Jan & Ron's Adventures

National Day Celebrations

2011-11-30T16:10:00.001+04:00

This week end the UAE is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Today at our college we had some celebrations to mark the occasion.

The staff dress up in traditional dress and the whole college is decorated in the national colours. We have traditional dancing, games, a photographic exhibition, a competition for the most adorable child and the best decorated car.

It all started at 10AM this morning and will culminate at 7PM this evening, when the RAK Crown Prince will help release balloons in the national colours into the air.

I've included a few pictures to give you some idea of what happened.


Even the houses in our street have been decorated.


Jan & her class


Me and my class


Jan & I in National dress.


Our lovely decorated college.


The UAE flag made from balloons.


Jan & I with one of the adorable children.


Me and one of Jan's students with his children.


Traditional dancing

It was a fun day and congratulations to the UAE on its 40th anniversary. They have come a long way since 1971!

Pam & Keith in the UAE

2011-11-22T16:07:00.001+04:00

Last Thursday, Jan's sister Pam and her husband Keith, arrived in the UAE en route from Jordan to South Africa. They had one night in RAK before we whisked them off back to Dubai for the weekend. Jan & Pam were booked into a photographic workshop for the Friday & Saturday, and Keith & Ron were looking forward to a bit of R&R.

The girls had a great time taking pictures out in the dessert on the Friday and then on Saturday it was buildings. Then they learned some Photoshop techniques to 'tidy up' their photos.

I've included a few of Jan's photos here so that you can see what they were up to.

A quick trip to South Korea!!

2011-11-13T19:06:00.001+04:00

We knew the Eid holiday was coming up and the calendar said it would be three days. But in the past HCT have extended it to to a whole week and so we decided to bite the bullet and book a holiday for the week.

As Jan has been very actively involved of late with a group of teachers from the Men's & Women's colleges in teaching them how to make hanji products (see Jan's blog), we decided to go to South Korea and make contact with some shops that she bought some materials from recently and renew our acquaintances with the Andong paper factory.

We nearly didn't make it because we were told that the holiday was definitely only going to be three days!!! However, at the last minute we got an e-mail to say that they had decided to give all the colleges the whole week off. Hooray!!!

We flew out of Dubai on Cathay Pacific on the Friday afternoon, and after a few hours stop-over in Hong Kong, arrived in Seoul late on the Saturday evening. The hotel that Jan had picked from Booking.com was really great. Our room had a 42" 3D TV (complete with 5.1 surround sound), 2 PCs with unlimited Internet access, free wi-fi, a/c, ondol (heated flooring) , an O2 generator, steam room/shower, jacuzzi and an all singing all dancing toilet seat that squirted and blow dried every private part (both male and female)!!!!!

We had a great time shopping in Seoul, got to the paper factory in Andong and manged to squeeze in a quick trip to the DMZ. We pigged out on Korean food and really had a fabulous relaxing week. Our suitcases were much fuller on the way home and Jan can't wait to go back again next April, hopefully with one or two of her hanji group.

Check out the pictures in the Photo Albums.

Another week goes by.

2011-10-22T12:21:00.000+04:00

Just a quick update on the week's happenings before I tell you more about our summer holiday (is that a cue for a song?).

Last Thursday HCT and Cambridge University hosted a joint conference for ESOL teachers at Dubai Men's College. HCT has decided that it would be a good idea to use the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) as a guideline to describe the achievements of both Arabic & English learners in the UAE. In this way, it will be easier for teachers and employers alike to compare qualifications and see how they relate to one another. This maybe gobbledigook to many of you, but it's an important step for education in the UAE. The Minister of Education gave the opening address and then presented a cheque to Cambridge.


His Highness Sheikh Nahayan addressing the delegates.

Later in the afternoon, Jan & I went to Mirdif City Centre, one of our more moderate shopping malls, for coffee and cake and a quick bit of shopping before heading back to RAK. The mall currently has a promotion where you can enter in a draw to win a limited edition gold plated ipad 2! Jan & I put in an entry each, but goodness knows what will happen if I win it?

Jan taking a picture of the aforementioned ipad with her iphone.

One of our colleagues has suggested that we could melt it down! Maybe not.

Brussels: July 2011

2011-10-15T21:12:00.001+04:00

Now, where was I?
Oh, that's right, we were about to board a train bound for Brussels after having spent a very enjoyable few days in Paris. As we were staying at different hotels, we arranged to meet Heather & Neil the following morning at the station to catch our train to Brussels.

It was a very pleasant, albeit short trip, and we were soon speeding through the streets of Brussels towards the Dominican hotel where we were to spend the next few days. The hotel had been built on the site of an old abbey, hence the name. Heather and Neil had stayed here before, but it was our first visit to Brussels.

We were all pretty excited because before leaving Australia, Heather had booked us all tickets to see the Ommegang festival, a once a year spectacular (Jan had also thought about booking tickets and when she rang Heather to tell her about it, Heather had to tell her that she'd already booked the tickets and it was going to be a surprise!!) . Here in the Grand Place in Brussels the ghosts of Charles the Fifth and his nobles would pay a visit to the splendidly plumed magistrates. But that was in a couple of days and there was lots to do before then.

As most people would know, Brussels is famous for two things: beer and chocolate. It was our intention to sample both! We did a city tour and got to see how chocolate pralines are made and obviously we bought some to take home. Some made it home to the UAE, some didn't!

We had some great meals and Neil did his very best to introduce me to as many Belgian beers as he could.

We went to a musical instrument museum that was amazing and couldn't help but think that Jan's dad would have loved it. We did quite a bit of walking and often found ourselves in some quaint little back street. We had decided not to eat breakfast in the hotel (I'm not a great lover of hotel buffet breakfasts) but to get out and have breakfast with the locals. Well we found a nice little cafe the first morning in a beautiful mall just off the Grand Place, and subsequently went back there for breakfast every morning. There is just something about orange juice, croissant, cheese, jam and coffee!

One day we decided to take the train to Bruges. So we headed down to the station, and while Jan & Heather bought our tickets, I bought some pastries to eat on the way. When we arrived in Bruges we took a taxi to the town centre as it was market day. But first we needed breakfast as we'd left Brussels early and so hadn't eaten. Unfortunately it started to rain and it just got heavier and heavier. None of us had bought raincoats or umbrellas. It was summer wasn't it! Breakfast over and still raining we thought it can't last so we'll go for a walk round the market which was held in the town square, to see what was on offer.

It continued to rain and we were getting pretty cold so we found a department store and bought a coat and an umbrella each. Luckily by the time lunchtime came, the rain had cleared up and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day. A ride on a horse and buggy, a beer in a local bar to soak up the atmosphere, a nice walk around the back streets, lunch, another chocolate shop, another beer and then we caught the bus back to the station and then the train back to Brussels. An exhausting but fun day despite the rain.

See the photo albums for more photos of Brussels and Bruges.

Look out for The Atomium, a monument built in 1958 for the Brussels World's Fair exhibition. It was designed by André Waterkeyn in the shape of a metal molecule which when magnified 165 billon times will look the Atomium structure. The entire structure is made of 9 interconnected steel spheres that tower at 102 meters tall. It weighs a massive 2400 tones. All the spheres are exhibition halls.

Eventually of course, all good things must come to an end. Heather and Neil were staying on for a few more days but Jan & I had a train to catch back to London and Darius and Kristi's new house.

See you back in England.

Jazzing the Gulf

2011-10-09T21:11:00.000+04:00

Last Friday night, Jan & I had the unique opportunity to experience the first visit to the Gulf Region of the German Youth Jazz Orchestra. The concert was entitled "Jazzing the Gulf".

From the information brochure

They were in Abu Dhabi last week and then in Dubai last Friday. We travelled down to Dubai late Friday morning, called in to the brand new Jones the Grocer for a fantastic lunch (there's even one in Adelaide!), went to the Mall of the Emirates (where that famous ski slope is) to pick up the tickets and then checked into the Media Rotana Hotel where we had decided to spend the night instead of travelling back to RAK as we had done last week.

After a bit of a rest we got dressed and headed over to the Mall and the DUCTAC theatre for what proved to be a great concert. The band members are all aged between 17 & 24 and they had three conductors who took turns in conducting. A short video of part of the performance follows:

Slept in on Saturday morning, did a bit of shopping, and arrived home late afternoon. All in all a great weekend. The Blues Brothers are coming up next in a few weeks so stay tuned for more updates.

Oh, and I haven't finished telling you about our holidays yet.

Now back to the last holiday.

2011-10-01T16:51:00.001+04:00

We were very lucky again this last summer holiday, in that Jan's sister was also going to be in Europe part of the time that we were there. So we arranged to meet up first in Paris and then go on to Brussels. We would also see them later in London, but that's another story.

After spending a lovely few days with Darius, Kristi and Lucian in their Belsize Park apartment, we caught the early morning Eurostar train to Paris. And what a lovely trip that was. Speeding through the English countryside as the sun came up and then before you knew it, we'd gone under the English Channel and we were in France. It was then just a short trip to Paris. Before leaving the UK we'd bought a three day Paris Metro pass so that we wouldn't have to worry about trying to buy tickets once we were there. My French is practically non-existant so I didn't want to chance it. As we were going back to the UK after our little side trip, we left some of cases with Darius & Kristi and so we didn't have too many to carry on the train. The Paris Metro was really good (once we'd worked out which train to catch) and Jan had picked a hotel very close to a Metro station so we didn't have too far to walk.

Our hotel was in an area called Trocadero and wasn't very far from the Eiffel Tower and the Seine.


The Eiffel Tower

Lots of cafes to choose from!

There were lots of cafes and we could sit and have breakfast, lunch or dinner with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The Seine was only a few minutes walk away and so we took a trip on a boat and lazed away as we took in the sights on the river.

Ron enjoying the sights!

We had one day to ourselves and then Heather and Neil arrived the next day. We were then able to take in the shops and sights with them and share a few meals and the odd glass of French wine. We went to Fauchon and sampled their fare and checked out the amazing ceiling in Galeries Lafayette.

Lunch at Fauchon

That amazing ceiling built in 1912

Jan and some locals enjoying the sun

One last look at the Eiffel Tower, a walk round the Arc de Triomphe and it was on the train to Brussels.

Ron, Heather & Neil

OK, I came back.

2011-10-01T10:44:00.000+04:00

Well, I bet that surprised you! I'm going to do things a little out of order today because I want to tell you where Jan & I went last Thursday evening first.

Jan had seen an advertisement during the week for a concert that was on at the theatre in Madinat Jumeriah (a modern version of a traditional Arabic souk), Dubai. It was a guy that we didn't know, but he was doing the music of Queen. Jan thought it might be fun and promptly booked two tickets for Thursday. It meant going down to Dubai after work and probably getting back pretty late. But hey, Friday is the week end for us and we could sleep in.

So we drove down straight from work, had some dinner first and then went for a walk around the souk. In one of the shops I saw this globe and instantly fell in love with it. So I bought it. It's now sitting on the desk in our study.

Then we went to the concert. It was fantastic!! We were five rows from the front and he was just great in our opinion. He had the whole theatre (which was packed) rocking in the aisles, literally. We stopped off for coffee on the way home and got to bed a little after midnight. Don't ask what time we got up on Friday though. No, I said don't ask!

A change of writer.

2011-09-24T16:46:00.000+04:00

Jan has decided that it's time I took back the job of posting to our blog. She has done it (or not done it some would say) for a while now but has her own hanji blog to look after now and finds two too many. Plus all the other things that she's engaged in! So, here goes.

Firstly, no promises as to how often I'm going to do this. Going by what I've said in the past, I obviously have trouble keeping promises! It also looks like our photo albums could do with a bit of an update!

I see Jan told you a little about our summer holidays and the fun we had with our six grandchildren. And my how they've grown since I saw them last. So what I'll try and do over the next few posts is write a little bit about what else we did and who we caught up with during the long break. For those of you who read Jan's facebook, you might already know some of these things but I am told that not everybody has a facebook account. Shock, horror.

We live in a two story house and have had a wireless network running in the house for a while now. However, it has not been very successful as the modem and wireless router are upstairs and the signal is pretty weak downstairs. As our computers are upstairs it wasn't too much of a problem except the Apple TV used to drop out all the time and I got very fed up with having to continually log it on again. Last year, after talking to Darius (eldest son) I bought one of those gizmos that allows you to use your house wiring as a LAN and haven't had any trouble since. However, with the introduction of i-pads into the household it has been a problem again with the weak downstairs signal. I've been debating about what to do for a while now and finally bit the bullet yesterday and bought a wireless access point that I could connect directly to the previously mentioned gizmo. Hey Presto!! Full signal downstairs now allowing Jan to play her internet scrabble games from any chair that she wants to.

OK, that's enough of all that for now. I have other jobs to do so will sign off for now. But, I'll be back.

Yes I will. I promise.

Oh so long.........

2011-09-13T21:05:00.003+04:00

Tamika & Jasmine

Isaac

I can't believe that it's been so long since we wrote anything on our blog.

We had thought that not many people were reading our posts anymore so with time commitments and a sense of moving on we stopped writing.

During our summer break we were asked by so many of our friends why we haven't been keeping it up so here we are once again folks.

Angus

I'd like to dedicate this post to our 6 wonderful grandchildren, Jasmine, Tamika, Isaac, Lucian, Angus and Talia. We were able to catch up with them all during our long holiday and, although it entailed travelling half way around the world to see them all, it was worth it.

Talia

Jasmine and Tamika our eldest have been at school now for almost a year and are growing quite tall, which isn't surprising considering their parents. They love playing together and cajoling Angus into playing Mothers and Fathers with them.

We have three grandsons all born within within 6 months of one another.

Isaac has his birthday first and we happened to be in Adelaide to share in his 3rd birthday celebrations. His party was held at a Play Gym Cafe (a first for us) where the children get to play on the indoor equipment whilst the adults can sit, chat and have a coffee. When the children were ready to eat, out came the cake as well as other goodies for them all to enjoy.

Lucian is in London and the next eldest and he likes music, books and playing with his Duplo. Most days when we were there he would say, 'Nan/Pop will you play with me?'. He loves building things and he has a great imagination.

Lucian

Angus the youngest of the three boys is growing into quite a little man as he tries to keep up with his two older sisters Jasmine and Tamika. He stands up to his sisters when he has to but he also has a very endearing and gentle nature.

Talia our youngest is a toddler who enjoys running around everywhere and copying her older brother whom she adores.

Jasmine, Tamika and Isaac all managed a sleepover at Nan and Pop's and we were able to have some special time with each of them as well as share in some family get togethers. Sean and Leanne even put on a Christmas in July for us which was a lovely surprise.

They're all amazing children and a true credit to their parents.

I'm sure I've used this saying before but 'Grandchildren (truely) complete the circle of Love'

2011-02-15T08:36:00.002+04:00

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Turkey

2011-02-08T21:19:00.002+04:00

What does your mind think of when you think of Turkey? All I knew of it was that it was a vibrant city of 17 million people which has a lot of history. I'd read about it in some Turkish novels about the beautiful Blue Mosque and the fact that it was situated very close to the Bosphorous Sea.

