experience folks!

                                                            

Another Day in Paradise...

It's been a while since I posted and a lot has changed for me. I spent July in Cyprus, where they are currently enjoying record temperatures. It is well into the 40s there. Now we normally spend the whole of summer over there, but we arrived a little earlier this year and left a whole month early because I was due to start work in the UAE in August. Well it's now August and here I sit in Abu Dhabi. What a charmed existence this is...
I'm currently housed in a 5* hotel at the government's expense. Thank you, ADEC people!
It's surreal. I knew that they would put me into an hotel until my normal accommodation was ready for me, but whatever I expected, I didn't expect this: My room is lovely. I have a waterside view, with a really imposing city skyline as the back drop and even a little balcony of my own! The staff cater to our every need and, although I'm being paid, there has been very little in the way of demands on my time. I currently have a whole week off duty, as its about to be EId and a national holiday. Out of the last 7 days, I have been expected to give over my time to ADEC business for just three of them. On one of those days, they ferried us out to the city where I, along with about a dozen other people, will live: Madinat Zayed.
They apartment that they had selected for me is unfurnished and very new. It's also rather spacious and very lovely. They will give me enough money to deck it out comfortably. Their only demand for this is that during the term of the contract I continue to live there.
Madinat Zayed appears to be a small city and quite unspectacular. However, everything required to deliver a comfortable lifestyle is to be found there and I'm sure that I'll be more than content on a day to day basis.
If there was to be a 'fly in the ointment' it would be that it was desert-locked and no sea in site. However, as if anticipating my personal preferences, I was told that my school is actually 70 kilometres further on, at a place called Mirfa which is situated on the Gulf coast. Result! The best of both worlds and they will pay me an extra allowance to compensate for the travel involved. Not only that, but the gentleman in charge of the initiative, Mr. Alqadi, appears to have a very realistic idea about the kind of students we will be teaching.
Note to self: this job pays well and the conditions attached are more than generous, so I will need to expect the work to be tough, but in order to repay the generousity of my employers, in fairness, I should be able to get on with it with a big smile on my face!
 On first impressions,this place is very close to paradise!

            

         

There are places I remember, all my life though some have changed...

The weather is quite somber today and I'm in a meloncholy mood. When I switch on my old PC, the screen save is an old portrait of my Mum and Dad on their wedding day. It's the only picture that remains of that event and has been lovingly cherished by Mum for many years. Shortly after my third daughter was born, I stole that picture! I had the best of intentions, as I wanted to give mum a special present for that christmas and so I took it to an expert restorer, who copied the original, enlarged it and framed it beautifully for me. I then carefully packaged up both the original and the framed photo and duly presented it to her a couple of months later. During the intervening months, Mum missed the photo and fretted about it. I was undecided whether to wait for christmas or to confess. Suffice it to say that I made her suffer!



On Christmas Eve of that year, I rang Mum, knowing that she'd be in the house on her own. I asked her to open the present early and said that she needed to be alone to do that. I knew what would happen of course: She had a good old weep over the present and I felt that that was something she should be allowed to do in private. She did of course and, from then on, the photo frame has had pride of place over her mantlepiece. The memory is bitter sweet. Sad because Dad isn't here to see what happened to his treasured family, sweet because I know what a happy partnership it was and because I know that the present gave mum great pleasure. I love looking at it too. They both look so young. I wonder if they would have changed their minds about some things if only they knew what would be in store for them?
I suppose I'm in contemplative mood this morning due to the fact that I took the weighty decision to retire from UK teaching altogether, at its beginning. Sounds dramatic and in truth it was a big decision to make, but only financially because I will teach abroad for the forseeable future, but I doubt very much whether I will ever take a class of students in this green and pleasant land again. Of course, Sean Connery, my old and very yummy friend, would advise to 'never say never...' but that's all very well for him to say. He was in a very different situation altogether! ( Sorry is this unbelievably cheesy? I'm wondering whether by now, my faithful followers have noticed my very own gimmick for naming posts and even the actual title of the blog? Well you need to have a formula for these things.)
This week has been a week for seeing friends before I leave again. For looking back at photos and remembering and above all, for looking at Tom and myself and wondering where the years have gone. I was reminded of this old Beatle's song by my sister, who used it to preface the photo of Mum and Dad. It makes me more than meloncholy, it makes me shed a tear and it makes me remeber to enjoy what life brings today while trying not to worry too much about the future.


  

Love it when a plan comes together!

Few things in life can surpass the excitement of receiving a wonderful surprise. When I look back, I have been given some very memorable gifts: A Peter Pan colouring book and Lakeland crayons from my favourite Auntie when I was around 8, a number of handmade items from my little sister, chief among them would be two paintings and then this year, a lovely and very handy beach bag, several handmade things from my girlies as they were growing up- I remember a binker, embroidered coaster from Claire; many things from Tom and perhaps the most poignant, an amazing blue opal ring from my dad, which he never got to give me himself, but which we found labelled up in a small brown envelope after he died. I will treasure the memory of all these and the people who gave them to me, always; but giving a memorable present is even more pleasurable:
Just under eighteen months ago, I thought it would be great if Tom and I could send Helen to the Olympics for her birthday. We duly registered for the first ticket draw, bidding for two tickets to the Dressage event on the actual day. Fortune, they say, favours the brave! We were successful in that ballot, even though many a better man wasn't and, in due course we received the tickets for Greenwich Park, on 3rd August 2012.
On Friday, in the late afternoon, Helen called me to tell me, that she had had a lovely day. She had seen a British competitor perform the winning round in that event. The atmosphere in and around the arena was, she said, electric! She watched many fine performances including some from what we hope might be the winning team. She saw some wonderful horses. She shared all this with Luke, her other half and she tells me that there are some wonderful photos of the day. I know that no birthday present that we can give will ever top this one; it was a once in a lifetime experience for someone that we love dearly. There can be few more satisfying emotions than that, surely!