Long time no blog

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I found the time to catch up with my blog but it's certainly been a busy week and a good one in lots of ways.
John arrived back from Boston in good shape considering the journey and didn't seem too jet lagged, if a little tired. It was lovely to have him back and I went to the airport to meet him, remembering the times he came to meet me on my returns to Abu Dhabi.
We had a lovely weekend though we failed to find a desk or any shelving that we really liked and, as the wireless only works properly in the study where the box is, I have to camp out if I want to use it properly. We went to the Amalfi for a meal on Friday night which is rapidly becoming a favourite of ours, especially as they use real pork in their meals and not substitutes! We went and booked a few days holiday in Muscat at the end of November, as it is the second Eid holiday. We managed to get into the Chedi, which we have always wanted to try and the flights from Abu Dhabi only take an hour. I had thought we might do something more adventurous whilst we're so much further East and look at the Maldives or Far East, but with all the long haul flying to go West we decided against it and this sounds like a lovely break. Unfortunately Etihad holidays managed to book us 8 nights instead of 7 so we'll have to take a bit more time off work than originally planned. Note to self,double check all dates in future!
We went to the pictures for the first time to see 'The Time Traveller's Wife' which was excellent though sad (not as sad as the book though so I was weeping at the end in anticipation of a more harrowing ending than we got!) As warned the cinema was freezing so I was glad I'd brought woolly socks and a jumper even if John was laughing at me! There was less disturbance from mobile phones and talking than I'd expected which was good.
All in all we had a great weekend, but like weekends the world over it was over too soon.
Sunday I went back to the Emirates College for Advanced Education for a group interview with senior staff and had to spend some time preparing a document on my thoughts. It went really well and they were so lovely. A really mixed international group from the US, Tunisia and New Zealand as well as the Provost being originally from the UK. They have offered me a 6 month contract to run their marketing and communications so, although I'm keeping an eye on other offers, looks like being a great start to my career in Abu Dhabi. The challenge of marketing teaching as a career and raising the profile of the college and recruiting a higher quality and larger student numbers, whilst challenging, is something I feel sure that I will really enjoy.
Sunday night we went out for a dinner with some potential Faculty who are being interviewed for posts at the Masdar Institute. We went to the seafood night at the Officers Club - quite amazing just how much can be done with fish and seafood! Although I still struggle to overcome my aversion to buffets! The candidates came from all over the world so it was interesting to hear their initial impressions of Abu Dhabi and to feel like an old hand rather than the new girl. It was also nice to meet one of John's colleagues wives properly for the first time.
I was really busy on Monday and Tuesday as Ben from work asked me to put together a new business proposal for him. It was a really interesting proposal looking at employer branding for Nottingham University so it got my brain going again and it was good to think about UK HE in preparation for working with HE in Abu Dhabi. It was a full on piece of work and kept me good for hours. Everything is with the guys in Manchester now so I'll wait to see what comes back next week in order to get it finished off.
We finally received our credit cards from HSBC, though still no sign of any PIN numbers. However, these are supposed to be coming by post to John's work PO box which I am very suspicious of as nothing much seems to arrive (according to the Etihad web site we both now qualify for silver frequent flyer cards but John has never even received his permanent card). Still I gave my card a try in Spinneys and it worked! John then had to rush around to transfer some money into the account as it wouldn't look good to be spending money against an empty account. I also haven't received our internet banking number (is that HSBC or the mysterious PO Box at Masdar swallowing it up I wonder?) Hopefully though we are close to getting somewhere with the bank.
Two other major steps forward this week. My new cleaner arrived this morning and is busy working away so I no longer have to spend quite so much time with floor mopping and chasing fluff balls and bits of sand round the apartment! Just in time for me to start working full time. I also managed to order and receive a water cooler so I don't have to lug bottles of mineral water around with me and we can at last make a decent cup of tea and coffee. We were using the filtered tap water but it still managed to taste of salt and sand. You get two bottles with the cooler and buy ten prepaid vouchers, which you leave outside with the empty bottles to be replaced, so it seems like a pretty good system. It cost about £100 with the vouchers but the bottles themselves (I can't remember how many gallons they hold but a lot) only cost 7 AED each (just over £1).
