Zig Zag Towers getting more zig-zaggy

Came home the long way to check out the progress on the Zig Zag Towers today. Can’t work out if they look impressive or just strange as yet!

hhmmmm.....

"But Ma! Do we have to move up to the top floor????"

OK... it was funny in my head for a split second! To be honest I think they are knocking it down, but around here who knows!

Parties and such…

"A" was invited to a party a Jungle Zone the other day (indoor amusement centre at Hyatt Plaza). So for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon we entered a weird little alternative reality. The reason I say this is because it was the Birthday party you have when you are not having a Birthday party (a bit like Claytons for anyone out there that remembers that).

It gets a little confusing, but it was a Birthday party for a brother and sister, but it was neither of their Birthdays. We sang Happy Birthday several times, there were party games, and there was a huge cake… but the fact is the children spent a reasonable amount of time looking a little confused by the whole proceedings (probably because they had already had their respective Birthday parties in another time and space!

The best part was the “entertainment”, although I do use the term lightly. I am sure it has been said that one mans entertainment is another mans purgatory! As "K" has stated to various people, it resembled some weird and seedy Philippino nightclub. Proceedings began with someone in a lion suit (the Jungle Zone mascot so to speak) dancing with the children to very bad and very loud dance music (actually the same irritating song about 4 or 5 times). Next was a juggler who really was a cocktail waiter, and his act resembled the movie Cocktail complete with cocktail shakers and pretend bottles of Champagne. The “cocktail waiter” was followed by another juggler who I think was a circus performer in a previous life; he insisted on doing handstands, flips and summersaults between each bought of juggling prowess (he was actually quite good). His act was complete with a performing midget (I suppose I am suppose to say “little person” to be politically correct) who as you would imagine was the comic-relief sidekick (‘tis all a little sad if you ask me). Next was the magician who kept making one or two pigeons (I believe I counted 2, but then again I possibly was so amazed I wasn’t paying close enough attention) appear/disappear and lighting stuff on fire and turning fire into other stuff. I think he bought a good magic kit and is getting better at using it with every performance. The magician was also the DJ so by this point I was more than hoping he would make both himself and the sound system disappear!

Finally the female MC took over proceedings to host a couple of children’s games. One made sense as two kids were made to run up and down and fill a bucket with balls… simple! The next lead to a large amount of confusion as it consisted of children having to form groups of a given number on the MC’s command. Over half the kids sort of stood there and were “helped” into groups by the “cocktail waiter”, “juggler” and “bat painter”. I haven’t mentioned the “bat painter” yet, but the face painter did a little bat on the boy’s cheeks… I also think he was the guy dancing around in the lion suit earlier! Finally was a dancing competition… firstly the girls who seemed to be trying to dance and then the boys who followed each others lead and ended up standing facing the crowd of nannies (and some parents) clapping nearly in time with the music.

After all this excitement things slowed down a little with the appearance of CAKE (the big one), more renditions of Happy Birthday, Burger King for the kids, pieces of cake for all, the handing out of the gift bags, and the my favourite part… the disappearance of the sound system as everything was shuffled into the next party room ready for another “performance”; another term I use lightly!
As a side note the best part of the afternoon was seeing a woman in the full black Abaya and veil come down the flume ride alone and get wet… not because she got wet, but it looked like she was having a lot of fun… I think we did too, but our fun was far more obscure…

Kittens Arrive…

Must be that time of the year as various cats have been getting a little on the big size lately. We have been trying to keep all the cats outside and cutting down on their food leading up to our move, but on Friday night “Kitten” snuck into a box inside the house and had 3 rather cute little furry friends… We did well to keep Big Moza outside but she ended up having hers under one of our hedges! Who knows how many other kittens are around at the moment in and under things around the compound, but most of the cats are looking a little smaller than a week ago!

Wind Storm

Had the weirdest storm last night… bit of thunder, bit of lightning, and bit of rain… and for a little while HUGE winds! We awoke to various bits of roof in our and the next-door neighbours back yards! We think it has come over the back fence, but could really have come from anywhere… no one has come looking for his or her roof yet!

