Abu Dhabi 24.12.09

It's a small world and tomorrow is Christmas

Sometimes completely unexpected pleasures come one's way.

A week or so ago I received an email in response to my, rather brief, Christmas letter. It came from a friend from our New Zealand days - Judy Hughes - some of you may remember her. She and Paul are currently with their daughter Suzie and family who recently moved to Dubai. How’s that for coincidence?
Of course a get-together had to be arranged so they came over for lunch earlier this week. It was just great to see them, and all looking so well. Judy is as trim and vivacious as ever and Suzie (last seen as a six year old in NZ ) is now tall and beautiful and mother of two. In the picture you can see the five girls, Heidi, Steph and me with Suzie and Judy (yes - I know they look like sisters but Judy is the little one!).
Judy, if you read this - we really hope to see you again sometime.

Preparations for Christmas seem to be complete.
This afternoon the cake was iced with the help of the three children, presents are wrapped, Christmas dinner is organised and just needs last minute fixing.
In the morning, after checking Santa’s offerings, we will go to church (there are several in this very relaxed Muslim state) then it will be more presents , dinner and then - who knows. Afternoon snooze if I have my say!
We will be thinking of family and friends so far away and drinking a toast to you all.

Boxing day another desert picnic is planned, the 27th is Davey’s 8th birthday (at last he will catch up with Alistair and Liam), then a bit of a breather until New Year.

So - happy Christmas to all and, as Tiny Tim said - God bless you every one.

Abu Dhabi 20.12.09

The desert oasis and more paddling

Any self-respecting desert must have an oasis so we went to visit Al Ain, Abu Dhabi’s oasis city on Friday. Al Ain is on the Oman border and half of the town is in Oman (strange, because visitors like us need a visa to go across town!). Its about 140km from AD along a magnificent road which, like the road to Dubai is double carriage, three lanes on each side and fully lit the whole way.
As one approaches Al Ain the most extraordinary mountains, Jebel Hafeet, rear up , over 1000m above sea level & 800m above Al Ain but not mountains as we know them. They are huge heaps of tilted, sedimentary, rock and Heidi and I were looking for adjectives - barren, desolate, bleak - but also very dangerous looking. Chapman’s Peak drive in Cape Town is nothing compared to the (admittedly excellent) road leading to the top. There are precarious rocks just waiting to fall onto the road and really - the warning signboards ‘beware of falling rocks’ are unlikely to help anyone as the rocks come tumbling down. However, we obviously survived to tell the tale.
At the top, surrounded by lush gardens and trees is a 5 star hotel (did they lug all that top soil up that winding road?), Mercure Grand Jebel Hafeet, where we were going to have tea. But while we were exploring around and marvelling at the view (barren, desolate, bleak ) the children went to the playground. Wonderful playground with the main jungle gym built in a paddling pool of water about a foot deep . So when we went to collect the kids for tea what we got were three soaking wet and very happy youngsters who had to change into their bathing cossies for the rest of the day as we had not actually thought to bring spare clothes for them! So - no tea!!.
Next stop was picnic lunch at a completely uninspiring park, back down in the foothills named Green Mubazzarah Park, which boasted several enclosed hot springs fed swimming pools. However only one pool was open and this was a children‘s pool - no ladies allowed. Yes really - no ladies allowed in the children‘s pool. So Darrell took the kids in and Stephi (not counted as a lady being only five) was the only girl amongst vast numbers of dads and boys.

By this time I was complaining that I hadn’t yet seen anything even remotely resembling an oasis (palm trees surrounding water as we all know from our childhood literature) so we went to the National Museum. It was far better than the AD Cultural Centre but still sadly short of any sort of information and reading matter. But we were informed that the oasis was next door - and so it was. At last we went into a real, real oasis. The winding single lane roads, all cobbled in good condition, were like a maze and we got completely lost and on either side were these forests of palm trees, The oasis was big - I have no idea of the area covered, but certainly not just a circle of trees around a pool of water. We drove on and on, completely confused and lost but it was wonderful . Eventually a guardian or warden of the oasis (I assume) told us that we would have to leave as it was closing in ten minutes. Somehow we found our way out and were not locked in for the night - and that was our first oasis experience.
The town itself does not really merit the romantic description of ‘oasis town’ as it looked just like Abu Dhabi so we just drove through then and hour and a half later arrived home with three sleeping kids in the back seat. Lovely day out!!
This morning we left the kids with Daisy and the four of us went to paddle amongst the islands. This was one of those outings that is lovely in retrospect but quite tough in the execution (sort of like cycling the 94.7 !!). It was a long paddle across open water, clear up to about 2 meters, to a faraway island; there was a lively breeze and the tide was going out. It was HARD work. On the way over Gerron and I had our own canoes and Darrell and Heidi shared; on the way back, against the wind, Darrell (courageous man that he is), decided that he and I would share. The ± 2km back was a long way - but we made it and, actually, it was super despite the rising wind and the ’deep’ swells (all of 150mm!). Kirsten you would have loved it.
Christmas is coming and, what with all the trimmings and decorations , you wouldn’t think that this is a Muslim state.

