One week in and getting there

I've now been in my new job and back in Abu Dhabi for just over a week and I'm starting to make some progress. It felt a bit disjointed just being back here and quite hard to settle back in. I felt like I missed the UK more than I'd expected to and it certainly felt like those awkward early days in January, which are always a difficult time after the excitment of Christmas. It's funny because I didn't experience the Christmas build up nearly as much as you would in the UK, despite the Christmas displays in the shops and the events. Not being a holiday here or having a big close down just didn't create that feeling of anticipation. However, January still feels a bit flat. I can't blame the weather either - we are having a gloriously sunny 20 plus degrees every day whilst Europe seems to be experiencing the worst winter I can ever remember - minus 20 in Manchester, what can that feel like? Still I'm gradually getting back into things and starting to find my feet all round. John had a tough first week as well, with a lot to deal with and a nasty cold so it was generally difficult all round.
I decided to start making introductions and start to find out who was who and what needed to be done and managed to set up some meetings with subsidiary companies. Anyone already involved in marketing is pretty reticent about talking to me, which is understandable. There doesn't seem to have been any official confirmation of what I am here to do so I guess they probably feel just a little bit threatened. However, many of the subsidiaries have been very welcoming and the guy who looks after the web site set up a very motivating meeting with him and another team member. It took me till yesterday for IT to sort out my PC so I could actually access the web site but once I could it does help a little.
Yesterday I went out to Al Shahama, which is on the way to Dubai then out into the desert to visit Al Shaheen, who look after assessment and testing, primarily for the military but with a view to extending to a wider client base. The journey is the farthest I've been on my own so it was a mini adventure on its own and despite the desert I didn't see any camels! The guys there were brilliant, so welcoming and keen to brief me and I ended up spending most of the day there. Assesment and the related work is something I'm familiar with so we were able to talk the same language and Kevin, one of the senior team even comes from Yorkshire! I'm in the process of working with them on a marketing plan so at last some real work to do. Today I was due to go on another visit but had to postpone it as HR actually came up with their very first induction programme for new joiners. Quite a relief to get some specific information though no real surprises. I had to miss the tour, which was a shame as I got the call to have my briefing with Mr. Obaid, my new boss. Wow! Once he got started it was a pretty comprehensive brief so I now have the opposite problem of having so many things to think about that I'm not sure where to start! Effectively he'd like me to review all the subsidiaries and the centre and work to create a business plan/marketing strategy for all of them. He'd also like me to take on all the central marketing, look at the web site, build relationships with universities so we can recruit the best Emirati graduates, make recommendations on sponsorship and CSR projects, arrange competitions and create a strong brand and image for EAI. I also have to tell him what budget and what team I need to do all this with the relevant ROI and business case - hooray, sounds great though a hell of a task. He also wants me to use a new business planning software to do it all so I shall have to learn that as well. More technical competency building.
So hopefully I'll manage to achieve lots of this and pretty quickly, since HR have just instituted a new, objective based, performance review system so it looks like they'll be plenty of measuring going on!