Settling In

Hello All

I am finally moved into my new apartment and it is exceeded all my expectations. Two bedroom, new, and furnished. I have been picking up a few things here and there and made a pot of chili today. The ingredients here are not the same but it is edible. I didn't let the beans soak long enough.

About a half of a mile from my place is a 5 star hotel called Al Hammra Fort, wow what a place! So farI have counted three pools 8 resrtuants 8 bars and nice beach. Enjoy the photos! Although the beach is for guests only I just walk out there and nobody hassles me, people from all over the world come here for a vacation. Alot of Russians, Itialians, English, Europeans, Irish, you name it they are here. Language can be a problem but a couple of beers takes care of that.

Seriously this place is the finest resort I haver ever seen. Perfectly manicured gardens, service unheard of and not that expensive especially if you do not need a room. I have that covered.Two nice golf course,one here and one in RAK, my club Tower Links, and one here. Tgey will be completeing a new mall here by the end of the year. I heard the new Dubai Mall will be opening soon with over 1000 stores!

Temps have dipped to the low 90's, Turned the air off. It takes me a half an hour to get to work, easy drive. We have a grocery store with walking distance that has everything except Tony Paco's sweet hots. It is a long way here but worth the trip if you can make it. it will be the trip of your life, you will gain a totally new perspective of ything, Americans live a sheltered life I have learned. There are Indiian labours here making $350 a month and they are happy to do so, they live 4 to a room and work 12 hours a day and are happy as clams.

The job is going well I am about halfway thru my training an am on track. Stripmarking (for you ATC folks) makes no sense, Phraseology is a little different but not a problem. 1000ft between everybody. VFR and IFR. Right now we are non-radar. One in one out. Airspace is small 20X30 miles SFC-6500.. Way too much coordination! You coordinate with locals whose command of English is sometimes not good.

Friday I might go to Dubai. Haven't played golf in over a week but will play more soon, been to busy getting moved in and settled.

I would love to hear from you mdtol@bex.net, comment on the blog, or call me at +971 050 1934435

Today is my Friday and it is nearly 10PM. Think I will go out for a cold one

Take Care
Mike

Al Hamra Rocks!

Today I am spending the day at my apartment after picking up a few things waiting for my furniture to be delivered. Just received a call from the store and they say they will be here in a half hour. In Shallah (God willing). My employer is picking up the tab for all the furniture and paying the rent for this fantastic apartment. Brand new everything! I have a budget of $8200 to make the place livable. Not a problem. I needed to furnish the guest bedroom and decided to have the furniture made locally. Quite an experience to say the least. They said they would make a double dresser and mirror, two beds, and two night stands for me. All at the outrageous price of $381!

Went out today and purchased a TV, cable, and DVD player to enjoy. I went ahead and went for the premium package, NCAA, NFL, Showtime, etc. One year subscription, satellite box, 21 inch tv, DVD player...$1100.

After they deliver my bedroom set, recliner, and dining room set I think I will head out to the beach for the afternoon. It has cooled down a bit, 95 and of course sunny! I am becoming acclimated to the heat, It was rough at first but I guess your blood thins out. I will probably be shocked when I go home for the Holidays.

They said a half hour but it has been an hour. These people have no concept of time. You learn to be patient or else you would go nuts. One exception is driving, they drive crazy here, yesterday I guess I pissed off an Arab because I was in the fast lane and did not change lanes quick enough. He wizzed by me at 50kph faster than I one inch off my RIGHT side in a Lexus.

The speed limit is 120 on the highway and some cars go 200, there are no traffic police just cameras. The threshold for DUI is 0.0, zip, nada, nothing. Take a taxi, they are cheap and they are everywhere. There is no crime here you can go anywhere without any misgivings. The people here are very accommodating, they will go out of their way to help you. If any of the readers of this blog would like to visit let me know, As Judy Garland (Dorthy) said in the "Wizard of Oz" I am not in Kansas anymore!

More Photos

More Photos

These photos are some that I have taken of my new apartment and local scenes, enjoy!

More Photos

More Photos

Friday October 24 2008

Hello All

Hope some of you are reading my posts because I have not heard much feedback.Please communicate with me. mdtol@bex.net Seems like the financial world is going down the crapper. I was listening to one of the English speaking stations driving to Dubai today. They discussed the implications of zero down home buying and how it messed up the banking in the USA. Here you must put up a considerable amount of money to buy a property. Used to be that way in the USA till the mortgage companies messed it up.

Looks like I will be moving into my apartment Tuesday. The hotel room is closing in on me! My furniture and appliances will be delivered Sunday, Window treatments Monday. The apartment is 30km from work and the drive is easy except for the Arab drivers, they have no concept of courtesy is. They drive really fast and will climb right your ass and flash their lights. Thats when you are going 20 over the limit!

Today I took a a lot of things over to my new apartment and decided to go to Dubai (45 minute drive). Setting my sites on IKEA went to Festival City. IKEA is not my type of place. Went to a place called Plug In, makes Circuit City look like Radio Shack! Purchased a microwave, loaded it up and took off. Drove about a mile and went to the mall. Very nice, every store you could imagine, walked,walked and walked, the place is huge!

I did not realise outside the mall was the creek, more like a river but there was a boat show going on. Looked at all the boats and went back to the mall, got lost! The place is that big! I must have walked 10 miles to finally find my car. My dogs are hurting! I like to go to Dubai on Fridays because the traffic is not bad. Traffic during the week is terrible. You can be stuck in traffic for hours!

Again send be an email or comment on the blog. Weather report... Haven't seen a cloud in a week, temp HI 98 LO 80

Another Day

Hello Everyone!

