Jenny's Blog

Goodbye Abu Dhabi

2010-07-30T16:07:00.001+04:00

Saturday morning saw us at Abu Dhabi airport for the final flight back to Manchester. Luckily we’ve acquired gold and silver Etihad status in the past 12 months so we didn’t have to suffer the indignity of having to pay for excess luggage as I did on the way to Abu Dhabi! As the plane took off, leaving Abu Dhabi behind the tears started to fall and the stewardesses were most concerned at my fear of flying. It seemed a bit wet having to tell them that it was relief at the end of a very difficult adventure and happiness at starting the next chapter. I was also a bit overcome by John turning and thanking me for helping to make it all possible and being strong and supportive – there were so many times when I didn’t feel I had been as helpful as I could have been.
It was certainly an adventure and I wouldn’t have missed the Abu Dhabi experience for the world. I feel like I achieved something I didn’t know I could do – making a life in a new country and a very different culture, creating a home, making friends and finding a job. It has brought J and me so close, having this shared experience with all its ups and downs. However, I am also very glad to be moving on to new things and to start the next stage of the journey.
This new stage is going to need a completely new blog so it’s time to draw this one to a close. I hope you’ll carry on reading about our adventures and our travels at http://jennyandjohnsadultgap.blogspot.com/
It’s been an amazing year – thank you for sharing it.

Last few tasks

2010-07-30T16:05:00.004+04:00

Closing the bank accounts was a funny experience as you’re not allowed to have one if you don’t have a visa. The guy at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank closed it down then and there and chopped up our cards and check books in front of us which was a bit nerve racking! HSBC tried to give me the balance of the account despite the fact that it was needed to pay off the credit card. Amazingly we were waiting in the queue behind a man who appeared to be withdrawing several hundreds of millions of dirhams in cash. I have never seen so many notes in my life. The best moment came when he asked them for a bag to put it in to take it away with him (he obviously hadn’t brought his own or an armed guard!) and was given a branded HSBC carrier bag. I can’t think of another place in the world where you could walk out of a bank, which a huge amount of money in cash actually in an HSBC bag!
Etisalat were true to form right till the last. When we went to cancel our internet, land line and J’s mobile they insisted on us paying all the connection and usage charges that we’d been given free at the beginning because we were cancelling inside the 12 month contract! The reason it was less than 12 months was due to the fact that it took them 3 months to install it in the first place. So their ongoing inefficiency even cost us money in the long run – but then would all the residents of Abu Dhabi be without their Etisalat stories! I was reading a consumer problem page in the paper where people wrote in with problems and the newspaper tried to sort them out. One was someone moaning about an Etisalat problem and at the end of their letter, instead of the usual outcome of how good old Gulf News had helped to fix the problem it just said ‘despite repeated attempts to contact the company, Etisalat failed to respond to our request’. But then powerful state owned monopolies can presumably take that attitude – like being only one of four countries in the world to ban Skype, but unlike North Korea, this is for more commercial reasons!
Everything else went very smoothly and seems to be mostly sorted out. We were told we didn’t pay a deposit on the apartment (I’d dispute this but as it went through J’s salary it’s hard to be sure). However we are mysteriously owed AED 2500 by the landlord which just might be 50% of the deposit we ‘didn’t pay’! It was sad saying goodbye to the car but the hand over of the registration went very smoothly and we found ourselves outside the vehicle registration with Helen clutching a new registration card within about 10 minutes. We were all convinced we must have done something wrong. The trip to Dubai to get the scratch fixed was well worth it and we enjoyed the Hilton Jumeirah as an expensive but fun break.
The Shangri La was as wonderful as ever, though the weather was so hot and humid it was impossible to stand outside even for a moment without becoming covered in a film of sweat so we didn’t really fancy the pool. We enjoyed Bord Eau for a last dinner and the seafood brunch at Pearls and Caviar.

Goodbye Arab Bank Building

2010-07-30T16:05:00.002+04:00

Tying up the apartment got sorted pretty much at the last minute (why would it be different?). It turned out that my friend Liz had just moved to a new place so she took our bed, the office furniture and the water cooler and was very glad of the contents of my store cupboard. I thought the guy who bought the lounge furniture was not going to come back to collect the last settee and make the final payment and cursed that I hadn’t taken all the money off him at the time. However a ‘disappointed’ email soon sorted that out. In the end we were left with the brand new and expensive spare room furniture and the white furniture from our bedroom – we got offered AED 200 for it when it cost nearly AED 7000 so I decided to ship it to Manchester and sort out the problem of having rather a lot of furniture afterwards! The packers from Crown Relocations were brilliant and managed to pack all the extra stuff into the 8 cubic metres we’d already paid for and they were so quick and thorough I was bowled over. It more than made up for having to argue with the office about the value of our stuff and then having to itemise huge amounts of it in order not to pay to insure a ridiculous value!
With everything packed up, sold or on its way to Manchester we decamped to the Shangri La for the last few days whilst we got everything else finished off and to allow for hiccups.

Goodbye to work

2010-07-30T16:03:00.001+04:00

So having made the decision to leave, the last few days were quite a rush, with lots of things to get finished off and everything left tidy. John finished almost at once but I still had to do another week in order to leave things in the best possible state as I didn’t really have anyone to hand over to. Poor Fatima was very upset at the news as we both enjoyed working together and as this was her very first job she had presumably hoped to learn more from me. However, she knows much better than me, how to make things happen in this different culture and she is much more confident about expecting people to do things for her. I suspect that many of the things of a more strategic nature, that I tried very hard to do, will be left undone as not being as important as corporate gifts and basic Power Point slides! We spent quite a bit of that last week looking at pictures of gold and silver plated falcon’s heads which the boss wanted to buy as VIP gifts. What surprised me was that I engaged in several meetings about these items and only stopped to think that it might be funny when I was telling John about it later! I also got a lashing from the boss because some Power Point slides he wanted were not available because the companies concerned had refused to tell me anything about themselves! So secret they didn’t even want to tell me what they did so the chances of being able to put briefing slides together was pretty remote but it didn’t stop him questioning the point of having a marketing department. It all helped me to feel quite sure that the decision to leave them to it was the right one – especially in the final days when he suddenly asked me to present something with 20 minutes notice on Emirates Skills. A project I’d worked on weeks before but assumed had gone the way of the Institutes of Technology work and hadn’t bothered to put the final presentation together. Still Fatima and I did manage to get something quite creditable together within the hour but by that time he’d lost interest
It was sad saying goodbye to Fatima and to several other colleagues from the subsidiaries, especially Al Shaheen and their new partner Dascam. I collected some very nice emails and promises to stay in touch including from Ali and Ibrahim, impressive young Emiratis who I hope will be able to realize their potential in an organisation where there is so little delegation to the younger generation.

Signing out from the Abu Dhabi experience

2010-07-15T13:53:00.003+04:00

As they say all things come to an end and John and I have decided to leave Abu Dhabi. It's been an interesting year and a life experience that I wouldn't have swapped for the world but we both feel that the time has come to move on and take the next step in this fascinating adventure they call life!
We decided this when we returned from another fabulous trip to the UK and it has all happened very quickly (as things have a habit of doing round here once they're agreed!) We are due to fly back on the 24th July so that didn't give us much time to get things packed, tidied up and generally finished up. Of course we've acquired an apartment full of furniture which just won't fit in the rather smaller apartment in Manchester so that has had to be sold and what an experience that has been! I posted photos and listings on dubizzle and within seconds of hitting 'send' on the final posting the phone started to ring and people descended on us. Clearly we underpriced certain items, judging by the speed with which they were sold. I could have sold the sofas and chairs about 6 times over and of course everybody wanted everything immediately. We had to beg the guy who bought the living room stuff to leave us a sofa to sit on for a couple of weeks and the lady who bought the washing machine keeps calling to see if she can have it sooner. As for the TV I had to take down the posting within the hour and turn off the phone as I was so fed up with getting calls. However, we've so far failed to sell two of the bedroom sets and the desk and are having to resort to a second hand furniture dealer who will no doubt not give us much. It's a shame watching so many beautiful things going for less than we paid for them but at the end of the day it's only furniture. Within a couple of days the apartment looked very empty and we have to eat our meals at the patio set but I'm glad that nothing has been wasted. It started to feel like living in a shop as people wandered round asking for the smaller items. I think in the end I sold a couple of IKEA chairs and table lamps for more than it would have cost to go to IKEA and buy the same items brand new!
The smaller bits and pieces and our prize (and very large) mirror are being shipped back to Manchester. I just hope the mirror will fit in the lift. Somehow organising the shipping seems to have been much more complicated than it was at the other end, despite it being the same company but then why should I be surprised by that!
We sold the car to Helen and John next door so I'm glad to think of it staying with people we know and since Helen works at the same place as me it'll know the way. We're taking it to Dubai at the weekend to get the scratch fixed where I managed to misjudge the entrance to our car park slightly. I would have loved to have brought the Jeep back with me as I adore it but the steering wheel on the wrong side would have been a bit inconvenient.
I'm gradually getting all the other bits and pieces sorted out. I don't know whether disconnecting the phone and the internet will be as traumatic as getting it installed but I daren't let them know too soon in case we find ourselves disconnected before we're ready. We also have to close our bank accounts as you aren't allowed to have an account here if you don't have a visa. I am really fretting about this one as we still have bills to pay and money to move about. Again I don't like to raise it too early just in case but it's something of a worry. We plan to complete the circle by moving to the Shangri La for the last 3 days since that was our first experience of Abu Dhabi and where John stayed when he first came out here. I'm looking forward to everything being done and spending Thursday and Friday in their beautifully chilled pool.
So what next? Well we can't go back to the UK immediately unless we want to be faced with a sizeable tax bill so we're busy planning some pretty extensive travel and enjoying our tax exile status as much as possible before coming back in the Spring. It'll be amazing to have time for trips which have never been possible in the 2 week space allotted when working. August should see us jump in the car and head for France to wander about as the fancy takes us. Autumn will probably be Europe, finishing off with a return visit to Abu Dhabi when Rachel and the family were due to come and stay so we'll all visit together. After that we might take a look at the Far East before returning to the UK in December for an extended Christmas break. Jan to March are earmarked for the Southern Hemisphere. The outline plan is Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Rio though we've yet to work out the practicalities. It's all very exciting and a whole new chapter for both of us. It's also going to be wonderful to be able to spend so much time together since John came to Abu Dhabi so soon after we were married that we've been rather preoccupied since.

Beach life

2010-06-22T16:31:00.003+04:00

I think I spend far too much time on this blog moaning about work and not enough extolling the virtues of permanent sunshine and proximity to the sea! Just to redress the balance here are some pictures of us enjoying expat life at the Kempinski in Ajman, the Hiltonia Beach Club and the Shangri La. Not that we want to make you jealous of course when it's only 16 degrees in London in June. 50 degrees can be equally unpleasant.

More interesting takes on working life

2010-06-20T16:06:00.004+04:00

The end of last week was full of still more bemusing experiences and this morning an Emirati colleague actually told me that you really must learn to expect things to happen the wrong way round from how they would normally be! Such a perceptive young man - so at least I'm not alone in finding things upside down a lot of the time.
Last week I was accused of writing content for a brochure using English that was 'too advanced'! So if you recruit an English Marketing and Comms manager who has a degree in English you do wonder what people were expecting. Fatima has been teaching me how to speak English to people who don't have much grasp - you have to repeat the key words and be careful not to use any linking words or politeness! We had some fun trying to rewrite some of the brochure content in this way 'CONSULTANTS, CONSULTANTS, VERY CLEVER PEOPLE, GOOD PEOPLE, WORK WITH GOOD PEOPLE'but we haven't submitted it to the subsidiary concerned. We also went to a meeting with the same people to talk about their web site. They spent an hour and a half arguing about whether the content or the design should come first - we tried in vain to tell them that the structure and the site map should come first, even waving examples at them but it fell on deaf ears. In the end we left them to the argument and hoped they won't come back and need anything from us - well there's no point in my writing advanced English for it and we can't brief a designer without a structure can we?!
Working with Fatima is a joy - she is so incisive and is teaching me so much about Emirati life but at the same time she also thinks everyone is completely crazy so I don't feel so alone! In fact the young generation of recent graduates seem to be a fabulous group of young people, ready to take on the 21st century yet still celebrate their historical culture and so well educated and with excellent English. Fatima is fortunate in that her young husband seems to share a more open approach to her life as well as his and they seem to be a very close family unit - unbelievably she has twin babies although she is only 22 and a graduate. I do worry for this generation though as the older generation seems to very unwilling to delegate responsibility or allow them the freedom to come up with new ideas so it will be difficult for them to gain the important learning experiences in order to grow and develop. Making mistakes is also not seen as an acceptable learning tool! Our boss told us that he wants new, creative ideas but we haven't yet worked out what he really means by this (he's very impressed by a calendar with his name on every page but Scott had one of those ages ago in the UK!) One of our Emirati male colleagues has been chosen for the world motorised parachute championships - in Montauban in France of all places - which looks like something pretty different and exciting so we're hoping to persuade him that the sponsorship opportunities might be something a bit new and different! Well I've never seen motorised parachutes negotiating an obstacle course a few feet of the ground so that's pretty new and impressive!
My IAT strategy now has to reduce to 3 Power Point slides so I'm fighting against this final indignity - to reduce a month of work to 3 slides makes you wonder if I shouldn't have just made it all up off the top of my head?! However, actually managing to produce a useful recommendation in that constricted a format could make me very clever indeed - perhaps I will give it some thought after all!

Relaxing at the Shangri La

2010-06-20T15:42:00.003+04:00

It's nearly time for our UK trip and I am praying that volcanic ash or some other travel disruption doesn't get in the way of our plans because we are really looking forward to it. 13 weeks without a day off is really a bit too long in this new culture and I think we're both more than ready for a break.
However, we did indulge in one of our 'mini holidays' this weekend, though we didn't travel far to do it. We took advantage of the summer offers at the Shangri La and spent the weekend in Abu Dhabi but in 5 star luxury! It was as fabulous as ever. It is so hot now that a day at the beach club is too long, so by staying in a hotel we can enjoy the pool, get some exercise and never be too far away from the air conditioning. We needed it as it was over 50 degrees when we picked the car up to come back home. The pool at the Shangri La is beautifully chilled and although it was a popular spot this weekend we still really enjoyed ourselves.
We were lucky enough to be well looked after by our friends at the Shangri La, who managed to get us a suite - I am going to be completely spoiled for ever more after such an amazing room. It had a guest cloakroom, a full lounge and dining room, two balconies, two TVs, a dressing room and bathroom with separate bath and walk in shower and a delicious plate of fruit, pastries and dates to welcome us.
We had dinner at the French restaurant, Bord Eau and used one of our Entertainer vouchers to get a free main course. The food was fabulous as ever and the cheese was brilliant. On Friday we did the new Brunch at Pearls and Caviar which is a great way to spend a Friday afternoon. We took the champagne package thinking it would be a bottle to share but it just kept coming! We ate so much - sushi, prawns, a grilled platter of meat and seafood, cheese and pudding (J had two helpings of pudding but I just couldn't fit any more in!) So with the champagne as well we had to spend the rest of the day recovering and couldn't manage dinner as well.
Breakfast was also included in the deal so a great deal of eating went on so it was lucky that we managed plenty of swimming as well. Sadly it was soon time to head back and think about the working week again. It's really difficult to go from total holiday mode to work in the space of a few hours.
However, our neighbours Pat and Jude invited us round for supper so we had a very pleasant evening with them which helped to alleviate the Saturday night back to work low! They will be away when we come back so it's likely to be a while before we see them again so it was great to spend such a convivial evening together.

Jenny Through the Looking Glass

2010-06-15T16:31:00.003+04:00

I had hoped that arriving at the understanding that not only will nothing happen as you think it will but it could actually be the complete opposite of what you expected would be a great coping strategy but I'm afraid it doesn't always work. What may seem like a funny story afterwards can be pretty upsetting at the time! I mentioned last time about trying to get ahead of the game by ordering stands and flags which were not signed off due to a lack of any immediate need. What I didn't know was that my much missed colleague had gone one step further and actually ordered them. So sitting quietly lamenting the unsigned purchase order on my desk, one day a guy arrived with 26 of the most impressive pull up stands and 26 flags. My immediate problem was where to put them as we have no storage. This was easily solved, as our office was originally designed as a bedroom and therefore has a pallatial ensuite bathroom complete with bath and shower. Since I wasn't planning to take a bath during office hours any time soon (though on some days with the temperature over 40 and lots of running around it wouldn't be a bad idea!)the bath now holds most of the pull up stands and it makes a very good store. Even if someone inadvertently turned on a tap they are in waterproof coats so I think we'll be OK. Paying for them is going to be a bit more of a challenge so I'm going to have to start selling them off to the subsidiaries on a piece meal basis and persuade the supplier to hold the invoices till this happens. So if you know anyone who'd like a bath full of stands you know who to call.
We are the proud owners of a state of the art Mac with 27 inch screen and wireless keyboard as well as a matching laptop ready for when our new Graphic Designer joins though Fatima is a dab hand with the machine as well. Macs are really cool and we are the first people to get one so people actually pass by our office especially to see it - they totally ignore us so we are thinking of opening an outlook diary for it for viewing appointments. Because we are so ahead on this one IT have no idea what to do with a Mac so we can't link it to a printer or email just yet but it looks nice!
The Request for Proposal exercise has been an interesting one. I am clearly pathologically not suited to how things work here with my orderly British planning mind. Only two companies actually followed the instructions and filled in the pricing tables, several sent creative work even though I'd expressly asked them not too as I can't release SOC material until the contract is signed, one even completed the prices in US Dollars - the words 'all prices must be quoted in UAE Dirhams' must have passed them by so it was a nightmare to try and analyse and create a spreadsheet. We have always fought really hard not to include creative work with a tender as you don't have a proper brief and can't present it in person but that didn't stop companies trying to guess what Special Opps did, making up new logos and plastering pictures of planes across the ads! I've come up with a recommendation but whether anyone takes any notice of it I can't be sure or even whether a decision gets made at all. For now we seem to be producing ads and just about everything else ourselves which adds to the stresses of life.
We tested our two Graphic Design trainees and Fatima, Sumaya and I were all in agreement which was good. HR continue to look for more candidates to replace Nidal but I don't think they've understood the brief (or maybe they have different instructions from on high?!) Mostly they don't send anyone with much of a marketing background and today I got a Geologist who works in a Materials Science lab which is completely random. I think I might suggest we interview her just to hear what HR question her about!
The lunch for 700 never happened as the two merging companies couldn't agree on its importance. Hopefully they are better at working together in other areas! I also hardly dare hope that the 4 month saga over whether we should pay one of the subsidiaries major advertising agencies just might get resolved. I've been working away resolutely on this, providing analysis of other companies prices, talking to legal and generally trying to get the situation sorted without bloodshed. At time of writing it looks promising but I'm not holding my breath!
John and I have been trying to chill out as much as possible outside of work. We've got a bit anti social, preferring each others company to anyone else after the strains of work. But then we enjoy being with each other so why not? We've been trying to use our 'buy one meal get one free' from The Entertainer Guide (it's such a responsibility having a whole book full of money off coupons, I don't know how my father would ever have coped!) So we've had some lovely meals out at Indigo, the Indian at the Beach Rotana and our old favourite Vascos at The Hilton. We also went to Oceans at the Royal Meridien which had some great seafood though a noisy group of Masdar City folk. Finally, The Ghost, arrived in Abu Dhabi. We've both read the book recently and I'm always keen to see Ewan McGregor in anything. I was afraid it was going to pass us by but it was on in the VIP cinema at the Khalidya Mall. It cost about four times the regular price but we did get waiter service for the ice cream and fully reclinable airline seats for that! It doesn't make it any warmer though so I had my usual cinema kit of wrap, jumper and socks which were envied by one of the other cinema goers who thought they were part of the VIP offer! They love it really cold here. I know it's unbearably hot outside but that doesn't really mean I should have to bring a cardigan to work in order not to freeze inside. The car has decided to cope with the heat by not doing 'four' on the temperature gauge so once it gets over 40 degrees it goes back to 31. This way it can fool itself and me that it isn't so hot really.
We decided it's getting too hot for the beach - strange to have to come out of the sea after half an hour's swim because you're in danger of getting overheated rather than blue with cold! However, for the first time since we came here I have managed a bit of tan from our weekend beach jaunts which is going to fade. This weekend we've managed to take advantage of some great summer rates to return to the Shangri La where they chill the pool to a lovely cool temperature - imagine chilling a swimming pool not heating it.
I told you it was like Alice Though the Looking Glass with everything backwards to what you'd expect!

More fun in and outside work as it hots up!

2010-06-06T16:04:00.003+04:00

We've been trying to make the most of living at the seaside before it gets too hot to go to the beach. For a couple of weeks we went to the Hiltonia Beach Club on a Saturday which was very pleasant, especially as you can have a nice lunch with the appropriate cooling beverage without having to stray too far from a sunbed. I do find working on Sunday after being 'on holiday' on Saturday a bit of a come down! This weekend we treated ourselves to a weekend break at the Kempinski in Ajman which was a great escape. The threatened cyclone, which did some damage to Oman, didn't make it to the UAE so we spent two lovely days on the beautiful beach and although the sea was a bit on the warm side there was a nice breeze and it was very relaxing. The hotel itself was packed - no doubt due to the great deal we enjoyed which included complimentary apertifs and a fantastic breakfast (including egg and bacon, a rare treat). We got lost in Sharjah so it took a bit longer than the 2 hours to drive up the coast but it wasn't too fraught and we enjoyed Chinese on one night and Indian on the other. The biggest problem was that it just wasn't long enough. I was disappointed to be missing the annual family trip to Bramrigg, a cottage near Grasmere, which has become something of a fixture so the mini beach holiday was a welcome lift. The Chambers/Claringbold party had a slightly more traumatic trip than usual as Marion fell and broke her arm and a deranged gun man went on the loose in Cumbria, killing 12 people, seeminly at random. Luckily, as news from the UK is quite hard to come by here, I didn't find out about it till Rachel emailed me so I knew that our family at least were safe. I guess its to do with not being accused of being UK centric, but both the English language paper and BBC World, seem to delight in telling you what's going on everywhere in the world but the UK!
Back to work today and on with the usual round of weird and wonderful requests and happenings with no warning as to what the next hurdle may be! Last week they decided to get rid of Nidal, not sure why though we've both known this might happen for a while. A personality clash with one of the senior team before I joined is the likely cause but it all seems so long ago now it took me by surprise. She has been planning for it for a while but it means I have lost my 'fixer' who could always make things happen in no time at all and new so much more than me about how to get things done. The worst was that no-one told me until she did so I feel even less like I'm in the loop and of course, we have to absorb her workload as well.
I presented the IAT marketing strategy, which has been a great project to work on though very time consuming as I did about 40 interviews and focus groups single handed in order to gather the information necessary to come up with the plan and recommendations as well as writing up the full report and designing the plan. I went out to Al Ain one day to carry out interviews there which was really interesting. All in all the students are fantastic, so positive and enthusiastic about technology and engineering and with a great standard of English and much higher confidence levels than you usually see anywhere with this age group. The report seemed to go down well with their Director General and we now have to present a very short version to my CEO who is Chair of their board. It's been hard condensing so much work into 7 power point slides but no doubt good experience.
One of our subsidiaries had a corporate event for staff and clients last week which as amazing - I don't think a lot of the content would have worked in the UK, especially swearing an oath of allegiance to the company but it was fascinating to watch! I wrote speeches for their CEO and visiting dignitary client but in the end neither could attend so they were redundant. Whilst all this was going on we also printed the necessary 10 business cards and arranged a couple of exhibitions and a range of collateral so it's non stop all the way.
On Thursday I got an email asking me to organize a lunch event for nearly 700 people - THIS WEDNESDAY! Once upon a time I would have thought that was impossible but despite butterflies in the stomach I think it can be done. It looks like it might be put off till next week so actually masses of time in the end - ha ha! Problem is they haven't agreed what gifts they want and who's signing for it so it could still end up proving difficult.
I did think I might try to get ahead by ordering pull up stands, flags and other display material for all our companies to keep in the store but I can't get them signed off since I don't actually need them for a least 2 weeks! So much for thinking I could be prepared.
I also had fun being on the other side of the fence as I had to put together two Request for Proposals, one for the Special Opps Recruitment Marketing campaign and one for our agency contract. It was really funny trying to make them into sensible documents - I've spent so many years filling them in, it was really hard trying to write one that wouldn't be too tortuous. The people at my end were really impressed which is so odd as usually no-one is ever impressed by anything I do.
J struggles on too, trying to do the best he can in difficult circumstances. It must be much harder for him as I'm a bit more used to having off the wall clients bombarding me with strange requests who never listen to advice!

