A Tale of Three Apartments

... Actually, a Tale of Four

A week ago, I lived in the high rise towers looking over the busy commercial heart of Abu Dhabi around Airport Road and the area known as Madinat Zayed. For a few years now, it has been home, but I've always been aware of the transience of living in a place like this. Enjoy the sun, the little perks, soak up the culture, walk safe and so on. Avoid growing roots - that's the nature of change in the Khaleej - a basic reminder, I give to myself. 

I've had many visitors over my time here; people who have come especially to stay and have always had room to keep them comfortable. This year - with my family and I shuttling between continents, I've been equally lucky to have had staying visitors most weekends throughout the year. Melmastiya, is a Pashtoon duty and one, that on most occasions has been an honour rather than a duty.

My work has been a drain at times and balancing things has been testing. Still Allah is Merciful and I ask only for patience, faith and the will. Then, my company decides to move me and this accelerates my desire to move on. It was fated to happen.

To be honest, I resisted being moved, but in the end lease contracts on my apartment ended and I was obliged to move.

So, I end up in this apartment on the other side of town, just weeks before my contract closes. This is not intended to be a home, just a place to rest my head whilst I work on my dissertation and see my contract out. I move in and within a day, I suspect some kind of infestation in the kitchen. I have insect bites at night and I request a visit from Pest Control. They tell me cockroaches, and after they leave, there are many dead ones in the kitchen and they are now in the bedroom on the bed. 

I walk out of the apartment and decide that I will not stay in there and I check into a hotel apartment studio suite. Very nice; very clean and I get my first good nights sleep in days. I call the company and tell them I will not go into work and I will not return to the apartment. They move me into a cleaner unit but I spend the day off work cleaning, scrubbing and yes, getting rid of the cockroaches that had crept into my boxes.

So here, I am. Four Apartments in one week.

Counting down the days.

Coffee Shop Farewell

About a week ago, I sat alone in an Abu Dhabi coffee shop and looked through the tinted/frosted window. I took a photograph. Those who know me, and those who can guess, will know why. In my own mind, I just wanted to capture the moment.

 

Today, I sit amidst boxes - in a more or less dismantled room and on the move once more. It's been an incredible journey. I have learned a lot and known some wonderful people. The experience has been great and I am richer, more informed and InshAllah, more thoughtful as a result. It is not without regrets, some sadness and the usual worries about the unknown, but I am thankful. Allah has a plan and with Allah rests our fate.

Life's A Journey

We traverse through this life we are living as a gift from Allah. It is a journey for each of us - a unique and very personal journey; one that touches upon the paths our lives travel. No two paths are the same and each one of us is living a personal experience with our life. 

This year has had me and those that I love and care for shuttling back and forth between East and West, moving between time and cultural zones in order to bridge gaps, leaving a trail of experience behind us. Last week I was in Yorkshire, this week I am in Abu Dhabi.

I have sensed change for some time now, and whilst I have often thought it wiser to allow myself time to explore my innermost thoughts within the safe sphere of myself, invariably there comes a time when we begin to outwardly express our apprehensions and hopes. 

I know that in this journey of life, we press on. Much more I will not say now, except to return to that very first post that I made here in which I considered life to be a journey and myself to be a traveller on that journey. With every step may I be guided by Allah. Ameen. That is my deepest desire.

"To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours is wisdom." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thirty-Nine and Rising

In celebration of the 39th UAE National Day, I share short film that was featured as part of this year's  Abu Dhabi Film Festival giving us a window into life in the UAE. 

 

Interesting Fact: Thirty-Nine is the sum of five consecutive prime numbers (3 + 5 + 7 + 11 + 13). How's that for a bit of trivia?

Postcards from the Desert

Some snapshots of Abu Dhabi and the surrounding areas that were taken using my cell phone. I thought I'd share these. Enjoy.

Rain, Rain; Go Away ...

When it rains in the UAE, it really rains. Most the floods in Abu Dhabi had receded by today, but there was panic on the roads when the rains hit. Here are some pictures of the rains from a couple of days back.

Emirats Arabes Unis: L'Envol Du Faucon

Flight of the Falcon aka Musings from the UAE

As promised, I return with my UAE related theme. This video is inspired by the documentary Emirats Arabes Unis: L'Envol Du Faucon (United Arab Emirates: Flight of the Falcon) produced by Pierre Brouwers for Media 9 and featured on Vodeo.tv.

