Art is back !

It has been a few months since Art blogged, I have been back in the UAE for 3 weeks as of today. I spent 2 and 1/2 months in the USA, loving every second of it. I guess I will start looking for a job soon, as this sitting around is getting a bit old. I have begun going back to my old beach area and I will be taking Marta there today. Today is her last day off, she has been off of work for the past 2 weeks and she could use the sun.

We have been taking a mini vacation to Dubai, the Atlantis resort and that was fun. Our new Apartment now has outdoor furniture on the large deck so I am sitting out here now with my feet up drinking my morning cuppa Joe (thank you Starbucks for being international) and watching the theatrics below. We have a FANTASTIC view of the Ocean and the Emerates Palace Hotel. Here is a link to the pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/eastmaninn/EarlyMorningAbuDhabiWalk#

This weekend is a huge GCC Gulf Countries Committee meetings where all the heads of states of the Gulf Arabs will meet (Saudi,Oman,Kuwait,Bahrain,UAE,Qatar,Iraq, and a few othere) so security has been tight. We were issued security passes as I guess their staff are staying at the Hotel in our Complex, the Khalidia Palace Hotel is part of our Apartment buildings. for the past 2 days there have been sniffer dogs at the entrance and today it starts and the Limos are lining up. There are police and Army units everywhere on our grounds. Our security men said for us to only use the car, carry our passports and don't walk around our grounds cause we will be stopped over and over again and our papers checked. We had to provide a copy of our Visa's our Passports, Our Car registration and Marta's work papers to the Security Teams and it is all on file and they can stop us any time.

They have all the streets around here blocked off and even the contruction site next door to us that runs 24/7 is completely silent for once. I see Army Patrols walking around it with dogs and Armor mounted Machine Gun vehicles roaming slowing up and down the street. They are just as afraid of a terrorist bombing as we are in the USA. I will try to take a few pictures a little later of all the happenings. I just don't wnat to get sniper shop cause I have a camera on my deck pointed at the Palace. All in all this is pretty cool. It is Sunday Morning and am going to play some Neil Young Acoustical music on my porch to show my supprt for the USA...'Southern Man' and some of the Boss's 'Born in the USA',. Marta thinks I will be arrested before this conference is over.....Last night during our walk around the Palace I kept egging her on about security and lets make a dash for the Palace walls, I would give her a 50 yard head start ...Ha Ha.

Well That's about it....next story about our trip to Dubai and the Gold and Jewelry Souks !

Wow, leaving tomorrow for the states

Marta and Art are leaving for the states tonight, we can't wait to get out of here and the humidity for awhile. as I write this the windows are dripping with humidity and the car A/C is barely keeping the car cool. We are off to the Inn for 10 days, then Denver, Oregon, Fresno, Santa Barbara, then back to the Inn for Art and Abu Dhabi for Marta. We took some pictures last week of our new place, posted herehttp://picasaweb.google.com/eastmaninn/EarlyMorningAbuDhabiWalk?feat=email#

It is better and easier to just view the link then re post all the pictures. it is a beautiful building on the outside, all the points like a sail, there are 4 buildings, 3 apartment buildings and 1 large hotel that is opening this weekend, we will miss the grand opening, but that is just fine, we hope to see as many friends and family as possible

August Update

We are finally furnishing our new apartment, the view is awesome and it still sounds kind of hollow, but we are making progress. Chairs, sofas, a TV (no hookup yet), A sound system that is pretty nice. Art took these pictures at night, the "Big dig" next door, a 90 storey hotel, like we need another hotel in this city..we hope the restaurants are good, it is just a hole in the ground now

So i have a furniture allowance, so I spent it, all new living room set, a used dining room table and side cabinet

The set really does match the rug and chair we bought. So far NO pictures or paintings on the wall as they are concrete and u need a drill to bore into the walls. We did splurge and bought a car load of houseplants and some herbs. Mint for Arts Mojitos and chives and rosemary for cookiing

And of course we have this outside our windows, it is magnificent. It cost 1 billion us dollars to build about 3 years ago. It is the 7 star Emerates Palace Hotel, rooms in the high season go from 1000 us to 16,000 per night..We have been to a concert there, actually 2 of them, our friends ate dinner there, it cost for 2, nothing special 300 us dollars with no alcohol. We had drinks there one night; $45 for 2 drinks....Yikes...the Dome on top is blue, in this picture, it changes about every 30 seconds to green, white, purple, blue, then just the moons shine some times...Art likes to watch the cars come and go. We can't wait until winter so we can sit outside, right now it is 115 degrees...it has been hotter, up to 131 the hottest so far this summer. We start Ramadan in 2 weeks and no eating during daylight hours in public. We will try to honor the culture..the good thing is the evening feast after sundown, tents are set up all over town to feast after dark and Art has had several invitations from his employees to go to their houses at night and feast.