Why have one job when you could have more fun doing 3?

2010-05-30T10:50:00.004+04:00

The last couple of weeks have been pretty manic, without even time for blog posting which is always a shame. The main reason being that I acquired a couple of other jobs as well as the day job for EAI. Our CEO is also Chair of the Board of the Institutes of Applied Technology, a unique organization which provides technological education in a variety of different ways. The IAT schools in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah take students at Year 10 and teach them in 'clusters' which focus on science, engineering and ICT alongside the normal high school subjects. It's a novel approach which encourages early specialization in these important areas and they teach in English which fits students better for higher education. They also have a mandatory community programme and every student has a Mac laptop and an on line education system. Under the umbrella are two specialist academies in Aviation and Logistics, which offer tertiary education, an HE nursing college and a boarding school for boys interesting in vocational subjects who struggle with conventional education. IAT were keen to develop a cohesive strategy to marketing and had approached a number of professional consultancies in this area. Our CEO discovered my education marketing background and offered my services to develop this project on a pro bono basis - several of the EAI professionals offer this kind of support to IAT and other Not for Profit organizations which the CEO is involved with. It's a great opportunity and my kind of thing - it's certainly made a change from careers fairs, gifts and business cards. The biggest difficulty is that I still need to do everything else as well so it's been hard to squash it all in. In the meantime the CEO lined me up for another freebie for Emirates Skills, again right up my street but we are running out of hours in the day!
Meanwhile we won a contract as an organization to recruit soldiers and technicians for SOC, the special ops for the UAE military and yet another organization to provide a marketing plan and talent acquisition strategy for! I took a brief about 3ish on a Sunday, having already worked up a plan but the plan was of no use as they'd decided to attend a recruitment event the following Sunday so, from a standing start we had to produce a pop up stand, a brochure and 700 gift items by Thursday. Unsurprisingly it did all get done - I wrote copy for a brochure which we translated into Arabic and we managed to sort out a stand and 700 credit card USBs with their logo on. In the real world this might be cause for celebration but here I am still struggling to get the supplier order signed off for the USBs (fortunate that he and I went ahead without one!) because I don't have a piece of paper with the SOC logo on signed by them to say I can use it, even though they gave it to me in the first place and I have emails from the Colonel, no less, approving the designs! We also got into trouble because we didn't actually go to all the exhibitions and 'pop up' the stand for them. Since we weren't given the information about when and where the exhibitions were it would have been tricky but I expect we just weren't making enough of an effort. I also got called to a meeting by the CEO in order for a large number of us to work up the overall recruitment, assessment and training plan for this project - seemed a bit late in the day to me since we not only had a plan ready, but also gifts, stands and brochures but there we are. There were at least 20 people in this room, some of whom were not altogether sure why they were there and I was the only non Emirati present although not the only woman. Once we'd had the briefing from the CEO no further action appeared to be taken, no minutes were taken and there has been no follow up. I assume once we'd had this meeting we all go off and do our separate things and never see each other again! Still there were a lot of very nice dates and I felt very honored to be included in such an august gathering, even if I didn't feel it would be appropriate for me to contribute.
The National, the main English newspaper for Abu Dhabi is very keen to talk about us (nice things, you don't get too much nasty stuff in the press round here). This is another source of amusement and frustration for me as we have a very definite 'no comment' approach. This can be partly explained by the defence nature of much of our work and partly the natural reticence of our senior managers, but even when things are in the public domain they refuse to say anything. The media were invited to the recruitment events so they were very keen to run a story about the SOC campaign - I've spent most of my career begging media to run stories relating to recruitment and now I'm having to fight them off! Despite the fact that we were actually exhibiting I was told that it was far too early to run a story in the media! This week the National ran a story about local companies working with the defence sector - and yes there are others - of course we got a large mention via our partners Raytheon, EADS and Thales but my carefully constructed words, aimed at telling people about the breadth of our work and our ambitions were given the red light. It'll be funny to go back to the opposite and remember how easy it would have been to get coverage if only I'd been allowed to!

Masdar Institute - a green university is born

2010-05-13T11:31:00.005+04:00

These pictures show the amazing building which is soon, hopefully, going to be the home of the Masdar Institute. An incredible piece of architecture (Norman Foster) and a world first in terms of sustainability and renewable energy. All being well (Insha'Allah) it will be ready when the second year of students arrive in the Autumn. What an achievement.

Al Ain Careers Fair

2010-05-11T16:31:00.002+04:00

I hope you're suitably impressed by these pictures of our spectacular booth - round here they do the best exhibtion stands I've ever seen and ours, of course, has to be the very best, thanks to Nidal with a little help from me. At 9.30 pm the night before we still had a long way to go but you can see that it all got completed in time. We even got a vist from the Sheikh who spoke to our HR Director Mr. Mubarak and he was also interviewed by the TV on the stand. Hopefully we managed to recruit some people as well but from a marketing perspective it was a triumph!

100 posts and still going!

2010-05-11T16:26:00.002+04:00

So can you believe that I've now made 100 postings to this blog? Bless you if anyone has actually read all 100. I enjoy writing about what's happening out here and even if no-one reads it I find it very therapeutic. However, it's about time there were some more pictures so here are some lovely ones of our trip to the desert, a happy foursome enjoying a glass of fizzy water (well!) on the Shuja Yacht and a view of the Arab Bank Building taking centre stage, viewed from the water which is not something I've seen before. It looks like an impressive address from most angles, but particularly from this one.

Ensuring a work/life balance

2010-05-09T15:21:00.003+04:00

Despite the hectic schedule in the working environment we do try very hard to make sure we always have some personal life to remember about our time here.
We had planned a trip to Qasr Al Sarab to take Mum and Jo to the desert so John and I went on our own and it was as lovely as ever though it's getting pretty hot now for desert trips. I do think that the rooms there are the very best I've ever stayed in - they all have fantastic views over the desert landscape and the Wadi (a dry valley where the migrating Oryx are supposed to come and drink at the watering hole though both times we've been there I guess it wasn't a migratory time of year for Oryx!) But the rooms themselves, in terms of lovely comfy beds and amazing bathrooms with walk in showers and baths the size of swimming pools just have to be experienced. The first night we ate in the buffet restaurant, which was disappointing compared with some of the buffets in Abu Dhabi but we had lunch in the little restaurant by the pool and dinner at the rooftop Suhail which are both fabulous. Due to the heat we mainly lazed in and around the huge pool which certainly beats working. If I wasn't such a workaholic with a burning desire to contribute financially and intellectually I could spend lots of days lazing by pools but it just wouldn't feel right! We went back via Liwa and Madinat Zayed and John drove to I got to see a lot more of the country though there were hardly any camels on this particular route.
Last weekend we had plenty of jobs to do in Abu Dhabi so we found ourselves at the Mall and rushing around stocking up and generally ticking off a large number of items on the 'to do' list. However, we managed to enjoy lunch on Saturday at the Japanese restaurant at the Royal Meridien with some great sushi and we tried the Italian at the Millennium on Saturday night which was great once we'd persuaded them that we'd come for Italian a la carte and not the barbecue buffet! We were finally able to use one of 'buy one main course, get one free' from the Entertainer guide that Isobel bought us for Christmas. It's a tremendous idea this book, stuffed full of these vouchers and should save loads of money. However, I manage to find it a huge responsibility and never remember to take the vouchers with me or go to restaurants which aren't included so we've now got to May and haven't saved nearly enough money yet!
This weekend we had a short break in Abu Dhabi and went to the Fairmont on Friday afternoon through till Saturday afternoon. We've eaten here before but never stayed over as they have a Marco Pierre White Steakhouse and a Frankie's Italian. John is a regular visitor to the buffet restaurant Elements and waxes lyrical so I was keen to try it. We had a lovely break - the hotel is a wonder of modern architecture and sculpture with amazing water features. The room overlooked the creek with floor to ceiling windows and a 'wet room' with huge bathtub and shower in the middle of the room as well as separate loo and washing area. After dinner on Friday at Frankie's where the food is suberb, we enjoyed Saturday morning by the pool - huge and beautifully chilled and the staff were constantly bringing cold towels, fruit juice and fruit kebabs. It was like the nicest kind of holiday hotel though really strange to look out and see GHQ and the Armed Forces Officers Club - both places I have to visit for work. Out of the other window you could see the Petroleum Institute, where John works. It feels odd to be in a holiday location with holiday weather next door to your working environment - I can't imagine ever taking a weekend break in Hale or Solihull! After this I was able to sample the Elements buffet myself and John was absolutely right about it - great sushi, prawns and crab's legs followed by curry and an array of desert. He reckons it's even better in the week when it's less crowded but I thought it was great. We headed home after this and tried to catch up on the rest of our weekend jobs but it made a great break in our own city. Essential to try these places out so we can recommend them to work visitors or for corporate events. The Fairmont is rightly popular with expats, visitors and with Emiratis as well. So we do manage to keep sampling the best of what the city has to offer, crammed in between the endless tussle with an alien working culture.
We also discovered that on this unusual general election our time zone was best placed to watch the excitement as the results came in. By getting up at 6.30am (3.30am in the UK) and with it being Friday which is a day off for us we watched the BBC all the way through. It was also a great treat to get proper BBC talking about what was happening in the UK. BBC World tries very hard to cater for a global population by not giving precedence to UK news but I wonder just how much of its audience is expats like us who hunger for news from home. However, they broadcast election special in full which was great. We'd managed to arrange for a proxy vote and my Aunty Brenda nobly fronted up in central Manchester to cast our votes (and had to queue for half an hour which is not something I've ever had to do - how amazing in the UK). I really needn't have worried as our labour man had a majority of nearly 11,000 so I suppose a couple more or less wouldn't have worried him too much. Disppointing overall for the labour party and the lib dems but encouraging to know that despite everything, the economy, Iraq and expenses scandal the Tories still couldn't command a decisive majority. We watch with interest from our expat distance which, in my case anyway, leaves me just as interested in UK politics as ever.

It's a mad world and somehow I'm living in it!

2010-04-25T17:17:00.006+04:00

On the surface of things my life has been recreated much as it was in Manchester. Everyday I get up at 6.30am, put on a business suit, drink a cup of tea and drive to the office listening to radio 2. On arrival I buzz in using my security pass, boot up my computer and check my outlook for new email and the day's activities. I meet with colleagues and subsidiary companies (who are much like clients) and rush around the city in the car attending meetings and then flying back to the office to write things up and organize activity. At the end of the day I drive home, cook supper, J prepares his signature G&T and we eat and watch TV.
But somehow I can't help feeling we're living in a parallel universe which has a semblance of normal life but where, in actual fact, anything could happen and usually does! Take the security pass as an example, on the face of it, it lets me into the office, just like the work one. But in reality it's linked to a database which is monitoring my every move, checking that I do turn up on time and don't head for home too early. I'm surprised I haven't crashed the system since I spend my entire day running between the four villas which make up head office, the design studio and our subsidiaries, who are scattered across the city. I wonder if anyone ever looks at the information but just knowing they could is a little scary!
The concept of planning no longer exists in this new world, one day I think I'm organizing collateral, gifts and presentations for a university employer day in mid May, only to find that HR have booked a further 3 events, the first of which starts in a week's time and I am suddenly expected to produce 1500 corporate, branded gift packs of varying complexity, pop up stands, full build exhibition stands, brochures, business cards, order 15kg of branded chocolates and colour themed flower arrangements and book hotels for the team! Whilst this would give any sane person heart failure, it is actually perfectly possible to achieve this because the suppliers are used to this kind of last minute request and pull out all the stops. There is also the mystery of the signing hierarchy, which suddenly changed last week and the threshold for signing by the COO or CEO was reduced from AED 100,000 to AED 30,000 - just after I'd given the supplier the go ahead for two orders worth AED 37,000 and AED 99,000 (thought I'd bucked the system there didn't I!) I had a worrying time when the purchase requests came back unsigned but with the necessary grovelling I did get the right signature before I found myself on the next flight home.
Then there's the decision making process which is completely and utterly beyond my comprehension (except that I do know now that any decision taken which is likely to have a direct bearing on my work will most definitely be taken without my involvement so that's one valuable lesson learnt!) At one of the subsidiary board meetings it was decided in the company of our senior management that the ad agency contract should be cancelled with immediate effect and that each piece of work should be put out to three agencies for quotations and design proposals. A great idea perhaps but completely unworkable from any practical perspective. I have pointed out that I currently have no fewer than 14 work in progress projects with the agency (who are a design outfit rather than a full service provider) and if every single one was quoted and delivered separately it would cost significantly more than the current arrangement and take six times as long but whether anyone listens seems unlikely. What do I know? I'm just the man running the machine and why would anyone consult him?
Last week I also found myself being given as a 'gift' to the Institute of Applied Technology by our Chairman, who is also their Chairman. They need help with their marketing and don't have the budget for an external consultant so I've been offered to them instead. Now this one I really don't mind as they actually appear to be looking for a strategic communications plan (there's that word again which I guess doesn't translate into Arabic!) and I have been able to dust off all the lovely methodology and processes that Derek and I created at work. They are also providing technological education to a new generation of Emiratis and want to build their brand and raise their profile so it's very much my kind of project. Whilst I'm really excited about working with them I would love to be given a little more time to work on it.
However, I do have a lovely new member of the team - Fatima is an Emirati lady who has managed to achieve a degree and two children at the tender age of 22 and is a real asset to the team. She works really hard and speaks great English as well as native Arabic and understands so much better than me how things work around here. So with Nidal who totally gets the whole how things work situation and knows so much more than me about corporate identity and exhibition design it's amazing quite how much we get done in this crazy alternative reality.
As long as try to see it this way I might manage to survive and possibly even achieve something (though that might be going a bit far!) However, I do wonder if my skill set isn't completely alien to this working culture. I wouldn't mind the way things seem not to happen for ages if they didn't keep popping back up again, just when you thought they'd gone away and need doing and delivering by someone in marketing by TOMORROW! Somehow the concept of Insha'Allah doesn't apply to us and I don't know why but maybe I'll find out one day and if I do I'll be sure to let you know!

Volcanic ash puts paid to long awaited visit

2010-04-18T19:41:00.003+04:00

I guess if you're reading this you'll know that a volcano erupted in Iceland putting paid to travel plans for millions. That included Mum and her friend Jo finally coming to stay with us in Abu Dhabi. We were all looking forward to this so much and we'd got two guest bedrooms and bathrooms completed kitted out and a whole range of activites line up. It was hard not to shed a few tears and for the various preparations in the apartment not to lear at me every time I walked past. Still it was pretty unprecedented and we can't be the people most put out. One of my friends has her son back from boarding school for the Easter holidays and he needs to get back to the UK for his GCSE exams and can't get back. Our business development team is trapped in Paris (it's and ill wind!) and the Babcock team couldn't get back to Abu Dhabi for their meeting so all in all we have to accept that God and nature will always be in charge!
We had booked the Shuja Yacht brunch cruise for Saturday for Mum and Jo so our neighbours, Pat and Judy, nobly took their places and we did all have a lovely time. We cruised for a couple of hours off the Corniche whilst drinking Californian bubbly and eating a seafood buffet and sublime deserts.
J and I tried to go to the beach on Friday to find most of it shut off in preparation for the Womad festival - we had a quick swim on the main beach but it was so crowded we didn't stay long. The weather has been very changeable over the last few days - a bit like April in the UK, just add 15 or 20 degrees, but we've had rain, cloud, strong wind and a drop or rise from 23 to 36 degrees and varying humidity.
April may be 'the cruellest month' anywhere in the world but they won't be 'breeding lilacs out of the dead land' around here I don't think!
Now I just have to work out what to do about the Qasr Al Sarab hotel booking for next weekend. But is anyone can get here and fancies a trip we have two perfect guest rooms and bathrooms just crying out for occupants.

Perfect wedding anniversary at the Shangri La

2010-04-18T19:12:00.006+04:00

The 14th April saw our first wedding anniversary. Considering everything that has happened since it seems like more than a year! This year has been a challenge and no mistake but being married to John has not been one of them!
We wanted to celebrate on the actual day which was probably a mistake as J had a big Exec Committee meeting on Sunday so he was naturally stressed and distracted by the preparation for such an important meeting. John had chosen the Shangri La Bord Eau French restaurant as it is pretty amazing and a special treat place and I thought we might stay over, since we stayed at the Shangri La on our very first visit and J lived in their residences for the first two months, whilst I was still in Manchester, so it always feels a bit like coming home, whenever I go there.
J was worried about getting me a card and at one stage suggested I might have to drive him to the Mall to buy one but being the star he is, he solved it without the need for the wife/driver! The day itself was pretty stressful for both of us at work so we didn't make it to the Shangri La in time to enjoy the beach, the pool or the spa. However it didn't matter, since the moment we walked in the door we were made to feel special and the relaxation began. We were met at reception with red roses and shown to a beautiful room. No sooner had we got unpacked than a guy arrived with an incredible chocolate mousse cake with Happy Anniversary iced on it. We went for dinner and were met with a complimentary kir then enjoyed a fantastic dinner - quail salad and chicken for me, lobster and wagyu beef for J washed down with a bottle of the jeffreys (Gevrais Chambertin for any readers outside the Chambers family). We ordered some home made ice cream which was delicious but a mistake as we were presented with another sumptuous cake after this. With two cakes the Masdar Institute and EAI teams enjoyed cake the next day so our popularity ratings have to have been increased!
It was a fantastic evening and my only regret was doing it on a work day as we had to get up early and miss out on the lovely breakfast buffet and the pool. Looking out from the balcony I felt like I was on holiday but had to ask the valet parking guys to bring my car and head to the office. It was just perfect. J and I spent a relaxing evening together in what has to be the loveliest hotel in Abu Dhabi in a fabulous room with all the trimmings.
I don't think any day could really beat 14th April 2009 when J and I got married with all of our close family and friends around us, it was the most wonderful day, but the Shangri La had a pretty good go at making our first anniversary a close second.

Back in Abu Dhabi and back to work

2010-04-11T11:26:00.005+04:00

So back to Abu Dhabi and back to work after a lovely break. Plenty of interesting things to do at work though the pile of 'work in progress' sitting on my desk gets bigger and bigger with so little of it signed off or completed that it does tend to get rather frustrating! I still have to work out just how to get things done though I'm not sure there's an easy answer. However, when something really does need to be done it's always in a panic and a terrible rush with lots of shouting and everyone screaming so you know then that it needs doing.
I had to supply some logos for the an event that our Chairman had decided to sponsor - a simple enough task you might think, but one was for an external organization and the other two needed to be in a very specific format. The organizers didn't respond to my requests for information on file size, deadline or destinations so I was slowly dealing with the task along with other things when all hell broke loose with people screaming for these logos from all directions! I couldn't get them on the email so in the end in desperation I jumped in the car and went and fetched them on a disc - mainly just to get away from people shouting for them by phone and email. It was all very exciting! This is the same with everything where no-one gives any feedback on anything until it is needed NOW!
However, I did have a really good time the week before last where I ran a marketing planning workshop with the senior management team from one of the subsidiaries (I know it's only taken 3 months to do one of the things which I thought was crucial to the job description!)It seemed to go well and I think people were pleased with the outcomes report though we still don't have a date for the follow up operational planning meeting (hopefully not another 3 months!) I have also been working on a sales presentation for one of our joint ventures - with the UK Facilities Management company Babcock, which has been a pleasure.
I have so many projects 'on hold' for HR comms that I risk being buried should the files ever fall over. I had to contact all the venues who had provided proposals for our senior team event and staff family day to put the dates on hold, as I couldn't ask them to hold 50 rooms indefinitely. It clearly happens all the time since no-one seemed remotely upset even though I felt like a real heel.
I think I made some progress with the advertising agency contract for one of our subsidiaries - the agency had been working for them since September without being paid due to a major discrepancy on the contract, what a nightmare! However, I am assured that some initial invoices have been passed for payment and that all parties are happy with the new contract which I've designed even though nothing has been signed and no money has changed hands!
I actually met our elusive chairman last week which has been a long time coming. He is certainly as charismatic and impressive as everyone says and he makes you feel as though he's genuinely interested in what you have to say. I managed nearly an hour, which is pretty amazing. However, he did spend a lot of time talking about what he thought John should do - he is a trustee of Khalifa University, an Engineer and Chair of the IAT (Institute of Applied Technologies) so he has a keen interest in scientific and technical education. I'm delighted that he has linked the two of us and clearly marketing to young people about education and careers is also my bag but with no time to prepare I'm not sure that I managed to get the right things across. Still it was wonderful to meet him at last - even if it did result in a day of logo wild goose chase!