Yesterday the bed and furniture for the spare room arrived so once I get along to buy some bedding (hopefully today) we are ready to receive guests.
The guys who do the marketing for Masdar also contacted me to see if I might do some work for them. We didn't manage to get together this week due to diary clashes and the problem of getting around town without a car. Then John's marketing people called to fix up a meeting to talk about consulting about Masdar Institute's marketing so we're meeting on Sunday. I'm starting to seriously think about whether there might be room for a specialist education marketing consultancy business and if this might be a good route when I've done the contract for ECAE. Setting up a business or as a consultant is fraught with difficulty and bureaucratic hoops to jump through but people do manage it so I should be thinking about it for the future.
Anyway it's really nice to be in demand and to feel that my skills do have value here.
Yesterday I went back for another meeting at ECAE to talk about deliverables with Monika and Julie, who I'll be working with. We had a great meeting with lots of good ideas floating around so I think it will be very rewarding working with them. I'm going back today to meet the local recruiters and talk about preparations for next week when there is a huge careers exhibition. Everyone, including John, will be involved in this so it'll give me a really good chance to see what kind of careers/employer marketing is going on out here and what needs to be done.
In between times I managed to cook meals, buy food and cleaning materials, wash clothes and generally keep up with the housewife job description specified on my visa, though I failed to buy a hoover (I went on a 40 minute walk to a local shop in the humid early evening to find they sold lots of electrical goods but nothing of a domestic nature) so for this week I'm afraid the cleaner has to make do with a brush!
The other thing I did for the first time this week was go running outside. I went out three mornings as early as possible. It's still a bit hot, though it is always going to be hotter than running round Manchester. However, I really enjoyed it, despite being pretty slow. The run along the seafront and back through the parks is really wonderful and as it is so hot, it feel like a really good workout. One day I failed to find away to get across the Corniche Rd so ended up going much further than I meant to but it was still fine. We bought me some long, lightweight trousers and a long sleeved top so that I could run without offending anyone though I did see people in shorts. It feels like rather too many clothes for the temperature but better than upsetting anyone. I'm really pleased with myself for getting started on a proper running programme again and hope I'll be able to keep it up when I start work.
I also managed to entertain three of my new friends for coffee on Tuesday and Wednesday. Carmel, who used to work at the British Embassy in Saudi, came over as well as Bettina, the young Austrian dancer, who is married to one of John's colleague and Liz, who works in training and development and has a client who is interested in Investors in People. Sadly though I was unable to take up invites from Angela and Daksha to go to some of the screenings of the Middle East Film Festival which has been on this week. I would have loved to have gone as I'm mad about film and this has been so exciting and such a new development for Abu Dhabi. Still, you can't say I've been idle this week!
John has also had a crazy week with long hours and lots to worry about. They have been preparing the business plan in order to present it at the big Board of Trustees meeting in a couple of weeks time and it has involved masses of work, alongside all the day to day work of interviewing, meeting visitors, running the Institute. Like everyone the world over, these important things get left to the last minute (I thought that was just people who worked in advertising but it happens to academics too!)
So hopefully you can see why the blog has been neglected and why this has been such a mammoth posting. What I really need now is a car. Taxis are getting harder and harder to find (though I had real success with the new call centre number yesterday, hope it wasn't just beginners luck!?) and the traffic is so bad at present that the buses get all bunched up so you wait for ages then 3 come at once - nothing changes! We've seen an ad for some new Jeeps at a really good price so we'll perhaps try and go to see one at the weekend. I feel ashamed that so many other wives drive and I am still faffing around with taxis so there's the next challenge!
Very slowly I'm getting life here in place but it's fun doing it.