Today was a challenging day. I have been training for three days now and all is well. It is amazing how you can begin to understand people speaking English when only every third word is. Started the day at sunrise to take a few photos and the sunrises and sunsets are amazing. We are at 25 degrees north latitude and the high for today was 95 with 80% humidity. You tend to limit your outdoor activity.Showed up at work at 7AM and trained for two hours. Took a half an hour break and trained again for two hours. End of the day. Took the back road to my new apartment that I haven"t moved into yet. The painting crew was just leaving. There were about five Indian guys there finishing up. The quality of the work was mediocre at best but I wasn't paying for it.

If you can imagine it I not Karen had to pick out my new window treatments! I know I will receive a few negative comment concerning about my interior decorating skills when she comes over but as long as the frige is full and the TV works who cares! My new golf course and clubhouse is as close as Brandywine is to our home.

Went to the new radar site and messed of my rental on a rough road, called the agent and he took the car for repairs, no questions asked! I am still trying to decide if I should rent or buy. I am hearing a lot of horror stories about mechanics here from my co-workers. Somebody tell John he could make a killing here and give him my blog address

Went shopping today take a look at my new sofa.

Take Care
Mike

Just Another Day in the UAE

Hello All

I had the day off today and slept in. Weather forecast clear and 100 degrees. Decided to go golfing. There was nobody on the course. My game is starting to come together at last. The game here is all about course management. Your sand game needs to be good. The greens are slow but tricky. Hard to read the greens.

Not much to report. Yesterday I went out to a local airport near where I will live. One of the pilots asked me if I wanted to go flying, a gratefully accepted but did not bring the camera, sorry. We flew around the city and had a good look around. He let me fly and land the airplane, it has been over ten years since I have flown a airplane but it all came back. I think I will start flying microlight aircraft soon, alot of fun, the airplane has two seats but outperform a Cessna 152. 100HP rotax up-front and very responsive.

Please post your comments on the blog, I will enjoy the feedback.

Take Care
Mike

Weather Forecast this week
Ras Al Khaimah International, UAE
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Local Time: 11:51 AM GST — Set My Timezone Lat/Lon: 25.6° N 55.9° E (Google Map)
Tropical Weather: Hurricane Omar (North Atlantic) Tropical Depression Sixteen (North Atlantic) Tropical Depression Twentytwo (Western Pacific)
Current Conditions

Ras Al Khaimah International


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October 16, 2008 Rise: Set:
Actual Time 6:15 AM GST 5:47 PM GST
Civil Twilight 5:52 AM GST 6:10 PM GST
Nautical Twilight 5:25 AM GST 6:37 PM GST
Astronomical Twilight 4:58 AM GST 7:04 PM GST
Moon 6:46 PM GST 7:42 AM GST
Length Of Visible Light: 12h 18m
Length of Day
11h 32m
Tomorrow will be 1m 27s shorter.

Extended View
Full Moon, 97% of the Moon is Illuminated



Ras Al Khaimah International,
102 °F / 39 °C
Clear
at 11:30 AM GST

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5-Day Forecast for Ras Al Khaimah International Customize Your Icons!
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39° C | 24° C

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96° F | 68° F
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95° F | 69° F
35° C | 21° C
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My New Apartment!

Today Graham and I took a look at my new crib. This place exceeded all my expectations! What a place! The first photo is the view from the master bedroom. The master suite is just that, a suite. Full bath, dressing room, balcony, and the room itself I would estimate is 20x30. Cable, telephone all built in. If you look in the distance there is a large building located on the beach. The brige you see in the the middle of the photo leads to the Fort Al Hambra Resort...real nice!

Road Trip!

Today I decided to go up the coast road to Ajman. Ajman is located 65km south of Ras Al Khaimah on the Persian Gulf and has one of largest boat building yards in the area. And has a nice resort called the Kempenski. So off I go! Got side-tracked because I stopped at the Bin Majid resort which is ten minutes from my hotel on the beach. Took a look around and decided to take a swim in the Gulf, the water is crystal clear but warm. A lot of Russian and German folks on vacation, not pretty! From there I went back to the hotel to change and resumed my road trip, stopped at Al Hamra, I wanted to check out the complex where I will be living. Al Hamra is about a 1/2 hour drive to work but there there is everything, 5 star hotel with restaurants, beach, pools, golf course. driving range, brand new shopping mall, and grocery store that sells pork! All within walking distance. Looking forward to moving in and getting out of the hotel.

I took the coast road E11 south and enjoyed some great scenery. Stopped at the Baraccuda Beach resort only to find out there is no beach! Only a pool! Go figure! They have a web site if you would like to check it out. www.barracuda.ae

On to Ajman! Reaching the outskirts of Ajman I went into the mall and took a look around. Stopped at Dunkin Doughnuts for a coffee. Malls are the same around the world. Picked up a few things at the attached Meijer-like store and went into town. Although most of you have never heard of Ajman, the city is ten times the size of Toledo. All new! I drove along the harbor and stopped at the Kempenski Hotel, what a place! Mostly Russian and German guests. While walking around the grounds I took a few photos that I hope you enjoy. For about $500 a night you too can stay there!

I left there and started to headed back to RAK. I took a couple photos of the desert and ended this trip. I plan to do this type of thing every Friday because the traffic is light and the driving easy. Maybe Abu Dhabi next weekend!

Last night I was invited over to my co-worker Rassie's place for a evening of music and darts. Rassie, the guy without the shirt, is a South African and has been here for 8 years,great guy, he has been very helpful in getting me accustomed to the local scene and customs. Julian, the other guy in the photo, is English and has been here for about 6 months. Then another controller from Abu Dhabi center came over andI quickly discovered all controllers come from the same mold. Controllers are special breed, but we all have one thing in common "Safety above all"

Take Care
Mike