TravelerVoice


living in the United Arab Emirates


Click here for Orisi's Blah Blah Blah - Audiobook, book and Movie blog


Click here for Photographically Challenged



Followers

Things we love about UAE

  • Arabic language
  • All female beaches
  • Family friendly
  • Home comforts readily available
  • Hearing the adhaan
  • Halal food!
  • Sun, sun and sun!
Powered by Blogger.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Interesting teacher-fact of the week...

Call me naive, but I hadn't realised until this week that...
Little children spend more time with their fingers up their noses than they do learning.

I just thought you'd want to know.
[This image does not belong to me - and you can find it right HERE]

A job... a job... and the first week at nursery!

Well a lot has happened in the last two weeks.

I have started a new job (I am now on day four) and my daughter has started at a new nursery (also day four) - oh - and it's at the same place! I'm not at liberty to share which nursery it is... after all, I work there. But she and I are settling in quite well.

Baby-Zanga has found the last few days very very trying indeed, bless her little cotton socks. And to be honest, I have just been really, really, really enjoying it PLUS during my break times I can go visit my little Baby-Zanga and give her some cuddles which are much needed (more for me than for her).

The kids in my class are just great. They're from every cultural background you can imagine! They keep my busy and in turn I keep them busy!

It. is. awesome. Tiring - but awesome!

Wednesday 18 January 2012

The beautiful Abu Dhabi



I came across a beautiful selection of photographs of spots around Abu Dhabi. I think the photographs are amazing, so please, take time to go visit the site!

Stunning photograph collection here

Tuesday 17 January 2012

I forgot to mention...

I guest-blogged

HERE

A book review of The Radleys! Go check it out - and give Mab lots of looove!

Monday 16 January 2012

Volvo Ocean Race 2012

The past two weeks has seen Abu Dhabi hosting the Volvo Ocean Race.

Abu Dhabi truly did themselves proud and most certainly hosted a stop over that will be remembered both by the teams and crews but also all those who visited!

It was a small but beautiful and very clean area if I'm honest. Big screens, a tiny little harbour for the racing boats (which was cute and you could walk down and see the crew cleaning and getting things ready).

Abu Dhabi actually closed down the Heritage Village road for the whole two weeks!!! The organisers were in tune w
ith the needs of both the visiting crews, dignitaries and
just regular old people like me!
There were falcons (my favourite -_-), one of those 3D ride things that you usually find in fair grounds (it's like being in a spaceship, and you're watching a big screen and the whole ship-thing is moving about making you feel sick!), there was even a whole area just for children called the Junior area!

Well done Abu Dhabi - you executed the whole event beautifully.

On the Friday, after a friendly race by the teams, dignitaries parked up at the harbour and made their jolly way to one of the suave café's that had been built for the event.

Lo and behold - who walks out? Tony Blair... yes... the Tony Blair. He'd been out floating around after some boats (when in my honest opinion he should be on trial for crimes against humanity... but that's a whoooole different
post entirely). Also, Prince Andrew walked out and loads of different Shaykhs and their pals.

After the dignitaries had eaten their food, and the boaters had been welcomed back in to the bay, a nifty little awards ce
remony was held which finished with a brilliant aeroplane display. It was pretty awesome.

So this is a short but sweet post - I just wanted to once again congratulate Abu Dhabi on ANOTHER job well done.

There are some photographs of some of the dancers over at http://pic-challenge.blogspot.com (Enjoy!)

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Christmas, Nadal and New Years


Happy belated holidays everybody!

I hope you're all well and sticking to your new year resolutions...

The last few weeks have been quite eventful indeed.

We don't celebrate Christmas in our home and so we did not have the worries and potential excitement of having to put up decorations, buy Christmas dinner ingredients or gather a sack of presents for Baby-Zanga... thank goodness. What we did do though is book ourselves in for a 'Christmas' brunch at the Holiday Inn just around the corner.

Well, let me tell you - it was pretty awesome. They had their usual array of foods, but also had some turkey with cranberry gravy and horse chestnuts (which were gross). They also had a pretty awesome ginger bread house... which was... well... awesome!!

There happened to be a hillarious Santa Clause wandering around who... having not found many children at all was lavishing strange gifts upon Baby-Zanga. Gifts such as a box of shuttlecocks, a gift with a police torch and whistle - and another one (which was
pretty awesome actually) which was a black board with chalk and a board eraser. Strange but true.

A few days after Christmas we went to Mubadala World Tennis Championship. We only went to day 2. Camel Man watched two games, and I watched one. One that I thought was going to be amazing but it turned out to be more like a wash-out. Rafael Nadal Vs David Ferrer - whilst I took my seat I promised myself an amazingly on form Nadal who was going to end up RUINING Ferrer... I was wrong. Anywho - at least I got to see him. PLUS I even took a photograph that epitomised Nadal...


We decided to spend New Years with some friends in Dubai.
Every year a brilliant display is held at the Burj Khalifah which consists of loads and loads of fireworks being shot off of the building - oh, and around the building too - and even a special fountain show!

It was HEAVING in The Dubai Mall! We were quite shocked really when we shouldn't have been. All the cafes had been booked out that had any decent view of the Burj Khalifah and so we spent quite a lot of time just scrambling about trying to find a good place.

We found one in the end, and the organisers of the fireworks gave us an EXCELLENT spectacle of 10 minutes worth of popping, banging and wonderful colours. It concluded with a national anthem soundtracked fountain show.

It. was. AWESOME.
You can watch a rather silent version here