Lahore for the Weekend!

Chilly mornings, sunny afternoons, foggy evenings. New family, new friends, good food... I'm falling in love with Lahore :)

Waisay, it seems like everyone I know is getting married this year... 4 close friends, a very dear family friend and another colleague from work... I'll get to wear all my joras :)

Work's been crazy busy but our feasibility study is FINALLY FINISHED!! Hurrah! Stayed at work past midnight on the final day but of course, dear husband was right there with me so it was "perfectly alright"... The colleagues treat me with more respect now even though most of them are older than me.

Eid this year will inshallah be in Lahore... So, how do Lahoris celebrate Eid?

Random funny story from my last trip to Lahore:

Mr. F's family has a custom. When a new bride enters the husband's home for the first time, the husband is given a black pigeon and the wife get a white dove. Mr. F went first and released his pigeon. It fluttered, flapped its wings and flew up into a tree. Then, I released mine and it flew up into the same tree... I think it symbolizes wedded harmony or something along those lines but I'm not quite sure :S

Cooking for the Husband

I've sort of settled into my new home. Yesterday, I drove Mr. F's car to Meat One (rather overrated) and got chicken fillets to cook for dinner (he was staying late at work, so I thought I'd surprise him). I made Crispy Chicken with Lemon Sauce, except, I didn't let the sauce boil and thicken and it was kinda runny and the chicken could've been more tender.

Anyway, I served it with fried rice and chinese noodles (given to me by mommy dearest). Mr. F took a few bites, didn't say anything. Then he got up, took the dish to the kitchen and "modified" it with Stir-fry sauce and chilli sauce and cooked it for a few more minutes. Then he brought it back to the table and bade me try some. It was delicious... :P

So my husband's a gourmet chef and I'm a sandwich and microwave person... this will be interesting.

2nd First Day at Work

I got up bright and early and got ready in plenty of time, had a proper breakfast (for the first time in 3 months!) and drove my dad's old Suzuki to work in the morning sunshine. My office is by the sea in a building shaped like a yacht and I have a lovely view of camels on the beach :)

I arrived at 8:55 am... and no one else was there except for the security guard who smiled and said, "Welcome on board". People started trickling in around 9:40 am so I read the textbook that I'd brought along to "look busy". It's an interesting and varied group of people... (more on them later).

My cubicle is bang in the center of the office, which is great because I get to see lots of people but I had a pebble in my shoe today and I couldn't take off my shoe and shake it out because it would've been too embarrassingly conspicuous :P. I couldn't even log on to facebook because everyone can look at my screen :P. I also realized I'm taller than 80% of the men that work there (and I was only wearing 2 inch heels!). I think guys find that intimidating :S.

What's really ironic is that I'm working on a coal mining/power project which is the complete antithesis of Masdar. I do feel a little guilty but if it will alleviate Pakistan's chronic power crisis, it will be totally worth it (and no, we can't afford carbon sequestration and all the remedial measures).

The project is based here:

Aam

I'm enjoying succulent, juicy mangoes in Karachi... I had a chat with the fruitwalla today and he said that fruit is ripe for harvesting in the Swat/Chitral region but no one's there to pick and process it... This is the area where the Pakistani military is battling the Taliban and the people who lived there have been forced to abandon their homes and orchards and are currently living in makeshift tent camps in other parts of the country... it's a sad situation and no one seems to care.

I've slowly been adjusting to life in Karachi... For a start, I went to the salon to get "cleaned up". There was a ten-year old boy in the reception (he'd come with his mom) and I amused myself, observing his facial expressions. By turns he looked fascinated/horrified/bored out of his mind as his mom got her hair dyed, brows and face waxed and threaded and her skin polished. Then, I went to Aashiana (a shopping center that sells loose cloth) to buy material for shalwar kameezes since mine are hopelessly outdated. After shrinking the material by soaking it in water, I'll go to the tailor to get the outfits made.

I hope I find something productive to do soon, otherwise I'll end up socializing my summer away at frivolous aunty-parties and friends' weddings. And I'm surprised at the fickeleness (if that's a word) of my attachments because I don't miss Abu Dhabi at all... is that weird?

Currently reading: The Adventures of the Wishing Chair (Enid Blyton).

How to get a Cell Phone in Abu Dhabi

Etisalat and Du are the primary telephone and internet service providers in the UAE. To purchase a cell phone plan/sim card in Abu Dhabi, you will need a copy of your passport and residence visa and fill out an application form. Etisalat offers the Wasel prepaid plan. Onetime registration charges are AED 165 and you can subsequently purchase phone cards or top up online. International calls can be pretty expensive- the international rates for Etisalat subscribers are listed here.

Du is cheaper than Etisalat (a one-time payment of AED 62) and offers a monthly plan- details can be found here. Alternatively, you can purchase the Pay as you Go service (a one-time payment of AED 55).

Note: Du coverage may not be available in all areas.

Public pay phones are available in most areas in Abu Dhabi and accept coins (50 fils and one dirham) and prepaid phone cards, which can be purchased from grocery stores and Etisalat outlets. To make a telephone call to a mobile subscriber within the UAE, dial 050 (for Etisalat) or 055 (for Du) followed by the seven-digit cell phone number. To call a landline number within the UAE and outside Abu Dhabi, you must dial the city code followed by the seven digit telephone number.

Abu Dhabi

Yalla Ya-Shabab!

So I've been in Abu Dhabi for almost a month now, and I'm finally starting to know places! Some interesting shopping malls I've been to are Abu Dhabi Mall, Marina Mall, Al Wahda Mall, Khalidiyah Mall and Al-Raha Mall but nothing beats the malls in Dubai (more on those later). Abu Dhabi Mall has an indoor "walkers club" The adverts crack me up each time :)

"Keen on taking up walking as an exercise? Tired of the heat outside? Here's a great way out. Join the Walkers Club and enjoy walking inside the climate-controlled Mall from 7:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m. So, put your best foot forward and get on the move."

The Abu Dhabi Corniche is definitely my favorite place so far... Yesterday, I went to the ladies beach (AED 5) and walked around for a bit. It was very romantic... The sand is white with lots of sharp shells and pebbles... the sea, glorious! delphinium blue and so clear you can see the ocean floor...



People were playing volleyball and enjoying ice cream cones... just like any regular beach but then I saw a woman, covered from head to toe in her abaya swimming in the sea. Her black abaya billowed under her like a stingray, but she was swift, and surprisingly graceful.

And underground, I discovered a whole network of tunnels with beautiful mosaic artwork... (a little like the subway tunnels in NYC, but much cleaner and definitely better ventilated. That's my roomie posing :).







The city itself is cosmopolitan but there's a distinct divide between the locals (native Emiratis with UAE nationality), the Arabs (native Arabic speakers from all over the Middle East and Gulf regions) and the expat community (Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos and others). In the US, I grew used to seeing a more integrated community... for example, it was common to see multiracial couples or a group of high school kids (whites, african-americans, south-asians, hispanics) all hanging out together. In Abu Dhabi, everyone has their own separate community (including separate schools for the children of immigrants) and I haven't seen much inter-cultural mixing. Maybe it's because they don't have English as a universal language but mostly I think it's because the natives aren't as open or as liberal as westerners.