Abu Dhabi 17.12.09

OUT AND ABOUT IN ABU DHABI
Yesterday Gerron and I, encouraged by Heidi, decided to be adventurous.
After dropping the kids at school Heidi took us through town to the end of another little island at the end of the main island of AD (all connected by bridges). It's a wonderful spot because one can look across the water and get a wide vista view of the town. Impressive also is the flag pole, according to Heidi the highest in the world!
The picture taken of us by Heidi shows, in the background Marina Mall topped by the high tower which has a revolving restaurant where we had dinner a couple of nights ago. The second picture shows the lights of Abu Dhabi taken from the top of the tower.
Drop off was outside the Heritage Centre which is a little museum devoted to early AD ie before the 1960's! We enjoyed walking around and were there for about an hour before the busloads of tourists (about eight in all) arrived. Most of them were folks of our vintage enjoying their visit to AD but to us (feeling rather superior) they really seemed like sheep. They descended en masse on the 'souks' which we had foolishly decided to leave until the end of our visit and the crowds were so impossible that we gave up and set off on our long walk across AD.
We walked back to the bridge, across the bridge, past the Emirates Palace then went back, U shaped to walk along the waterfront. Walking along the beautifully paved paths, near the wide (man-made) beach, through roadside parkland one would never, never believe that this was just desert only a few years ago. I wanted to walk in the water to cool the feet but there were palm frond fences or barricades going right down to the water and entry to those sections of beach were through gates or turnstyles. We thought that maybe they belonged to hotels which line the waterfront but Heidi told us later that they are 'family beaches' accessible only to women and children and men accompanying them. No single men or groups of men or male teenagers allowed! How nice - like the trains in Dubai!! Anyway there were plenty of open beaches at which one could paddle in the water.
At about 1pm we decided that the time had come to test the AD public transport system so we crossed the wide, busy roads separating the Corniche area from the town and eventually managed to find a bus stop that would supply a bus that would take us in the right direction (we weren't too panicked as we knew that if the worst came to the worst we could always get a taxi!). We climbed onto the bus with all the locals and popped our fare into the money box at the entrance - all of Dhs1 (R2) each. Now there's value for money and rather made up for the Dhs60 spent on two glasses of mango juice and one bottle of water earlier on! I cannot comment that the bus was quick but it did get us across town and we hopped off at what we thought was a suitable spot. At this point we could have easily caught a taxi (there are plenty) or phoned Heidi but no - we would walk. Crossing the roads was traumatic - the town is full of mad drivers and the roads are not at all geared for pedestrians. But we didn't get squashed and were very excited when we spotted some familiar landmarks. What we hadn't realised was how far it would be to home - turned out we walked 5km from bus to home. Add that to about 10km walked earlier in the day so these two late middle-agers walked about 15km. Feet very sore when we arrived after a very satisfying and interesting day.
Tomorrow (Friday) we are planning (I say that advisedly - with the Bergesens nothing is certain!) To go to the oasis town of Al Ain, a couple of hours into the desert.

Abu Dhabi 15.12.2009

Life isn’t all fun and games.
Going on holiday is always a bit stressful in that it means leaving family and friends behind and SA is not a safe place. Roland and Caron were attacked in their driveway several months ago and the other night my brother and his wife were attacked at their home. Now we have just heard that a friend and his wife were violently attacked in their home. Thank goodness they are OK. One just wonders, desperately what can be done to overcome this culture of violence and crime. There are so many contributing factors, poverty, anger , the broken families, the whole history of SA. We can say ‘what if’ and ‘if only’ but so far all solutions tried have not broken the cycle of crime. So, here in safe Abu Dhabi I worry and worry about our people at home.
Those of you who don’t live in SA probably wonder why we stay. Well there are many reasons but for me its - family, friends (these are treasured more and more as one gets older) , finances but also - it is a wonderful country with so many wonderful people. I love living in SA but hate the fact that there is always a bit of fear in everything we do. Most, naturally not all, of the criminals are black people but at the same time the ‘badies’ are such a minority. Most of our people are so lovable - warm hearted, kind and full of laughter in spite of all the poverty and their difficult lives. Teaching the disadvantaged black youngsters at St Mary’s Outreach and Mitzvah makes me realise what potential there is and also how difficult many of their lives are. So we all battle on - the rich and the poor, the privileged and the sadly underprivileged. The worry and the fear cannot and must not spoil our joy in living.

Rob’s letter copied below with his permission is an illustration of how so many South Africans live and survive :

