The churches centre at Jebel Ali

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I have heard about a row of buildings in Jebel Ali where the government has built and rented to churches to use. We finally got to visit one of them courtesy of friends here.

It is kinda of out of the way and not practical to visit unless you have a car. I didn't see anyone come by taxi at all. So only the relatively well to do are christians? At least those that come here are. We usually go to another church but half the time we are not at any.

UAE Independence Day

December 1 is UAE Independence Day. This year they celebrate the 37th anniversary of the union of six emirates. About a year later the last emirate joined and they become a federation of seven.

The girls' school has put in a lot of serious work to make this a special occasion. Everything you are seeing in this picture is done in-house. The key pupils involved were Zhen's class. Back home, the school workers would have put up the decorations. Here the teachers and students own it.

A garden city

For weeks I saw lots of workers planting on the road edges and traffic islands. It's time to showcase their work. They were seeding Marigold flowers. I love them. I used to grow them when I was a kid from seeds my mom's friend gave me. They had plenty in their kampung house and even a durian tree in their compound.

The last time I almost as many was in ChristChurch. This is such a welcome sight. Remember this is a desert and consequently these flowers become even more special.

Dressing Respectfully

"Please wear RESPECTFUL CLOTHING", I have seen this countless times on LCD displays all over the Mall of the Emirates. I had wanted to get a photo of it but never succeeded in getting an adequate shot until recently I spotted them pasting them on the glass doors to the mall.

The Mall of the Emirates attract many tourists, but I can tell you they mostly do not care. They are usually the ang mohs, and two of them succeeded at making themselves famous around the world by having open sex on the beach and was arrested by the police.

Now it is not just the ang mohs, Asian girls are almost equally over-exposed. Even today I spotted at least some in church dressed in shorts that are way above the knee. I would love to hear what the emiratis have to say when I get the opportunity. The last time I had the chance to speak to one, we were discussing the global financial crisis and Abu Dhabi reserves.

An "Iconic" view

This is the view with the Burj Al Arab every morning I walk the children into their school. The morning I took this photo, the scene was unusually beautiful and the temperature was a cool 21C.

The view will change as the winter arrives because unlike back home, the sun rises noticeably later and sets earlier. Of course, it was far more marked when we were in New Zealand. Well, just Geography 101.

Upgrading my IT infrastructure

I have been telling some of you about my new Skype speaker phone. Now you can see it above, i.e., the one marked with a red ellipse.

About one to two weeks ago, I bought a 19-inch LCD display for my 8.5" mini-notebook display. This is followed by a Logitech cordless keyboard/mouse and skype speaker phone system several days later.

The AcerOne notebook is wonderful but I often have to squint to read the tiny words. The skype speaker phone is equally wonderful because of its built-in "intelligence". It automatically configures and optimizes itself or skype. When a call comes in it automatically mute whatever sound or music the notebook might be playing.

The Samsung 19" LCD display is about S$220 and the Logitech system S$155

Skinny to Fat

We have noticed this for several weeks now. When we first arrived in September we didn't notice any free flying birds until one of my daughters pointed them out. They were invariably skinny and small looking. We laughed it off that birds here do not have hawker centres like back home to pick up after us, so they kinda of starve. Now the cooler weather is upon us and we have also noticed that the birds are fatter. Have they put on weight or is it a bird trick to keep warm by fluffing their feathers?