What's up Goodes?

Go The Manu!

The Manu Samoa had their first RWC game today against Namibia.  I slept all of 3 hours last night and am still awake almost 24 hours later.  I just couldn't settle last night, butterflies in my stomach, I felt so nauseous at one point I thought I'd pass out! 

It didn't help that the Go The Manu video was posted at bedtime and it was truly inspiring, of course it made me cry like the sookie that I am.   I also couldn't help myself and watched it almost a dozen times :)  I loved how the creators fit the pictures to specific lyrics of the song.  I have a whole lot to say about the game but for now here's the video of Samoans from all over the world uniting to send a message to our Manu Samoa.

 

We're in there, somewhere :)

Now it's another 4 sleeps wait for Samoa vs Wales.  This ones a toughie, so we need to step up, reduce the ball handling errors, the backs need to watch their passes and keep an eye on that ball because Wales, Fiji and South Africa aren't going to show any mercy and they will punish us for the tiniest mistakes.

Go The Manu!

...holiday continued

After rolling about in the back of the car much to our drivers amusement - luckily he wasn't offended at our lack of respect for one of the islanders most historical attractions, we headed off to see some birds, snakes, elephant show and the crocodiles.  I let Rich go and watch the snake show on his own, creepy crawlies I can mostly handle but snakes put the fear of fiery hell in me...YUCK!!

We then went to the local temple.  The bottom of the stairs by the village area is littered with tourist shops and restaurant with trinkets and memorabilia galore.  The temple though was in need of a lot of TLC and when you climb the first lot of stairs there is a shack where you can donate money to help refurbish the temple by the monks themselves.  You could make a donation and write your name on a tile that will help make the roof.  It's the hopeless romantic in me I suppose, I quite like the idea of having my name on the roof of somewhere dozens of prayers are captured.

The rest of the holiday was sedate spent by the pool reading, swimming, tanning and happy hour - oh the glorious dusk happy hours :)

We also watched a cabaret show at Moulin Rouge, it was great fun and I think I spent half the time cheering and clapping the transvestites as they performed.  I got a few waves from several of them and after the show, a few gave me hugs, maybe they thought I was one bwahahaha.

Happy ending? nahhhh chus chokes 

Scariest looking dancer there!  Check out her "bossom"

Rhianna in the house ;)

I got my hair braided in the town area, spent 1200 baht for the pleasure which was super cheap considering I used to have my hair corn row braided for £70.00 so £25 was a bargain!  It took about 6 girls, 3 who were permanently braiding and 3 others who would help when they didn't have a customer.  Luckily I had a book in my bag which helped me through the tedious 2 1/2 hours, boy was my back sore afterwards.  

That beginning of the braiding where you're all excited....

Then boredom kicks in and thank goodness you have a book handy!

finished product, Ta-dah!

We ate and ate and ate, looked at each in disgust and ate some more.  The food was so cheap and delicious.  Can you imagine me on the beachfront and not gorging myself on fresh lobsters, muscles, crabs yummmm.  I paid for it dearly...well, I'm still paying for it dearly but oh my my my, it was worth every morsel!

hmmmmmm

 

The best part of the holiday was being able to spend time with each other without work or other people there.  Re focus our energies on ourselves and as corny as this is going to sound, on our marriage :)  There's always room for a little romance doncha think? 

Lots of changes coming up, so the next few months will be interesting for the Goodes.

God Bless and Alofa atu

xx

We got on a plane and took a holiday...finally!

That was one heck of a holiday.

We started out with the much needed and anticipated trip to Thailand.  A last minute decision to ditch the stress inducing itinerary of Greece in favour of a much simpler idea of rest and relaxation led us to the island of Koh Samui.  Tiny, heavily populated and what seemed like 98% dependant on tourism, this small island reminded us of Samoa...except Samoa is prettier (of course it is lol).

 

 

We checked into what was supposed be a 5 star hotel called Sareeraya which turned out to be a very small boutique hotel, one restaurant with access to a lovely beach and arguably one of the best beaches if not the best beach on the island.  The entrance way was quite lacking in warm tones, the veneer a little cold and grey but our driver was lovely and we were welcomed with big smiles and cold lemon tea which we call Laumoli back home.  It was deliciously refreshing especially after the long journey.  Unfortunately the room we had been allocated was on the main road which wasn't too bad except that we could hear all the outside noise whilst lying on our beds.  We could also hear next doors TV and if we could hear that, well I'll let you use your imagination on that one!

