Just noticed that my hit counter ticked over 19,000. I dont make a big deal of it and to be honest, its down the bottom of the Nav section and I dont look at it often.
I remember being at 8,000 some time ago and then I noticed it hit 10,000 and now I had forgotten it...
19,000 served and still going strong! Some of those are even religious nutters from the Deep South of the US!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
You know you're a local when...
you get phone calls from rival banks that are not your own (HSBC) here in the Middle East offering you free Platinum Credit Cards with their institution.
I got my first cold call this morning on my mobile. I was on the work phone and hung up mobile and as is custom here because their is no voice mail, I rang the number back when I was done with my work call.
It was a Dubai number, so I assumed one of my tradespeople who have been giving me quotes. Instead a woman answered very un-professionally with a simple Hello and I explained I had a missed call from her. She asked my name, which I gave and I heard her typing. Then she suddenly says "Yes good morning! This is XXXX Bank and we were calling if you would be interested in a fee free Platinum card with us".
I cut her off said no thanks and she didnt persist and the call ended.
But its scary... they have you calling back telemarketers in this country!!!
I got my first cold call this morning on my mobile. I was on the work phone and hung up mobile and as is custom here because their is no voice mail, I rang the number back when I was done with my work call.
It was a Dubai number, so I assumed one of my tradespeople who have been giving me quotes. Instead a woman answered very un-professionally with a simple Hello and I explained I had a missed call from her. She asked my name, which I gave and I heard her typing. Then she suddenly says "Yes good morning! This is XXXX Bank and we were calling if you would be interested in a fee free Platinum card with us".
I cut her off said no thanks and she didnt persist and the call ended.
But its scary... they have you calling back telemarketers in this country!!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Pets On Tour
Well, we have booked the removalists to take our furniture from Sydney to Dubai. The packing and shipping happens 4/5 May. Hopefully it will reach here soon enough to be here for when Niki & the girls arrive around 4 June. I am assuming it wont however, so the home furnishings at my end will continue...
What is funny / expensive however is the relocation of the animals. Our two dogs Zoe & Molly and Charlie the Cat are booked in and will land in Dubai the day before Niki & the girls. But its not just a matter of taking them to the airport and loading them on. They need to have a series of tests and injections and the service (www.jetpets.com.au) includes a pick up and delivery service from the house to the special quarentine centre (somewhere remote in Sydney - Richmond / Badgerys Creek... not sure) and they're given a series of injections. They have to make two of these trips in the lead up to the 3 June flight.
Also, on the day of their trip, they get picked up and taken to the airport and all is handled by the company. It even includes delivery to me at home here in Dubai! So, basically for us it is all hands off and done by them. We were worried that the pets would have been on the same flight and that Niki would have to juggle getting herself to the airport and taking the dogs as well... but all of that has been taken care of.
They even have accounted for the fact that the Emirates A380 is not suitable for pet cargo as the cargo hold is not "flat" and therefore the flight will be the morning departure from Sydney via Singapore on the regular Boeing. I have this mental image of the pets on a stop over in Singapore living it up!
So, all going to plan, I will have the pets here with me and when I bring Niki & the girls home from the airport the animals will be here to greet them too.
What is funny / expensive however is the relocation of the animals. Our two dogs Zoe & Molly and Charlie the Cat are booked in and will land in Dubai the day before Niki & the girls. But its not just a matter of taking them to the airport and loading them on. They need to have a series of tests and injections and the service (www.jetpets.com.au) includes a pick up and delivery service from the house to the special quarentine centre (somewhere remote in Sydney - Richmond / Badgerys Creek... not sure) and they're given a series of injections. They have to make two of these trips in the lead up to the 3 June flight.
Also, on the day of their trip, they get picked up and taken to the airport and all is handled by the company. It even includes delivery to me at home here in Dubai! So, basically for us it is all hands off and done by them. We were worried that the pets would have been on the same flight and that Niki would have to juggle getting herself to the airport and taking the dogs as well... but all of that has been taken care of.
