Update from Abu Dhabi

Here are some updates from life in the Middle East. I had an interesting thing happen to me the other day. The water heater in my flat basically exploded. I heard what sounded like someone having a shower, which was odd because no-one was in the shower. I got up to investigate and noticed a torrent of water coming from the ceiling in the kitchen! The kitchen  of all places! I should explain that the kitchen has the water heater above it and various other things like air con etc. Anyways, I went downstairs to let the man on the door know and he came up, lifted up the panelling in the kitchen, whacked it with a hammer and twiddled with a screwdriver and didn't fix it. He then advised me some people would come and look at it in the morning (today).

So, here we have it, there are two Indian chaps fixing it as we speak. I can hear mumblings and bangings coming from the kitchen right now. I just hope they repair it. As of now, they are going to need to come back and fix it.

I have also had to put with a load of banging and drilling coming from on my floor. Apparently a spa of some sort is opening on a floor a few below mine, and they have been doing building work to make it ready for this week. Unfortunately, for the last 10 days or so the noise has been awful! It has eased off a bit now I think and I hope the noise will be less from now on. I just don't understand what needs to be hit with a hammer 35 times a minute for 8 hours. Any ideas?

I had a visit to the Ministry the other day as well. The BC were doing some testing there, and once I had got through security I was out in this golf kart thing and driven all of 15 yards across a car park to the main entrance of the building. It's one of the many bizarre things that happen here in the Middle East all the time. The guy driving must have thought I was mad because I was laughing to myself the entire way. When testing did finally get underway, we were put in a room where the lights kept dimming and increasing again. apparently the control for the room was in another room and they were adjusting lights there for a conference and kept adjusting the rooms we were in.

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Airport Angsts

Hi All,

I have just come back from a visit to the UK where I saw my family and friends. It was a jolly good week off actually and it was great to see the family especially, as I hadn't seen them for 7 months or so. I also attended a job interview at a travel company I had applied to work for. Sadly, I didn't get offered the job and so I'm continuing the search. We shall see what happens later this year or next year. Unfortunately, because I went to the UK it meant I missed out on going to Vietnam with Matt. I feel guilty about this, but hope we get another holiday together soon.

On a separate note, I made the mistake of putting liquids of more than 100mls in my hand luggage when at the airport. How this is meant to prevent terrorism is beyond me, but anyways, the bag went through the X-ray machine and then was magically transfered to a separate 'check' conveyor belt, alarms started sounding and I was expecting a group of armed men to appear, luckily, that didn't happen, but I did get asked to wait while my hand luggage was thoroughly searched. Thankfully, I didn't have to undergo a cavity search of any kind. The bag was swabbed for drugs within an inch of its life and then I was allowed to go.

To be honest, it wasn't so bad and I took it a lot better than the guy to my left who had also been stopped. He started screaming and yelling at the person doing the search, after all it's only a security precaution and at the end of the day if it prevents another accident then it can only be a good thing.

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An Update from the UAE

Hi All,

This is a quick update on what's been happening recently in my life in the UAE. Just one of the odd things that happens to me on an almost daily basis.

I work at a place called the Armed Forces Officers Club twice a week at the moment, teaching a bunch of young ladies from the Emirates College, who are training to be English Teachers.

In order to get to the Armed Forces place I need to take a taxi. It takes about 30 minutes and is quite difficult to find. This wouldn't usually be a problem, however, some of the people that drive cabs here suffer from rather dubious English ability (admittedly my Arabic isn't great).

I got in a cab the other day and I asked to go to the Armed Forces Club and the guy responded with what sounded like 'nnnngggg'. I tried again to confirm that he knew where it was, and he replied again with a variation on the above (nnggggghhhgghhh). I assumed that, that meant he knew where he was going. I managed to get there in one piece in any case.

I should mention that like most important locations in the UAE it's all marble, and absolutely massive, maybe 3 football pitches in length and 1 in height. It has about 30 different conference rooms available for hire and an attached hotel. It was probably built in the 1980's sometime, but still looks stunning. I'd love to be able to take some photos but it's a military place, so that's probably a no-no. However, I will see what I can do.

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A Visit to a Beer and Bacon shop

I went to a place called Spinney's for the first time today. It's quite similar to the supermarket near me, but it does better quality bread products, fresher fruit and has a special bacon room. I kid you not. The shops here don't have bacon on the shelves usually and so you need to go to this special room at the back to get pork products.

