A bird flies the nest!

Our wonderful, sweet, young man of a son has left us for his Gap Year. No, he is not going to work at The GAP - Aidan is off on the adventure of his life (not that his life until now has been boring and uneventful) as he backpacks his way through Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

The few days leading up to the departure were very emotional. Courtney, Aidan's wonderful girlfriend, was pretty much weeping everytime you looked at her or mentioned Aidan leaving. They spent every moment together and as a result, we now have her clothes and toiletries occupying the house. It's as if Aidan left and she moved in :) Ah, but we love her.

I was just as heart broken because I had to go to Abuja, Nigeria, the day before Aidan left - was prepsenting in a management meeting and could not get out of it. Maybe it was better that way, because Aidan did need a wailing wall of women sending him off. So instead, I thought of him and didn't cry - until I got a mail that he had landed, found the hostel and couldn't sleep because he missed us. At that point I was considering finding a quick flight to Bangkok to get my baby.

Well, of course things get better with time and AIdan is now off to Koh Samui and Koh Phanang for the Full Moon Party, with some German back packers. Sure he is in good hands with Germans...what can possibly happen with a race known for drinking excessive amounts of beer?

If any of you want to follow his escapades, he has a blog:

http://aidans-trip.blogspot.com/

What happens in Dubai, stays in Dubai

Especially when it comes to news and hair. How many of you know that de-salienated water can make your hair fall out? Well it's a fact. With no minerals added to the water at all, over time, the scalp weakens and dries out and hair follicles get brittle. Aric's hair is thinning, whether that is age, stress or water, I'm not sure, but we'll just blame the water :) Thankfully, mine is still thick and healthy. Creates a market opportunity for expensive hairloss prevention products!

In the news media, we have been following the tragedy of Flotilla Aid and Israel's meaningless attacks on the ships headed for Gaza with food and health supplies. It has covered the front page of the daily Gulf News for weeks and has started a debate, which is wide and furious among the Arabs, as well as other nations. I often wonder how much you see in US and European newspapers and the spin the media puts on it. Of course, the Arabs are condemming the attacks and feel it's the "last straw" of Israel's continuing hate campaign against the people in Gaza. We've read President Obama's and the international community's comments and reaction to what happened. It is very interesting to see things from a different perspective - in this case Arab / Muslim - because we tend to blindly believe what we read and see in the media, which is very often skewed and biased.

In the United Arab Emirates we suffer from censorship when it comes to news about the royal families, the economy and politics. I like to pick up other news papers from US and Europe when I travel, because that is the only way I see what happens in Dubai, without rose colored glasses. I am curious what you think about Dubai, based on what you read overseas.

Everyone has a little Muslim faith inside

When you look at the Koran and read the scriptures, the sheer appearance fills you with awe; as if you are hardly worthy of even flipping thru the pages of this holy guide to life.


Margaret and I went to the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque one sunny, very warm day in May, while Aric and his dad Tom played golf with several Cisco guys. Personally, I think we got more out of the day than they did, but apparently nobody complained about chasing a small round ball in 100 degrees.

Before you even get close to the Mosque, you know it has a presence - so big, so white and so holy - even from the outside you just know that millions of dollars / dirhams were pumped into the not yet 100% completed Wonder of the World.

Margaret and I made a few faux pas before even entering the court yard. Of course we saw the black Abayas at the info desk and correctly assumed we needed to wear that over our 'not so conservative tank tops and shorts'. The scarf was a bit tricky so we just slung it over the hair and proceeded to walk right into an area - with shoes - which was not to be stepped on. OOOPS...off with the flip flops and then I suddenly felt 'barefoot and pregnant' in this long cover. The friendly guide took one look at us and thought "sigh - yet another pair of infidels who can't tie the scarf right" - so of course we paid her 10 dirhams to get bound around the head properly, for no hair to show. Don't we look like a pair of nuns?

The prayer rooms inside were more like giant carpeted halls with intricate mosaic in abalone, gold and marble. It's completely impossible to describe! The chandeliers were made from thousands of glass pieces in the colors of the rainbow.

We would have felt as if we were in the last century, was it not for an Arab woman on her cell phone, yapping away to someone I seriously doubt was Allah! And they say the Arab women can't live without their cell phones....I have seen and I believe, Lord yes indeed!