We asked to speak to the manager who turned out to be a completely unhelpful and incompetent idiot with no customer service manner in the slightest.  He insisted they had no other rooms(he was lying) and made no disguise of his anger at being disturbed at 8pm.  I held my temper in check and told him without the use of violent gestures that his attitude was disgusting and that I expected a full refund for the rest of our intended stay, regardless of the fact that we had booked a non refundable room.  5 Star my *pebbles*!!!  We received our refund after which I called for the manager and told him that his hotel was an aspiring 5* but could only muster a 3* at best due to the lack of quality staff namely the manager...I'm not silly, money in hand first before the insults fly, thank you.

The next day, being typically me, we perused 3 hotels before settling for the Anantara Bo Phut Resort and Spa and we really enjoyed it there.  Set in lush gardens with a fantastic backdrop of beach sunsets, we'd booked a suite and boy it sure was sweet!  Huge, a bathtub big enough for 3 adults, walk in changing area, his and her sinks (score!  Rich wouldn't be able to blame the dratted toothpaste in the sink on me!)  A TV that swivelled to face the living area or the bed depending on where you fancied watching from.  Now that's 5 star :)

We went on an Elephant trek for an hour, our guide Preen I swear must have been high from either the fumes of the trucks doing jungle treks or something more herbal found in the bushes where we were trekking.  Whilst every other guide took the sedentary well worn and smooth paths, we were taken down the steep inclines, along the rocky terrain and our Elephant Shinra took it all in his stride adding some of his comical personality into it, pretending not to hear Preen telling him to get a move on and when Preen told him to squirt water out of his truck he squirted us AND Preen.  Although I was a nervous wreck to begin with, riding such a massive animal wasn't the concern, it was the rickety old seat on Shinras back that worried me!  I managed to calm down and we enjoyed ourselves so much that Rich jumped down from the seat and rode Shinra bareback which was awesome.  And because he's a most awesome husband, he also risked sliding off and breaking his neck to put this jersey on over his T Shirt for that all too important Kodak Moment ;)

We took a day trip around the island and spent time visiting local touristy places...as you do.  One of the most enchanting spots was grandfather and grandmother rock.  We were told the story before we arrived of an elderly and man and woman who were out at sea in a dangerous storm, they were shipwrecked and their were bodies washed to shore where they died and turned to stone.  I had in my romantic daydream pictured the rocks as outlines of 2 bodies grasping onto one another even in death.  Initially we thought this was grandmother and grandfather rock...

 

and were deeply puzzled as to how on earth they looked like humans...we tried twisting our heads left to right almost toppling over trying to angle our sight into seeing the phenomenon, utterly perplexed...like dude, where are they?

 

...until we shamelessly stole someone else's guide and asked him to point it out to us and he told us to turn around and voila...

The he said and Grandmother Rock is down there, you have to wander down a bit and so Rich wandered down whilst I watched from my safe perch...

There you have it!  It was difficult to keep a straight face whilst walking back to the car...did you see those rocks? lol

end of part 1...or more to the point I'm lazy, more to follow *ahem* soon 

Go Bless and Alofa atu

xox

Fresh Start and Focus

Changed name...yet again and design...yes another yet again but more purpose (I hope!) 

My auntie reminded me that I hadn't updated this blog in more than a year...apprently the previous post doesn't count because it was a one off, meet my auntie the drama queen.  She also reminded me that it had been almost 6 months since my last email and though she often got peeved at my lack of concern for the comings and goings in her life, she was even more annoyed that I wasn't updating her about ours, even if she had to read it on "your story page" as she calls our blog.

So I've done a bit of a revamp and will be updating for the sake of our mums, aunts and anyone else who still wonders this way.

Be warned, you may(probably) be bored to tears but thanks for tuning in regardless.

Nets

Childs Birthday Party in the Park - Perfect place for a bit of fashion :)

My friend Kelly had her daughters birthday party at the park.  It was a themed birthday and the games were all based around the theme. 

Auntie Nets quickly assumed the role of the official photographer (a regular move I make at childrens parties) to avoid accidentally being roped into being a guinea pig for the kids to catch aka scratch or maim...been there, done that, you can have the t-shirt thanks! 