All for now...too tired and busy at night to do much blogging

July in Abu Dhabi

We have not posted much lately as we have too busy working and moving. The heat exhausts us and the move went slowly even though we mostly had just clothes and small stuff, no furniture. This is the odd shaped patio, we have a balconey from all 3 bedrooms and the kitchen and living room. There are odd shaped rooms, as the building has a lot of curves in it. Pretty hard to place furniture

We have a 3 bedroom 4 bath flat on the main Corniche Road. It is a brand new building, owned by the Sheikh's brother and wife. There are 3 Apt. buildings and 1 Rotanna Hotel in the complex. The Hotel is not open yet, probably in another 3 or 4 weeks, then we will have a restaurant within walking distance. We hope to join the Gym at the Hotel as that is a common practice here. We have a great view of the Emerates Palace hotel via our floor to ceiling windows seen above, the windows are dirty and the window washers should come through soon

Even the kitchen is triangular, but it is roomy. I think it needs a center island, but hey that's just me. I like all the room. Marta bought all new stainless steel appliances, some used furniture and some new. The walls are bare still and my office has only 2 desks and sounds hollow. It needs a rug or something to keep down the echos. Well off to work early today. Hope to catch some clinic employees sleeping !!!

Fire in the Hole !

So If you own 1/6th of the worlds oil and you have too many yachts in your harbor, how do u make room for that next 50 footer ? You burn it down !

I work up last Saturday, got my mug of coffee and went to my usual day off waking spot, My chair on the balconey. Off accross the breakwater a boat fire had just started within a few minutes the boat was entirely engulfed in flames and there was not much any one could do.

Later that afternoon, we took a drive around town and drove to the marina, they were just hauling the boat up onto a flat bed truck, it was burned flat as a pancake, about 4 feet tall left of about a 50 or 60 foot yacht . I took a picture with my cell phone, but have not uploaded that picture yet !!!

Basement People

I don't have a picture, but will perhaps post one later on tonight...I gotta tell you about our basement people. We have a 2 level underground parking for the 4 buildings here on the Corniche Towers. We just started parking there about 1 month ago and recently just started using the second level. There are always voices coming from the corners and we ignored them and just hurried to the elevator. Come to find out there are people living in the Underground Parking Lot. There are various store rooms, equipment rooms, a laundry room, utility rooms etc.. There are men living there, some work as maintenance, some as security guards, a couple wash the common floors on each floor of the apts. Some wash cars...they take a bucket of water and will wash your car daily if needed. It costs about $30 US dollars a month to have a guy keep your car washed. They help carry up groceries if you need and you just tip them a few Dirhams.
They kinda freaked us out at first...but they are all friendly enough. Art looked into 1 of the rooms and they are pretty neat and tidy...bunk beds, a wash basin, a small refrigerator and lots of clothes hanging...the only problem he sees is that it is probably over 100 degrees in there at all times...our basement is hot and muggy. The Humidity is picking up and the temp is over 110 degrees now...The air is thick and our glasses fog up when we leave the A/C of the house or car. Did I mention that we have NEVER turned off the A/C since we moved in ?

Al Ain Overnight trip

We took an overnight trip to Al Ain, about 160 Kilometers from Abu Dhabi, a 2 hour drive that used to take 7 days by camel back in 1962 before the country became oil rich. Sheikh Zayed al Nayan was from Al Ain. It is a desert Oasis town.

Actually the drive is pretty boring, just like driving from Fresno to the Coast, here there are a lot of date palm trees and scrub brush before you get to the Sand. Behind the town is Hafeet Mountain. It is pretty desolate and you can drive to the top. We did and took several pictures along the way, one of Marta totally wore out by the heat, it was only about 104 degrees.

The Hotel we stayed at was nice, a Rotana Hotel, King room very nice and a Trader Vics restaurant where we had Lunch and Dinner on Friday Night. We actually stayed up to almost 11 pm ..wooo hoooo ...late for us old people.

I was so tire when we got home that I slept all afternoon saturday.. We took a lot of pictures, enjoy the albun, click on the link/picture to see all the shots

How do you blog when you are exhausted

We have not blogged much lately because we are so tired after work. Marta and I both work long hours trying to do a good job at our respective hospitals. Working until 7 or 8 pm seems to happen more ofthe then we like. Our friends here keep telling us to stop and we probably will because no matter how much we do, the work never stops. It is ironic that we are both doing the same type of job in Hospital Finance.

