Oman

During the Eid break Julia, Kay and I went in to Oman for 2 days. Being the middle of winter, the weather was a little more mild, and flowers were in full bloom. Oman is a beautiful country. Here are a few photos.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was fun with friends: Karen, her daughter Hannah, Martin, Julia and me.

Hannah had arrived from London the day before Kate had arrived. They had a lot of tales to tell about life in London.

Housing boom.

Kate was impressed at how many new buildings were going up and at how big they were. The city is sprawling and there is a law that prohibits buildings being any more than 4 storey high. This photo is fairly typical of many new houses.

Arabic art

Back to the art exhibition. Subhia was very proud of her painting - a very typical Arabic piece with coffee pot, ceremonial knife and falcon. Subhia is the art teacher at Al Masoudi and is a lot of fun. She is the same age as I am and has become a good friend. She has good English - at least, it is good enough for us to have a conversation!! Her classroom has some excellent children's art displayed.

Sand dunes

We went for a drive around the outskirts of the city to see the sand dunes. The deep red contrasting with the blue sky is beautiful. Kate was amazed at how we could be driving down a road, then all of a sudden - no road - it just stops in the middle of the sand and turns into desert. We saw some new areas of Al Ain I hadn't seen before.

Kate and I drove to the top of Jebel Hafeet (Jebel means mountain) - the winding roads are behind Kate - where we could see the whole of Al Ain and surrounding areas. It was a little hazy at the top so the view wasn't the best, but it was great for Katie to be able to get her bearings.

We spent Christmas night at the apartments in Twam where Julia lives and had a wonderful dinner with friends and colleagues. We all pitched in and had a traditional Christmas dinner with beautiful decorations and a tree. I think we had about 24 people all sitting around the table for a formal dinner. It was a great night, as we all tried hard not to think too much about our families at home! Here we are later in the night, at Julia's apartment.

Katie arrived in Al Ain on Christmas Eve. She came to school with me on Christmas Day (Yes, Christmas Day was a work day!!). She was the centre of attention at school and was asked if she was french by a few teachers. We were both taken to the art teachers art exhibition where we saw some wonderful art relating to UAE culture and heritage.

Kay and I travelled to the small village of Lefkara where lace and silver are produced. We met this lovely couple in their shop (Kay talks to everyone!!). We had Cypriot coffee and a long chat about the country and the handcraft industry. Very few women are learning the art of lace making now and it is becoming a dying art. The village is in the middle of steep hills and the streets are narrow and lined with shops. A very beautiful place. Some of the lace is 'pulled thread lace' on Irish Linen and some is very like very fine tatting. They are real keepsakes. The silver is beautiful too - some of it is very fine filigree, but they also have jewellery with gemstones as well.

Aphrodite's Rock

Here we are at Aphrodite's Rock, where Aphrodite was born in the foam and became the Goddess of Love and Beauty. (The 3 rocks in the distance are the actual place). We had joined a bus tour to Pafos, the largest town in Cyprus. On the way we saw more ancient settlements, tombs, catacombs, churches and Roman ruins. Pafos is a port city, and was definitely a tourist trap. It is amazing to see where the legends of the Greek and Roman God's originated centuries ago. It all seems to make it a bit more real, not like the legends we read at home.

Neolithic Settlement

We visited a neolithic village site at Choirokoitia, dated 9 centuries BC! The houses were small and round, constructed of rock and river stone. It's amazing to see how people lived so long ago, when NZ was so young it probably didn't even have the moa! The houses Kay is standing in front of, are reconstructions of the village. On the left you can just make out the circular design of the houses up the hill. The people were buried inside the houses, inhumation, our new word for the week!

Kay and I have just returned from a 5 day holiday in Larnaca, Cyprus. This is the hotel we stayed in, Les Palmiers, right on the beach front in the old town. It was very close to all of the historic places as well as the main shopping area. The weather was mild, but not cold, and we were able to walk around the old streets at leisure. Being the middle of winter, it was not too busy, and the Christmas sales were great!

