Teenagers

The week has flown by again and we now only have another two weeks officially at school.  There is no word yet on where any of us will be placed next year so it's just a 'wait and see' situation.

I started the week by treating myself to a wonderful massage at the new beauty salon downstairs on the first floor.  I've another appointment booked for this afternoon so am looking forward to that.  The setting is opulent with gold wallpaper and trimmings.  The massage room had a shower in it for afterwards, not that I used it as I only had to come back upstairs but I'm sure lots would.  The owner is Greek and the workers are Filipino.

The teenager asked to have some friends over for dinner on Thursday night (end of week for us) so I agreed.  He wanted to cook butter chicken, one of his new favourites and I said I'd make garlic prawns.  So off I went to the supermarket on Wednesday night to buy most of the ingredients, leaving the fish and meat to get fresh on Thursday.

After work on Thursday I took a taxi to Marina Mall which has the best cleaning of the prawns.   Ordering two kilos and leaving them to be butterflied, deveined, deheaded & delegged (if there is such a word) I wandered around getting 2.5kgs of chicken breast, lemons and onions.

I decided I'd take the bus back to our home and luckily one was sitting waiting as I exited the supermarket.  By now it's 3pm, stinking hot and I've got fresh meat and fish to get home.  I'd purchased two cooler bags the day before so had taken them with me but was still worried about keeping the meat safe, especially when I had to put my bags of groceries in the luggage tray in the full sun.  So a couple of times I jumped up and rearranged them and covered them up to no avail because as soon as the bus moved or we turned a corner they were either in or out of the sun again.

So I sat down and tried to relax, hoping the bags would do their job and wishing I'd bought some ice to throw in there.  Never mind the fact that I'd probably never have carried it all!

It was the first time I'd taken the bus the whole way and it took nearly an hour.  Once home I grabbed some butter and garlic butter downstairs in our supermarket (no butter at the one I was at) and came upstairs to put the meat on ice.  It was still nice and cold when I opened the bags so I was relieved.

Just time for a quick cuppa before the teenager arrived home with three mates, ready to start the prep.  As the boys wanted to head to the gym I suggested they prep first then workout, shower then cook later.

Another two boys arrived so the prep began in earnest.  The others couldn't believe the amount of meat to be chopped and asked several times why there was so much.  Obviously they aren't used to cooking for crowds.  In fact, they aren't used to cooking, fullstop.  What a saga to get anything done.

Food prep crew - Abu Dhabi style!

Food prep crew - Kiwi style!

Multicultural efforts. Kiwi, Lebanese & Algerian cooks.

The effort increased once I told them that we had a rule, no help, no food.  Onions got chopped, garlic got peeled (after careful instructions from me), chicken got chopped (to varying degrees of success) and rubbish got taken away.  When the teenager said the cook doesn't do dishes so the ones not helping would get that job, things sped up.

The Lebanese got demoted to peeling garlic after his attempts at cutting chicken were dismissed vehemently by the teenager.  The Algerian took over, although he'd never done anything like this before he proved competent and was at least able to follow the teenagers directions (meat had to be evenly sized etc).

I'm trying hard not to laugh at these efforts as I'm pottering in the kitchen, but not succeeding.  I told them I was going to have to write about them and their attempts to cook in my blog and took photos to prove it.  Now my blog will have appeal to a younger audience and they all asked me for the details.  I hope you're reading this boys!

It's Aunty this and Aunty that (the Arab boys call my Aunty) and slowly things get done.  Meanwhile the South African (who does know how to BBQ) and the Thai brother and sister kick back and relax.

The spices are measured out, the garlic chilli paste is added and the chicken is set to marinate, inside a bucket of iced water.

After cleaning up themselves and the kitchen the teenagers all head down to the gym leaving me some welcome peace to enjoy a drop of Marlborough's finest.  I phone up a couple of friends to pop up for a glass and some food later and settle down to enjoy the evening.

I said I'd cook the prawns so after giving them a wash I marinate them in my 'secret' marinade.

After half an hour I grabbed my lovely new frying pan that I'd bought especially for the prawns, added a knob of garlic butter, a large slab of butter, 6 crushed cloves of garlic and the prawns.  Adding some lemon juice to the bowl I rinsed out the last of the marinade into the pan and let them simmer for about 30 minutes.  Having been shown this recipe I couldn't believe that you could cook prawns that long without them being tough but they were melt in the mouth delicious.  The aroma was intense and it's one of those dishes where you just have to keep taking the lid off to smell it.  Yum!  Once the sauce had reduced I popped them into my new insulated serving dish.  I love the dishes they have here to keep your food hot so bought one of them also.

