Tory Turns 5 Today!

G'day

I just had to write a post today to share Tory's birthday with you. Our young man turns five today, 24 November 2006. In the photo taken at the Al Ain Air Show in January, 2006, he is checking out a United Arab Emirates Army armoured vehicle.

All is okay at this end. I'm busy at work and manage to get to the occasional social activity, of which there are plenty. Unfortunately, it's common to get invited to several on one evening and then have to choose.

Chris has commenced some voluntary teacher aide work at the college helping our first year students with their English for four hours each day on Wednesdays and Thursdays. She's also into quilting and has a group of friends who get together periodically for a quilting and tea session. She's just purchased a top of the range Janome Memory Craft 11000 sewing machine for about half the cost that it would have been in Australia. It's a beauty with a wireless connection enabled mother board that will transfer graphics from our lap top to the sewing machine and vice versa. What next?

To give you an idea of how cheap things are here, I bought a swag of lovely shirt and trousers material earlier in the week and have dropped it off at a tailors to be made. Each pair of trousers (polyester cotton) will cost $27 and each shirt $17 which includes the cost of material. I think there are four pairs of trousers and six shirts. It's just incredible and a previous batch of shirts are lovely and fit exactly as I want them. Way to go. It's easy to get spoiled here.

Winter is settling in now and the evenings and mornings are refreshingly cooler. Days are still warm and sunny, but not hot like they are in summer when it gets to around 50 degrees. Everyone here wears jackets, but it's really not that cold judging from last winter.

We have friends from Australia visiting us in December and are very much looking forward to their company. Even though I will still be working, we'll have plenty of time to do some touring and other things together.

Each January and June numbers of people finish their contracts at the colleges and return to their home countries. It's all a bit sad getting to know people, developing relationships, and then seeing them depart. However, we all leave at some time and it's all part of being an expatriate.

Hope all is well at your end, wherever you are.

Every best wish


Robin
for Robin and Christina