Well all this became very real for Ron and I when we visited Turkey in late January and these first photos are of the city of Istanbul on the Bosphorous and the Blue Mosque.

The inside of the Blue Mosque was covered with blue tiles, hence it's name and I'd expected to get some good photos of the tiles but they've somehow managed to suspend lights across the entire inside making it difficult to photograph because of all the electrical wiring suspended from the ceiling. Nevertheless I could see beauty in the fittings themselves and photographed right through them !!!!

Another amazing site we visited was the Hagia Sophia or Church of Holy Wisdom which is a Byzantine church dedicated in 536. Architects today still marvel at the design which was quite unique and ahead of it's time. During it's history it was converted to a Mosque therefore they added the huge Arabic signs on the walls but fortunately they didn't destroy the Christian paintings and early Christian mosaics. It's now a Museum. We spent hours in there soaking up the atmosphere and wandering around the building where people a century ago also trod.

During our stay in Istanbul I (Jan) turned 60!!!! To celebrate we went to the Pera Palace Hotel in the evening for dinner. It used to be the Hotel that they would put up the people travelling on the original Orient Express and it's just recently been done up. The story goes that Agatha Christie also spent a lot of time in the Hotel therefore the restaurant is now called the Agatha Restaurant. The fittings were superb, the decor was spectacular and the food was to die for. Both Ron and I said afterwards that we'd never had a better fine dining meal experience before and it was all we could have asked for to help celebrate my birthday in this amazing city.

We saw the Grand Bazaar markets, the Spice Souk, the Topkapki Palace and Taxsim square. We rode the trams, trains and took taxis and went for a couple of ferry rides on the Bosphorous right up as far as the Black Sea. The food throughout our stay was fantastic with lots of fresh European type salads, seafood, kebabs, meatballs and yiros type sandwiches. They even have some half decent wines available which we tried whenever we could. This picture was taken at a fish restaurant at a little fishing village out near the entrance to the Black Sea. The cat was pleading with me for some food until the waiter went and chased him away. I'm sure he would have come back to try it on the next customers sitting at that table.

We also took a day trip to Gallipoli. It's around 450kms from Istanbul but we decided as Aussies(1 real one and 1 by default) we had an obligation to visit this famous site. We hired a driver and when we got there we had a guide who showed us around for about 3 hours. They were both terrific and as we travelled down and back we learnt a lot about the Turkish people and their culture through talking to the driver and in Gallipoli we had a young guide who was passionate about the history of the First World War and he'd really done his research so we learnt such a lot from him as well. We came away very pleased we'd taken the time to go and confident in the fact that the Turkish people are very much our friends but quite reflective on the senselessness of war.

This is just little of what we did in the 10 days we were away but I hope it gives you a glimpse of Turkey and I really hope you may be able to visit there one day, we would love to return and experience it in the warmer weather and see more of the country.

365 day Photographic Diary

2011-01-22T17:03:00.001+04:00

I've decided to make a new Year's Resolution. This year it is to make a 365 day Photography Diary.

This means that every day of the year I will take at least one photograph and each week there is to be a particular theme.

This should help me to get to know my camera better and help me focus on a particular theme. This weeks theme is 'macro'.

Now I don't have a macro lens for my camera so it's made me work out ways that I can get around this problem and make the most of the lenses I do have. They aren't true macro but mainly just closeups.Here are a sample of photos I've taken over the last few days.

Sheba & Pushkin ........

2011-01-13T15:48:00.002+04:00

Last year I posted a photo of our cat Pushkin. This is Pushkin's mother, Sheba. We've had her for nearly 3 years now and she's about 3 1/2 years old. She has a lovely gentle nature and loves to jump onto my knee in the evenings if I'm watching TV. She's always waiting outside our door in the mornings ready for a rub against our legs and a walk down the stairs with us. We've grown very fond of her and especially look forward to seeing her when we return from work and she's waiting at the gate. Pushkin is still with us and the two of them follow one another around. If one is sitting on the chair then the other one wants to be there as well. If I'm at the computer they both want to be lying on the desk. They give us a lot of enjoyment so I thought I'd share just a little about them here on the blog.

Amateur Photographers

2011-01-01T21:02:00.006+04:00

During Darius and Kristi's stay Darius and I managed to walk down to the corniche and take a few photos of the mosque. Here are some of our

photographs.

Happy New Year 2011 !!!

2011-01-01T20:40:00.005+04:00

We hope you've all had a great festive season spent with family and friends. We were fortunate enough to have Darius, Kristi and little Lucian visit us here in RAK in late December on their way back to Australia.

We managed to fit in quite a few things in the short time they were here including a trip into Oman to Mussandam and a day on the waters of the Arabian Gulf. We had an early morning start one morning to see the camel races following by brunch at the Hilton Hotel and a visit to one of my student's properties to see his animals followed by a wonderful spread of food in his home.

Thank you Saeed you were a wonderful host.

It was also great to be able to share gifts from under the Christmas tree with family as well.

Here are a few photos of what we got up to. Darius and I spent a lot of time taking photographs and with his wide angle lens he took some amazing pictures. The one at the beginning of this post is a good example of what he was able to capture of the beauty of Mussandam.

Knee Replacement

2010-10-18T11:54:00.002+04:00

If you've been wondering what I've been doing with my time lately I've had a bit of repair work done on my left knee.
So here 'tis .............

My New Bionic Knee .......

Switzerland

2010-10-18T11:23:00.002+04:00

Well folks it was a long time coming but I've finally put together some of our photos from Switzerland. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed the experience that was, 'Switzerland by Rail'. Ron visited Switzerland as a schoolboy of 14 so there was some nostalgic elements for him in the trip 48 years later !!!!! It was wonderful to be able to meet up with Heather, Neil and Ian in Montreaux and spend a couple of days exploring the area together.
The picture on the heading is a panoramic shot of Lake Geneva at sunset from our hotel balcony.

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London beat........

2010-08-31T21:44:00.001+04:00

Airports, Immigration, customs, baggage claims, different beds, pillows, people and places........

This was our life for the Summer of 2010.

As you'll see by our previous blogs we left the UAE for the summer break and headed to some different and some more familiar places to catch up with family and friends as well as to explore new places along the way.

We did so much and there's so much to tell but for now here is a snippet of our time in the UK through photography.

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San Francisco there we went........

2010-08-06T21:24:00.012+04:00

Golden Gate Bridge

From New Zealand we headed over to San Francisco. It was to be our first visit to the west coast of the USA and we weren't disappointed with what we saw. To make things easy we got a hop on hop off bus pass for 48 hours and became 'real' tourists for a few days. It's not normally our thing to be taken around with loads of other tourists but sometimes with time at a premium we've found it the best way to cover all the highlights of a sprawling city.

Fisherman's wharf

Powell St Cable car

It is mid summer and school holidays here in the northern hemisphere so things were pretty crowded but we managed to get around to some interesting sights and take lots of photos. The cable car stopped right outside our hotel so we headed to Fisherman's wharf to sample their famous seafood chowder. It wasn't as rustic as I had expected as my vision was of fishermen hauling in their loads for the day and plonking them on the wharf, yelling out to find the highest bidder for their catch. It must happen somewhere on the wharf but it wasn't obvious to us as we wandered along the road. It's very touristy with lots of souvenir shops, restaurants, take away places and amusement parks . All that being said, it was interesting to actually be there and to see the giant crabs and the myriad of different types of seafood being cooked on the streets right in front of our eyes.

Painted Ladies

We visited the brightly coloured 'Painted ladies', a row of seven beautifully restored Victorian houses in Alamo Square. *The same term used to apply to prostitutes in the old days (in an era when prostitutes would wear cosmetics unlike respectable women who didn't).* We ventured over the Golden Gate bridge to a lovely seaside town called Sausalito and stopped to see where only the rich and famous can afford to live and enjoy a quieter and more relaxed lifestyle, except for all the tourists spoiling their little corner of the world !!!!
We went to a silent film festival screening of an old French film from the early 1930's and stepped around the corner from our hotel in Union Square to see a premier performance of the musical the 'Fantasticks'. It was brilliant with top class performers and singers who've appeared on Broadway, TV and in movies.

House mural

One of the things I wanted to get in the US was an ipad so we headed for the Apple store only to find they were out of stock and it would take about a week to get :( After some investigations we found out that they had some at Santa Rosa which was out of town. At 4pm in the afternoon we hopped on a bus and 1 1/2 hours later reached the store, bought an ipad each and then hopped back on the bus for another 2 1/2 hour ride back to San Francisco. The later bus wasn't an express but we were happy knowing we had achieved our goal and we had them at last. They're fantastic by the way and they've been extremely useful during our travels.

Where we have been.

2010-08-06T13:24:00.003+04:00

Loyal readers of our blog must be wondering where we have been for the last month. Some of you we've actually been able to catch up with in person and others unfortunately we haven't. Well, after leaving Australia, we headed to New Zealand to stay with some good NZ friends of ours who are working in the UAE but who were back on leave in their home country.

Auckland - July'10

Pink sheep, a 2000 year old Kauri tree and a trip to a family pine plantation, these were some of the things we did and saw with our NZ friends Grant and Julie.

We were met at the airport and soon we were whisked away to spend some time in the Northlands of NZ. For those of you, who like me had never heard this term, it is that area north of Auckland and including the ninety mile beach at the very tip of the north island. Grant's family has owned a pine plantation of considerable size for nearly 40 years now. They have a holiday home on the plantation site where generations of the Anderson family have spent many a peaceful weekend enjoying nature and solitude amongst the pines. The trees take around 28 years before they reach maturity, are cut down and logged. The property is managed by an eccentric 'muso' caretaker who draws from the peace and quiet inspiration for his songwriting and his creative energies.

The weather was great for this time of the year and we managed sunny days for the majority of our time there. We were taken to the Bay of Islands, ninety mile beach, past quaint country towns and many dairy farms. We were surprised at how there seemed to be a great abundance of cattle compared to sheep these days and apparently it's all to do with the farmers need to diversify in these economic times. We did see an amazing sight though of pink sheep on the hillside. We didn't stop to ask why !!!!

In our travels we past through the Waipoua Forest with the oldest known Kauri tree in NZ which is purportedly around 2000 years old. It's called Te Matau Ngahere, or "Father of the forest" and measures approximately 800 rings.

Read more: Kauri Tree Facts | eHow.com

After a few wonderful days up north we spent some time looking around Auckland itself. We visited the museum, many different restaurants, the volcanic 'one tree hill' and some of the wonderful parks throughout the city. We were impressed by the size and complexity of the city and like most places we've visited we'd love to return to explore it some more.

All good things must come to an end....

2010-07-06T05:16:00.010+04:00

Another few weeks have passed and we must be moving on.

We've been enjoying almost a month of catching up with family and friends. Life has been busy as we've tried to cram into a few weeks what we would normally have done over a period of six months or more, if we were living here in Adelaide, South Australia.

We've travelled from Mc Claren Vale to Mawson Lakes to spend nights, whole days, a mealtime or even just a few hours with our family, children, grandchildren and many of our special friends.

Some people we've known since childhood, some we've met and worked with over the years both here in Adelaide, in Korea or in Malaysia.

Many of our family and friends have taken the opportunity to visit us overseas and have enjoyed holidays with us and developed an understanding of where we are, what we're doing and what we're about.

Farewell adieu, we will return ...........

Hats Off to Summer and Housewarming Party.

2010-06-04T18:12:00.001+04:00

Last night we celebrated with our friends in our new home an end of semester, house warming and summer party. We've managed to get all our boxes unpacked in the last 2 weeks and it was time to invite our friends over as we all wind down to the end of our academic year.

Next week is the beginning of the mass exodus of expats to their home countries as we all enjoy a 10 week break from the College and it'll be almost 3 months before the students return to their studies.

The theme of the night was 'Hats' and most people got into the spirit of the evening and wore a hat that had a story behind it. During the evening they were expected to tell their story to the people they were chatting to. We had hats from Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Australia as well as a 'Bobby' hat and elegant coiffure.

A good evening was had by all and we're now looking forward to our leave and meeting up with you all down in OZ, NZ and in the UK.

Villa #10

2010-05-28T07:30:00.005+04:00

As many of you are aware, last weekend we moved into a new villa as the owner wanted to move back into the place we'd been in for the last 2 1/2 years. Although we were disappointed at first because we'd been quite happy there, circumstances had changed.They'd just started building 3 new villas at the beginning of the dirt road where we used to live and because of the heat they were working on it at allhours of the early morning and night dumping cement and dirt . Along with this we'd had an influx of stray cats into the area. As our cats are quite sensitive Persian, shorthairs they were frightened to leave the security of their house. This meant that it wasn't as quiet and peaceful as it use to be and with extra noise, dust and cats we realised it was probably a blessing in disguise.We've found a new place that meets our needs and we've spent a very busy week getting things done so we can be well settled before we head off on our leave. The cats, Pushkin and Sheba have settled into the place really well and are now happy to wander outside and investigate their new surroundings. They're fascinated by the pool as they've never seen such a mass of water before let alone people swimming in it !!!!!!!

Here's just a couple of photos to show you where we are living.

Grandchildren

2010-05-24T13:45:00.005+04:00

I thought I'd share with you some of the latest pictures we've received of our gorgeous grandchildren.

Laura gave birth to Talia Maye on April 19th at Calvary Hospital in Adelaide. On the left we have her proud little brother Isaac, holding his baby sister. She's like a little doll and we can't wait to meet her for the first time in a few weeks when we go back to Adelaide during our summer break and to give her and Isaac lots of cuddles as only a Nan and Pop can do.

To the right is Jasmine, Tamika and Angus. I love this photo as they all look so happy. Jasmine and Tamika will be starting school in July and they're very excited to have Nan and Pop coming to sleep over with them in their house. They often talk to us on the computer and have little chats about what they've been doing which is lovely. Sean and Leanne have their hands full with 3 children under 5 but they have a good routine which the children respond to really well.

Here we have little Lucian sitting in their sunroom in London and enjoying the sunshine. He's always such a happy little fellow(or maybe we just get the photographs where he's smiling). Darius and Kristi arrived in London about a month ago and are settling in to a different way of life and learning to cope with the English weather. They are old hands at this now after living in New York for 2 years and experiencing what it is to move countries. Hopefully they will find a nice place to live very soon and be able to settle in to their new lifestyle and enjoy what the UK has to offer.

These are our six grandchildren who mean the world to us ....... spread across the world.

'Grandchildren complete the circle of love'

Pam & Philip in the UAE

2010-05-11T21:05:00.004+04:00

Wonders will never cease as my cousin Philip & his wife Pam, our longtime friends, ventured here to the UAE to visit us. It was a wonderful surprise for Pam on her 60th birthday when Philip went out and bought tickets for them both to travel to this part of the world and gave them to her as a surprise. Only 5 years ago they hadn't left Australia and nervously they set out on their first adventure to a foreign country when they came to visit us in Malaysia in 2005. They enjoyed it so much and now they are less nervous about travelling overseas and they are excited to be able to meet us in a different country, experience a different culture and visit new places.

