We're both determined not to let the pressures of work stop us from enjoying our time in this fascinating place and to do our best to enjoy the extra curricula activities!
On Sunday it was valentine's so John organised a surprise dinner for us to Finz - the excellent seafood restaurant at the Beach Rotana. He did everything, booking the table and organising his driver to take us and he managed to buy me a lovely card which is quite a feat when you don't have your own transport! He bought me a diamond heart necklace and I bought him a replacement Mont Blanc pen for the one that went missing on our desert trip so it was as romantic as you could wish for. Finz had guest Australian chefs who cooked up a fabulous special dinner. We were less impressed with the 'intimate' table which we were shown to which felt like eating dinner in the middle of a dance floor, but we were assured that all the cosy tables had been specifically booked. Never one to let things lie I voiced our discontent to the food and beverage manager who assured us that 20 couples had failed to show but has offered to host us for a night at their Italian restaurant so a more than compensatory response. We also had fun expecting a chestnut salad as one of the course (in my dictionary 'marron' is a chestnut), however, we were delighted with the lobster salad that showed up and the manager's confirmation that his staff had ordered many kg of chestnuts till the chefs arrived and assured them that a 'marron' is a crayfish in Australia! J spent 3 years in Sydney and never came across this delicacy but there you go!
As if that wasn't enough treats for one week, on Monday we went to the Emirates Palace for one of the Abu Dhabi classics concerts to see Loren Maazel conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. Wow - that was amazing! We are so lucky to get such world class culture and it more than makes up for missing the Halle this season. They did Beethoven's Pastorale, which I love, though it always reminds me of Daddy cooking Sunday breakfast at Park Hall Road in the seventies, as well as Daphne and Chloe by Ravel and Debussy's 'La Mer'. We had the most expensive sandwiches and glass of wine in town beforehand which was fun but slightly stressful as the EP don't really do a quick supper!
Later in the week John went on a business dinner to Chamas, the Brazilian restaurant at the Intercontinental. He had a great time though the on demand red meat wouldn't have suited me and he reported that the scantily clad dancers who couldn't dance felt very incongruous in Abu Dhabi!
On Thursday night we were invited to an evening at Sami and Rana's house, along with several other professionals we've met in the course of John's work. We had a lovely evening with homemade Arabic food - quite amazing and delicious and a laid back conversation. We felt very privileged to be invited to someone's home who, although expat like ourselves, was a bit different to the usual British expat evening.
The weather has warmed up but not too much so on Saturday we revisited the beach and both swam in the sea which is still warmer than the English channel, even in February! It was divine with calm water, golden sand and a relaxed atmosphere of families both local and expat. Such a treat at this time of year though strange to enjoy the beach whilst knowing we had to go to work the next day!
Work is proving to be quite a challenge. I find that I am pushing all the time to try and get things done but not getting much pull which makes it hard to feel like I'm making a difference. I saw the first mock up of my staff handbook which looks great and I've got some interesting projects on. However, in a company where marketing has mainly been about creating new corporate identities for companies as they form, the idea of messaging and branding seem very alien. I keep voicing the usual issues about letting others manage our reputation or choosing to control it ourselves but I don't know if I'm speaking a foreign language! Hopefully I will make some progress and there are lots of great colleagues around who do listen. I really need to learn to be more patient and to spend time immersing myself in the culture more so that I understand things better. Not easy for a 'hit the ground running and worry about the rules afterwards' sort of person like me!
Sunday 21 February 2010
Sunday 14 February 2010
Pictures of Abu Dhabi from a new perspective
I'm afraid I didn't have my camera with me when I followed the goats in the truck but I did have it for the Dhows and the boat trip so here are a few examples of how entrancing the city can look some a different view point. The fourth picture with the white buildings and the funny tower seen from the boat actually shows you the EAI offices - we have a set of those white villas though I'm afraid that my office faces inland and not out to sea. If I do well I might graduate to a sea view office!
Goats and dhows
After wondering last week if I was really making the most of Abu Dhabi we seem to be making up for it at the moment. Some things just make you smile because they are so different to anything you'd ever see in Manchester. Last week I was coming back from a meeting and found myself following a pick up truck with several little black and white goats in the back. They didn't look nearly as comfortable about being in the truck as the camels do but then the destination might not have been a good one for goats!
Over the weekend there was dhow racing off the Corniche and I looked out of the window to see one sailing by which was really beautiful.
On Friday we mainly mooched about at home with a trip to Marina Mall to get John a haircut - the mad professor looks is very charming but not very businesslike, and buy some furniture. In the end we went to IKEA, despite our aversion to the place and were rewarded with a fabulously helpful sales assistant, a delivery this week and a full set of bedroom furniture for a great price so we have absolutely no reason to complain! Mum's friend Jo should be comfortable and I won't have an empty room glaring at me every time I walk past.