They even have accounted for the fact that the Emirates A380 is not suitable for pet cargo as the cargo hold is not "flat" and therefore the flight will be the morning departure from Sydney via Singapore on the regular Boeing. I have this mental image of the pets on a stop over in Singapore living it up!
So, all going to plan, I will have the pets here with me and when I bring Niki & the girls home from the airport the animals will be here to greet them too.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Well I did it...
I went to the shops at lunch time today (I needed to use an ATM, so just a quick drive from site to the service station) and when I pulled up it was that hot that I left the car running and went and used the ATM and came back out and got into the A/C.
Temps are now in the low 40's I think (my car doesn't have a temp gauge... perhaps that's best!) and whilst the heat is far away from being oppressive, I just didn't want my car heating up again for the drive back to site.
Whilst you would never do this in Sydney with petrol running at $1.50/L and the threat of someone flogging your car as well, here in low crime Abu Dhabi people leave their cars running all the time.
Not very green I know... but when in Rome!
Temps are now in the low 40's I think (my car doesn't have a temp gauge... perhaps that's best!) and whilst the heat is far away from being oppressive, I just didn't want my car heating up again for the drive back to site.
Whilst you would never do this in Sydney with petrol running at $1.50/L and the threat of someone flogging your car as well, here in low crime Abu Dhabi people leave their cars running all the time.
Not very green I know... but when in Rome!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
A Day at the Cricket
Spent an enjoyable day at the cricket yesterday in Dubai to see Australia take on "home team" Pakistan. It was hot, the air was dusty outside as we queued to get in and the temps were pushing 40 degrees... a sign that summer is coming. But the queue moved 'reasonably' quickly but its amazing that some people just ignore the queue and walk to the front. I found out that its local custom that men with women and children can do this, but on occaision large groups of Pakistani men would try to push in but the whole queue (Aussies and Paki's alike) would call out and yell until the pushers would slink away... a very odd thing that wouldnt be tolerated in Australia.
Through a metal detector, and into the stadium the chaos of outside gave way to a nicely constructed neat stadium with big sails providing shade to most of the ground. Oddly enough, the only sunny section was the expensive 900 Dhs area. Not surprisingly, it was mostly empty!
We had missed the first ball and Australia were fielding but the pitch was slow and scoring difficult. Some good Aussie catching saw the locals out for 206 but despite this the crowd (95% pro-Pakistan) were very loud and upbeat.
In front of me was a large Pakistani family with Mum & Dad, about 4 kids, Uncles and Aunts and Grand-dad. They all had horns and signs and we had a few laughs with them.
In the evening session, Australia ground out a slow pace to victory and some people were starting to leave early... then Australia lost two quick wickets and the crowd came to life and the chanting didnt stop for ages, but soon enough it died down and as Symonds hit a half century the locals were done for the day.
But Aussie support was there and this video is a section of Aussie fans who tried to compete with the noise with a rendition of Waltzing Matilda.
Through a metal detector, and into the stadium the chaos of outside gave way to a nicely constructed neat stadium with big sails providing shade to most of the ground. Oddly enough, the only sunny section was the expensive 900 Dhs area. Not surprisingly, it was mostly empty!
We had missed the first ball and Australia were fielding but the pitch was slow and scoring difficult. Some good Aussie catching saw the locals out for 206 but despite this the crowd (95% pro-Pakistan) were very loud and upbeat.
In front of me was a large Pakistani family with Mum & Dad, about 4 kids, Uncles and Aunts and Grand-dad. They all had horns and signs and we had a few laughs with them.
In the evening session, Australia ground out a slow pace to victory and some people were starting to leave early... then Australia lost two quick wickets and the crowd came to life and the chanting didnt stop for ages, but soon enough it died down and as Symonds hit a half century the locals were done for the day.
But Aussie support was there and this video is a section of Aussie fans who tried to compete with the noise with a rendition of Waltzing Matilda.
Friday, April 24, 2009
My local shops...
Not sure if I have desribed the local shops...