The rest of the UK trip

2010-04-07T14:53:00.005+04:00

After all the excitement of John's party and the relief that it had gone well I was able to fully relax and enjoy the rest of our trip to the UK. On Tuesday I had to go to the final Investors in People board meeting since, now that it is being taken over by the UK Council for Education and Skills it will no longer be a Non Departmental Public Body which means it has no need of Board Members like myself. It was really sad to say goodbye to fellow board members and IIP staff who I have been working with for over 4 years. Many staff are not transferring to UKCES though some have taken the opportunity to go and do something completely different - Gary is going to do a Masters and train to be a social worker so I can't think of a more worthwhile thing to do in a redundancy situation. I'm sure the standard will live on, it is the only public sector super brand after all, but it won't feel the same without its own special company and a group of people who were so very passionate about it. Some of the board members still have a lot of work to do to ensure that everything gets transferred properly but I haven't been involved in this with being so far away so it was the last time for me. I hope I will have the chance to make a similar contribution in the future though whilst I'm in Abu Dhabi I'm not really in the best position to offer my skills right now.
John also spent time carrying out his 'civic' duties by chairing and attending meetings at the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Chemical Engineers so we made the best contributions we could to the UK in the short time we were there.
I was able to call in at the London office of Wordsearch and thank the team personally who had made such a lovely job of designing and producing John's book.
We treated ourselves to a lovely dinner at the OXO tower before leaving London and enjoyed a fabulous meal with the great view of the London skyline. The only beef I have with this place is the tables are just a little bit close together so you tend to find out rather more about your neighbours than you really want to! We had an air stewardess on a first date and a couple who preferred to go home rather than spend the night together because they couldn't sleep. Pretty intimate stuff which made me very cautious about what we were talking about!
We headed to Manchester on the Wednesday where we managed to get various crucial jobs done and visited my aunty Brenda and persuaded her to act as our proxy vote for the upcoming general election. We bought a super new HP notebook to replace the Dell, killed by a virus so we have all the necessary connections at home and I can hopefully start loading some new tracks onto the iPod again. We enjoyed several wonderful meals out - lunch at The Bull near Skipton with Mum, Selfridges and Cafe Rouge on top of the two Pizza Expresses last week so we fitted in all the old favourites. It's one of the thing we miss in Abu Dhabi is being able to wander out for a relatively inexpensive lunch with a nice glass of wine! We also went back to Rosso (I know it's the wrong team but as an Italian restaurant it's lovely!) When someone from Man City opens a restaurant in town I promise to go there as well. We walked in and found half of the old recruitment advertising sorority having dinner so it was good to say hello - though John pointed out that none of us could really be described as 'girls' any more. But then I've know Michelle, Nicola and some of the others for at least 20 years so we were girls once!
Sunday we had to head back to Abu Dhabi and I'm afraid it was with a bit of heavy heart as we'd had such a lovely time in the UK. The Manchester apartment is pretty small compared with Abu Dhabi but it's still lovely and the weather wasn't too cold. Whilst we are there spring arrived and the flowers on the Princess Parkway changed from crocuses to daffodils in less than a week.
I know they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder but I think I was always pretty fond of Manchester and loved living in our apartment in the city. However, we enjoyed a lovely business class flight back with all the trimmings so it gave us a suitable send off for the end of the holiday and once back we soon got into the swing of things. For a little while we have to get used to living in two places at once and feeling torn between two lives and they do say that things get easier as you get used to it!

John's surprise party

2010-04-01T16:07:00.004+04:00

Proof in pictures of my ability to get a group of Chemical Engineers together in one place! I think the look on John's face adequately demonstrates quite how big a surprise it all was! My skills didn't run to a panoramic group shot but I got everyone into two! Liz and Keith look through the book with John and everyone seems to be having a good time.

John's surprise party

2010-03-31T16:36:00.003+04:00

The main event for John's birthday was a surprise party which I'd been arranging by email for months! This has taken up a good deal of time and energy and lots of great support from our friend Alison Clarke and John's Manchester PA, Sue Neesham, who helped me to find a venue, create a guest list and track down endless email addresses and contacts. Readers of the blog will be unaware of all the preparation as, since John also reads the blog, I've been unable to talk about it!
We held the event at Imperial College, London and about 30 of John's former colleagues and friends were able to join us for canapes, drinks and speeches from David Bogle, one of John's early PhD students, Stratos, a long standing colleague and friend from Imperial and Lord Ron Oxburgh, former Rector at Imperial. Those who couldn't attend were able to send John messages, as, with a great deal of help from my good friends at Wordsearch (huge thanks to Katie, Kelly and Sandra) I managed to create a book, full of lovely words about John over the years, coupled with some compromisingly photos of his life!
We managed to keep the whole event a surprise. John thought we were going for dinner with Alison and David and that David had to drop some papers off at Imperial. I was sure he'd got wind of it but he claims he had no idea until he actually walked into the room and found it full of so many people he knew! It was a great event and a fairly august gathering with several Sirs, a Lord and the government's chief scientific advisor. I hope it made John feel special and realise how highly he is regarded by so many great people. I think it can be very hard in a new place, having to build a reputation from scratch after so many years - I know I feel like that myself. Anyway we had a great time and a lovely dinner afterwards with Alison and David, Liz and Keith Guy and Phil and Jane Ruffles and I was so relieved to have pulled it off and kept the surprise going for all that time!

Celebrations for John's 60th

2010-03-31T16:23:00.002+04:00

We spent John's actual birthday back at Luton Hoo, where we had our wedding. I think it has to be one of my most favourite places in the whole world and naturally it has such happy and romantic associations that I can't help but love being there. They made a tremendous fuss of us, Marje, the wedding organizer came out to great us and they brought us champagne to have with our sandwiches when we arrived and upgraded our room. Everyone kept wishing us a happy anniversary so we gave up explaining that it was still a month away and this was actually John's birthday. We stayed in a room we'd been in before, when we were organizing the wedding which has a beautiful view of the formal garden and a bathroom bigger than most people's living rooms. After a wonderful birthday supper, a good night's rest and a session in the pool and spa we headed to Rachel and Andrew's to be reunited with my side of the family and enjoy a curry and a catch up. We also had to admire Kirsty, who had been subjected to a professional grooming session from a lady who made her stand in a cage in the kitchen. Mum had been holding her nose to ensure there were no stray nips when combing the tricky bits and she looked very fetching!
Saturday morning we set off for Leysdown where we picked up Isobel and then made for the Hotel du Vin in Tunbridge Wells where mum joined us for another birthday celebration. Hotel du Vin is always a bit quirky but fun too and the food is great so we all had a nice dinner, a huge breakfast and a few celebratory glasses. Our trips to the UK always seem to involve huge amounts of delicious food and drink and I return to Abu Dhabi with a distinctly tight feeling in the clothing department and need to go back to the cereal bar and fruit regime to ensure that I don't have to repair too many zips and replace too many buttons!

Tooth ache and preparation for UK trip

2010-03-31T15:52:00.003+04:00

The last weekend before our UK trip should have been a nice wind down with J back from his overseas trips and everything coming together. We had a lovely evening on the Friday when Helen and John came round for a meal and I was able to return some of their hospitality. Then on Saturday we had a lovely trip to the beach, had lunch watching the end of the Abu Dhabi Triathlon and a good swim - all strange to think that we would soon be back in the UK in March and not the kind of weather for beaches or sea swimming. However, during the course of the day my mouth started to hurt and by Sunday morning my face had swelled up and I was in serious agony.
You've got to hand it to the health service round here - I got a Dr's appointment for lunchtime and once she'd decided it was definitely tooth related she sent me straight down to see a dentist in the same hospital who I was able to see with just 20 minutes waiting. The dentist sent me straight for a pain killing injection (in a slightly embarassing place but it was well worth the indigity) and gave me a presciption for two kinds of anitbiotics and an appointment to return the next morning. X-rays were done in the same hospital on the spot and linked back to the dentist surgery via computer. Surprisingly the dentists were most complimentary of the UK dentist's root canal work and could find no reason for the huge abscess which had formed deep in the root so decided to do nothing but let the anti biotics deal with the infection. So far it has fixed it so I'm keeping everything crossed that I don't have to go back for a replacement root canal but I know I'll be in good hands if I do have to. This was all covered, bar 20%, by our health insurance which was even better. The main downside was a pretty severe reaction to one set of anti biotics which left me suffering a bit for several days and an embarrassing throwing up episode outside the business class check in but great faith in the Abu Dhabi health system.
In the middle of all of this I was also trying to get everything tidied up in order to be away for a bit but fortunately I can rely on Nidal to pick things up and she took over my 'to do' list very efficiently. I spent the last day redoing one of the ad agency contracts for one of the subsidiaries and at last felt like I had been able to make a useful contribution.
We headed for Manchester on the flight which leaves Abu Dhabi in the wee small hours which is a little painful, but despite my infirmities I managed to force down the obligatory glass of pre take off champagne - purely medicinal of course!

The ups and downs of life!

2010-03-11T15:26:00.003+04:00

This week has been an interesting one with plenty of ups and plenty of matching downs! I just can't get the hang of how things get done around here and I think expecting people to be able to do things when you think they need doing is almost impossible and I should work much harder on achieving a zen like state. Me and zen are not things which go naturally together though as I tend to be more of a rushing around sort of a person.
Nidal has been off ill so I've really had to learn a bit more about getting the basic things done. John was less than impressed when a pop up exhibition stand arrived in our living room late last night and the two guys then proceeding to demonstrate to me how to erect it! However, they couldn't bring it to the college where we were exhibiting at any of the right times so it seemed like the only solution. John helped me to put it in the car and there were endless helpful guys at the other end who trundled it into position and helped me to put it up. It didn't help that in the rush last night one of the guys broke off a crucial plastic clip so I was forced to hold one of the panels on with a wodge of blu tack - I think it looked alright but it wasn't the best. I then had a hissy fit because the lady in HR had not sent the driver on time with the brochures though he did manage to arrive before the students started coming through. I was also able to admire the Masdar Institute stands and collateral that I helped to produce before Christmas when I was working with Wordsearch. I know I'm biased but I thought the looked great!
Excellent news in that I finally managed to find photos that my boss was happy with for his calendars and he's signed them off. OK so you might think March was a bit late for reprinting calendars but who am I to say! If anyone would like 500 2010 calendars I'd be willing to accept a fair price. He also liked the new format of my weekly report with a combination of Power Point and Excel so maybe I'm making progress.
I went down to the exhibition centre to talk to the people who organize the big defense show, IDEX. It's not taking place till next February but there already seems to be a lot of activity going on though I've no doubt that most of it will come together at the last minute as usual! We should have an amazing stand and we are presently talking about having a tank with scuba divers included and people abseiling down the new citygate tower next to the exhibition centre. It would be a great way of raising awareness for our training but perhaps a little on the ambitious side.
I've also been working on the design and venue for a possible management weekend conference and for once this resulted in a perk in that one of the hotels offered my a complimentary overnight stay. I thought that might give us a perfect little break if we went back out to Qasr Al Sarab on Friday night but as it turns out they are full this weekend so I'm going to use it when we go out there in April with Mum and Jo.
I also managed to scratch the car which I'm pretty fed up about. My own carelessness of not noticing that someone had knocked the metal stand at the entrance to our parking where you enter your card. Consequently I swung in at my usual angle and hit it. It's only a scratch but apparently before I can get a little guy to repaint it I still have to get a police report from a particular police station somewhere on the island. They must have a busy time with the amount of car scraping that goes on round here and my lovely Jeep is now less than perfect.
A talent search chap from an American company working out here called me, having found me on linked in, about a marketing role he's looking to fill and I've made it onto the shortlist. Whether it comes to anything or if I even think a move will be better I don't know but it's good for the confidence levels and general feeling good about myself which are pretty low at the moment.
Still it looks like I'm still quite marketable even after the struggle of trying to make some progress at EAI.

Still plugging away

2010-03-11T14:56:00.004+04:00

John came back from Korea on Saturday morning and we enjoyed a lazy day to help him recuperate before the trip to Dresden. That must have been quite a shock after Abu Dhabi as it was minus six and snowing but luckily he remembered to go back for his coat! They'd managed quite a punishing schedule crammed into one day with factory visits, workshops, dinner and even a trip to see 'The Magic Flute' at Dresden opera. He was also able to enjoy the Chateau Batailly and desert wine served in Etihad business class but it was still pretty tiring. I guess because everyone travels so much then no-one makes allowances and he came back to a huge Masdar Institute meeting (over 80 slides no less) and a very late finish and today involves a visit from the Australian ambassador and a Japanese delegation so no rest for the wicked!
I was well looked after once again by my lovely friends. On Sunday night I went to the races for a charity barbecue night with Angela and Kyeong which was super. As gambling is prohibited it did seem a bit strange watching the horses running round but without the shouting that comes with having a pound each way with the bookies! The food and company were great and I won a manicure in the raffle. A great prize as most of the others seem to involve waxing or other forms of hair removal! Monday night I was once again invited to Helen and John's next door and we enjoyed a meal together. They take great care of me. I went running with Helen at 6am on two mornings which was lovely. It's reasonably cool at that time and certainly sets you up for the day though actually getting out of bed at that time is painful. It spurred me on and I went out after work yesterday and I'm determined to keep it up this time.
John made it back from Dresden though he was pretty tired and with the traumas of yesterday we haven't yet had much time to talk about the usual ups and downs of my week but I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend in Abu Dhabi and the weather looks set fine for the beach which it certainly wasn't last weekend!

The Hajar Mountains

2010-03-05T17:40:00.003+04:00

Up in the tallest mountains in the UAE on a road that will one day take tour buses but is still more challenging. Pretty brooding in this week's weather and definitely not to be messed with. Brian is working really hard to dissuade people in RAK from creating chemical snow for the top of the mountain!

Ras Al Khaimah - a whole new experience

2010-03-05T16:52:00.002+04:00

On Tuesday night, after the photo shoot I drove up to Ras Al Khaimah, the most northerly of the Emirates and close to the border with Oman. Everyone was full of dire warnings about adverse weather but the rain had cleared and it was a beautiful evening, the forecast was good and anyway, I lived in Manchester so I'm used to rain! It was the after effects of the rain which caused the problem as the 311, the main motorway North was closed after Dubai due to flooding. They literally just closed the road and diverted all traffic off it. There were no diversion signs, I don't have a map or sat nav and I'd never been in this area before. I kept trying to tell myself what an adventure this was but all I really felt was panic and a strong desire to go home. I ploughed on, trying to head in the right direction following intermittent signs and the car's compass. I ended up in grid locked traffic on the Sharjah ring road, which was also seriously flooded, though luckily the Jeep is high enough to cope with it but there were flooded out cars all around. After 3 hours and a trip round an industrial estate I finally found myself back on the right road and heading for RAK at a good speed. However, when I got off the motorway at the right junction it was pitch dark and the road under the motorway was just a huge lake. I took a deep breath and headed through it safely. However, on the other side the sand and stones had washed across the road and you couldn't see what was road and what was desert! I pulled over and a good samaritan stopped to see if he could help. He looked at my map and then said to follow him. He drove all the way back down the hill till we got to the hotel so that he could be sure I knew where he was going. I wished I had more words in Arabic to express my thanks for such a kind hearted gesture. It had taken me 5 1/2 hours to do 230km.
The hotel was literally brand new and the staff, though inexperienced, were falling over themselves to look after me. What's more the hotel had a mini bar and I have never been so grateful for a G&T in my life, even without the Perkins hand to make it and no ice or lemon! There was no room service menu yet but a kind chap came up with one and took my order for a sandwich and I felt huge relief and, once it was all over, could enjoy my ability to fight against the odds and have an adventure!
In the morning I opened the curtains to find the hotel was in the middle of an industrial zone and, as it was cloudy and windy, with lots of sand in the air, it did resemble a Blade Runner type set. Since part of the reason for my visit was to discuss with Al Shaheen their invitation by RAK tourism to help promote the Emirate I wondered how easy that would be. But then years ago I had to promote Middlesbrough so I'm used to that kind of marketing challenge!
The Manager of the Acacia actually came and introduced himself at breakfast and asked after my stay so they certainly do hospitality very well in RAK.
Brian, the Director of Al Shaheen Adventure training came to pick me up and we went off to visit their facility. They provide outward bound/adventure training, primarily for the UAE military and are about to build a beautiful new facility which will allow them to promote their offer to a much broader clientele. As mentioned before they are also talking to RAK tourism about promoting the Emirate as a tourist destination for adventurous and outdoor pursuits as they are on the edge of the Hajar Mountains and have a beautiful Gulf Coast line and some pretty nice desert. All fascinating things from a marketing and communications perspective.
Brian showed me round and I met the team and watched some students experiencing diving for the first time and we talked about the future and the new centre. Then we headed off into the mountains to see a group doing some rock climbing. This group are from the Vocational Institute, which is basically where they send the real no hopers, people with learning difficulties or just plain naughty, who have not been able to cope with the conventional education system. It was wonderful to watch these kids, who've been told all their lives that they'd never amount to anything and that they didn't have much of a future, and see the smiles on their faces as they came off the rock face. We talked to them with the help of one of the interpreters and it was clear that for many of them it was just the best thing they'd ever done. Afew days with Al Shaheen, working in groups and learning to rock climb, dive, mountain bike and see how much they could actually do must be a life changing experience for some of them. I was awestruck.
Brian then decided to show me just how amazing the mountains are, and with another of his colleagues he headed up a road which is still under construction up the mountain. He clearly knew the road and how to handle his SUV but I must admit to being more than a little scared as we climbed higher and higher on a rough track and hair pin bends, especially with the visible signs of recent rock falls due to the weather! However the views were amazing and we survived the experience unscathed.
We headed back to town and had a good look round. There is lots of work going on to create hotels, beautiful residential developments and leisure facilities around the creek in the centre of town. They even had a brand new Mall with a very new Spinney's and a Cafe Nero (which sadly we don't seem to have in Abu Dhabi yet).
There is a lot to do - so many parts of town are not yet developed and the property collapse has even hit out in RAK. The original settlement of the most beautiful old cottages with original wind towers is crumbling away and you have to dodge the goats and chickens on the road, even in the middle of town but you can certainly see that it has potential.
I headed back to Abu Dhabi through some lovely desert countryside which had a green fuzz over it brought on by the rain which has brought the camels out to graze. It looked idyllic. Despite missing the alternative road which Brian had suggested and the traffic on the National Paints flyover (always mentioned on the traffic news on Radio 2 and now I know why!) I made it back to Abu Dhabi in under 3 hours and the worst of it was coming from the Sheikh Zayed bridge onto the Corniche as someone seemed to have been messing around with the traffic light phasing.
My trip to RAK was certainly an adventure but I am looking forward to going again though I will pay more attention to the weather forecase in future!

Foreign trips for John

2010-03-05T16:24:00.002+04:00

John is certainly earning his salary at present. Last week he had a team of assessors in looking at their Master's courses. Remembering the old days with Daddy and the CNAA visitations I think I was even more bothered about it than John - though he doesn't tend to make as much fuss about things as I do! I think it all went well though John managed to miss the final feedback meeting because no-one had told him the time had changed - only in Abu Dhabi!
This week he went off to Korea for with colleagues from the Institute and Masdar Corporate for a conference and visits to several Korean Universities. This also seems to have gone very well though long days and lots of meetings. He nearly didn't get there as there were pretty severe storms on the night he was going up to Dubai to catch his flight. However, it was the fact that the travel agent had got his phone number wrong that actually meant he came close to missing his plane. The Emirates chauffeur couldn't reach him and went away. I thought I might have to do a midnight dash to Dubai but we managed to reach the chauffeur and get him back. The lack of attention to detail here drives me mad and I really need to be more relaxed about it.
He comes back for one day on Saturday and then Sunday is back on a plane to go to a meeting in Dresden with one of the partner organizations who they have a joint venture course with. Not ideal in terms of time zones, too much travel and getting any work done back in the office but then no-one every said that life was supposed to be easy!
I have been well looked after whilst he's been away. I went out of a drink with my friend Liz on Wednesday and we had a lovely evening and a good long chat and put the world to rights. She's an expat and Abu Dhabi old hand so she's always full of great advice as well as being great company and enormous fun. Last night I had two invitation and went next door for a lovely dinner with Helen and John. One of their other guests works for one of our subsidiary companies - the secret one that I've never been allowed to talk to so that was really interesting - and we had a lovely evening. Nidal also called to ask me if I'd like to go out with her and her friends and she has extended an invite for tonight as well. This is so lovely of her, especially as she's about 20 years younger than me so dragging an old fogey along on a night out might be a bit daunting for the young, beautiful crowd that she must hang out with.
I still find it very difficult being on my own in Abu Dhabi, which is daft with so much to do and so many kind friends offering to entertain me. Naturally I miss John but just how much I hate being on my own is unreasonable. Hopefully I'll get better at it over time. Especially if work continues to crank up and keep me engaged. Still I shall be very relieved when John comes back from Dresden. It's only a week then till our trip back to the UK for John's birthday which we are both very much looking forward to - especially now my boss has finally signed my holiday form!

Turning the corner at work?

2010-03-05T16:06:00.005+04:00

This week I hope I might be turning the corner and that it isn't just another up in the series of ups and downs.
On Tuesday Nidal and I organized a photoshoot which went down really well with everyone. It's really hard getting library pictures here as Emirati women are not happy to be photographed and there just aren't enough different shots to use. We also wanted to start using pictures of our own staff rather than models. It was hard work getting the necessary approval but I managed it and we had a whole day of photography. As well as portrait and team shots we also did endless role play of meetings, interviews, hand shaking and business type scenarios. Everyone was completely brilliant, gave up their time and played along and seemed to really enjoy things. Some Arabic female colleagues agreed to dress up in Abayas and Shaylas and we had a really good mix of western and local people in the shots. We were slightly hampered by the weather - it threw it down most of the morning which meant outdoor shots were impossible and we couldn't move easily between villas. In Manchester I would have worked through the necessary risk analyis relating to weather but in Abu Dhabi it never crossed my mind that it would rain!
The rain caused me more serious problems later on in the day when I had to drive to Ras Al Khaimah but more of that later!
Anyway the photo shoot seems to have raised the profile of marketing and given us some much needed allies.
I had a better meeting with my boss - I'm making some progress with the format of my reports and apparently the Chairman and CEO has expressed a desire to have a meeting with me!
I'm getting busier and busier as more people from round the group start to ask for marketing help and a little bit of it is quite strategic!
Still got the same issues with the smaller stuff which seems to cause most problems though. Despite the fact that it's now March I am still trying to find photos which my boss will like for his calendar. I may have mentioned before that it was my responsibility to check the dates were correct on the calendar and having checked them (just one missing October 31st!),like an idiot, I signed it. Apparently he hadn't agreed the designs so thousands of calendars have been printed and he wants them to redone. I was under the impression he'd approved it since it was all done before I came but apparently not! I seem to have spent a great deal of time looking at photos and trying to pick ones that he might like - I'm on about version three and it might be easier to change the dates to 2011. I think I've recovered from this major faux pas but it could take a while.
I've been interviewing for graphic designers for my in house role and have seen a couple of really great ones though I know they would prefer an Emirati. However, there are very few with the right level of experience so my plan is to take trainees and to build talent amongst locals that way. So far the most talented designers and creative people seem to be Lebanese which is interesting. Lebanon has had such a hard time in the past that it has clearly helped to hone generations of creative thinkers to compensate.
Still I really do think that I am finding some kind of way and that people can see the value add better. I got told to stop running on Thursday - no-one runs around in the office here - and be calm. Now if I'm running then it must be more like the old Jenny who has always worked at a million miles an hour!

Another load of ups and downs

2010-03-05T15:52:00.004+04:00

It's been a little while since the last blog. Partly last week was such a challenge with too many yucky things happening and I had my confidence knocked as a writer by not getting shortlisted for the National short story competition or making it into the Time Out "blogs to watch" column. Perhaps I'm not really cut out to be a writer!
Last week work seemed to be very difficult indeed. Sometimes I feel very invisible in a company who don't really see marketing and communications as important and my meetings with my boss seem to focus mainly on the format for my weekly report rather than the content of it. Because I get very little time with him I try to give him an overview of what I'm doing but I'm afraid that results in him thinking I'm not doing anything!
I got stopped by the police for entering a parking area the wrong way and got 4 black points on my licence and a 200 AED fine. My dear colleague, Nidal, who was with me and speaks Arabic tried valiantly to get me off for being new and British, so not being used to what side of the road to drive on, but to no avail. When I went onto the web site to pay the fine I found I had another 500 AED of fines for speeding though no points. They don't give you much information about the fine so I'm mystified as to how I could have been speeding as I still a bit nervous and tend to drive at snail's pace. Two were in Dubai though so it must have been a sudden speed change which everyone ignores.
Then on Friday I discovered that my on line banking had been hacked by criminals and my entire life savings had been withdrawn through fraud. HSBC were brilliant and have sorted it all out but it made me feel very wobbly to have everything taken away. I couldn't pay my UK credit card bill due to lack of funds and would have been really stuck if I was actually in the UK needing money. It turns out that the lady from the fraud unit who sorted it all out when to Bradford Girls Grammar School at the same time as me, though I didn't know her as she was a bit older - it's a small world!
We didn't do much at the weekend as it was the Prophet's birthday and one of the Royal family died so everywhere was very quiet and of course, dry. Normally the Prophet's birthday would be a holiday, but, as it was a Friday anyway we didn't get a day off. The weather turned very windy so we couldn't go to the beach and mooched about at home and at the Mall. Still it was nice to relax and, as John was off to Korea in the week it was good to chill out together. He then discovered that he would only be back from Korea for one day before having to go to Dresden for three days which was a bit of a shame. Hard for him to have to do so much travelling and cope with so many time zones and hard for me as I still find it difficult being here on my own for too long. I really need to get better at being on my own.
We went out on Saturday night to Frankie's, the new Italian at the Fairmont which was lovely. There was quite a storm and the lights kept going out but we managed to have a super dinner all the same!