On Saturday we went to a brunch to say goodbye to Julian and Bettina, who are heading for a new life in Berlin where their children live and met some other friends of theirs who live near by. It was a very convivial affair and sad that they are going just as we are settling in. However, we've never been to Berlin so now we have an excuse.
Later on we were invited out on our neighbour's boat so we headed off to the Marina. I had no idea what to expect and we were bowled over by this elegant and powerful craft - all cream leather and powerful engines. Levant and his wife, Ursula made us so welcome and there is really nothing to beat motoring around Abu Dhabi island on a sunny afternoon with a small drink in hand. It felt like being on holiday though it did seem a shame to have to go to work the next day. We had dinner on the boat back in the Marina. Our other neighbours, Pat and Jude, also came along so it was a very jolly affair indeed. We also got a chance to see some of the Dhow's close up which was really exciting and to get a new perspective on Abu Dhabi.
Since we went to dinner at our other neighbour's, John and Helen, last Saturday, we're now in the fortunate position of owing hospitality to several people and an excuse to plan a couple of dinner parties. I have never lived in such a friendly and sociable place and what with goats in trucks and Dhows out of the window it definitely has some pluses you don't get in Manchester!
Over the weekend there was dhow racing off the Corniche and I looked out of the window to see one sailing by which was really beautiful.
On Friday we mainly mooched about at home with a trip to Marina Mall to get John a haircut - the mad professor looks is very charming but not very businesslike, and buy some furniture. In the end we went to IKEA, despite our aversion to the place and were rewarded with a fabulously helpful sales assistant, a delivery this week and a full set of bedroom furniture for a great price so we have absolutely no reason to complain! Mum's friend Jo should be comfortable and I won't have an empty room glaring at me every time I walk past.
On Saturday we went to a brunch to say goodbye to Julian and Bettina, who are heading for a new life in Berlin where their children live and met some other friends of theirs who live near by. It was a very convivial affair and sad that they are going just as we are settling in. However, we've never been to Berlin so now we have an excuse.
Later on we were invited out on our neighbour's boat so we headed off to the Marina. I had no idea what to expect and we were bowled over by this elegant and powerful craft - all cream leather and powerful engines. Levant and his wife, Ursula made us so welcome and there is really nothing to beat motoring around Abu Dhabi island on a sunny afternoon with a small drink in hand. It felt like being on holiday though it did seem a shame to have to go to work the next day. We had dinner on the boat back in the Marina. Our other neighbours, Pat and Jude, also came along so it was a very jolly affair indeed. We also got a chance to see some of the Dhow's close up which was really exciting and to get a new perspective on Abu Dhabi.
Since we went to dinner at our other neighbour's, John and Helen, last Saturday, we're now in the fortunate position of owing hospitality to several people and an excuse to plan a couple of dinner parties. I have never lived in such a friendly and sociable place and what with goats in trucks and Dhows out of the window it definitely has some pluses you don't get in Manchester!
EAI Awareness raising
Here are some pictures of our stand at the recruitment exhibition as I mentioned in a blog last week - a pretty impressive booth as I'm sure you'll agree!
Thursday 11 February 2010
A roller coaster ride
Plenty of ups and downs at the moment as I get used to my new role and we both deal with the cultural differences and the general way of life round here! John has endless issues to deal with and this week was no exception - guess it's just the complexity of his role and the amazing things they are all doing, but there always seems to be something. However, he always seems to manage to calmly sort things out and yesterday's life or death crisis gets managed for a new calm tomorrow!
I think most of my crises are ones of confidence and purely of my own making. I am so keen to prove myself, get things done and feel like I have a list of achievements chalked up, that it frustrates me so if I don't think I'm making enough progress. I also find it hard to strike a balance between being proactive and creating my own plan and doing things which people ask me to do which don't really seem to fit with any plan at all! I had a suggestion this week that we should be sponsoring trips to the zoo for bright school children - now where did that come from?! I was dying to quote Albert and the Lion or the TV programme 'Our Day Out' where the children all bring the animals home on the coach but thought it might be taken the wrong way! I spent hours writing the Employee Handbook to make it more engaging and user friendly only to be told that they preferred the blank, bullet point style and I dread to think how they'll react to my restructuring and rewriting of the HR newsletter!