We made the most of their time with us and we went out on one of our student's boats in the 'Khor' where he took us to see the old souk, the fish market and a popular spot with locals for eating and smoking shisha. We also caught up with the boat that was launched recently that I mentioned in a previous blog. It's now afloat and docked where the hull's being fitted out with rooms, decking and cargo storage areas. This process will take another 12 -18mths before it'll be ready to ply trade along the ancient sea routes between India and the Middle East.

We also did a day trip up to Mussandam , 'Norway of the Middle East' where we went out on a wooden dhow and spent 61/2 hrs relaxing, looking at the amazing scenery and going swimming in the waters of the Arabian Sea.

They've now moved on to visit Malaysia and spend some time in Kuala Lumpur and Penang before heading back to Adelaide and their home in Naracoorte. Thanks for visiting us guys.............. it's always great to be able to spend some quality time with you and to show you our interesting life in this part of the world.

HCT Annual Rowing race

2010-04-13T14:56:00.000+04:00

Last Thursday was the annual HCT rowing race here on the Ras Al Khaimah Khor (This is like a small bay where the water comes in from the sea). There were 6 teams from different Higher Colleges of Technology; they were Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Madinat Zayed, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah. The students were competing for the trophy and the honour of being the best HCT rowing team in the country.

Rowing is not normally seen as a common sport in the middle east because as you can imagine, it's better known for it's sandy deserts and lack of water.

Fortunately there is a wonderful coastline in the UAE which is on the Arabian Sea. The course ran for around 2 kms and the race took about 15 mins to complete. Some of the teams came from inland areas where there is no opportunity at all to practice locally or regularly but they all got into the spirit of the race and gave it their very best.

As I was one of the photographers I was fortunate enough to be out in the starter boat and to see the race up close. I'm pleased to say that Ras Al Khaimah came out the winners for the 3rd year in a row. They fielded an excellent team and although it was a very close race, with the Sharjah team trying to paddle their way into the history books, they were beaten at the post by a stronger team on the day.

The day was rounded off with a BBQ at the finish line and many new friends were made and old friendships were renewed.

Birthday Boy

2010-04-03T15:42:00.011+04:00

Another year has passed and birthdays come and go. It was Ron's turn yesterday..........

Here are some pictures and a short movie I made of what we got up to during the day. Check out the video.

It started by driving off to Dubai for breakfast and to see the Annual Dragon boat race held near the marina at Festival City. We watched a few heats and finding out that the finals weren't until the next day we then headed to a great Dutch restaurant that overlooks the marina where we ended up having brunch and watching the comings and goings of the boat race and it's participants. Another attraction was a helipad on the wharf so we watched helicopters come and go taking sightseers for 15 min joy rides over Dubai and up and down the coastline. Something we must do one day but you need to book in advance ........ A model helicopter just happened to be a present for his birthday. (Sorry about the quality of the video and the lack of zooming as it was taken with my phone )

Sketches..........

2010-03-24T22:06:00.005+04:00

The other day as I was sorting through my many thousands of photos I came across these scanned copies of drawings by two different artists and I thought I'd share them with you.

They were drawn by two of Ron's students in Dungun, Malaysia. The sleepy little fishing village on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia where we were first posted by CfBT in the first 2 years of our contracts there. The drawings were sketched during some of the teacher training courses Ron was involved in way back in 2004. When I came across them it made me think and I had so many questions relating to when and how they were drawn.

Were the students so bored they felt the need to doodle during class? How well were they listening? What did they get out of their lessons (this is the teacher coming out in me now)? How long did it take them? Do they do this in every teacher training session? Are they professional sketchers? All I could come up with was, they seem like some very talented doodlers!!!!

The one on the left was written affectionately, 'special for Mr Ron' and signed by the artist himself so obviously he thought a lot of his teacher and he was proud of his own work. He's drawn his 'Mr Ron' as a balding westerner with a blue shirt and pink tie on. I can't remember him ever wearing that combination !!! Ron is standing and drawing on the board, hopefully instructing his student well in how to teach English in his kampong school.

For the vast majority of these teachers this would have been their first time being taught by a westerner and therefore the experience was unique as they grappled with the different methodologies being used in teaching English. Maybe it got too much for him and he needed a creative outlet.

The drawing to the right is a face on, head and shoulders pen drawing sketched by one of the headmasters of a Primary School in the district. This depiction Ron look very severe (This is far from reality as in his classes he is always joking around). I wonder if Ron had caught him drawing and wasn't happy with his lack of attention in the lesson? This could explain why the right shoulder hasn't been completed or maybe this was just the artist's style. Am I trying to read too much into it?

They make you think though don't they. We'll never know what really happened during those classes but it's been fun guessing. Feel free to add your thoughts?

The weather is warming up.....

2010-03-15T21:07:00.004+04:00

A month or so ago the weather was quite wintry and on a Thursday evening we headed off up into the Hajjar mountains behind Ras Al Khaimah for one of our 'end of the working week BBQ's', a fire to keep us warm from the chilly winds, good company and a glass or two of wine.

Well those evenings will soon fade into the past as the weather begins to warm up.

The evening temperatures are now creeping up towards 20C so gone is the need for jackets and warm fires but not the need for get togethers with friends. They will take a different form. Now it may be a musical evening at someones house where we sit and listen to some of the many talented people from our community perform or a visit to the home of one of our students to meet their family and appreciate their hospitality.

But, this Thursday is St Patrick's Day, so as there is no need to be Irish to celebrate the day we'll be heading to the Sailing Club for a good Irish stew with potatoes washed down with green vodka as we sit outside listening to Irish jigs, watching the sail boats gently swaying with the ebb and flow of the tide and the water lapping at our feet. Oh to be sure, to be sure...............

Our life as expats in the UAE is not too bad folks ................

Boat building traditions

2010-03-01T17:19:00.002+04:00

Last Friday afternoon we got a phone call from a friend saying, "Grab your camera and come down to the sea near the fish markets, history is in the making !!!!".

I couldn't quite work out what was going on at first but once she settled down I found out that a boat was being launched into the sea and we mustn't miss it.

We jumped into the car and managed to see history in the making and to learn a lot about one of the many UAE traditions. Here's a little of what we found out.

The 30 metre long and 9 metre tall dhow (boat) will be able to carry 800 tonnes of cargo. It is being built by a local RAK craftsman, Mohamed Abdullah Buhaji who is now in his late 70's and is unsure as to whether he'll build any more. He started his working life as a Captain on boats such as these and he's travelled all over the Indian Ocean to places such as Basra, India, Somalia and Yemen. But for the last 50 years he's been boat building in RAK and he's now made over 100 boats both big and small, all made from wood with wooden pegs. He has from 15 to 20 workers at any one time and he wishes his children had taken on the trade but instead they all work in offices.
His daughter Fatima made a comment to the National Newspaper which said,

“For us, the fact that my father did it, it’s very fantastic. I want us to learn but it’s not in paper, it’s in his mind. Not any of my brothers or sons or sisters’ sons learnt to make the dhow.

The process of moving the boat had already taken 2 days when we arrived and it hadn't reached the water because Mohammed chose not only to build it using traditional methods of construction over a period of 2 years but also to use the traditional method of boat launching as well. It will take 4 days in total to get it to the sea as it's slowly drawn forward on rollers and wooden planks assisted by a pulley and the strength of his men. This form of launching dates back to the time of Noah!!!!

I discovered that these dhows are what brought most of the wealth to the town of Julphar, just a few kms north of RAK, during the 13th to 16th centuries as they plied the waters trading goods including highly prized pearls.

There are much faster ways of launching a boat but these locals take great pride in doing things the traditional way which includes chanting and singing as they toil. This may be the last time we see this type of boat being built and launched in this way. Most boat builders are now opting for faster ways of building and using materials such as fibreglass.

Ron shook Mohammed's hand and he smiled. It was an historic moment for us to meet the craftsman and to see this massive boat moving so slowly and yet so purposefully down to the sea, especially as it may be the last out of a long history of boat building in this region, dating back thousands of years.

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Beauty Contest

2010-02-13T18:17:00.004+04:00

This week has seen the end of the Camel Beauty Competition held over 10 days in the western quarter of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. There has been fierce competition with millions of dollars in prize money for the owners of the most beautiful camels and cars for the runner up prize winners.
You may think this is a joke but the asking price for a good camel is around A$500,000 and upwards to a staggering A$5,000,000 for a top breed.
Take a look at this CNN video to learn more about the competition and how they judge the camels.
The winner of this years competition was offered A$5,000,000 for his prized possession and he turned it down because it wasn't enough !!!!!!!

Raining in RAK

2010-02-06T21:47:00.006+04:00

This is an uncommon site here in the UAE as it doesn't rain very often but last night and today it's been pouring.

The last time I remember it raining like this was when Darius, Kristi and Lucian were visiting us on their way back to Sydney from New York.

It's winter season here but that normally only means a drop in temperatures from the mid 40's down to the mid 20's.

Unfortunately when it does rain we get a lot of flooding as, understandably, there are no storm water drains on the sides of the road and therefore it makes for some interesting driving conditions.

For the locals it's a good reason to get out and about and experience this rare phenomenon of water falling from the sky but for us, we just decided to get out of the house for a while and go for a ride to our local shopping centre!!!

It was a slow ride...............

Click to see the report from The Khaleej Times paper today.

Birthday surprise

2010-01-27T20:14:00.003+04:00

Another birthday has come and gone but what a wonderful surprise when I walked into class on Monday and the students presented me with a birthday cake with my picture on it.

They had sneakily taken my photo with one of the student's mobile phones in class the previous day then taken it in to be made into a completely edible chocolate and banana picture cake.

As you can imagine not much work got done in that lesson..........

Mid year break

2010-01-27T17:38:00.014+04:00

For those of you from Australia you are probably wondering about the title of this post. Well as we are now living in the northern hemisphere the Colleges here work on an academic year from September until June unlike the February to November teaching programs used 'down under'.

During our break Ron and I, along with our friends David and Suzy, flew to Kuala Lumpur where Ron stayed and I flew on to Oz to catch up with our family including the grandchildren. Ron played host to our UAE friends who were first time visitors to Malaysia and he also caught up with some of our Malaysian friends and sorted out some details to do with the condo.

Some of the highlights of my visit were in Sydney, going along to Parent's group in the park with Darius, Kristi and Lucian and then Darius and I spending a few very pleasant hours in the late afternoon and evening, even though he did walk me into the ground, on a photography shoot down in the Rocks area of Sydney Harbour. It's great that we can both share a love of photography.

In Adelaide I spent some time with both Laura and Sean and their families. Laura, Randall, Isaac and I met Sean &Jasmine and Tamika in the Adelaide markets for dinner then Laura and I went to view a movie in the outdoors at Botanical Park. I was delighted to see how Isaac is growing, and now running everywhere, he is a dear little boy. We had some quality time together then on the weekend we all met together with family and friends to help celebrate Angus, Sean & Leanne's little boy's, 1st birthday.

It was to have been held at the park but we got rained out in the middle of summer !!!!!!

At Sean & Leanne's, Jasmine and Tamika were on holiday from kindy and it was a nice surprise when Sean said he'd managed to get a few days off work so we all went on a trip to the zoo where Jasmine and Tamika delighted in showing me all the animals and posing for a multitude of photographs. Angus decided to chase the pigeons whilst we were having lunch and enjoyed time patting the animals in the Children's zoo area. As the day wore on we queued up to go and see the newly acquired pandas at the Adelaide zoo.

Time went so quickly but the memories linger on.

Jasmine Tamika

Oh the joys and possibilities of travel ................

Photo competition

2010-01-02T19:48:00.001+04:00

OK everyone I need your help!!!!! I've entered one of my photos in a Nikon Travel Photo competition and I need at least 100 votes. If you click on this link you can go to the website and cast your vote. Don't forget to tell your friends as well.

Thanks

Aladdin

2009-12-28T21:54:00.003+04:00

Pantomime time has come and past and after 3 months of rehearsals the Ras Al Khaimah Amateur Dramatic Society(RAKADS) put on their yearly Christmas performance and this year it was Aladdin. It was written, produced and directed by some of the local teachers with gags to amuse the local expats and their families.
Ron had a smaller role this year but nevertheless he still had a lot of lines to learn and he spent many an hour sweating over getting them just right. The pantomime was put on over 2 nights and attracted about 200 -250 adults and children. Jan was the designated official photographer so she spent about 4 nights taking about 1000 photographs.
The audience went away after a good night of entertainment saying they thought it was the best they'd seen in the last few years, the Director and Producer said there was so much work involved they wouldn't do it again and the cast was happy to get back to having evenings at home until later next year when, who knows what change of mind people will have and what new talent will hit this town because, the show must go on.....

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Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T21:10:00.011+04:00

It was a balmy evening with clear skies on Christmas Eve when people gathered in our house and on our front lawn to enjoy an evening of caroling, music and feasting. People brought treats that are popular in their own countries at this time of year so we ended up with a wide variety of food, mainly sweets such as mince pies, white christmas slice, peppermint slice, pavlova, chocolates and other fattening treats but whose worrying !!!!!!
Maybe to some it could seem like a 'non event' but here in a largely Islamic country it is quite unique and a time for expats to get together and create their own Christmas spirit where everything revolves around the muslim calendar and the many Islamic holidays.

We sang all the old favourite carols as we held our candles to help us read the words. Although it was on a very much smaller scale it reminded me of the times when we use to take the children to Carols by Candlelight in Elder Park in Adelaide. The main difference was not only the size but that this time we didn't need to drive there, find our little spot on the grass, put down our blankets and wait an hour or two before the proceedings began.
Christmas day on the other hand was a quiet affair as we slept in and then spent the rest of the day at home catching up on calls to family and friends and making the most of the time difference between here and Australia to catch people as they arrived home from their day out. In the evening we went to a nice restaurant for dinner with some friends from work and enjoyed a 5 course Christmas meal which included the traditional turkey and christmas pudding.
Back to reality today as we've headed back to work, exams and the marking of papers. Roll on the end of semester .........

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Egypt

2009-12-12T15:35:00.008+04:00

Friendly people, exposure to ancient historical monuments and an insight into why the Nile is the giver of life to so many people. These were our first insights into Egypt last week when we flew into Luxor to experience a little of what we'd read so much about.

We stayed in Luxor for 2 nights in a wonderful Hotel of only 12 rooms which was set in the outskirts of the city. The owner was an Irish woman who has lived there for 7 years and is a wealth of knowledge about the area and about the needs of people who don't want to be caught up in large tour groups but instead want to explore the district on their own or with guides who don't take you to places to buy products you're not interested in. It is a very poor country and one of the down sides was that everyone is very helpful and they want to do things for you, but for money of course. This got tiring after a while but you couldn't take offence knowing how underdeveloped most of the country is and what little money they earn.

