This guy sure gets around

Bert met with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed last year when he was doing some defence force tendering. There were no photographers present though like there was last week when he met with President Obama.

holding back the sand

Does this guy not have the most futile job ever?

And just because

I like my friends to be happy, here is a photo

Luck has very little to do with it.

I try very hard to always look at the positives in my life and not dwell on the negatives. If you read my blog hoping to hear how miserable I am, this is the post for you, bookmark it, because you won't see another one for a long time. If you come here just for the pretty photos, I'm sorry, today is not your day.

I am told so frequently how lucky we are to live here and earn good wages. Luck had nothing at all to do with it. Coming here took a lot of risk-taking, and a huge amount of hard work and a lot of sacrifice. We gave up day-to-day contact with our loved ones, we left most of our possessions at home to come here to a very foreign way of life. I gave up a lot of freedom to live here and Bert made a huge leap of faith in his career to move here.

Yes, we came because we wanted to. Because we knew it would be a fabulous experience but it took a lot of courage to make the final move.

Yes, we live a very priviledged life here, we live in lovely accomodation, we have a great car and petrol is cheaper than water. We spend the occasional weekend in fabulous expensive hotels and lap up the luxury. We pay no tax, I have a maid. I could go on about all the huge pluses in living here, but to be fair, I would need to also list the negatives.

First and foremost would be Bert's work. Bert works long long hours. He is often at work from 7am to 10pm at night, very frequently he doesn't have time for lunch. He rarely has a two day weekend and even if he did, at least half of one of those days is spent working on the computer from home. It upsets and annoys me that people think because he is the General Manager of a company he has it easy. It is quite the opposite actually, the responsibility ends with him, he has to deal with awful situations constantly. Mostly, because he is the kind-hearted generous man he is, but also because it is his job and he takes the responsibility seriously.

So, from our privledged position, we are faced with workers who are paid a small fraction of Bert's wages and live and work in extremely difficult situations. It's hard, and I am not being facetious or sarcastic in saying that, it is hard because we believe that all people deserve to be treated humanely. We want people who we come in contact with to feel valued and safe just as we do.

I am horrified by the large number of women (and I guess men too, but I see it with women because I'm not out in the workforce) who have too much time, money and power and walk all over people in their quest for domination via the nail spa and handbag shop. I read a woman describe this situation once as people who arrive a Smith and quickly become a Smythe.

Bert recently spent an evening at a workers camp where he ate with them and sat on the floor with them and discussed religion with them. Bert has repeatedly described it as a very humbling experience. Those workers treated him beautifully because they were gracious and felt honoured to have him visit with them to learn more about their lives. We need to learn to be more like these men, who have nothing but so willingly share and think they are the most blessed people on earth.

He has also in recent weeks faced an impossibly difficult situations that have had dramatic ramifications for several people. He has agonised over these people, worked tirelessly and sought advice from many people we trust and respect their views. He has had sleepless nights and feels that he has not done enough to help them. Those of us who know and love Bert know that he has done a whole lot more than most people would, he showed them he genuinely cared.

The past two weeks I have often thought what on earth are we doing here, then I realise if we were not here, these workers' fate would be much harsher than it is now under Berts management.

Emirates Palace

I posted about the Emirates Palace a year ago when Bert originally came to Abu Dhabi to do a tender. It is one of two seven star hotels here, the other being the Burj al Arab in Dubai. As a surprise Bert booked tickets to see Il Divo at an outdoor part of the Palace and a room for the night to stay there. There was then an issue when the UAE govt, announced three days of mourning for Sheikh Ahmed. We decided to stick with our bookings the way they were and then stay at another hotel in Abu Dhabi the following night for the concert. More on that later.

The hotel was just fabulous. As we drove up to the door valets appeared from everywhere and opened doors and got the luggage out of the car. One asked me our names and he wrote them down. From that point on, every staff member we walked past called us by name. Instead of being ushered to a counter in reception we were seated and offered cold drinks and arabic coffee. I was given a bunch of pink roses. I guess this is where they get their extra stars from, this kind of service.

The Emirates in mourning again

Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayad body was found a few days after he crashed into a lake in Morocco whilst flying a glider. The high respect and affection for the ruling family here in UAE is very impressive. People genuinely love the Sheikhs. It's a bit different to politians at home! 3 days of mourning were announced in response to his death, this means all live music is cancelled, and the radio plays classical music 24 hours a day. Unfortunately this means a bit of chaos and rescheduling is required for our weekend. We have tickets to see Il Divo at the Emirates Palace and had booked to stay overnight. The concert is now on Saturday. Sheikh Ahmed was only 42 and leaves behind a two year old child.

Ooops its been a while

But life got in the way. I have been home to Australia and back. Hear that Mum? I called it home!

My mum asked me once when I was coming home, about two weeks after we had finally moved into our own apartment after living like gypsies for nearly a year, and she thought it was funny that I said what are you talking about I am home.

It was great to see everyone, to chat with friends that don't use computers (yes there are still a few of those people around) to see my daughter, my mum my sister and my dog but it also feels good to be back here in Dubai.

The question on everyones lips is how long are you staying. Bert and I really have never discussed how long we are staying. The plan is to stay as long as we are happy here. If one day we decide we are not happy here anymore, for any reason, we will make plans to return to Australia.

The good part of flying home? I got upgraded to first class from business class. It was lovely.