Desert Adventures - Desert Dinner Safari

Our third time out in the desert was two weeks later on November 28th with an organized tour group. This time we went with a group of twenty people. We knew most of them, a collection of friends and coworkers. The larger the group the better the price! We used Cyclone Tours and they were great. They pick you up at one central location in town and drive you out to the desert in four wheel drive that are equipped for some serious Dune Bashing, roll bars and all. It's an entire organized evening lasting about 8 hours including travel time.

Our first peek of the "camp". They are even equipped for overnights if you so choose!

This is where dinner would be served and there were little area all setup for different activities.

First off, camel rides for all who desired.

The ride was nice, going up and down was another story!!

We were laughing so hard!!

These particular camels were so laid back!

Dune bashing was crazy!!! You had to hold on for dear life!

We stopped and saw were they care for the camels.

Cute photo op!

Back to "camp"!

Some of the guys did some "sandboarding" before dinner.

The ride done was a blast but first you had to hold a rope and climb a very steep dune!

Dress up time! Yes that is me under there!

Henna painting on my one hand! It's a deep brownish red and lasts about 7-9 days.

After dinner we had a very tastefully dressed belly dancers and then many of us joined in dancing to Arabic music. Then they turned the camps lights off and we could just lay on the cushions and watch the starry night sky. It was beautiful! It was a great evening!!

Desert Adventures - Annual Church Desert Picnic

Our second time out in the desert was November 14, 2008. The annual ECC (Evangelical Community Church) Desert Picnic. We headed out to the desert to a location that you didn't have to have a four wheel drive to get to. After morning services everyone met back at the church at 2pm and over 60 vehicles lined up and followed each other out.

Everyone "set-up" their own spot and started cooking their dinners. It was amazing to

see all the different cultures and what food they brought. From Subway sandwiches

to full cooked dinners.

Barry relaxing before I cooked dinner.

Even our friends little one enjoyed the picnic!

Chef Barry grilling dinner on our "instant" grill. You buy them at the supermarket, they are sealed and ready to go for one grilling and then dispose!

Making friends, this is Katie and I.

A really big sandbox for hours of fun!!

And a huge giant bonfire and singing to finish the evening!!

Rainy Days Abu Dhabi Style

Keep in mind it rains very fews days a year here, and usually it's not a rainy day just a rainy "hour" or two. I believe I heard the annual rain fall is under 2 inches! It rained Saturday night for several hours and again a bit on yesterday, Sunday. Today it has been raining on and off, more on, for for the last five hours. Our first true "rainy day" here in Abu Dhabi, and Barry hits his one year anniversary in two days! So now that we have had a "real" rainy day it started me thinking about how different it is when it does rain in a place that it rarely does. SO the following are "Pattie" observations about a rainy day "Abu Dhabi" style.

On a rainy day in Abu Dhabi...

... the streets are wet enough that when the men cross the streets they have to hold up their white "dresses" (dish-dashes) so the hems don't get wet!

... It felt so wonderful to walk outside on a ninety degree day and get wet enough to "mess up" my hair! I wouldn't of used an umbrella if I had one!

... you get "really" excited about the prospect of enough rain to "clean" the windows on your apt. building that are covered in a fine sandy dust the other 364 days of the year!

... after a good down pour the roads are all a "sandy white" like after a snowstorm and the snow melts and all that "stuff" is left on the roads!

... Reem Island which is still under construction with temporary roads turns into one big mud pit!! Oh, did I mention that is where Barry's job site is located and I had to drive him to work in the Toyota Yaris in the rain?

... all the men "caught out" in the heavy downpour this afternoon in their white robes looked like they could enter a wet t-shirt contest. Not a pretty sight!

... your husband's biggest worry on a day of rain is the condition of the six meter deep hole that was just dug on his job site. Will the borders hold?

... absolutely everyones car is covered in mud specks!!

... your landlord asks you; "It rain day today, everything okay in your apt.? It leak?" Thankfully the answer to question one was yes and no to question two!

Desert Adventures - First Time out!

Our first time "out" in the desert was back in October and I am finally putting my pictures on the blog! We went "out" with friends from our small group at church and had the best time. For safety reasons you should never go out in the desert with less than three vehicles.

The first thing you do is let air out of your tires so your vehicle won't get stuck in the sand. Those of us in non-four-wheel-drives left our cars on the side of the road and caught "rides" in.

Off we go to find a great sight!

The first things the kids do when they jump out is run up the biggest dune and find the fastest way down!! Some bring boogie boards, saucers, and even cardboard. Others just roll the whole way down!

Setting up before the sun sets. We enjoyed the nice cool breezes and all ate our "picnic'" dinners we brought in. But before dinner we went out for our first bit of "dune bashing". It's when you drive like a crazy nut up and down the dunes.

A pretty sunset!

Seeing the dunes the first time was amazing!

Yep, our friend got stuck! First he tried letting a bit more air out of the tires. Then we called back to "camp" for help. The reason why you never go out alone!

Barry standing on top of a dune, so help knows where to come.

Here comes the calvary!!

Just as our help arrived so did a local Emirate with his four sons. He gave the men a

lesson in "reading" the sand, knowing where to drive and where not to. Barry said it

was quite fascinating

He then showed them how to let the air out until it ran "cool" on your hand.

And a push and out it came without having to tie it off to another car and yank!

And a campfire to complete the evening!!! It was a well spent five hours!

Crunch! Crunch!!

"I'm okay" is how I started my phone conversation with my hubby yesterday when I called to tell him I was in a small car accident yesterday. It's actually a funny story, now that it's over, so I had to write about it.