Luxor is a bustling city, but with a country feel set on the east bank of the Nile River. Along the corniche there were many high end hotels and it had an organised feel about it but a kilometre away you saw the real Luxor with donkeys used extensively for transport, women carrying huge baskets of goods on their heads and children playing in the dirty, dusty and rubbish filled streets.

The west bank (Thebes) is a farming district and an important area for agriculture on the fertile plains of the river. It was also important during ancient times because of the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens and the Tombs of the Nobles. This is where the Egyptians Kings and Queens from as far back as 1600 BC were buried and archaeological diggings continue to this day. The tomb of Tutunkamen was discovered here earlier this century and to date they have found over 62 burial chambers. These are long corridors tunnelled into the Valley with ornately carved and painted walls with areas set aside to house goods and riches for the afterlife as well as the sarcophagus' in the antechambers at the end of the tunnels. The riches have all been stolen by the 'tomb raiders' over the years despite their attempts to hide the entrances to the tombs. The mummies that have been discovered are now mostly housed in the Cairo museum.

From Luxor we caught a local train down to Aswan about 220 kms away and joined a river cruise which was to take us back up the river to Luxor over 3 nights.

We were waiting at the station 15 minutes before our first class train was due to arrive and 3 hours later the train still hadn't come!!! After some enquiries we learnt that it was pretty normal for them to be between 1 and 3 hours late but on that particular day there had been a train derailment in Cairo which meant the train was running about 7 hours late!!!! After some negotiations between a guard and a train driver of one of the local trains, we hopped on the next train that came through and made it to Aswan about 4 hours late.

In Aswan we visited the High dam which was started in 1962 in a joint venture between the Soviet Union and Egypt and it took 30,000 workers 10 years to build. It's a hydroelectric dam but now, despite it's size, it's falling short of the electricity needs of the district.

We visited Philae temple a Greco Roman designed temple built for the Egyptian gods. The temple is on a small island which is not its original home but it was moved when the Dam was built to save it from being submerged. We also went sailing in a felucca on the Nile and enjoyed the peace of tranquility of being transported along the river by wind power as has been done by generations of Egyptians long before.

We then transferred onto our cruise ship and travelled along the Nile stopping to visit ancient monuments and temples such as Kom Ombo and the Temple of Edfu. Relaxing on the boat watching the people going about their business on the fertile banks of the river was an absolute highlight. The scenery changed constantly bringing so many photo opportunities which I hope I've been able to capture through some of the photos you'll see in the smilebox below. We passed through a lock at Esna then sailed on in to Luxor where we were transferred to our hotel then on to the airport to catch our flight back to the UAE.

It was a wonderful experience and we feeling very lucky to be living and working so close to so many countries with such colourful and long histories. We hope one day to go back there as there's so much more we haven't seen. This is the story of our life...................

Awafi

2009-11-28T14:53:00.003+04:00

As the semester is rapidly progressing we decided to spend one day this week enjoying a day out with the students. They organised the event and we headed to Awafi. You may remember some pictures of Awafi from a trip Jan made there last year. It's where the Emirati families spend time relaxing and enjoying the outdoors.

Common activities include quad biking, sand duning, riding Arabian horses and falconry. The students made sure we experienced most of these whilst they sat around smoking shisha and playing cards.

We were picked up from the College by one of the students and driven to Awafi where we were served drinks, lebanese bread and mountain honey. Once we were satisfied it was time to try riding a beautiful Arabian horse and to do some wheelies around the premises on a quad bike.

Next they drove in convoy to the sand dunes where they released the air pressure in their car tyres and drove at full speed at the sand dunes to see if they could reach the top. Sometimes they couldn't make it so we'd slide back down the hill and try again. Other times they were successful and they'd turn around and drive down again turning our stomachs but we enjoyed the experience.

The morning was completed when a car pulled up and unloaded food for a banquet including freshly caught and cooked tuna fish and crabs.

The importance of these outings is that they have an opportunity to show us a little of their rich culture. We spend everyday at College teaching them English and imparting a little of ourselves onto them and they really enjoy having the opportunity to show us their hospitality and generosity of spirit.

Yes, Ron is rubbing noses with one of his students. That's a sign of affection between men in this part of the world.

UAE National Day Celebrations

2009-11-28T13:11:00.001+04:00

December 2nd will be the United Arab Emirates 38th National Day. As the country is currently celebrating EID( a religious holiday) the College will be closed on that day therefore they decided to hold early celebrations. The festivities included faculty dressing in Emirati National Dress with a prize for the best dressed. The students were busy decorating the College with flags and Christmas like decorations all in red, black, green and white the colours of the UAE flag.

There were competitions where the students voted for the most originally dressed faculty member and a competition where the faculty voted for the best decorated car .

They put a lot of effort into this with everything from coloured bows over the body of the car to giant pictures of the Sheik glued to the windows.

The afternoon included some more traditional activities as well. There was a group of musicians

performing with drums and a row of elderly tribesmen on one side of the musicians and a row of younger performers on the other singing in chants and waving their camel sticks in the air.

The evening was concluded with a BBQ held on the College grounds where families were invited to come along and join in.

The streets of RAK are now lit up at night with Nationalistic banners, massive pictures of the sheik and fireworks displays. The festive mood is quite infectious as we move into the month of December and start to think about the onset of Christmas and our Festive season.

Trying out my new camera

2009-11-14T16:55:00.004+04:00

I've been getting a bit snap happy as I've bought a new Nikon DSLR camera with interchangeable lens. I've been taking photos for years but always with a point and shoot camera so I haven't needed to think too much so I'm on a steep learning curve as I work out shutter speeds, apertures, ISO and white balance.

I got up onto the roof the other day and took a series of photos of the view of the mountains from our place. (The view is on the heading of our blog and the College we work at is on the far right - you can see how close we are to work!!!!) They're normally only visible in the winter months and yet they're only a few kms away.

With my camera I took many photos of our cats. I won't bore you with too many so I'll choose just this one of Pushkin (Pushy) the younger of our two cats.

Guy Fawkes Night

2009-11-06T15:09:00.014+04:00

Remember when on Guy Fawkes night in Australia we'd faithfully follow the tradition of celebrating the anniversary of this colourful English character. We'd build a huge bonfire and let off a myriad of different fireworks in our back yards and they'd light up the sky to ooos and ahhhs of the adults and squeals of delight from the children !!!! In the UK this tradition still goes on but it was stopped in Australia because of the occasional setting alight to the thick, dry undergrowth and also because of the injuries sustained every year by unsupervised children playing with the fire and the fireworks.

Well, here in the UAE they don't have this tradition but a group of us decided to celebrate the occasion with a bonfire in the desert. So last night after work a group of us expats set off to the local quarry and built two huge bonfires, one for our food and one for the 'Guy'. The other nationalities in the group came along for the fun of it and to see what weird rituals us Brits and Aussies were going to perform. As dusk fell we gathered around the fire, recited a poem about Guy Fawkes then set fire to his effigy.

We couldn't get any fireworks so we had to be content with watching the flames of the fire as we cooked and ate our BBQs, drank some wine and caught up on the local gossip. A very relaxing evening was had by all........

PS. That is our 'Guy' sitting watching the fire before his fate was sealed forever.

Kombis

2009-10-30T17:23:00.007+04:00

As most of you would know we've always liked Kombi vans. Over the years we've had a few of our own and each one has been special starting from the old yellow one we bought before we were married, and shared with Ron's parents, it had doors that opened outwards and we had many a great time travelling in it. We even took it on our honeymoon to Sydney (but not with the parents)!!!!!!

As the children grew up we bought another and this time it was blue. We use to go camping in it with Ron, Jan & Laura sleeping on the double bed at the bottom and the boys sleeping on the top pull out bed. Double decker style. We then splurged and got a tent that attached to the side of it which helped with providing a bit more undercover space.

In 1995 we bought a 1975 fully converted blue and white Kombi which was in an amazing condition and although it was 20 years old it still purred like a kitten and we did many trips in it from Sydney to Melbourne and Hobart then back to Adelaide. It had all mod cons installed.

There was an article in the Sydney Morning Herald recently headlined Kombi fever and it talks about the renewed interest in the old Kombi vans. Take a look for yourself. http://www.smh.com.au/drive/motor-news/kombi-van-of-the-people-20091001-gefr.html

Since we've been travelling around we've found Kombis all over the world including Korea, as a juice van, Thailand, as a Post Office van, Syria, for local transport and one in Melbourne, selling noodles.

Here are some pictures of the Kombis we've seen. They're still as popular as ever and used for a variety of purposes, the world over. Yeah for the Kombis...............

Yes, I know (it's been a long time between posts)!

2009-10-23T16:51:00.005+04:00

Nearly a month since I last wrote and it was Nanny who berated me this morning. What can I say??? It's been busy at work? Well, yes it has, but things are beginning to sort themselves out. Next week will be week nine of a nineteen week semester and after a pretty slow start, what with Ramadan and Eid holidays, it has taken a while to get all the student information and levels sorted out. Recently we had an HCT staff conference in Dubai to celebrate the start of our 22nd academic year. All the staff attended and there were overseas speakers and of course, an address by our chancellor. It was a good day and gave us a chance to catch up with our colleagues from the other colleges in the UAE.

Last weekend Jan & I stayed over in Dubai on Friday night so that we could attend some property and investment seminars by an Australian firm who specialize in dealing with expats. As we are heading towards retirement we thought it was about time we thought about what we might do in a few years time. It has given us some food for thought. Now we will have to look at some options and decide what might be the best thing(s) for us to do.

Yesterday we took our classes to an IT exhibition in Dubai, GITEX, which showcases the latest technology in phones, computers etc. We were a little disappointed as there was no APPLE display. Still, you can't have everything I suppose. There were lots of bargains to be had and Jan did buy a new Nikon camera and I bought a new pair of 5.1 headphones. Now I can listen to MY music without disturbing Jan! The photos here were taken with Jan's ......phone, NOT her new camera, so don't try blowing them up because they're not too good. But they do give you an idea of what went on at both events.

2009-09-29T21:16:00.004+04:00

With all our travelling last week I forgot to mention that we've had Mike, Liz & Louisa here in the UAE for a visit.

It was lovely to see them, if only for a few days on their way to the UK for Trevor and Sally's wedding (Ron & Michael's cousin & his partner).

It was right at the beginning of our EID holiday so we spent a few days here in RAK and one day in Dubai. The weather is still warm at this time of year which posed a bit of a challenge for getting out and about but we managed a look around the shopping malls, a trip over to Fujairah on the east coast and into Oman for a drive before heading back past the Friday markets where they saw a variety of goods from carpets to plants, all for sale.

We visited Ski Dubai, the ski slope in a shopping centre and took them to see the Burj Al Arab for the obligatory Dubai photograph. We went for a trip on the new Metro line which opened only a week before they arrived and Louisa managed to buy a several souvenirs of her trip to take back to her friends.

I hope they're enjoying the rest of their trip...

EID holiday ......

2009-09-29T18:20:00.006+04:00

Well here we are again back in the UAE after an amazing visit to Syria.

We flew from Dubai to Damascus, which is only a 3 hour flight, and went to stay in the oldest, continually inhabited city in the world. Our accommodation was in Straight Street which was spoken about in the Bible, over 2000 years ago......... As you can imagine history oozes out of the city from the massive Ummyahad mosque in the Muslim quarter to the St. Annanias church where Paul was purportedly baptised, in the Christian quarter. Down every little vine covered walkway you could see glimpses of the past where buildings were dangerously listing and being prevented from falling any further by metal beams connecting to a house across the road. There were covered street souks that sold gold, spices, rugs, homewares, clothes and delightful Arabic sweets. On the streets there were elderly men playing backgammon or smoking shisha whilst pedestrians had the right of way and the taxis tooted their horns trying to move along the pace of this crowded city. There was an apparent French influence to the city with the better class restaurants offering French cuisine, elderly men speaking Arabic or French and croissants being freshly baked each day and sold on the streets. Ron took his life in his hands and decided to have a haircut and shave in a tiny barber shop on Straight St. The barber had obviously been plying his trade for many years and the equipment he was using looked like it had been around in a previous Century. All was fine until the razor came out and he got the shakes. Ron couldn't get out of the chair quick enough .....

In the old city it's popular for tourists to find accommodation in the old Damascene houses. Most have 2 or 3 private courtyards consisting of open spaces surrounded by rooms and containing a water fountain, citrus trees with old gnarled trunks and quiet corners to sit and enjoy the solitude away from the hubbub of daily life outside.

We hired a driver and headed out of the city. Our first stop was at Maalula, a village nestled into the mountains where there is an interesting church and convent of St Thecla. Pilgrims come from all over the world to visit the church as Thecla was reportedly a pupil of St Pauls. Perched on the top of the hill is a Christ statue, reportedly like the one in Rio de Janiero but although large, it's nowhere near on the same scale. It's the only village where Aramaic is still spoken which was the language of Jesus 2000 years ago. From this village we headed on our way stopping at the Bagdad Cafe 66 to enjoy the hospitality of a bedouin family. Whilst there I was encouraged to try on one of their headscarfs and to see what it felt like to have to cover my face. It was an unusual experience and one I think I can live without.

Palmyra is about 200kms northeast of Damascus and it's home to an old Roman city dating back to the 1st century AD. It was an important city on the old silk road route between China, India and Europe. It's now a UNESCO site but it's isolation means that it's not overcrowded with tourists and wandering through the ruins is a relatively peaceful experience. The scale of the site is enormous and we stayed until sunset and perched ourselves on a hill above the ruins where we were able to see the evening glow intensify then fade away before we needed to head back to Damascus. We were a little shocked when we saw signs on the road that said Iraq was only 150kms away but there were no dramas except for a brief police check of our vehicle as we left the site.

I hope this has given you a glimpse of what we experienced so I've put a few photos of our travels into a small slideshow. I hope you enjoy them. 'Til next time............

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What? It's the weekend again!!

2009-09-11T20:45:00.004+04:00

Yes! This week has flown past with new classes started although we are still in Ramadan mode. That means only 35 minute lessons and no morning tea break. We have a nice bunch of students who seem to be settling in well. Ramadan finishes next week end and then we have a week's break for Eid. After that, it's back to 50 min lessons with a 30 min breakfast break.

Mike, Liz & Louisa will be here next Thursday afternoon and we are both looking forward to seeing them and showing them around our part of the world. We're going to Dubai on Sunday and staying the night and then they're off to England on Monday morning.

Unfortunately, Jan's Mum's back in hospital again although nothing too serious. Get well soon Nanny!!!

Spoke to Laura, Randall & Isaac this afternoon and they are going well apart from some nasty colds. Isaac is walking well now and recognises us on the computer screen. Spoke to Sean too and he says all are well. All three children had immunizations earlier in the week and were very brave! Will try and talk to them tomorrow as the girls were at swimming lessons when we rang and Angus was in bed. Will also try and catch up with Darius, Kristi and Lucian tomorrow. A very bizarre think happened last weekend when Darius & Laura both sent me the same Father's day e-card!