When the games had been exhausted, the birthday song heard over the 10 acres or so of parkland and the cake demolished, we got the football out for a game of footy - as you do when you are at the park.  Call me sad, but the looks on the mums faces when they saw the ball come out was priceless and I wish it had been my camera as I would have had a few examples to share with you.  Never mind, you will just have to picture it in your mind.

Imagine 5 mums wearing floaty maxi dresses, freshly manicured hands and feet...high wedges, sunnies to protect the meticulously made up eyes and perfect make up.  Now picture a rouge ball sailing through the air at them. Ahhhh it was a beautiful sight to be sure.  I like to replay it in slow motion in my mind, it maximises the giggles.  I don't think I have seen a ninja move at the speed these ladies did; up came the arm to protect the face, a quick swoosh of colourful material as they ducked and dodged.  One lady in one deft movement, muscled her husband in-front of her with 5 manicured fingers without chipping a single nail.

It made me smile even more when the kids started begging their mums to play and hearing the responses of "No one told me we'd be playing football today", "I would have worn trainers if I had known" and the best one "I wish she had said something in the invite about it being a rough birthday party" LOL  The invite said it was at the park, with games and to wear something comfortable - I can't think where designer dresses, heels and a manicure fits in that category :)

...and here we go again

A new year, a new resolution to keep this blog up to date and months of forgetting it by the wayside whilst I haul arse and sort out much more meangingless things in my life :)

For months, I've been pondering on a new blog name and design change to something that reflects the most current me or the way I see it, the me that I have come to accept and whom I have no choice but to send out to do my days bidding in favour of a model not yet available on amazon.  Alas, it's now the 6th day of the Lords year of twenty thousand and ten years and no lightening bolt moment of inspiration for blog change yet so we'll have to see where that gets us.

So my New Years Revolutions go something like a broken record with of course the broken record promise of "this time, I really mean it" :-)  Bless my little heart for trying but in the spirit of not breaking with tradition in the hope that maybe this year will be the year that resolutions are made, kept and delivered, I will put it out there for all to see...all over again.  What better year than the first turn of the decade since the millennium?  Since we jumped into the 2000's half wondering if this was it, the year of human extinction, the coming of the J Man, the year of judgement day.  Thank goodness it wasn't otherwise I'd be stuck playing ping pong with Hitler and the cronies thinking if only I had done this and that differently and if I had know I would never have burnt my sisters doll because it looked at me funny.

But I digress!

My resolutions:  

• do something that resembles exercise on a regular basis...at least once a week  (I know it's not an original thought and mainly inspired by the absolutely gluttonous behaviour over the festive season but to make this list authentic, it just has to be on it!) - Being truly honest from the beginning can only mean I will fulfil the resolution and shock horror, may just exceed expectations :)
• Make new friends - because bloody Mega lives in Oman and isn't around all the time and I love meeting new people :) luff you Megs and work harder on my current friendships.
• Find a new hobby
• Trust my judgement more and care less of what other people think.

Shouldn't be too difficult, though I fear I may struggle a tad bit on 1 & 2... number 3 should be a breeze, I could always start collecting wine bottles, empty ones :) 

Good Luck to any of you with resolutions out there!  And in the words of the child labour, franchised whore of a sports company but whose gear I still buy and therefore am part of the whole exploitation merry go round, Just do it :)

Hooray we're here and on holiday :)

We flew into London to a lovely grey overcast sky...what a surprise ;)  Stopped by Duty free to pick up a few goodies and then proceeded to arrivals where we started discussing how to get to mum's place.  We had forgotten to sort it out and by the night before we flew out only realised we hadn't arranged transportation.

After haggling (I know, it never ends!) with 3 different car rental places we finally decided on Hertz who were kind enough to demand only 1 kidney, part of our sanity and the entire contents of our pension plan...bargain!

We had to take a complimentary shuttle bus to pick up our rental car which wouldn't have been a problem, except that we had to walk outside and wait for the bus.  Problem was I was wearing flip flops and a light cardigan and our coats were in the suitcase as I hadn't thought that far ahead when dressing at 4am in the morning for our flight!!  So there I was, toes quickly turning to icicles in 8 degree weather and a southerly wind that left your bones chattering in under your skin!!

By the time we picked up the car, amazingly, the sun had come out.  The drive home to Northampton was lovely, weak sunshine and lots of greenery!  It's amazing how much our moods have changed since arriving.  Now making the last of the Christmas shopping list and writing out those cards.  