I can't wait though to go back to the Inn in New Hampshire. The heat here is starting to rise, along with the humidity. Last night we took our first short walk in about 3 weeks. At 9 pm it was still in the high 80's and the humidity was around 40% with just a little breeze. We did not walk long and stopped at an Oriental Carpet shop and Art bought a 5 x 8 handmade carpet from Pakistan. at 1000 local dhirhams...less then 300 US dollars. The service around here is pretty good, they had one of the workers carry it for us back to our apartment.

Speaking of apartments, we put a deposit down on the apartment we wanted. It is a brand new building and we chose one on the 10th floor facing the Emerates Palace Hotel and the Marina. The ones in the back of the building faced a lot more ocean, but the ocean around the back of the island is all face sand islands completely void of anything but future building sites. At night the Palace is lit up pretty nice. We plan on spending many an hour out on the balconey this year.

Bug Zapper

Today I saw our Hospital Bug Zapper, he carried a tennis racket like device with the blue electric bug zapper electrodes and he goes around the hospital and waves it at the ceilings towards any flies...

Apartment - We got to tour the apts. they are beautiful and of course Marta and Art do no agree..so today Art goes to work and Marta goes back to the apt. with the agent...let them make up their minds..I don't care anymore, I am too tired after work every day..the 45 minute commute each day is killer....literally.

Heat - it is Hot...end of storey and it is not even summer yet !!! sheesh...

Work - worse then America....poor work habits...today I go to a distant clinic that has no supervision and where clerks sometimes do no come in to work if they dont feel like it....No Policies, no Procedures...everything manual, no computers....and lots of complaints from patients. Time to use the STICK...the carrot will be raises....some make horrible wages and I need to get that fixed asap.

Evenings - Since Art works, we go out to dinner more often, we are both to tired to cook, so we go to different hotels to eat because only hotels can serve alcohol.

Get Away - Perhaps this weekend we will go to the Desert Oaisis for the Night, it is cooler there and there is a big mountain..Al Hajeet or something, a whopping 1500 feet....wooooo hoooooooooo....but a Hotel, a nice comfy bed, dinner out under the stars....that should be nice and uneventful....

Pictures...I need to take more....for this blog and All...oh well soon.

Job Opportunity - Marta needs to hire a whole financial staff...do you have hospital experience in any part of Patient Accounts and Revenue....She needs the whole gamut....benefits include free dates, sand, sun and fun....email us today !!!!

Bye for now

Observations

Driving is dangerous, no matter how careful you are someone is bound to hit you eventually. Heading to Dubai for a Cerner meeting you take a 5 lane ultramodern highway..it was pretty light traffic, I was doing 120 KPH in the center lane and people were buzzing past me, some on the right shoulder . There was no reason for this as 2 of the 5 lanes were pretty empty. Some cars were probably doing well over 100 MPH.

Heat - It 's all relative...99 with 50% humidity will be as bad as 140 later in the summer with 60
% humidity...U sweat upon opening the door !

Wonderful Local Friennds - Making friends with the local Emeratis takes effort, however I am finding it facinating, better then a college class...I am learning the customs. Today I met a guy my age who has 4 wives and is still smiling.....God bless him !

Expectations - Don't have any, explain everything 3 times and perhaps it will get done. The work here is 20 years behind our work lives we left behind in Fresno. The word Challenging does not even begin to describe work life !

USA friends - We have made many good friends, being in a different country away from friends and families forces you to either hole up with your computer or go out and meet people and experience new things... We had a fun weekend with 3 new friends last weekend and we pooped out after 1 day. Had a lot of laughs.

Bathrooms, OK mostly up to US standards, but public toilets are really bad...a tree or trench is better any ole day...flooded toilets are the standard it seems.

Maids - You gotta have one, for about $80 per month u can have ur entire house and laundry done each week...tipping helps her make $ to go home in July to visit her children...we learned that and the tips went way up...seeing your kids 1 time a year really sucks.

Chilis - Same crappy food here as in the US...never again..and they don't sell beer....

Cuban Cigars - What can I say, smoke em

Paperwork - We are having the same ole problems iwth our marriage certificate in getting an apt. An unmarried couple cannot rent an apt, we are married and have 2 original marriage certificates with raised letters and all , but these people need it to be 'attested' to by the Calif. State and the US State dept before they recognize it. So we are delayed another month...

Marta - I ask her all the time....when can we go home...soon I hope...July for me and August for the both of us....maybe u will see us in Fresno sometime this summer.

Womad Abu Dhabi 2010...World Music Festival

Opening Act, of the Concert, a local sat in with an UK group
2 stages allowed for continous music as we went back and forth between sets

This group was from North Africa, they had a variety of music, notice all the bald white men in attendance.

