World Cup in Dubai

Well, I find myself in Dubai for the World Cup.  Its different from previous World Cups as the games are in prime time (from 3pm through to midnight) and the local TV coverage is in a shambolic mess.  In Australia, the coverage is free and excellent courtesy of SBS but you have to get up at 3am to watch the games.

In the Emirates and in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the main TV network is Orbit Showtime.  They dominate TV here in the UAE but the thing is - they dont have the rights to the World Cup.  The Middle Eastern rights were secured by Al Jazeera (many of you may be familiar with their news channels) who are based in Qatar.

Now Orbit Showtime do have Al Jazeera news as part of their package and you have some of their basic channels (in Arabic only) as part of the package, but nobody has access to their English language sports channels which includes the World Cup.  So, Dubai has been a scramble as people try to get Al Jazeera connected.  Not an easy task as you need a different decoder box (approx 1000 dirhams) and sign up to their service which apparently is another 700 dirhams.  Supplies - in true middle eastern style - are too short for demand and nobody I know has managed to get connected successfully.

As a result, I am only able to watch the games in my lounge room with Arabic commentary.

The second thing also to consider being an Australian in Dubai in the World Cup is that nobody rates Australia and it gets zero mention in the press.  Whilst Australian media are all over us, here I can't even buy an imitation jersey as the market is swamped with English, Brazil, Argentina and German gear.  Not a single piece of Socceroo paraphernalia in the entire country I don't think!  And of course not alot of Aussies at my work or neighbourhood who share the enthusiasm of our chances.

So last night, I went with my English neighbours to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel to see England vs USA.  99% of the 2000 strong crowd were English, 0.95% of the crowd were American and I was the 0.05% being the token Aussie.  Sure, I was polite, but was silently cheering on the Americans... hehe.  The game ended in a 1-1 draw and the English turned rabid against their team.  Before the game they were touting the side as the best thing since 1966 but after they "were all a bunch of donkeys" and were "rubbish" and had the knives out for a number of players.  I guess I experienced the Fleet Street press mentality up close!  To me, a scrapping 1-1 draw in a World Cup is nothing to be worried about as you can live to fight another day.

Tonight though will be another big "odd experience" for me.  One of my English neighbours is a client of a German contracting firm who invited he and a few friends (including me) to watch the Germany vs Australia game.  So I will, in my Socceroos cap and draped Aussie flag, be sitting in an all expenses paid function hosted by Germans.  Should be interesting!  My English friends are supporting Australia, so I won't exactly be alone, but it will be daunting sitting in a room of Germans chanting "Aussie Aussie Aussie" and getting weird looks.... Particularly when we win 1-0!  LOL!

Zoe...

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. We've been dealing with a sad thing in that our beloved dog Zoe was deteriorating and she was not well enough to go on. Today, we called the vet and he came to our house and she went to sleep at home very peacefully.

She was a wonderful dog who managed to live in two continents and was there for the birth of both our girls. She slowed down dramatically in the past six months but never stopped smiling.

We will miss you Zoe. XXXX

Zoe: 24/1/98 - 9/6/2010

Bonjour!

Well, we moved to the UAE and one of the benefits would be easier travel to other parts of the world.  After a year of settling in and only a short jaunt to London to show for it, we're off to France in early September!

Very excited!!

Booked the tickets yesterday and we're off for nine nights... which will be split between Bordeaux, Paris and Euro Disney.  I visited Paris nearly 10 years ago and absolutely loved it but was traveling with a uni mate and have always wanted to take Niki back there so its a long time dream coming true.

On top of that, the girls will be coming too and they're probably going to put in extra effort in French lessons at school before the summer break :-)

We'll be flying Etihad into Paris and then taking the TGV (France's "very fast train") down to Bordeaux and meeting up with our neighbours Felippe (who is French) and Marianne and enjoy the wine country with them.  We'll then head back to Paris after a few days and take in the tourist sites and then we'll end with a trip to Euro Disney for the kids and for big kids like me!

Very excited! (I said that didn't I....)

Bureaucracyat its finest!

A week has passed and I am now looking forward to the weekend and trying to reflect on how quickly it has gone...

One thing that stands out though is a run-in with our accounts department over the payment of my electricity and water.  My company pays for these things but the power companies are very slack on getting their money so I had been slack and not paid my bill for six months.

Each month, I got a bill and a balance owing and I kept saying "I should pay that" but never did.  Eventually, with the bill at 7,500 dirhams I paid it.  I took my invoice and paid and got the receipt.  No worries.

Then I sent the original invoice and the original receipt with the expense claim to work and asked for the 7,500 dirhams back.  It went through the system and was approved for payment.

Then on Tuesday I get an email saying that my payment of 1,600 dirhams will be made at the end of the week.