New toy

On Saturday night I replaced my mobile which I'd had for going on 5 years :)  It was playing up, I wasn't receiving text messages or phones calls and when one did get through it was in some funny squiggle lines.  Rich has been on my back to get a new phone for the last year.  It had places on the screen with thick lines across it which made reading texts a bit of a mission, trying to scroll down just far enough to see the letters and make out the word.  It's favourite game was switching off in the middle of conversations or just when someone was ringing me :)

When it finally gave up the ghost last Thursday/Friday I finally started entertaining the idea because my landline didn't work either.  The landline saga was finally resolved in the weekend after 2 weeks.  It had gotten to the stage where I would have to go down to the little switch board thingy in the storage cupboard reboot it and hope that I got a dial tone.  I only did it when I was desperate as a)it wasn't always guaranteed to work 30/70%chance and b) it always broke again after 30 minutes of rebooting it.  I think the last person I spoke to was Mega on Wednesday before it broke again for good.  So I needed some way of communicating to Rich whilst he was at work and decided to go ahead and buy a phone.

say hello to my new friend and tiger's new bestie!

 

I was absolutely adamant on two things, It had to be nokia(reliable!) and I was not getting an iPhone since I got Tiger(iPod touch) for my birthday from the Hilbrons which does everything except make calls and texts.  It is very sexy and I'm glad Rich talked me into getting it!

So I'm sorry if I haven't gotten in touch, replied to texts or if it felt like I was ignoring you the last 5 days or so, as you can see from the previous post, I was in a bit of a slump, had no working phones and no husbands phone on which to make calls from since he was working.

Any ideas on what to name my new sexy toy?

   

Best laid plans...

Eid Holiday has come to an end and sorrowfully I did not do what I intended this holiday.

We were meant to go to Oman to see Mega, Alex and Tau but instead I spent most of the last 4 days on my own.

Plans are made to go awry I'm sure and perhaps because of my compulsive nature I must have an extra bright beacon that attracts last minute hitchs and glitches to even the best laid plans.

I've never been to Oman before (save the wee trip for my birthday in August to the Northern bit which I still haven't blogged about but that was a doddle and it was just a sleepy seaside town) and hadn't realised that we would need car insurance.

To begin with, we'd decided that we were going to drive to Oman seeing as it was so much cheaper than flying, a somewhat enjoyable 5-6 hour road trip and an experience to share with the grandchildren in years to come.  I thought we were all set, what with my having a passport which didn't require a visa and a vehicle in which to transport our good selves across the border, through the burgeoning desert hills and directly to Muscat.  That morning I told Rich to take the car to work as I was staying home to pack and lock up the house as well as sort out the lady who was going to check in on things whilst we were away.  Shortly after 10am I had packed our bags, delivered the check list to Ashika and was passing the hours on the net till Rich arrived home to change and put me in the drivers seat. 

I can't remember how it first came to my attention, whether I googled driving to Oman for maps and tips from previous travellers or if Rich had called me to ask if we had car insurance for Oman.  This had me hanging on the phone with the Car rental place who we lease from to be told that they did not offer Omani car insurance and it was against company policy for us to take their vehicle across the border.  I googled car insurance companies in the UAE and was given stupid quotes equivalent to the airfares we had wanted to avoid.  Called up car rental places asking if they rented out cars with car insurance, which they did but again for a ridiculous amount of money for just 3 days.  It was after one of these depressing calls that Rich sent me a text about the possibility of having to work that long weekend.  Poor hubby didn't want to call me as he knew how long I'd been planning the trip and how excited I was and didn't want to hear the disappointment in my voice but most of all he was scared about my reaction!  So I sat on the bed staring at our packed bag, trying to reign in my frustration, my anger, my disappointment so as not to direct it at Rich.  I suppose what irked me most was that he had just landed from San Francisco late Monday night, stayed home on Tuesday and was back at work on Wednesday.  I mean seriously, can we just say jetlag?  18 hours of straight flying and here he was being asked to work the long weekend.  Rich is normally really good with time differences and travelling half way across the world (we do the trip to Samoa, NZ quite a bit) but this time he has really struggled.

We were offered a friends car which is insured for Oman but as soon as Rich got the confirmation that he had to work, it was a no go.  Much as I wanted to see our friends, I wasn't ready to tackle the drive on my own without a GPS through the night or even day.  I used to drive for hours in the UK but that didn't give me the willies like the thought of driving in the dark on unknown territory in a desert no matter how much it may be inhabited.