Reproduced using Windows Movie Maker with footage from the documentary and photographs from my collection. The soundtrack features a snippit from Ishy Bilady - عيشي بلادي - the country's national anthem.

Tor_Khan تور خان

Life ... on a Dubai Metro

The Dubai Metro made it's official inaugural journey at 9.09 09/09/09. Within two days it was estimated that over 10% of the population of Dubai had made the journey on the metro. That was two weeks back and this weekend, I drove down from Abu Dhabi to take a trip on the UAE's first train - at present only the Red Line is open to commuters (we took the journey from Ibn Battuta Mall through to Rashidiya), but it is hoped that when fully on-line the metro will provide connectivity to the main areas of Dubai from the malls, to places of interest and the financial district through its network of sub-stations and air-conditioned skyways.

The metro claims a number of firsts - the first driver-less fully automated metro, the first in Dubai and of course, the first in the Gulf. It has been a long time in waiting and the novelty aspect means that it was very busy on the weekend. There were some teething issues with lines at the ticketing booths, but the ride was comfortable (when sitting!) and I was impressed with the frequency of the trains (said to be between 7 and 10 mins). There's even a written guide on travel etiquette, and plenty of staff to remind travellers should anyone forget.

I shot this video on my mobile phone. Edited using Windows Live Movie Maker (still looking for a simple Vista-compatible video editor!) and featuring a soundtrack by Rahim Shah and Nazia Iqbal singing Tor Orbal.

Waziristan: Pashtoon Country

With the US-backed Pakistan war on militancy now shifting attention to Waziristan, it seems ever more appropriate to mention this song here in this blog. I first heard this when Nazia Iqbal played this song to an enthusiastic Waziri crowd in Abu Dhabi in February this year. With a little digging around, I've come across an earlier popular Musharraf Bangash version of the song, Waziristan da Pukhtano Watan De. Dedicated to the ordinary folk.

Waziristan da Pukhtano Watan De
Waziristan is Pashtoon Country


Warra zwaanan ye de ghairat nishaani
Da nangyalo, da shah zulmo watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Da khpela khawre gadha girde manum
Kho da dukhman de para daal yaadegi
Pa Pukhtunkhwa ke na pa tola duniya
Da doyee kamal da doyee jalaal yaadeygi
Che sar tattee nakra zda pa umar
Da seekhaghal aw azmaro watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Da tor tor ghroona e gawa da ghairat
Da mohabbat pa ke chenee joregi
Monga bachi da daaghi kharri khawre
Zamonga dalta afsaani joregi
Da stergo tor de zre takor de zema
Da masomano gulalo watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Mong da Pukhto da shuja'at nishani
Monga majboor yu da Islam da laasa
Zamong pa zmaka ke owrruna bal de
Da khog Islam da inteqaam da laasa
Husn walarg wata pa khuley de warka
Da shno paslo, da sangaro watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Masoom aur mazey ehteram kawauma
Da lwarr tareekh ta salaam kawauma
Zamung watan de amanat zamunga
Za ye pa hara barkha paam kawuma
Pa ma shireen de pa ma gran alamma
Ka de azgho, ka de nizgho watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Warra zwaanan ye de ghairat nishaani
Da nangyalo, da shah zulmo watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

تور خان

Weekend Over ...

Au Revoir Toronto, Canada - Salaam Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Class Warfare

My work as an Educational Advisor certainly has its interesting moments. I've been invigilating exams all week and last week I dutifully turned up to a Grade 8 Science exam. There was already a teacher in the room as I expected - we greeted and just got on with the business of handing out papers. Then something happened - can't quite tell you what, but that doesn't matter too much, except there was some name calling, some shouting and then a fight. Not a student fight. They, as I've just said, were already seated in class. The fight (yep - fists rolled back, chests puffed out) was between two members of staff, the teacher already in class and the school social worker.

I had to wedge myself in between and push them apart. When that didn't work I had to pull them back. The kids stared on - quite amused I guess, whilst the three of us looked like clowns at the front of the class. Fortunately, a passing teacher rushed in and grabbed the social worker, whilst I pulled the teacher away.

Tensions can run high in schools from time to time, but this is a first for me. Teacher M is Palestinian-Jordanian, Social Worker A is Egyptian. I didn't quite get to the bottom of it, and needless to say, this is a very poor professional example to set in front of a whole class audience. I'm just reminded on occasions like this, how so far away from home, I am.

