The weather here is fabulous at the moment and I'm making the most of it everyday by getting out and doing something. You can feel that it's not going to last much longer as it's heating up daily.
Thursday afternoon I walked from work down to Burjeel Hospital to have my physio appointment. The walk takes about 15 minutes or more depending on whether you catch the traffic lights to cross the road. As the roads are crazy you don't risk your life by crossing unless the wee man in showing green. As most roads involve two wee men, often I'm stuck in the middle of the road with only a foot of curbing either side of me while the traffic roars past. At these times I suck it all in and hope nothing swerves for any reason.
It's nearly time to start carrying my umbrella again to shade myself from the sun. This, of course, is hypocritical as when I get home I'm out in the sun as soon as I can. I could just carry a sunhat but no-one, and I mean no-one, wears them here. I would really stand out, not that I don't already with my numerous freckles - an oddity here. I've been asked why I don't go to the skin clinic and get my skin sorted?
If it is humanly possible, I have more freckles than before. So even so the sun here doesn't burn like at home, it still causes my skin to redden and freckle. I may have to start using one of the many whitening creams on sale here like the local woman do. Pale skin is considered beautiful here.
Friday dawned bright and windy. I went down for a swim (walk really due to not swimming at the moment because of my shoulder) and enjoyed the sunshine. Early afternoon I met up with my kiwi friends here and we picked up another kiwi (my Polynesian double) and went to Cafe Arabia for coffee and cake. I declined the cake due to still watching my weight for the competition.
Mind you, it was difficult to say no to a slice of cake. As we entered the 3-story converted villa we were greeted by a round glass table topped with cake display cases of various heights. Each one was filled with a fabulous cake and it was impossible to even get in the door without drooling. Another stand held magnificent muffins and it was a difficult choice for my companions to choose which delicacy they would have.
We meandered up the stairs and reached the rooftop and chose to sit outside in the shade of an umbrella. What a fabulous way to spend a few hours. Good coffee, good chai, good cake and good company!
Each floor of the villa held it's own surprises with art displays, books for borrowing, exquisite trinkets from around the Middle East to purchase and of course, the cakes. I topped the afternoon off by 'borrowing' six books. The book system works on 'swap a book' but as I wasn't aware we were going there I didn't take any books so had to hide them away in the overlarge handbag of my friend. Once they've all been devoured, I'll take them back along with a few of my own to get some new titles.
Saturday I swam/walked in the morning then headed to Mushrif Mall for a spot of trying on warmer clothes for the trip to Switzerland. Big sis and I are getting a tad worried as we check out the temperatures daily on our iphones. -3 degrees is not what we had in mind for a spring fling in Amsterdam or climbing up mountains in Switzerland. I hope those damn tulips are through the snow by the time we arrive. When booking the cruise I purposely booked from Switzerland to Amsterdam to allow us the extra few days in case the tulips weren't blooming. I hope someone is listening to me when I say they'd better be!
Saturday night I realised that I hadn't done any planning for school so had to hurry up and get ready. As school seems to be on a binge with paperwork (as in giving us more and more of it to do, all on deadlines) I sat down and typed up the weeks work then found a few resources to use. There is no leaving you to get on with the job here, after all we are supposedly professionals. But when I hear that others still are not planning I can see why the over-supervision.
I missed my Skyping over the weekend as the internet wasn't co-operating. I'm hoping it'll be up and running next weekend so I can catch up with family at home.
Payday today. We all look forward to the monthly text telling us that our pay has gone into our account. It's the first full pay I've had since June last year so it is a biggie for me. All this time our employer has been deducting money to make up for the 'overpayment' we had last summer. No where else in the world would they be able to get away with doing this. But hey, that's teaching in Abu Dhabi. You take the good with the bad, else you get on a plane home.
Thursday afternoon I walked from work down to Burjeel Hospital to have my physio appointment. The walk takes about 15 minutes or more depending on whether you catch the traffic lights to cross the road. As the roads are crazy you don't risk your life by crossing unless the wee man in showing green. As most roads involve two wee men, often I'm stuck in the middle of the road with only a foot of curbing either side of me while the traffic roars past. At these times I suck it all in and hope nothing swerves for any reason.
It's nearly time to start carrying my umbrella again to shade myself from the sun. This, of course, is hypocritical as when I get home I'm out in the sun as soon as I can. I could just carry a sunhat but no-one, and I mean no-one, wears them here. I would really stand out, not that I don't already with my numerous freckles - an oddity here. I've been asked why I don't go to the skin clinic and get my skin sorted?
If it is humanly possible, I have more freckles than before. So even so the sun here doesn't burn like at home, it still causes my skin to redden and freckle. I may have to start using one of the many whitening creams on sale here like the local woman do. Pale skin is considered beautiful here.
Friday dawned bright and windy. I went down for a swim (walk really due to not swimming at the moment because of my shoulder) and enjoyed the sunshine. Early afternoon I met up with my kiwi friends here and we picked up another kiwi (my Polynesian double) and went to Cafe Arabia for coffee and cake. I declined the cake due to still watching my weight for the competition.
Mind you, it was difficult to say no to a slice of cake. As we entered the 3-story converted villa we were greeted by a round glass table topped with cake display cases of various heights. Each one was filled with a fabulous cake and it was impossible to even get in the door without drooling. Another stand held magnificent muffins and it was a difficult choice for my companions to choose which delicacy they would have.
We meandered up the stairs and reached the rooftop and chose to sit outside in the shade of an umbrella. What a fabulous way to spend a few hours. Good coffee, good chai, good cake and good company!
Each floor of the villa held it's own surprises with art displays, books for borrowing, exquisite trinkets from around the Middle East to purchase and of course, the cakes. I topped the afternoon off by 'borrowing' six books. The book system works on 'swap a book' but as I wasn't aware we were going there I didn't take any books so had to hide them away in the overlarge handbag of my friend. Once they've all been devoured, I'll take them back along with a few of my own to get some new titles.
Saturday I swam/walked in the morning then headed to Mushrif Mall for a spot of trying on warmer clothes for the trip to Switzerland. Big sis and I are getting a tad worried as we check out the temperatures daily on our iphones. -3 degrees is not what we had in mind for a spring fling in Amsterdam or climbing up mountains in Switzerland. I hope those damn tulips are through the snow by the time we arrive. When booking the cruise I purposely booked from Switzerland to Amsterdam to allow us the extra few days in case the tulips weren't blooming. I hope someone is listening to me when I say they'd better be!
Saturday night I realised that I hadn't done any planning for school so had to hurry up and get ready. As school seems to be on a binge with paperwork (as in giving us more and more of it to do, all on deadlines) I sat down and typed up the weeks work then found a few resources to use. There is no leaving you to get on with the job here, after all we are supposedly professionals. But when I hear that others still are not planning I can see why the over-supervision.
I missed my Skyping over the weekend as the internet wasn't co-operating. I'm hoping it'll be up and running next weekend so I can catch up with family at home.
Payday today. We all look forward to the monthly text telling us that our pay has gone into our account. It's the first full pay I've had since June last year so it is a biggie for me. All this time our employer has been deducting money to make up for the 'overpayment' we had last summer. No where else in the world would they be able to get away with doing this. But hey, that's teaching in Abu Dhabi. You take the good with the bad, else you get on a plane home.
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