And that was that.  In a matter or hours the packed bag was made useless and I was in bed by 8 that night. 

The icing on the cake is that Mega, Alex and Tau were due to come to Dubai on Tuesday and we were all looking forward to the Dubai Rugby Sevens this weekend on Friday and Saturday.  But guess who's flying out on Saturday morning before the finals to Saudi?  Yup, that would be my poor hubby :(  I feel so incredibly bad for him.  He's jetlagged, under rested, feels guilty about EID already and now he's feeling guilty about this weekend.  I'm going to have to try and do something really special for him to make him see that it isn't his fault and he shouldn't feel guilty!  

Rich is now going to take annual leave in January to stop this from happening again.  We're determined to go to Oman whether it's flying or driving and luckily for us, we'll be 100% prepared.

*sigh* The realities of putting bread on the table is that more often than not especially in our case, even the best laid plans of mice and men go astray.  

just came across a dvd copy of A Samoan Wedding (aka Sione's wedding) at our local dvd rental which had me grinning from ear to ear...in the Middle East, loving how we're infiltrating the whole world hee hee

Moved in and settling in

ahhhh...there's nothing like moving house to get in the way of your addictions is there?

Forget detoxing for a couple of days, just move house and without an internet connection forget all about Facebook and blogging and...life lol.

How about, a week of packing, settling bills, threatening to break someone's knees if I didn't get my ENTIRE deposit back, snatched sleep, abuse from letting agents, I had forgotten what it was like to be on the net?  And the effects have lasted for a week now and now with all the boxes unpacked and just some reorganising going on - I have time to sit and yack away on my blog mindlessly again (don't groan, I know you all missed my meanderings and witless posts :P) 

So the moving process went OK.  I could have done without the last minute key handover to the new place, the constant lies from the agents, the dead grass in several places of the garden, having to teach a few people about telephone manners and courtesy callbacks.

There's a truth in our relationship with Rich.  I do the negotiating - more to do with the fact that I talk a lot, have no shame and don't mind busting balls (sorry there really is no better way to say it) and it's not because I enjoy it (I seriously don't like confrontation) it's because I believe that if you're being unfairly treated it needs to be done.  This is the reason we paid 28 grand less for this house in the more sought after compound then my friend Nicola 4 compounds down (she's in the heart of all the roadworks as well!).  I managed to con negotiate with the landlord to hand over 3,000 for painting and decoration costs even though the house is perfectly fine (is it sad that I played on his weaknesses?).  As of Monday I've got a truckload of receipts for refunds headed his way, I wonder if he'll still call me "such a sweet and lovely tenant" next week? 

Well the property bubble has truly burst and my oh my did it go splatter.  Maybe I should feel bad for those involved but I can't seem to summon up much sympathy for money grubbing shysters who tried to control the market and force people to pay 100% inflation within a 2 year bracket.  We had such a one sided contract our first year here and the first thing I did when we decided on this place was make amendments to every clause that screwed us over.  Then decided to go in for the kill and add all the laws that are supposedly followed but which never are because this is Dubai and things can change whenever the powers that be get bored and have nothing better to do.  SO, I'm not 100% sure I've covered all our bases but I do feel a lot better this time round with the lease situation and if I were to be completely honest I'd like to see the landlord try something underhanded if only for the opportunity to wave the lease back in his face and yell something like "read it and weep you weasel!" heh heh.

It's so good living here.  Quiet, peaceful and accessible.  There's a tiny lounge like room off the master bedroom with doors that lead to an upstairs balcony which I have turned into a reading room.  Bookshelves and a newly acquired second hand sofa bed take pride of place up there and I get excited whenever I think about it!  I am currently undecided whether to turn the maids room (with toilet)  or study into a computer room for Rich.  Somewhere he can leave his tools and half open computers lying anywhere and everywhere without a mad woman throwing mini tantrums about mess and whatnot :)

So far my favourite thing to do is walk around the garden and just listen to the birds and crickets and the kids laughing, arguing and the smell of BBQ.  Pure luxury.  It's also purely corny =)

Have a great weekend all.

attempt to be productive -FAIL, here's what we did at the weekend instead...

I'm procrastinating.