One of the most difficult situations is the confusion around who is the marketing manager, the current lady is an absolute sweetheart and we are working together really well despite the company's best efforts for us to compete, but neither of us was expecting the other, so we've ended up with two people trying in theory doing the same job. We complement each other really well, since my experience is more around strategy and comms and her's is around design, corporate ID and events but without some clarification for us both it can be confusing. Whilst the two of us get along just fine and work well together, it would be nice if things were a bit clearer.
I've been meeting up with event organisers in order to create an overview of the profile raising which we could do via sponsorship and events which has been fascinating. The latest one this week was Adrenaline Sports Live which sounds like fun and a mysterious systems security conference, which sounds right up our street!
I met the CEO and Chairman very briefly when we arranged a photoshoot to get some decent pictures of him. Everyone talks about him in honeyed tones and he is certainly a very impressive guy. I am hoping to get a slightly longer audience (I think 10 minutes is about the maximum) sometime soon to hear more about his vision and to get a better feel for what external messages he would like to communicate.
Both John and I comment on how tired we are, despite getting lots of early nights. When I'm driving round I listen to the radio, airtime crammed with ads for after work activities and places to socialise and I wonder who has the time and energy for such things? Everyone I know is constantly exhausted by the pressure of working and living in a strange place - we're probably just too old and the younger generation manage to combine work and life just fine!
I used to get up regularly at 5.30am to go to Boots for meetings but round here if I have to get up anytime before 6.30 it feels almost impossible. It has to be possible to do more without getting so tired, we probably need to take more exercise, but with a working day which actually starts at 8am, that's difficult. We're both really looking forward to our trip to the UK in March for John's birthday. Especially now that my boss has signed it off - though can you believe it, they count the weekend if you take holiday which goes across one, so what I thought was going to be 8 days leave is actually 12! That is so mean. Fortunately I also have an unpaid leave entitlement to it looks like I'll be dipping into that. Right now time off seems more attractive than money!
Anyway the week ended on a high with an email from Mum to say that her friend Jo has managed to find a dog sitter so they are able to come and visit us in April. We are so excited about this - we've been on the hunt for a new bed for the empty fourth bedroom so she doesn't have to sleep on the sofa bed and I've bought more towels - you can never really have enough towels I find - even in a country where you can get a whole load dry in less than 2 hours!
I think most of my crises are ones of confidence and purely of my own making. I am so keen to prove myself, get things done and feel like I have a list of achievements chalked up, that it frustrates me so if I don't think I'm making enough progress. I also find it hard to strike a balance between being proactive and creating my own plan and doing things which people ask me to do which don't really seem to fit with any plan at all! I had a suggestion this week that we should be sponsoring trips to the zoo for bright school children - now where did that come from?! I was dying to quote Albert and the Lion or the TV programme 'Our Day Out' where the children all bring the animals home on the coach but thought it might be taken the wrong way! I spent hours writing the Employee Handbook to make it more engaging and user friendly only to be told that they preferred the blank, bullet point style and I dread to think how they'll react to my restructuring and rewriting of the HR newsletter!
One of the most difficult situations is the confusion around who is the marketing manager, the current lady is an absolute sweetheart and we are working together really well despite the company's best efforts for us to compete, but neither of us was expecting the other, so we've ended up with two people trying in theory doing the same job. We complement each other really well, since my experience is more around strategy and comms and her's is around design, corporate ID and events but without some clarification for us both it can be confusing. Whilst the two of us get along just fine and work well together, it would be nice if things were a bit clearer.
I've been meeting up with event organisers in order to create an overview of the profile raising which we could do via sponsorship and events which has been fascinating. The latest one this week was Adrenaline Sports Live which sounds like fun and a mysterious systems security conference, which sounds right up our street!
I met the CEO and Chairman very briefly when we arranged a photoshoot to get some decent pictures of him. Everyone talks about him in honeyed tones and he is certainly a very impressive guy. I am hoping to get a slightly longer audience (I think 10 minutes is about the maximum) sometime soon to hear more about his vision and to get a better feel for what external messages he would like to communicate.
Both John and I comment on how tired we are, despite getting lots of early nights. When I'm driving round I listen to the radio, airtime crammed with ads for after work activities and places to socialise and I wonder who has the time and energy for such things? Everyone I know is constantly exhausted by the pressure of working and living in a strange place - we're probably just too old and the younger generation manage to combine work and life just fine!
I used to get up regularly at 5.30am to go to Boots for meetings but round here if I have to get up anytime before 6.30 it feels almost impossible. It has to be possible to do more without getting so tired, we probably need to take more exercise, but with a working day which actually starts at 8am, that's difficult. We're both really looking forward to our trip to the UK in March for John's birthday. Especially now that my boss has signed it off - though can you believe it, they count the weekend if you take holiday which goes across one, so what I thought was going to be 8 days leave is actually 12! That is so mean. Fortunately I also have an unpaid leave entitlement to it looks like I'll be dipping into that. Right now time off seems more attractive than money!