"The sequence of events – as far as I can remember -was as follows:
On Tuesday evening 8th December, at 9pm we went out to the stables to give the horses teff and carrots. All of the dogs had been inside with us. All of the dogs came outside, but only ET came to the stables with us. We went back inside and put Digby to bed in the scullery. We went to bed. About an hour later, we heard Digby barking, and we went downstairs. He had pooed all over the scullery floor. We realised that he had been poisoned. We put him outside while Astrid cleaned the said floor. We couldn’t find him. I phoned the emergency vet. Eventually I found him lying in a flower bed near the pond. We put him in the car and rushed him to the vet.
We left him there and went home. The other dogs seemed to be fine. We put them in the scullery, and went to bed. When we went down in the morning, JJ was lying in a pool of blood. He couldn’t move. We rushed him to the same vet, but he died while we were there. Digby survived until Friday morning, but the vet couldn’t do any more for him. I went and said goodbye to him, and he was euthanased on Friday. The cruelty to our dogs really upsets us.
We were expecting a visit, but they took us by surprise when we went out to the stables at 9pm on Thursday 10th December. Three of them came at us from the far end of the stables when we switched on the light. One had a balaclava on his head, so we wouldn’t recognise him. One had a pistol which he pointed at Astrid’s head. We both prayed, which helped us to keep calm. They wanted to take our rings, but Astrid refused, and I couldn’t get mine off. They kept on demanding guns and money. They were the same evildoers who poisoned the dogs. I asked one this and he said “Yes.”
In the meantime, ET was our real heroine. She barked at them, but they did not shoot her. She then ran to the boundary fence, and barked and barked and barked.
They tied my hands in front of me, and escorted us inside. We went into Astrid’s study, and she gave them some money. They kept on demanding guns and money. We told them that we don’t have guns. They emptied drawers. They demanded to know where the safe was. We took them down to the safe and opened it. They emptied the safe, which only had documents such as passports, wills etc in it.
They took us up to our bedroom, and wanted Astrid’s jewellery. They found her jewellery box, and took all her jewellery. My wallet was lying on the bed. They emptied it, took the money, but left my credit cards, driver’s licence, etc. They also took 2 of my old watches. They emptied my gym bag, and put all of our old shoes in it. They took my cellphone.
At this stage, the phone above the bed rang. One guy picked it up, and put it back on the cradle. It rang again, and he let it ring. We think that they panicked at this stage, and they pushed us into the en suite bathroom. They locked the door, and left the house. Astrid heard them going down the steps.
I opened the bathroom window, and we both screamed to the neighbours to contact the police. The neighbours had already activated the walkie talkie radio system, and called the flying squad and ADT.
They called back to us. The next thing we knew, a neighbour’s son-in-law, who is a policeman, came in fully armed, and released us from the bathroom.
We were both most impressed with the police reaction. The flying squad came, very quickly, in force. ADT also came. A number of our neighbours also came. They put their lives on the line for us that night. The policeman who does the fingerprints also came. Two people, who live down the road, Keith and his son Scott, slept in our lounge that night. Neither of us slept much that night.
At about 9.15 p.m., Charles Farrell, who is a tenant in a flat over the road, heard that there was a problem here. He somehow connected me with a member of the homecell, Cathy Greaves, and he phoned her. She phoned the other members of the homecell, and they started praying.
They were praying for us while the robbery was taking place. This is amazing, and we are convinced that the prayer had a very positive impact on the outcome.
Another member of the church lives in Potgieter Road. She phoned Gavin Lock, one of the ministers. He did not hesitate,and came immediately. He spent at least 2 hours with us, which helped tremendously.
We refuse to let these people dictate to us, in respect to the way in which we live, as this would be giving in to satan.
We went to the homecell Christmas function on Friday night. This also helped a lot, as we told many people what had happened. We are trained trauma counsellors. This also helped, as we knew not to antagonise them in any way.
Also, Astrid sang in the Symphony Choir Christmas concert at the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton City, on Saturday night."

Abu Dhabi 12.12.09

Carols in the desert and kayaking in the mangroves.
The weather didn’t really clear. We set out for the designated spot for the carols - 60km into the desert (tar road all the way!) under ominous cloud and sure enough just as we were all settled and the braai fires were lit the rain started. All twenty drops of it. A few far thinking people produced raincoats and umbrellas but we just did the standard Joburg thing and ignored it, assuming it would soon go away. Which it did. Even so it was quite cold with a bit of a wind (it is after all mid-winter) and we were glad of fleeces and blankets. The evening was really lovely ; there were lots of people and we were in a group of Heidi’s friends - two couples , both the men pilots with Etihad Airline. The crowd obviously included Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans and probably some Americans and Europeans. And apart from the different terrain and the smaller number of people it was reminiscent of the carol services at Botanic Gardens. However the twenty raindrops didn’t quite add up to what Carl always and rather rudely described as the annual washout!! Darrell braaied the wors (yes - it seems that South Africans manage to source wors no matter where in the world they are!) and we had wors rolls with tomato sauce - just like home! The singing, it must be admitted, was not up to the standard of the Botanic Gardens services with the Welsh choir in the lead but it was very pleasant with Gerron in full and excellent voice and the rest of the crowd mumbling along, .
The weather still didn’t look good this morning (they get rain only about five times a year, so why now??).Nothing daunted, the men loaded three kayaks onto the roof of Darrell’s 4x4, we called Daisy to keep an eye on the kids during our absence, and off we went to chosen launching spot. When we arrived the rain started again but after all the trouble of getting the kayaks onto the roof there was no way that we would not take to the water. Off we went, with Heidi and I sharing one kayak and for nearly two hours we paddled amongst the mangroves. From the beach it just looks like one big ‘island’ of mangroves. But in actual fact it is many clumps of trees, some very big , some very small and with channels and tunnels between them. The rain started again once we were water borne but we just ignored it. Heidi and I were not the most successful team, in fact we were a bit of a disaster and we kept paddling into the mangroves, partly because we laughed so much each time we lost control of where we were going. Some of the passages that Darrell (skipper in charge of the fleet) were very narrow and filled with obstacles. Gerron took to it like a duck to water (only because I was scared of falling off my broad-bottomed pseudo-surfboard!) and we two girls struggled along enjoying the amazing beauty of the mangrove swamp. After over an hour of going hither and thither we were convinced that we would never find the shore but we took another turn and there it was. By that time we were freezing with sore bottoms so were actually rather glad to step ashore and head for home. But what a lovely morning outing and Kirsten you will be surprised to hear that I did not actually fall into the water. Several close shaves but we always managed to right ourselves in time. Next time say H&D we will go to a beach instead of a mangrove inlet an paddle across to the islands. Next time I do hope we choose a sunny day! Bad news is that my trusty little canon camera got wet and is currently an ex-camera. I am hoping that it will recover when it dries out.