Jan & I are having a quiet weekend this week and catching up with a few odd jobs, like working out what's new in i-tunes 9 which we've both just downloaded. Looks like we can share our music better now!

See you again later with some pics of M, L & L.

The last couple of weeks.

2009-09-04T12:12:00.003+04:00

Sorry it's been a while but I've been a little busy the last couple of week ends. I know there are people who keep checking to see if I've written anything, so this is for you Nanny.

Actually, we decided to jazz up the old villa a bit after we got back from Oz, so we had a trip to the hardware store the other week end and bought some paint. The results are in the photos below.

The newly painted wall and some new furniture that was delivered yesterday.
The lounge from the door.
This is the new look entry and dining area. Look closely. Who's in the mirror?

We've also been busy with preparing for, and then inducting, our new group of students who came in last week. Actual classes start this Sunday and as it's Ramadan at the moment, we have short classes, so we will be finishing at 12:15. We're looking forward to getting back in front of the class as it's been a long summer break.

Jan & I are also looking forward to seeing Mike, Liz & Louisa in two weeks' time as they head toward UK for Trevor & Sally's wedding.

See you soon.

Back in the UAE

2009-08-18T07:26:00.010+04:00

We arrived back in the UAE early last Friday morning after a tumultuous time in Australia. The wedding went well as you've already seen and the family get together the day after.
Jan & I then looked after Isaac for a few days while Laura & Randall headed off for a well deserved few days away together. I think it's safe to say now that they went to Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. We also helped Jan's Mum to buy a new Honda Jazz that week.
When they got back, it was time for us to head off to Melbourne and catch the ferry across to Devonport (Tasmania) to allow us to spend some time with Mum & Dad Coveney and Mike, Liz & Louisa.

Breakfast at Tailem Bend on the way to Melbourne on Friday morning. Not sure about the Aussie flag, though.

It was an overnight trip on the ferry and thankfully the weather was pretty calm most of the way. Coming into Devonport in the early morning mist we hoped that the captain knew where he was going because you couldn't see much. When we arrived in Launceston we went to see Mum & Dad in the nursing home. Dad is still confined to a wheelchair and Mum's dementia had gotten much worse. She had lost a lot of weight and didn't look at all well.

However, we took the opportunity to go down to Hobart for a day/night and stopped at some of the tourist spots on the way. This is Richmond Bridge, the oldest bridge in Tasmania.

We stayed in a small hotel close to the docks. There were some great eating places and lots of things going on. It was very pleasant to walk around although it was pretty cool.

We had booked to go back to Melbourne during the day on the Thursday, and then drive up to Sydney to spend a few days with Darius, Kristi & Lucian, but before we left the doctor told us that it didn't look as if Mum had long to live. She was much sicker than we thought she was. Therefore we decided to leave the car in Melbourne and fly to Sydney so that we could get back to Launceston quickly should the need arise.

Darius & Kristi have a nice house in Annandale and Darius doesn't have too far to go to work. It was so nice on Saturday that Darius took us for a drive over the bridge and we ended up having fish & chips for lunch. In the afternoon we went for a walk around the Balmain area and enjoyed a nice glass of wine on the balcony of a local hotel.

On the Sunday morning we met Chris, Donna and family in the city for a really nice brunch. Unfortunately, I got a phone call part through, from Mike in Launceston, to say that Mum had passed away.

We called into an Internet cafe on our way back to the car and booked flights back to Launceston the following morning. The evening was pretty subdued but Darius opened a nice bottle of Coriole and we drank a toast to Mum/Granny.

We arrived back in Launceston to find Peter had arrived a half hour before and Mike was there to pick us up. That week was spent organising Mum's funeral service, to take place on Friday, and keeping an eye on Dad.

Here we have Peter, Michael & Ronald after the service. The first time we three had all been together for a few years.

Jan, Philip (her cousin) & Elizabeth (Mike's wife and Philip's sister)

Darius with Louisa & Emily (Mike & Liz's daughters)

Dad (Arthur) talking to his brother John in England after the service.

Geoff & Sylvia with Kit (seated) Jan's Aunts & Uncle.

On the Saturday we flew back to Melbourne, picked up the car, and drove back to Adelaide. We stopped for dinner in Bordertown and were back in Adelaide by 11PM. We had a good sleep and headed out to Laura & Randall's in the afternoon for Isaac's first birthday party. Photos to follow.

The weather here in the UAE is still pretty hot (check out the weather update on the left panel) and we're easing back into things slowly. The cats were glad to see us back and the house was well looked after while we were away. Students don't arrive in the college for another two weeks, so we've got time to sort out classes, lesson material etc.

The day after.

2009-07-23T04:48:00.004+04:00

As I said, Sunday we had a family get together at Laura & Randall's new house after they got back from their night away. The pictures show you some of the people who were there. For some reason I don't have a picture of Chris & Donna or Deb & Dave. I'll have to see if somebody's got one. We had a nice afternon and all the kids had a great time playing together.

On Monday, Laura & Randall were off on their honeymoon, so Jan & I took them to the airport in the morning. And no, I don't know where they were going! Jan & I are looking after Isaac and they will be back on Thursday evening.

Jan & I are off to Tasmania on Friday to catch up with my parents, Mike & Liz et al and then on to Sydney to see D & K. We've decided to drive this time as we've done enough flying of late, so that should be fun. Keep checking for the next episode.

What a week end!!!!

2009-07-21T06:26:00.006+04:00

Well the wedding went off without a hitch. No, that's not true. Laura & Randall got hitched! Sorry, couldn't resist that one. Seriously, the weather was fine and not too cold. The Prince Alfred School Chapel was a lovely setting. The bride looked like a princess, as Sarah said, and the groom scrubbed up pretty well too. The flower girls, Jasmine and Tamika performed their task beautifully and the bride & groom's assistants were there when they were needed. People came from far and wide to help make it a very memorable occasion.

We had a reception in the evening at the British Hotel in North Adelaide and several speeches were made and the evening was kept moving by Sean's admirable MCing. There was cake cutting and a very nice first dance by the newlyweds. Everybody enjoyed themselves and the happy couple were given a rousing send off to spend their first night at an undisclosed destination.

The next day we had a family get together at Randall & Laura's new house.
I'll tell you about that a little later.

It's Adelaide, it's cold but not too wet.

2009-07-11T05:48:00.008+04:00

We arrived back in Adelaide one week ago after an uneventful flight from KL via Singapore. It was really nice to be met at the Airport by Sean, Jasmine & Tamika, Laura & Isaac and Jan. We went back to Sean's for a coffee and to catch up with Leanne. Of course we couldn't wait to see Angus too, who was asleep when we first arrived. Jan & I then went back to Jan & Brian's for a bit of a rest before heading back down to S & L's for dinner with Keith & Heather and some more time with J, T & A.

The next morning it was a hearty breakfast in the Central Market, then to pick up our hire car before heading out to help Laura and Randall move into their new house. Unfortunately the moving truck had a few problems getting up their driveway and in fact ended up bogged half way up the kerb! After an hour and a half and with the help of tow truck, unloading finally began but with everything having to be carried all the way down a very long drive. The big empty family room was soon full of stuff! In the evening we went to check out the British Hotel, where next week's wedding reception is to be held, and to sample their fine fare.

We've spent the last week catching up with some old friends, and even had breakfast with our friend Julia from the UAE who was in Adelaide for her Mum's 90th birthday party. Thursday was a really bright sunny day, and so we went for a nice drive to Victor Harbor with Jan & Brian.

On Friday night we had dinner with Alan & Margaret and Jan & Brian at the Vietnamese Palace. This morning we had breakfast with Heather & Neil and Jan is now roaming the Adelaide dress shops with Heather looking for something to wear to Laura & Randall's wedding next week.

This week we've been staying with Jan & Brian, but tomorrow we're going to Laura & Randall's place to stay with them for a while and to give Isaac the chance to get to know Jan & I before we look after him while the honeymooners are away. So you can see we've had a pretty busy week and I don't expect next week to be a lot different. But I'll tell you all about it after the wedding.

Back in KL for a while.

2009-06-28T07:18:00.004+04:00

We spent 3 very nice days in Singapore where Jan bought a new Macbook Pro, we got to ride on the Singapore Flyer (their version of the London Eye) where we were able to watch the practice for the National Day celebrations coming up later in the year, go on the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo, and have some very nice meals. We then caught the bus up to Kl. Had nice seats right up the front just like you did previously Jan & Brian. Very relaxing trip arriving in Kl mid afternoon. Then it was just a short trip to the condo where everything was just like we left it earlier in the year.

This last week we've been catching up with some old friends, having some roti for breakfast, doing a few odd jobs around the apartment, having some roti for breakfast, scanning some of our old photo albums, having some roti for breakfast and generally relaxing watching the rain (of which there's been quite a bit).

We still have some more people to catch up with and I'm sure we'll be having some more roti for breakfast before we leave Kl on Thursday evening to see what cold and wet weather Oz has to offer us. Jan & I are really looking forward to getting to Oz and catching up with everybody there too. So to all our Aussie friends, we'll see you soon!!

Time marches on!

2009-06-05T15:01:00.003+04:00

Sheba had her stitches out this morning and has taken the whole op' thing rather well. That's one less thing that we have to worry about while we're on holiday.

Exams are upon us at the college and our 'guys' had their reading and writing yesterday. They get listening on Sunday and then we spend Monday on orals. After that we tally up all the marks, write reports on each one and enter everything into the computer system. Then on the 16th June we go to Abu Dhabi for the graduation ceremony.
Then it's holidays and wait for the next batch to arrive in August.
Talking of holidays. It's not long to go now and we'll be winging our way to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for some well deserved R&R. Then of course it's on to Oz and Laura's wedding. Chatting to Laura this morning she says the wedding acceptances are rolling in and all the arrangements are well under way. The only thing I have to do is see if my suit, which is hanging in the wardrobe in KL, still fits me. Oh, and Jan keeps saying something about a 'mother-of-the-bride' outfit? I'm sure she'll find something either in Kl or in Adelaide when we get down. Which won't be too long now.

And another two weeks closer to the holidays!

2009-05-23T11:33:00.002+04:00

Sorry I haven't written anything for a couple of weeks but nothing much has been happening lately. Last weekend we had to work on Saturday as the college is a test centre for the UAE university entrance exam. In the morning we had high school students from all around RAK and then in the afternoon the candidates were mostly mature age students. From now until the end of the sememster in four weeks, college life is geared to studying for final exams. And our military guys are not exempt!

Yesterday we took our cat, Sheba, to the vet for a little operation to make sure she doesn't have any more kittens. She was supposed to have had it done several months ago but the vet had trouble getting her to sleep. It seems that she was intolerant to the anaesthetic he was using at the time. He now has a new drug and all went well yesterday. She is of course a little subdued today but is starting to eat now. Our other cat, Pushkin, isn't sure what happened to mum yesterday and apart from a quick lick when we brought her home last night, hasn't been anywhere near her this morning.

David, the guy who wrote last year's pantomome, Dick Whittington, has decided to do Alladin this year. I've put my name forward as a starter, but not sure what role I'll get yet. Any suggestions from the readers? It'll be on just before Christmas again so that will be something to look forward to after the holidays.

Speaking of which, it's not long to go now as I said earlier. Jan & I are planning a few days R&R in Singapore and Malaysia before heading to Australia. I believe I have to 'give my daughter away' or something! And then of course there are lots of friends and relatives who we haven't seen for a while that we need to catch up with. It's lucky that we get quite a long holiday working at the college.

Well, I'm sure I'll write again before the end of semester, so bye for now.

Happy Mothers' Day to all the Aussie Mums.

2009-05-08T15:39:00.004+04:00

I know different parts of the world celebrate Mother's day on different days and that it's Australia's turn this Sunday. So, "Happy Mothers Day" to all the Mums in Oz!!

Since I wrote last, we've had the Military Teachers Conference in Al Ain, which was a huge success. Got to meet the teachers from the other colleges whose names we know but have not met face-to-face. The various speakers talked about things that work for them and we had a chance to ask questions and discuss some of the common problems that we have. Well worthwhile.

This week we had another meeting, but this time with all the teachers and support staff from our two colleges in RAK, plus our compatriots in Fujairah. It was a very well organised day at the HCT Men's College in Fujairah with two really great guest speakers, one a career coach from Dubai, and the other a 'creativity expert' from Switzerland who had us all in stiches with his ideas on energising your brain. Here are some pictures from the day.

After the conference, Jan & I headed to Dubai for the 20/20 cricket match between Australia and Pakistan. The match was held at the brand new Dubai Cricket Stadium, which is an incredible place. Unfortunately it's in the middle of a huge construction site and it was a real nightmare getting in and out of the place. The atmosphere was great but the Aussies weren't on the night and were well and truly trounced by the Pakistanis, much to their delight. We got home this morning just after 1:30 AM and have been pretty quiet today. Except that Jan was doing some cooking earlier and was playing Shania Twain pretty loud (perhaps to help keep her awake). A few pictures of the cricket follow.

Saturday April 25th

2009-04-25T14:08:00.005+04:00

Today is ANZAC Day in Australia. No public holiday this year though as it's on a Saturday.
Yesterday Jan & I went to Dubai to shop for work shirts for me. We had breakfast first at a really nice restaurant called The Lime Tree which does gourmet type breakfasts. Lots of ex-pats go there and it's really packed on a Friday morning. Then we headed for the Dubai Outlet Mall. As the name implies, it's all outlet shops for loads of the top name brands. Discount prices are the name of the game and I got some great shirts at very reasonable prices. On the way home we called into the Venus Indian restaurant which is just down the road from us (Darius & Kristi have sampled the fare).

Last Wednesday the college had its annual Poetry Day where staff and students read poems they have written or just like. I did a rendition of Clancy of the Overflow illustrated with slides to give the guys some idea of what I was talking about. To finish off, a group of the staff do a poem and this year we did one called 'The Spectators', which was about people at a football match. It was quite funny and the students really enjoyed it.

Tomorrow afternoon some of us are going to a conference in Sharjah on using technology in teaching. Then next weekend we have a conference for all the military teachers from the different colleges and that's being held in Al Ain, which is a little way out of Abu Dhabi on the way to Oman. I believe this is the first time that there's been one where everybody has got together at the one time. We're looking forward to meeting the other teachers and hearing what kind of things they have been doing with their students. As it's quite a drive, Jan & I have decided to go down on Saturday and stay the night so we will also have a chance to see more of the place. We called in there briefly last year when we went to Oman, but didn't see a lot of the city.

Hope all of you are going well and we look forward to seeing some of you in July when we head to Malaysia and Australia for our long holiday!.

2009-04-20T22:34:00.002+04:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Last week we had the Annual College rowing race here in Ras Al Khaimah. We had 6 teams from all over the UAE come to battle it out for the trophy which was presented by the Sheik. Here is a snapshot of photos taken during and after the race. We hope you enjoy sharing our experience.

Darius, Kristi and Lucian in the UAE

2009-04-03T11:47:00.000+04:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

They came, they saw and they left!