The last act for this African Band called Rango...he had the crowd swaying and a singing

The warm breezy evening was just perfect for the venue on the sand...kids and adults alike swam in the Arabian Sea, boats had pulled up to listen to the music

This weekend is the 3 day Abu Dhabi World Music and Arts Festival, I believe there are 45 or so groups playing on 2 Main Stages and 3 smaller Tented stages each evening. It is a lot cooler in the evening, just perfect and the music is fantastic. This North African Band from Egypt and Sudan had a variety of singers. This guy stole the show as he closed out the set. I did not stay til the 1:30 am ending, but I saw 3 different bands. Another awesome weekend here with free entertainment. I continue to want all my USA friends to continue driving their gas hog cars so that my temporary country keeps making tons of $$ to support these weekely free events....Take a Spring drive, use up an extra tankful...I will appreciate it a lot !!!!!

Arts new Job

I have started A new job as a consultant/contractor working for Al Mafraq hospital in the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. It is a 45 minute drive - KM out towards Al Ain in the suburbs. It is all desert and 2 huge tracts of land that is being developed to house up to 250,000 people in the future. All large villa compounds of several houses enclosed by a tall wall . Each villa compound is about 1/3 the size of a normal US city block. Then you have several lots being empty, then another compound of villas. This goes on for like 20 miles in all directions, there are sewer plants, water plants, some new shoppng malls and some schools and a lot of sand....the hospital is about the same size as Marta's hospital and they have just broke ground on a brand new hospital with 3 large towers.

I am consulting on the Patient Financial System's front end of Admitting departments. It is challenging and we have a new computer system going in later this year. I will enjoy it.

The drive is fairly easy, a straight shot down 1 road about 20 Km, then 1 turn to a different highway for 10 Km, then the offramp and I am at the hospital..Cars race up to 120 mph all the time. Keep out of the fast lane, I read about the arrest of a kid doing 230 KM per mile in his Ferrari, they impounded his car as this was not the first time he got caught speeding.

So no more laying around the house in my pajamas and going to the beach every day....I am happy

Sunset in Abu Dhabi

Today we awoke to a storm a brewin...the bottom picture shows the white sand being blown from the beach...then later on we had a beautiful sunset I caught the sunset just about perfectly. I also took a movie and I may upload it in a bit.

White sand being blown accross the breakwater onto the island. For about 1 hour the wind howled, the building cranes accross behind our flat were secured into the wind and evacuated. When I saw the workers running for cover, I thought one may have been ready to roll, but I think they were trying to get out of the blowing sand getting in their eyes

A Better view of the Flat we are trying to rent

This is a great shot of the Flat we are trying to rent. I took this during the Air Races (obviously), from the breakwater sandspit accross the bay. Looking back towards the Emerates Palace. On the Left the domed building is the Royal Entrance to the Palace Hotel. It alone is about 8 stories high and is basically just an entry way Arch (and this is the side view) the front view has a huge Arch. Behind that are 2 of the 3 new Apartment towers just about complete. There is a 2 bedroom up several floors on the End. The end of that building faces the Ocean and the main Emerates Hotel. The Flat we want is just even with the nose of the plane. I did not know I had made that shot until I was looking at these last night.

The Apt we like and hope to get soon !

We think we found an apartment we like that is in our price range...This one sits on the Corniche also, directly behind the Emerates Palace Hotel. I think I have mentioned the 7 Star Emerates Palace..probably one of the finest hotels in the world..This is the living room to the apt. There are 2 models, a 2 storey one and a 1 storey on the end...Either one will do as they both have tremendous views.

This is the view from the Master Bedroom, Beside the Emerates Hotel, the Ruling Sheikh is building a new Palace, that will be plainly visible below us and will not block our view.

This is the view from the living room balconey facing the ocean. The apt is kinda on a penninsula so there is an ocean view from 3 sides if we get the one on the end of the building. This is a brand new structure available in about 30 days...

Another view from the point / end of the balcony, you can plainly see the Emerates Palace Hotel. I can see myself sitting on the balconey at night watching the coming and goings of the ultra rich (rooms are up to $17,000 per night, start at about $1500 per night) Valentines Special for 1 week was $ 1 million included private jet to anywhere in the middle east. Smoking a Cigar and drinking a Mojito...

Now we only have the get the ever frustrating paperwork in order..the hospital requires about 6 forms to be filled out. And we have to pay a 5% commission on the yearly rental. Here you pay rent by the YEAR...1 check in advance for the whole year, but we pay the commission to the real estate agent. This is another difference then the USA, here you pay a realtor to show you an apt for RENT...you never speak to the owners as the Royal Family and their extended families own almost ALL the property in Abu Dhabi. It is a good thing we get our housing paid for as the yearly rent is more then the total cost of my first house..We will let you know if we get it and YOU are invited to our open house !