Instead of packing my valuables and delicate items, I've taken to keeping myself busy staring out the window, daydreaming and trying to convince myself that I'm not hungry, not necessarily in that order.  I also pause in-between these very difficult tasks to give the boxes which are shaking their heads and tutting their lid flaps at me a menacing look and a *snip* *snip* motion of the scissors.  That should stop their judgemental looks for a few minutes.

Rich's best friend Chris, his lovely wife Caz and their most gorgeous 16 month old daughter were here for only 2 nights for a whirlwind of a catchup before heading off to Oz for a wedding.  I last held Emily in my arms when she was just a wee bebe at 6 months and now she's a chattering, walking little person!  She was absolutely scrumptious and has the cutest chubby cheeks which were always rosy and I had to stop from doing that terrible old auntie Marge thing of pinching her cheeks constantly and cooing.  

Chris is Rich's best friend and was the best man at our wedding.  Rich is always on top form around him and I love watching them interact - you can see what they were like as youngsters ; cheeky, mischievous and dodgy bwahahaha.  Listening to them reminisce about their various entrepreneurial pursuits when they were in Secondary school, both legitimate and *cough* dodgy had me in fits of laughter.  Things like charging kids to use the computer (we're talking before most of us knew what a computer was 20 odd years ago), a successful printing business (with a side of fake ID making) to selling condoms for twice the price (as part of a "genuine" concern for fellow students).  Absolutely legit.

It's not often that I get to see Rich like this, he's the shy one in our marriage (in case you hadn't noticed).  We had 2 nights and a full day with them.  We were racking our brains trying to come up the best way to spend a day in Dubai and what it would be that they'd want to see.  In the end it turned out to be half a day as we weren't up and ready till half 12, 1pm.  After a quick consultation with the F family, it was decided they'd like to see the iconic bits which Dubai was well known for. 

So away we went, down the main stretch of highway which passes from Sharjah, through Dubai until you reach Abu Dhabi (Capital of UAE)  Took a right until we were on the scenic Beach Road taking in the varying large mansioned houses, beach parks, zoo until we arrived at the;

Burj Al Arab (photos another time as it takes way too long to upload) 7 Star Hotel, rumoured to have a cross only visible from the sea where the Restaurant juts out - TICK

A quick wander and paddle at Umm Suqeim beach - TICK

Palm Jumeirah (man made island in the sea) - TICK

Atlantis Hotel - sits on the crest that goes over the top of the Palm.  Kylie performed at opening ceremony and also famed for it's $18,000,000 firework display at opening - TICK

Mall of Emirates (Lavish Mall, designer brands, biggest indoor ski slope) - TICK

Strolled down the Bur Dubai Creek (immdiately opposite Deira creek for some history) - TICK

Dubai Mall (apparently biggest in the world) Fountain spectacular - TICK

Burj Dubai (Tallest building in the world) - TICK

Shababeek for some Lebanese food - TICK x2 because the food was great as usual :)

We got home about 10.30pm, shattered, stuffed stupid and ready to roll into bed but not without a hot cuppa tea (Caz) milo (Chris and I) and valiant attempt to thwart the threatening yawns of a late arrival (3am) and a full on all day excursion.

Such a fulfilling day, lots of laughs, great company and hand holding from my little girl Emily.

Summer

Summer is fading away now, and you can hear the collective sighs of relief from every ex-pat young and old to the local Emirate's.  In this day and age with the advancement of technology, there is no longer a need to suffer the heat of the desert(unless of course you're a labourer which then means it's a lottery)

It's been my first real summer in Dubai, I've normally been away overseas and I have to admit to understanding why it becomes a ghost town from July to September (it would probably be longer but schools don't close before July).  The heat dictates activities outside at certain hours of the day but even on a good day at the height of the the season, it boggles the mind how anyone could do work in that 45+ degree weather and not faint from the sheer heat and dehydration.  

There's a law here in the UAE which prohibits labourers from working between midday(the hottest hour) till about 3pm in the Summer but also states that labourers who are then made to work extra hours for those lost in the day, are to be paid overtime.  There are many laws like these here in the UAE, which in print protect the rights of the labourers.  In actual fact, many Employers don't follow the law, it's sad but true.  I often find myself taking bags of food, blankets and clothes to drop off spots for those in extreme need, who haven't been paid for months and can't afford the basic necessities.  These lowly paid workers come here because the pay is better than in their own homeland like India, Sri Lanka, Phillipines, Lebanon.  At the end of the day, it is money, it puts food on the table, gives their children an education so that they don't have to go through what are going through now.