I guess its important to know that when you move into an area, that you have all the facilities that you would want nearby. In Sydney, you generally have a big shopping mall (i.e. a Westfield) and then in each and every suburb you have a little set of shops or the like.
Well, in Dubai where shopping is a national pastime, they don't do things by halves. To put my suburb or estate into context, we're a good 20min drive from the heart of "New Dubai" which is the southern coast of Dubai City (or Old Dubai) and its at New Dubai that the new modern shopping centres are built... Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Mall, Marina Mall and my closest Ibn Battuta. So, its good to know that I am 20mins away from 4 mega malls.
But in between my estate (the Green Community) and the malls is not a series of suburbs and public transport... no, you have Emirates Road (the truck transport road that runs the lenght of the country) and miles and miles of dusty desert... not really desert, more like "badlands" if you are a reader of fantasy fiction... the dread plains of Mordor for example (minus the swamps). The landscape is quite lunar...
So then you have the Green Community, which is a little oasis in the desert and we have all this luxury accommodation and pools for us to live in. But we also have a shopping centre that is by no means massive, but it is airconditioned, has escalators and has pretty much everything you need.
There was though one thing missing and now it has been delivered... yes, tonight the Green Community Shops celebrated the opening of a McDonalds. Yes, I have a Mickey-Dee's within 10mins walk from me... and it is 15 metres away from a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream store as well... temptation city! Tonight, through the crowds of mostly teenagers, I had a Big Mac meal... Burger King has a bit of a monopoly over McDonalds in restaurants on the side of highways so it is quite unusual to have a McDonalds here over a Burger King but I don't mind as I have always preffered McDonalds to Burger King / Hungry Jacks.
I was served also tonight by I think the most enthusiastic teenage server I have ever seen in a McDonalds. In Australia, you usually get a disinterested girl chewing gum with "I *heart* Johnno" written in biro on her arm but tonight I had a guy of Phillipino descent wearing a name badge that was shiny new. I was a bit surprised his name was "Glen" but nevertheless, he greeted me as I came through the door. "GOOD EVENING SIR! CAN I HELP YOU!!" he literally shouted at me and I was a bit surprised.
I gave him my order of a Big Mac meal and some nuggets and before I knew it a chip man delivered my chips, a guy on the drink machine had my coke down on the tray and the nuggets popped out all within 30secs. I had to wait I reckon another 15 seconds (massive I know!) before my Big Mac was on the tray. These were all done by other staff whilst my server took my money and gave me change. Yes, they had a crew of 3-4 people working in the serving area but not actually serving. So different from the indifferent girl in Sydney who drags her feet going from the burgers, to the fries, to the drink machine, to the nuggets, to the sauce, to the counter to collect the cash.
I wonder if it will last though? Were all new McDonalds like this and at some point the shiny name badges wear off and the staff numbers drop and Enthusiastic Glen is replaced by Depressing Melissa? Somehow, knowing the Dubai style of customer service, I dont think so!
I guess its important to know that when you move into an area, that you have all the facilities that you would want nearby. In Sydney, you generally have a big shopping mall (i.e. a Westfield) and then in each and every suburb you have a little set of shops or the like.
Well, in Dubai where shopping is a national pastime, they don't do things by halves. To put my suburb or estate into context, we're a good 20min drive from the heart of "New Dubai" which is the southern coast of Dubai City (or Old Dubai) and its at New Dubai that the new modern shopping centres are built... Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Mall, Marina Mall and my closest Ibn Battuta. So, its good to know that I am 20mins away from 4 mega malls.
But in between my estate (the Green Community) and the malls is not a series of suburbs and public transport... no, you have Emirates Road (the truck transport road that runs the lenght of the country) and miles and miles of dusty desert... not really desert, more like "badlands" if you are a reader of fantasy fiction... the dread plains of Mordor for example (minus the swamps). The landscape is quite lunar...
So then you have the Green Community, which is a little oasis in the desert and we have all this luxury accommodation and pools for us to live in. But we also have a shopping centre that is by no means massive, but it is airconditioned, has escalators and has pretty much everything you need.