 I can see these two new additions to my kitchen will be firm favourites and I'll probably buy another of each.

Throwing a large pot of rice on to cook, I settle down to catch up on the week's events with a fellow kiwi.

A couple of glasses later the teenagers return home with much noise and the cooking begins in earnest.  Too many cooks spoil the broth and the first batch is higgelty-piggelty with spices forgotten and added later.  The Algerian says, "It'll have to be good to be as good as my Mum's butter chicken!"  Strong words to my teenager.

It's ready and dished up into bowls along with rice and prawns.  The aroma is divine and the prawns are a great hit with all, being gobbled up pretty quickly.  The chicken is aromatic and spicy and is also a hit.

The first batch disappears very quickly so the second batch goes on, with the spices going in at the beginning this time.  The Algerian takes over and cooks the second batch following the recipe closely, adjusting the amount of chilli according to the teenagers directions.

Three other boys arrive to mop up the remains (thanks to text messaging) and all the food is gone!  Not a morsel left.

Dishes are done, rubbish taken out, tables wiped and all is clean again.

The verdict:
Better than Mums! (Algerian)  I told him he'd better not go home and say that!
Prawns were best I've ever tasted!  (Lebanese)
Best feed for a long time!  (Kiwi)
Prawns very good.  (Thai)

Showered and freshened up the teenagers head out for the night to an after prom party.

All in all, there's a good future ahead for the teenager if he continues to cook like that.

Blogging, or lack of it!

The term is flying by in a rush of testing, reporting, more testing, more reporting and a flurry of activity.  The girls (and teachers) are ready for the holidays and I have to say I am too!

Even though it only seems like yesterday that I returned from my last trip.  I am aware that I haven't typed up any blog entries yet on the wonderful time we had but what with arriving home and returning to school the next day, then having my computer crash completely, losing many of my holiday and older photos, there just hasn't been time.

I've finally got the computer sorted and my wonderful friend has managed to restore some of my photos for me.  However, a great number will never be seen, which may be a good thing when it comes to snaps of tulips.  Lucky for some of you that my phone went dead half way through our day at the gardens.  Or there'd be even more tulip snaps!

Back to the holiday blog.  I've decided that I'm going to leave the typing up until the summer break.  When I got out all my brochures etc at the weekend to make a start I realised what a major  undertaking it would be.  As I've not booked any trip yet I will hold off until the airfares drop a bit before travelling so will use that time to get the blog up to date.

I learned a harsh lesson last year when I didn't receive my son's annual airfare but I'd booked and paid for our trip.  Then what with having so much money deducted from our wages I feel as if I've been on the back foot financially the whole year, something I don't want to happen again.  I did eventually get the airfare several months later but the whole shambles was a stark reminder to me about how things work here.

Apparently airfares increase here by up to 40% over the summer break due to all the expats heading home.  After July 16th they seem to drop plus there are usually some good holiday deals available.  Another harsh fact we learned on our recent cruise was that most others on the boat had paid considerably less than us.  So no longer am I booking and paying well in advance as it didn't even secure us our chosen seats on the flights.

I mentioned last post that I had managed to get an interview for a HOF (Head of Faculty) position.  I had an email saying that my interview was successful however, there is no guarantee of a placement.  Only in Abu Dhabi would you think you had a new job but you're not sure until the day you get sent to a new school.  So watch this space.

What would it mean if I did?  It would mean having an office rather than a classroom and being responsible for ensuring the curriculum is delivered by the English teachers while looking after them.  From what I hear some of them act like spoiled little brats so it could be challenging!

