First sleepover, second birthday.

Gypsy Dog had his best friend, Groucho stay over in the weekend. Together, they are a bundle of mischief and full of energy! They got up to their usual antics of play fighting and tug of war when inside and playing tag when outside!

...At the Greens: I think I found a scent!...

...and it's a race!...

...woah! Look at me go!...

...We're pooped, no more photos till we get home please...

In 3 days, Gypsy Dog turns 2! In doggie years, he will be 14. It's amazing how much calmer he is since we got him. He's really growing up! We plan to get him a new fluffy toy and a big bone for his birthday on Sunday.

...can we have a treat now?...

...I love having my buddy over...

Finally, an iPod!

The LCD display on my old Sony stereo has given way for the third time in about as many years. I picked up this little baby from Tokyo's 'Electronic City', Akihabara, during the summer holidays of my first year of university while on my travels in Japan. At the time, the model was pre-world release (test market for Japan only), and I still remember asking myself if I'd gone mad while I lugged the box along with my suitcase along the subways of Tokyo during the last leg of my trip.

...My old faithful...

Now - almost ten years later! - I can say that it's served me well and apart from the display, it's still in excellent working condition. However, instead of sending it off to get fixed again, we decided it's about time we invested in a new sound system for our bedroom.

...our new iPod and Jamo docking station...

We didn't want anything big or bulky and decided that an iPod would be perfect for our needs!

Warm Fuzzies.

I just received a really nice phone call from one of the lead editors of the publishing company I just completed a job for. I know it's been absolutely frantic at that office as they have five new travel guides going to print this week, and she still took the time to call me and give me feedback on my work.

I usually make it a point to ask for feedback after a job completed, as I think it's a valuable learning opportunity - even if it's just learning the preference in working style of an individual. Anyway before I'd even asked, the feedback I got today was all positive, in fact it's the nicest feedback I've received [work-related] in a long time.

*Sigh* It really made me want to go back to working full-time again.

Independent study.

This time last week, I was attending my last Arabic Language for Beginners class. It was an 8-week (16-hour) course, but I managed to miss 3 weeks of classes due to enrolling a week late, being sick, and work commitments.

The aspects of the course I really enjoyed were learning the language, the interaction between tutor and students, and the opportunity to ask questions about Arabic culture or about the different regional variations affecting the language. I found more similarities Arabic shares with Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) than I was expecting and being able to speak Malay, this helped a lot.

This week, some of the students have made a private arrangement with the tutor to continue on as a group in one of their homes. As much as I'd like to advance in learning the language, I didn't find the tutor's language teaching method effective for me. So, in the weekend while browsing in the Virgin Megastore at the mall, I bought an Arabic Language Kit complete with workbooks, CDs and cassette tapes!

It's been some time since I studied a language on my own, and I'm really looking forward to making a start on it. I think it's going to be a far cry from the pressure and self-discipline I faced studying Te Reo Maori (the language of the natives of NZ) by correspondence for Bursary University Entrance level at school. I'll keep you posted with how I go!

Doggy Date.

Gypsy Dog had his best friend Groucho over for the day, and like all the other times he has a doggy date with little Groucho, he is beside himself with excitement!

About half an hour before Groucho was due to arrive, I told Gypsy Dog "Groucho is coming!". Upon hearing this he darted from the comforts of the cushion in his room to the front door, tail wagging, then proceeded to sniff under the door. He then settled to wait for Groucho's arrival by the coffee table, never taking his eyes off the front door.

He didn't have to wait long, and both doggies played their hearts out. It's a bit like having two small children (boys of course!) in the house, with occasional time-out enforced when one gets a little too feisty when play fighting, resorting to treats for distraction, or confiscation of bones when one doesn't want to share!

It's the cutest thing though to see the both of them playing together or sleeping side by side. Groucho is the most adorable little white Westhighland Terrier. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos from today, but you can check out Groucho on his very own website here.

I'm baa-ack!

Ok, so I know I've been AWOL from blogging over the last 6 weeks or so, but I've had a valid excuse. I've been feeling very under the weather over the last month, and I'm still not quite over it.

Nevertheless, while I've not been snug under the covers in bed (or veg-ed out on the couch) feeling like absolute hell, I've been pretty busy. So here is an update of what's been happening in a Gypsy Girl's world:

1. Completed Arabic Language Course for beginners
2. Worked from home on proofing some exciting new travel guides soon to be realeased!
3. Finally got an iPod
4. Found out some very, very exciting news

More on all of this later...

Good one, UAE!

The UAE won the Gulf Cup last week, and there was a parade held in their honour over the weekend. We didn't think to go, but were caught up in the horrendous traffic jam that resulted after it had ended.

Being stuck in traffic for 2 hours on Sheikh Zayed Road would usually be extremely frustrating. This time however, we had quite a bit of entertainment watching UAE nationals who had come from the parade and were also stuck in traffic.

No expense had been spared in decorating their [very expensive] vehicles, which were adorned with balloons, streamers, UAE flags, flower arrangements, and even huge soft toys. Oh and let's not forget the spray paint. Yep, since the win many have spray painted their cars with UAE in huge letters, hearts, dots and other expressions of national love and pride.