After the supermarket I paid a visit to the beer shop attached to it and got myself some beer. Rather embarassing story really, but in the end I came out with a big bag full of bottles of beer. Nice. I was with Chris and Jess and neither of them wanted to get the beer, so muggings here had to do it.

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Jones The Grocer

Went to Jones the Grocer for some food today. It sounds like some sort of greengrocer, but actually it's a place you can go for food. It's really fresh, a bit expensive, but very tasty. I had some bagels with eggs and beef bacon. It's not the same as real bacon, but it isn't a bad attempt. 

Headed home after that, and watched 'The Social Network'. It's all about the history of facebook and how it became so popular.

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Finally

I finally got some curtains put into my apartment today and it's brilliant. They help block out a lot of the traffic noise and help stop the sunlight coming into my apartment really early. To be honest I should have got some slightly darker ones for the bedroom, but the ones I have aren't bad. They'll do for now. At least I can now walk around my flat without being looked at all the time.

I went to fix my internet today as well. That will be working in a short while which is good news. I can't get permanent internet yet as I haven't got my visa yet off anyone. I hope this will be sorted in the next few weeks.

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Beach Day

Spent the afternoon on the beach this weekend. Actually it was part of the morning and part of the afternoon. It was a good day, it's quite organised here for the beach though. You pay to get onto the beach initially, and then you have to pay again to get onto a nice sun lounger, but at least there isn't a mad scramble to find somewhere to sit.

Jess and I went on a pedalo for a bit and that was quite good fun. We also met a friend of Chris's. I forget her name but she seems OK. Jess and I left a bit earlier to go and get some food, while Chris stayed on at the beach until later.

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Hospital for visa

I was up really early today as I had to go to a hospital in order to get my blood test done in order to get a visa. It didn't take long and it's like a production line. You go to see a doctor, give a bit of blood, then have an x-ray, then out of the door. It's weird. At least I get refunded for it.

My day at work wasn't great today either, but at least John apologised for getting water all over my shirt. That's something I suppose.

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Return to AD

Up fairly earlyish as had to go and have breakfast in the hotel. We had missed it the previous morning because we were up too late, but made it this time and the food was really good. It was a massive buffet thing that you could help yourself to as many times as you wanted.

After thanking Julie's parents we headed back to AD after checking out and sorting out the minor issue we had with the room key. I got dropped off at the bank as I had to sort a few things out. Basically, my account had been locked because the guy who opened it had forgotten to attach my ID to it and then gone on holiday. It took 3 bank employees about 20 minutes to sort it all out. It's working fine now though.


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Mr Wonder

Most of the day was spent in the hotel room today. We realised that the aircon wasn't working properly and it made us both massively sleepy. We were probably also really tired from work as well and so we crashed out until the afternoon, then we ordered some food, went for a walk and had some more drink. I had a load of water as I was a little dehydrated from earlier.

We returned to the hotel about 6ish to get ready and then we went and had a look for the Australian guys we had met the previous evening. We had agreed to meet them ina different hotel, but they weren't there and so we decided to have some champagne and then get on the bus for the concert. It was great they provided free transport! Oh yeah, the previous evening in the bar Chris had been given a giant St Patrick's hat which he wore with pride.

Got home and slept rather late due to various reasons. One of which is that we had to walk back from the concert to the hotel. It wasn't that far really, but I was rather drunk. Met some strange people at the concert. The concert was excellent actually, and Steve stayed on for about 2.5 hours, although he was a little late in coming onto the stage.

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Yas Island

Interesting weekend this weekend, as I was off to yas Island for the weekend with Julie and her family to see Stevie Wonder in concert. It was a great weekend actually. I really enjoyed it. Her dad came and picked our bags up from work and after work we headed straight to the concert. I made a bit of an error when Julie finally got checked in, as I almost showed my passport. I forgot that in Arabic states unmarried people can't share the same room.

Anyways, we went to the room, I got changed and afterwards joined the others for a drink in the bar. Chris and Jess had come with us to Yas Island. It was St Patrick's day so I had a nice big glass of guinness to drink and we met these 2 aussie guys in the bar. One of whom I m sure was gay. In any case we had a drink or two with them whilst failing to understand them and made a vague promise to meet them somewhere before the concert the following evening.

