Raining in Saudi

Hi there - hope you are all very well. Things good with me - I thought I would have an easy week as my boss is in Korea, but its been pretty mad really, what with visitors and my team going on business or training trips. I thought we were supposed to be cutting back on spending!

It has been raining today - I took some photos on my walk to work... Problem is when it rains here, there is nowhere for the water to drain to so everywhere gets flooded and I am sure there were multiple pile ups on the roads this morning as nobody slows down in the rain - they still drive like maniacs!

Not alot to report really from last week. We didnt go to boot camp on Monday - went to a diving meeting - I went and did a gym session - my training is coming along really well and I am noticing a difference (as are other folk!), although I have had a bit of a sore back, so took the weights easy. I can't believe that a change in diet and 20 mins down the gym 3-4 times a week could have such a dramatic effect - its been hard work but its good to see that it is working!

This is a picture of Steinike Hall - our hotel - in the rain!!

Tuesday I went to the gym again and then we went to see a Tiffany sale - it was fake stuff - not bad quality but all the best stuff had gone by the time we got there, so I saved my pennies for another day!

Finally, our weekend arrived.. we spent it in Saudi this time, rather than Bahrain. Went out for a drink with Ayon to someone's house (not sure who he was!) then came back and cooked tea. Thursday morning I went to the mall and town with Tracy - I wanted some gifts for Darron's birthday - Wii games and accessories - but it appears that most of Saudi havent caught on to the Wii concept yet - so I will have to get some presents when I am in Bahrain now this weekend!

Managed to get a blackout made at the tailors for our bedroom window in Bahrain - it has a golden colour blind up at the moment which lets lots of light in during the morning so we wanted a black out as we are waking up at 6am on a weekend when we are there!

Went to Cafe Nejaar for lunch with Tracy, Darron and Deirdre - beautiful day for sitting out too - then I went to the beauty shop for a massage and to get my nails done. Later we went out to Kerrie and Simon's for tea - they are friends of Darron's and live on Saad 3 compound - gorgeous houses too - really nice compound. Met up with some of their friends too and had some food, played Taboo and then the others (I bailed!) sang karaoke!

Friday was another glorious day and after brunch at the hobby farm (must take my camera next time!) we went for a bike ride which was hard work as we cycled against the wind most of the time, then we went to Tammimi for food shopping and home for tea - so a pretty relaxing weekend all round for me!

Here is a picture of my living room now as it looks with my own furniture in - except the settee - still looking for something that will fit the minute space!!! The carpet will be going soon and be replaced with wooden flooring due to my apparent "allergy" to house dust!

Anyway, thats last week. This week, busy teaching, selling tickets for PAWS, Thurs out for a Japanese meal with Darron for his b/d, then over to Bahrain on Friday for lunch at Trader Vics with his mates for his b/d and off to recover on Saturday!

Hope you are all well and look forward to hearing from you soon....

Jill

x

Qatari weekend

Hello - another week in the land of sand but this week we went to Qatar, but more on that later...

Last week went ok again - work was incredibly busy - our guys seem to be doing a lot of travelling at the moment, which is keeping me busy. I was back and forth to the clinic still getting more rabies jabs and then had the dentist too! All I seem to have lately are appointments!

We attended boot camp Monday night, which again, was painful, but worth it in the end! Also we had managed to catch the two cats and get them to the vets to be sterilised (the one that scratched me!!) - they are back on camp now and all done, so being fed by one of the girls who live in the ballpark. Tuesday night I went into town with Gay and Tracy - we started off at Desert Designs and ended up at their warehouse as Tracy wanted a specific piece of furniture. I have never seen so much stuff in my life - a small gold mine really! And she got what she wanted!

Finally, Weds arrived. I managed to get in a training session at the gym, then we headed up to the airport. We got upgraded to first class and arrived in Qatar around 11pm and Kay picked us up. Qatar is yet another construction sight, in the Middle East, but was so much cleaner and more organised than the other places I have visited. There are some incredible buildings going up.. Kay and Neil live in a high storey apartment block - huge apartment and they have a large pool, gym, shop, hairdressers and coffee shop all on site. It was good to see them - the last time we had was on the cruise in Egypt where we met them....

Thursday we went to Villagio - a shopping mall which is on the sight where the Asian games were held in 2006. If you have ever visited Ceasar's Palace in Vegas, then thats what it looked like! Really nice place....

We also visited the museum which was a really nice building...

We had some lunch there and then went home - I managed to cram in a training session at the gym and then we met up with Andrew, who also had been on the cruise and lived in the same building as Kay and Neil! Went to an Irish Bar in the Shereton Hotel - had a really nice meal there and a few drinks - it was almost like being at home as it was all expats in the pub! In fact, there are 200,000 Qataris in Qatar and 2 million expats - so they are quite out-numbered!

On Friday we had a lazy morning playing on the Wii and then went to see an amateur production of Grease at a local school - it was really good - must say it puts our theatre group to shame really - the singing was amazing. Afterwards, we went to an old souk area, which was knocked down and then rebuilt to look old! Met up with some of Kay's friends and had dinner in this Iranian restaurant - amazing decor too. One of the friend's was from Grantham - just up the road from Mansfield - proves it is a small world!

Saturday arrived - our last day. We were up early and went 4x4-ing into the desert to an area known as the inland sea. Myself and Darron were in the landrover with Andrew and Kay and Neil went together. It was certainly hairy going over the dunes and on the way back Neil got over excited in some water and manged to flood their engine and break down for around 20 mins and Andrew got his truck stuck also so Neil pulled him out! Enjoyable day, but now I have been dune bashing, I am not sure I will do it again!

Back to reality and back to full on teaching yesterday - at the school at lunch time and again last night. Not got a too busy weekend - staying in Saudi this week - going to town on Thurs with Tracy and then to see some of Darron's friends on Thurs night and Friday just mooching around camp - will probably do a training session and bike ride...

Anyway, thats about all from me. Hope you enjoy the new look blog!!!

Jill