This week we celebrated the 30th birthday of one of our friends with brunch at a local Irish pub.  Not sure if you could call it a pub as it had a lavish spread and a superb swimming pool.  It was more like a pool party with plenty of booze being consumed.  The guy in charge told us we had three hours to eat and drink and he didn't want anyone leaving sober.  I began to wonder if I'd been transported into another country, namely Ireland.  So it was a great day out, especially catching up with friends that I don't see as often as I should.  We were 'entertained' by a large group of military guys from a French island.  Obviously they hadn't seen drink or women in a while either!  The booze flowed freely, the sun got hotter, the bikinis got skimpier, and we all had a great time.  As one of my friends put it, "It seems like the place to go if you're single, and you don't go home alone."  Well said!  Our table was strategically placed by the stairway so anyone entering or leaving had to pass by us.  Needless to say even us older ones (and married ones) got our eye candy for the month.  As we were leaving a band struck up inside and the dancing began in earnest.  It was great value as we had Groupon vouchers so it only ended up costing us 75 AED ($25) each which included as much booze as you could drink.

You'd laugh at the absurdity of it when we tried to leave.  By this time the bar was packed and we had two toddlers and a pushchair in our group.  So the security guard wouldn't let us inside to go through the bar to leave.  Eventually with some bolshy, in your face, talking most of the group managed to get inside.  This left one of the group with the pushchair and he was made to fold it up.  Trouble was it wasn't his pushchair and he had no idea how to dismantle it.  So we were split in two for a period of time and when we finally got it through with it in one piece while the security guard was momentarily distracted we found our taxi waiting with the others in it, holding up a queue of about 6 taxis!  Give some men a uniform and it goes to their head!!!

We were discussing how life here has become mundane, same, same, as home.  Work, work, and a little play.  The spark and excitement has gone and it is now the same as anywhere in the world.  Bills to pay and kids to feed and clothe!  On that note, two of our original group are having babies this year so that was exciting news, especially for the couple whose son is my son's age!  A miracle they called it.  On the plus side is the fact that we are having amazing holidays and we can afford to show our visitors around if they are lucky enough to come here.

Several of our original group are leaving after having completed 18 months here.  Two are heading back to work in Korea as it is much easier than here.  No lesson plans to do, kids are well behaved, little teaching, all  from a textbook.  It would be interesting to know the exact statistics of who remains from our original group of 60 but with us all dispersed around the Emirate it's difficult to keep track of them all.  Like anywhere you make your own group of friends and they are the ones you see most.

I'm loving the bus service from our island.  I took the bus downtown to get my hair cut and coloured then home again.  Only 4 dirhams, around $1.30.

Last weekend another kiwi friend had a roast  night so we all trooped over to her new apartment on this island for dinner.  It was great to catch up with another group of kiwis and teenagers.  We had an awesome feed with so many meats (lamb, pork & chicken) and oodles of different roast veges.  We all got to take a doggy bag home so had meals for the next day as well.  She had her apartment looking lovely and I enjoyed being able to stand out on her balcony and look back towards our apartment.  The best thing was we all had a few drinks and I managed to find a couple of bottles of Monkey Bay rose to quaff!  Those of you in Marlborough will know Monkey Bay, especially those of you with kids who have spent the day there with me and mine!  Brought back lots of memories I can tell you.  I'd made a pavlova to take over but during the taxi ride there it got squashed.   However, it still tasted fine.  Need a bit of practice using my oven here because everything turns out wonky.  I think the ingredients are different for a start, even the butter is a different consistency than ours.

Before we went out for dinner I'd caught up with the lovely young couple downstairs.  Funnily enough they'd invited me over for lunch and then we ended up going to the same dinner that evening.  Anyway we went out to have a 'hit' of tennis in the scorching sun.  Not my cup of tea as it was too hot, also dusty from the sudden dust storm that had blown up.

The after effect of that was that I ended up with another bronchial infection although I didn't need antibiotics this time.  Still, I'm not enjoying that side of living here.  The dust and sand seems to be a constant problem, especially out here where we live with so much construction and so few buildings to stop the sand blowing through.

I've been watching the rising tensions in Lebanon with interest as the teenager's best friend is Lebanese.  It's been enlightening to get a local perspective on what is happening there and throughout the Middle East.
It seems the conflict in Syria is no-where near over and things may get much worse before they get better, especially as so many other countries seem to want to be involved in some way or another.

As in any situation, it's the people who are forgotten.  Having met many young people who are refugees from their own country due to war, you can't help but view things differently living here.  I don't pretend to understand what are obviously complex deep-seated issues but whoever said money is the root of all evil, may be wrong. Living here, you'd swear it was religion.  But perhaps it's all fueled by money (excuse the pun!).