Making the most of it

2010-02-21T17:08:00.004+04:00

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!

Pictures of Abu Dhabi from a new perspective

2010-02-14T16:38:00.003+04:00

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

2010-02-14T16:25:00.004+04:00

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!

EAI Awareness raising

2010-02-14T16:08:00.002+04:00

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!

A roller coaster ride

2010-02-11T14:54:00.003+04:00

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!

Still far too British

2010-02-10T10:07:00.000+04:00

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.

A short apology

2010-02-10T09:37:00.000+04:00

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!

Palace of Mirages (Qasr Al Sarab)

2010-01-31T16:59:00.000+04:00

The pictures can't really do justice to how beautiful and restful this place is but here we are enjoying the desert and having a wonderful weekend.

An amazing weekend in the desert

2010-01-31T16:39:00.000+04:00

On Thursday after work we took the trip out into the desert to Qasr Al Sarab (Palace of Mirages). This is a new desert resort which only opened in the Autumn but looked amazing and a great way to experience the desert in luxury. I bought the trip as a surprise Christmas present for John as I knew he'd be ready for a break after the rigours of the WFES.
Once we'd got off the main road we just headed for 150km into nowhere on one long straight road. Gradually the sand started to look more picturesque and less like dust and John saw some camels over in the distance. We saw several camels riding happily in the back of trucks on the way out of Abu Dhabi, heading for the camel beauty contest at the Al Dhafra Festival. Criteria for a beauty in camel terms involves having good teeth, pointy ears and uniformity of hump in case you were wondering!
The last 12km was amazing - a vaguely metalled track through the desert, off even the main road and up and down a range of dunes. It was very exciting and I was very happy to be in the Jeep and not the BMW. We arrived after what seemed to me behing the wheel, an epic journey, but was in fact just over 2 hours from Abu Dhabi.
We had a beautiful room, with a bath big enough for about 5 people as well as a walk in shower, a huge bed and a picture window overlooking the biggest sand dune and valley. But most amazing was the outside terrace which was as big as the room with all kinds of different seating arrangements and great views. It was so calm and peaceful after the city and so lovely to look at. Time seemed to stand still, though sadly it did get to be time to come home long before we were ready.
We ate in the rooftop restaurant, though inside on the first night, as it was a bit windy. On the second night we were able to eat outside, listening to the silence and the lights twinkling in the dark - it's a bit like being on the edge of a very calm sea, being so close to the desert. The food was magnificent and we enjoyed some delicious Rhone wine.
After a long walk round the hotel, which is really a small village with Center Parc type villas, with their own little pools as well as the balcony and terrace rooms, and a climb up one of the smaller dunes, we settled ourselves around the pool. The water was lovely and warm and even hot in the jacuzzi. It was warm enough to sit in the sun and we had a lovely chill out. Later on I joined the people heading up the largest dune to watch the sun set - amazing to see nothing but desert for miles around. Climbing the dune was hard work but worth the effort and it felt great to run back down in bare feet.
I am going to bring all visitors to Abu Dhabi out here to see this for themselves - imagine having this on your doorstep?! However, unlike the lake district, which is a similar distance for a weekend break from Manchester, I would never tire of the view from Bramrigg House, but I think the sand would start to get a bit wearing if you had to look at it every day!
Anyway we headed back to the city on Saturday, fired up for another week at work. We were excited by the news that Mum and her friend Jo are planning a trip to Abu Dhabi which fired us up to go and look for some more furniture for the apartment. I rather ran out of steam after I'd got most things sorted so the time feels right for a few more furniture shops. We didn't find anything but I am sure we will when we are not so spaced out by our amazing trip to the desert.

WFES in pictures

2010-01-31T16:32:00.000+04:00

Here are some pictures of the exhibition at the WFES - Masdar Institute's stand - featuring Hamza and Matteo as John was too busy with VIPs to be around for a photo when I was there I'm afraid. However, it does look amazing with all the experiments and videos going on. Also a picture of the Wordsearch team with their much smaller, but still beautifully done, stand and one of the prize giving for the Zayed Future Energy Prize.

Finding the path through the trees at last

2010-01-28T08:32:00.000+04:00

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.

World Future Energy Summit Part Two!

2010-01-21T15:23:00.000+04:00

John has certainly been meeting the great and the good of the world where future energy is concerned. I think he has had meetings during the summit with the Presidents of Greece, the Maldives and Estonia as well as the Crown Prince of Denmark and Prince Albert of Monaco. He finally met the UAE Crown Prince who made at least two visits to the actual summit and came along to talk to the Young Future Energy Leaders which is a complementary program run by the Masdar Institute. There were probably many more but it got a little bit hard to keep up at the week has progressed! He has also been giving presentations and speeches, though I think tomorrow is the big one, when he presents to the UN Climate Change Committee at the Emirates Palace. I had hoped he would get at least one day off before going back to the reality of daily work but he has also been asked to sit on a committee looking at the overall future of education in Abu Dhabi and guess what? They suddenly decided that the committee should meet - all day Saturday. I can't imagine that happening at quite such short notice in the UK! The expectation round here is definitely that the expats are here to work, not to experience the Emiratis lifestyle. Not just John, but most of our friends, seem to work with great frequency at weekends, late nights, early mornings and undertake lots of travel. The slower pace people talk about and the importance of family life is not one the expat community can really join in with. I am assured that it will be the same for me once I get my feet properly under the table and into the many tasks ahead.
We did have a very enjoyable treat as part of WFES though. Last night we went out for dinner with one of the speakers, Nigel Brandon from Imperial, who is a former colleague of John's. We had a lovely evening with him and his wife Jan and took them to Al Fanar, the revolving restaurant at the top of the Royal Meridien, so that they could see Abu Dhabi by night. It has to be the best view in the city. I've only been in the summer when it isn't nearly as clear. It was a slightly unfortunate choice of venue on my part though, as it turned out there was a dinner going on at the hotel which John should have received an invite to but somehow didn't so we met a lot of his colleagues and I think the organisers were a little embarrassed! Database management and planning is not really top of the agenda in the UAE though I'm working on it from my small part. Even more nightmare planning as it turned out I'd erred on the side of caution and booked the restaurant too early (over a week ago). Clearly no-one does this and they didn't have my booking on the computer and my phone doesn't keep text messages for long so I couldn't even show them the confirmation. Luckily they were far from full so after a wobbly few minutes we did get let in. We also had to walk as the summit had clearly used up all the available cabs and although I rang at 6 I was told to call back at 7 and when I did that there were surprisingly none available! John had nobly given his driver the night off as he has been doing a lot of running around. However, it was a lovely evening so apart from slightly eccentric hair (on my part) we got there on time and in one piece!
I expect they'll be a part three on WFES and there are certainly some photos to add when I get the use of John's laptop over the weekend so don't go away if you're interested in this amazing event and its impact on our lives!

World Future Energy Summit Abu Dhabi

2010-01-20T15:53:00.000+04:00

This week the event that everyone has been preparing for and anticipating for so long finally arrived and its certainly been a manic week for John. A chance to showcase his work and the Masdar Institute to the world. It was due to start for us on Saturday with a vist to the exhibition to see what the stand would look like but, like all these things the world over it wasn't ready on Saturday! So after we'd hung around waiting for most of the day we realised that we did have some time to ourselves and went out for a lovely stroll in the sunshine along the Corniche.
Sunday morning John had a breakfast meeting so we got up especially early (despite the fact that we have four bathrooms we just share the one and manage our mornings around it!) And I was in excellent time for work. Somehow John's driver didn't know about the early start so we needn't have rushed and poor John had to start off this stressful week by standing on the street. After this meeting he went to lead the press conference at the Emirates Palace to launch the Boeing Biofuels project. Over 100 journalists were present and it certainly made all the papers (National, Gulf News, Khaleej Times) and the radio over here. I'll try and create some links as there was also a supplement in The National featuring a photo of John in front of the new campus wearing the obligatory hard hat!
I went down to look at the exhibition on Monday morning and admire the Masdar and Masdar Institute stands which were huge and very impressive. MI had created mini labs in the back of the stand where they were demonstrating live work and ongoing research which really added to the usual displays. They also had a big part of the Masdar main stand with videos of John talking about the project. I didn't have the right level of VIP access to attend the opening ceremony so amused myself by taking a good look at the rest of the exhibitors and talking to John's people, who are all so very passionate and enthusiastic about their Institute its wonderful to talk to them. I was also able to admire the Wordsearch stand - rather smaller than Masdar but still perfect and talk to my friends there. They were hoping for a name check by Ed Milliband about UK companies setting up successfully in Abu Dhabi but I never got to see Ed so I don't know if it happened!
John went to a big do at the British Embassy in the evening and I was very sore about not getting an invite, especially when he finally arrived back just before midnight and told me about so many of my Abu Dhabi friends who were there! I must work harder to get myself known as a Brit working in Abu Dhabi and stop being an invisible wife!
Tuesday was the Zayed Future Energy prize giving ceremony and thanks to John's PA, who nobly gave me her ticket I was able to go along. Not such a jolly do as the Embassy but infinitely better for my soul and to get to the heart of what Future Energy is all about. Being Brits we were told to turn up at 7pm and so arrived at 6.45pm to avoid being late but of course it didn't really start till 8pm! Must try to remember about Arab time but I don't think I'll ever really break the habits of a lifetime. Once they'd got themselves organised and managed to find everyone a seat (they had some elaborate ticketing system with hand held scanners but it didn't work due to the people who turned up not being the people they were expecting! However, since even John's invite said he was from the Higher Colleges of Technology it was hardly surprising!) it got started.
The prize giving itself was wonderful - moving speeches and interesting videos about last year's winner (who we met) and this year's short list. Last year's winner was amazing - he'd set up a scheme to train women in Bangladesh to fit solar panels to individual dwellings - bringing electricity to people for the first time. Watching these women bringing the solar panels by bicycle then up on the roof fitting them and then watching the faces of the families when the lights were turned on for the first time was truly awesome. What amazing people there are in the world.
This year's prize was won by Toyota in recognition of the huge strides they are making in car technology. Totally different and a really good move to recognise a huge global company in contrast to last year. The Japanese guys from Toyota who were there were also inspiring and clearly love what they are doing. Hopefully the publicity generated by Toyota will also help to put the prize on the map and generate even more interest for future years. They had nearly 700 nominations so perhaps they will start to create categories as well, which would be good, to recognise different kinds of contributions. It must be really difficult to judge but then the panel is a very auspicious one so I expect they manage. It would also have been nice to hear more about the long listed entries.
The prize was given by the Crown Prince which was also fantastic, since, although the Sheikh's pictures adorn every workplace and public building, I'd never seen him in real life.
By the time it was finished it was late and I was starving so we looked at the hordes heading in for the dinner and decided to head for home and a quick supper there. I was really privileged to have been able to go along.

success for ECAE

2010-01-12T17:08:00.001+04:00

Although I've moved onto my new role I still like to keep a close eye on what's happening at ECAE and I was thrilled to hear that so far they've received 500 completed applications with 40% of those being from Emiratis. Perhaps in some small way I managed to help change the perception of teaching as a career out here and to encourage a new generation to look at becoming teachers. I'd like to share some of the ads with you but haven't worked out how to upload a PDF yet. However, here are some pictures of my successful venture into PR with the Kitab Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony.
Not to forget the people behind the scenes who didn't make it into the press but did a lot of the work. Irum, the Marketing Manager for Kitab, Marina, Exec Assistant to Dr Haslam and yours truly!

Christmas in pictures

2010-01-12T16:49:00.000+04:00

Finally some pictures of our wonderful Christmas break in the UK. I'm afraid I was mainly too busy enjoying myself and taking daily champagne to remember to take many photos. However here are some pictures of a lovely Skipton in the snow (a white Christmas for the first time in ages), my carefully designed Christmas table with bits and pieces which has travelled over 3000 miles to take part and John with his Mum at Ashdown Park hotel.

Getting better at blogging

2010-01-11T16:40:00.000+04:00

I've been reading in Time Out about how to be a good blogger and I'm afraid it would seem I'm not very good at it. I'm not doing anything to link my blog or to make it more accessible to people who might be interested so I'm going to have to take some time to try and work that one out. I'm also writing far too much in each post so I apologise now for boring the pants off those of you who bother to read it - I'm afraid I've always been a bit verbose!
I am also sorry that there haven't been any pics for a week or two. Owing to a dead laptop and no new one yet from EAI I'm having to post in the office after work and I haven't yet persuaded the PC to talk to the camera - however some pics will be on their way soon, though rather late to catch up with the words.
Anyway thank you to those of you prepared to put up with my ineptitude - I'm very grateful and I'll work on making it more interesting as I get better at it!

One week in and getting there

2010-01-11T16:19:00.001+04:00

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!

Back in Abu Dhabi - New Year New Career!

2010-01-05T14:55:00.000+04:00

Anyone who's ever worked with me will know that using 'New Year New Career' in a recruitment ad in January is a sackable offence for using such a hackneyed phrase. However, in my case this new year it is actually true!
We got back to Abu Dhabi on Saturday night and on Sunday morning I started my new job, heading up a new marketing and communications department for Emirates Advanced Investments. The problem with heading up a new area is that I appear to be a department of one and have therefore not got anyone to show me the ropes or to give me any brief or steer! According to my job description I report into the CEO, who I've never met and was interviewed by the COO, who has been too busy to meet me so far so I'm rather in the dark as to how to get started on the task of building a brand for EAI and providing a marketing strategy. I'm sure all will become clear in the fullness of time but I've never been a patient person where work is concerned or one to sit idly by waiting for work to arrive. As the days pass I am coming to the conclusion that I am going to have to somehow work this one out for myself and get started - I've always been pretty good at creating work so I don't suppose this challenge should be any different. The HR Director has specified that he'd like to build an employer brand and to raise awareness of EAI as an employer, particularly amongst young Emiratis so I ought to be able to get to grips with that. I have a desk and a computer, though only a temporary one as they were unable to open the door to what is to be my new office - perhaps someone else had it earmarked as it was particularly attractive with a small balcony looking across the road to the sea. Everyone I do meet is very friendly and welcoming so hopefully it will sort itself out before too long. The location is certainly an enviable one, a series of villas out on the breakwater, behind the Marina Mall, with a drive across the causeway with amazing views of the city and the Emirates Palace across the sea. On a day like today when the emails from Manchester tell me about several inches of snow and a struggle to get to work for everyone whilst we are enjoying lovely sunshine and a balmy 23 degrees I should perhaps not feel so homesick.
Abu Dhabi has so much going for it - not just the weather and the iconic buildings but a terrific way of life, including magic fairies, who, for 100 AED per month wash my car every night whilst I'm asleep (how cool is that!) However, it is always a bit of a wrench coming back and saying goodbye to Manchester again.
John is about to plunge into another hectic time so I hope I'll soon be rushed off my feet at work. Mid January sees the World Future Energy Summit which is led by Masdar and the Masdar Institute and will attract over 20,000 delegates from around the world interested in renewable energy and sustainable technology. I am planning to go along myself to find out more. After all, the whole Masdar Initiative turned my life in a completely different direction and took me thousands of miles from home, so I am keen to get involved and find out more about this amazing project and the things that are going to save the planet. I also have a vested interest in seeing the collateral that I was involved in producing whilst working for Wordsearch and helping out with the Masdar Institute marketing material. For John the summit is going to mean an exhausting week of press conferences, networking and dinners.
Next month J is due to go on a visit to Japan, Korea and Singapore so he'll be away from Abu Dhabi for a while and there is talk of Paris in March so it's going to be non stop for him and large additions to his frequent flyer miles.
Looks like this might be a good time to really make some progress with my novel! I managed to get hold of a copy of 'A Diamond in the Desert' in Waterstones in Manchester which I've been reading. The author spent her childhood and early career here and then came back on a visit to see how much it had changed. It makes fascinating reading for a reluctant expat who's trying to adjust to the UAE and create a new life at a rather advanced age!
As the day's pass though life settles back into its pattern and the UK returns to the stuff of email.
I met up with Katie from Wordsearch to do the official debrief and hand back of the Masdar Institute work and I'm sure all concerned will breathe a sigh of relief. It can't have been easy for the marketing team having to deal with the Provost's wife, especially a bossy, grumpy one like me. It definitely wasn't easy for the Provost who had to listen to my opinions on the marketing material every night and what I would do differently if it was me!
I also popped into ECAE for a brief visit though I hope to have longer next time and see how things are going - we got a bonus full page in 7Days today though so things are still going well.
We are heading to the new desert resort at Liwa for a weekend break at the end of the month - I bought it as a suprise Christmas present for John as I thought he would be able to do with the break after the summit and before the Far East trip. I am really looking forward to seeing the desert and waking up in the morning to watch the sunrise over the sands. The drive will be a challenge though as it will be the furthest I've been in the Jeep.
Yesterday they opened the Burj Dubai (or the Burj Khalifa to give it its official title) to much fanfare. The developer appears to have made a profit with 90% sold but I wonder how much of it will actually have people in it. Still it's an amazing building which I am keen to visit (J is not so keen as he doesn't like heights!) The other silver lining is that, due to the global economy, no-one is likely to build anything taller for a little while. However, I am not planning a trip just yet over to Dubai but we will be able to build our own version of the tower by cutting out the model in The National all this week!

Into the New Year

2010-01-04T12:44:00.000+04:00

Monday morning we got repacked, wrapped up some more presents and set off for the South. We stopped for a bit of lunch and exchange of presents at John's brothers and to pick up John's Mum, before heading for Ashdown Park in Sussex for a couple of nights break for the three of us. AP is a sister hotel to Luton Hoo, where we got married so we thought we'd give it a try, the only problem with sister hotels is that you can't help making continuous comparisons. The building itself has had a varied past including being a convent and a training centre for Barclays. Worried by Rachel's memory of spartan rooms when she was working there in her graduate training programme I upgraded our rooms which turned out to be very large and comfy though a bit chintzy and tired. I had asked for rooms close to the main restaurant and without too many stairs so that Isobel wouldn't have to walk too far but somehow that got lost in translation and we ended up about as far away as it was possible to be, up one flight of stairs and with an outside trip if you wanted to avoid a further 3 flights of stairs! However, it was a lovely hotel (with proper baths) and the food was really good (here at least they beat Luton Hoo). Times must be hard in the hotel business and we certainly got a good deal of two nights b&b for the price of one as long as you took dinner. This was clear in the small savings - hardly any toiletries or teabags and only one canape each with the preprandial drinks!
Tuesday we headed to Tunbridge Wells for a bit of shopping - something of a carbon copy of Harrogate or Cheltenham (standard Spa town shopping experience!) It worked for me though,despite parking challenges and a lot of hill. I was particularly delighted, when discussing my IT illiteracy with a man half my age in Curry's Digital, to be told that if I was really the IT idiot I claimed to be then I was a good looking one!
We'd enjoyed watching a special programme about the making of 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' the night before - I can't believe that it's the 30th anniversary of the programme. Despite being a topical programme of its day I didn't think the humour had dated at all but then it was my era. We bought a full set of the programmes on DVD in the BBC shop in Tunbridge Wells so we can continue to enjoy it in Abu Dhabi. So along with some new episodes of Cranford (clearly not written by Mrs Gaskell) and a set of Taggarts given to us by Rachel and Andrew we won't be totally reliant on repeats of Midsomer Murders and the occasional film on Orbit Showtime!
There is a general election coming up in the spring so I've requested our postal votes, though whether they'll be time to post them out and back once the date is announced seems unlikely. In Manchester my left wing vote should still count, though a Tory government is by no means certain. However, The Guardian, did put a positive spin on the likely outcome by reminding us of the counter culture and creativity generated in opposition to Margaret Thatcher and the 18 years of Conservative Britain - including Not the Nine O'Clock News, Spitting Image and Brit Pop, so maybe there is something to look forward to! I was amazed to see the unrest in the public services which everyone is desperately trying not to liken to the winter of discontent. I can't really comment from my far away position but I do want to remind people of what state the public services were in in 1997, with decaying hospitals, school buildings anc chronic underfunding in so many areas. Times are hard now, but then they are everywhere - even here there are sad tales of redundancies, especially for people with partners or family working in Dubai. Anyway enough pollitical ranting and on with the story of our lovely family break.
On our final day at Ashdown Park we were joined for lunch by John's son Matthew and his mother which was great. Matthew seems to be enjoying his year abroad in Granada as part of his degree and looked very well. He is planning to come and stay with us in Abu Dhabi in February when his exams finish which should be fun.
We headed back to Leysdown for the night in order to take John's Mum home and for some shopping in the morning as she doesn't have a car anymore.
New Year's Eve we set off back North, stopping at Rachel and Andrew's for a lovely New Year's Eve meal and more champagne - I don't know how I'm going to manage without my 24 hour champagne fix once we go back to normal life and work and how I'll cope with only one meal a day rather than the 2 or 3 which we've been manfully putting away over the holiday. If I can get any clothes done up by the time we get back it will be a miracle!
Having seen the New Year in we headed back to Manchester on Friday morning to get ourselves prepared for a crack of dawn return to Abu Dhabi on Saturday morning. I had reckoned without the fact that shops in the UK do occasionally shut and most of Manchester was shut on New Year's Day so I was unable to stock up at Boots and M&S with the necessities. We do have both shops in Abu Dhabi but they just aren't the same thing at all! However all was not lost, Pizza Express was open for a last fix!
Cases packed we headed for Manchester Airport at 5.30am and the shuttle to Heathrow. Whilst we've been away there was a terrorist attack on a plane to the US with an extremist with explosives in his underwear. I wasn't sure what difference it would make but nothing much seemed to be in evidence - although they clearly entered our details in incorrectly when we dropped the bags off in Manchester so, John in particular, kept being stopped for passport checks and they were reluctant to let us onto the Abu Dhabi flight at first. They now charge a pound for a plastic bag to put your gels in, which is not only daylight robbery, but environmentally unfriendly as they come in plastic bubbles. For some reason you have to go through security at Heathrow if you come off an international flight onto a domestic one but not the other way round. Clearly they only trust security at UK airports. It hampers the purchase of duty free and toiletries, especially as no-one seems to know what the rules are and Boots were not keen to sell me some hay fever spray in case it got confiscated. Thankfully no-one suggested that we take our underwear off and we arrived onto the flight in one piece with everything still with us.
Club World in the daytime is such a luxury - champagne, nice wine, comfy chairs and an interesting film. The food is not as good as Etihad and they'd run out of John's choice of starter, but overall it was a great experience.
We arrived half an hour early to a taxi queue and rain (no chauffeur service with BA!) but it felt really warm after the minus temperatures of the past few days.
Back in Abu Dhabi after a wonderful trip to dear old blighty and a new chapter with a new job and a new year to contend with.
Once again, if anyone is reading this, I hope that 2010 is a good one for all of you and that you have lots of look forward to.

