I was thinking today how I miss the call to prayer. It's so exotic and distinctive to the region. I hated those tannoys at first but now I realise they help create that buzz you feel. I still hate those tannoys, well you would if you lived right beside a mosque and got woken up at 4am nearly every day.
"aaaaaaaalahu Akbar!"
It got me thinking about the other things I miss. Things like...
My friends; totally agree
Queueing up twice to buy fruit and veg; I hate that only in Abu Dhabi can they find more complicated ways to do simple things.
Fearing for my life every time I get into a taxi; I hate it when they short change you and don't tell you, it's' the principle if I want to give you a tip I give you a tip, you just don't take it! The funny thing is I knew how to get to more places than some of those drivers!
Hearing the taxi computer warning "Slow down, you are crossing the speed limit" about seven seconds after you get in the taxi; Being a former boy racer and having rolled and written off my brothers car I understand the importance of road safety and no longer drive that way!
Fresh, hot, Arabic bread; the time we had curry at your place and watched machete, followed by rum and coke!
That night in Dubai; Fuzzy duck, that was a night to remember!
The Indian head wiggle; I only got that once and it was relaxing, my Indian barber in Abu Dhabi made a better job than my Indian barber here in Melbourne and he can't even speak or understand English!
My wrist hurting every Sunday from hitting the volleyball wrong; you must have been playing by yourself as we played on a Saturday! lol
Arabic timekeeping; When Turning up to a meeting half an hour late is the norm and taking phone calls during the meeting... lol
Arif's standard greeting "Hey man, whatsup?!!" I miss that guy, one of my true friends in Abu Dhabi!
Seeing women in Abayas running up the Corniche; I never seen that, just them walking!
Hearing Zombie by the Cranberries several times a night in PJs; I hope the Cranberries are getting the royalties they be rolling in dough by now! lol
Locals looking at me funny like I've just landed from another planet; well I miss the locals and the Filipino population asking me 'Are you Korean?'
Indian workmen in hard-hats and sandals; I don't miss them, it's funny as they do no work but as some as someone important comes on site they start rushing about like mad men and saying look what I done!
Sand; I hate sand!
Those little tiny birds and scrawny cats; I miss Titan!
Getting annoyed when some other hotel guest dared use "my" gym; you should try the 24 hour ghetto workout!
Beijing restaurant; The best Chinese in Abu Dhabi, it was a bit embarrassing when the staff started to recognise us and telling us 'oh your friends are already upstairs'!
Turning down Jan's offer of running on the corniche every single time; Bitch...I liked your excuse...I would, but I would melt!
Jan's Filipino followers; hahhahahaha... you are just jealous of my Korean looks!
The horrible, horrible architecture; True, there is a lot of horrible architecture!
Alaa and his millions of activities; Alaa is pretty relaxed and a cool guy to hang out with and not in your face like some other people I won't mention, just like me!
Jet skiing; never tried that, scared of drowning! :(
Having several showers a day out of pure necessity; I think the most I had was about 4 a day!
Having Arabic TV on in the background for hours and not understanding a single moment of it; I switched channels as soon as anything Arabic came on, although I remember I was engrossed in a Filipino music/variety show at Alona's on Wii night!
Swearing in Mandarin with Yang; I can't remember those words!
Wessam's dancing; we should have taken him to an arcade to test him!
Wessam's sweat; you miss that really, I sure he could bottle it for you and send you some! hahahahaaha
Working the film festival; that was funny apart from the kid that thought he was better than everyone else!
Apartment envy when I was round Sheetal's “flat "; yeah a bit over the top for one person!
Speaking more to my Mum that I do now (good old skype); No one in my family has skype!
Watching people water the walls in the morning; never seen that!
Having to go back to my room to collect my sunglasses when I forgot them (even though it's December); Yeah and also wearing just a t-shirt and shorts in winter, awesome!
Being the whitest person around; I told you to get yourself some fake tan so that you could blend in, but as usual you never listen to my great advice! hahahahahahahaah
Adam the friendliest guy in the world; True and his facebook posts that sometimes don't make much sense, God bless him!
McDonalds big tasty burger; Yeah the big tasty was awesome; it is no wonder all the Arabs are fat! That and there exercise regime, oh we can buy pills to make us lose weight no need to exercise!
Floating in the Arabic Sea; I tried that, I must have heavy bones because I can't float!
Watchings kids trying to catch those tiny fish in the Sea with their lunchboxes (only happened once but made me laugh); missed that!
Robin's daily health tips; How true, when I was living with Robin, she gave me daily health tips and told me what not to eat, I stopped drinking Nescafe as a result! One of the people I miss a lot!
Zoe failing to understand my English - I mutter; that’s funny as your where my translator on many occasions, I don't know why cause I'll been told I don't have an accent, though the Scots I met can pick it up straight away!
Having 100% confidence in Inigo's navigation “skills "; Yeah Inigo and the hiking group, good times! Also his greeting ... hello, hello, hello... Classic!
That Hinglish radio station; I didn't listen to the radio or watch TV out there as it was rather rubbish, pretty much the same in Australia, I just have to find some TVB series to download and watch!
The absolutely unbelievable heat in the summer.... It wasn't that hot, 50 degrees is nothing!
I think I could go on all night but I'll stop for now. I wasn't always sure at the time, but I had the best time out there. Second that mate, I don't think I could have survived that long out there if it wasn't for all the great friends out there!
Some other things I miss:
Hanging out with friends like you and the simple times like when we sat and chatted whilst drinking rum and coke in your hotel room!
Going to Arcadia and Cheers (Filipino bars), where you could see everyone on the dance floor!
Squash, no one seems to play this here, it's too dangerous for them!
Running along the corniche (the beach) and my regular running partners Alexandra, Diane and Jennifer, I would include Aamir and Arif in there but they just became fat and lazy after the first couple of months... lol;
Working Sunday to Thursday!
Using my blackberry, I can't bbm here without a bloody contract! :(
My Filipino followers!
My 'Born To Run AD' group, I am glad Aamir and Robin are still keeping it going.
"It's time to run again Amigos.. carrying on Jans Legacy" Thanks Aamir
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