Swiss Alps - Photos

As my computer crashed I'm just putting an overload of photos onto here.  Each page will contain photos of one place, probably without text at this stage.  Sorry for that but I've lost so many of my photos and these are what I've managed to retrieve from my hard drive.

First view of Swiss Alps from the air.

Magnificent Swiss Alps.

We were lucky as it clouded over after this.

Snow falling as we travelled from Geneva to Luzerne by train.
Switzerland is everything we expected, and more.

Welcome cuppa from our friendly tea-trolley man on the train.
We set up our picnic lunch in our carriage on our little table.

Arriving in Engelberg, Switzerland.
This is what we'd dreamed about.  Snow on the ground, drunken men falling out of the pub to catch the train down the mountain, yodeling blaring out from the hotels, dusk falling, our hotel sitting majestic atop a hill overlooking the village.  Magical!

Hotel Terrace awaits us. It was a bit like Santa's grotto.  A series of tunnels and lifts took us up to the hotel.

Finally we arrive.  Majestic Hotel Terrace.

Morning view from our 'upgraded' hotel room.
Hate to think what our room would have been like if it wasn't upgraded.  Thankfully we had our bottle of Bailey's purchased at the airport to warm us up.

View from breakfast.

From hotel balcony overlooking Mt Titlus (we think).

Car park and village below.

Other tourists enjoying the view.

Tree outside our room.

Another shot down the hillside showing the gondola which we soon will be on.

Magical!

Car park, village and mountains beyond.

Panoramic.

Thought we'd died and gone to Switzerland heaven.

Gondola tracks.

Braving the brisk morning air.

What?  No gloves?

Mt Titlis, here we are!

Well wrapped up.

Pam.

Gaylene. And it's freezing cold.

I had to keep taking a glove off to take photos.

Lucky we made it across the iceflyer before the whiteout conditions.

Gondola across the glacier.

Snow setting in.

Time for a hot chocolate and warmth.

Meeting the locals.

Photographer needs more practice.

Finally, hot chocolate!

Think the camera (i-phone) has frozen over.

Finally thawing, us and the camera.

A welcome hot drink after ascending 10,000 feet.

Now we join hundreds of Chinese and Malaysian tourists on our three gondolas to get back down the mountain.

Up and down

This week has been a roller coaster.

It began last Thursday night with an ANZAC sunset service. I bought myself a new dress covered with poppies for the occasion so dressed up and met my kiwi friends downstairs to get a taxi out to the Traders Hotel.  For 180 AED we got 3 drinks (beer, wine or softdrinks) and a BBQ dinner.

My friend was representing NZ as the ambassador was unable to attend so she was doing a reading.  When she ascended the podium she invited three of us kiwi gals up to be with her so I ended up being an important person for a while.

The evening was organised by Aussies Abroad which I'm considering joining as they have many get togethers and are a very social bunch.

Our BBQ food was amazing.  As we reached the end of the line we found squid, prawns, mussels and fish so our plates were piled high by the time we returned to our own wee tent on the beach. We felt like a harem hiding out in a Sheikhs tent as we were slightly away from the other tables.

The next day my friend came in from out west to stay the night so we had a relaxing day and evening together, getting out to IKEA on Yas Island to buy some kitchen essentials.  Shopping is the number one pastime here and it was so busy.  We had a meal out there then headed back into town.

I've got a student teacher at work so that is keeping me busy.  Then I was lucky enough to get an interview for a HOF position.

Having to teach the first two periods I rush off for the interview, hoping to arrive relaxed and ready to go.  A panel of three interviewed me, one male HOF, one female VP and another female consultant.  It was a very thorough interview of around 50 minutes and the questions just kept coming.  Just when I thought I'd answered one satisfactorily they threw another at me.  So I have no idea how it went and I'll have to wait a while to find out.  The wheels of progress move slowly here.

Apparently 200 applied for the positions, 80 got shortlisted and interviewed and there are 20 jobs available at the moment.  So even getting shortlisted was a great start.

Talking of roller coasters, we had a trip to the mall with our 4th grade students.  With not even 24 hours notice we head off in the bus with the girls in a high state of excitement.  The day was spent in the kids playground riding the roller coaster, bumper cars, 4D movies and other entertainment options.  I managed to get my annual ice-skating in and enjoyed it as usual.

Then to keep the roller coaster theme going I received word that my only Uncle wasn't likely to last the night so had several days of high level stress culminating in his passing away on Thursday morning.