A wonderful Christmas

2010-01-04T12:11:00.000+04:00

John didn't manage to get home till 8pm on the final day, but since the taxi wasn't picking us up till 11.30pm we had time to walk round to the pub at the Sheraton for supper and relax before we set off. The security guys insisted on opening one of the cases at the airport but thankfully it was the one with the clothes in rather than all the Christmas pressies and table decorations which would have taken a lot more unpacking! After a quick glass of champagne we settled down to sleep and actually got a very good night - I think the beds are longer on BA than Etihad, and the staff were charming, no sign of grumpiness at all at being denied their strike. We arrived early and the shuttle to Manchester was only about 30 minutes late, despite snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Some of the passengers at Heathrow had been there all night whereas we felt very refreshed.
It was great to be home, despite the icy temperature in the apartment which had had no heating all winter. We hit the shops immediately to scoop up the last minute presents and had a sumptuous Christmas lunch in Selfridges before John treated me to two new dresses in their sale (Matthew Williamson and Givenchy, though I think the black Givenchy might be a bit racey for Abu Dhabi) and Prada shoes (not in the sale but very lovely) - a fabulous Christmas present. We settled in for a relaxing evening of TV watching - I shall never complain about UK TV again, after the rather sparse offerings on Orbit Showtime it felt like a feast of entertainment. I shall have to get a DVD recorder so we can record things to take back as the broadband just doesn't have the band width for the iPlayer function and doesn't work in the main room. We went to bed that night with snow falling on an already covered ground - there must have been about 10cm which is more than I've ever seen in central Manchester.
Christmas Eve we went back to the shops early, before the crowds and managed to buy some new Armani jeans and jumper for John's Christmas present. We then got packed up and had a quick treat lunch at Pizza Express (how I've missed that experience) and set off for Skipton. We managed all but the last bit up to Mum's though with foot hard down and a high gear I got the car up the last hill. It was so great+ to see everyone and the North Yorkshire countryside looked lovely in the snow. We wrapped up presents and ate another delicious meal before an early night as the time difference was still a factor in our body clocks.
Christmas day I took Mum's dog, Kirsty, for a run in the snow and ice. Frozen ground and dog noses proved irresistable so I had to persuade Kirsty to run rather than sniff. I did my usual with the table decorations (pictures to follow) and was able to annoy everyone for days with the gold star confetti and red laminated hay! Before we started on champagne and present giving and a wonderful Christmas lunch with all the delicious trimmings. We were joined by Marion and Brian, my brother in law's parents so there were 10 of us for Christmas lunch so it was a real family party and Mum managed the whole feast with the rest of us providing skivvy support. It was one of the best Christmas Day's for years and I loved every minute. John and I headed off down the hill to stay in a small hotel in Skipton for the night as the house was rather full.
Next morning I skidded my way back up the hill over black ice to pick up Kirsty for another run/sniff session and ended up on my backside at least once. Getting the car back out proved tricky but with help from several people with spades I managed to drive down to pick John up and get back to Mum's in one piece. Another wonderful lunch and more TV. Everyone else headed off on boxing day so John, Mum and I enjoyed a quiet night and managed to fit in some more champagne and a small supper!
We headed back to Manchester after lunch on Sunday and this time Kirsty seemed to have got the hang of running again - just in time for her to forget how it works till my next visit. We'd booked Sunday night at a new Italian restaurant which has taken over the space of the much lamented 'Establishment' which went bust 3 years ago and has been missed ever since. I had to swallow my football allegiances as it is partly owned by Rio Ferdinand and called, unsuprisingly 'Rosso'. However, the food and the place were super and we were joined by Wayne and Colleen Rooney so it's clearly the 'in' place in Manchester at the moment. Certainly somewhere to look forward to for our next visit since Harvey Nichols and even Paul Heathcotes, Grado, have been disappointing in recent visits.
All in all a very enjoyable time - I just love being back in Manchester and the UK and visiting familiar places. I always loved the place but you appreciate it even more when you go away!

End of year and back to the UK

2009-12-22T13:37:00.000+04:00

It's been a very hectic week as I finish my job at ECAE today (Tues) and fly back to the UK in the early hours of tomorrow morning. As well as getting things sorted at college I'd also agreed to help out the comms agency who handle Masdar Institute and Masdar City. The two Abu Dhabi people were off to Australia to get married and the creative and studio is in London so I agreed to be the local 'go between'. We all thought it wouldn't be a huge task but, like everything, things overran and I have ended up with a huge amount to do. With the work being done in London on a four hour time difference and not working on Sunday it's meant being very organised and spending a lot of non work time making sure all is OK. Just to add to the trauma one of the key London people suffered a family bereavement so I have felt extra responsibility on my shoulders. It's always difficult picking up someone elses work and clients but hopefully I have kept everything on track. Poor John has also got to hear rather more than he might have liked to about the inner workings of his marketing department as I've been struggling with the various requests and differing time zones! Still it's been interesting work and the guys in London at Wordsearch are really excellent - they did my ECAE ad campaign as well and has given me even more insight into marketing and communications in Abu Dhabi, not to mention a better knowledge of the Masdar objectives.
As an added stress our flights were booked with British Airways so we had a nailbiting few days of not knowing if the strike was going ahead. The BA flights via Heathrow were half the cost of the Etihad ones so we chose them even though it meant two flights. I was pretty upset when I heard the news. John was an angel and immediately bought us some flights on Etihad as well so that we could be sure that we would be going home for Christmas. However, I did lie awake at night worrying about the huge cost. Mum, bless her, also offered to help out with the cost. I am so well cared for by everyone around me. However, in the end the high court put paid to the strike for now so we just have the snow and ice to contend with.
We had a lovely event on Saturday night when a few good friends came round for bubbly and home made cakes, sausage rolls but shop bought mince pies due to the lack of mincemeat mentioned earlier. So many new friends came along and it was amazing to think that, with one exception, they were not people we'd met through work. I can't think of a single person I know in Manchester that I didn't meet through mine or John's work! It was a lovely evening and our other neighbours turned up later, after everyone had gone and we had a super chat - great as I'd only met them in the lift on the way to work before now.
Today I said good bye to the lovely people at ECAE. I've really enjoyed the short time that I've been there and it has been very rewarding and good fun. With a press campaign running, some good PR coverage and a growing database of potential students I'd like to think that I made some difference. Everyone was so warm and friendly and I especially enjoyed working with Monika and Julie, Head of Student Services and Registrar, respectively. I'm going to keep a close eye on what's going on there and help out as best I can. I do hope it all bears fruit.
So now it's back to the snow and the familiar landscape of home which I'm very much looking forward to. I have one suitcase full of presents, table decorations and assorted delicacies and it will be so nice to spend Christmas with all our families - though a pretty exhausting schedule to fit it all in.
If anyone out there is reading this blog let me wish you a Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year and please keep reading in 2010.

John on CNN

2009-12-14T19:03:00.000+04:00

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/tech/2009/12/13/jamjoom.uae.carbon.free.cnn

Hopefully - if technology works, you can view the online CNN story about Masdar city which features John, complete with hard hat and boots talking (briefly) about the project.
it also features J's boss, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, at more length.
Hope it works but if not copy it onto your browser and, if it doesn't load, then search Masdar and it should load then - it takes an age here but that might be the speed of the broadband!

Christmas time in the rain

2009-12-14T18:59:00.000+04:00

An unusual sight - rain from our window. However, it does make the Christmas tree seem a little less incongruous!

Getting ready for Christmas in the rain

2009-12-14T17:41:00.001+04:00

Well I've been complaining that it was hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it feel like summer outside. Every day in meetings, puttng the date at the top of my notepad, I had to pinch myself to remember it's actually December. Then on the weekend when I finally got my Christmas tree, went Christmas shopping and sent out the invites for our mince pies and bubbly event, I got my wish! Not snow, but rain of biblical proportions - it was quite awesome, even for someone who comes from Manchester and is pretty used to rain!
It started lighly enough on Thursday, Friday was warm and drizzly, reminding me of childhood holidays in Brittany. We had planned to go out for dinner on Thurs or Fri to one of our outdoor favourites but ended up returning to the Mexican at the Sheraton, where we used to go before we moved into the apartment and were staying there. Fortunately they had turned down the air con from the summer as after a walk in the rain we didn't really need it!
John was working on Saturday, attending a messaging workshop at the Yas Hotel so I thought I'd take him as it would be fun to try out the new motorway to Yas Island. By the time we got there it was pouring down and the car was covered in dust and water. There were lots of pile ups on the motorway as the surface is not really designed for the wet, more to not melt in the heat. I also realised that I have no idea how the windscreen wipes work on the car and I didn't even know that I had one on the back window! Well it's never been a priority up till now. However, the Jeep really came into its own, since by Sunday everywhere was completely awash. The rain came down in sheets of water and all the roads were flooded. I thoroughly enjoyed sloshing my way through several inches of water though I didn't enjoy the traffic melt down which resulted. It took me an hour and a half to get home from work, which normally takes about 15 or 20 minutes. There were also drivers, similar to those in the UK when we encounger snow, who's response is to go at 10 miles an hour with their hazard lights flashing - only here they tend to be in the outside lane! The college came off really badly, being a flat roofed building made of what seemed to be porous concrete. The water poured in and damaged a lot of equipment as well as making offices in accessible. The roads and carpark had about 10cm of water on them and looked like venice. I got soaked just trying to get out of the car into a lake when coming back from a meeting. However, the clean up team have done an amazing job and within 24 hours they had it more or less back to normal. The VC closed the college today to students and staff could come in on a discretionary basis so most did.
It has been quite amazing and something which apparently only happens once every 4 or 5 years. Interesting that it happened during the Copenhagen talks when the world leaders are debating climate change - here in Abu Dhabi we were experiencing a one off rain event to equate with Noah's flood (though that did happen before the excessive consumption of carbon and fossil fuels.
In the midst of all this I bought a lovely Christmas tree from Carrefours and decorated it and rushed round all the Malls to try and buy presents which would be suitably UAE special but not too heavy to carry back to the UK! Difficult as all the special Christmas shops are full of European goods!
However, every shop is full of Christmas food and decorations so I had no trouble finding things to decorate the table with on Christmas day and I'll be able to buy things to eat for our drinks party. However, I couldn't find any mince meat so it'll have to ready made mince pies which is a shame I can make sausage rolls though, which is not something you see a lot of round here! We went to Spinneys once J finished work and stocked up on some very agreeable Australian bubbly that we are rather fond of! It doesn frustrate me that I can only buy wine when J is with me as he has the licence - we were getting dangerously low! We also went to have a key cut for the apartment so I could give the cleaner one whilst we're away and discovered that you have to have a letter from the police giving you permission! How you prove to them that it's your apartment I have no idea since nothing has your address on! Certainly a new piece of bureaucracy which I hadn't come across before!
Today things are drying out nicely, which was handy as J had a site visit up at Masdar and I didn't want him to get too wet.

A busy week after the holiday

2009-12-09T11:23:00.001+04:00

Back at work for both of us and an amazingly busy time as ever.
John had lots of visitors and ended up doing a presentation on their biofuels project to the Crown Prince's brother which seemed to go down well. He also met the US Undersecretary and a number of commercial VIPs. The Copenhagen summit has meant that he's been in demand from the media to talk about Masdar's work in relation to sustainability, carbon neutrality and all the wonderful, world saving research which they are engaged with. Hopefully it will mean some good press and broadcast coverage for the Institute and some great profile raising.
We both went to the inauguration dinner for NYU's Abu Dhabi campus which was a glittering event held in the courtyard of the Emirates Palace and attended by key local dignitaries (I was gatecrashing but J counts very much as a dignitary!)and academics from around the world.
We were also at the Emirates Palace on Saturday night, as John's partners at ATIC, who he is working with on a semi conductors research project, very kindly offered us some tickets to one of the Abu Dhabi classics concerts. This was a fabulous event with the whole Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra doing Mozart and Bruchner. I have to say that the acoustics at the EP auditorium are nothing like as good as the Bridgewater Hall but I think we are pretty spoiled on that account. The entire Bridgewater Hall (according to my aunty Brenda who has been on the backstage tour) is on springs, so you feel the music resonating through your whole body, you don't just hear it with your ears. However, we are so lucky to get such great cultural events out here and were thrilled to be invited. Even though we were a bit overdressed as the original programme stated black tie which has clearly been changed as a dress code since it was printed! Still J always looks good in his wedding suit and the waiters at the EP wear lounge suits or silk embroidered jackets so there was no danger of anyone asking him for a cup of tea!
I have been very busy with lots of exciting things going on at college. Our press advertising campaign breaks on Sunday so I've been running around sorting the ads out with our agency partner wordsearch, who've come up with some great concepts to promote teaching as a career in the UAE. I've always had helpful and clever support people to get the media booked and the ads sorted in the past so I very much missed the likes of Becky, Gemma, Tracey, Jenny and Lie Yan when it came to the final stages of the getting the campaign put to bed. Next week I need to sort out creating the versions for the Arabic press which should be a challenge - no chance of proofing any of those myself! We also had to make sure that we had everything prepared for what I hope will be a huge influx of enquiries. However, the Admissions department were well ahead of me on that one and have everyone briefed and (hopefully as we're talking technology here) the web site updated and the on line application form all set to go.
I also had the Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony, for our partnership with the Abu Dhabi book fair in March, happending on Wednesday. You might not think that this sounds like a very exciting press event - however, such things seem to be of great interest and we were able to invite His Excellency Mr Mohammed Salem Al Dhaheri, who is the Director of Abu Dhabi Education Zone to come along which also seemed to create a great deal of press interest. So in the end it was like an oscar ceremony with about 8 photographers all crowded round and snapping away. I hope we get some good coverage in the papers as a result but it was a very successful event. I really enjoyed working with Kitab on it and with their Marketing Manager Irum, who was so friendly and professional and helped me to find my way round what needed doing. It was an education and a great learning experience. I'm so relieved that it went well, despite there being no coffee (lots of food and juice but no hot drinks) and having to change the background slide at the last minute because the Director of Corporate Services felt that the logo wasn't big enough!
I had to break the news to the college this week that I won't be staying on after Christmas as I have finally decided to accept the role with Emirates Advanced Investments. It was a hard decision as I enjoy working at the college and the people are fabulous. However, the other job is a permanent one with the chance to set up the department (marketing and comms), recruit my own team, control my own budget and reports directly into the CEO. I may hate it but I think it needs to be given a go. I am hoping that I may be able to continue to do some consulting for the college to make sure everything is on track and stays that way. However, I am really hopeful that with what I've managed to do so far, they will see an huge increase in student numbers for next year and that's what it's all about.

Oman trip in pictures

2009-12-09T11:17:00.000+04:00

A wonderful week in Muscat

2009-12-09T10:58:00.000+04:00

We were very fortunate that the Eid holiday and the National Day holiday coincided this year so both Masdar and ECAE were closed for 10 days which allowed us to take a break which was well earned (in John's case anyway).
We had a day at home getting sorted out and John had his first Abu Dhabi haircut which seemed to go well (I haven't yet taken that plunge but then I've never been a big one for hsircuts!) The second day we got ourselves in holiday mode by spending the day on the newly opened beach. It is so cool being able to stroll across to the Corniche, hire a couple of loungers on the water's edge and spend the day relaxing in the sun and swimming in the sea. The water is quite cold at this time of year but nothing compared with the English channel, the North Sea or the River Wharfe! The only challenge is that it's a popular spot so you tend to bump into people you know and, when I'm so used to covering up, it feels very weird having a chat with someone whilst wearing a bathing costume!
We then went to Muscat in Oman for a week. We went once before when we were still in the UK but this time we managed to get into the Chedi, which is really the hotel in Muscat and frequently features in top hotels of the world lists. It was certainly very special and a lovely hotel, set in spacious grouds with pools and beach front and lots of fountains and ponds. The food was incredible and we managed to put away breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. The beach front seafood restaurant is probably one of the most beautiful restaurant locations I've ever eaten in and the main restaurant was also fabulous. We went to the Grand Hyatt for one dinner for old time's sake which was lovely.
The room itself was perhaps a bit too modern and minimalist for an old fogey like me though very Conde Nast traveller. I find integral bathrooms and stone walk in showers no substitute for separate marble bathrooms with a nice deep bath!
We went on two incredible trips. The first took us through the mountains and into the desert where our driver took us into the dunes in the 4WD and up and down some pretty steep inclines. We also had coffee with the bedouins and admired their camels and heard a bit about their way of life. I am keen to spend an overnight in the desert, a bit nearer Abu Dhabi, so that we can see a sunrise and a sunset, it is so beautiful and different to any landscape I'm familiar with. We also visited a water filled Wadi, but being a holiday it was absolutely packed with picknicking Omanis, who bring everything, literally including the kitchen sink (and cooker, water bottles, carpets and coffee urns) which they take up from the car park in wheel barrows. So we enjoyed the view over a chicken biriani at the outside restaurant but decided it was too busy to swim and, as a western woman in a bathing costume I think I might have caused quite a stir!
The second trip we went out to sea on a small boat to see dolphins and whales. This has to be one of the most brilliant things I've ever done and I really didn't think we'd get to see as much as we did, as these are wild creatures and the Arabian Sea is a big place. The skipper was constantly on his phone to other boats and eventually they tracked the sea life down. We say two pods of huge whales, right on the surface next to the boat and dozens of dolphins. The dolphins lept out of the water, rode the waves and generally put on a terrific show - it was amazing. I couldn't believe that they were just doing all of this for the fun of it, oblivious to our presence. I'm afraid I failed to photograph any of it but it was enough just to have seen it.
The rest of the time we lazed about, eating, drinking, reading and swimming and just enjoying each others company away from the stress of life in Abu Dhabi. I also managed to go out running a bit to try and ensure that I didn't come back resembling one of the whales which we saw!
All in all it was a terrific week.

Masdar summit

2009-11-26T17:29:00.001+04:00

On November 17th, John gave a key note address at the Masdar summit 'Exploring Masdar, the sustainable economy and Abu Dhabi 2009' to an audience of over 400 business people, government and media.

National day in pictures

2009-11-25T18:06:00.000+04:00

My first National Day celebrations

2009-11-25T17:17:00.001+04:00

National Day is the day when Emiratis celebrate the founding of their country and, at just 38 years old, it's still a living memory for many people and they certainly do it in style. National Day itself is December 2nd, but as that falls in the middle of the Eid holiday, everyone has an extended break and celebrates in their schools and offices on the last day before the holiday. With the exception of Masdar who did it on Sunday for some reason!
Emirates College for Advanced Education had an amazing celebration and the college was completely decked out in red, green, white and black, the colours of the national flag. I went along with an I love UAE wristband and lapel badge but decided not to wear the scarf which J had brought home, complete with the Sheikh's photo, however everyone else was completely done up with scarves, tinsel and all manner of colour themed outfits. The ladies looked amazing in their best Abayas and the guys had decorated their cars.
After a lot of early rushing around to get some work done, the day started in the auditorium which had been decked out and we were all given wristbands and coloured balloons. We had the Emirati national anthem and pictures of the late Sheikh Zsyed, the father of the nation and the one who decided to use the oil revenues to create a world leading nation as well as the current leader, Sheikh Khalifa and the Crown Prince (who John met on Sunday), Sheikh Mohammed. The VC said a few words. Interestingly enough Masdar City featured large in his address and everyone asked if I'd written his speech!
The students made patriotic theatrical presenations (in Arabic so I was relying on the pictures to work out that they were about the country's history and vision) and played various games.
It was really humbling to see the younger generation's passion for their country and pride in their very brief heritage. I can't imagine an audiorium of undergraduates cheering in the UK every time their was a mention of the Royal Family! Amazingly it all kept to time so, when the stick dancers came on I had to beat a hasty retreat to get changed for my role in the event.
Several Faculty ladies took part in a fashion show - Abayas and the more flamboyant Jalabayas, which are worn for weddings and special occasions. I managed to sashay about the stage without falling over either garment and it was well received by the students. Both outfits were beautiful but, for a simple routine, it was quite a nerve wracking experience. However I waved my Emirati flag with aplomb as the two students finished the show with beautiful wedding outfits.
After this we went outside to watch the military band perform and watch people riding camels and horses.
Everyone repaired to the courtyard for tradiational food, music, stalls, more stick dancing and a dessert in the form of the national flag. I'm afraid at this stage I mainly watched from my office window and, although the Arabic music lent great ambience to the occasion it was quite nice when it stopped! However, everyone else must have been enjoying similar celebrations as no-one called or I would have had to shout over the music.
All in all it was a tremendous experience and a touching one to see a young nation so clearly proud of what they have achieved in a very short time.

Bird's eye view of Abu Dhabi

2009-11-23T17:43:00.001+04:00

School visits

2009-11-23T17:30:00.000+04:00

Yes the bare feet are deliberate as Jenny and Amal are presenting to these school girls in the Prayer Room.

Visit by the President of MIT

2009-11-23T17:14:00.000+04:00

This weekend saw a vist to Abu Dhabi from the President of MIT, Dr Susan Hopfield, who came, along with her husband to visit the city and to judge the Zayed Future Energy Prize, along with a host of other world wide dignitaries. The winner will be announced at the Future Energy Conference in January.
On Saturday we headed off to the Emirates Palace to meet up with Dr Hopfield and Fred and Pat from MIT who are starting to feel like old friends. Along with John's colleague Marwan we went for a formal lunch at Sheikh Nahyan's Majlis. John had been to one before but it was my first experience. They tend to be men only events, but, since the guest of honour was a woman, then women seemed to be allowed. Pat and Fred are always very thoughtful about including me in things which is much appreciated.
After the formal reception in a grand room we went through to lunch to a table absolutely heaped with food. J had told me how to behave and not to panic about trying to do the English thing of presenting a clean plate - round here it suggests that you haven't been given enough! I received a plate full of rice and camel which was very tasty - I'm not so sure about the grey, jelly like stuff which arrived on my side plate and looked like the stock in which the camel had been boiled. No-one seemed too worried about me not giving that a try though! We also had a plate loaded with serious stodgy desert but once the Sheikh rises you have to get up and leave anyway so that wasn't too much of a difficulty. Sheikh Nahyan is Minister for Higher Education and seemed a very gentle and welcoming soul - everyone who has met him says so and many of my colleagues know him personally as he is the Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology where several of them used to work.
After lunch we returned to the Emirates Palace and were able to look at some of the artwork on show for Abu Dhabi Art week. We also saw the Guggenheim mini exhibition, aimed at wetting our appetite for the day when the Guggenheim opens on Saadiyat Island, though that is some years away. After a lot of Emirati style hanging around we went on a helicopter trip over the city whcih was really exciting and I was so lucky to get a invite to. What a treat to see the city where you live from above, something I've never been able to do in Manchester or Leeds, except from a long way above in a plane. We saw the Yas Marina circuit, Saadiyat Island and the whole city including where we both work and our apartment block. It was a bit noisy but we are trying to point out places of interest to the American visitors. Sadly we didn't get to see the Masdar Institute building though I'm not sure if this was because the pilot didn't know where it was or because it was too near the airport. We also got a birds eye view of the power boat grand prix taking place in the bay which I'd also been watching the day before from the balcony.
It's a great example of Abu Dhabi schizophrenia that they could be hosting the Zayed Future Energy Prize, for ideas on sustainability and renewable energy, at the same time as the finals of a sport which must burn more fossil fuel per second for no possible gain, than any other activity on the planet! What a tremendous place - you have to love it!

