Wadis and Mosques

Hey boys and girls,

What have the Fabulous Flying Fords been up to?

Camel market

Visited the camel/livestock market and plant souq over the far side of town behind the Bawadi Mall. There are pens with thousands of goats, sheep, cattle and camels. They're all under cover and tended by a real mix of guys, mostly in robes. When we pulled up to have a look all the guys called out and waved for us to come over for a photo with their camels. It was only later that they asked for money for the privilege of doing so. One of the blokes took my hand (as Arab men do) and walked me back to the car (before asking for some cash for the privilege). Worth it for the photo!

Dragon boating

We both joined the Cognition team and had a couple of weekends dragon boating in Abu Dhabi - first for training, secondly for competition. It's all about teamwork, it was a bit of fun and Matija had a couple of days on the beach. The weather was not ideal though, the temperature was in the high 30's and very humid, making the racing pretty hot and sweaty. We did okay in the racing without setting the world on fire. On competition weekend we stayed at the hotel where the competition was, got a baby sitter and had a great night at the Dragon Boat Beach Party which included a chef-prepared BBQ, music and dancing down by the beach. It was great fun and we got to know some more of the Cognition staff. One of the ladies there subscribed to the National newspaper last week and won an Audi in a draw. Fantastic.

XTonka

Spent a few days in Abu Dhabi after the dragon boating and bought a 4WD. It's a 2008 Nissan Xterra with 110 000 on the clock. We got it off a shady dealer on Airport road and had to work out most of the registration, insurance and stuff ourselves. I made the dealers worker an offer and he said "Okay, you get it for $1000 dirhams less and give me $500." The deal was also complicated as the insurance and ownership had to be in a friends name as we haven't got residency. Everything here is more complicated than it sounds and it was complicated enough already. Needless to stay I spent about 4 days trying to sort it all out before driving the new Tonka Toy home. It's got a stonking 4 litre engine, it's completely sound (had it thoroughly checked out) and very 4WD capable. We're looking forward to some great trips into the desert and Oman.

Deb's Visit

Deb flew out from the UK and stayed with us for a week. She told us she was flying into Al Ain but only found out when she asked that she was flying to Abu Dhabi and bussing to Al Ain (at about 2 in the morning). She's great, looking good and in fine form. We had a fantastic time, visiting the local attractions, cooking up a storm, checking out some wadi's and the beach in Oman (more about those later). It was fabulous to spend some time with her again and Matija loved her time with Aunty Deb.

Abu Dhabi

Ande had a days work in Abu Dhabi so Deb, Matija and I visited the Grand Mosque. Deb had to don an abeya to cover up (not so good in 30 degree heat) and we did the free tour with a gorgeous guide. This is one amazing building, only a couple of years old but done lavishly with no expense spared. There are 9 tonne chandeliers, gold spires, tiles from all parts of the world, mother of pearl from New Zealand, the worlds biggest carpet etc. It is an absolutely breathtaking piece of architecture and well worth the visit. It's also an amazing tribute to Islam. Sorry I haven't included many photos as you really do need to see it in real life to appreciate it.

Oman and the Wadi's

Now we have some decent wheels and our insurance covers Oman we're able to venture over the border. It's a bit of a process getting through the border posts and can be a bit tricky - you need entry and exit visas etc, but at least New Zealanders don't have to pay an entry fee to get into Oman whereas most other countries do. You can cross the border in Al Ain, but there's a 30km no-mans-land before you officially cross into Oman. Anyway Deb and I drove up a skinny little track to a waterfall in a wadi. There were some small clear pools with fish and frogs swimming around and it was lovely and cool in the shade. There was a bit of litter around but that's par for the course around here. We discovered that if you dangle your feet into the pools the fish come and nibble your toes. Deb loved it, although Matija was too scared to try. After the pools we drove up to a plateau with a great outlook. That was a real test for the 4wd, crawling over rocks and bumps in low range. No problem for the mighty Tonka then it was back into 2WD for the trip home. We were actually in the n0-mans-land but we'd got an exit visa from UAE so when we tried to cross back into the UAE they made us drive 30km back to the Oman border to get entry and exit stamps from there. What a pain.