These 2 photos are of little girls from one of the other schools. They all have the same long purple flowing dresses on and gold head gear. I took the photo from behind as well to show the head gear...it is all made of gold...yes! real gold. They had matching bracelets and necklaces and ear rings. Evidently, one head dress is worth about 20,000 Dirhams ($10,000NZ). The level of trust in this country is impressive.

I loved this sunset. It would look beautiful out over the sand dunes. At times there is so much dust in the air that you can look directly at the sun.

The theme for our parade was falcons and young Abdullah brought his falcon to school to show everyone. This is a young falcon. Note the cover over his eyes to keep him calm. Abdullah's mum took the eye cover off at one stage to show us his eyes.
A beautiful bird. Falconry is very popular here in Al Ain and many families go out to the desert for a picnic in the weekend and fly their falcons.

Mandy and I went with about 30 boys to the National Day parade. We all had our UAE scarves on adn theboys carried balloons, falcons and falconary regalia as their theme for the march. There must have been about 100 schools attend the parade, and after gathering in a huge hall, we spent 2 hours walking through the streets, and in front of the shiekh and his wife. It was an incredible experience. We don't see nationalism and pride like this in NZ. I can't quite imagine doing this on Waitangi Day.....

This week at school was a frenzy of organisation for the country's National Day celebrations. On Thursday we all dressed up in our kandoras and joined in the celebrations. This is my team of advisors. Myrese, Adele (2 South African girls from New Zealand), Wa'ed, our translator who is Palestinian, and Mandy, also from NZ. We have the picture of the Sheikh behind us. He is a very popular figure in the country, as it was him who negotiated the oil deals for the country, bringing their wealth with it. He did a huge amount for the UAE, inlcuding the Education reforms now happening.

Kay, Sheree and Adele are advisors at the girls school just down the road from my school. Kay lives next door to me. Here they are all dressed up to go to the wedding of one of their staff. Weddings are very glitzy affairs - women only - with a lot of food and dancing. The girls had been shopping for finery, and these outfits will probably be very plain when compared to the beautiful, colourful 'butterfly' gowns worn by the locals.
The bride wore a huge, princess dress covered in thousands of crystals (swarkovsky?) and was absolutely beautiful.

During the week I go to art lessons run by Marion. Last Friday we went to the local fort and spent a lovely afternoon drawing. It is interesting that we can all do a drawing of the same thing, and come up with 5 very different pictures. Here we are outside the fort, which is situated in the middle of the city. Evidently, one of the Sheikhs was born here. It would be interesting to know more of it's history, as there is not much left on the inside.

Last week at quiz night it was Martin's birthday. Karen had made a cake so after we had finished dinner, we celebrated with a few candles and the obligatory 'happy birthday'. In the photo are Karen (married to Martin), Martin (nick name Doc Martin as he is a doctor of nuclear physics!), Julia and Kay (both fellow lead advisors). We go to the local rugby club (very British) every Wednesday to enjoy the quiz night. We often do not do very well, and the best we have fared is second. Puts us nicely in our place! No fat-heads here!

Sand Dunes... are we in a desert?

I just can't go past the sand dunes!!! They are beautiful with the sun on them and the ripples running along the ridges. In the evening the sun is red upon the red sands - a beautiful sight. The other evening Kay and I went to go out and within the previous half hour the wind had whipped up and a sand storm was blowing. Visibility was very poor and sand was wafting all over the road and piling up on the edges of the road. The sands move constantly and never look the same!

School is a treat

This picture could be of teachers anywhere in NZ and it is a real tribute to the hard work of our advisors and the teachers we work with. Things like having a mat in the classroom, and having children sitting on the floor is hugely different for the Emerati. Even the displays around the classroom are a new idea. The children are just like children everywhere - they enjoy trying to say good morning in English to us and saying Hello. Almost all of them wear their white kandora's to school and only change when they have PE. A real experience for us!!!