2009-04-03T10:34:00.007+04:00

We had a really great time with Darius, Kristi & Lucian last week. It was of course much too short a time but we packed quite a bit into what little we had.

We met them in Dubai after they'd had a pretty exhausting day on the Dubai Big Bus getting a feel for the city. We then had dinner in Festival City before heading up here to Ras Al Khaimah which is not quite as vibrant as Dubai. Lucian wasn't too sure about being stuck in the car seat all the time but was pretty good on the whole. We had plenty of time to chat and share meals over the next couple days. We even had a barbecue on the Thursday night where we invited some of the people we work with over to meet them.

Then on Friday morning, after an amazing electrical storm and heaps of very unseasonal rain, we headed down to Abu Dhabi for a night at the Hilton to celebrate Kristi's birthday. We stopped on the way to look at the old town of Al Jazeera which is reported to be haunted and is no longer inhabited. We saw lots of camels and experienced some amazing sandstorms, which not only made it difficult to see, but after the rain, made the car very dirty!

In Abu Dhabi we had a beautiful dinner at the Thai restaurant in the Hilton (we had planned to have dinner in the Jazz Bar but as Lucian was under 18, he wasn't allowed in). Darius, Kristi & I went down for a celebratory drink after dinner while Jan has some quality time with Lucian. Saturday morning we went to the Emirates Palace Hotel to show D & K what opulance really is and also to see the current art & photographic exhibitions that they had on. We also had a look at the continuing exhibition that showcases the proposed cultural developments that are planned for Abu Dhabi in the coming years. All very interesting. All this was very thirsty work and so we then had to finish our visit with tea and cakes.

Then it was back to RAK, a last dinner in our favourite Indian restaurant and an 'early' night before they headed off to the airport early the next morning bound for Sydney.

These last few days have been pretty quiet without them but as it was my birthday on Thursday, Jan took in a lovely strawberry flan for morning tea and tonight we're going to Cirque du Solei in Dubai with some of the people from worki followed by a Chinese meal. Next week we have to try and get back to normal as we head for the end of the semester and final exams.

Waiting for Darius, Kristi & Lucian!

2009-03-21T18:48:00.002+04:00

Not a lot to report really. The last two weeks have slipped by and have been pretty uneventful. Last week it was St Pat's day and the local sailing club had a dinner in honour of the man on Thursday (the beginning of our weekend). There was Irish stew, which was of course full of lovely tatties, boiled red cabbage and mashed potatoes and sausages. There was ample fluid to wash it all down with and even some green vodka shots! A very pleasant night it was.

The semester is progressing, a little too quickly as there is so much work to get through. It's week 8 tomorrow and then we have mid-semester exams the following week. So lots of exam practice this week.

Darius, Kristi & Luke arrive in Dubai on Monday, on their way back to Sydney, and we plan to catch up with them Tuesday evening and bring them back to RAK for a few days. We're even planninmg a trip to Abu Dhabi next weekend and a visit to the Hilton jazz club as a bit of a combined birthday celebration.

I'm sure there will be a lot more to tell after then and I'm sure that there will be lots of photos to share. So look out for another smile box!

Hope you all have a good weekend and Happy Mother's day to all our readers in the UK.

Smile boxes and then some

2009-03-08T18:34:00.003+04:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

So what do you think of Jan's SmileBoxes? Something she picked up off of her sister Pam on her recent visit. Please let me know what you think. Post a comment.

This weekend was a long week end for us here in the UAE to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed. Some people took the opportunity to get away for a few days R&R camping, but Jan & I went to Dubai and stayed in a nice hotel. We then visited some places that we just haven't got around to seeing yet and a couple of places that we wanted to revisit. As I write this, Jan is putting the next SmileBox of the week end's events together so I'll let her pictures tell the story. The weather was fantastic! Not too hot, but lovely and sunny. Just right for pictures. We had some interesting meals, ranging from a scrumptious Mexican buffet at the hotel on the first night, to a chicken schwarma sandwhich at a little corner cafe last night. Both very tasty but both quite different!

Well it's week six starting tomorrow, so I'd better get the class web pages written up and think about what we're going to have for tea tonight. Might just be a cheese toasty tonight I think!

RKM Rubbish Band Environment Day '09

2009-02-27T19:22:00.000+04:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

2009-02-27T18:38:00.000+04:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Another week goes by and didn't we have fun!

2009-02-27T11:33:00.007+04:00

Last week end, as promised, we took Pam to the Burj Al Arab Hotel for afternoon tea. I'm sure most people have seen it on TV, as I had, but the real thing is just spectatular. After we picked her up from her quilter friend's house we had a couple of hours to spare so we headed over to the new Dubai Mall shopping centre. It's only been open a few weeks and it's supposed to be the biggest and the best mall in the Middle East, the world .... Well we thought it was pretty amazing as did Pam. Not every shop is open yet but there were plenty that were. They also have this huge aquarium right in the centre that goes up three floors.

After leaving there, and getting a little lost, we arrived at the Burj just after five. Just in time for tea. Well tea was nothing like my Mum used to make! I didn't see a cucumber sandwhich anywhere! We started off with a glass of Moet champagne and some very nice sandwhiches with all sorts of fillings before being served a delicious slice of baked salmon wrapped in filo pastry from the carvery. Some strawberry sorbet to cleanse the palette was next followed by scones with 'jam' and cream. Oh, and the tea came out about then too. Although the girls had hot chocolate. After that we were all very full when the waitress came around with another tray of cakes and pastries just to finish off with!! What an 'afternoon tea'! All that was left was to waddle to the car and drop Pam off at the airport then head back to RAK. Needless to say we skipped dinner that night.

Monday was Environment Day at the college and the theme for this year was, "Green Futures". The 'band' played several times through the day and was very well received. There were lots of exhibits, all with some tie to the theme, and several invited speakers. Everybody seemed to have a good day and the Dean was very happy with the way it all went off. I'll put some pictures into the slide show and also into the Photo Albums.

17 weeks to go!

2009-02-20T13:22:00.005+04:00

Well week 3 finished and the classes have now settled down. Jan's been busy organising things for next Monday, which is Environment Day at the college, and as she's on the committee, she has plenty to do. Her Level 5 class have been tasked with demonstrating how to build a traditional shelter. Unfortunately they built it a little too well at the practice the other day and they're not sure that they want to take it apart and do it again on Monday! As for me, two other staff members and myself have formed the RKM Rubbish Band. We have a kind of tea chest bass made from old wooden monitor boxes, a bottle xylophone made from bottles I picked up from around the village and a drum made from a large plastic water bottle. We are singing two original songs with an environment theme (to the tune of My Old Man's a Dustman and Ten Green Bottles). I'm sure that there will be lots of pictures and maybe a video, so watch this space.

Pam left for Dubai Wednesday morning and, from what we've heard, is having a ball.
Last weekend we took her to the Hilton Beach Club for sunset drinks at the lighthouse. Unfortunately the sunset wasn't very spectacular but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. Tomorrow we're catching up with her in Dubai and splashing out on afternoon tea at the Burg Al Arab. THE place to be seen in Dubai. She then heads of to Bangkok for a few days before heading back to Oz. She will have been away just over two months so I'm sure she's looking forward to getting home. I bet the family is looking forward to seeing her too.

Well, I've got to go and practise my songs so I'll catch up with you all later. Ciao.

Holidays + 2 weeks

2009-02-14T12:11:00.004+04:00

Week 3 of the semester starts tomorrow and I haven't written anything since we got back from holiday (apart ftom the 'tell you what happened on the holiday post').

You'll be glad to know that Pushkin is running around again although he still has a bit of a limp. The vet found what looked like some bite marks on his leg and he had a bit of an infection. Some anti-biotics soon sorted that out though.

The first two weeks of semester have been a bit chaotic with new students arriving every few days but it seems to have settled down now and I have a nice class of 14. Some of last semester's class didn't make it back for various reasons but the newbies are settling in just fine.

Last week each class had a day out on a Natural Navigation project where they learnt how to make a fire without matches and then to brew a pot of tea. They then learnt how to make a sun compass and then to find their way around a short course. It was organised by one of the Foundations teachers and the class teacher went along to help out. I learnt lots and the guys had a great day! They also got to practice a lot of their English.

Last Thursday night, or rather early Friday morning, Jan & I headed to Dubai Airport to meet Jan's sister, Pam who's been travelling around the last eight weeks on a teaching tour. She's an expert quilter and has won many prizes as many of you would already know. She has to teach in Dubai next weekend but was able to fit in a few days R& R with us here in RAK. Last night we had a BBQ at our place with a few friends from the college and this morning we took her to the local camel races. We were up at 6:30 and on the track by 7:30. Some of you might remember that I went last year (and I'm sure you remember the photos) but it was the first time that Jan had been. This time it was adult camels and they have to race 6 Km. It really was a lot of fun and the camels are fascinating.

Jan & Pam had lots of fun looking at the photos when they returned but have now hit the shops while I write up the blog and tidy up a bit after last night. I'm sure that they will be exhausted when they get back! OK, so I need some lunch so I'll call it quits for now but will try and write again soon. Hope all is well in your part of the world wherever that might be.

Home again!

2009-01-30T14:16:00.006+04:00

Well that time went pretty quickly! It seems like only yesterday that we were talking about going to KL and here we are back again and talking about what we did.

We did have a good time though and managed to catch up with quite a few people: but sadly not everybody that we would have liked to. The condo is still in one piece, thanks to our very kind neighbours Eddy & Jenny. We even managed to sort out a few more clothes and things that we just didn't have time to do before. Had a few rotis for breakfast, coffee at Friendster (where we could also check e-mails for free) and we had dinner one night at our favourite KL restaurant, Telawi Street Bistro (check out the write up and photos: we had the Lebanese lamb pocket and Jan had the Chocolate volcano for desert). The city was very quiet as it was Chinese New Year last week and many people had headed out of the city to their respective home towns.

And of course, not to forget the birth of our 5th grandchild, Angus Dean Coveney, born on the 19th of January. For those of you who have Facebook accounts you can check out photos from the proud parents, Sean and Leanne, or you can check Jan's revamped Mac website complete with a new address.

As it was Jan's birthday last weekend we headed up to Penang for a couple of days, stayed at the 'G Hotel' (with lovely night views over the corniche) and had buffet dinner on the Sunday night at the 'E&O' hotel. Traffic going up was heavy and it took us 7 hours but as we came back on the Monday, it took only 5 to get home.

Flights on Singapore Airlines were as good as always and we were home last night (Thursday) by 8PM. Unfortunately our #2 cat, Pushkin, had some kind of an accident while we were away and is limping around on three legs. He doesn't seem to be in pain but the vet is calling in later today or tomorrow morning to give him the once over.

Hooray it's holiday time!!

2009-01-16T14:04:00.004+04:00

Another semester is over and it's time to take a well earned break. Jan & I will be heading off to Malaysia later today to check out the condo and soak up a bit of sun. The weather here has been a little cool of late, which kinda makes a change, but I think I need to warm up a bit.

Last weekend we ventured to Sharjah in search of some of the famous souks (markets) and spent an interesting few hours wandering around the Heritage area near the Corniche. Jan bought a silk scarf and some beads and we had a meal in an old coffee shop. It was a very pleasant late afternoon- early evening jaunt.

I'm sure the cats know we are going away as they aren't very happy with us today. Pushkin, our only kitten left, is getting bigger and he loves giving 'mum' a hard time.

Nearly forgot. Jan & I went 'hashing' last Sunday after work and spent a very pleasant couple of hours "running" all around a local disused quarry. Made it back to base just before dark where we built a bonfire and then barbecued some sausages and hamburgers which were washed down with the obligatory amber fluid. Not sure that it's something we'll do in the summer time though!

Time to go and finish packing. Will try and write from KL next week.

Jan out for the day

2009-01-02T15:46:00.003+04:00

It's the weekend and I've just posted some pictures of Jan enjoying a day out with one of her classes last Tuesday at a place called Awafi. As it's almost the end of the semester and things are winding down a bit, Jan & one of her classes took a 10 min drive from the college and were soon out in the sand dunes. Many of the students have a 'holiday shack' just out of town where they can get away from it all and get back to their roots (living in the desert). So check out the photo albums and see more of Jan and the guys enjoying themselves outside the classroom.

Hope everyone had a nice New Year's Eve and is looking forward to whatever 2009 has in store for you.

Trip to Musandam

2008-12-28T12:59:00.005+04:00

As I said before, Jan & I were going to Musandam with some friends and their families yesterday. Everybody has been telling us since we arrived that we must go. For those who don't know where it is, here's a map. We left just after 7AM and drove up from Ras Al Khaimah (where we live) and crossed the border into Oman (the yellow bits) which is actually physically divided by some of the UAE. It's actually not that far, but dealing with the immigration procedures to exit the UAE and then enter Oman takes quite a while! The drive up the coast once you finally get into Oman is quite stunning. The mountains come right down to the road.
We arrived at the port just after 10AM, boarded our dhow and were soon heading out to sea and then into one of the main fjords in the area. It's known as the Norway of the Arabian Peninsula and was really very pretty. There's not much vegetation and there are few inhabitants but the rock formations are spectacular. We saw quite a few dolphins and the boats speed up and the dolphins 'ran' with the boats for quite a way before turning back. We anchored in a quiet bay for a swim and then had a lovely Arabic lunch of grilled fish, homus, salad etc. After lunch we slowly headed back, saw some more dolphins and lovely little villages, arriving back in the port about 4PM. (There are more photos in Our Photo Albums. Under Musandam.)
The drive back to RAK took us about 1 1/2 hours and it was dark by the time we got home. It was a lovely day and we look forward to doing it again should any of you visit us during the cooler months (it would be much too hot during summer I think).
I hope everybody is slowly recovering from the over indulgence of the festive season and looking forward to a happy and prosperous New Year.

It was the day after Christmas .....

2008-12-26T16:10:00.003+04:00

... and all was quiet. The presents have been opened and the turkey gobbled down. Everybody is well satisfied and both young and old have lots of new 'toys' to play with.

We had some friends round on Christmas Eve for drinks, nibbles and a sing-song. Everybody said 'Now it feels like Christmas'. Unfortunately we had to work yesterday but not too late and Jan & I went to the Hilton Beach Club for dinner last night. As it was Thursday, it was Arabic Night, but they had replaced the lamb with turkey just for the occassion. The meal was very nice but not quite the same without the family around.

Today has been a rest day and tidy up which has been really nice as we haven't had too many such days of late. Tomorrow we are off with a few people from work and their families to Musandam, which is north of RAK and part of Oman. Everybody says it's really pretty and we get to go on a boat trip too. So you can look forward to a few more photos soon.

Here's wishing you all a Happy New Year and hope to catch up with some of you soon.

Merry Christmas to all (wherever you may be)!

2008-12-23T14:32:00.004+04:00

Isaac on his first visit to Father Christmas.

Well we have finally got over the jet-lag and are back to sleeping through the night. Something that I know several of our readers aren't doing at the moment for various 'little' reasons.