Sohar

On the weekend we all drove through the border again and headed to Sohar, a beach town in Oman. We took a picnic and arrived at a beautiful municipal park right by the beach. There were plenty of local families picnicking and everyone was friendly, they smiled and waved and someone came over to offer Matija some yummy salty sweet biscuits. There were plenty of people on the beach, some fishing, others swimming or riding horses. We went for a swim then found a hotel pool right by the beach with a bar and a phillipino girl-band playing. We settled there for the evening and ended up sharing a room at the hotel. We did have the camping gear in the Tonka but I was outvoted on that one! It was a lovely evening and later on hundreds of kids came out to play beach soccer. Sohar is definitely somewhere that we'll go back to.

Daqeeq

On the way back we'd planned to meet the Emirates Natural History group who were touring a small Omani village in the hills. The group wasn't at the turnoff but we found the village ourselves and met them there a little later. These villages are on old family land where the families come back on weekends but labourers from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc. stay the rest of the time, tend the dates and goats and look after things. There are quite intricate falaj (canal irrigation) systems for watering the dates from small pools in the wadis (river valleys in the mountains). There were old stone buildings that were mostly abandoned and newer concrete ones for the Omani families. The power was only connected 1 year ago (no air conditioning before then) and there was one phone for the entire village. After a good look around we headed back to another wadi a few kilometres away. One of the pools ran back up through a narrow canyon, after swimming through that and clambering over rocks we came to a beautiful deep, clear pool in a cavern complete with the beginnings of stalactites. Absolutely gorgeous. After a swim and some lunch we ventured back through the borders to Al Ain.

Temperatures are cooler now - mid thirties in the middle of the day, but it's relatively pleasant being out at night time. We've got a picnic at the park planned this evening and it won't be long before we can do a little bit more outside.

Bye for now

Vince, Ande and Matija.

The Rain in Al Ain.

Hi boys and girls,

welcome to Al Ain. Our wee family have been here for around a month (Ande's been here a few weeks more) and we're settling in.

Where's Al Ain?

On the UAE border with Oman. It's about an hour and a half to Abu Dhabi and an

hour and a quarter to Dubai. It's inland while the better known places are coastal.

Why on earth would anyone want to live there?

Originally the Emirati families would move here over summer to escape the intense humidity on the coast. It gets hotter here, but the heat is dry so it is more bearable. Al Ain is alongside a mountain (Jebel Hafeet) and it is famous for its springs, making it an oases in the desert. Nowdays many Emirati still have summer places (palaces) here, there are camel farms surrounding it (we look out over a camel farm from our windows) and date farms throughout the city. The population is about 700 000, and it's incredibly spread out. The whole city is low-rise, it's quite green and beautiful (it's called the Garden City) and there is a much higher population of Arabs here compared to expats. That's mainly because there is very little gas and oil and not much tourism, the Westerners are mainly working in Education while Indians, Pakistanis, Phillipinos, Sri Lankans etc do the hard work.

Our Place (Te Papa)

We have a big four bedroom villa on the far edge of Al Ain. There's only really a camel farm between us and the airport and we're on the way to Abu Dhabi, which is great because Ande has quite a bit of work there. We share about an acre with another villa. They have a few plants struggling to survive in front of their house. The rest of the acre section is sand and rubble. I kid you not. There is a small supermarket 5mins drive away and a big one 10mins away. It takes about 30 mins to get to Ande's office in town, although she won't be working there that often. We have four bathrooms a seperate kitchen dining and lounge (and another lounge is now Matija's playroom) and about 8 split a/c's although there are usually only six or seven in working order at any time. Temps have been in low to mid 40's in the middle of the day, high 30's at night, but they are gradually cooling. No dishwasher, but the house is great and we're enjoying the space, although we have to yell to find where everyone is. Ande keeps telling me to mention that the house is great. It is very comfortable!