There was though one thing missing and now it has been delivered... yes, tonight the Green Community Shops celebrated the opening of a McDonalds. Yes, I have a Mickey-Dee's within 10mins walk from me... and it is 15 metres away from a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream store as well... temptation city! Tonight, through the crowds of mostly teenagers, I had a Big Mac meal... Burger King has a bit of a monopoly over McDonalds in restaurants on the side of highways so it is quite unusual to have a McDonalds here over a Burger King but I don't mind as I have always preffered McDonalds to Burger King / Hungry Jacks.
I was served also tonight by I think the most enthusiastic teenage server I have ever seen in a McDonalds. In Australia, you usually get a disinterested girl chewing gum with "I *heart* Johnno" written in biro on her arm but tonight I had a guy of Phillipino descent wearing a name badge that was shiny new. I was a bit surprised his name was "Glen" but nevertheless, he greeted me as I came through the door. "GOOD EVENING SIR! CAN I HELP YOU!!" he literally shouted at me and I was a bit surprised.
I gave him my order of a Big Mac meal and some nuggets and before I knew it a chip man delivered my chips, a guy on the drink machine had my coke down on the tray and the nuggets popped out all within 30secs. I had to wait I reckon another 15 seconds (massive I know!) before my Big Mac was on the tray. These were all done by other staff whilst my server took my money and gave me change. Yes, they had a crew of 3-4 people working in the serving area but not actually serving. So different from the indifferent girl in Sydney who drags her feet going from the burgers, to the fries, to the drink machine, to the nuggets, to the sauce, to the counter to collect the cash.
I wonder if it will last though? Were all new McDonalds like this and at some point the shiny name badges wear off and the staff numbers drop and Enthusiastic Glen is replaced by Depressing Melissa? Somehow, knowing the Dubai style of customer service, I dont think so!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
ANZAC Day in the UAE
With so many expats in the country, there is a bit of a culture of everyone being aware of other nations special holidays.
ANZAC Day has been getting a bit of press here in the UAE and I had to go to the Embassy this morning to get some documentation stamped and the small embassy (its on the 14th floor of an office block, much different to the sprawling embassies in Canberra) had many notices of where to celebrate ANZAC Day this Saturday. Saturday is a weekend day here, but Sunday is a working day and Sunday has been earmarked as a "holiday" for the Embassy and other Australian related services. Unfortunately, my company wont be giving me a long weekend... but its tempting to take the day off!
I also got an email from TimeOut Dubai this morning and they had a special article on what to do on ANZAC Day as well.
Unfortunately on Saturday morning I am having curtains installed and will need to be at the house but they should be done in the afternoon so I may go out and try and catch some Aussie flavoured dinner somewhere... I have met a few Aussies both here at the office and around the Green Community, I will suss out if anyone is doing anything special.
But there is the cricket on Friday and after last nights loss to Pakistan, Game 2 is a must win and I am sure the match will be a bit special because its on the weekend and the ANZAC weekend at that. It better be, we got smashed last night lol!!
ANZAC Day has been getting a bit of press here in the UAE and I had to go to the Embassy this morning to get some documentation stamped and the small embassy (its on the 14th floor of an office block, much different to the sprawling embassies in Canberra) had many notices of where to celebrate ANZAC Day this Saturday. Saturday is a weekend day here, but Sunday is a working day and Sunday has been earmarked as a "holiday" for the Embassy and other Australian related services. Unfortunately, my company wont be giving me a long weekend... but its tempting to take the day off!
I also got an email from TimeOut Dubai this morning and they had a special article on what to do on ANZAC Day as well.
Unfortunately on Saturday morning I am having curtains installed and will need to be at the house but they should be done in the afternoon so I may go out and try and catch some Aussie flavoured dinner somewhere... I have met a few Aussies both here at the office and around the Green Community, I will suss out if anyone is doing anything special.
But there is the cricket on Friday and after last nights loss to Pakistan, Game 2 is a must win and I am sure the match will be a bit special because its on the weekend and the ANZAC weekend at that. It better be, we got smashed last night lol!!
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