The pantomime went well and Ron only forgot a few lines. In the two photos above he is seen flirting with Polly the 'Dame'. As it was being held outside, we were a little worried about the weather but needn't have been. All who saw it only had good things to say and all of us involved were pretty pleased with the way it went. There were several people taking photos and videos and whilst some of the photos are available (click here to view), the video will take a bit longer I'm told.

Many of you will already be off work and others are looking forward to the Christmas break I'm sure. I hope you all have a nice time with your families and enjoy your Christmas dinner. I hope Santa brings you all lots of lovely presents. Jan & I are getting together with some of the people that we work with on Christmas Eve for a few drinks and snacks and a bit of a sing-song. We will be working on 'the day' but have dinner planned at the Hilton Beach Resort in the evening.

Here's wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year and let's hope Obama gets things back on track.

A new grandson, snow & turkey stew!

2008-12-08T20:01:00.005+04:00

We had a pleasant few days in New York with Darius, Kristi and Lucian, who had only arrived home from hospital a couple of hours before we landed. Darius has a couple of weeks off work to help him settle into life in the big apple and he and Kristi soon learnt that time isn't your own once there's a baby in the house. Parenthood certainly seems to suit them though and I don't think it'll be long before they get the routines sorted out. Jan & I went to a Peter, Paul & Mary Christmas concert on Friday evening at Carnegie hall which was fantastic. It was a little sad though as Mary is quite sick and had to be brought on stage in a wheelchair. She sang several songs though and everybody appreciated the effort that she had obviously made to be there.

We had lots of cuddles before we headed off on Saturday morning to New England to catch up with Christine & Alan, and give the new family a chance to establish themselves. We caught the train from Grand Central Station and Christine and Alan met us at Newhaven and drove us back to their house in Belchertown. The last time we were there was in summer and everything looked so different this time with most of the trees bare. And it was pretty cold! We had a nice dinner out that evening with Christine, Alan, Dan, Lorna, Dale & Nick. Imagine our delight when we awoke the next morning to find that there had been a light snowfall overnight. We rugged up and ventured outside after breakfast for a photo and then quickly got into the warm car. We did some shopping during the day and ended up at the local Irish pub for dinner. As it was Thanksgiving last week and Christmas is rapidly approaching, turkey seemed to feature big on the menu. I found it hard to go past the turkey stew which was huge and really tasty. Today we have a few errands to do and then tonight Christine & Alan's daughter and family are coming around for dinner. Jan & I are heading back to New York tomorrow sometime to spend a few more days with Darius, Kristi and Lucian before heading back to the UAE on Friday.

I'll put some more New York photos on later, which could include one or two more of Lucian.

Oh my gosh, it's nearly Christmas!!

2008-11-27T17:55:00.005+04:00

I can't believe where the time has gone. The semester has been in full swing for a while now and final exams are just around the corner. This has actually been one of the strangest semesters I've ever taught. It has been so stop and start with so many breaks for so many different reasons that it's been really difficult to 'get into it'. Next week we have two days of classes and then it's two days off for National Day followed by another religious holiday for those going to the Haj. We have 12 days off in all!

Yesterday the college celebrated National Day and all the staff wore National Dress to work. We had planned an evening of celebrations and a big barbecue but unfortunately a really heavy downpour mid-afternoon washed those plans down the drain. Photos in the slideshow on the left (click on a photo to see the album in full screen).

Jan & I are making the most ofthe holidays next week by going to New York to see Darius and Kristi and with a bit of luck, their new baby which is due any day now. The weather will be cold we know and as this was a bit of an unexpected trip, nearly all of our winter clothing is still in Australia (waiting for next year). So we will have to beg and borrow some warm clothes when we get there (or visit the local Salvation Army thrift shop!).

When we get back there will only be a week and a half before Christmas. And only five days till the pantomine, where I'm playing the Captain in an adaptation of Dick Whittington (who gets shipwrecked and washed up on the shores of Ras Al Khaimah). Should be fun.

Had a chat to Laura this morning who is really excited, as the builders have started work on their new house. Sean & Leanne have been sick during the week with a tummy bug but should be getting over it by now. Hope to talk to them over the week end too.

Think that's all for now. Will try and write from The Big Apple next week.

Movember

2008-11-19T09:20:00.002+04:00

I have supported Darius' efforts. You can too. Click on the badge to find out MOre.

It's all downhill from here.

2008-10-17T10:03:00.003+04:00

One month has passed since I last wrote and quite a lot has happened.

Ramadan finished and we had a week's break so we decided to head off for a few days. We drove down to Al Ain and stayed in a really nice hotel up on the mountain top and then crossed the border into Oman.

It was a bit of a long drive to Muscat but the countryside was interesting. Quite different to all the sand of the UAE. We had two nights in Muscat, which is a really interesting city, but without all the high rise of Dubai. Then we headed back home and it was back to 'normal' again. Classes have returned to 50 mins, which has taken teachers and students a little bit of getting used to, but things are settling into a bit of routine now.

Jan is now the 'proud' owner of an i-Mac and she spent last weekend setting up her own website. She has so far made a few pages about the trip to Oman, revamped her hanji information and started making pages for the grandchildren. Although it is still very much a work in progress, she is happy for anyone to have a look and would welcome any comments. So take a break from reading what I've written and head over to Jan's website. I'll still be here when you get back.
So, what did you think? Pretty jazzy, eh? Sorry about the video though.

OK, so what was I saying? Oh, yes, I remember. I was going to tell you about what I've been doing. The local ex-pat community always puts on a pantomime for Christmas and this year they're doing a version of Dick Whittington. I thought I might try out for a part and now I'm playing the Captain of the Saucy Sally, the ship that takes Dick to the Emirates to make his fortune. It will be on just before Christmas and I'm sure there will be a few photos taken, (there might even be a video!) so keep an eye out for an update later in the year.

I hope everybody who reads this is well and don't forget to check back once in while.

What happened to the holiday????

2008-09-15T16:31:00.003+04:00

Bargain Hunting in Moscow.

It's 10 days since we got back from the Russian cruise but it seems MUCH longer than that! This is our second week back at work and it seems soooo long ago that we were cruising down the Volga and exploring the towns on the way.

Work hasn't really been too bad though. September is Ramadan (fasting month) and so classes are shortened to account for the fact that people are pretty tired during the day and have trouble concentrating. The majority of the shops are closed until late in the afternoon, but then stay open till pretty late at night. Restaurants and coffee shops are closed until around 6:30PM which is the time to break fast.

Jan has been working on the photos and has nearly finished editing and culling. Her next job will be to add some titles to them. So keep an eye out for an updated slide show (which I might get done soon) and then a new album in the Piccies folder a little later.

From Russia with love.

2008-09-06T18:21:00.005+04:00

Jan & I had a great time in Russia and arrived back safe and sound very late Thursday night. Moscow was magnificent and Saint Petersburg was amazing. The cruise ship was wonderful and the food was fantastic.

We had a lovely holiday with Alan & Margaret and got to share some really good times together.

We saw the inside and outside of many buildings: churches, museums and art galleries.

We rode the Moscow underground which has to be seen to be believed.

We had an unforgettable evening with a host family who shared a beautiful meal with us, washed down with many glasses of vodka.

And we danced the night away in a their tiny lounge before heading back to the ship in a very happy state!

I've included just a couple of pictures here to give you a taste, but keep an eye out for some more when Jan has finished sorting them all out!!

2008-08-16T15:44:00.003+04:00

Just a few more pictures of the proud grandparents, Laura, Isaac and Randall. He's adorable !!!!!

It's a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-08-13T01:06:00.004+04:00

Just after 5:30PM last night, Laura gave birth to Isaac Edward. Mother and baby are doing well.
Isaac will have to have some tests in the next few days to check how his kidneys are but the doctors were pretty happy with him last night.

Randall will have some more pictures posted soon so keep a look out for them.

Both sets of grandparents are very proud.

Congratulations guys!!!

It's nearly time to leave Oz!

2008-08-12T05:48:00.010+04:00

Well it's been a pretty busy few weeks and my apologies for not writing sooner.

We did have lunch with Peter and Marilyn Hughes in their new 'Lifestyle' village home. I didn't find my old office because the whole site was razed and completely rebuilt! The village is really great with lots of facilities and P&M are very happy there. Good on yer Tuna!

We had a lovely week end on Hindmarsh Island with Sean, Leanne, Jasmine & Tamika. The weather was a bit damp but the sun shone through every now and again and allowed us to go for a walk in the woods on Saturday morning and then take the girls to the park in the afternoon.
Sean and I cooked a BBQ for dinner and we headed back to Adelaide after breakfast the next morning as the weather was pretty wet.

On our way back from Hindmarsh Island we called in to see some other friends of ours who have recently moved closer to the city. Charles & Cathy Clennell used to be in Malaysia with us and had arranged to have lunch with some other ex members of our Malaysian team who now live in Adelaide. It was really great to be able to catch up with John, Carol and Christine as well.

Then it was off to Tasmania to spend a few days with Mike, Liz and Louisa and see how Mum & Dad were getting on. The weather was really cold but luckily we had an electric blanket to snuggle up in at night. Mike bought himself a new car while we were there and we had a nice time catching up with everybody.

At the week end we stopped off in Melbourne on our way back to Adelaide and Heather & Neil came over for the week end too. Neil and I sampled some local ales and Jan & Heather had several hot chocolates. We went to the Southbank markets on Sunday and checked out the art scene before heading to the casino for dinner. Some more shopping followed on Monday morning and we flew back to Adelaide later in the day.

Last Saturday evening we had dinner with Sean & Leanne, Laura & Randall at the River Cafe overlooking the Torrens. It was a lovely evening and then we went back to Laura & Randall's for dessert. Laura and Jan had made a banana and caramel pie to celebrate my birthday (which was back in April but of course we were not in Oz at the time).

And of course the latest news is, that as I write, Laura is in Calvary hospital awaiting the birth of 'Bub'. The doctors have been a little bit concerned recently because the scans have shown some kidney problems and last week they decided that it would be a good idea to bring 'Bub' into the world a little early to avoid any kidney damage. Jan & I will be leaving Adelaide tomorrow morning for sunnier climes so we hope all goes well later today. We will let you all know when it does!!!

Update from Adelaide.

2008-07-12T09:18:00.003+04:00

It's Saturday afternoon and we've been in Adelaide for 5 days now. The weather is pretty cold and damp but luckily I haven't got caught in the rain yet!

The trip down from KL was uneventful but a little late arriving and as per usual, I didn't get much sleep. I have, however caught up on most of it now though. It was nice to see Laura, Sean, Leanne, Jasmine and Tamika at the airport to meet us. This time we're staying at The Glasshouse Apartments in North Adelaide, as it makes it a little easier to catch up with people that way.

Tuesday evening we had dinner at Kwik Stix with S, L, J & T which was really nice. We've caught up with a few people already and had lots of meals out.

Thursday morning we went out to Elizabeth to see Jan's Mum in her nice little retirement home which seems to suit her really well. She seems to be really happy there and has made several friends already. Jan has been to the hospital with Laura for her 32 week ultra-sound scan and all is going well. We have plans to catch up with many more friends and relatives in the next few weeks, including a weekend at Goolwa with Sean, Leanne and the twins and a few days in Tassie to see my Mum & Dad and my little brother & his family.

Tonight we're having dinner with Alan, Margaret, Jan & Brian, who've been to see us several times in Malaysia, and I'm sure there will be lots to talk about with them. Alan & Margaret are off on a big European holiday next week and we'll be meeting up with them in Moscow at the end of August for a cruise to St Petersburg. Tomorrow we're having lunch with Peter & Marilyn Hughes who have recently moved into a 'Lifestyle' Village on the site of the old Telecom Training Centre where Peter & I used to work. Perhaps I'll find my old office!??

Jan's out with Laura this afternoon buying bits and pieces for her baby shower next Sunday. I therefore have some time on my own to update the blog and maybe catch up on some reading.

So I'll leave it there and write again soon.

R&R in Malaysia

2008-07-02T08:05:00.002+04:00

Just a quick note for all our avid readers to say that Jan & I are currently relaxing in Malaysia.

We have had roti telur and teh tarik for breakfast a couple of times and some other Malaysian delights that we hadn't had for the last few months. We've caught up with some old friends and are currently spending a few days on the east coast with Bob & Frances.

Bob is currently at work, Jan & Frances are out shopping for batik in Kuala Terengganu and I'm catching up on my correspondence. We're off to Tanjong Jara this afternoon for some more relaxation by the pool and head back to KL tomorrow morning.

There are a few more people we want to catch up with over the weekend and then we're off to Adelaide next Monday night.

It's all go!!!!!!!!

New additions to the family.

2008-06-20T14:51:00.005+04:00

Jan & I are happy to announce the arrival of 4 new members to our family here in the UAE.

Yesterday afternoon, while we were doing some last minute shopping in Dubai, our laundry basket became a delivery room. Sheba kept knocking the basket over and I kept standing it up again all morning. In the end I gave up. She knew she was about to give birth and where she wanted to have the kittens.

Luckily, the security guard from the college is going to look after our villa while we are away and he was introduced to Sheba on Wednesday. Also the lady we got her from isn't going away for a while so she will also pop in and check on them all for the first few weeks.

They are cute, but I'm afraid they're too young for me to bring down for anybody who would like a new cat. We'll probably keep one, but find homes for the others when we get back.

On another note, the graduation went well last Monday and I've posted a few pictures of the proceedings in the Photo Albums as well as a few on the slideshow (I thought the camels had been up there long enough).

We've got suitcases on the bed behind me and Jan's done some last minute washing, so I think we should be ready to go at 3PM tomorrow when the college driver comes to pick us. At least I hope we will be!

Talk to you later and see some of you real soon.

7 Days to go and we're off!!

2008-06-14T14:46:00.002+04:00

Yes, it's only 7 days till we leave for our well deserved break. We've already starting packing and writing lists of things to do before we leave, and things to pick up from Malaysia and Australia.

Tomorrow we're headed for Abu Dhabi to attend the Graduation for our military guys which takes place on Monday morning. As it's a bit of drive, we've decided to go down a day early and then we'll come back Monday afternoon. Then it's tidy up the desk, hand back our laptops for the break and make sure everything is organised to head off Sat evening.

We'll be spending June 22nd to July 7th in KL before flying to Adelaide, arriving Adel on the morning of the 8th at 7:50. We're soooo looking forward to catching up with you all and sharing a few ales and/or glasses of vino!

See you all soon.

Football

2008-06-09T08:36:00.002+04:00

OK, so we didn't get to the football, but I don't think that's why they lost.

Tickets were AED357 each if you were an Aussie supporter or AED20 if you were an Iraqi supporter. We decided to go shopping instead. Sorry.

And yet another week has passed!

2008-06-06T17:53:00.006+04:00

As the semester draws to a close everybody is getting exited because that also means it's holiday time! Can't believe that one semester is about to bite the dust. All our flights are booked and we'll soon be winging our way to Malaysia for a bit of R&R before we head down to catch up with family and friends in Oz. As you've no doubt seen, the weather has been getting hotter and the humidity is rising now too, so cooler climes will be most welcome.