Julia and I went for a 'tiki tour' in the weekend, looking for the camel auctions. We didn't fine the auctions, but we did find a camel farm. They are all crowded in a wire fence as you can see, with water troughs and a feed trough. It is interesting, the food is brought in for the camels, and some farmers even buy bales of hay from Australia!!!

Floral Art?

This is the watercolour I did for the bedroom. Even though it is quite large, it looks very small on the bare wall. We have been having lessons in water colour painting by Marian, the partner of one of our advisors. It has been a lot of fun and I have learned heaps. This is the first one to go on a wall.

Art for the walls

I've been doing some paintings recently to add to the bare walls of my apartment. This is my "Arabic Theme" painting - 3 paintings actually. The girls said it was too nice to hide away in the bedroom, where I had intended putting it, so it is now hanging in the lounge, above my dining suite. I have to admit, I am pleased with the way it turned out. Even got a commission from it!!!

The Nephews

Sam and David spent some time down at the creek near the bach and came back with this eel, not sure what they intended to do with it, but they were certainly proud of their efforts, it appears this is a regular evening sport for them, I pity the eels with these guys on the job.

Now we are in Ireland, and you never would have guessed - one of the first places we stopped to visit was a distillery. Anyone would think Damian hadn't seen a real drink in months!!!

We hired a car for 6 days and just travelled along back roads, stopping wherever we saw anything that caught our eye. The weather was cool, crisp and sunny - perfect after having spent 6 months in the heat.

This ship is pretty much like the one we are on. We are almost at the docks, so there were a few ships lined up waiting to pass through. There are over 380 ships on the Nile, so often we could see 10 or 12 in front or behind us at any one time. The little boats have men selling their wares to us - mainly clothing and towels.

The ship takes about 160 guests and the top deck has covered seating, a pool, deckchairs and a restaurant. The middle 3 storey's are accommodation, and the storey at water level has the restaurants and bars. It is an amazing 4 star hotel.

One night on the cruise ship we had a dress up night. Here we are in our Egyptian gear!! I think Damian deliberately didn't shave just so that he would look more authentic. We will never be short of fancy dress clothes once we get home, although I must admit that I do wear this dress - full length - around my house here in Al Ain. It is very cool.

During our 4 day cruise up the Nile, we visited a number of archeological sites, ranging from 4,000 years of to 2,000 years old. The majesty and beauty of some of the old temples was something to see. These pillars used to hold up huge ceilings in the temple. They are still carved and the colour still shows in areas. The heiroglyphics are amazing. Our guide, Adel, was a professor at Cairo University and he had a passion for Egyptian history. He was an amazing guy and we learnt so much about the temples and ruins. He could read the heiroglyphs, and was able to tell us the stories as they were written.

You can't visit an Arabic country without having a camel in the picture somewhere! These camels are in Egypt, near the pyramids, but we are looking forward to the annual 'beautiful camel' competition here in the UAE this year. Camels come from all over the world to enter in this competition. The prize is a million dirhams - big stakes - and last years winner WAS ACTUALLY beautiful!! They are judged on their eyelashes, eyes, lips, hump, colouring etc etc. This weekend Julia, Kay and I are off to the camel auctions, where thousands of camels are sold each week Will keep you posted!

Here I am in front of the sphinx. I can remember the pictures of a sphinx on the front of the old Mighty Pads at school (am I showing my age?) and never thought I would get to see it. We were lucky to be there in the middle of summer (even though it was in the high 40's!!) because the crowds weren't so bad.

The sphinx was almost covered over the years and has been excavated to reveal all the detail. What a great sight!

Wow! I have finally got around to adding some photos. This one is of me and Damian in front of the largest pyramid in the world, in Giza, Egypt. It was so amazing to be able to walk around an area that is 4,000 years old - it is hard to fathom so many years of history.