Gerron: Cars!
We all visited The Emirates National Auto Museum, a.k.a. The Rainbow Sheikh’s Car Museum, at a point, literally in the desert (where else?), some 45 kilom-itters (that thanks to those who, from ignorance or just plain cussedness mispronounce kms.) due south of AD where the 200, or so, motor vehicles are housed under a mock-pyramid. An impressive array with a variety of vehicles that should appeal to most visitors who grew up during the 30s (1930s not 1830s) and are still able to derive some ooh/aah pleasure thereby. Exhibits are, generally, in excellent nick but my gripe is lack of tyre-inflation maintenance and the unkempt condition of a circa 1927, or earlier, Chrysler and a Dodge; unacceptable for any museum but more so for one that is attempting to demonstrate the alleged opulence of it’s claimed “dedicated collector”.

Abu Dhabi 09.12.09

Dubai, tea at Emirates Palace and dust.

Getting to Dubai from AD is fast and furious. The double carriage road, with three or four lanes in each direction, is magnificent. Coming home at night we had street lighting all the way for 140km. Most people regard AD - Dubai as only an hours drive.
Immediate impression of Dubai as we drove towards Dubai Mall was - big and tall. Very. We also discovered (having one member of the party with a gamy foot) that it is pedestrian unfriendly.
Our choice of day was not ideal as the foot would have coped better with another week or two of healing time but it was the day of the 7’s rugby tournament and Darrell was given tickets. So that’s where the boys went (all four - yes Kirsten - even Dad!) and we (Heidi, Stephi and I) were dropped off outside Dubai Mall. Adjectives fail me - it is gigantic - Sandton City is dwarfed by comparison. It took a lot of walking just to get into the Mall and once in we walked and walked. There are whole ‘streets’ in the Mall devoted to particular items eg childrens’ clothes, electronics etc . There is also a full ice rink. Also, every evening they present the most stupendous musical fountain event in a sort of lake that is surrounded by Mall restaurants. Think Sandton Square, perhaps 3 times the size and filled with water. Best part of the Mall was the aquarium. Very good, probably a bit smaller that the outside aquariums (aquaria?) in Durban and Cape Town but lovely. We spent a lot of time there and, like Jordynne, I got a bit snap happy. However, am not including any pictures - you really don’t want to see a lot of fish and other sea creatures - they are just the same as at home!
After lunch in the inevitably huge food court (really spoilt for choice) we made enquiries, checked maps then descended to the basement and caught a taxi to take us to the nearest station for the ‘metro’ . This is similar to what I imagine the Gautrain will be but (now here’s a surprise) not on quite such a big scale - its an intra-city transport system, not inter-city as in Pretoria/ Joburg. The metro rail is still under construction so only half of it is open at present. We stayed on the train as far as it would go then rode back and got off at Mall of the Emirates. Also huge but this time instead of just an ice rink it has a full ski slope of a couple of kms! Quite fun watching the skiers through the double-glaze glass windows! More exploring, then we made our way back to the station which runs into the Mall of the Emirates (like the Gautrain will do at the airport) and we went back to our original station. This time, instead of catching a taxi we managed to get a bus (busfare included on our train card but not taxi fare) to take us right back to Dubai Mall. Then we met (after much searching and cell phone communicating) the boys for supper while we watched the fountain display.
In the near background as we watched the fountains was Burj Dubai which is currently the tallest building in the world. Very impressive but what the purpose is - I don’t know! One thing for certain - no ways would I work in an office that high in the sky!
So that is, in a nutshell, a one day impression of Dubai. I’m sure there was lots more to see but we I doubt that we will go again. It seems that shopping is the main thing and as Heidi and I are not that way inclined we were actually spectators rather than participants in the great Dubai Experience.
After our Dubai visit we were interested to read in the next mornings paper that Dubai is experiencing serious financial problems and is having to be bailed out by Abu Dhabi. Hmmm!
That was on Friday. On Sunday, a working and school day, Heidi decided that we would go to the Emirates Palace for morning tea. Now we have driven past it several times and couldn’t help but notice the enormous (that word again!) maybe 10m x 10m portrait of the Sheik outside the palace and also the enormous and impressive royal gateway (reserved for the royal family). I assumed that it was the Sheiks palace - it was just so enormous and so grand. Actually I thought it was rather nice of the Sheik to allow people to visit for tea - not that I expected him to come and join us or anything! Anyway it turned out that it is just a hotel ! Bad choice of words - it is a HOTEL. We spent an hour exploring and admiring - saw several exhibitions and chanced on an orchestra practising in the auditorium (not quite as big as the Linder, but close!) for the evenings concert. We just slipped in and stood at the back when we heard the sound of instruments tuning up. Shortly after that the conductor arrived and they put on a wonderful performance - just for us - of part of Mozart’s Toy Symphony. Tea cost Dhs80 (R160) each and was wonderful - I guess one of the treats about a holiday is these little moments of wild extravagance!
Today (Tuesday) we were woken in the early hours of the morning by the wind and the sound of something blowing around on the next door building site. Turned out they were sheets of corrugated iron. The wind didn’t stop all day and the city is enveloped in a grey cloud . Apparently this is mild as we could see for a couple of hundred metres. A real dust storm is like a thick fog and you can’t see anything. We braved the unpleasant weather and went to watch Alex’s swimming gala. He swims beautifully and he did very well. Davey’s gala tomorrow has been cancelled due to the weather although I think the wind is now dropping.
On Friday we are going with the local church community to a Carols by Candlelight service in the desert.