Sheikh Zayed Masjid

Marhaba

Across the Islamic world, Muslim cities are often defined by their historical masjids. The Sheikh Zayed Masjid, on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi is actually fairly new and was officially opened towards the end of Ramadan two years ago. There is still some landscaping work to be completed on the grounds, but you can see the green embankment and sometimes they turn on the water features.

It's an incredibly beautiful construction - a modern synthesis of Moorish and Mughal architecture composed mostly of white marble with an interior of white gypsum and coloured marble floral patterning (28 different styles of marble for the decor and the mosaic). It has the largest carpet in the world (all 47 tonnes of it shipped over from Iran) and the heaviest copper and gold plated chandeliers imported from Germany, made up of 1 million Swarovski crystals (there are seven of them, the largest of which is 10 metres in diameter with a 15 metre drop in the main hall).

The masjid has a 82 domes, covers an area of 22,412 square metres with a potential to hold a capacity of 40 thousand - it is rated amongst the biggest masjids in the world. There are four minarets, standing at 107 metres. You can see one of the courtyard minarets in the picture here.

Mausoleum

Sheikh Zayed, the founding father of the union that is the UAE has his final resting place here. His mausoleum is on the grounds, though it's strictly no photography. You can, however, peer through the grills and listen to the qira'at as you approach the chamber.

As a family, we often choose to pray Jum'ah here. I include some pictures I took there last week straight after Jum'ah prayer.

Enjoy.

In Complete Darkness We Are All The Same

Spectrum of Diversity

According to Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840), there are five colour typologies for humans: white people, black people, yellow people, red people and brown people. This is of course, a very rigid definition. It says nothing about culture, language, migration and social identify and is a definition that most rightly minded people would question today. Blumenbach was a proponent of "Scientific Racism" - a kind of pseudo-Science used to justify racism. Think American Slavery, Nazism and Apartheid to name a few. Thank goodness it's not the 17th century today...

... but, have we really moved on? Just look at the world today. We are still divided, even if not always by colour (whatever that is). Earlier this week, Penta Inspectors reporting back to the Education Council descended their presence on Al Shawamekh, our coveted boys' school here in Bani Yas. They did what lots of inspectors do, sat and pontificated, snooped around, interviewed people, did the obligatory lesson obs, drank tea with each other and so. Penta fulfill a role as an Ofsted-type inspectorate and would claim to be staffed by people who will have had some school leadership in the UK etc. Most, I figure are here in Abu Dhabi to enjoy the sun and splash around in a pool.

Al Shawamekh is a middle school for boys, and typical of government schools here is staffed entirely by teachers from across the Arab world - Egypt, Palestine, Jordon, Syria, Yemen, the Sudan and the Emirates. One of the inspectors was a remarkably rude and obnoxious person who asked me if I was the ICT teacher after witnessing a little disturbance outside a class. He wouldn't have asked me if I was white because he made the assumption that Advisors in school were likley to be "Western" and since I don't follow the "look" (racially speaking of course), the disorderly class was seen to be as a result of the nearest brown adult. Suffice to say, I was glad to see the back of this rude and racist man when he went.

Race is one of those things that we must be extremely sensitive to, so I followed with interest some of the goings on at the Durban Review: World Conference Against Racism in Geneva, Switzerland this week. Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad was one of the most high profile speakers and not surprisingly, he upset a few people with his ideas this week. It didn't start off well - there were hecklers at the very beginning who threw items at him and the European Union reps walked out at the beginning of his speech. We see Ahmedinejad through a largely one-sided political frame, and so it's understandable why many folk would be annoyed at his utterances. He's a maverick to some, an enemy to others, and respected by those who respect him.

continued in next posting ...

“In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you.” Janet Jackson, Rhythmn Nation 1814

Father of the Gazelle

Abu Dhabi - أبو ظبي - Father of the Gazelle

There are four main artery roads that lead out of Abu Dhabi. At least three of them have had recent road works, so you can imagine the traffic congestion on our roads at the moment. The standard of driving isn't, ahem, that great to begin with, so the traffic is frustrating if you wish to move round certain parts of the city at given times.

I live high rise - fifteen stories up (if you count the Mezzanine and Zero Floor) - my views overlook both parts of this island capital - the high-rise Manhattan-esque half of towering skyscrapers, and the contemporary sprawl of villas, masjids, palaces, water features and parks, that symbolise modern surburban Arabia. Either side of the island, I get to see the blue waters of the Arabian (or Persian) Gulf.

Anyway, here are some views of the city where I live shot on my cameraphone.