Driving in Abu Dhabi

Notice in pic above how in parking lots, if all the spaces are full, u just park in the middle of the parking lot and leave ur cell phone number on the dash so the cars u are blocking can call u to move ur car. This is done in every parking lot, so many people back in to have a better chance of getting out.

We rented a small Nissan Tiida for a month and I don't drive, I let Art do all the driving as it is pretty crazy and very very deadly dangerous. So in Art's words, here is his first day experience...

I picked up the car and drove to Marta's work, parked and when I tried to leave I found that I was pretty much blocked in ..I had to bump the car behind me to make him move..The cutoff seems to be the main driving tactic used here. When someone wants to change lanes, they edge just slightly ahead of you and then they move into your lane..so I discovered that you always need to be just a nose ahead of the next driver..I drive with 1 foot on the gas and 1 on the brake as the cutting in and out is constant. Stop signs are meaningless...You NEVER stop for a stop sign. EVER..I noticed the taxis all NEVER stopping and NO one stops..u do slow down to observe cross traffic, but you just merge into the flow as needed. I don't know why they waste time with the signs..Pedestrians are optional traffic obstacles.. They do NOT have the right of way. If you cross in a cross walk you need to yeild to cars..They never stop for a person in the crosswalk NEVER...so don't even try to think u can get accross. We were at a Left turn lane, waiting to turn left with the arrow, but here evey one else in the FAST lane to your right can Also turn LEFT from that lane AND make U turns..so anyway my first night taking Marta home, we were going to make a Left Turn from the turn lane, but the driver in the fast lane to our right decided to make a U turn, thereby cutting us off and forcing me to make a last minute U turn with him..he just laughed..he was a nose ahead of me so it now makes sense why everyone speeds, u control the flow of traffic when u are in front. So I have made it 4 days and have not had an accident...I will leave that for another entry as I am sure it will happen eventually.

We found a beautiful apt. on the water, overlooking the Emerates Palace Hotel...it is in our price range, now we just have to go through the 3 months of paperwork to get it done....wish us luck

Click Here to see a Short Video of Air Races

Art uses some online software to make these picture collages with music
Air Race

Arab Wedding

So Art gets invited at the last minute to a wedding of a nephew of someone from Corporate. It is for Men only. Art, Dr. Tej the CEO, Eric, and Joseph, the husband of the COO get dressed up and head off..I will let Art tell the story.

OK, sorry, no pictures...none of know the groom, and I could not figure out who he was during the 2 hour wedding..There was no actual ceremony. We entered the greeting line, shook about 30 mens hands, at the end of the line there was a large incense burner that we waved the smoke into our faces...then inside there were chairs for all in a U shape at the top were all the 'throne-like' chairs, again we shook hands and congratulated everyone, then we sat in the front row. They had servers bring us the following CONTINOUSLY..'Coffee, Sweet Tea, chocolates, juices of all varieties, dates..I noticed that they used the same cups for everyone, each server had about 4 cups w/no handles and when u gave it back, he then gave it to the next person..
Then the music started..about 20 men in a circle singing for 1/2 hour..it went like this 'ya ya ya eh ! ya ya ya eh !, eh eh he ya !. sometimes they chanted to a song leader, other times they just chanted...they had canes and rifles and some wore symbolic fake pistols on bandelors..(hey they stole this idea from Mexicans)...at the same time in the middle about 3-4 men or boys dances and did circles..it kinda reminded me of a few Grateful Dead concerts where u see people circling to the music they hear in their heads....or San Francisco Haight district where u see people dancing on the corners...anyway I digress.
Several people came up and shook hands with the guys I was with..I only knew these 3, I met several others....

Time to eat...after about an hour of this swell dancing..all of a sudden, no announcement, everyone gets up and we head through large doors to the other side of the building (all 200 to 300 hundred of us) and there are large tables and a head table and it is time to eat...

An Arab friend of the group sat with us, we shoved our plates under the middle massive mound of Rice that is topped with Goat and Camel meat. He said, don't use ur utensils and do NOT use your left hand...OK, I am a lefty..anyway we shoved the plates under the bottom and came up with Rice, then he used his hands and tore apart the Camel Meat for each of us. Um mm Umm...it was good, I had that and chicken, and other meats and some pasta and some chocolates... Then our new Arab friend called for the most tender part...some Baby Camel Hump. That's right Camel Hump.....but alas most of it was reserved for the Head table...so we only got a sliver of greasy slimey baby camel hump...boo hoo.