Hope the weather clears...　
　

Abu Dhabi 03.12.09

Long trip to the beach...

Most days we take the dogs for an early morning run on one of the beaches. Today Heidi decided that we would go to the beach across the road. Now that is easier said than done.
To get to the beach across the road one has to get into the car and its about a 10km round trip. I kid you not!
We emerged from the complex onto the very busy road and drove for about 3km until we came to an off ramp which took us back in the opposite direction. Then we hived off onto a very rough dirt road , obviously only used by construction workers (I think they must be doubling up the size of the already wide and busy road) . Escaping from the madding crowd we parked the car then clambered over rocks down to the mangrove beach. Plenty of mangroves, a beach covered with shells and the only other sign of human habitation was a Pakistani couple who were digging for shellfish. We walked along, parallel to the nearby crazy early morning rush of traffic and were hardly aware of it. The dogs scampered in the warm water, we searched for shells and looked for birds (saw a heron and a couple of flamingos) and just ambled along, When we passed the Pakistani couple on our way back they had settled down on a blanket amongst the mangroves and called out to offer us tea. In retrospect, I’m rather sorry that we did not accept. Sorry, no photos - my battery died as I managed (after a great deal of work) to get everyone lined up for the picture.
By the way, Darrell and boys arrived home safely last night. By all accounts they had a wonderful trip and Heidi and Steph must definitely go with them next year (they had to give this year a miss as we couldn‘t get visas. )
Tomorrow we are off to Dubai for the day.

Abu Dhabi 02.12.2009

Phillipino Daisy, more souks and a taste of how the other half lives

Yesterday was Daisy’s birthday. Heidi gave her the day off but she turned up at about 6.30 in the evening laden with good food including a Phillipino dish. This was obviously her birthday feast and she wanted us to eat our fill then return the left overs for her and her friends. Having had a huge lunch at the Noodle House (more about that later) we had been thinking in terms of a slice of Bovril toast and an apple. But Daisy’s very kind offerings could not under any circumstances be rejected so it was vasbyt and eat. Interesting how one can enjoy good food without being in the least hungry! We ate a bit of each item then returned plenty to smiling Daisy.
Daisy is now thirty five; she has a fourteen year old daughter, an ailing mother and an irresponsible sister back in the Phillipines and her wages support them all from what we can gather. Like H&D she is one of the army of expats who keep this economy running and like all expats she has no rights. She is totally dependant on the goodwill of her sponsor Darrell, who is in turn dependant on the goodwill of his sponsor, the huge international company, ALEC. When H&D moved in, Heidi declared that under no circumstances would she let anyone live in the tiny maids room that comes with each unit. It is so small that it makes Alfred’s little unit in our backyard look quite palatial. However, Daisy was desperate for a job with a ‘European’ family so here she is. Her previous job with an Emirati family paid Dhs800 (R1600) a month for 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. No wonder all the adverts put up by maids looking for jobs specify ‘European’ family.
For us, yesterday was a bit of a 5-star day. First we went to the gold souk in town. It is in a big modern eastern style building and contains literally dozens of big jewellery shops all laden with jewellery and all pretty much empty of customers. It reminded me of those roadside fruit stalls outside the Kruger Park - rows and rows of people all selling much the same thing, hoping to make a sale before the next door seller! We just walked around without the slightest intension of buying anything and it was very impressive. There was some lovely stuff but much was OTT and some extremely OTT.
Souk number 2 of the day was according to Heidi very upmarket - and so it proved. They were luxury shops incorporated within the 5-star Shangri-La Hotel. Such lovely stuff and so expensive! But of course, Abu Dhabi holiday makers are in that sort of bracket (the only ‘poor‘ ones are family visitors like ourselves!). Having explored the shops we went up to the Noodle House restaurant for lunch and sat on the upper patio with the most marvellous view, looking across the water with the Grand Mosque and leaning tower in the distance. Then Heidi, with an anticipatory gleam in her eye led us down to the canal (the whole hotel , including souk and luxury apartments is built like Venice) and we boarded a boat which took us on an exploratory cruise from end to end of the huge complex. It was all just stunning and was actually built by Darrell’s company although before he arrived in AD.