I like the simple feel - no clunky furniture - just sit on the carpet and chat or pray. Lutheran churches could do with some of that.

After a few hours in the coolness of the mosque, we drove to Lulu Island on the coastal side of Abu Dhabi and had coffee and sweet pastries, yummy, what a lovely day.

Later we met up with the guys and all had dinner while overlooking the mosque at night. It's hard to not feel a little Muslim in this place.

Slip Slops, Robots and Shark Spotting!

Off road shark spotting

There is a reason why the UAE imports tomatoes from Holland. Returning from 4 days in South Africa, I found the last sad remains of an Aubergine stem. My cherry tomatoes, Carrots and Onions and Peas, all melted in the desert heat. I think my organic vegetable sandbox garden needs a hiatus until October.

Cape Town on the other hand was a canvas of fall colors, as their winter is setting in. My team mate Steve and I attended a conference last Friday and then spent all day Saturday with new found friends, Lara, gary, Alec and Annie (through work related projects) driving around the Cape peninsula, from Muizenberg to Frenschoek and along the coast. At one point we passed a shack high above the coast. Steve told me the community hires homeless people to spot for sharks, as this coast line has the greatest population of great whites and an equal large population of great surfers. The two cannot cohabitate easily - hence the need for shark spotters, who upon seeing a large shadow in the water (we're talking 5-6 meters) sound a horn and the surfers paddle and run out of the water. It begs to wonder if a spotter has ever neglected to sound the horn, just so a white guy can get eaten....or if ever the horn sounds for for fun, so one can witness a score of bum surfers run for their life ;-) Anyway, it seems to work - there are only rare instances of attacks and it keeps the economy going. Beats plane or train spotting!

After several hours of driving along the most beautiful and raw coast, we ended up at an underground winery, built by an eccentric Prussian count. The place was absolutely fantastic and some of the best wine I have tasted in a long time! The food, company and Pinot, made the day complete and I was slightly tipsy as I boarded my flight home(!!). This trip was very educational in so many ways. Who knew for example that in South Africa, traffic lights are called robots? And flips flops are slip slops....makes total sense!

Dubai World apparently owns a large chunk of the Cape Town water front, so I am working on having Aric arrange an account planning trip in September; we need more Pinot! Everyone agreed that we all must have another wine tour and that the respective spouses need to join!

Cinco De Mayo Celebration

Margaret swung the bat with fierce determination and brought down the beast in two swings! We are so pleased that Grandpa Tom has found such a strong, delightful and funny Canoodian girlfriend and in awe that she was able to take down our Parrot pinata so fast - it took two men to hang it back up, so other guests could swing at it. Later, it was in fact decapitated and we found the head in the top of a bush the next morning - the parrot had finally found it's nesting ground!

40, 5, 2, 16, 20, 56
Not your lucky Lotto numbers! 40 people showed up; 5 bottles of tequila emptied; 2 swings by Margaret to bring down the parrot; 16 enchiladas eaten among all the other main courses; 20 plastic margarita glasses used and re-used and re-used, and 56 coronas consumed (along with all the sangria, margaritas and Sol beer; 3 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of champagne) - I'd say the party was a success! Thank God Nicole brought another pinata (albeit a Zebra!!) - as there were a line of people waiting to give it a go.

Just before the guests arrived I had a wig crisis. While I was in the shower, Slim was attacking what he thought was a wild and dangerous rodent in my bedroom. Clearly thinking I was in danger from the "rodent", he broke its neck and gave it a good shake! What was a sleek and beautiful senorita wig, now looked like a cross between Michael Jackson's 1975 afro and Ozzy Osborne after a long concert night. I tried combing it out to no avail. Last resort was to gather the frizz with a large barret and let the front ends hang loose. I now looked less like roadkill and more like a Mexican prostitute. Well, it worked with the peasant dress I wore, so what can I say. My Senor hubby and his father sported a classic hombre look with their colorful sarapees and Margaret was my idential twin with a green peasant dress though no wig!

Aidan and Hunter made an appearance for a change - Aidan even made several batches of drinks for us (probably to impress his girlfriend Courtney who was there with her parents Andrew and Elona) - he made a killer Tequila Sunrise.

The last people left 4am, so I'd say it was a very successful fiesta! Elona says she will host the next party - theme: "Out of Africa" - so I'm already working on Aric's and my Tarzan and Jane outfits!

two for one - doesn't always work!