Foxing Around ... On My Way to Work

I have an early start, leaving for work at 6am. A week ago, on my way there, the mist descended between Abu Dhabi and Bani Yas. This was a strange kind of low cloud; just a small patch of fog, about a metre off the ground. Mostly you could see quite well over the top of of the vapour though it appeared to move further away, the closer we got to it. I haven't experienced this kind of fog much before, and so I took a moment to take a couple of snaps and enjoy the morning air.

(Desert) Foxing Around

And then ... (slightly distracted - I was supposed to be on my way to work), I began to follow my foot patterns in the sand. I then had a go at making hand patterns and then to join up hand and foot patterns. Anyway, I decided to take a photograph or two to share on this blog.

Postcard Bani Yas

... from a place, somewhere in-between ...

Bani Yas: The Tribe of Yas

Outside Abu Dhabi, the cosmopolitan lifestyle begins to give way to tradition. There are differing levels of this too - the real tradition, bedouin tents, goats and camels are for most folk, a thing of the past. Instead we have growing settlements and modern lifestyles as witnessed in the big cities.

There are bright city lights; with non-stop traffic, a buzz on the street and plenty of eateries, social hangouts and entertainment; there are villages, slower, more provincial, with their own elements of charm, winding paths, livestock and simplicity. There are small towns, that combine the convenience of city amenities with the gentler pace of life and then there are places in between. Not wanting to offend anyone, I'll pick my words carefully. "In between" is ok if it offers security; though often enough it's a no-mans-land, neither here, nor there; missing that deeper something (the heart, the soul) that is the essence of every city or village.

Bani Yas, about 50km outside Abu Dhabi is, sometimes referred to as a town. It is also known as the home patch of the ruling family of Dubai.

It does have a shopping precinct, that comprises an ADNOC and a co-operative society. It has a park in Bani Yas East, a hotel in the spot they call Mafraq and a hospital too.

Bani Yas has sand, rocky desert, roads, desert shrubs and carefully constructed villas. It has masjids and people who commute in every day and work there. It has a housing estate, some schools and a graveyard.

It's also where currently, I go most days to school where I work as a school improvement advisor.

Sons of the Desert

Not actually a reference to my life in Abu Dhabi, but in fact, a moment to honour Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, who stand there amongst the finest comedians on recorded film. In this clip, unknown to their wives, the duo have been followed home by a slightly deranged woman they had rescued from drowning, who is now refusing to leave the house. The innocence and simplicity of their style keeps it timeless for me.

Naghma - نغمه - Melody Queen

Naghma, نغمه, ("melody" in Farsi and Pashto, born in Kandahar, 1964) played in Abu Dhabi earlier this month - I was at the show, three rows from the front - I can't quite believe that I was there, because Naghma is amongst the biggest names in Pashto music at the present time. They tell me that the DVD is out soon, but here's a video: Mala Da Toru Jamu Yaar Rawalai, (Bring Me a Companion in Black).

Tor_Khan تور خان

Shifting Sands

(Operation) Desert Storm

There was a dust storm in the air today; almost foggy, but actually fine particles of sand in the air coupled with a notable drop in temperature. The picture I took here shows the storm in the distance on my drive back to Abu Dhabi this afternoon.

The 150km plus road that connects Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, cuts through some beautiful desert landscape. In particular the sand dunes outside Al Ain, are breathtaking. I haven't figured how trees have rooted in the dunes, but endeavour to find out someday, InshAllah.

I said good-bye to the school where I've been based, colleagues and neighbours and packed up and left this afternoon. Al Ain is truly something of a gem. The slower pace, the authentic back-streets, the mountains and oases are what I will miss seeing every morning as I begin my regular daily shuttle between Abu Dhabi and Bani Yas.

Goodbye Flashing Lights

I got flashed by a speed camera/radar the other day. The Al Ain-Abu Dhabi road has a speed limit of 120km/h, but the common understanding is that the speed cameras are set to 160km/h. Now I would never advocate going that fast, but I saw the flash go off when I was at cruising along at about 4.30am at about 130km/h.

The Fog

When I'm not staying in Al Ain, I'm with the family in Abu Dhabi. That does mean however, that I have to get up the next day extra early at 3.30am to get ready to take the long drive to Al Ain. This morning was particularly foggy for a stretch of about 50km on my way to Al Ain. Very low visibility in parts.

Ms Amal, the Principal at Mohammed Bin Khalifa is sad that I'm leaving. Me too ... but I can't be driving for 300km every couple of days to get me back and forth to work.

Viva Al Ain!