Abu Dhabi Geography Lesson

Abu Dhabi, 1955

Three years ago Abu Dhabi was, to me, just a word on the map, rather like Timbuktu. Where it was I had no idea and if I had been told - near Dubai - I still wouldn’t have been any the wiser as I was very vague about the location of Dubai. Well now that Heidi and Darrell have migrated to that strange sounding place I am enjoying a real life geography lesson. If you are interested - read on…!
Abu Dhabi (Father of the Gazelle from the legendary arrival, in late 1700s, of the Baniyas Bedouin tribe at a spring of clear water on this island) is the name of a city and also of an emirate, one of seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates. An emirate is rather like a province, I gather. The others are Dubai (second biggest and best known with capital of the same name), the others are Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Kaimah and Fuljairah. Heidi who has been here for two years can reel them off her tongue which I find very admirable. ~The last five are very small and apparently of very little importance. Abu Dhabi is by far the biggest and richest and basically supports the others. On the map it shows an ‘undefined border’ with Saudi Arabia which doesn’t sound very comfortable.
Until 1955 AD was a nomadic settlement with a few hundred people coming and going. The attraction was the fresh water spring - always an attraction in a desert! The island is actually a just piece of land separated from the mainland by an easily crossed narrow channel. It is now connected to the mainland by two bridges and another is under construction.
It was the discovery of oil in the Arabian Gulf that made the difference . Whilst the Dubai oil has dried up AD oil continues to spurt and is expected to continue for another thirty years. But not just oil. AD was incredibly fortunate in that the Sheik in charge, Sheik Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan was a highly intelligent man with moderate views and very concerned for the good of his people. Not quite a Mandela, as he was a dictator, albeit a benevolent dictator, which Mandela certainly was not. But he was a good guy and in the thirty three years of his reign he brought this country into the modern world. Thirty eight years ago the seven Emirates combined to form the United Arab Emirates and this will be celebrated on Wednesday - National Day. It seems that there was genuine grief when he died in 2004 and his son, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, succeeded him and has continued to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Sorry - I somehow switched from Geography to history!
Back to the subject in hand…
Modern AD is amazing with wealth oozing from every pore. The desert has been - well not conquered as I don’t think that anyone can conquer a desert - but it is certainly being held at bay. The modern city has magnificent roads - actually highways - edged with trees, grass, flowers - fed by fresh water gushing through a maze of black piping. The spring has receded in unimportance. The fresh water now comes from great desalination plants (we are keen to visit one but so far have had no luck in finding a tour). No one saves water - there is plenty and no one saves petrol or electricity - there is plenty. Oil, oil, oil.. Houses are huge, building and development is going on everywhere. It is mind-boggling.
The original island is now of course much too small and the city is spreading out into the desert and onto the nearby islands. The huge luxury hotel that Darrell is building is on Sadiyat Island which is also accessible by road bridges. It is one of three hotels that are going up on the island and, naturally, there is a golf course also under construction adjacent to the hotels.
I have to admit that my impression of the city, apart from my admiration for what has been achieved and disappointment about the lack of concern about the fragile desert and beach ecosystems, is one of total confusion. The highways all look the same with on and off ramps and enormous traffic circles and one never seems to be going in the required direction. There are no nice quiet and convenient suburban roads, there are no short cuts. We have been here a week and I have absolutely no idea how to get to the shops or to the childrens’ school. I have enormous admiration for Heidi at the way she manages to navigate (Darrell uses a GPS but not Heidi).
Because the local beaches have already been or are about to be taken over by the uncontrolled development, beach holidays for the locals are not that easy. That is why Darrell and the boys went across to Oman for their holiday. He ‘phoned today to say that they were up at 3.30am this morning to look for turtles - and they saw them What a fantastic experience and how sad that the beaches on this side of the gulf are losing out to the almighty dollar, in this case the dirham.
Sorry this was longer than intended.
Any questions?

Abu Dhabi 30.11.2009

Dogwalk, souk and holiday mode...

(Darrell and boys off to Oman)

Don’t you find that it takes a while to get into holiday mode? I am just starting to feel that way now after ten days. Yesterday we were so decadent. We all slept late, then eventually piled dogs, Stephi and Stephi’s bike into the car and went off to ‘dog beach’. This is a stretch along one of the many inlets that has been adopted by the local expats and their dogs. Gerron and I discovered the joys of dog walking in our walks in the Wilds and this is much the same (although much easier - flat beach). So sociable - lots of people with language and dogs in common. Heidi’s dogs were strays that she adopted here but most of the dogs on the beach were brought over by their owners. Very mixed bunch of many different pedigrees (dogs of course!). Heidi’s two salukis (not pure bred I assure you) always draw much admiration (it seems that I am alone in thinking that Bella is ugly!) . Pearl is now a year old and quite well behaved so she is allowed to run free; Bella is three months old and very naughty so she is kept on the lead. Weather is perfect, no hurry to get home for breakfast and Steph whizzes around on her bike (training wheels long a thing of the past). Two things worthy of note that you can see in the picture (in addition to Gerron of course!) . One is the lonely mangrove, the only one in that long stretch (mangrove swamps are also under attack) and the second is Abu Dhabi’s answer to the leaning tower of Piza. Can you imagine building a tower like that on SAND!! We are told that this ‘dog beach’ has been earmarked for villas - the huge wealthy homes of the Emiratis so it will be lost to the dogs and the expats. But H&D will probably have gone elsewhere by that time.
After late breakfast we made our way into town to visit a ‘souk’. Just a market really, rather reminiscent of the Oriental Plaza or the Durban Indian Market but lots of stuff. We had such fun wandering around, Heidi was tempted into a few household items and I bought her a decent sized teapot that will do six cups of tea without constant refills. Also bought a few gifts for folks back home. Stephanie had pocket money burning a huge hole in her little pocket and she eventually chose a lovely plaster-cast horse that she will paint. Wish I could take a couple home for Jords and Megs but fear they won’t travel well.
Holiday mode - swimming, reading, sudoku, exploring. Comfortable bed, Phillipino Daisy to do the housework and laundry. Much laughing , lazy food (remember all that weight I lost before coming here? Well it’s returning fast!!).
We are having a GREAT time!!
　
　

