Abi.

Short for Abu Dhabi.  Could there be a better trinket to take home from a country?

maids.

Our two lovely maids, Siriani from Sri Lanka and Lorna from the Phillipines.  Lorna has a one year old daughter at home in the Phillipines and will be in the UAE for three years before she can go home to see her. Her and Siriani are always so happy!  Here they are packing up goods that I have given them from stuff people have donated.

One of the perks of the job I guess

This tissue box, and five others were lovingly made by one of our Bangladeshi women for all the managers in the company. 

Paul's graduation

 Paul has just completed training with the Melbourne Metropolitan fire brigade, we are so very proud of him

                                                   Paul and his lovely partner Jacqui.

A change of scenery

Could this be any different than the United Arab Emirates?  We are in Germany for a week to spend time with Berts father.  We drove from Frankfurt to Burghausen and it was this green and this beautiful.  I love the UAE and I am constantly surprised by just how pretty the desert can be, but goodness Germany is beautiful.

computer problems

I'm sorry my postings have been a rare occurance lately but the computer access here is driving me a little, well a LOT crazy.  I have downloaded a program today that seems to be helping and I got my log in page for my blog in English this morning which is a bonus as logging in, in Arabic is a bit of a hit and miss affair.

I still cannot upload photos, so that will be the next thing I need to work out.

Interesting encounter

Last week I was at the local petrol station getting a drink.  As I approached the cashier a young Emirati woman reached the counter at the same time, she had a magazine and a drink already on the counter and an icecream in her hand.  She said to me, oh sorry you go first.  I replied, oh no its ok, you were here first.  Just polite banter nothing extra ordinary.  She stepped back and said no it's important to me never to push in front of people, so I had no choice but to go first. 

I paid with a 200 dirham note, which is quite a large note for my purchase, and I was digging through my purse for something smaller and found a ten dirham note.  I said to the guy oh hang on a sec, Ive found something smaller.   The Emirati woman said where are you from? Ive never heard an accent like you have.  I said Im Australian.  She replied oh how wonderful do you like it here?  I said yes I do, its a bit hot (it was 41 celcius outside) she said ah yes that is why we have airconditioning, so other than the heat you are happy here?  I said yes I am, I miss my family but otherwise its great.  She said oh really, you want your family here? I can help, let me get them a visa!  I said oh no, thank you its ok (at the same time thinking what is this girl talking about?) I said my kids are both busy with new jobs and careers and my mother is elderly, she doesn't even catch a bus anymore, much less get on a long haul flight.  The woman said seriously, I can get them a visa, let me help. 

So I said goodbye, no we didn't need visas thank you, have a nice day.  I got in my dust covered honda civic, she got into the back seat of the Mercedes and off we went.

So I'm driving down the freeway to go home, take my exit and realise the black Mercedes is behind me and taking the same exit.  They took the exit too, went to the first roundabout and that is where they left me as I crossed the flyover into our compound, they took the exit into the Palace. 

Suddenly the whole conversation made sense.  This young woman was one of the Royal family of the UAE.