When we were finished, we got up and started to leave..OK I asked Dr. Tej the dumb question..where are the girls and when is the ceremony...NO girls...they have a get together on Saturday afternoon after the wife consumates the marriage. This WAS the ceremony...at the end they are considered to be married, we are all witnesses. The locals can have 4 concurrent wives, they must all be treated the same, he can divorce her, ,but he must continue to support her forever. So anyway we checked out, shook hands with another greeting line of complete strangers and headed home....Another local custom under my belt !

Red Bull Air Races and a song abour Art

The Races are this weekend and evidently a very large party, here are a few pictures and a video of the set up of the stages and they are practicing Arts Song, something about being an assasin for love !!!! Oh Boy .

This is the video...

Thses are some pictures Art took of the Practice Sessions on Wednesday

Emerates Palace

We took a walk to the Emerates Palace on Saturday. It is one of two 7 star hotels in the world. This huge complex with a concert arena, golf courses and a private beach only has 300 rooms, that start around 1500 US dollars per night up to $17,000 per night for the Royal suites. For valentines day week, they ran a special, for 1 Million Dollars US, a week at the hotel, a private jet to Oman for 1 day, Beruit for 1 day and Baharain for one day. One Russian businessman took the special.

The place is huge. It took us 1 hour to walk around the perimeter

There was another concert accross the street. Some Italian singer and a musical set. They set up an entire stage for the 3 hour concert. A member of the Royal family must have attended as they set up the above tent for them with all the golden chairs

The set up for the Triathelon this weekend

This is the stage that took a week to set up for a 3 hour concert, then the next day it was tore down for the Triathlon apparatus

This coming weekend is the Red Bull Air Plane races over the ocean/breakwater just outside our Apt. Art will go and take pictures of course ! Never a dull moment in Abu Dhabi.

Wakeboard Abu Dhabi 2010

This past weekend, in addition to us going Ballooning there was also a 3 day Wakeboard Competition just accross the street. Art took these pictures. Most of the action was out on the water, but these 2 shots were from the pool and ramps they built on the Corniche. It took 2 days to build a 200,000 gallon tank, they put up an overhead pulley system to mimic a boat.

This guy hit his butt on the ramp. Out on the water they went zoom zoom up and down the beach doing wake board stunts, flips, etc. Most of the people were from the UK. At night they set up 2 huge stages and bands played until 1 or 2 in the morning.

Then the weekend was over they took down the pool overnight, and today Wednesday there are 2 NEW HUGE stages being assembled for another concert on the Corniche Beach...Art will look it up on the paper to see who is playing. It really seems that each weekend there is some activity we can do.

It is starting to warm up a bit, not too hot, in the high 70's but the humidity is starting to go a bit higher...we are seeing the windows frost up and the sidewalks are damp in the morning. Art thinks we have about 2 to 3 weeks left of decent weather, we still don't have a car so that is becomming a priority. We have not moved yet so a new apartment is also on the agenda...Too many things to do and work is very hard...I need a vacation after 4 months.....we are thinking about a weekend in Oman or flying to Cyprus to 'just get away'...I can only dream now...off to bed

We finally got off the ground...it was a hazy morning as we got up at 3:45 am to meet our ride Kevin to the pick up point on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. At around 5 am all 15 of us were ready and we were bused about 1 hour out of town toward Al Alain, the desert oasis that was the birthplace of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi. The founding Sheikh was born out here and we learned from our pilot that this part of the desert is kept especially cleaned up of trash so that the Royal family can come out here with their falcons and hunt...There is a short video at the bottom of our first attempt at take off and a couple of random pictures Art took from the basket

This is the engine, 2 hot burners and a 16 passenger basket, four people to a quadrant and the pilot from Russia in the middle

Too bad it was so hazy, but this picture of when we came close to the earth to search for wind direction came out pretty good, it is along the top of a dune and the wind had blown over the top here

There were 2 balloons today, our sister balloon was filled with tourists from Dubai