We get our cars washed twice a week. It sounds like we live a life in luxury but truly, it's a perk that is very inexpensive, keeps two people employed and pays them much more than they can get in their home country. We have a great couple (guy and girl) who team up, or come separately sometimes, to wash our cars of all the desert dust. In fact, they have just told us they are going back to Sri Lanka May 20th to get married - they are SO cute!
So, the evening we picked up Grandpa Tom and his woman of leisure, Margaret, we thought we'd just get a quick vaccuum and clean inside the cars at the gas station car wash. Driving into the waiting line, we told the guy we just wanted to have a quick inside detail. "OK, 40 dirhams" - but a full carwash and vaccuum is 40 dirhams...."yes but we cannot break it up; if you go through the AUTO machine you only pay 30 and we vaccuum". But I don't want to use the auto carwash (I made that mistake in UK and ruined the front side panel of our Lexus) - so we will just take the vaccuum pls. "No sir / madam let me explain, that is not possible, you must either go through the auto or pay 40 dirhams". Aric and I looked at eachother with a puzzled expression....I really tried to stay calm, but it was so hard. Let me get this straight! -- if we just want the vaccuum, we pay full price, 40 dirhams, otherwise we can use the auto car wash and pay 30 dirhams and get the vaccuum included. So, we will just go thru the auto car wash line without having the brush wash and then get in line for vaccuum, pay 30 dirhams and we're good? "No, no madam, that is not allowed - you cannot just drive through the machine". But I am saving you water!! "No, no, no madam, is no possible" - OK let me speak to your supervisor.

Waiting 10 minutes, another Indian came up to our car window. Must say, he looked very supervisory! Same story, we want vaccuum only - no aqua. "Oh no sir / madam, let me explain"....no really, I think you explained enough!! I'm saving you water by NOT taking the car wash in the auto carwash, so clearly you can vaccuum the car for 30 dirhams. I will just drive right through, OK?
"No because it's not procedure". Oh boy! Every reader knows me by now - I'm not the best at procedures. Aric told me to shut my pipe and he would do the talking. This somehow fell on deaf ears to me. Surely my face must have been red by now, but since it was dark, perhaps the guy did not see that. I put the car in gear and drove right into the auto carwash bay, drove right through the machine and past the side brushes, did a U-turn and placed my car behind a snazzy BMW being vaccuumed.
All the Indian washers stared as I got out of the car, told them to make sure to get the Slim snot off the inside of the windows and proceeded to get on a conference call while sitting in the waiting room. Cost me 30 Dirhams!
Thanks, 2 for 1 not doing it for me....just need 1 for 1.

Water World

When you break your ankle, you don't get to participate in family fun! It's a sad truth that Aric has become addicted, wired to be specific - not to painkillers, but to "The Wire" - yet another US HBO series that somehow got downloaded by someone in our family (and you know who you are!) So, he very conveniently sits with his leg propped up, in front of our new TV Wall unit, and watches, marathon-like, episode after episode of the Wire, while the rest of us actually experience the Sandbox for what it has to offer.

What a surprise when Hunter texted me last week, after having left for school - "do you want to come to Aquaventure with Aidan and I on Saturday?" Maybe he was trying to make good after his "golf course drunken escapade"? Maybe he truly wanted some brother and mother time, now that Aidan is leaving soon? It didn't occur to me - in my excitement over being asked - that by saying YES WOULD LOVE TO, they scored a driver and a sponsor ($$££) for the day!

Smart move on Hunter's part for manipulating me with the whole brother / mother quality time!! It turned out to be a great day. Courtney, her sister Ashley and her mom and dad, Elona and Andrew, also showed up (that way Courtney too had a driver and sponsor...go figure ;-) These kids are creative!

We all had a blast at Atlantis and spent the entire day lounging, splashing, sunning and enjoying the fantastic company. As we send one kid off, we are in the process of gaining two....Courtney has all but moved in with us (she has her own drawer in Aidan's closet - y'all can see where this is leading) and Gavin, Hunter's friend, loves to hang with us - as he says, we are much cooler parents than his own (oh boy, not sure if that's true...) so we find the household increasing rather than shrinking. Sure is a lively home. The day ended with a lovely BBQ at Courtney's house, Andrew showing off his new Gas Grill and Courtney impressing us with her salad making abilities. At least the girl can cook!