School visits week

2009-11-22T18:24:00.001+04:00

Last week I spent much of my time, in between putting media schedules together, organising brochure copy and creating web content, going on school visits with the recruiters. This is always an interesting experience since the recruiters present in Arabic and, although I know the content of the presentation, I don't actually know what they are saying! For all I know they could be saying 'don't worry about this English idiot, she hasn't got any idea what we're on about'!
I went with Amal to two schools in Shamkha which was quite an experience as Amal hadn't been to the schools or the town before and came equipped with a college car and Sat Nav. Sat Nav is a very different thing in a country with no postcodes and where everything changes on a weekly basis and not to be trusted. It had been pre-loaded with schools, one of which has the same name as one we were visiting but happened to be in Al Ain, about 70 miles from where we were going. It was only when I pointed out that the Sat Nav reckoned we had another 68 km to go when we should have been nearly there that we realised it was taking us to somewhere else altogether! We then tried plugging in the name of the town, but, being a new town it didn't feature on the UAE programme. However, Amal used her local knowledge and we found the town and a school who were able to point us in the right direction. This short detour did mean that I got my first glimpse of the desert - undulating dunes of sand as far as the eye could see, which was amazing and really beautiful. Shamkha is clearly a new dormitory town for Abu Dhabi and felt strangely empty during the day. We agreed it would be a good place to learn to drive as there were no cars on the road so we were able to take all kinds of strange routes. There didn't seem to be much in the way of shops or malls and all the houses looked to have been built to the same design. Even the two schools were identical, giving an uneasy feeling of deja vue at the second one and I wondered if we might be trapped in a school visit version of ground hog day!
In both schools the best place to conduct the presentations was in the Prayer room. I can't say I've ever done a presenation in bare feet before but it was a new experience and also lost one of my main topics of conversations with the girls afterwards where they always admire my shoes! The presentations went well and the project worked on both occasions which was a novelty. We gathered lots of names of interested girls. It always makes me wonder about the life expectations of girls, especially in such a strange town but they all looked like the bright, shiny school girls anywhere, sure that life is going to be good to them.
The next day I went with Salem to the boys schools which was a whole new experience again. We went to three schools and in one of them we were presenting in a science lab so had to present to several groups one after the another. It's tough sitting through the same presenation many times anywhere, but when the presentation is in Arabic its even tougher. Salem is excellent at his job and really engaged the boys before starting on the power point, which was good since it only worked half of the time. He talked to them about their career aspirations and got them thinking about teaching and the bachelor of education degree in general so gathered hundreds of names from the different schools. I hope we can convert at least some of them as we have very few male students. Teaching is not seen as an appropriate career for boys, here or anywhere so its a global problem. The boys we do have call themselves 'pioneers' and are a great bunch. I was the novelty turn and attracted lots of attention. Salem has a great rapport with the schools so there was lots of relationship building going on around the presentations - excellent from a marketing point of view though it was largely lost on me.
I was most impressed when one lad, who was messing about at the back, was called to the front and Salem sent him out of the room. After that everyone else sat in rapt attention till the end of the session! He'd have made a great teacher.

A working week and a quiet weekend

2009-11-15T17:28:00.001+04:00

After John's hectic schedule and stresses over the last couple of weeks he was pretty exhausted by the weekend and for me it's been the closest thing to a 'proper' working week since I got here with being at college, going on school visits and having meetings.
So we were pretty glad to have a quiet weekend at home, especially since next weekend it looks like J will be on MIT duty again as the President of MIT is visiting Abu Dhabi.
We lazed around at home reading the paper and watching TV. There have been some really thought provoking films on recently - never heard of them but one in particular 'Crossing Over', about different experiences of trying to achieve citizenship in the US, was very interesting. Our neighbour Helen joined us for supper on Friday night but otherwise we stayed anti social after so much activity over the last couple of weeks.
We had a run to Spinney's to stock up on the wine supplies which nearly ended in disaster when J dropped the precious liquor licence out of his pocket when getting into the car! We went back to look for it and luckily the guy who had found it had not yet driven away to hand it in or do whatever one does with lost liquor licences so we got it back - quite a relief. He looked nothing like John so I think he's have had a hard time passing himself off as Dr John Perkins.
On Saturday night we took a half hour stroll along the sea front and went for dinner at 'Amalfi', our favourite Italian at the Royal Meridien. This time we sat by the pool outside and it was just heavenly. It felt just like being on holiday - apart from on Sunday morning we had to get up and go to work! Still I'm not complaining - how amazing to wander along by the sea on a beautiful evening and eat dinner by the pool - in mid November!
Into the working week again and last night we attended a lecture on CO2 given by NYU Abu Dhabi which was really interesting and well put together. Not only that it was very well attended and took place inside the Al Mamoura building (home of Mubadala which is a very powerful organisation round here) which I'd been keen to see inside. I work across from there and J did his Board of Trustees meeting there so it was great to actually make it inside. It's every bit as impressive as it looks from the outside, complete with internal glass atrium with Formula One cars! We met the Provost of NYU who is delightful as well as being helpful to meet as I would love to work for them at some stage.
Today J went to the Dubai Air Show to meet a VP from Boeing - that I would also have loved to see but, unlike air shows in the UK, it isn't open to the general public. I went to meet Mark Rix again, from 7Days and ex MEN so a friendly face from home. This time to talk business as I'd like to use 7Days for the college. We met at the Alraha Beach hotel, outside the city and then I went on to a meeting at Masdar city with a consultant I've been trying to hook up with. Its my furthest foray in the car so I felt very pleased with myself for finding my way around. I did have a bit of a fun time at Masdar as the police had closed the road to the airport so they weren't letting anyone out. The security guy on the gate was directing everyone to another gate but forgot to tell the other security people so we ended up drving round the building site for some time. It gave me a great few of the Masdar Institute building, which i haven't seen since it was steel posts in the ground in March. It looks like it's going to be amazing and hopefully they'll start to move in early next year with an official opening in September. I was jolly glad of the 4x4 off road vehicle as much of this trek involved sandpits and unmade road. Not something I'd have been happy to tackle in the BMW. Once I'd done a tour round they did manage to direct me to the other gate but I was then on the wrong road into Abu Dhabi and desperate for petrol so it was a nail biting journey back to civilisation and a petrol station. Still a good way to test the car and my driving ability!

Meeting the team

2009-11-15T17:24:00.000+04:00

Jenny meets Mark Hughes at the Manchester reception at the British Embassy and refrains from telling him that it's not as good as it was in Colin Bell's day!

Manchester and Abu Dhabi in partnership

2009-11-15T16:16:00.000+04:00

As I have already mentioned last week was Manchester week here in Abu Dhabi, with an 80 strong delegation of public and private sector dignitaries visiting to forge links and look at ways of working in partnership. It all culminated in a match between the UAE national team and Manchester City, though due to injury and international commitments it was a reserve team who came over from Eastlands and were beaten 1-0 by the local side (politics or just Man City losing - I don't know!) As a Man City supporter all my life I'm used to the disappointment!
We went to a lovely reception in the garden of the British Embassy where we met one of John's former colleagues from the University who was representing the President who is apparently still recovering from heart surgery. We also met lots of interesting people from both Manchester and Abu Dhabi on a balmy November evening in the garden. The British Ambassador remembered me from when we met in March and seemed quite impressed with the job offer from Emirates Advanced Investment, though the time its taking for them to sort themselves out I'll have worked my 6 month contract with the College in full! I'm getting quite good at eating standing up and the food was very impressive, including mini fish and chips in paper! There was some excitement when a large part of one of the tress in the garden came crashing down but luckily no-one was hurt and I think it was natural rather than terrorist activity.
The real highlight was being introduced to Mark Hughes and having my photo taken with him.
The next day we went to a second reception at Pearls & Caviar at the Shangri La where J was deputising for the CEO of Masdar City, Dr Sultan. I have a feeling that this was really aimed at connecting with the local Emirati population but that somehow they didn't have the right connections for that. Most of the people there were the Manchester delegation, us and a few people from Etihad Airways, including the CEO. This was great as Etihad are celebrating winning 'World's Best Airline' which they seem to celebrating by hiking their prices for business class to some purpose. The Manchester flight is clearly a real money spinner for them as they only fly 330's and so have very little business class available and as it acts as a hub for the rest of the world from Manchester flies at 80% capacity. Hopefully they will start to fly bigger planes before too long. However, for our return home at Christmas I have booked BA via Heathrow which worked out at just under half of the cost of the Etihad flight to Manchester. I did mention all of this to the CEO of Etihad and Manchester but at the end of the day they are in the business of making money not keeping me happy!
On this occasion I felt for the Manchester delegation as the leader of the Council Richard Leese gave a fabulous speech and we got given a whole host of goodies exhorting us to 'Visit Manchester' but it did feel like preaching to the converted and we clearly weren't the intended audience for this event! I was offered a 'Manchester cocktail' on arrival which seemed to comprise lemon juice, cranberry and strawberry. I have to say that in my experience that's not what they tend to drink on a Saturday night on Deansgate. At 8pm they obviously decided that no Emiratis were likely to show up and broke out the beers, but by this time John and I were starving and beat a hasty retreat to the Chinese restaurant at the Shangri La, whcih we've not been to before. The food was amazing though the service was pretty slow!
The highlight of this particular event was meeting Mike Summerbee - a childhood hero along with Frannie Lee and Colin Bell. He invited us to the Director's box at Eastlands next time we're in Manchester which I know Daddy would have loved. Perhaps next time they play out here I may even meet Colin Bell in person and be able to tell him how I grew up with the constant remonstration ringing in my ears 'Jennifer, Colin Bell wouldn't have behaved like that!'

A weekend stroll on the Corniche

2009-11-09T18:09:00.000+04:00

Here we are going for a walk on the sea front a few minutes walk from our apartment. You can see our building behind me (the one on the left of the new tower with the metal globes on the roof). We are really lucky to live in such an amazing place and now that is cooler we can enjoy the corniche. I run along this walkway and through the parks which go all along the corniche end of the island several times a week which is lovely though a little hot, even first thing in the morning, but then I am used to running in Manchester where it is rarely more than about 10 degrees so anything over 25 is likely to feel pretty warm!

A busy time

2009-11-09T17:46:00.000+04:00

Well the last few days have been particularly hectic - mainly for John though I've managed to keep myself busy too.
John spent Saturday working with the team on the presentation to the Board of Trustees at the Emirates Palace and not getting home till after 10pm. I believe all their hard work was worth while and it seemed to go well though the meeting itself was pretty chaotic, as things tend to be round here, with members of the Royal Family and other dignitaries dropping in and dropping out most of the time. John showed me the folder with the business plan and all the slides and handouts and it all looks amazing with lots of exciting projects and a clear set of goals and priorities.
Today he is at the MIT conference where he was participating and doing a presentation on the Masdar Institute.
Last night I was invited to join the MIT people for dinner at the Emirates Palace which was lovely. We ate at Sayad, the fish restaurant there and the food was amazing though the service was very slow. We had a very convivial evening and it was good to be a part of it. One of the Board of Trustees is also the Chairman of Man City but I don't think J was able to give him any advice!
I spent Saturday on the beach at the Hiltonia beach club which was lovely though not nearly so much fun on your own. However, it was amazing to be sitting on the beach in beautiful sunshine on a normal weekend in November and to swim in warm sea whilst enjoying a view of the city and the corniche. I shall definitely go back and take John to enjoy it too when he has a bit more time.
Today I went on school visits with Sarah, one of the recruitment team, which was fascinating. It was a delight of Emirati organisation with non of the schools seeming to expect us despite having received letters from the education zone and calls from the college to confirm! Mikes and projectors finally got organised after Sarah had started her presentations and pupils continued to arrive long after the session was underway. I couldn't do much apart from smile and look interested and enthusiastic as the presentations were in Arabic! However, we managed to gather 26 forms from interested girls so hopefully it was a worthwhile exercise. It was great to see inside the schools and in one case we watched most of a PE lesson since the presentations were in the gym. Funny to see Emirati girls in jeans and t shirts doing exercise, as there were no men present they did not have to wear Abayas. The girls were particularly impressed by my shoes and keen to know where I got them - perhaps I should bring some back from Manchester next time!
I have a desk and an office in college now as well as a laptop, but so far no network connection or phone, but I am making progress. I've started work on pulling a series of brochures together and bought a domain name www.teachuae.ae to create a more generic portal for their website. I enjoy spending time with the recruitment team who are friendly and invite me to share their lunch of flatbread with all kinds of delicious toppings. I wonder if just sitting with them as they chat away in Arabic will help me to learn the language but I doubt it somehow.
I hope that I will be able to add some value to their marketing activity as we have stiff recruitment targets to meet and very quickly. Paul, who is from the US and one of the professors, has also joined the team as we have been allowed to recruit from the private schools for the first time and he is making great headway in this area.
For the rest of this week John and I are both now involved in 'Manchester week' with two receptions to go to. I would love to get involved in helping to create links between the two cities that I call home, though I hope the Manchester people won't be too disappointed to come all this way and meet someone from Manchester!

Training with the recruitment team at ECAE

2009-11-09T17:31:00.001+04:00

Here we are working away with obligatory stickies and flip charts as well as the cakes which represent the perfect marketing mix and without which no training course would be complete!

An interesting week

2009-11-05T16:08:00.000+04:00

It seems like a funny week this week - only 4 days with going to the Grand Prix on Sunday but as John has to work this weekend with prep for the Board of Trustees meeting and the MIT people over it doesn't feel that short.
I did my second training session on Monday which went down well - especially the cakes representing the marketing mix! Glad that everyone likes cakes and there were enough for John to take to work as well. I still haven't got a desk or an internet connection at the college so when I'm not in meetings I carry on working from home which isn't ideal for a social animal like me but it gets lots done and we have plenty of clean clothes as well! I should be getting that sorted out next week as the pressure is on to bring in the students. Next week I'm hoping to accompany the team on some school visits - they present in Arabic so I shan't know what's going on but it will be interesting to see how it works. I've put together a master marketing plan so there's plenty to do.
The other organisation are taking an age to sort out security clearance - I had to fill out a very detailed from including details of who my family and friends were so maybe that's the problem! It's all very frustrating as I'd like to get sorted as to what I'm doing and be able to get on with it. Still I am trying to end the struggle and dance with life and just enjoy being here in this amazing place. I did 'ladies who lunch' at The One with Daksha which was fun and went for coffee and home made biscuits with Angela and Bettina came for coffee so I can hardly complain about being lonely.
John got his liquor licence last week so we went to Spinney's to buy wine and gin which wasn't as scarily expensive as I'd feared despite 30% tax. However, we didn't buy Nuits St Georges, Chablis or Gevrais Chambertin as we might have done in Majestic.
John is very tired and stessed with so much going on over the next few days. The MIT people arrive on Friday and they have meetings and dinners planned around the big day on Sunday when they present the business plan to the Board of Trustees which is Chaired by the Crown Prince so you can imagine it's not a little worrying. Then on Monday they are doing a conference and dinner with MIT so more stress. The week after John goes to Doha for two days for an education conference where he is a speaker so no respite then. However, he'll sail through it all brilliantly but it's still a worry.
I shall try and go to the Hilton beach club on Saturday as I look out at this amazing blue sea and warm sunshine every day but can't swim as the public beach is still being renovated. I had planned the Shangri La, including a spa treatment but they wanted the best part of £200 which seemed excessive for a day's entertainment. When J goes to Doha I'm planning another girls soiree so I'm busy making plans for food and cake to feed people.
I enjoyed the video of the work pumpkin carving challenge - there were pumpkins here but it seems hard to believe it's November when it's 30 degrees and sunny. No fireworks today though and no-one has heard of the gunpowder plot funnily enough.
Next week is Manchester week in Abu Dhabi so we have a delegation from home and Man City are playing the UAE team. John managed to wangle me an invite to a reception at the British Embassy which should be great. He is also invited to a lunch to talk about ideas for possible links - now there I do have some ideas! Bring us the Halle, the Royal Exchange and all of the other great cultural things that go on. We have some amazing things but not much in the way of ballet or theatre. I have bought tickets for Lorin Mazel conducting the Vienna Philharmonic as part of the Abu Dhabi classics season which is just great. At 500 Dirhams for two of the cheapest tickets there's clearly an appetite for culture.
Anyway fingers crossed that all goes well for J over the next couple of weeks and maybe I'll get my future a bit better organised as well - but then again this is Abu Dhabi Insha'Allah.

Julian and Bettina Sargent on the Julian's 60th birthday and a duck!

2009-11-04T15:57:00.000+04:00

We enjoyed a lovely meal at Vasco's at the Hilton Beach Club to celebrate Julian's 60th birthday. Julian and John were at university together. The duck just wandered in to join the party!

Images of the Grand Prix

2009-11-04T15:10:00.000+04:00

Formula 1 - a triumph for Abu Dhabi

2009-11-04T14:53:00.000+04:00

This weekend saw the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for which the city had built a race track on a previously uninhabited desert island just outside the city. We were lucky enough to be given some tickets by John's boss, Dr Sultan, a couple of days before and were able to actually go along. I had thought we'd be watching it on the big screen on the corniche so it was great to be part of it as the excitement has been mounting in the city.
The circuit is absolutely amazing with a hotel right in the middle and a marina and yacht club. In the sunshine it looked great with incredible yachts moored right up to the track and the sun shining on the water. But as night fell and the sun set it really came into its own with coloured lights on all the buildings and lights shining on the track.
We were sat with the real race goers rather than the champagne corporate hospitality set so we got the true flavour of the event. I think John could have got grand invites, but only for himself and, being the gent he is, he knew I'd want to be included.
I've never been to F1 before so it was a totally new experience, even if the outcome for this year was already decided. We got the shuttle bus from the Marina Mall which worked really well and went across the new bridge and onto the new motorway which has been built over Sadiyat Island, which will one day be a cultural hub with a Louvre, a Guggenheim as well as various other theatres, museums and galleries.
We watched G2 and Porsche's racing as well as the F1 practice sessions and qualifier. It was pretty hot but the stands were covered and the noise was incredible. On day 2 we were lucky enough to be given some BMW ear defenders which were rather more effective than the little sponge ones.
When Louis Hamilton took pole position we were hopeful for a British winner but his car broke down. Jenson Button nearly overtook Vettel in the final seconds but we were robbed of our chance to hear God Save the Queen and had to listen to Deutschland Uber Alles for the third time in the day (yes the Germans won the G2 and Porsche races as well!)
Etihad showed off their specially liveried planes with a fly past by two planes which was impressive to watch such big Airbuses performing so close to the ground.
I'm afraid though the heat of the long days meant we were too tired to stay for the evening concerts and missed Jamiroquai, Aerosmith and The Kings of Leon which everyone said were tremendous. We also missed a special Beyonce concert on the Thursday as we were invited to share his 60th birthday by Julian and his wife Bettina. Julian and John were at university together so it was a rather special treat. We had a lovely meal, sitting outside at the Hiltonia Beach Club.
All in all it was a pretty busy weekend and even more special in that John got Sunday off to see the Grand Prix so we actually had a non working Sunday which still feels right!

My first experience of training Abu Dhabi style

2009-10-27T16:35:00.001+04:00

Yesterday I ran my first training course here in Abu Dhabi 'marketing skills for recruiters' for the recruitment and admissions team at the Emirates College for Advanced Education. This was part one and I'm doing part two next Monday.
As you can imagine I was extremely nervous - I always get nervous about training, even at work comms where I knew everyone, but this was a whole new ball game. As I was driving in I wanted to turn and run home and explore life as a lady of leisure. However, I done lots of prep as ever, with folders of notes, slides and of course, lots of flip charts and the material is, after all, pretty familiar.
With a new team and a different culture it's hard to know how people will learn and how receptive they'd be to my way of thinking. However, I was lucky enough to be able to have a coffee with my friend Liz, who actually runs a training company here and has oodles of experience into how Emiratis like to learn. She certainly put my mind more at rest as she suggested all the things which I like to do.
Well it seems to have gone down well with the team and I enjoyed it very much indeed. I would say they were a joy to work with - they really engaged with the exercises and got stuck in with the pens, flip charts and sticky stuff. Before long the walls were papered with pictures, ideas and drawings. They had some great thoughts on recruiting students and marketing the college and asked lots of questions. I got some real insight into student motivation and the likely barriers.
We had prizes and goody bags at the end and all in all I would say it was a success from both sides.
We took some photos which I hope to add onto the blog when I get copies of them.
Today I spent the day writing up the material from yesterday, setting home work exercies and drawing up the slides and flip charts for next week with renewed vigour.
I am looking forward to next week's session and feel confident enough to include the cake making exercise which I have shied away from recently in the UK on the grounds that everyone has got way to cynical for such things.
If working with Emiratis is always this much fun then I think I shall enjoy it!

John enjoys a joke at the Najah careers exhibition

2009-10-27T16:25:00.000+04:00

On the road again

2009-10-27T16:10:00.000+04:00

Last week I picked up our new car and what a joy it is to be able to get to places without the hassle of buses and taxis. It's a Jeep Grand Cherokee - chosen for its height and tank like quality which makes me feel safe in the slightly erratic driving conditions I find myself in round here! I'm not really planning any desert, off roading at present, though it is quite a popular past time in this neck of the woods. There was a whole supplement on off roading in The National last weekend which was more than enough to put me off with stories of someone having to walk along beside the car to watch out for rocks and precipitous inclines with just one wheel hanging onto the mountain!
Probably due to the size of the thing, coupled with a 3.7 litre engine, I am really enjoying driving around and love the freedom. Because people do daft things then no-one bats an eyelid if you make your way across four lanes of traffic in order to reach a left turn at the last minute and they let you in which would never happen in the UK. You can also do U turns at major junctions so if you take a wrong turn it's pretty easy to rectify the mistake (must make a note not to try this at home!) I've been able to bring back wicker chairs, lamps and all kinds of stuff from the Mall with ease. Though I got carried away with a massive shop at LuLu supermarket which was easy to wheel into the car but less easy to get up in the lift from the underground car park to the apartment!
I can even neatly park the monster in our narrow space between a BM cabriolet and a Range Rover with help from the parking sensors and the reversing camera. I'm now planning trips to Al Ain and places we haven't yet seen on the strength of it.
I have Coast (a Radio Two type station but without Terry Wogan) and BBC World service on the radio and it even does this neat trick of being able to start the engine from a distance without unlocking the doors so that you can the air con fired up before you get in - amazing! I can't see me needing the heated seats anytime soon though!
So watch out Abu Dhabi - I'm on the road!