Anyway the week ended on a high with an email from Mum to say that her friend Jo has managed to find a dog sitter so they are able to come and visit us in April. We are so excited about this - we've been on the hunt for a new bed for the empty fourth bedroom so she doesn't have to sleep on the sofa bed and I've bought more towels - you can never really have enough towels I find - even in a country where you can get a whole load dry in less than 2 hours!
Wednesday 10 February 2010
Still far too British
After nearly 6 months in Abu Dhabi I still find I'm looking for the familiar all the time and trying to recreate things as they were back home! We did some shopping at the weekend which is not something we spend a lot of time doing with the exception of food. It amazes me how much I can spend on food for two people so this week I actually did try to analyze the bill when I got home. I like Spinneys best and when you look at the bill it's all the Waitrose products and the food shipped in from elsewhere that adds up. I really must stop buying Parma Ham in such quantity and try to look for local produce a bit more!
Our shopping trip seemed to feature Boots and M&S so it's back to the same old haunts. Boots is the only place I've found that does conditioner for blonde hair and M&S have a few of the things we like though we both agree that if it was in Manchester we wouldn't think much of it. Now that I'm working every day my work wardrobe is in need of some renovation - all my Manchester work stuff is either too woolly or too short. I'd always prided myself on having reasonable legs for my age but round here it just isn't appropriate to wear anything above the knee! I did manage to buy a black skirt (in M&S) but nothing else quite seemed to fit the bill. One of my new colleagues has taken to wearing an Abaya which saves all the hassle of worrying about whether clothes are too short, tight or revealing but I think, being so obviously blonde and British it would raise a few eyebrows if I took to wearing one.
My support network at the office also seems to comprise a group of British colleagues who provide much needed help and general advice on getting by and getting used to a new culture. The guys out at Al Shaheen are just wonderful - all ex British miliatary and so passionate and enthusiastic about what they do that they understand my frustrations at not being able to do things quickly enough. I also have a great friend in the (Scottish) Finance Director - well would you trust your money with any other nationality apart from possibly a Yorkshireman?! I can say that since I lived in Yorkshire for over 20 years. Ken has been here for 15 years and is a fund of good advice and help in dealing with the complexities of an Emirati company.
However, I really should try to immerse myself more in the local way of life and try different shops and experiences but when you're working hard and getting tired it's difficult not to fall back on the comfortingly familiar things you've always known.
Our shopping trip seemed to feature Boots and M&S so it's back to the same old haunts. Boots is the only place I've found that does conditioner for blonde hair and M&S have a few of the things we like though we both agree that if it was in Manchester we wouldn't think much of it. Now that I'm working every day my work wardrobe is in need of some renovation - all my Manchester work stuff is either too woolly or too short. I'd always prided myself on having reasonable legs for my age but round here it just isn't appropriate to wear anything above the knee! I did manage to buy a black skirt (in M&S) but nothing else quite seemed to fit the bill. One of my new colleagues has taken to wearing an Abaya which saves all the hassle of worrying about whether clothes are too short, tight or revealing but I think, being so obviously blonde and British it would raise a few eyebrows if I took to wearing one.
My support network at the office also seems to comprise a group of British colleagues who provide much needed help and general advice on getting by and getting used to a new culture. The guys out at Al Shaheen are just wonderful - all ex British miliatary and so passionate and enthusiastic about what they do that they understand my frustrations at not being able to do things quickly enough. I also have a great friend in the (Scottish) Finance Director - well would you trust your money with any other nationality apart from possibly a Yorkshireman?! I can say that since I lived in Yorkshire for over 20 years. Ken has been here for 15 years and is a fund of good advice and help in dealing with the complexities of an Emirati company.
However, I really should try to immerse myself more in the local way of life and try different shops and experiences but when you're working hard and getting tired it's difficult not to fall back on the comfortingly familiar things you've always known.
A short apology
It seems that I haven't made a posting in February and it's already the 10th today - well the 9th in blog country which must be West Coast US! I was so sure that I had but maybe I'm slowly losing the plot!
Last week was an interesting one at work - it's a bit of a roller coaster at the moment, one minute I think I'm really starting to make some progress and then at other times I'm not so sure! It can be such a challenge trying to move things forward and I wonder at times how anything ever gets done. I guess it's me who's always moved at break next speed and I do need to reassess the way I approach things as everything does seem to happen in the end!