The blessing was that his family were with him at the end, including Mum.  My thoughts and aroha are flowing back home to New Zealand as I can't be there in person.

I'm fortunate to have such a close family and feel the distance between us terribly.  Home seems very far away...

WOW! Day 3

I awoke exceptionally early to the realisation that I was too ill to travel.  Telling sister Pam the bad news that she may have to travel alone to Switzerland was difficult but I just didn't feel I could get on a plane.  Luckily we weren't flying until the following day so I put off calling the airline and making a change.

Stupidly I didn't get a medical certificate from the Dr the night before to allow me to stay home from work so at 7.30am Pam and I set off for my school.  I sign in and introduce Pam to some of the staff.  As I'm working she helps decorate the door and puts up some posters in my classroom.

I'd been told that I could sign in and leave by 10am.  Yeah right!  I'm feeling lousy (to put it mildly) so I check if we can leave.  The response is 12 noon Inshallah!  Allah may be willing but I'm not prepared to wait that long.  At 10.30 I attempt to leave and tell the Principal I have a plane to catch.  We head outside to the rental car to find the gates shut and the security guard standing in front of them telling us we can't leave without a paper from the Principal.  She is standing at the door and I've just 'okayed' it with her but back inside I go to get the requisite paper then we are allowed to exit the compound (or prison as sister Pam begins to refer to it as).

First stop is Emirates airline to find out what the story is if I can't fly in the morning.  No problem, says the man as he coughs all over me.  It must be catching as another customer sounds worse than me.  Take some medicine and get on the plane.  No wonder bird flu and suchlike spreads around the world so quickly!  But I am reassured to find that I have until 1am tomorrow to change my ticket if need be.

Instead of the much needed sleep my body craves we head off to Marina Mall to have a look around, ending up with a wonderful lunch and drink in the observation cafe.  From here we had a fabulous view out over the Arabian Gulf and back over the Corniche to Abu Dhabi.

Suitably awed we head off to our next destination - Emirates Palace Hotel.  Once again we are wowed by the glitter and glamour of this amazing hotel as we wander around and check out the art works on display, priceless treasures from the Ming Dynasty.

Our next destination is our high tea, and I mean high!  I'd booked a Groupon voucher for this at the new Etihad Towers opposite the Palace Hotel.  We both had fabulous clothes to wear for this special event but as we'd come straight from work we were still in casual clothing.  Oh well!  Let's bluff our way in.  As we enter the hotel we find ourselves on a floor of well dressed businessmen and women.  Feeling under-dressed we ask for directions to the observation deck restaurant.  We are escorted through the building into a corner where a receptionist ushers us to a lift hidden in the corner.  Obviously it is difficult to access the floor where we are going.  She shoos us into the lift and while standing outside presses the button to floor 74!  I nearly die.  Pam laughs at the expression on my face - priceless!  I had no idea it was so high up that we were going.

We exit the lift and are greeted by more staff and shown to our booked table by the window.  What an amazing view.  A reservation card with my name on it is waiting for us.  We are seated, offered a hot towel and sit back to enjoy the treat.   Looking around we're pleased to see that most others on this floor are casually dressed and are there more for the view than anything.

Our three tiered tray arrives and we sample the delicious morsels of food.  What to start with, decisions, decisions?

Another wow moment in Abu Dhabi.

As we were unable to eat all the sweet treats I ask for a doggy bag to take it home.  After about 20 minutes (while I'm silently dying up there) I call the waitress over and ask what it taking so long.  Pam and I had joked that they'd had to go out and buy a bag to put it in.  Well we were right, they'd had to send out for a box to put the food in.  After 30 minutes it finally arrived.  But wait, it gets even better.  Along with the box comes a form - a waiver form saying I'll not hold them responsible for me taking food away.  I had to put what I was taking and why.  It was like signing your life away.

Another only in Abu Dhabi moment.

While we were waiting for this we checked out the bathrooms.  This is becoming a pastime of ours and I couldn't resist a few snaps.

Finally we head home to a well earned sleep to see what the morning will bring.  Setting the alarm for 2am I crash by 8pm.

I'm relieved to say that I got up, dosed myself up with medicine and caught a taxi at 3.30am downtown to catch the Emirates bus to Dubai to begin the next leg of our journey.