On the stand at the Najah careers exhibition

2009-10-24T15:35:00.000+04:00

Enjoying the masquerade ball

2009-10-24T15:22:00.000+04:00

The Masquerade Ball

2009-10-24T14:36:00.001+04:00

Friday night saw us attend one of the major social events of the Abu Dhabi ex pat calendar the inaugural Masquerade Ball at the Hiltonia Beach Club. Organised by our friend Maria Brown from Reed and the Abu Dhabi Networking Group to raise money for Ethiopiaid it was a glittering event which we greatly enjoyed. 15 years after Bob Geldof and Band Aid started to highlight the plight of people in Ethiopia there is still plenty to be done.
So we put on our ball gowns and dinner jackets and thanks to the efforts of my new friend Carmel, donned the necessary masks and tried to head for the Hilton. We had the usual trauma of booking taxis (2 from two different companies who we were assured were on their way) that never turn up - we were reduced to wandering around Al Nasr St in full regalia desperately trying to flag one down! Eventually we got lucky as one was dropping people off and we lept in. I am getting to despair about hard it is to get a taxi. Anyway we arrived and after some strange blue cocktails found ourselves on the VIP table with Maria (who was rushing around making sure all went smoothly), Carmel and her husband David, who works for Rolls-Royce, a couple from Dubai, the acting Canadian Ambassador and Stuart Law, the cricketer. Stuart has been based in the UK for some time and it seemed amazing to sit down at a ball in Abu Dhabi and find my neighbour lives in Wilmslow!
The ball was in the garden and it was a beautiful evening. It just seemed incredible to be sitting outside, warm and comfortable, under the stars at the end of October!
We ate a sumptuous buffet and then were entertained by a whole host of sporting stars who regaled us with stories and helped the auction along, adding in personal memorabilia and even auctioning off views of their (in Scott Hastings' case very) private parts! As well as Stuart and Scott there was Ian Rush, Darren Gough, Chris Cairns, Phil Neal and Dominic Cork.
It all seemed to be a huge success and most have raised tens of thousands of Dirhams for the cause.
The dancing started at 12.30, but, being old fogey's we decided to head for home, gathering up our well stuffed goody bags and making a last stumbling (due to the sand and unsuitable Gina stillettoes combination, not alcohol consumption!)exit. Thankfully at the Hilton you can get a taxi any time of the day or night.
It was a lovely evening.

A nice problem to have

2009-10-22T18:25:00.000+04:00

So another busy week and I guess I'll eventually get used to Thursday being Friday and Sunday being Monday and all that kind of thing though at the moment I still get very confused indeed!
I am now in receipt of the two job offers I've been mentioning over the last couple of weeks and will have to decide next week which one to go for. I've already started doing work for the Emirates College of Advanced Education as this week saw the biggest careers fair of the year in Abu Dhabi. The college had a stand and, having gone along to look on the first day, I ended up spending hours there. It was great fun though I'd forgotten how hard it is on the feet when you have to stand around for hours in heels. We managed to collect over 500 names of interested potential students, though I think quite a few were really only after our freebies and we wouldn't let them have any till they'd signed up. I remember from years of UK conferences that the giveaways are nearly always the main event and that's certainly the case out here. We had mugs, pens, key rings, book marks, stress balls as well as getting through 16kg of chocolates and still we kept running out. I was filling goody bags like a production line until I felt confident enough to talk about the college courses. I was also able to get to know the recruitment team pretty well and to meet lots of staff and students from the college which has given me more of a feel for the place.
John came along too for the opening, since Masdar Istitute also had a stand. However, once he'd met the Minister for Higher Education and appropriate dignitaries he was able to go back to the busy life of a Provost, whilst we marketing folk stayed on to give things away and try to recruit students.
I have also been busy putting together two marketing skills workshops for the recruitment team which will start on Monday so I'm pretty well embedded but haven't yet been given a contract to sign.
However, the offer at this stage is for a 6 month temporary contract to work as a consultant so on manageable responsibilities and more of an enabling role rather than a leadership one. However, I am do have lots of experience of working as a consultant so that shouldn't really worry me unduly.
The Emirates Advanced Investment company have also made me an offer though subject to security clearance and the usual (and unusual) checks. This is a more concrete, permanent offer with all the bells of whistles of living allowances and the rest. However, they are a somewhat mysterious company, although Helen, next door has given me the low down on some of their interests and their mission to keep the UAE in a place of safety in an unstable part of the world. It's a classic case of the lack of understanding of candidate management - we'll decide if we want you and we'll make you an offer. Not the two way process that we try to instil into our clients where both candidate and hiring organisation have to understand each other and arrange something mutually beneficial. So I know very little about what's expected of me apart from the fact that they want me to set up and run a marketing and communications department, but to market what to who I really couldn't say!
Either way, both jobs sound interesting and I'm sure I'll sort out the best one for me, plus it's pleasing to have reached this point after such a short space of time looking for a new opportunity in a strange country. It would also be nice to start earning some sensible money again rather than just spending it!
In the meantime I'll keep doing the work for the College whilst I get the final details sorted out on both. Since both jobs will gve me control of a marketing budget they should allow me to continue to work with my colleagues at work and send some revenue in their direction.
Hopefully over the next few days I'll be able to firm up some more detail from both of them and make a sensible decision.

Pictures of our apartment looking a bit more like home

2009-10-18T17:18:00.001+04:00

Getting about a busy city

2009-10-18T16:52:00.001+04:00

Finally the weekend came after what seemed like a very busy week. We decided to go out for dinner on Thursday night and I booked us a table at the Rodeo Grill at the Beach Rotana. I hadn't realised that the whole of Abu Dhabi goes out on a Thursday night and my newly discovered taxi call centre number was continually engaged. We thought we might get a cab on the street (dream on!) so plumped for a bus. There just seemed to be one bus for the whole city that night and even when you might think the bus was full more and more people kept on piling on board. It was quite a squash and took ages so we arrived a little dishevelled but on time and laughing about the experience. We had a lovely meal and then, although we had to stand in quite a lengthy queue at the Abu Dhabi Mall we did manage to get a cab home.
Friday morning is always very quiet with all the shops shut and people preparing for Friday prayers but we've got into the habit of going out for the papers and then chilling out over a coffee during the morning. It's a bit like having Sunday before Saturday so you end up with something of an upside down weekend but I'm sure we'll get used to it!
Friday afternoon we headed for the Mall where the shops open at 2pm and guess what? So does the whole population of Abu Dhabi! Once again we were squashed on a bus for quite a while a long with most of the island. It's really time we sorted out this transport thing! We bought a desk for the study (hooray) I can work and blog without wandering around for a signal or sitting on the floor. Also a table and chairs for the balcony, now that it is getting cool enough in the evening to sit out for an aperitif. They are coming on Tuesday evening which will be great.
Saturday morning we finally took the plunge and went to buy a car. We'd seen some great offers on Jeeps and the garage is just a few minutes walk from here so we thought we'd go and take a look. I can't imagine driving a Jeep at home, but here it somehow feels right. I took one out for a test drive - the first time I've driven in Abu Dhabi so I was pretty nervous, especially with John (some teeth sucking but not too much!) and the sales guy in the car offering advice. I enjoyed bowling up and down the Corniche in the test Jeep and we decided to go for it which I'm thrilled about. It's a silver Grand Cherokee with all the bells and whistles - not just parking sensors (which have to be a must when you're used to driving a 3 series BMW) but a camera as well, so there's no excuse for backing into a pillar! It also has sat nav, though without postcodes, I'm not sure how that will work and enough room in the back to bring no end of furniture back from the Mall. I'm picking it up on Monday morning and can't wait to feel I have the freedom to go around the city on my own. I'm also pretty terrified but I'm sure I'll soon get the hang of it. No more buses for us for a bit. I was impressed by how well organised it all was. Because it's a new car, the dealer is organising the registration for us, which sounds like quite a pain if you have to do it yourself and he has also sorted out the insurance, which is a percentage of the purchase price. We had a bit of a hiccup there, as I'd managed to leave the paper copy of my UK licence in the car in Manchester and you need to be able to prove that you've had a licence for some time in order to keep the insurance down. Fortunately John had his or it would have been an expensive mistake.
Saturday we went to the Emirates Palace for lunch to use the voucher that I bid for in Maria's charity auction when I was here in June. It was a buffet (and you know my aversion to buffets) but with just the two of us and a lovely seat by the window, overlooking the gulf and the Emirates Palace beach we had a super lunch.
Back to normal today and a bit less manic this week so far, but I'm sure this will soon change with the careers exhibition later in the week, a dinner tonight with some more prospective candidates for Masdar Institute and a reception on Monday night at the Australian embassy.
Most exciting of all I hope to be on the road by tomorrow morning.

Long time no blog

2009-10-15T08:31:00.000+04:00

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.

Just me in Abu Dhabi

2009-10-08T15:07:00.000+04:00

John went to Boston on Tuesday morning, for a meeting at MIT, leaving me to experience Abu Dhabi on my own for a few days. It was only one meeting but Boston is a long way from here and you have to go via New York or London so it takes the best part of 24 hours each way - what a journey!
I got very used to Manchester on my own when John first came out here but I was a bit nervous about how it would feel in a new country and without a job to go to every day. Even before John went, his first two days this week, were long and hectic, since he'd been away and was off again so I didn't see much of him. It's been a busy week so I certainly haven't been sitting around staring at the walls though I do talk to myself and to the inanimate objects around me!
On Tuesday I went to Dubai to meet up with Phil from PA Consulting who was taking me to meet the Dubai government Human Knowledge and People Development Agency - similar to Ofsted in the UK in that they inspect schools, though they seem to have a wider influence in terms of looking after the quality and general inspection of all education provision. I went to talk about Investors in People and how that works in the UK. We had a really good meeting but I still have to learn what constitutes genuine interest, which may result in action, or what is just politeness - I wonder if I'll ever really know since, on the whole, the Emiratis are always charming and polite. In the evening I went to the Abu Dhabi networking group and met yet more interesting and friendly people. It did feel strange going into a pub on my own and talking to a mixed group of strangers but I met some of the ladies I'd met at Monday's event as well as some new people. The speaker was an Emirati journalist who runs the 'Ask Ali' column in The National - a kind of Muslim agony uncle. I've always enjoyed his column and he was a terrific speaker. He appears to specialise in providing cultural awareness for expats so he had lots of helpful advice and funny stories. He has experience on the other side, as he planned to open a Middle Eastern restaurant in New York on 13 September 2001 and really felt what it was like to be an outsider. I am keen to learn about the culture here and to ensure that I fit in as best as I can. I am always very careful about covering up when outside. I can't decide whether to be impressed or threatened by the unquestioning devotion to their faith which people show. Having been brought up in a culture where you are encouraged to question belief and custom, makes it hard sometimes not to ask more difficult questions, which might well be likely to cause offence without meaning to.
Wednesday was a very busy day. My taxi, which was due to take me a job interview, failed to turn up and, as it was 9am, I couldn't get one on the street. Vowing to get a car as soon as possible and to hate all Abu Dhabi taxi drivers forever, I managed to get hold of the original taxi driver who came eventually and I was only a few minutes late. This is a possible marketing role at another university, this time one which specialises in teacher education. Abu Dhabi are in the process of re-engineering their entire education system, from early years through to PhD and beyond, so being able to educate and train existing teachers as well as the next generation, is going to be crucial to the success of the system and the ability of the country to maintain a sustainable local workforce without having to rely permanently on expats. I love the challenge it could offer and it all seems so familiar, as I grew up in teacher training colleages with Dad being a sociologist who specialised in teacher education and Mum being a headteacher. It all sounded so very similar. I have to go back on Sunday to meet the senior management team as this meeting was with the Provost.
I rushed home and ran round the supermarket, returning home to bake one of my chocolate chip, fudge cake specials, which used to go down so well in Hale, for tonight, before heading off for the second job interview of the day. This was a second interview with the inscrutable company I'd been to before. It was a whole new experience, being put through the interview mill, by two Emirati men in full Arab dress. It seemed to go well though the questioning was very intense and they were not prepared to talk about the company. I know they are involved with defense related projects which made me uncomfortable, being a confirmed pacifist. However, by strange coincidence (and sadly I only found out after floundering through the interview trying to answer questions on possible strategies for a company I knew nothing about!), this is the company that Helen next door works for. She could have given me the inside track. She also put a whole different perspective on the defence activity, saying that Abu Dhabi needs to have weapons and military capability as a deterrent and to ensure that the kind of thing which happened in Kuwait in the early 90's would never happen here. Abu Dhabi needs this to keep the peace. Anyway, I don't think I did the best job that I could in terms of the interview but what an experience!
I then rushed home to cook a huge vat of chilli, make garlic bread, decorate my cake and generally get ready for my girls social night in.
It was lovely to welcome people into my home here and to provide them with food and drink. In the end I had 7 guests and I think everyone had an enjoyable evening. It was a mix of people - really everyone I've met and enjoyed their company since I've been here, so I didn't know how it would go but we seemed to have a good time. I am hoping to do it again soon so I'll know if no-one accepts the invitation next time! When we were in the UK we bought a new camera so that I could take pictures to show people and post on the blog. Last night would have been a great opportunity to take some pictures and I forgot all about it! Hopefully next time I'll have some pictures to show you.
This morning I went to The One and managed to buy some bedroom furniture which is coming on Wednesay so, after that, I will officially be able to receive visitors so please take this as an invitation. I went to Spinneys to buy food for the weekend and bumped into Carmel, who has just come out here to join her husband, who I met on both Monday and Tuesday. Now I really feel like I belong when I meet people I know in the supermarket!
John returns tonight and since he has been out of phone contact most of the time he should be glad that I have this blog. Instead of keeping him awake all night telling him about all the things I've been up to whilst he's been away and boring him with it, I've been able to tell the blog all about it! It's a bit like talking to the furniture but it doesn't feel quite so mad when you can put it on a website!

Back in Abu Dhabi

2009-10-05T17:01:00.000+04:00

Back to our life in Abu Dhabi, though John doesn't have a moment to get used to the time difference or the temperature as he flies out to Boston tomorrow morning - still think of those Etihad air miles he's clocking up! He certainly got straight back into it with loads of meetings to catch up on in between the international jet setting.
As a special welcome back present Etisalat turned up yesterday, completely unannounced, to connect the wireless broadband. It feel like a huge step forward in getting settled and it means I can now sit comfortably in the lounge to blog rather than squashed in a corner of the bedroom. In the end, hopefully, everything will get sorted. No news on the credit cards but hey!
It's a busy week for me too and not just with getting the laundry sorted and adequate food supplies in, though I do plan to do a bit more work on the apartment. Mum gave me some lovely prints of Yorkshire for my birthday which I'd like to get framed and hung and some general bits and pieces to improve the aesthetics. Hopefully we will also have our first visitor at the end of the month as Keith, who was John's witness at the wedding, is planning a trip to this part of the world. This should give me renewed vigour in the furniture buying department to get the spare room kitted out. Plus, now that I have an internet connection I need an office!
Today I went to a women's networking group lunch at the Beach Rotana which was lovely. Everyone is so very friendly round here so once again I met lots of new people. Amazing women with careers, jobs, experience and even entrepreneurs running their own businesses out here. It is very humbing to see how much other women can do and should spur me on to make something happen in my own professional life. A fabulous guy from a Dubai PR company gave an exciting speech about social networking - nothing new for me there, though he has persuaded me to give twitter another look - I've always found it a bit intrusive but I can see how relevant it is in a blackberry world with permanent on line networking. Perhaps I'll link my blog to twitter rather than sticking with linked in.
Tomorrow I'm going to Dubai for the long awaited meeting with the Minister for Knowledge and People Development, which is a bit scary but should be interesting. Then on Wednesday I have a second interview with the mysterious firm that I had a first interview with a few weeks ago. They seem to have moved offices but still can't furnish much information or a job description - still we'll see how it goes. I've also had word that the university where I went for the interview might be interested in using me and work to do some freelance on their marketing literature, whilst they make up their minds on the permanent job front, so plenty of interesting things going on.
There are two more networking events and a speculative meeting with a consultant over the next week so I hope to have something to report very soon and my experiences won't just be about bathplugs and internet connections!
Bad news on the beach front though - the actual beach bit is still not going to be finished for till November so no free access to the sea at present. This is a real shame for those of us who live so close to the sea, as the weather is simply peachy now (sorry to everyone reading this in Manchester and other northern climes). It is still hot and sunny but now feels lovely with a pleasant breeze and a temperature in the late 30's. I promise not to mention the weather too often in the coming months but there needs to be some compensation for not being able to pop to Tesco's for a bottle of Pinot Grigio!

Our trip back to the UK

2009-10-05T08:23:00.000+04:00

I've been absent from the blog due to a busy visit back to the UK. We seemed to do a lot of rushing about trying to squeeze everything in but it was fun and nice to be able to see so many people.
We had a very pleasant flight as John kindly paid for my business class ticket and it was a day time flight so we were able to take full advantage of the champagne, wine and lovely food as well as watching films. It was really great to be back in Manchester and I was so glad we'd kept the apartment. Seeing the familiar sights and popping to Tesco Express - I never thought I'd enjoy it so much! Sunday was a beautiful Autumn day and we went out to Alderley Edge on the train to have lunch with Alison and David which was great and we enjoyed roast pork and red wine for the first time in ages. Monday I went into the office. It was lovely to see everyone though, despite still having a desk, I felt a bit displaced, with everyone so busy about their daily tasks and nothing for me to do but talk. Tuesday was my birthday so we went over to Skipton and went to the Angel at Hetton for a fabulous meal during their Champagne and Seafood festival. It was great to see mum again and on Wednesday we took Kirsty up to Grass Wood to see Dad and Mangar and Jim's memorial woods. The trees were at their most lovely though the special woods were overgrown and Kirsty is too big to carry over the stiles though she tried to run at the fence a couple of times but just got a squashed nose!
On Thursday we went to see Giselle at the Palace - English National Ballet put on a lovely, traditional performance which I enjoyed though John thought there weren't enough fairies and didn't believe me when I told him they were called Willis!
Friday we set off at 6am to drive down to Leysdown to see Isobel. I'm not so used to the early starts these days! We took her to Reads in Faversham to celebrate her 80th birthday - a lovely restaurant with rooms and the weather in the South was a perfect, sunny Autumn, unlike the wind and cloud we'd been experiencing in the North. It was a super place though I prefer my baths at the edge of the room rather than in the middle but I know that's the trendy place to put them now! The food was amazing - another find from the good hotel's guide which has never failed to yield wonderful little hotels with great kitchens.
Sunday we headed off to Wendover to see Rachel, Andrew, Ellie and Alastair and had another lovely day with family. Hopefully they'll be coming to visit us before too long, though Rachel tends to have their holidays organised well in advance.
Monday it was time to start doing some work again so we made our way into London. We left the car at Luton since last time we were in London the hotel charged £45 per night for parking so on top of the congestion charge and the general annoyance of driving in London it seemed like a good move. We stayed at the Sofitel St James which we haven't tried before but is really handy for the Royal Academy of Engineering and proved to be a good choice. John had endless meetings to chair and a visit to Imperial to see the Masdar fellows who are studying for PHD's there. I fitted in an Investors in People steering committee and a board meeting. It's a tough time for the staff at IIP at present as they are being transferred into the UK Council for Education and Skills, which should mean a great future for the standard but a lot of upheaval for the people involved. Like anything involving government it also takes longer than it should and the communication could be better which doesn't help. From next March there won't be any need for a non exec board so I guess my involvement then will become more informal.
On Wednesday I went to Nottingham to meet with Liz at Boots which I really enjoyed - it was great to be back and to hear about everything that is going on. I also enjoyed driving the car from Luton to Nottingham and back as I didn't get much of a turn on the other journeys as John was keen to drive!
Despite all this I managed to find time for a little shopping and we had our customary visit to Rules since it's the game season. It nearly ended in disaster as they had no record of our on line booking, despite having a text and email confirmation. With slightly bad grace they did manage to come up with a table and we had a fabulous meal (roast grouse with all the trimmings!) Wednesday night we went out for dinner with Stratos and Maria, John's friends from Imperial and had a most convivial evening. They took us to an amazing restaurant in Mayfair 'Petit Maison' which seems to be the in place and was certainly buzzing though we ate so late and I'd enjoyed several preprandial beverages so probably wasn't in top form for food appreciation!
You'll have noticed a constant theme of incredible dinners during this trip and you'd be right to wonder how we managed to eat so much! The cooler weather gave us our appetites back and we ate like kings the whole time. It will be short rations and lots of exercise when we get back! Though I did manage to run in Skipton and Leysdown and Kirsty seemed to enjoy her first experience of going running with me. Like Hamish and Magnus before her, shelties make excellent running partners.
Thursday, after more meetings, we headed back to Manchester to get ready for the return to Abu Dhabi. Washing (which is much harder to get dry in Manchester) and tidying up ready to leave the apartment for much longer this time, together with a bit more shopping. I was over ambitious with buying things I haven't found in Abu Dhabi and had a hard job getting my suitcase shut. Rachel bought me a lovely teapot for my birthday which I was determined to take back and did manage to get it in, along with half of Boots, M&S and three bath plugs acquired in Sittingbourne (at last bath plugs for all bathrooms though Kent would be a long way to go to get more!)
Everything sorted we packed up and headed for the airport. Funnily enough I was struggling not to cry as we set off, even though I'd been looking forward to getting back and on with things, it still felt a wrench to think I won't see Manchester till Christmas. However, it was windy and rainy so the thought of some constant sunshine was very cheering.
So a busy couple of weeks and now back to our new life in Abu Dhabi.

Reflections after 5 weeks

2009-09-17T16:20:00.001+04:00

On Saturday we head home for a couple of weeks which should be fun. Not really a holiday since we both have loads of meetings and I will be going into the office for the first time in 5 weeks since I've been on permanent holiday! I'm longing to see my family, friends and work colleagues, especially since I'll be able to share my birthday with my mum and we'll be able to take John's mum out somewhere special to celebrate her 80th which is at the beginning of October. The Eid holiday fell just right for us as everyone will be taking a few days off next week to celebrate the festival and the end of Ramadan so it's allowed us to take a longer trip than we'd originally planned - we've still managed to fill all of the time though!
So being very focussed on achieving things I've naturally been reflecting on what progress I've made since I arrived here. Well I've got the apartment more or less habitable with most furniture and kitchen equipment up and running and it's starting to look a bit more like home. Today's hiccup with the satellite had me wondering but it's all fixed now so we do have TV, telephone and all the main things you need to live comfortably despite the fact that I've singularly failed to get the internet connected.
I'm finding my way round the city with ease - more or less worked out where things are and how to get to places by bus and taxi or on foot and which shops to go to and the best restaurants - someone even stopped to ask me the way yesterday and I was able to tell them once I'd remembered which side of the road they were driving on! I've also developed a great affection for Abu Dhabi and I'm very proud to live here.
Professionally I've had three serious job interviews and have more meetings fixed up for October so hopefully I'm making progress there. I've made lots of lovely new friends which is quite amazing for me as I rarely have time to make friends with people who are not family or directly connected to work so that is a major step forward.
I hope that when I return I might have a functioning bank account though the jury is still out on that one!
Most of all I do feel that I am beginning to get a handle on the culture in a place which is moving forward so incredibly fast. Someone quoted something to me yesterday which I think is very relevant 'never forget that this is a developing country which looks like a developed one' - a handy piece of advice. Whilst people from the West worry a lot about human rights, the position of women in this society and freedom of speech my own experience is that this country is working really hard to improve in all of these areas and, whilst they aren't there yet, or likely to get there tomorrow, there is a will to learn and to embrace change that we could all learn lessons from. The people here are so keen to help out it brings tears to your eyes. I was coming back from the supermarket with loads of bags on an extremely overcrowded bus this afternoon. There was no room to move and getting off was almost impossible. The guys on the bus passed my shopping between them to allow me to get to the exit with all of my load - it was a wonderful experience. I must have had four conversations over the last few days with people about the importance of enabling women to realise their potential and take their place in the world of work and society so it's a topic on everyone's minds and I do hoep it's something I will be able to help with in some ways.
So quite a lot achieved but an awful lot still to do. I'm not in a position to comment as to whether I'm achieving my true purpose here - to make John's life easy and happy whilst he focusses on changing the world but I hope I am and he'd be unlikely to disagree, knowing me as he does!
Whilst I am dying to see my family and friends again I am not alogether sure about coming home just now. I am finally starting to relax and embrace Insha'Allah and settle down so I hope by coming back I don't find I have to start again at the beginning but hopefully not.
I see that I've also managed to make more than 20 postings on this blog in the few weeks I've been here so perhaps I can count that as one of my achievements!