We've got final exams for our military guys on Sunday and then we have to go to Abu Dhabi for their graduation ceremony the following week. This week we've had speaking tests and grading their Course Work. Jan's class took her and Kevin (the other class teacher) out for lunch last week and from the photos they had a great time. The class even gave them both a nice watch.

The Pajero went in for its first service this week and all is well. While we were waiting for the car (there's not much around so waiting in the a/c office seemed the best thing to do) we noticed that a small flock of sheep was endeavoring to cross the road. Obviously having her camera with her, Jan trotted out to take a couple of pictures. If you're reading this U/Phil, you might be able to tell us what kind of sheep they are.

The guy in the car place said that, on average, two get killed every day! Can't believe we've clocked up just over a 1000 kms since we got the car. Must be all those shopping trips to Dubai! Talking of Dubai, we're heading down again tomorrow with two of the guys from the college to see if we can get tickets for the Australia - Iraq football match. Haven't had any luck in getting them on-line, but the word is that you just have to turn up on the day and you'll be able to get them. Will take the camera and if we manage to get in, I'll have to do a mid-week up-date.

Funny how one thing leads to another, but I was up on the roof the other day checking out why the pressure pump kept running when we weren't using any water in the house, and found a small leak which was easily fixed. While I was up there I thought that the view was pretty good so I got the camera (there's the tie) and took a few piccies of the surroundings. So I've added them to the Rak Villa folder in the Photo Albums. I'll try to take a few photos inside the house for those of you who are interested because we've changed a couple of the rooms around.

Jan had a good chat to her Mum earlier today who seems to be fine. She had a check-up today and the doctor is very happy with her progress. She's really looking forward to seeing us in a few weeks time. We also chatted on-line with Laura & Randall and Sean & Leanne who are also fine. L&R have got the final plans for their new house and are looking forward to hearing when the builders are going to start work. Sean was studying for a workshop at uni on Sunday and Leanne has just about got over the recent flood in the toilet caused by a cistern that suddenly decided to develop a crack. They are still waiting for the new cistern though. Perhaps we could take them one down as we have a huge ceramics factory here in RAK which makes all that kind of stuff.

OK enough rambling for today. If we get to the football tomorrow I'll do a write up as soon as I'm able.

It's Friday once again!

2008-05-30T11:55:00.002+04:00

First, a big thank you to Randall for helping me sort the clocks out in the new layout.

Second, you'll all be glad to know that Jan is feeling a lot better this week end. We went to another doctor in Dubai earlier in the week and he's put her on some new medication which seems to have had an almost immediate effect. She's sleeping much better and the pain has subsided to a dull ache. She's even gone shopping on her own this morning. So cheers all round.

Work is now slowing down as we head to the end of the semester. Our students have final exams next week and then we have graduation and then it won't be long before it's holiday time!! Can't believe how the time has flown!

If you've been watching the temperature on your visits you will have seen that it has been slowly creeping up (if you click on the icon you'll go to the weather web site and get a more detailed report). It's been reaching 43 C most days for the last couple of weeks and hit 44C one day this week. I'm told it will continue to rise over the next couple of months, so a few weeks in the Aussie winter will be most welcome. Jan's been told that it never goes over 49C (officially) because then people are allowed to stop work. There was a problem with the power at the college last week and the A/C was off for a few hours and it didn't take long to warm up.

I bought a new guitar whilst we were in Dubai during the week and am now trying to remember how to play it! I'm getting together with a couple of guys at the college, one who plays keyboard and another who is pretty musical, to perhaps do a few songs at our informal music nights. Watch this space!!

Lastly, .......... no, I can't think of anything else to say so will leave it for now. Jan will be back soon and I'll have go and open the gates which we have to keep closed to keep the goats out.

New layout!

2008-05-19T21:41:00.002+04:00

So tell me what you think of the new layout.

Jan thought the yellow colour reflects the 'feel' of the country a little better than the previous 'lush green' (which was great for Malaysia). Plus we've added a couple of extra 'bits' in the last couple of weeks like the weather and the map showing where all our readers come from.

Hope you enjoy the new look.

TGIF

2008-05-16T21:11:00.007+04:00

Yes, it's that time of the week again when we in the UAE take a well earned rest from the rigours of work. It's also the name of a very famous restaurant chain and Jan & I had lunch there today.

We took the Pajero for a bit of a run to Dubai and she went very well indeed. Unfortunately it doesn't get much of a run during the week as it's not very far from home to the college. It certainly is nice to set the cruise control to 120kph, turn on the iPod and settle back. The time and the kms fly past.

I know Sean was a little bit worried when he saw the last picture of the car as it had no number plates. Well worry no more, Sean as I've been to the motor vehicles dept and after only one hour, the little man was screwing them on for me. The following photo will no doubt set your mind at rest.

Last weekend I took Mum back to the hospital for a check-up. Whilst it seems that the virus has gone she is still experiencing some pain which doesn't seem to want to go. She is therefore still taking painkillers and having a few sleepless nights. She did manage to go back to work this week and made it through to Thursday. The RAK hospital is run by a Swiss consortium and I'm sure the following couple of photos of the hospital grounds will make you chuckle (and in case you were wondering, no they are not real).

Our students will use any, and every, excuse to have a bit of a celebration and bring in some really great Arabic food for morning tea. This past week was no exception and we had special food two days in a row. One day was to celebrate one of the guys buying a new car and the second day was because somebody had been promoted recently. So we had goat baked in some kind of bread stuffed with spicy chick peas and other vegetables and eaten entirely with our hands of course. We all stand around the table and tuck in. Jan was really enjoying hers until one of the guys picked up the head and proceeded to knock out the brains and offered Jan first bite! They mean well. The photos were taken with my phone so not quite up to the usual standard but you never know when this is going to happen.

Next week we are having tests on Sunday and Monday so things will probably be a little subdued. The academic year is drawing to a close and we have quite a few things to do, but it won't be long before we are on holiday!!

I think that's all the news for now so I'll bid you farewell and look forward to seeing some of you soon. Remember that you don't have be afraid of tomorrow, for you survived yesterday and I'm sure that today was just great.

Another week goes by.

2008-05-03T14:59:00.003+04:00

It's Saturday once again and there's not a lot to report this week. Jan is still not well and has not returned to work yet. Yesterday I took her to the RAK Hospital as she had been in a lot of pain for a few days and the medication she has been on just didn't seem to be helping. The doctors there gave her a jab for the pain and made an appointment for her to see the specialist this morning. He has prescribed some strong pain killers, vitamin B12 tablets for nerve repair, and has given her another course of anti-viral tablets in case there is some of the virus still lurking in her system. He also ordered a blood test to see if there's anything that can tell them. The last few weeks have not been much fun I can tell you.

On a lighter note, it was great to chat with Sean and the girls this morning, especially as we now have a web cam and we could see them running around the garden and they were able to see us. Also chatted to Laura and Randall and saw that Laura's 'bump' is getting quite large now!

I've added a Link on the right to one of our real estate agents who has an information page about RAK and a nice little video, if you have Flash Player on your PC.

The car is still sittting in the drive way! Although I now have the export papers from Oman, a hic-cup in my loan application has caused a slight delay in getting the UAE registration plates. Hopefully it will be this week sometime.

The weather is definitely getting warmer as you will see from the little do-dad I added this week. If you click on the icon it will take you to the web site and give you a full forecast (if anybody saw the one I added last week, I thought this one was better).

I think that's all for now. Oh, Nan, if you get to see this, I hear your new place is working out just fine. Looking forward to seeing it in a couple of months.

TTFN

Week end update: cars, Mum & camel racing!

2008-04-25T12:01:00.011+04:00

Hi, all!

Well it's been a busy week here in RAK. The car decision has been made! Sorry Laura, but the Pajero won out. I did like the Mazda very much, but if we want to really go off-roading, then we need a proper off-road vehicle. As cars are cheaper in Oman, we have actually imported ours from a town called Dibba, which is actually part of Oman although it looks as if it's in the UAE on the map. It came on a low loader the other day. We now have to wait for the customs papers to come through and then I can apply for the UAE registration plates. All good fun but frustrating to see it in the drive and I can't take it out for a spin!!! Hopefully it will all be done by next week end.

Mum was getting bored last week so I went and bought her a jig-saw puzzle of Red Square. She has been doing it bit by bit and getting a little help from Sheeba. She went to the doc's on Wed and he's let her go back to work. Yesterday was a bit of a struggle for her but she made it through the day. She's still in quite a bit of pain and is pretty weak.

I was up at 5:30 this morning (Mum opted to stay in bed) and went with one of the guys from work to the camel races at Digdagga. One of my students races camels so went to see what goes on. Apparently some years ago they used real jockeys and there were problems because they used to starve the jockeys so they were nice and light. Real jockeys were then banned so now they have a radio controlled whip strapped to the camel's back. The guys then race along beside the track operating the radio control from their cars. It's quite a site to see! I took quite a few piccies so check out the Photo Albums and see what it looked like.

Tomorrow night I'm going bowling with a group from the college. Jan will hopefully be there to cheer me on.

Hope everybody in Oz had a great ANZAC Day and enjoy your long week end.

An 'addition' to our family

2008-04-19T21:28:00.008+04:00

Most of you have heard by now that we have acquired a cat here in the UAE. Her name is Sheba and I've posted some pictures of her so you can see just what kind of a cat she is.

In other Wanderer news: Jan is recovering from her bout of shingles, albeit slowly, and has another week off work. Luckily we now have the Internet on at home which is helping to alleviate her boredom. This week end we went to Dubai to give her a change of scenery but our planned dhow trip this morning was postponed due to a rather bad sandstorm which limited visibility somewhat.

As I now have my Emirates driving licence we can now buy a car and so deciding what to buy has taken up quite a bit of our time lately. We are currently tossing up whether to buy a Pajero (which I thought we had decided on) or the latest Mazda CX9 which has just arrived in the UAE and we looked at this afternoon. Decisions, decisions!! I'll keep you all posted.

Work has been a little quiet this week as it has been mid-semester and we got the exams over in the first couple of days. We had a very interesting e-learning conference on Thursday (which Jan unfortunately couldn't attend) where I met lots of people from some of the other HCT colleges and picked up some great ideas.

I think that's enough for now so I'm off to bed. Night, night.

Ron's 60th Birthday!

2008-04-04T12:26:00.004+04:00

For all those 'in the know', you would have known that Wednesday was another milestone in Ron's life: he turned 60! Many thanks to the overseas friends and family who sent cards and SMSs. They were very much appreciated.

Unfortunately, it was a normal workday at the college as nobody had told the government about this momentous occasion. However, his students all sang Happy Birthday to him and got the college canteen to supply some rather nice cakes and juice for the morning break. Jan was of course invited to share the in the celebration.

The next evening being a Thursday (and the start of the week end for us in the UAE) we had a bit of a barbie at our villa for a few of the people that we have made friends with at the college. A new Webber had been purchased the previous weekend and was put to good use in cooking a nice leg of Aussie lamb, some potatoes, a butternut pumpkin, onions and a rather large fish. It was all accompanied by an assortment of salads and washed down with some Foster's and a few bottles of good Aussie wine!

Ron was very lucky to get some nice presents from his friends which included a rather fun clock!

It wasn't too late a night but everybody enjoyed themselves and many thanks must go to all who helped in the celebration. A special thank you to Jan for all the shopping and preparation that she did beforehand. Some photos are in the pictures folder.

Our first trip to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE

2008-03-15T12:01:00.002+04:00

As the HQ of our company is in Abu Dhabi, we had to go down last Thursday for our medicals. We decided to stay overnight because a) it was a long way to drive there and back in one day and b) we'd never been there before. Accomodation is pretty expensive and many hotels were booked out, but we managed to get into the Hilton Hotel through one of those on-line last minute deal sites. It was really great because when we went to check in, they said that there were no more 'normal rooms' left so they would upgrade us to the 'executive floor'! Needless to say we had a great night. Especially at the Jazz Bar in Hemingways where the music and food were superb.

The medical didn't take very long so then we went exploring Abu Dhabi. There are some photos in Our Photo Albums, so check em out. Especially the Palace of the Emirates hotel which is one heck of a grand place (and no it wasn't available in the last minute deals!). It had some great exhibitions though.

On the way back we called into the Dubai Men's College where the TESOL Arabia conference was being held. We caught up with some of the staff from the RAK college who were attending the conference and some old friends from CfBT.

Today I'm at the office catching up with some e-mails and writing this blog. Jan has gone shopping.

Hope all are well and the South Australian contingent is managing to find some respite from the heat!

RAK villa

2008-03-02T10:14:00.003+04:00

Just posted a new photo album with some views of our 'villa'. Check it out!

Environment Day @ RAK Men's College

2008-02-25T16:44:00.006+04:00

Last Wednesday was Environment Day here at the Ras Al khaimah Men's College. The college put on various displays, there were guest speakers on various topics and the local schools were involved too.

I went to a talk on 'We are what we eat: benefits of organic food' by a guy who runs an organic food shop and cafe www.organicfoodsandcafe.com , we sang a song about 'Reduce, Re-use & Recycle', I found out that there are 102 different types of dates in the UAE and I tasted some really great honey. Check out the pics. Jan went to a talk on turtles becoming an endangered species in the UAE. The local schools had an exhibition of pictures and models etc made from junk. There were some pretty cool items there. The college students painted some old oil drums and showed us some of the environmental implications of the IT industry.

It was agreat day and everybody learned a lot. Let's hope that they now put some of the ideas that they learnt into practice.

Our classes are still going well and we have settled into our villa (had a trip to IKEA in Dubai last week end to pick up a few bits and pieces). The weather is still cool at night but starting to warm up during the day. Can't wait for it to hit 45!!!

Update: Mon18th February

2008-02-18T15:14:00.004+04:00

Well we are now into our second week of teaching. Today we took our students to a book exhibition and they had to find examples of different types of books. It was good to see the enthusiastic way in they approached the task. A little different to the students in the last country we worked in!

I've added a few photos to the slide show on the right, including a couple of the house. We have rented a car for now, a Mazda 6, and will be looking to buy when we get our residence visa (might be a few weeks yet).The Hilton Beach Club is only a few minutes drive and a nice place to relax or enjoy a meal. The menu is quite varied: from local to European. Many tour groups come here from Europe this time of the year to escape the European winter.

Jan and I are really enjoying our teaching at HCT. The guys range from privates to captains in the main, but we've got one major in one class. Jan has two classes and she teaches both military English and general English using an HCT written web based course. I'm teaching General English to one class and I have two classes of web based activities. We both teach 20 hours a week.

The weather is starting to warm up during the day but is still pretty cool at night. Last Friday we took a spin over to the east coast and I'll post some photos when I can. The countryside is vastly different from Malaysia! Very dry, lots of mountains and sand hills and many date palm plantations.

OK, so that's a quick update. I hope all are well and that everything is going well for you wherever you are.