Finding the path through the trees at last

I realise with all the talk of the WFES I didn't really get chance to talk about what I've been doing but it was pretty all consuming! Last weekend we didn't really get the time off as John presented to the UN Climate Change committee who were meeting at the Emirates Palace on Friday. It seemed to go well and as the official driver I had a few hours to hang around the EP. Never a great hardship as they do nice tea and it's a good people watching opportunity - on Friday a huge cruise ship was visiting so the passengers were wandering around before having afternoon tea. I had a leisurely look at the Guggenheim exhibition which has Cezanne, Gaughin, Seurat and Kandinsky and its a treat to look at the paintings without a crowd. On Saturday John copped for an ADEC workshop to discuss the future of technical education in Abu Dhabi which was tough on him after the week he'd had. I went for a long run on the Corniche which was hard on the legs as I haven't been out since Christmas but it is a very picturesque route by the beach.
Thursday night we went to a supper at the Masdar Institute to celebrate the end of the summit which was lovely. We ate outside and it was a pleasant evening and a super atmosphere. Some of the younger faculty had brought their children who were running around enjoying the attention and it has a really nice family feel to it. I think the MI people are great - so passionate about what they do which creates a sense of common purpose in a challenging situation and the culture is really strong.
This week I really feel like I'm starting to get somewhere at work. I've met senior people at nearly all the subsidiary companies now and heard about their needs and hopes for marketing. I've also met the people doing marketing around the place and I can see the beginnings of a really nice community which could grow into an inhouse communications consultancy.
I went twice to Dubai for the Arab Health Congress, where two of our companies were exhibiting and met some of my colleagues from Maidis and Global Medical Solutions and had chance to talk to them and hear more about their work. Driving to Dubai was a first and I was very proud of myself to manage it without incident. Arab Health is a huge event and we had an amazing stand. I also went out to Al Shahama again to meet the Youth Development division of Al Shaheen. The guy who runs it, Phil, is quite amazing and what they are doing in schools, using military style training to instil confidence, leadership and teamwork in Emirati school children is awesome. I am really looking forward to working with them on communicating the benefits of the program more widely. I met with C4AS who do ICT for a wide range of applications and who also have huge ambitions to grow their business.
One thing is very clear, that the ability to write well in English is going to be a very useful skill and people are really delighted to hear that I like to write. I wasn't really sure, since I don't speak Arabic, how good the English would be. However it does seem to be a valuable asset.
I am enjoying working with Nidal, who has been doing marketing here for a while, she knows so much about things that I've never really been involved with, like actually creating exhibtion stands and dealing with the detail of creating completely new corporate ID.
Next week there is a big recruitment event in Abu Dhabi so I've been madly writing recruitment brochures for several of our companies - something I do know about and which comes easily so that has been great fun. Next week I'm due to start on another range of HR comms material - the staff handbook and employee newsletter so it feels like familiar territory.
I'm making real progress with my development plan though I haven't yet installed the new software that I'm supposed to be using! I didn't get to meet with Mr. Obaid this week so I'm hoping to impress him with the plan when I see him next week. Last week he did let me know that he was pleased with the progress so far so I hope that he'll like what I've been doing - always tricky to know with a new boss!
After a busy week and a lot of driving it's starting to feel more like the old days and I'm looking forward to taking a break at the weekend - I'm sure John is looking forward to a rest even more! We are off to Liwa, out in the desert, to stay in a new hotel out there which should be lovely. Could do with some peace and quiet as last night, at 1am they decided to deliver half of a new building across the street from our bedroom. This involved several hours of heavy lifting from a huge crane so it was pretty difficult to sleep. I guess they chose 1am so the traffic would be quiet rather than thinking about all the people trying to get some sleep!
Never a dull moment in Abu Dhabi - even in the early hours of the morning.