Jill's 40th birthday - Part 1

Photos from my birthday:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LYMC8Pe75mwWPtye-o8tCA?feat=directlink

Helllllooooo - one more day left before my escape from here - thank goodness. It has been a truely challenging week - my team have been driving me up the wall with travel orders or being unhelpful, but now I think most of them are on business trips so its nice and quiet finally....

My birthday weekend was great - had a blast. Went over to Bahrain with Ayon on Wednesday evening - only took an hour on the causeway - pretty amazing - problem is when you get to Bahrain then you get stuck in traffic as there are too many people living on a small island, and not enough roads! So it was another hour, via the bottle shop, before we got to the apartments...

Stayed at Desert Pearl apartments - they were fine - pretty cheap but clean and in a good area close to where we needed to be. Neil cooked Thai curry once he arrived and we finally finished off a few bottles of wine, once we had managed to find a bottle opener (!), so we just stayed at the apartment. Hetty arrived from Dubai later and my friend, Liss from Riyadh, was already with us. Bob M arrived later too from Dubai... Several bottles later and I was ready for bed - however, the others decided to go out clubbing and I think got in around 4.30am!!! I just don't have the staminer at my age and wanted to save myself for Thursday...

So, woke up Thursday - a bit worse for wear, but managed to drag myself off to the henna salon and get my hand's henna'd - looks better now as it was quite orange when it was done, but has gone a dark brown color now - looks good. Went back to the apartments - had some hangover food, coffee and got ready to go out...

Got to Jim's just after 1 - quite a few folk there - a few more of my friends arrived later. Had a few drinks then sat down to a buffet lunch - shepherd's pie, pasta, salad, mash, pork - very yum! My friends then presented me with a cake and also present - cash - around 400 quid - they knew I wanted a dive computer so I have now ordered this for when I go diving!

Went on to The Exchange later in the Ramada - killer pool games began and also arm wrestling - I am not sure where Breige has been training recently, but she beat us all!!!

Then later on the JJ's - caught up with a few more friends in there - some of the others went to another pub - I just stayed their til the bitter end - well 11pm - I had had enough by then!!!

Friday - most folk were up reasonably early - 8am - the girls and Neil went out for bacon and cobs so we had bacon rolls - they were yummy!

Myself and Ayon hung around with Liss as she wasn't due at the airport for her flight to Riyadh til 3. Went to the mall breifly and then lunch at Trader Vic's....

And the causeway was only an hour on the way back again!

The rest of last week was fun - my car broke down so I had to get it towed to the garage to be told it needed a new alternator, then the following day it wasn't the alternator, just a loose connection! So thats back but its not liking these colder mornings! I popped to the Mall with Tracy on Tuesday too..

Also managed my 30 minute run with the running club - been building up to that for the past few months so that free's me up tonight to pack!!! 30 mins is about 12 laps of the track! Around 3 miles...

Anyway, I leave tomorrow on a jet plane - back into the UK around 7am Weds morning.

Cannot wait - am so ready for a break - and looking forward to seeing everyone too and to my party on Saturday!!!

Take care and see you in a few days/weeks...

Jill

xxx

Smyla Myla's charity weekend and PAWS Louise's leaving do

Hi guys - welcome to another week of Jill's life in Saudi - hope you are doing ok. Another busy week for me - especially at work - really busy for some strange reason and in between sorting out PAWS stuff... not long til Louise (PAWS) goes now - I hope she manages to sort out her visa and come back to Saudi - it won't be the same without her!!

I think I last updated you last Wednesday - after work then I taught circuits and then went for a meal with Gay and Linda and also some old friends from my DMC days (1995!!) who now work at Aramco - Robin, Sue and Heather - so - it was good to catch up but as always it was - 10 degrees in the restaurant - note to self - must take a big coat next time I eat there!!

Later I popped into Tina's with Ayon for a quick drink at her happy hour and I have agreed to house sit for her over Christmas - will be nice to have space for a change as she has a huge house here on camp!

Thursday I ran around quite a lot - attempted to catch a cat or two with Chrissy but they were AWOL - so that didnt happen! Then went to this craft fair thing on camp and bought some more Christmas gifts, then had lunch with Ayon and Kaye and then got ready to go to Myla's charity event. Breige and Tracy had done a wonderful job in organising the event and 3 bands gave their time, along with DJ Andy to provide the entertainment all day. Here is a picture of Myla. She is so cute. We managed to raise around 12k pounds altogether for further treatment for a very aggressive tumor she has close to her brain. All the best Myla...xxx

It was a wonderful day and night - here is me and Spook also - I have known Spook since 1998 - he is still here and runs one of the watering holes on Azziz compound!! Also pictured, me and my friend Carmen....

It was rather a late night (or early morning should I say), but I got myself together on Friday and went off to say my farewells to Louise who is leaving for Australia in a week or so. She is having visa problems so cannot stay here so has to go home to sort it out - Louise has been wonderful in all the work she has done with PAWS and all the animals in Kingdom and will be very largely missed - especially by me as I have taken on some of her PAWS work - but I will continue with the plight to help animals out here and hopefully, eventually, be recognised by Saudi for what we are actually doing!!!