Abu Dhabi 26.11.2009

The foot is much better and the crutches have been discarded. Getting the crutches was a tale in itself. There are no easy-to-find street addresses in AD. We asked at the local pharmacy but - no crutches. Try another pharmacy. So we did. And we did. At some stage I suggested the obvious - let our fingers do the walking... But no - yellow pages do not have street addresses. Eventually one pharmacy mentioned that there was a medical supplies company on the airport road. Loo...oong road - no number. So we drove along and after a couple of false stops we hit the jackpot. No - they didn't hire crutches but we could buy at Dhs 165 (R330). Worth every penny for Heidi.

But no happy ending for the trailer story. Darrell wants a trailer to carry kayaks, bikes etc. There is a big board 'City Trailers' quite near home so this promised to be a fairly simple exercise. Calling in there we were told that - no we must go to the shop which is in the industrial area, Mussafah. All we had was a phone number. No address. We headed for Mussafah (Heidi's car is automatic so she only needed her right foot). Take the offramp, turn right at second traffic light, then left , then right at the Etisalet building then we would see the shop. We drove and drove. Several times H communicated with the trailer man whose heavily accented English was almost indeciferable. Several times we redid the required route trying different variables (eg try left instead of right) but nowhere could we find 'City Trailers'. Darrell is still trailerless! Yellow pages are no use so not sure what the next step will be.

Yesterday was a special day in the UAE - the 38th anniversary of the establishment of the state. The childrens' school (more about that another day) decided to turn it into a national/international day in honour of all the nationalities represented at the school. The boys wore springbok jerseys and took plates of biltong (yes - available at a nearby shop!) . Happily for them only the other SA children wanted to eat the biltong so they scored very nicely. Steph wore a pink T-shirt with a cute elephant saying 'SA babes love to boogie' matched up with a spare Springbok cap. She took a plate of Zoo biscuits (brought from SA - you can't get them here) and Nutty Crunches. I gather those were more popular than the biltong! We made three SA flags for the kids to wave in the procession. Then Gerron, Heidi and I stayed to watch after dropping the kids. Great march past of about 1100 kids, all ages. The UAE contingent came first (as was their right as the host nation) then were followed by the African contingent (almost 100% white kids!!!). Davey was in the front row, very important, Alex hidden somewhere in the middle and Steph waving enthusiastically and smiling broadly as she walked past. We all cheered and clapped. The whole procession took quite a while with contingents literally from all over the world. I think S America was the smallest group. Europe probably the biggest. We met more of Heidi's friends (Brits, SA, Oz and NZ) then headed for home, Heidi to rest the ankle and us to be dropped at the great mosque.



This mosque, built and financed by the late Sheik can only be described as magnificent, amazing, out of this world. Built mainly in white marble, it must closely rival the Taj Mahal. I had to wear an abaya and sheila (head cover - see picture) which was very uncomfortable as the sheila was of the most flimsy material and would NOT stay in place. It bothered me the whole time we were there and I was very pleased to be rid of it when we left. Imagine wearing an outfit like that all the time.

We were taken on a guided tour by a guide who really loved his mosque and the Islam religion. The Mosque was started in 1996 and is now 97% finished. The building is actually finished and just the ground, wall and gates are still to be completed. The artistry that went onto the mosque is absolutely fantastic (I'm going to run out of adjectives soon!), the materials, the workmanship
everything of the absolute best - it really has to be seen to be believed. They used craftsmen from all over the world but mainly Greece and most of the marble came from Greece. I just can't tell you how lovely it is. Two things that interested me on a mundane level were: the huge outdoor area (see photo of Gerron standing there) was marble paved by a white stone that does not absorb heat so it was cool underfoot (we had to take our shoes off) but the coloured marble inlays were warm to hot depending on the deepness of the colour and how close they were to black. I wonder if the white marble was special (as we were told) or if any white marble would reflect all the heat and stay cool? The other interesting and clever thing was the lighting of the (definitely OTT) chandeliers. We were wondering how they could change all those lightbulbs when necessary but it turns out that the sparkley little lights are from optical fibres which are fed from the top by a series of windows. So clever.

Tour was free, so was the loan of the clothing. If the intention was to impress the infidels - well - I have to confess that they succeeded. But how close was our friendly guide to his Taliban brothers? No political or controversial questions came up but I do feel that Christianity could do with some of the discipline imposed on the Muslims. To get a really sour taste in your mouth log onto the attachments to Kirsten's blog http://www.vanderriet.blogspot.com/ about Muslim influence around the world.