After the drinks we went up to the hotel room for more drinks and an encounter with Julie's family. Her mother had been drinking a lot early in the day and she popped her head through the door to say hello. The room I was in connected to the parents, but it was via 2 thick doors. The room was lovely actually. We ordered a bit of food and had few beers then Chris and Jess left and Julie and I went to sleep. Had a bit of trouble folding the food trolley away though.

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Something different

I spent the day today chilling out and watching back episodes of Criminal Minds. It's quite a good show actually, although a little depressing at times.

In the evening, Julie, Jess, Chris and I went for Fish and Chips at a place called Coopers. Coopers is in one of the bars in one of the hotels. It's kind of like a smoky sports bar. It's all dark wood and panelling and lots of screens showing various types of sport. The cricket and rugby were on when we went.

Julie had some vouchers to give us all a bit of a discount on the grub. Oh yes, and earlier in the day I had met Julie's mum and dad. I think I have seen them before but wasn't sure. It was quite good food, although it took a while to arrive and was a bit pricey. I had a few beers.

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Weekend

It's the evening of the weekend today and I went out to the Crowne Plaza hotel with a few of my colleagues. Basically, I went with Julie and Chris. I had quite a lot to drink to be honest and was a little ill in the evening. The problem was I went back to Chris' place after and had more Gin and tonic. I also hadn't eaten a great deal in the day and so felt sick. I tried the milk trick in the evening and even that failed to work. It was quite a fun night though. The Crowne Plaza is also just around the corner from where I live as well.

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news....umm

Not really any news, except that I learnt today that the BC has employed to more cleaners for the main office. Allegedly they are known as Hitler and Ganesh. I m not making this up!

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More work and dinner

Had a bit of a bad day today, a lot of my IELTS students have moved over to Chris's class. We had a bit of a meeting the other day and the students told me they weren't happy with what I have been doing. I'm doing my best with them, but I guess I need a bit more practice with IELTS. I only hope I don't lose anymore of my students.

Chris also invited me over to dinner the other night too. He's a fine cook, and we had a good chat.

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A Jazz Bar

It was my day off today and I spent the morning walking around the city, and checking out the local co-op that's near the block of flats I live in. It's open 24 hours and is a bit of a haphazard place. The isles are always jammed with people and random produce, and it doesn't seem to have an exit. I walked round for ages just trying to find the checkout to pay for my goods. I got there in the end!

In the evening I went to a jazz evening with Julie. We were going to eat pizza, but changed our minds and headed to the Hilton Hotel in order to meet Raed and enjoy some jazz music. I wanted to swing by my apartment to change my shirt on the way, Julie waited in the cab. It only took me a few minutes to do. Raed was his usual cheery self, sweating away and dancing like a madman.

The jazz place has a weird setup because the band are high on a stage, and the bar is kind of in a pit. When you go and order a beer you are eye level with the band and the bar staff are at your crotch level. It took me ages to actually get served anything. I stayed until about 1 in the morning and then headed home. It was a good bit of fun, even though I didn't know a great deal of people there.

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IWB

A usual teaching day. However, one of my colleagues here wanted to know how to better use the IWB (Interactive Whiteboards) we have in the classrooms so I gave her a quick demonstration on what to do, and how to use them. That's about it.

I managed to find a good place that delivers reasonable and cheap food though. It saves having to cook. Not quite as cheap as in Malaysia, but not far off.

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A visit to a colleague

Went to a colleagues place after work today. I had a great deal to drink with not much food and got rather drunk. I heard a lot about her life story, which is quite odd that's for certain. I was to learn later that a lot of this is most certainly not true. After we had chatted a bit I was very kindly put up in the spare room for the night. Although, it was a bit strange the next morning waking up and having to put my work clothes on again.

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A party!

It's the weekend for me here on a friday and saturday, and this evening I got invited to a colleague's house for a barbecue. It was nice actually. I had no idea the house was so massive. I met a load of French people, an American girl (Chris's mate), and a few others. I drank a fair bit and danced quite a lot. I chatted a bit to Julie as well. She's another colleague. It all went a bit crazy after about 12 as most people had left and everyone else went a bit crazy. Also met Julie's mate Raed. He seems to be quite cool too.

All in all it was quite a good night and I think everyone had fun. It was a nice introduction to life in Abu Dhabi. Although obviously the place I live in doesn't have a pool on the patio area. Sadly, I don't think that living here will always be parties and fun.