We were so lucky on the tour. We were the only two in our group and had a wonderful guide who really enjoyed explaining everything for us.

The white coating at the top of the pyramid is limestone, the original covering of the whole pyramid. Over the years it was taken off to be used in other structures around Egypt.

On our first stint in Al Ain, the GR5 visited Dubai for the day. It was very hot and very humid, but I achieved one of my goals - to see the Al Arab Burj. It is the most amazing structure (the tallest 7 star hotel in the world) and it is hard to believe that the helipad on the top is big enough to play a game of tennis on!! I can't remember which tennis stars, but 2 of them played a match up there to give the hotel publicity. Julia and I have had thoughts of going in to have 'high tea' at a cost of 200 dirhams ($100) each!!! just to get in!

During the formal part of the evening Trish and Murray said some really nice things about my time at Putaruru West and Putaruru Primary. I was presented with the most beautiful pounamu from the staff and these beautiful gifts from the board. They are exquisite crystal wine glasses and flutes, and a silver tray engraved with words of appreciation. I felt very special. They will certainly be treasured, and I will remember my days at West and PPS fondly. I have always loved my job!

The staff at Putaruru Primary School put on a farewell party for me, now that I have resigned my position as Principal. Damian and I decided to wear our thobe and abaya to show staff the middle eastern dress, these are Qatari. We caused quite a stir and there were a lot of questions about where, when, who wears these clothes and how suitable they are to the weather. Putaruru is a small town, and I am sure no-one had seen this style of dress before. I think Damian looked the part!

The party was alot of fun and it was great to catch up with everyone.

When I went home I took videos and photos of all the things I might miss. This is the view from our our house. The thing I noticed most was the GREEN!! We have a lovely private section, with farmland views out the back. Sitting on the deck relaxing and just watching the birds is a favourite past time. We have a hawk living in the trees behind us and he often swoops around on the thermals above the farm land. Beautiful!!

After my contract finished in Al Ain (and before the next one started) Damian and I travelled to Egypt, London and Ireland fo rthree weeks, before returning to NZ. We were in for a culture shock in Cairo. With 24 million people and almost as many old cars, the driving was crazy. Three lanes could easily accommodate 7 layers of cars, all tooting and vying for space. And then in the middle of that we spot this guy on his cycle, delivering the days fresh bread supplies!!! Incredible!! Down the road, the bread was laid out in piles on the street waiting for buyers...mmm...we were not in the queue! The poverty in Cairo contrasts hugely with the wealth of Qatar and the UAE.

This is the first apartment Damian and I lived in while in Al Ain. We were on the second floor, located at the back of the complex. It is a very modern complex right in the centre of Al Ain and central to the shopping areas. You will note the lack of greenery!!! and there was no outdoor living space at all. The aprtment was lovely inside, with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and nice living area.

When I return to Al Ain I will be in new 3 bedroomed villa, so will post photos of it when I settle in. The Cognition residents call this block "Golden Sands".

Here we are in UAE with the Abu Dhabi skyline in the background. We spent a few days in Abu Dhabi helping out in the Cognition Office and doing some sight seeing, before being sent to Al Ain to help set up apartments for all the new arrivals from NZ.

The weather is extremely hot, well over 40 degrees, and very, very humid. The sights are wonderful and Abu Dhabi is a very busy, bustling city. The Marina Shopping Mall was huge and we found a few good shops that will be worth revisiting. Still, there are plenty of places to explore each time we visit Abu Dhabi.

Ash's visit to Qatar

This is my first posting. I hope to be able to journal my stay in the Middle East. Here we are back in July when Ash came to stay in Qatar. We all went down to the Corniche to watch the sun set. It was a beautiful, balmy night. The pearl is one of the many sculptures in the park area. The city skyline is in the backgound. The corniche is a favourite spot for families to visit at night and often there are families and children there until late at night.