They come here because they have large families and little chance of work where they are from.  Because the money here goes 10 times further than what they would make at home. The stories behind these people are heartbreaking.  They leave their children behind, many as young as a couple of months to be raised by family members.  Many women come on their own, many men as well.  And they live on the very minimum in order to send as much money home as possible every month.  Some are required to work for 2 years before being allowed to go home to their loved ones, some are promised a  ticket home every other year but often it's 3 years.  The conditions may not be as extreme but the reasons behind leaving one's country in order to provide for their family reminds me of our Samoan people.

Don't get me wrong, there are many good Employers here but it would seem that there are just as many bad.  

Ex-pats here are quick to voice their "educated" opinions and some make flippant remarks like "well if they don't like it they should go home".  I'm betting that were there a chance of decent jobs or even the actual opportunity of a job, those working as labourers here would be home in a shot.  Not everyone is as blessed to have well paying jobs and the ability to question their work situation without reprimand.  It is illegal to go on strike here, as is having unions.  Like I said before, it's a lottery - if you get a good Employer, the work is hard but you are treated fairly, kindly but more importantly humanely. Before I started driving(the last year and a half) I always spent my Taxi Rides yacking away to the Drivers about their lives, it was a mixture of tales, though the majority were not nice to hear about.  Some come from very honour bound societies.  They return home and sing praises of Dubai whether it be true or not, and so the next wave and generation come over. 

It's easy for me to slap myself back to reality when I start to whine or complain about life, all I do is look out my window and watch the construction workers from dawn till dusk, hammering away, without safety harnesses, or the proper safety attire.  People say that it's easy to get lost in the glitz and glamour of Dubai, I wish they could show me where that is, because no matter where I am, whether it's Jumeirah, the Marina or in the poorest areas nearby the creek, there is always a constant reminder of those who have more than they need and those who don't have nearly enough.

It's still a great experience here in Dubai, there are fantastic stories with happy endings for many labourers.  Conditions for the labourers are improving, there are many charities that help them and ensure their well-being.  We support many of these charities both financially and physically.  There are times where we wrestle with shutting off and enjoying what Dubai has to offer guilt free.  Sadly, we've become so accustomed to seeing it that I don't think we take as much notice of it as we would have done 2 years ago.  Life just goes on until the media reports something shocking that makes you pay attention again. 

It's a sobering thought, but it's the honest truth.

I did love him...

from	Netia Gxxxx <xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
to		Richard Gxxxx <xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
date		Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 9:33 AM
subject		Cafe

My darling husband,

Due to reason's beyond my control, I cannot access Facebook and would therefore be grateful if you could check my cafe and serve my roast chickens and cheesecake.  If you could also put on more chickens and cheesecake to cook, that would just be wonderful.

Your loving wife,

Netia

xox

from	Richard <xxxxxxxxxx>
to		Netia  <xxxxxxxxxx>
date		Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 10:42 AM
subject		RE: Cafe

Done… though the only thing ready was the cheesecake.  Chicken had 6hrs to go.

And I was perfectly happy and content, no withdrawals and only missing FB a little bit like you would miss something like mopping the floors which you do like twice a week and not every day you know?

Then he found out about my 48 hour faceoff, did a song and dance to the tune of "OMG - and you're asking me to cook your cafe food for you?  You are such an addict, I'm going to tell everyone on your wall" *cackle, cackle, lol*

Just go ahead and imagine my response to that...yeah you can forget about your "special" (wink wink) night today or any time resembling the word soon Mr G, until I read what your comment was!!

Only 13 hours and minutes to go, not long at all and then I'll make sure to stop by yours Jody for sure :-)

Facebook 48 hour Faceoff

                                          

"...ladies and gentlemen, in the red corner..."

Lani and I have found ourselves in a rather serious predicament - that of a person with a serious addiction.  And in true "rip the plaster off" style, we're abstaining for 48 hours. Which right now seems a life time and already, mere minutes if not seconds after properly logging out and unticking the 'remember' me box, we are twittering about it.  Gloves are off and it's time to start remembering how to deal with life outside a virtual cafe, start talking to people again and writing!  The prospects are already dizzyingly exciting! 

I'm pretty sure I've passed the first step of recovery with flying colours :)  and yes I do absolutely realise how pathetic I am right now

...and what's your point? lol