The Neighbours

The house next door has a Cognition couple and the next two houses have Cognition families, although none of them are in Ande's teams, which is good. Amelie and Declan are kiwi kids aged 7 and 4, they live a couple of houses over and they come and visit all the time or Matija goes and hangs out with them. Their parents are good value too. Louis is a 5yr old from South Africa, he has older brothers but he is Declan's mate and comes over sometimes too. It's great. We're loving the chance for Matija to hang out with other kids and it is great for her.

The Job

Ande is one of three School Improvement Leaders looking after 24 teams of 3-7 advisors who are working with the local Emirati Schools. Sexy senior managament! She'll be the guardian angel for 7 teams around Al Ain, keeping them up to speed and up to scratch. Lots of coaching and PD and kicking arse where that fails to make an impression. She was heavily involved in the induction but schools have just re-started so she'll be getting down to b'ness this week. She's also involved in Professional Development for Cognition in the Middle East.

Vince will be writing stuff when he packs Matija off to school (tomorrow)

Matija starts at Sunflower, a nursery/school that caters for 3-6 year olds, tomorrow and she starts once-a-week ballet tomorrow. The school only has 4 teaching hours per day, but there are another couple of optional hours of supervised play. Each class has a teacher and an assistant and there is a maximum of 14 in each class. There is heaps of space, a great covered play area plus an indoor playroom. It just started this year and is being run by an Aussie. Should be great.

Rugby Club?

We joined the Al Ain Amblers Rugby Club. They have a pool, gym, bar and restaurant that's about 10 mins drive away. I've started playing touch rugby on a Thursday night, they have family discount meals that night as well as bouncy castle, touch for the kids and movies for the little ones. It's great - the place was swarming with kids last Thursday and Matija had a ball. Despite the heat the touch was fun. There are Poms, Aussies, South Africans and even a few Americans turned up to have a crack. It was a lot of fun and really family oriented. We're also using the pool and gym during the week so we will be making the most of our membership.

Other stuff.

Been setting up the place, getting a few bits and bobs and making it feel like home. IKEA in Abu Dhabi have some great stuff (thanks Bron), but we've mostly picked up bits and pieces locally. Got a vinyl blow-up pool. They were on special for a coupla hundred bucks and I thought it could go between our villa and the neighbours. Well, I overestimated the gap and underestimate the size of the pool. It now takes up the whole space between villas and is still a bit squashed fitting in there. You can no longer walk between the houses. I thing Doug and Marion (next door) were a bit shocked when they got back from their holiday, but they've been great and once I've got a bit of shade cloth up behind it, it'll be a great place for a few quiets on a sunny afternoon (something to look forward to Deb). There's a filter and pump and we can treat it with chlorine. Just like a real one but a lot quicker to vacuum. The water is up to Matija's chest, she can go diving around I'm thinking of putting a coupla basketball hoops up the side of the buildings to enhance the fun.

The Rain in

Look out for Jonty and Choc in all good bookshops! If they don't have it please ask them to get it in for you. The Chronicles of Stone will also be coming out in October - it was written as one book and thats how it works best - the cover is looking awesome!

Vince.

Matija in May

Hi everyone,

Just catching you up on the latest -

It's getting hot here - around 38 - 40 is a good day. Mid-40's is getting pretty hot. We stick to the indoors (in more ways than one) venture out briefly and hang around at the pool at the Ramada most evenings. Matija has gained so much water confidence lately - floating around, putting her face in, going down the water slide etc. She's loving it and gaining a whole new level of independence.

She has a couple of birthday parties to attend in the next week or two and is also enjoying nursery. She's made some neat friends there, but will only be attending for another month. In some ways it's a shame she'll be going to reception at a 'big kids' school or be back in NZ come September (Summer holidays are in July and August here).

We went to the Marine festival a few weeks ago, watched Flipper in an outdoor theatre, ate local food and saw some pretty cool sand sculptures.

There was a national philharmonic recital that we attended too, with a top international conductor and some amazing live music. Had never been to one before and we both enjoyed a night out. Ande also went to a jazz night with a friend, one of her translators, and saw some top international jazz acts. It's amazing the things they offer here, mostly sponsored and they cost very little money.