We went to the Tawdeef Exhibition last week, which is a pretty big recruitment event. We had the most amazing stand with six of our subsidiaries also involved. The stand had it's own refreshment area, meeting rooms, 6 stations for internet access and lots of places to sit and talk to potential candidates. It was really quite awesome. The variety of gifts on offer from EAI and the subsidiaries included desk sets, bags, pens, key chains, stress balls and enough branded chocolate for armies of hungry people! No detail had been overlooked - even the girls had the EAI logo in diamante on their shaylas. I was most impressed and, judging by the volume of CV's collected, I was not alone. It was a great awareness raising exercise, since one of our key goals is to be seen as a first choice career destination for young Emiratis (first choice career destination is a familiar goal for me though not with this audience before!) We have significant competition from the public sector, who are seen as the employer's of choice so it was good to be at the exhibition, surrounded by the government bodies and building a reputation in the right kind of company. All exhibition's do end the same though with less shoe leather, very sore feet and no voice!
I also went on a vist to Zayed University as part of our drive to raise our profile with the Emirati graduates. I met up with Rex Taylor, the Assistant Provost, who I last met in the British Embassy garden during Manchester week. We ate a pleasant lunch in a shady garden before meeting all kinds of interesting people who seem as keen to work with us and we are to work with them.
The weather changed towards the end of the week (it always does if I ever make tentative plans to go to the beach!) and on Thursday the air was full of sand, whipped up by a wind storm. Everytime you went out you ended up covered in sand, blinking it out of your eyes and all paperwork feeling gritty! Still it was snowing again in the UK so a day's sandstorm and then some light rain over the weekend didn't feel too much of a hardship.
I managed to get an audience with my boss on Thursday which sent me a bit down. I thought I'd achieved a lot and had prepared bullet points and full reports. However, he seemed very dismissive of my range of projects and suggested I focus on one thing at a time! And me so proud of my ability to multi task! The problem with one thing at a time is what do you do in the yawning gaps when you're waiting for someone else to come back to you? I decided to carry on with my multi channel plan and take no notice in the end but it shook me up a bit.
Perhaps one day I might get the hang of how things work but till then I'll just have to make it up as I go along!
Last week was an interesting one at work - it's a bit of a roller coaster at the moment, one minute I think I'm really starting to make some progress and then at other times I'm not so sure! It can be such a challenge trying to move things forward and I wonder at times how anything ever gets done. I guess it's me who's always moved at break next speed and I do need to reassess the way I approach things as everything does seem to happen in the end!
We went to the Tawdeef Exhibition last week, which is a pretty big recruitment event. We had the most amazing stand with six of our subsidiaries also involved. The stand had it's own refreshment area, meeting rooms, 6 stations for internet access and lots of places to sit and talk to potential candidates. It was really quite awesome. The variety of gifts on offer from EAI and the subsidiaries included desk sets, bags, pens, key chains, stress balls and enough branded chocolate for armies of hungry people! No detail had been overlooked - even the girls had the EAI logo in diamante on their shaylas. I was most impressed and, judging by the volume of CV's collected, I was not alone. It was a great awareness raising exercise, since one of our key goals is to be seen as a first choice career destination for young Emiratis (first choice career destination is a familiar goal for me though not with this audience before!) We have significant competition from the public sector, who are seen as the employer's of choice so it was good to be at the exhibition, surrounded by the government bodies and building a reputation in the right kind of company. All exhibition's do end the same though with less shoe leather, very sore feet and no voice!
I also went on a vist to Zayed University as part of our drive to raise our profile with the Emirati graduates. I met up with Rex Taylor, the Assistant Provost, who I last met in the British Embassy garden during Manchester week. We ate a pleasant lunch in a shady garden before meeting all kinds of interesting people who seem as keen to work with us and we are to work with them.
The weather changed towards the end of the week (it always does if I ever make tentative plans to go to the beach!) and on Thursday the air was full of sand, whipped up by a wind storm. Everytime you went out you ended up covered in sand, blinking it out of your eyes and all paperwork feeling gritty! Still it was snowing again in the UK so a day's sandstorm and then some light rain over the weekend didn't feel too much of a hardship.
I managed to get an audience with my boss on Thursday which sent me a bit down. I thought I'd achieved a lot and had prepared bullet points and full reports. However, he seemed very dismissive of my range of projects and suggested I focus on one thing at a time! And me so proud of my ability to multi task! The problem with one thing at a time is what do you do in the yawning gaps when you're waiting for someone else to come back to you? I decided to carry on with my multi channel plan and take no notice in the end but it shook me up a bit.
Perhaps one day I might get the hang of how things work but till then I'll just have to make it up as I go along!
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