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A new term

Got given my timetable the other day and it isn't so bad this term. I have to teach an IELTS preparation course, which may or may not be exciting. It'll be a new challenge, as I haven't taught IELTS in a 6 week course before. 

I'll see how it goes. I have an intermediate class and a pre-int class as well. Both of those should be fine as I've taught the level before. I m pretty sure they'll both go OK. Lets wait and see how the teaching goes. I m a bit out of practice but should get back into the swing of things again. 

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The move

I moved today from the Hotel to my apartment, and I managed to sort out my internet connection as well. It's not the best connection in the world. I basically have to rely on one of those dongle things. They are a bit expensive to be honest, but you can't get proper internet installed until you havea resident visa. I think this fact is correct.

Chris (a colleague) helped me move today. He picked up a rental car because he has someone staying with him at the moment, and he very kindly helped move all my bags to my new place. The new place is small, but modern and doesn't have any curtains on the windows. Also, in typical BC style it had furniture but this all  needed putting together, and the oven and fridge hadn't arrived yet. 

Not having any curtains isn't a problem in the day, but at night the windows are kind of see through.

All in all it was quite a productive day all in all.

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A public holiday

As luck would have it, I arrived on a public holiday and so had a few days to have a look round and get my bearings. AD is much more modern and different to Saudi Arabia. It's also by the sea which is nice. I had quite a nice walk around the place and managed to organise myself a mobile phone. People are generally useless, as I was told 'ooh no, you can't get a phone until you have a resident visa'. I didn't accept this.

In fact, I tried to get a phone, and got one. Actually, I already had the phone, but I got a local sim card for it no problem. It's all ready to go. In the evening, I went to see a film 'Just go with it' with Marina and Duncan. Both of them are technically my managers. It was quite a fun film with a few laugh out loud moments.

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Flight to Abu Dhabi in the UAE

Up very early today and off into Cambridge to catch the bus to Heathrow. I actually had a beer at the airport and a bit of food before the flight. The flight went fine, and I cleared immigration, and got my luggage pretty fast. There was even someone at the airport to pick me up.

I got driven straight to the hotel. It took a while to get checked in, but the place they had put me in was quite nice. It's called Cassells Hotel Apartments and was modern and clean. I went straight to sleep. Early start tomorrow as I have to meet the manager and the rest of the teaching team. It's all another adventure!

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More packing

I finished all my packing today ready for the flight tomorrow. Yes, the time has finally come for me to head off. It's come round a lot quicker than I thought it would.

I hope the bank manage to organise my documents to be sent on.

Had a goodbye dinner with mum today as well. I'm sad to be leaving St Ives, but it has to be done.

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Shopping

I sorted out some last minute shopping today and tried to sort out a new bank account. Seems that the HSBC bank that I opened my account with haven't actually sent anything out to me yet. Hopefully this will happen over the next weeks and it can be forwarded on to me.

I also saw Paul for the last time today. Went out in Cambridge to see him. It was good actually. The band were good, didn't get much of a chance to speak to Paul though. Hopefully, I will see him in a few months when I get back for a holiday.

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Mr P

I met up with my old buddy Ben P today for a load of food and a trip to the cinema. We had a good old catch up. I m glad it isn't just me that's getting fed-up with the work I do. Ben is feeling the same way as me. He wants to change career as well. He reckons he's going to be doing it sometime this year as well. I reckon I may well be doing the same.

In any case, we watched the latest 'Jason Statham' classic. He plays basically the same character in every film he is ever in. It was an OK action film, but that's as far as it goes. I'm not sure I'll get a chance to see Ben P again before I go, but we shall see. I hope I get to keep in touch with him. I know he isn't the best at replying to emails and things but he's still a good mate of mine.

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A brilliant concert

This weekend I attended a brilliant concert in one of the churches in Cambridge! Yes, a church is a strange place to hold a concert, but it was incredible. I had a bit of an issue getting there initially, and it meant I missed the first part of the talk. I m a bit miffed about it because a lady was giving a talk about her trip going down the Amazon. I think I d have really enjoyed it.

In any case I made it in time for the second part and the choir and band were incredible. It was also a great opportunity to meet up with Matt C, Marcus H, and Tom T, and Paul. In fact after the gig we all went out for a few beers. Marcus and I stayed on afterwards and Matt and Tom got the bus back. We managed to get a lift with Steve M actually. I hadn't seen him for ages and it was very kind of him to drive me back to Alconbury.

