Hi All,
I often wonder why I called this blog, what I did, seen as I don't live in South America at the moment.
Anyways, some updates from life in the Middle East. I had an interesting thing happen to me the other day. The water heater in my flat basically exploded. I heard what sounded like someone having a shower, which was odd because no-one was in the shower. I got up to investigate and noticed a torrent of water coming from the ceiling in the kitchen. I should explain that the kitchen has the water heater above it and various other things like air con etc.
Anyways, I went downstairs to let the man on the door know and he came up, lifted up the panelling in the kitchen, whacked it with a hammer and twiddled with a screwdriver and didn't fix it. He then advised me some people would come and look at it in the morning (today).
So, here we have it, there are two Indian chaps fixing it as we speak. I can hear mumblings and bangings coming from the kitchen right now. I just hope they repair it. As of now, they are going to need to come back and fix it.
I have also had to put with a load of banging and drilling coming from on my floor. Apparently a spa of some sort is opening on the floor, and they have been doing building work to make it ready for this week. Unfortunately, for the last 10 days or so the noise has been awful! It has eased off a bit now I think and I hope the noise will be less from now on. I just don't understand what needs to be hit with a hammer 35 times a minute for 8 hours. Any ideas?
I had a visit to the Ministry the other day as well. The BC were doing some testing there, and once I had got through security I was out in this golf kart thing and driven all of 15 yards across a car park to the main entrance of the building. It's one of the many bizarre things that happen here in the Middle East all the time. The guy driving must have thought I was mad because I was laughing to myself the entire way. When testing did finally get underway, we were put in a room where the lights kept dimming and increasing again. apparently the control for the room was in another room and they were adjusting lights there for a conference and kept adjusting the rooms we were in.
That's all for now.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Airport Angsts
Hi All,
I have just come back from a visit to the UK where I saw my family and friends. It was a jolly good week off actually and it was great to see the family especially, as I hadn't seen them for 7 months or so. I also attended a job interview at a travel company I had applied to work for. Sadly, I didn't get offered the job and so I'm continuing the search. We shall see what happens later this year or next year.
On a separate note, I made the mistake of putting liquids of more than 100mls in my hand luggage when at the airport. How this is meant to prevent terrorism is beyond me, but anyways, the bag went through the X-ray machine and then was magically transfered to a separate 'check' conveyor belt, alarms started sounding and I was expecting a group of armed men to appear, luckily, that didn't happen, but I did get asked to wait while my hand luggage was thoroughly searched. Thankfully, I didn't have to undergo a cavity search of any kind. The bag was swabbed for drugs within an inch of its life and then I was allowed to go.
To be honest, it wasn't so bad and I took it a lot better than the guy to my left who had also been stopped. He started screaming and yelling at the person doing the search, after all it's only a security precaution and at the end of the day if it does prevent another accident then it can only be a good thing.
Until next time...
I have just come back from a visit to the UK where I saw my family and friends. It was a jolly good week off actually and it was great to see the family especially, as I hadn't seen them for 7 months or so. I also attended a job interview at a travel company I had applied to work for. Sadly, I didn't get offered the job and so I'm continuing the search. We shall see what happens later this year or next year.
On a separate note, I made the mistake of putting liquids of more than 100mls in my hand luggage when at the airport. How this is meant to prevent terrorism is beyond me, but anyways, the bag went through the X-ray machine and then was magically transfered to a separate 'check' conveyor belt, alarms started sounding and I was expecting a group of armed men to appear, luckily, that didn't happen, but I did get asked to wait while my hand luggage was thoroughly searched. Thankfully, I didn't have to undergo a cavity search of any kind. The bag was swabbed for drugs within an inch of its life and then I was allowed to go.
To be honest, it wasn't so bad and I took it a lot better than the guy to my left who had also been stopped. He started screaming and yelling at the person doing the search, after all it's only a security precaution and at the end of the day if it does prevent another accident then it can only be a good thing.
Until next time...
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
An Update from the UAE
Hi All,
This is a quick update on what's been happening recently in my life in the UAE. Just one of the odd things that happens to me on an almost daily basis.
I work at a place called the Armed Forces Officers Club twice a week at the moment, teaching a bunch of young ladies from the Emirates College, who are training to be English Teachers.
In order to get to the Armed Forces place I need to take a taxi. It takes about 30 minutes and is quite difficult to find. This wouldn't usually be a problem, however, some of the people that drive cabs here suffer from rather dubious English ability (admittedly my Arabic isn't great).
I got in a cab the other day and I asked to go to the Armed Forces Club and the guy responded with what sounded like 'nnnngggg'. I tried again to confirm that he knew where it was, and he replied again with a variation on the above(nnggggghhhgghhh). I assumed that, that meant he knew where he was going. I managed to get there in one piece in any case.
I should mention that like most important locations in the UAE it's all marble, and absolutely massive, maybe 3 football pitches in length and 1 in height. It has about 30 different conference rooms available for hire and an attached hotel. It was probably built in the 1980's sometime, but still looks stunning. I'd love to be able to take some photos but it's a military place, so that's probably a no-no.
Until next time...
This is a quick update on what's been happening recently in my life in the UAE. Just one of the odd things that happens to me on an almost daily basis.
I work at a place called the Armed Forces Officers Club twice a week at the moment, teaching a bunch of young ladies from the Emirates College, who are training to be English Teachers.
In order to get to the Armed Forces place I need to take a taxi. It takes about 30 minutes and is quite difficult to find. This wouldn't usually be a problem, however, some of the people that drive cabs here suffer from rather dubious English ability (admittedly my Arabic isn't great).
I got in a cab the other day and I asked to go to the Armed Forces Club and the guy responded with what sounded like 'nnnngggg'. I tried again to confirm that he knew where it was, and he replied again with a variation on the above(nnggggghhhgghhh). I assumed that, that meant he knew where he was going. I managed to get there in one piece in any case.
I should mention that like most important locations in the UAE it's all marble, and absolutely massive, maybe 3 football pitches in length and 1 in height. It has about 30 different conference rooms available for hire and an attached hotel. It was probably built in the 1980's sometime, but still looks stunning. I'd love to be able to take some photos but it's a military place, so that's probably a no-no.
Until next time...
Monday, 29 August 2011
Welcome to the new blog
Hi All,
I'm launching this as my new blog. I can't say for definite that I'll have the time to update it everyday, but I will try and do so as often as possible.
The blog will detail what I'm doing right now, as well as showcasing some of the photos I ve taken during my time in South America (and other places). It'll also let you know about any of the adventures I have in my current location of Abu Dhabi.
I have also created a youtube video on my most recent trip, and it can be accessed through the links on the website.
I hope you enjoy reading the site.
I'm launching this as my new blog. I can't say for definite that I'll have the time to update it everyday, but I will try and do so as often as possible.
The blog will detail what I'm doing right now, as well as showcasing some of the photos I ve taken during my time in South America (and other places). It'll also let you know about any of the adventures I have in my current location of Abu Dhabi.
I have also created a youtube video on my most recent trip, and it can be accessed through the links on the website.
I hope you enjoy reading the site.
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