15 Minutes in America - By Art

So today I went to America......for 15 minutes or so. I had to have something notarized and the US Embassy will do it for a nominal fee. I had a taxi take me there, (making sure first that he did not hava a black kerchief tied to his mirror) ( a sign of a Taliban sympathizer)...anyway I was a bit aprehensive at first as this was my first time to an Embassy. Other then when Mr. Bourne goes in all 3 episodes...I could not take pictures for security purposes, but the building is Odd shaped like some geometric hexa something...kinda like a stealth fighter design with hard angles sloping back, no inside corners..I assume to thwart any type of attack. The doors, all glass were double thick and HEAVY to open and close. I had to go through 3 security stations and pat downs...I shared this with a REAL American..a biker dude with long hair and an American Flag bandana as a head scarf under his helmet, and a week old beard. He was my age and like me a dependant of a working American woman. We went through the checkpoints together as you have to go through 2 buildings to get the inside...we both said at about the same moment..."It's nice to be in America" and laughed and stopped for a few moments at a memorial dedicated to Marines who had died defending other Embassies in the world. He was an ex Marine and he saluted and shed a tear or two, then we proceeded in. It was totally empty of visitors other then the 2 of us. We had to take a number and we joked as we both wanted to have the other go first... The grounds were pleasant and shady, we did not see any Marines, although I am sure they were seeing us....I kinda delayed leaving as long as I could, talked to the Philipino Guards, picked up my Cell Phone at the first gate and caught a Taxi back. Told the biker I would buy him a beer if we ever meet up again at the Sheraton or Hilton Hotels...he was from the outskirts in a surburban housing area of Villas and his wife worked for an Oil company.

It's 2:30 pm and time for the beach....the next post will have a lot of pictures as this weekend we are going ballooning and to the Wakeboard festival...it should be fun.

Lazy Day Off at the Beach

It's Friday, (our Saturday) and it is warming up just a bit to the mid to high 70's. We decided to go to the beach after breakfast as we heard music and saw lots of peope in black T-shirts. Today was a benefit called Terry Fox Cancer Awareness Fun Run. It must have started early in the day, we got there at 10 am and the festivities were over. A marching band was playing, and they were giving out free refreshments left over from the runners tables. We took a few pictures of the beach today.

Wake Board take off float for public use

For the next 2 weeks you can do free wakeboarding as this man is doing. They have a cable stretched about 200 meters accross that pulls peopled back and forth.

This yacht was anchored just offshore, earlier the Hull opened up on the port side and 2 jet skis de-boated and off they went around the marina and breakwater at breakneck speeds. Then the hull opened up again and swallowed them up. Art estimates it is about 100 fee in length at least, this is shot with the 12x zoom.

We are apartment hunting, so Art found a website that offers good like new used furniture from all the people who leave the UAE. They have some good appliances like Fridge and Oven (called Cooker) here. There is also bedroom and living room furniture. Quite a lot actually so this place is about 1 block behind our current flat and we visited it briefly, the owner was going off to pray at the moment we arrived, so we will go back in about 2 weeks to see if we can start to furnish our new place when we get it. We have a good furniture allowance, but nevertheless we want to be thrifty as much as we can

Quiet Weekend-Valentines day in bed

Not what it sounds like......trust me, I hurt my back doing "nothing", really I may have twisted wrong or turned wrong, but anyway it hurts like #@$#. Art was kind enough to keep me fed and in pain meds. The few times I got up were regrettable. By this morning (Monday) I am feeling good enough to go to work.

Last week was all work and no play although we did spend some time looking at 'flats' as they call them here. We saw a real nice tower that is almost complete and the 2 bedroom is in our price range the only problem is that it is not within walking distance of the beach. It does have good 360 degree views of the sea in the distance and it is right next to one of the largest shopping malls in town. We are in no rush so we will keep looking for the perfect 2 bedroom. We are working with a realtor "Suzy" that Art loves...(young and beautiful of course) and we have another showing. Agents typically get 10% commission of the annual rent and here u pay the entire years rent at one time up front ! Our allowance is for around $73,000 per year and that only gets us a good 2 bedroom apt or Villa. Not the penthouse, but something pretty decent. The rents here are outrageous and some of the people here only get around $20 - $40K that gets them a barely rentable place that is old, stinky, and in the middle of town with no view. I want a good view for the next 3 years I will be here.
Work is the same, the process here is at least 10 to 15 years behind what I was used to in the USA and I am tasked to bring them up to date in the Patient Financial Services world. I enjoy a challenge and believe me this is pretty challenging. On the good side, I made my initial evaluation of the systems and processes here and documented what I believe we need to succeed and made my first presentation to Senior Management for lots of new staff and processes to 'fix' everything. It was well received and now the tough work begins as I fight to get everything I need to succeed and put it into production....

This week we get our Liquor License and our Drivers License...then we can get a car and some Wine. The driver for the CEO has been here for over 30 years and 'knows' people. Getting the licenses can take weeks, but he gets past the B.S. and by the end of day tomorrow we should be just fine. Perhaps we will get a used car by the weekend. We are learning that around here you 'have to know someone' to get things done. You have to look like you know what you are doing (and even if u don't , u need to look the part) and be assertive.