COUGH!

Looks like fog but believe me it is another dust storm under some grey clouds. I don't think I ever posted a photo of the "fishing pole" lights along Al Waab, but this is them... and there are a lot of them. Not particularly effective but obviously someone liked the look of them.

An update...

Well there really isn't too much going on at the moment... I think we are just through the motions a bit now and waiting (a bit impatiently now) to find out if K and A are coming with me to the UAE. We have our fingers crossed for the "family move" though as it is another of the experiences we are having over here and it is far more enjoyable for those experiences to be together! AJA are trying to find someone to replace K (who of course is irreplaceable) but whether they are successful or not, we just have to wait and see (plus there are some other issues which no doubt will come to light at a later date).

Apart from that K is still coughing her lungs out and really shouldn't be at work, but is doing parent consultations this week so can't really have a day off... yes they do parent/teacher interviews for 3-4 year olds once a term!

I still haven't confimred my leaving/arrival date as yet, as I am delaying to the last possible moment, but it is only 4 weeks away... and then off to another country! I think it is 6 weeks until I start teaching again. All very surreal really!

Our Dusty World

Everyone is coughing and spluttering at the moment… particularly K! There is so much dust around and our villa isn’t the most airtight place in the compound, so a lot of the very fine stuff makes it’s way inside one way of another. There is a constant dusty haze that hangs over our heads, so when the winds starts that dust starts swirling. Although the temperature is still really nice, it seems like we have to keep the place all closed up for the moment to try and keep some of the dust out. Will be looking forward to living in a nicer villa in Al Ain (which you can guarantee will be happening).

Anyway snapped a few piccys on the phone driving to and from school yesterday afternoon!

Didn't actually mean to have the phone set to B&W, but oh well. Sand snakes it's way across the road and you end up with little mini sand dunes in the gutters.

It’s been a long time coming!

Well it is now official… we are moving to Al Ain in the UAE. The city is about 1 ½ hours drive from both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and is an oasis city split by the Omani border. I have taken up a position with Al Ain Men’s College, which is part of the Higher Colleges of Technology (the one that flew me to Dubai for the interview) teaching in their eBusiness program (I think it will be teaching the 3 E’s - eCommerce, eMarketing, eBusiness, and Marketing, so basically the same as what I was teaching at Griffith)… Kerry has put in her notice with AJA and hopefully they will find someone to take over her position during the break between term 2 and 3. If so we will all be going over together on about the 11th April, but if not K and A will follow me over in mid May (fingers crossed for the going over together)!

At the end of the day HCT is a good employer and it is a decent package with relocation paid; plus it is a change of scenery and yet another adventure. As I have said before we didn’t really want to pack up and leave Qatar just yet but have to go where the work is. Unfortunately the tertiary sector here is still small and seems to be a bit of a closed shop. At the end of the day it isn’t going to be that big of a change, just a bit quieter and greener, more trees and sand, and not as flat. So Emirates, here we come!

Dust Storm

We are in the middle of a dust storm today… I suppose it is what happens in a dusty country when it is windy! Visibility is very low, the world has a yellow-brown colour to it and everything is… well… DUSTY! Took a picture of the car about lunchtime… no it doesn’t normally look this dirty!

Virgin Megastore

A first for Qatar yesterday when the Virgin Megastore opened at Villagio. Might not seem like such a big deal, but seriously this is the first “proper” DVD and bookstore in the country. It is nice to be able to just go and have a look through English language books of all shapes, sizes and interests as well as being able to browse a decent selection of DVDs (all at “not bad” prices too)! Actually some of the books are cheap in comparison to Australian prices and we have already walked out of there with a couple of books for Ashur, DVDs and a Taschen art book. Makes a much-needed change from the endless sea of clothing, perfume and jewellery stores in Doha!

March Arrives!

Hi all
I know it has been a bit quiet on the M, K & A front of late. We are all doing ok and are pretty well (minus the odd cough and splutter... probably dust related). Will post more soon as have some piccys and news to share.