happy birthday UAE

I wrote this post for work's website, but I thought it was pretty interesting so I am going to share it with you here as well (cheeky I know). Think of it as a guest blog, by me. Haha.

If you would like to read it in it's original setting please click here.

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On the 2nd December the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, will be 39 years old. The UAE is a federation of seven states, or emirates (so called as they are ruled by Emirs), which are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. The capital and second largest city of the United Arab Emirates is Abu Dhabi. It is also the country's center of political, industrial and cultural activities.

[UAE 39th National Day logo]

gorgeous design..revealed at last

I have talked before about the exciting developments planned at Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, we spent some time looking at the plans when we were in Abu Dhabi in February this year. Whilst Saadiyat Island is intended to be the largest single mixed-use development in the Gulf a great deal of emphasis is currently being placed on the cultural nature of the development; five buildings (Frank Gehry's Guggenheim, Jean Nouvel's Louvre, Zaha Hadid's Performing Arts Centre, Tadao Ando's Maritime Museum and Norman Foster's Zayed National Museum) will transform Saadiyat Island into "an irresistible magnet attracting the world to Abu Dhabi, and taking Abu Dhabi to the world". But it is the Zayed National Museum, perched on elevated ground in a central position, that will take centre stage. And the design of the building has finally been revealed.

[courtesy of The National newspaper]

meat free monday

There was an interesting article in the National newspaper's magazine section this weekend, about what various families and people in the UAE, specifically Abu Dhabi I would guess, spend on a week on groceries. It was quite a wake-up call to see that some families spend a lot less than we do on groceries, and there are only 2 of us (plus some rather fussy felines granted). So Stu was of the opinion that we should try and eat less meat in the week, as meat is really quite expensive here, especially if you are a bit fussy like I am and try to buy organic or free-range where you can.

[I support MFM]

Eid Saeed

[image thanks to Bosnis News]

Enjoy your Festival of Sacrifice holiday this 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah (or the 16th of November this year for the rest of us). Congratulations also to those who have completed their pilgrimage.

Eid Mubarak.

speak england deliciously

[from the Business section]

The above ad was in the Gulf News paper today - I never can get used to some "Indian-isms" that have become widely used in everyday language here, for example:

• do the needful. Translation: do what's required.
• today itself. Translation: today / now.
• shifting. Translation: moving (as in house or apartment).
• top urgent. Translation: urgent.
• tell me. Translation: whats up? (when answering the phone instead of hello).

I am sure there are others - add your favourite to the comments section.

fish finder to be

In this month's Aquarius magazine - hmm or last month's maybe (its a great mag btw) I read about this Fish Finder initiative by EWS (Emirates Wildlife Society) and the WWF. Essentially what it means is that after a half-an-hours training you become an official ambassador for EWS and are able to identify unsustainable fish on sale in the supermarket, and of course educate others about the "choose wisely" program (which you may have noticed I support whole-heartedly). I quite fancy the idea of getting to be all militant and bossy in Carrefour (haha). Anyway after volunteering for this I ended up as a volunteer in general for EWS - not a problem - and was invited to help at a talk this past saturday at the Sharjah Aquarium.

[the big tank]

[pics] as promised

A few pics from my bushveld break...

[the view from our chalet]

[1st sighting, a leopard in the tree]

get your greens

Today I still feel a bit like Popeye, pre-spinach Popeye that is anyway. We got back from our South African vacation at 2am yesterday morning, after an 8 hour flight. Ok it wasn't a bad flight, Stu in his normally resourceful and persuasive way managed to get us a row of 4 seats, so we weren't too cramped. But even so by the time you have dealt with two sets of immigration (thank goodness for e-gate this end), several security scans, the flight itself and then a never-ending bus ride from the plane to the terminal building, not to mention waiting for luggage (ok not long in terminal 3) and the cab ride you are not a happy camper. Well I'm not. I really feel flying brings out the worst in people. Actually it's not the flying; it's the airport part that sucks. And why is it that OR Tambo always seems to operate on the bare minimum of staff? Seems now that the world cup is over all attempts at good service have been abandoned. All that remains are high prices (shocked I was) and almost-complete roads. Hmm ok the Gautrain is amazing so not all that spending was in vain. I guess.

[the gorgeous birthday boy]