Two job interviews and an Iftar

2009-09-17T14:32:00.000+04:00

Today seems a bit flat after such an exciting and sociable week. Had to wait in this morning for the furniture (hooray a full length mirror at last though it's a bit scary seeing all of yourself after many weeks without!) and for the satellite guys as the TV went off. However, both arrived (together) in time for me to head to the shops before they shut at 1pm - Ramadan hours.
Yesterday was quite a day. I had a telephone interview with the Provost of one of the new US universities who are about to open here, which was great. They're not ready to hire just yet but we had a really good conversation about the challenges and the excitement of the project and we seemed to connect. We did finish by my giving an assurance that, if I get another offer in the meantime, I'll let them know, so that was positive. I love the idea of getting involved with marketing and communications in a start up situation which takes me back to the days of marketing new universities in the UK. The need for international, high quality Higher Education in this young and growing country is so great that a role like this would be very rewarding.
In the afternoon I had a full panel interview at the Petroleum Institute which was a real challenge. There were nine people on the panel and I didn't know beforehand (or even now) who they all were. It was pretty scary but I think I did the best I could. There were some great questions about the value of marketing and its context in an HE environment and what it could achieve for them. I relish that kind of challenge. However, I think the short term need is for immediate production of literature and revamping what is a very good web site. Due to the extended debate around strategic issues I don't think I got across the fact that I'm very willing to produce brochures and get stuck in to the tactical stuff in the short term. Once again I think I gave the impression that I can only work at a senior and strategic level so I'm going to have to work on presenting myself as the hands-on, sleeves rolled up type that I really am!
I had lunch with Maria from Reed which was great - I don't think there is anyone in this city she doesn't know or any networking group that she isn't a part of. As well as a great catch up she brought me some interview tips and notes (she is a professional recruitment consultant after all) which really helped me to focus on the interview. We went to Hemingways at the Hilton, which in the evenings is a popular expat hang out, so I'm keen to go back outside Ramadan and experience the full effect.
In the evening we went to the Masdar City family Iftar which was a lovely event. We took up the whole of one of their huge ballrooms (600 plus seats) and at the Emirates Palace everything comes big. It was a really relaxed event with games, balloons and activity laid on for all the children who were running around having a great time. I wasn't at my most sociable following a day of interviews but managed to chat to some of John's colleagues and their wives and enjoy the sumptuous buffet.
They had this brilliant idea, which actually worked much better than I though it would, to have a quiz and then hand out prizes for each correct answer drawn. Shamefully I was unable to answer most of the questions (about renewable/sustainable energy and Masdar) but John's colleague Tariq entered into the competitive spirit and got us organised. The prizes were an incredible mix - some involved getting a 25% discount from a struggling shop, whilst others were weekend breaks, flight tickets and holidays. We didn't win any, despite Tariq's valiant efforts at getting all the questions right, but enough were won by Masdar Institute students to ensure that honour was satisfied. The lady who won the break to Bangkok was so thrilled that you could only be glad for her - it would have been wasted on us in comparison!
We sneaked upstairs afterwards to sample the Emirates Palace bar and enjoyed a glass of very superior (and expensive) wine, which was fantastic. I'm just sorry I wasn't better company as it was a really nice evening. All in all it was a packed day and no wonder that today feels a little less exciting!

John in action

2009-09-17T10:34:00.001+04:00

Here are some pictures taken of John with the new students in their first week of study - a great man in action.

Impressions of Abu Dhabi

2009-09-16T08:44:00.001+04:00

Yesterday we had lunch with the most delightful American couple who are thinking about moving over here. We'd met the husband at one of the Iftar's we went to and he'd brought his wife over to see what she thought about the place. Knowing where they live it must certainly be a hard choice, whereas going from a city centre apartment in Manchester to one in Abu Dhabi is less of a complete change of living experience. Everyone is different so you couldn't possibly advise someone on what will work for them.
It reminded me of my first visit to Abu Dhabi back in March and how differently I view the city after just a few weeks of living here. Back then I remember thinking it was a very hostile environment for human beings to live and work in - especially out in the desert where they're building Masdar city, but then all of this was desert too at one stage (and the sand does still find it's way into the apartment from somewhere). Now I don't see it as hostile at all, despite the heat it is lovely to go out in sunshine every day and everywhere looks really pretty with the blue sky and turquoise sea. I also don't find the air conditioning quite so cold any more. Back in March it felt very foreign and not like a place I could imagine living in whereas after just a short space of time I can compare shops, take a bus, find a good restaurant (well that bit's easy except during Ramadan when you can't tell who's open when, who's serving wine and who's only doing Iftar) and have met so many new friends. Everyone is definitely more friendly whether expat or local so the people make up for any hostility in the environment. Culturally of course it is very different, being founded on very strong religious faith and different traditions but it's amazing how this sits alongside the demands of the twenty first century - not always easily but somehow it does work.
I went for a cup of tea with the friend I met at the British Business Group, who has an apartment in the Baynunah, which is just across the road which was a very pleasant experience. Being a block nearer the corniche they have an amazing view and the apartment is lovely. We had home baked cakes and tea, which reminds me that I really must buy a mixing bowl and some cake tins - I was forced to use a saucepan to mix apple crumble when John's old university friend came round for a meal last week! She has lived all over the world so Abu Dhabi doesn't feel like quite such a challenge whereas for me it's my first experience of life as an expat. However, I think it's getting easier and I am more relaxed about things though it's a gradual process. There will always be new challenges that I haven't yet encountered and of course I have still to take to the roads!
Well, whatever our new American friends decide, I am hoping (selfishly) that they will come as I am very much looking forward to getting to know them better.

Interview time

2009-09-16T08:30:00.001+04:00

Well sending the CV's out certainly seems to have created some action which hopefully will lead to something before too long. I went for the interview on Monday which came out of the blue and I'm still none the wiser, though I would guess that nothing will come out of that one. I managed to get a taxi and with the help of the map the driver and I eventually found the offices - though finding the entrance was another challenge. The panel of three turned into a panel of one and I still didn't have any clue as to what the company did (software development I understand though for what applications they didn't seem very keen to enlighten me!) The Head of Talent Management interviewed me, though it was hard to talk about my experiences without any kind of context and no job description. It all seemed more like an informal chat over a coffee (though without the coffee with it being Ramadan). The organisation didn't seem to have a marketing department at all, so there is no doubt that there is a need but it was hard to know whether I could fulfill it or not. I wonder if my CV looks a bit intimidating - it tends to focus on the big stuff and not mention that I spend most of my time actually doing things. Hard to know how to say that I also fill out briefs, job bags (though not on the system!), write copy and book postings on job boards on a daily basis. I also wonder who's consolidating the milk and throwing away the old stuff or whether the fridge at work is now crammed with milk bottles with just a drop in them?!
Today I have a phone interview with the Provost of one of the new universities here -luckily I asked for directions as to how to find them as no-one mentioned that it was a phone call until that point! Then this afternoon I have a panel interview for the job at the university I went to see on Thursday. This job looks really interesting - managing all of their external and internal comms and at present I'm pretty keen but we'll have to see what they think of me. I had to supply references and fill in an on line application which took a bit of doing with a dodgy internet connection. It was all a bit overwhelming and I hope I did it all correctly. It's a long time (if ever) since I submitted formal applications for jobs and sat through panel interviews. I hope they don't want me to do a numerical reasoning test as I know I'm rubbish on that score! Still it's all good experience and I have a couple more meetings organised for after the Eid break so there's plenty more opportunity if these don't work out.

Making professional progress

2009-09-13T14:27:00.000+04:00

Last week I thought it was high time I started to think of ways of using my professional skills and experience before I bore everyone to tears with tales of Bisto, curtains and internet connections! I sent out some of the CV's that I've been preparing, to demonstrate my experience and background in a number of areas, to everyone in John's contact book who looked like they might be interested.
It has been a very produtive exercise and one that I hope will bear some fruit either in terms of consultancy or employment for me whilst I'm out here.
On Thursday I met up with the couple from the agency who do marketing for Masdar. I've very much admired the work which they did and it was fascinating to hear the background and to hear more about what it's like working out here (all sounds very familiar and similar to working with clients in the UK actually!) We swapped lots of notes and stories and ended up turning coffee into lunch - yes the Shangri La finds a way of catering at coffee and lunch time to those of us who aren't fasting! It was great to meet them and to talk about work for a change.
On Thursday afternoon I went to meet the Provost of one of the other universities and he actually does have a marketing role that he's looking to fill. He's very keen, though we're now struggling to find a date for a panel interview that fits in with Eid and our trip back to the UK. I also had to fill in a lot of scary forms and try and arrange some references in a bit of rush and I've yet to hear more about the important details of this role - like budget, team, objectives and salary package. Still it sounds promising.
I had a call this morning from an organisation who've been passed my CV by someone else - lot's of that goes on, and they've invited me for an interview tomorrow, though I've no idea what for at this stage, so I'm not going to be very well prepared.
About 3 other people are getting back to me with dates for initial meetings so I feel heartened that my experiences may have some value. I was beginning to wonder since I'm not an Emirati and I don't speak Arabic but all being well - Insha'Allah, then there may be something exciting for me to do.

Weekend in Dubai

2009-09-13T14:18:00.000+04:00

This weekend we went to Dubai for a 'mini break' which we enjoyed. It's a quiet time for hotels, towards the end of Ramadan and the really hot weather, so we got a great deal on 2 nights at the Meridien. Funnily enough I had a vision of Dubai as a sort of expat heaven - wouldn't want to live there as you can't walk around - but actually all the same rules apply, especially at this time of the year. One difference is that the shopping malls do open at 10am, even on a Friday and The Mall of the Emirates is attached to the Kempinski Hotel, which managed to cater for us non Muslim expats by having a secret restaurant behind a curtain where we were able to have lunch and coffee. John's not a great shopper though so apart from a foray to Debenhams for more cushions and some cake tins we didn't make much progress in the furniture department!
We ate in the hotel both nights - at the steak restaurant on Thursday where John had a piece of steak the size of a pillow which he said was lovely. Being a non steak eater I enjoyed my Barramundi and the puddings were fabulous. On Friday night we met up with Mark Rix, who I've known for years in his role of MD at the MEN and his partner Zoe. It was great to catch up, Mark's been here for nearly 9 months now, as CEO of one of the main English language papers here, 7days.
Even in Dubai the hotel couldn't serve coffee in their lounge or alcohol before 7.30pm so I am completely convinced now that Abu Dhabi is the best place to be even if an internet connection and a credit card are beyond my organisational powers at present!
John's driver took us and brought us back which added to the sense of being on holiday, being driven around in the posh Lexus, but the hotel pool was being repaired and we decided that actually it was a bit hot still for the beach. We came back to Abu Dhabi refreshed and ready for John to head off for a busy week and work and me with renewed vigour for getting things done around the apartment.

Still waiting!

2009-09-13T11:23:00.000+04:00

Following an exciting three days I'm back in the apartment waiting for things to arrive! We finally got bank cards on Thursday (in fact John got two for some reason!) However, the PIN numbers are proving a little more of a challenge since a different courier company has promised to deliver them on three occasions and so far failed to turn up. Without a PIN mumber the cards are not much use and there's no sign of any credit cards though I don't think I can face waiting around for another week for those to show up!
I've pretty much given up on getting the broadband installed before the end of Ramadan but I did go and buy a handset so we could use the land line. However, the all important cable which connects the handset to the box on the wall was missing when I went to set it up so it's back to the shop with that one as well. SUCCESS AT LAST! I went back to the shop and got a handset with a cable and the landline actually works - it's a small victory but a step forward none the less.
I'm sure you'll be delighted to know that the courier finally turned up with 3 PIN numbers. However, after all this waiting, I discover that all we have are ATM cards as HSBC don't do debit cards here (the world's local bank indeed!) and they haven't ordered us any credit cards despite that being one of the main reasons for opening the account. So in banking terms I'm back to square one, without any way of paying for things out here with a Dirham account, so I'm still using my HSBC UK account which is a daft way to pay for things. However, at least I have that to be going on with.
I've discovered a bus service which goes directly from outside the apartment to the Marina Mall via various other shopping destinations. It costs 1 Dirham (there are 6 to the £) and goes every 10 minutes so I no longer have to panic too much about getting a taxi. Today I even managed to come back on the bus with 2 huge, wicker laundry baskets and no-one thought I was odd! Long live public transport. We admired the new Metro when we were in Dubai at the weekend though we didn't go on it. It would be great to have one of those in Abu Dhabi but even if they start on it now (they're waiting to see how well the one in Dubai works first) it won't be finished during our time here.

Frustrations and highlights

2009-09-09T10:06:00.001+04:00

Yesterday was a trying one though, like everything here there were lots of good points as well. A chap from Etisalat actually turned up - only 24 hours late. However, having fiddled about a bit he then had to leave for a while (to pray, I think, which is not something that usually happens in the UK). However, he did return and connected the landline,or at least I think he did as I haven't been able to get out and buy a handset yet. Then, despite having not one, but two, boxes containing ADSL broadband wireless modems with him, he left without connecting the internet which was not his job, he explained and the boxes were for other customers. He said he might be coming back to fit them or someone else might come - I asked him when and he shrugged and said 'maybe tomorrow' (like The Pretenders song 'maybe tomorrow, maybe someday') I was tempted to barrricade him into the apartment until he fitted one but I thought better of it. The call centre assured me that the technician should have done both jobs at the same time but couldn't shed any light on the matter. Whilst we were out in the evening there was a missed call on John's phone from the magic technicians number which no-one answers when you call back but, as we don't have voice mail we don't know what they were calling about so meanwhile I wait! Most days I can pick up a very weak wireless signal if I balance the laptop on my knees in one corner of the bedroom so whilst ever that works I am not completely cut off though with very stiff knees!
HSBC also phoned to admit there had been a mistake in setting up the bank account which was now rectified and I would be in receipt of 2 debit cards and 2 pin numbers - all arriving at unspecified times from separate courier companies. I'm glad to know how seriously they take security that these cards can't be delivered to the bank for me to collect but it does involve a lot of waiting around. They've also set up the text alerts for whenever a card is used - now that's a really clever piece of technology which means you know immediately when your card gets used and can call if it isn't you. However, they seem to set it up twice on my number rather than on mine and John's - still it means I'll be able to keep a close eye on his spending patterns! Be a shame to know about those surprise birthday gifts from Harvey Nichols or Tiffany before the event though!!!!
Having stayed in for 24 hours to not achieve very much I was able to stomp up the road to Abela and buy some food and then carry what felt like a hundred weight of shopping home in the heat.
Ameer, the building manager arrived in the middle of all of this with bath plugs - amazing. However, they were the wrong sort and would work well in the basins but not in the baths, so back to the drawing board on plugs.
John took me out to dinner to compensate for all the frustrations of the day which was lovely. Being still new to the whole Ramadan concept we made the mistake of going out to look for a taxi just after the Magreb call to prayer - not dissimilar to wandering out to find a taxi immediately following the 3 minute warning. The streets were deserted and even after prayers every cab was heading for Iftar after a day of fasting. We were pretty hungry too but we changed our plan of going to the Sheraton and walked up Hamdan St to the French restaurant in the Novotel. It is definitely cooler now at dusk as we managed the 15 minute walk without looking too much like drowned rats! They'd moved the restaurant upstairs - I guess they open at lunchtime and the downstairs room can be seen from the street and it is forbidden to serve food in places on view between sunrise and sunset - so we were denied the 'authentic Parisienne brasserie with red check table cloths' promised by the guide but the food was lovely, especially accompanied by a glass of bubbly and beaujolais. It was a really nice evening and we managed to walk back as well.
I don't know if I've mentioned the guide before but it is a book I would strongly recommend to anyone coming to live in Abu Dhabi or even coming on a visit - Abu Dhabi explorer. It is a mine of useful information about everything from getting a visa to where to live and what to tip and the restaurant information is incredibly comprehensive (though very positive about all of them!)To be fair though I haven't had a meal here that wasn't absolutely superb and the quality of the meat and produce is stunning. Time Out is also full of useful information and snippets about new places opening as well as the plethora of activities and courses though they're all things you can do 'after work', a time which doesn't really exist in my world at present! I've now seen several copies of the Time Out 'Guide to Ramadan' which is great on the cultural aspects but doesn't mention anything along the lines of 'don't even think about trying to get an internet connection, bank account, a taxi or have anything delivered in a hurry!'

Patience is a virtue

2009-09-07T14:29:00.000+04:00

Still no broadband connection or landline at the apartment though it seems to mystify the customer service people at Etisalat as much as it does us! We got excited last night when we finally received a call to say they would come today between 11 and 12 but it's now 2.30 and still no sign - but then they may have meant between 11 and 12 at night. The chap I spoke to told me it was completely unacceptable and he was going to complain personally to his manager - they are so charming and friendly but it doesn't seem to get the job done. I seem to have a similar problem with the bank. I was feeling very pleased with myself for getting HSBC to set up a joint account here in Abu Dhabi complete with credit cards and a briefcase as a free gift. Being a Premier customer in the UK seemed to work wonders. However, after 2 weeks I am in receipt of one cheque book, which is a fat lot of use, since, just as in the UK, no-one much takes cheques and certainly not without a card. No-one seems to know why or be able to make cards appear but they are very polite and charming about it! The retailers, however, are just brilliant. Furniture arrives when they say it will and is built in front of your eyes and then they take the packaging away. Our new chair, footstool and mirror are taking a bit longer to arrive due to Ramadan but I am convinced that they will turn up next Thursday as promised. This will be good as there is no mirror anywhere near a plug so I am reduced to using the GHDs with a tiny make up mirror and weird hair as a result!
Endless patience is very important and something which I am trying to learn. I was reading a book we were recommended called 'Don't they know its Friday' which talks about the culture and way things work. It's so helpful and has given me some real insight which makes life easier. Round here personal relationships (especially family) are of paramount importance and 'tomorrow is in the hands of God'. I do like to give God a helping hand though when I can.
Today I got my driving licence so very soon I have to take a deep breath and take to the roads which will save me from lugging things around in taxis but is a bit scary, especially as we drive on the wrong side of the road in the UK! John's driver came with me to help me manage my way through all the red tape and different ticket numbers and queueing systems. He has to be one of the loveliest people I've met in a country full of lovely people. With his help I managed the eye test, the right forms and received my licence at the end of it. We were also able to have a good chat. He offered lots of help with driving 'I am the driver of Dr John Perkins' he said 'and you can call me at 3am and I will come'. However tempting that would be (not at 3am) when I have bags of shopping I don't think I would want to abuse the privilege.
Yesterday John had a meeting in Dubai and I went a long for the ride. I discovered the Mall of the Emirates which is certainly a shopaholics dream with every luxury brand available and seemingly endless shops (including Harvey Nics though I shall try to stay away until I've got a regular salary again!) I was able to see the indoor ski slope - how crazy is that in a desert country?! but couldn't compare it to the chill zone since I've never seen the indoor slope in Manchester. I think they're more used to catering for us non fasting westerners or more sympathetic in Dubai as I found a secret coffee shop behind a curtain and was able to indulge in a cappucino which felt very naughty in the morning. I went mad in Debenhams on the grounds that we had John's car and driver so by the time they picked me up I was laden down with cushions, teapots, jugs and oven gloves - all things I've failed to find in Abu Dhabi.
We're heading to Dubai again at the weekend for a couple of nights, as the weekend activity is a bit limited here during Ramadan and the beach is currently being redeveloped to open at the beginning of October (when sensible people want to go on the beach as it isn't so hot!) I prefer Abu Dhabi as a place to live but it will be fun to go on a mini holiday to Dubai.
Hopefully by the time we return to the UK for a visit at the end of September my patience will have been rewarded and we will have a bank account and an internet connection but then again maybe not.

John Perkins media star

2009-09-05T18:59:00.000+04:00

Following a great article about John and the Masdar Institute in the Straits Times in Singapore they were featured in two of our major national papers today. The new students officially start courses tomorrow so he was interviewed by The National and Gulf News on Thursday and two articles appeared today.
You should be able to view The National by following the link

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090905/NATIONAL/709049852

However, if that doesn't work just go to The National's web site and key in 'Masdar' into the search engine and you will get the article. I'm still working on the link to Gulf News.
Today John has gone to Iftar with the Minister for Higher Education which is a great honour and he is waiting the call to meet the Crown Prince. I am so proud of him and the work he is doing. I am trying to make sure that it gives me a purpose for being here which has to be more in terms of changing the world than anything I've done before. Unfortunately I do find it hard when that purpose has a habit of getting in the way of the weekend! However, I don't imagine anyone changed the world during office hours 5 days a week!

Jenny's Blog

Goodbye Abu Dhabi

Last few tasks

Goodbye Arab Bank Building

Goodbye to work

Signing out from the Abu Dhabi experience

Beach life

More interesting takes on working life

Relaxing at the Shangri La

Jenny Through the Looking Glass

More fun in and outside work as it hots up!

Why have one job when you could have more fun doing 3?

Masdar Institute - a green university is born

Al Ain Careers Fair

100 posts and still going!

Ensuring a work/life balance

More stories from the parallel universe

It's a mad world and somehow I'm living in it!

Volcanic ash puts paid to long awaited visit

Perfect wedding anniversary at the Shangri La

Back in Abu Dhabi and back to work

The rest of the UK trip

John's surprise party

John's surprise party

Celebrations for John's 60th

Tooth ache and preparation for UK trip

The ups and downs of life!

Still plugging away

The Hajar Mountains

Ras Al Khaimah - a whole new experience

Foreign trips for John

Turning the corner at work?

Another load of ups and downs

Making the most of it

Pictures of Abu Dhabi from a new perspective

Goats and dhows

EAI Awareness raising

A roller coaster ride

Still far too British

A short apology

Palace of Mirages (Qasr Al Sarab)

An amazing weekend in the desert

WFES in pictures

Finding the path through the trees at last

World Future Energy Summit Part Two!

World Future Energy Summit Abu Dhabi

success for ECAE

Christmas in pictures

Getting better at blogging

One week in and getting there

Back in Abu Dhabi - New Year New Career!

Into the New Year

A wonderful Christmas

End of year and back to the UK

John on CNN

Christmas time in the rain

Getting ready for Christmas in the rain

A busy week after the holiday

Oman trip in pictures

A wonderful week in Muscat

Masdar summit

National day in pictures

My first National Day celebrations

Bird's eye view of Abu Dhabi

School visits

Visit by the President of MIT

School visits week

A working week and a quiet weekend

Meeting the team

Manchester and Abu Dhabi in partnership

A weekend stroll on the Corniche

A busy time

Training with the recruitment team at ECAE

An interesting week

Julian and Bettina Sargent on the Julian's 60th birthday and a duck!

Images of the Grand Prix

Formula 1 - a triumph for Abu Dhabi

My first experience of training Abu Dhabi style

John enjoys a joke at the Najah careers exhibition

On the road again