So....... I'm driving home in our little Toyota Yaris rental from the park with the little five year old boy I tutor and we are stopped at a red light, three traffic lights away from his apartment. He says; "There is a fly in the car!" and I here the lock on the door unclick. My head swung around at the speed of light, I put on my "unhappy highbrows", lowered my pitch in my voice, and said; "DO NOT OPEN THAT DOOR!". He looked at me and quietly said okay. Three more times before I parallel parked the car I heard about "the fly in the car". Hussein has NEVER opened the car door when I have parked before. And I reminded him to wait on me, but I guess his mind was still on that "fly", so when I stepped out of the car he decided to open the door even though his seat belt was still on. Of course at that very moment a car zoomed by in the single lane of the parking lot and, "crunch" hit the car!!! Actually the edge of the door.

I rushed around the car to make sure he was okay, and with a very panicked face and soft voice he said; "There was a fly in the car"

The man spoke a fair amount of English (Thank you Lord!), and looked at his car, saw the couple of scratches on the front bummer and said no problem. Then I went to close the door, so he could drive by and of course the door wouldn't close. I turned around quickly to memorize the mans license plate and tell him there was a problem. Here in the U.A.E. you have to have a police report with EVERY accident. Body shops can not repair cars without a copy of the police report. And, on top of that it's a rental! Thankfully, he knew I would need a report for the repair and I could tell he wasn't going anywhere. One hour later the police still had not arrived! Hussein's mom had joined me and was waiting with me so I would have someone with me that spoke Arabic. Another forty five minutes later the police finally arrived. Basically the results were in the U.A.E. someone HAS to be at fault. And it was me, because I was responsible for "the child"! Even if there was "a fly in the car!"

The good news is the police officer was going to write me a ticket also, but Hussein's mom talked him out it! Neither one of us was sure what the ticket was for, but I said my thank you and walked away with my police report. Then today I went to the rental agency and gave them the report and the insurance will cover it with no extra fees from us. The door looks undamaged but won't close unless you push downward on it while closing. They will repair it when they do the next maintenance.

Hopefully it will be my one and only "crunch" here in the U.A.E.!

This Is For Real!!!

Barry and I like to eat at the Kalispera Cafe, a local little cafe just down the street from our apartment. We can easily walk there on the non 100 degree days of the year. They have fabulous crepes, sweet and savory. I love the chicken and mushroom ones and order them quite often for dinner.

Here in Abu Dhabi over 150 different nationalities are represented. With all the different nationalities comes many different cultures, and with the many cultures comes different pronunciations of the english language.

So back to Kalispera, every time my crepes are placed in front of me with a lovely smile the server says, "Here is your crap Madame!" And if I order crepes for desert I can hear it twice!

"Mopping" The Car!

Last week I get home in the afternoon and park my car in the lot outside our building. It's common to see TCN's (Third Country Nationals) washing some of the tenants cars. Our buildings "watchman" washes our car every other day for 100 dirham a month(27 bucks)! You have to wash the cars here so frequently because of all the sand and dust, they just get covered with it!

Anyway, I digress, when I got out of my car I saw a man mopping his! The bucket, the mop, the whole deal, like it was his kitchen floor! My standard line; you just gotta laugh!

Christmas Lunch With The "Girls"

Sunday, December 28th "us girls" had a our Christmas lunch at Prego's, the italian restaurant at the Beach Rotana here in Abu Dhabi. We all met a ladies coffee back in July. We were all new in Abu Dhabi and quickly became friends.

Barry helped by being our "secret santa" elf and putting everyones name in a sealed envelope. We shared our gifts and had a lovely lunch. It made Christmas that much more special! From the left; Suzy, Sharmini, myself, Patty, Mel, and Angela.

A Few Pics From Christmas Day

I wrote all about our Christmas dinner in a previous blog. I just wanted to share a few pictures I haven't previously posted.

Sharmini, who is expecting her first in March, showed up at Christmas dinner as Santa! Doug and Barry compared "bellies" with Santa's "bowl full of jelly"!

It was quite amusing!

And of course I had to sit on Santa's lap, not really, I used the chair arm!

Good friends Dave and Suzy in the Holiday Spirit!

Traffic Report

I usually listen to the radio in the car, each place we have lived it is a different radio station. Here it is Radio Two and it is the station that most expats listen to, a mix of american and british pop and easy listening. Just like at home they have the morning and afternoon traffic report. Although last week I heard something you will never here in the U.S.

"Be careful of stray camels in the road near arabian ranches (name of a subdivision)."

You just got a laugh!! I'm sure hitting a camel would be worse than a deer!

"Safeway" Transportation!

This week I am driving down Muroor Street and made a left on 9th. This van is weaving from one lane to the other to see if he can get one "space" ahead. Nothing new, by any means. As I get closer I see it is a "school bus". One of the many fifteen passenger size vans used to privately transport children to and from school. Then I realize it is really full. I stopped counting at TWENTY SIX heads! Mostly very little ones between the ages of four and six, although there were some older children and nannies too! As it went into the right lane to turn and I drove by it on the left I saw the company name on the side of the van. "Safeway Transportaton"

You got to just laugh!!!!

Back to Blogging,....Finally!

Well, here it is almost the end of March and I haven't written a blog in almost three months!!! No reason why, other than a trip home to the USA, a visit from my mom for two weeks and a total lack of organization! So, this is just to let all my friends and family know I am back to blogging!!!! I just wish the pictures downloaded faster! So, hopefully over the next to weeks you will get to hear all about our last three months over here, and a little bit in the U.S. Hugs to one and all!!!