The rest of this week hasn't been too busy - in fact Saturday, after a massage (I have a really sore shoulder at the moment) I had a rare night in when I got back! However, my car didnt start, so I had to leave it in the car park at work and walk home.... went to try and get it going last night, and after setting fire to a set of jump leads and my car almost, we got a new set of leads and nothing happened - so Im thinking alternator, battery or starter motor - but the alternator and battery are fairly new... so a tow truck later I was back at the garage and only just made my pilates class last night! Still waiting to hear what the problem is...

Gearing up for the weekend. Going over to Bahrain with some friends for the night and staying and then doing a few things Thursday morning and then off to my birthday party # 1 at Jim's restuarant... should be a good weekend - around 35-40 folk are coming over....

And then only 4 days to go after the weekend and I am back to the real world!! Can't wait...

Off to another Christmas Fair tonight - there have been loads this year - all the "ladies who lunch" spend their year making stuff for the fair's - they are really good - I got some great presents... then we are going running round the golf course in preparation for my 30 minute run with the running club next week! Tomorrow off to Ikea to get a few bits... then its the weekend!

Right, over and out.

Write soon or Ill probably see you before you do!!!

Jill

xxxx

Personal Training experience in Dubai

Hellllooorrr - its been a long time since I wrote my blog - I really have been so busy this week at work - yes, I have officially had to work for a living - it has got in the way of me writing my blog!! Not good at all!!

Anyway's - Dubai was good - although certainly mentally challenging for sure and my brain is still aching and tired this week from all the information I tried to consume!!

First, Sheryl's birthday - here is the group of us - we went to Bushido in Bahrain - I am sure you will remember that I have been there several times before. Had a few hours in Bahrain - getting nails done - walking around the shops, then went for lunch - very nice too - then we went to Trader Vic's for cocktails and then I met Darron and went out for a meal with him - he was back from Milan (where he is currently based) and we went for a catch up...

Flew to Dubai on the Saturday evening - seemed to attract stupid taxi drivers who had no idea where anything was so it took some getting to the hotel - did eventually - the hotel was fine, although Ibis don't provide room service, so I ordered the food and had to fetch it myself - whats all that about!!!!???? Was a late night and I was tired, but fortunately didnt have to get up til 7.30 - in fact these days, that is a lie in for me!!

First day was fine - there were 7 other folk on the course - all similar ages in fact - and Anna who I knew from my gym instructor course, so nice to see a familiar face.... Mark Chambers was our instructor - he was very good throughout the course. Most days were very full on - there is too much to tell you really - but its intense stuff - ie muscles - but not the main ones, all the small ones I need to learn - I am worried about the exam I must say.... so, I didnt do any exams whilst I was there last week - I have to revise, absorb the information and then go back to Dubai possibly and also with the practical - I am using one of the girls - Sarah - from Bahrain as my "body" - have to fix her up with a 12 week personal training program and then for the exam show the assessor I can teach her - that is probably the easiest part. For the sports conditioning I have to find a sports person (ie my friend Sheryl who plays golf) - take a photo of her doing a swing for example - cut it into 5 parts - analyse 2 of the photos saying which muscles are used, what movement it is, etc, etc, then draw her up a program for a year!!!! This is going to take time obviously.

The rest of the week was good - apart from on-going problems with taxi drivers - I did get to see the Mall of the Emirates, Ibn Battuta Mall (see photo - that was the roof of the Iranian part - its made up of areas from all over the world!!) and I met my friend Hetty a couple of times (who bought a new car - see pic - Dodge Charger!!) too and we went out for a meal - was hoping to see my friend Jo who was on the Tatoosh private yacht in Abu Dhabi for the F1, but it never happened as she couldnt get off the boat - Feargus, another friend is in Abu Dhabi too and I had hoped to see him - maybe next time....

Anyway, a pretty gruelling week all in all and lots to take away with me to think about - I think it will take me a few months before I am ready to go back and do the exam and practical... I have stopped doing so many classes, but at the same time have now made space to get back to the gym so I can practise what I am going to preach!!! Amongst all the other stuff I do. The PAWS event at Halloween went well last weekend I understand and I have just collected a donation today off a lady of around 800 quid which is wonderful! Louise leaves soon so I am becoming busier with PAWS stuff I must say... I need to organise an event for the new year too and here is me saying I need time to revise - I have already signed up for 2 dive trips - one in March and one in April!!!!

Work, as I said, has been busy this week. My boss is away in London next week, so hopefully it will be a little easier. I will be busy I guess sorting out my parties for my birthday although I think both of those are pretty much sorted now... I only managed one run this week - I wasn't too well whilst I was in Dubai - had a tummy bug, but seem to be ok now. Ran Saturday, taught pilates Sunday and taught last night and tonight too! Had a challenging class last night - the lights kept going out!!! Also, the ladies who lunch are holding Christmas craft fairs so I went to a couple of those last night and again today at lunch....

Anyway, here is the weekend - at least I get one this week - teaching tonight, meal, then drinks at Tina's, tomorrow cat catching, then the charity do all afternoon and evening and Louise PAWS leaving do Friday! Full on really!

Right, over and out.

See you all in a couple of weeks - please write too - I dont seem to get many emails these days!!!!

Jill

xxxxx