On top of these spray painted and heavily decorated cars many were proudly waving flags while hanging out of their car windows, some were perched on top of car bonnets while others were dancing on the rooves of their car. All while the cars were moving, albeit slowly, the roads were wet as it had been raining, and the 2 cop cars that we saw were observing.

It was, in a word, unbelievable.

Marhaba!

Keef hakum? Ana zaina, shukran! Al hamdilaila!

These are some of the phrases I learnt in my first Arabic language lesson today. I've been really looking forward to learning another new language but couldn't help being a little worried that I was going to be lost and left behind as I'm enrolling a week late into the course.

The administrator tried to reassure me with comments like "yes, it'll be fine" and that "the teacher will help you catch up", but the minute I entered the classroom full of white expat women stressing over not remembering what they'd learnt in the previous week's class, all 3 ounces of confidence and optimism I had in being able to catch up disappeared.

It seemed that my small stress attack was short-lived as the ladies in the class were really lovely and showed me some of their notes from the lesson I'd missed last week. I managed to photocopy the notes and caught up fine in the end.

Our teacher, Mohammed, is the only male in the class and he is really laid back and takes the class at a slow-ish pace. Mohammed doesn't write anything up during the lesson, nor does he have any preparation notes! I found this approach to language teaching really fascinating as I've never seen it before in all the seven languages I've studied. Mohammed's emphasis is on repetition and class participation.

I'm naturally an audio-visual learner with most of my preferred learning style being visual so at first, I found not seeing words and patterns a little challenging but soon got into the hang of listening carefully and repeating.

All in all, it was fun and I'm so happy to be learning a new language again. I'm already looking forward to next week's lesson!

Crappy Chilli Crab.

The ads and promos looked so good and the 5-star venue is just a stone's throw away from where we live at the Madinat Jumeirah. We both love and miss chilli crabs, so when we heard about the Singapore Chilli Crab Festival we were very much looking forward to a gastronomic weekend.

Advertised as being held from 1pm-10pm on Friday and Saturday, the weekend here in the UAE, we arrived at 1.30pm only to be turned away and advised it will start from 2pm. We decided to grab a quick lunch at the mall instead before going back to try again.

Low and behold, at 4pm we were turned away again to say that it was closed and would reopen at 6pm. We didn't want to hang around, so we decided to come back later and returned at 7.30pm. Of course this time, no tables were available and a shabby line had formed. We decided to wait for a table and were finally given one after 30 minutes. Although we were hungry, the wait was not too bad as there was a great jazz band playing live and so we sat back and enjoyed the music and atmosphere.

After 15 minutes of waiting however for a waiter we had to flag down and ask for a menu, let alone get someone to take our order or serve us, we decided we would go somewhere else and get some real food and service!

I was surprised when the following day, Gypsy Boy suggested we go back and try again! Off we went and it looked like overnight, they had gotten some of their act together. There were 2 queues, one where you place your order and pay for your meal in exchange for tickets and the second line where you take your ticket and pick up your meal.

Of course, it was a little too good to be true. We were quickly disappointed when we saw how just how much crab we got for our money. 100 AED (27 USD or 42 SGD) got us 1 tiger beer, a crab shell filled with shredded crab meat in more of a sweet tomato-based sauce [than a chilli sauce]! We were really glad we didn't get the satay, even though I was eyeing it up on the menu, when we found out that 35 AED (10 USD or 15 SGD) only would've got us 3 measly sticks!

What I don't understand is, why pour so much money into promoting such an event when there isn't anyone prepared to put a little effort into organising it. The worst thing is many people felt ripped off. One thing's for sure, if this is an annual event as they say it is, we definitely won't be going back next year.

Oh and the picture posted above is the one shown in one of the promotional ads for the event, the actual crab we got at the event looked nothing like this.

Big clean up.

Gypsy Boy's brother left Dubai last Friday after a 2-week stay with us. The last six weeks or so have been an extremely busy one for us, with the festive season, entertaining visitors, and farewelling friends. During this time, we've had the foldable beds out in the lounge and some of the furniture rearranged to accommodate.

...aboard an abra...

We've also had friends leave Dubai and thus, inherited an array of household goods, food, and pot plants! I haven't really had the chance to sort through all these treasures so they've been sitting in a big pile in a corner. Add to this another pile of 'stuff' that we're storing for another friend, and you can imagine why our place looks like a tornado has just been through it!

...Farewell Joy & James...

At times like these, I really wish I have access to an online auction system like TradeMe. Of course, then we'd also need a reliable and efficient postal system as well. So it looks like I'll most likely resort to putting up a classified ad on an expat forum and giving the rest of the stuff we don't need or want to a friend who is in the process of setting up home here.

There you have it, my list of what's been keeping me busy, excuses for why I haven't been posting on here and why I haven't been replying to [m]any emails. I promise I'll try to get to emails this week in between cleaning, laundry and sorting out stuff. In the meantime, here are some of the latest photos.

...at Hatta...

...at Hatta Fort Hotel...