So...thats it. Goodbye for now

What I learn at dinner

This note is mainly about the wonderful opportunities we have to meet new and interesting people here in Abu Dhabi. We have been to several nights out with people we meet. Last night for instance we had dinner cooked for us by the gentleman who runs another department. He is of Chinese decent, from Canada, another guest was from the Philipines and yet another was from Palestine. We had interesting conversations and learned alot about their cultures. Most interesting was Fred from Palestine. He was actually born in the USA, his parents evidently went back to Palestine and he travels a lot. He tried to visit his parents recently, but they live in Israeli occupied Palestine and the soldiers would not let him in, even with a USA passport. So he had to carry his luggage around and between checkpoints to 'sneak' into the occupied zones..It was much easier to get in, then getting out...his stories were lively, I like him a lot as he 'gets things done', as they say here. One time he commandeered a truck that was driving in the parking lot of the hospital...He stood out in front of the poor driver, waved him down and insisted he load his pharmacy shelving into the truck and take it around to the other side of the large hospital facility and unload it into his retail pharmacy....he said the poor guys were'nt sure what to do, but is waving, and ordering about must have meant to them that he was some kind of authority (he's not), but anyway his stoires are amusing and we laughed a lot. Everyone here has a storey on how they came about to come here and just now Art got home in a taxi driven by a Nepalese driver who has been here only 6 days and did not know his way around. He already had been fined 500 Dhirams (he only makes around 700Dh / month plus tips. So Art tipped him well. All Taxi drivers want to go to America. Many are from Pakistan and 100% of them ALWAYS say "Taliban are bad and just kill people". The Mountain area is unsafe. Taliban must go".... Over and over we hear that from every Pakistani driver.. We don't ask, they just all tell us that once they hear we are Americans.

Yesterday we walked 7.5 Kilometers accross town. We were looking for a 30 story apt. building that was just completed and starting to rent flats. We never found it, got lost (kinda) but eventually found a mall that we had been to before. We had to rest before we took a taxi home. Today Art found the Apt. building way on the other side of the Island from where we were looking, actually just accross the street from the back of the hospital. We were so close all the time...Oh well, we all know how directionally challenged I am. It is a beautiful place, brand new and renting now. Tomorrow we will go have a look inside. They become available at the end of March and Early April . 30 stories, sea views from some, adjacent to a large shopping center and supermarket and liquor store and near a multitued of ethnic food establishments. And 1 block from the back of the hospital I work at. Art still does not have a job, he will apply at 2 other places tomorrow, my hospital still has not made him an offer after 4 interviews, we are not sure why....but there are several places here in Abu Dhabi for him to work. In the mean time he is a 'kept man'.!!!!. Here is a pic of the apts we are looking at, not a very good picture, but you get the idea. This was taken in August. They are almost done now, working on the interiors and finishing touches.

The Balloon Ride that didn't happen !

Woke up this morning (Friday) and discovered that the town has been swept up in a desert sandstorm. Not quite as bad as the one depicted in this picture, but you get a good understanding of what a desert blow can look like in a matter of minutes. The balloon company called the group leader late last night to call off the trip due to forcasted high winds and rain (a rarity for rain). So instead of getting high up on the balloon, we had a breakfast brunch instead. About 12 folks showed up and at least 12 bottles of champagne were consumed along with a lot of local flavors..An Eastman Inn Quiche, Indian Breakfast, dates, fruit and of course bacon and eggs. A good substitute for the balloon ride...although the headache will soon be arriving I am sure !!!

Dune Bashing, Camel Rides, Belly Dancing

This was our young driver who drove us up and down and around many tall tall dunes. We went down sideways sometimes and we thought we were going to turn over. He kept on trying to pick up on our young friend who was riding in the back seat. I wished he would keep his eyes on the dunes and not her.

This was my camel and he was pretty grumpy. Art tried to get on also but he would not get up with Art's weight. So I rode him alone. It was fun.

Art with a young camel we came accross in the desert. There was a herd of females that they use for milking out being walked and fed by their herders that morning

She was a friendly gal and once I started petting her, she followed me around. In the background are other people who went with us. Our group consisted of 8 people from the Hospital where I work

This is dune bashing, notice him coming down sideway on that steep hill, some hills were taller and steeper. The sand here is kind of red and VERY fine, when you walk, you sink in deep when going down a dune. However when walking on flat surfaces it is very firm. All in all it was quite fun. When the sun set we went to an area where they had tables set up for dinner under the stars, then a belly dancer. Art really enjoyed that part and I will not post those pictures.

Next week we are going Ballooning over the desert in the morning. That too should be an adventure. Stay tuned