All in all a great night and a good laugh, although lugging Paul's drums back to the car were a nightmare. They are much heavier than they look. Overall a very enjoyable night out.

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A job offer!!

I got offered the job in Abu Dhabi today. I decided to accept it and turn the Libya post down. I felt a bit bad about this, seen as I'd already kind of said 'yes' to the Libya post.

It's a good job I'm not in Libya actually as it's all gone a bit tits up there at the moment. I very much doubt I would have ever started the post there. I hope Abu Dhabi is a good choice. If not, then I will look elsewhere for another position.

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February!!

Yes, I have managed to put a blog a day up now for almost the entire month of January. It's quite an achievement.

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A return to Huntingdon

I headed back to St Ives today and met Matt in Huntingdon. We had a few beers and a chat on the way back. It was weird meeting in Huntingdon. We went to a Whetherspoons first and a quick pint, then we headed to a place out by the ring road. I forget the name, I d never been there before. Basically we had another beer. That's about it.

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More job apps

If I remember rightly, I had an interview with the BC today, for a position in Libya. I also attended an interview at Enterprise Rent a Car which was in Kimbolton or somewhere equally odd. It took me ages to get there as I had to walk for about 5 miles, then wander around an industrial estate in order to find their offices.

When I did find the offices they appeared to be empty and I was waiting for ages in the reception area downstairs until someone came and got me. Suffice to say it was probably the worst interview I have ever given and so I didn't get the job. My answers were, to be fair, awful. I hope the BC one went a bit better.

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A visit to the 'Ives'

Today was a fantastic day. Actually, it wasn't I went into St Ives to meet Matt for some lunch. We went to the lovely little cafe next to Waitrose. It's quite hard to find unless you know it's there. We had some coffee and teacake. Afterwards, and now hold your breath, I went to Poundland in order to buy some milk. Gosh, it doesn't get any more exciting than this eh?

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Saturday!

Visited the delights of St Ives today to purchase some bread and milk. All I can say is that Poundland is great! Great for buying milk anyways. 

In the evening went to see Marcus. He's doing OK at the moment and we had a good chat. It was freezing cold getting to his place and I ended up walking down someone's darkened driveway, but I found it in the end. walking back was just as cold!

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A lounge, beer and a tent

Visited my buddy Paul today. Ended up at his unique place in Shepreth, a small village just out side Cambridge. Basically we drank beer, chatted, watched some sitcoms and pitched a tent. We must have drunk a lot as I woke up in the partly constructed tent in the morning. His lounge isn't the biggest area, but I think we did a good job!

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A Darn Busy Day

Today was a busy day. I was out and into Cambridge early morning for a look around the agencies. It always takes longer than you think. I managed to get registered at Reed, and they had a possibility for work in the Cambridge area. I had to do some tests and that took some time. Following this I headed to Newmarket for an interview. It took ages getting to it, and I was knackered when I arrived. The office was next to a scrapyard and appeared to be empty when I turned up. I called the reception, but no-one answered. Eventually, someone turned up and I was taken to an office with people in! To be fair I think the interview was a bit of a disaster. I had answers to the questions you're asked prepared, but my answers weren't the best. Oh well, lets use it as a trial run and do a better job in the next interview.

Once I'd finished I visited a few of the language schools in Cambridge and dropped my CV off at them. I have an interview with one of them tomorrow! In fact they wanted me to teach a class, but I don't really have time to prepare fully for it.

That's about all for today.

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Day Two

A quiet day today. I managed to get my application sent off to South Korea, and hopefully I can start out there in a few months once everything has been sorted out here. Nothing else to report really.

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2011 - Onwards

Happy New Year Everyone,

Welcome to my new blog for 2011. I'm going to aim to try and write something in this every single day to try and let people know more about what I'm doing day to day and what I'm going to be doing!

As you may or may not know, I left Saudi Arabia last year, went to Malaysia, got made redundant and I'm now in the UK for a while, whilst I look for my next teaching position / new job. I'm determined that this year will be more successful and productive than the last.

Nothing major to add but last night the fireworks kept the dog awake and was making a hell of a racket until the late hours. I understand the need to celebrate, but so so late? Is it really needed. Thankfully it's only once a year, and in any case I'm not going to be living with the family for much longer this year.

I'll keep everyone updated.

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