Ande also went to a Qatari wedding a week ago. It's a huge event with between 400 -800 women at a flash hotel, dressed in latest designer clothes and heaps of bling - women only, they drop their abeyas - all breasts and bums, the unmarried ones strut their stuff, dancing on a stage with prospective mother-in-laws checking them out for their sons. Flash food and over-the-top decor and they party on till 3am. The man has his own party with the boys, he comes to the girls do with closest male family (all the girls abeya up again), they have a sword dance, he sits on the stage for a while then departs with the bride about an hour later when the women uncover and start dancing again. Most weddings start at about $100 000. A not-to-be-missed event.

Vince is doing an Arabic language class - written and spoken, two evenings a week. That's hard work as the letters and sounds are different, there are 28 of them and each has about seven variations depending on vowel sounds and where it sits in the word, beginning, middle or end. a Great exercise for the mind. All male class and most of the others are engineers from all over the world.

Went to a nice Italian restaurant with Ande's team the other day. Good food, flash service and I was most impressed with the misters/foggers just outside, they blow an extremely fine water mist into the air, it evaporates instantly cooling the air by about 10 degrees without wetting any surfaces. We want one for our apartment!

Ande is still loving work, going well. Just finished one workshop series (great feedback and relationships with local principals) and is starting a new 5-week course for Aspiring Leaders. Working more from home which takes the pressure off and means it's not as tricky getting Matija to nursery and back.

She's also had quite a few clothes made - great fabrics, excellent tailors and very cheap to make fabulous outfits. Plenty of people here have most of their clothes made-to-fit from ballgowns to suits and everything in between.

Thats us for now - having fun, working hard and trying to live in the moment.

love V, Ande and Matija.

Turning 40 in the Desert

Was waiting till I had something to say and now we have plenty:

Birthday Dhow trip

Ken, a friend of ours, and I both had birthdays around the same time so Linda, his wife, and Ande arranged a combined dhow trip with friends to an island not far off Doha. It was a beautiful evening, we cruised past the waterfront and all climbed onto the top of the boat for drinks (non-alcoholic) great views and a cool breeze. We moored off the island and swam over for a look, hoping the jet skis that were hooning around didn't run us down. Matija jumped in for a swim then we settled down for a charcoal cooked BBQ on the boat before cruising back into the sunset. It was a magic night and the we struck the weather perfectly.

Pressies - Had some wonderful cards from NZ, thanks Mum and Dad, George and Mary, Deb, Fi and Marius. Thanks also to the Strydoms for the magazines, how did you know I was interested in motorcycles, lifestyle block articles and mens health for the modern metrosexual male (maybe not the metrosexual bit).

I got a great little netbook computer from Ande and Matija, which is v. cool and will be the perfect thing to use while travelling. The battery on the MacBook Pro is stuffed so it means I am portable again. Also great for GPS navigation - which brings me to:

Camping at the Inland Sea.

Everyone has said to take a guide etc when going down to the Inland Sea, a huge inlet in the South of Doha where you have to drive across the desert and through sand dunes. A few keen campers from Cognition (including us) decided this was unnecessary and we could do it by ourselves. As part of the Navigation subcommitte I decided the easiest thing was to buy a basic handheld GPS ($120 NZ) and load in the co-ordinates from a marked route on the internet. I did so. I also scavenged some firewood from old pallets on empty land beside Matija's nursery. We packed tents, deck chairs, sleeping bags, food etc and borrowed Ken and Linda's 4WD as Linda's back was out and they weren't coming.

We headed into the unknown on a Thursday night, driving 50mins to the edge of the desert, deflating tires for the sand then following GPS pointers across the desert for about 30kms. It's actually a pretty well defined track - more like a highway, most of it across hard salt pans with a few patches of soft sand between. You could probably do it without GPS, but you could also get a bit lost too. We found our way to the tip of a peninsular then set up camp in a little sandy basin just as it was getting dark- 3 vehicles, 4 tents and a firepit. We had a neat evening around the fire and hit the hay. It was pretty hot for sleeping in the tents and the wind blew all night - tent pegs don't hold in the sand, but we'd filled supermarket bags with sand to tie the guy ropes to. Got to see our first scorpion - the small yellow harmless type - which was playing in the sand under Naomi's deck chair. Not much sleep and we were up bright and early to pack up and drive around the peninsular. We went for a swim around the peninsular, partway across a pretty treacherous piece of salt pan (gotta be careful you don't lose your vehicle in that stuff) but found a lovely little inlet with great swimming further up. There is about 1.5km of water across to Saudi/UAE and John, one of the team, had flippers and swam across for a look. We wondered whether we would ever see him again, but he did get back in one piece without time in a Saudi detention camp. There were also plenty of cockles and fish and the next time out John took a spear gun - no luck yet though.

