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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