1,600??  Um, a bit short I think!  I emailed and called the accounts department but got no response so I turned up yesterday and demanded to see someone.  I got an elderly assistant manager type who informed me that they only pay bills month to month and that they were only paying the most recent month.  I said "what about the prior five months?"

"Do you have invoices for the prior months?  If so, submit them."  I am now confused.  I explain I have ONE invoice for six months TOTALING 7,500 dirhams and I have a receipt as proof of payment.  "Oh we don't care about receipts, just invoices" was his reply.  I asked why is that and he went on to explain that they only pay on monthly invoices because it prevents people claiming months more than once.  Huh??? I am now very confused.

He said if I submit an invoice and get the money but don't pay, then I could rort the system by then claiming the next months invoice with two months worth of expenses and so on.  Therefore, if they limit their payouts to singular months, then they cannot be rorted.

"BUT I HAVE A RECEIPT!" I said.  "I have a genuine original receipt showing I paid 6 months in one hit" I explained.  Again, he refused this argument because they dont pay on receipts, just invoices.  He suggests I send each months invoice to them to be paid and they will give me the cash irrespective if I pay the power company.  Crazy.

I then said "but you know I am not rorting the system because you can see my payment history and you know I haven't claimed any money for six months".

His response:  "Oh, our system doesn't keep record of payments out".

*blinks*

Crazy.  If anyone wants to get a job running an accounts payable system or you're an internal auditor who wants to have a field day, let me know!

I have months 4 and 5 invoices in my briefcase... I may have some others at home, but this is absolutely crazy logic!

Normal Service is Trying to Resume

OK, Mum & Dad have been and gone and its nearly a week since then and still no post on the good old blog.  Sorry for that!

We have been really busy this week with the kids wrapping up school projects before their mid-term breaks (which is next week) with Brooke building a building to be able to withstand 1kg of weight, a blast of air from a hair dryer and be water proof.  We have the weight and water down pat, but the house is made of Balsa wood and its a bit tricky to add weight to it so it doesn't blow away.

Kate in turn is doing an exhibition and has to create presentations and multi-media material on any subject relating to "Peace and Conflict".  She has chosen to do the history of the Stolen Generation.  (For non-Aussies, that was the Australian government policy from colonial times through to the 1970s of removing tribal aboriginal children from their families and placing them in white, anglo-saxon foster families and missions).  She has done alot of work and its been really enjoyable to see her work so hard on a research project that she knew very little about.

The girls are going to an International Baccalaureate school and this type of hands on project work is typical of the IB system and I have to say I think the kids have both taken to it with great enthusiasm and they seem to be learning so much more effortlessly than in Sydney.

Otherwise, that's about it!  Work and general life has been the theme this week.  We are planning some trips and excursions in the coming months... its nearly Niki, Kate & Brooke's first anniversary of relocation and we should try and do something to celebrate... and the girls are also heading back to Sydney in July and I am supposed to pull my finger out and book a trip to Europe in August / September.

What does Dubai look like?

Never been to Dubai?  Wonder what it looks like?

Well check this link out!

This is apparently the new world record for the worlds largest photograph at a size of 45 Giga pixels.

At first glance, you go... yeah so what.  But zoom in... zoom right in... you can read the company names on the sides of buses and are just about able to read the number plates of cars!  Best example of this is the freeways on the right hand side of the shot.

Enjoy the amazing zoom of 45 gigapixels, but also its a great photo of Dubai.

Week Off, Tour Guide

Am back at work and have had my mum & dad visiting us from Sydney last week, this week and next week.

I took the first week off to play the role of tour guide and was able to show mum & dad around the main sites of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

I guess the highlight of the trip so far, at least from my perspective, was to be able to go up the world's highest structure - the Burj Khalifa - and be able to see my new home town from the 124th floor.  The viewing was excellent and it really gave a new perspective on how Dubai looks from up on high.

I should point out though that the Burj Khalifa is in excess of 200 stories tall and it was a very strange feeling to be so high up in the sky but then to be able to look up from the observation deck and still see a further 80 stories above you!

In addition to the Burj, we were able to go to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque once again in Abu Dhabi and that place still impresses me even though it was my third trip... I also took mum & dad out to Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain to climb the mountain.  It was a work day when we went though and hence pretty quiet but it was a good drive in the countryside.

Of course, we have also done the 4WD sand dune bashing and that was good fun... mum screamed and laughed the whole way so that was pretty funny in itself.

Now, am back at work though and have left mum & dad to their own devices and they'll explore the old part of town and check out the souq's.

On other news, our dear old dog Zoe is starting to really show her age and I am really worried that we'll have to soon "make the call".  Her mobility has decreased dramatically this last week and she has had two injections to try and get the arthritis pain to subside but they haven't been too effective.  She's over 12yrs old and I am very sad about it as she has been a part of our family for so long and the girls have grown up with her.  But dogs, no matter how loving and loyal they are, have relatively short life spans and old Zoe is now starting to do it tough.  :-(