We followed our noses out of there and had some exciting driving across soft sand to get back to the main track in. Ande was driving Naomi's 4WD and got bogged, but backed out and found her way around, nearly intercepting a local's Landcrab coming the other way. I led her into a patch of soft sand further along and the little XTrail got bogged. We lowered tyres and dug sand out, I'm sure we would have got it out by ourselves but Osama bin Laden happened to drive past and easily towed us out, giving the good advice to drive on the hard shingle 15m to the side of where we actually went! Nice guy, shame about the terrorism!

It was an awesome night out and we repeated it the following weekend with a slightly different crew. We've now got a grill and hotplate for the fire and we're getting used to the route and the sandy driving - a good tyre guage has also meant we've deflated the tyres more, which certainly helps. Matija loves playing in the sand, running and sliding down sand dunes and swimming in the sea. Everyone's enjoyed spending time with her and it's been a pleasure to get out of Doha and into the wilderness. We went back and camped at the good swimming spot after Dharan scared the fish and the fishermen off with his kitesurfer. If we do get back here next year we'll look at getting a 4WD so we can enjoy many more weekends in the desert!

MOTO GP

Went to see the world class motorcycle racing the night B4 my birthday. It was another beautiful night, Ande was a little sceptical, but when we got out there we had a ball. We saw final practice, then two rounds of smaller bikes before the big boys. We'd picked our favourites in the smaller classes and the racing was really exciting with the bikes absolutely flying down the home straight, passing each other all the time and racing side by side. The big bikes were incredibly fast and the noise was deafening as they battled it out. The crowd was right behind Valentino Rossi, nine times world champ and there was a huge roar when Casey Stoner, the top qualifier, who was pulling away from the field, fell off. Rossi held on for the win and we got home after midnight, on the morning of my birthday.

CIRCUS

We've been to a couple of circuses with Matija. The best was free at Souq Waqif. There were lions, tigers, horses, camels, a hippo, monkeys, snakes, alligators, dwarves, clowns, acrobats, trapeze artists and motorbikes in a cage - all the old circus things that you don't see in NZ anymore. Matija loved it. We went to another one which had an entrance fee a couple of weeks later. It was still pretty good, but lacked the big animals and wasn't quite as good. Great fun and hard to believe it was free.

WORLD INDOOR ATHLETICS

Also went to the Doha leg of the World Indoor Athletics champs. Neat to see world class athletes close up. We saw hurdles and sprints, mens shotput, high jump, pole vault, triple and long jump. It was an exciting night, particularly the battle for the women's high jump and another thing that we wouldn't have the opportunity to do in NZ.

MATIJA'S EARS

Matija has had a few ear infections and we were concerned about her hearing so took her to a doctor and a specialist. There has been a problem with fluid behind the eardrums but after about 5 weeks of nasal sprays, decongestant and drops she is much improved. We've got to continue with the nasal spray for a while but her hearing is at 95% and should continue to improve. It was a bit of a performance administering the spray (headlock and screaming) but she has been getting better and better and now she doesn't even cry. She is growing up fast, getting as brown as a berry and talking much, much more. She loves Starfish and has made good friends with the camping crew and with a couple of older Indian kids, Ashwan and Ashwadi, who she often joins for bike riding in the carpark downstairs.

Otherwise things are ticking along - I've done a session in a local boys school, which was good fun and I'm visiting a primary on Wednesday as part of Book Week. Ande's work is going extremely well. I'll add a few things soon and include some more photos soon.

love V, Ande and Matija.