Abu Dhabi 21.11.09

We arrived safely on this desert island at 12 midnight on Thursday. Our trip was extremely uneventful and about as uncomfortable as any 'cattle class' international flight. As airlines go Etihad was very nice and service was good.
Arrival formalities went well - Heidi says probably because of our advanced ages!! At both the visa queue, the eye scan queue (what's that?) and the passport queue we were directed to the front so practically no waiting. So its not only cheap movie tickets that make 65+ the age to be!
Heidi and Darrell are renting a large house in an enormous complex (Heidi keeps referring to it as 'compound' which to South African just doesn't sound right). The guest room with own bathroom has sliding doors out to their, admittedly, tiny garden and is pretty much 5-star. Very comfortable bed, air con. and a big vase of lovely flowers (presumably imported). Most living things here are imported, including many of the people and all the food. But definitely not oil which as you know is what runs their economy.
Friday morning just somehow disappeared in a mass of early morning tea and rusks (imported - Ouma!) opening arrival gifts, talking, late breakfast, admiring everything, walks to local (in- house) shop etc. Quick afterlunch snooze was cut short at 2.30 in order to set out for the desert. The house itself is on the island but the city stretches far beyond. It is beyond impressive with marvellous roads, greenery everywhere, everything new and modern. This city is only fifty years old and is truly amazing. Eventually we turned off the main road into the countryside - read desert! Disappointingly there were no camels but we have been assured that that was just bad luck and we would be bound to see some soon.
Next turn was on to a dirt road and soon we stopped for Darrell to let down the tyres and attend to other desert requirements. On we drove, pretty much through the desert now and eventually stopped at a tree which would provide a scrap of shade. Being winter it wasn't too hot - maybe akin to a Durban summer day. There were several families, all in 4x4's and they all parked with their fronts facing down the hill (dune). We discovered why when had to take off.
A couple of things particularly took my attention. One was the enormous power pylons stretching over vast tracts of sand and second was the tree farms. Yes - acres and acres of small trees growing in the sand, watered by black plastic piping that we could see stretching over the sand (desalinated water, by the way!). The trees were very nondescript, probably chosen for their aptitude for desert survival and are moved to city, suburbs and gardens as required.
Our afternoon in the desert was great! The sand I discovered is of the finest texture and is lovely between the toes but makes climbing dunes a tortuous exercise - one step forward, three quarters of a step backward slide. The kids, of which there were many, charged unbelievably up and down the dunes (I can think of some SA kids who would have loved it!). The moms and this one granny relaxed in chairs in our chosen picnic spot and the men - including one grandpa - went dune bashing in the 4x4's. Of course and inevitably, one got stuck and the guys had enormous fun trying to get it out. Then the fires were lit as it started to get dark, meat was cooked (H and D had brought wors, the others sausages), car headlights were switched on so we could see what we were doing and eventually we reversed the tyre letting down process and went home. Great start to our holiday.
That was Friday (Muslim day of rest, equivalent to our Sunday).
Disaster struck this morning. Heidi, tripping down the stairs to let dogs out and make tea, literally tripped and ripped her ankle. Very bad sprain or tear. X-rays show no break but it is very sore. So today, second day of our holiday has been spent at home relaxing and doing nothing much. With seven weeks ahead that's no problem - plenty of time to do lots of things. So we have had a nice gentle day with our daughter and three gorgeous grandchildren. Time now to take the children for a swim and then I must organise supper!! Will put some photos in later.

Retirement

Retirement is the time for being irresponsible, employment wise. So today I resigned from one of my jobs, having decided that one commitment was enough. Linda took it quite calmly, just pointed that that she didn't know where on earth she would find another science teacher ( implication - you are better than nothing!). So we talked it out, looked at some possibliities, talked about Outreach in general and next year in particular. We talked about the fact that she is hoping to expand it to include Grade 10 and how to handle it. I suggested that for Grade 10 maybe just English and Maths would be enough but Linda thought that would be too limited and rather boring. What about offering Science, Biology and Geography once a month? Good idea - suddenly I was being offered and accepting a new job. Grade 10 - just one Saturday a month .
That will work out to about eight lessons during the course of the year. Don't even think about trying to cover the syllabus in eight lessons, so now my brain is ticking and the challenge is starting to grab me. Choose eight basic and important topics and plan a lesson around each of them. With St Mary's wonderful labs each can involve some hands on practical work, some calculations and anything else I can think of. It really could be lots of fun. So I'm now back with two jobs!!!

Being a new blogger.....

Why on earth am I doing this?

Not that 68 is too old. There is probably the odd (very odd) ninety year old blogging away but is there a purpose to it?

Actually no - not right now. In fact nobody knows about this rather unexpected venture of mine and I don't intend to tell anyone until I am quite certain that I want to share these random thoughts. My kids alredy have plenty of good reasons to shake their heads and laugh at me.


Maybe the thing is that I quite fancy the thought of keeping a diary but another excuse is this: over the years I have written hundreds of letters to editors, managers, politicians etc etc - but usually only in my head. Those letters can now be written here on my blog so I can get them off my chest. Then if I unexpectedly find that I have written something worthwhile I will take courage, copy it and send it off. Yes - nice thought. Yes - I like this!
So here goes - the new blogger!