Woodall

April 2007

Well, we have again travelled to Denmark for Easter this year - now for a working holiday 8with breaks thanks to friends and family). Our house is now finished and looks fantastic. The extension blends in with the original design and will be perfect with a coat of paint in the summer. the back of the house next to the kitchen entrance

The garden looks awful - not only from building the house but we needed a new sewer pipe and have also had gutters fitted which drain into three fascines (drains in the ground where the water runs through filters and into the soil rather than through the sewage system).

We arrived to a house in a mess - here you can see how much we achieved on the first day:

<- paper on all floors to protect them and furniture everywhere

and in the evening ->

<- we had breakfast and went straight to work

nice, isn't it ->

<- and the last view towards the extension

soooo much light and sooo many windows->

this used to be Marcs room, now it's Charlottes reading corner when the guys are watching football or other interesting programmes on the tv.
Those of you who remember Charlottes parents home may recognize this painting, which, by the way, used to scare the living daylights out of me when I was 5.
More of Marcs ex-room

This is where Martins room used to be. It is now the "Workzone" again an item with history: this clock has been in both my grandparents and my parents house.
another corner of Martins ex-room

windows in the ceiling provide the livingroom with much needed extra light. - and now evrything is roughly in place - and ready for some finishing touches to come in the summer
the new bathroom

spare bedroom
and our bedroom this concludes the tour of the summerhouse - we are very happy with the builder and what he has managed to do with the house. Now we look forward to the summer when we can enjoy it all.

Back in Dubai, summer is on its way. In the morning temperatures are already 27dgr and in the afternoon 37dgr.
The plants on the terrace like the hot weather and are in full bloom. with summer comes pests - and thisl ittle fellow ate the desert rose

Sad, isn't it?? But Prakash, the gardner, will "-put medicine, he eat, two - three day, he finish..." When in Rome....but I do not like all that "medicine". If I want to keep my plants I will just have to accept it.
Also the bougainvilla is beautiful

As the Cow-parade proved popular other places in the world, Dubai has its own parades: the Camel-parade, the Horse-parade and this is the Falcon-parade.
The principle is the same: the white figures are given to artists, who decorate them and money is donated to charity by various companies and institutions.
Strangely enough in this money-fixated country, no-one has come up with the idea to take the concept that step further and sell miniature copies, like the Cow-parade miniatures you find everywhere

To me, that would be a much nicer souvenir from Dubai, than all the copy handbags and watches that people are throwing their money at.

Duabi International Academy, one of our local schools, held International Day in April the Danish stand with lots of Dannbrog (our flag) and little pigs
the ladies were serving æbleskiver and frikadeller.

Rasmus and Rasmus sporting the Danish colours

Dubai

Indonesia
Pakistan In Pakistan they have competitions on painting lorries (real ones) (check the link to Allan and Mashas homepage for real life pics)

Papua New Guinea
Iranian New Year table, which is full of symbols
Switzerland

South Korea
Poul holding my dish of Korean specialties
Colombia

The Emirates Golf Club hosts a party for the members every year - the tables are laid for 550 people!! Shisha tents (traditional arabic tents for reclining and smoking the shisha-waterpipe) All the senior staff are lines up to welcome the guests (ie us!)

the bar We arrive on the red carpet - you can just see Poul in the light green suit behind me and another lady table decoration at the desert buffet

the 19th anniversary cake our table the view is rather spectacular

The two Captains draw the lucky winner of a years free membership and the winners were Lorraine and Allan, who practically spend their whole life at the club - worthy winners indeed! Chef Francois, who was recently elected the best chef in Dubai by his peers.

The first armed robbery of a jewelly shop took place this month - the robbers crashed their cars into the shop window and after 115 seconds were able to leave with jewellery worth Dhs50mill. dubai was in a state of shockand police vowed to capture the robbers!

- which they did two weeks later. The culprits were arrestd in the UAE and ion an Eastern European country. Apparently the gang had carrried out more than 100 similar operations in Europe and was very skilled and organised. I quote the the Dubai Police chief: "a criminal's succes is temporary because he will not get away with his crime but will be arrested against his will. In Dubai it is our inheritance that anyone who somes to corrupt our country and leaves, we will follow them to the farthest point of life."

This is a massive project - it will certainly be felt by all motorists on the Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR) - the main highway through Dubai - which is by the way horribly congested most of the time....

The Creek will be extended to form a loop from the Gulf, round the new area with Burj Dubai (the future highest building in the World) and back into the Gulf, hereby crossing the SZR, Al Wasl Road and Jumeira Beach Road (all three vital to traffic in Dubai).

SZR: a 12 lane bridge will be built over the canal

Al Wasl Road and Jumeirah Beach Road(JBR): both will have 6 lane bridges

ALL TO BE COMPLETED IN 3 (THREE) YEARS. I hear you cry (well, we do, it will be unbearable - their are already upsetting traffic with the Metro work and new interchanges all the time...)

The channel will be 100m wide and part of the already existing watertransport system. The roads surrounding the channel will be improved - well look at how long it took to "beautify" JBR - that project took years and residents and shops were hugely inconvenienced.

a UAE delegation has visited Pakistan to follow up on the rehabilitation of former child jockeys. According to teh Interior Ministry 98% of jockeys have been rehabilitated (686 out of 692 children) having gone through education, training and having received healthcare.The last 6 children will soon be in the programme.

Well, that's the least they could do, isn't it, after having bought or abducted 4-5 year old boys and forced them to ride camels in races.......

Apparently the develpers in the UAE are realising that words like "tallest", "most exclusive", "iconic" are not that "hip" anymore - now the new buzz-word is: "green". who would have thought that a few nonths ago?????

Soon houses powered by solar energy will be available to home owners in the country. A Swediosh company is involved in the project - and say: "we have a lot of solar energy nad it is very important to do something with it".

The houses will have triple glazed windows, will be insulated and have aircondition systems powered by solar energy. Welcome to 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are happy that plastic, metal and paper is now being collected from our house every wednesday - this project being launched by Earth Watch (Emaar, a huge developer = government owned company is funding this). Unfortunately we have witnessed that the items collected are sometimes dumped in containers all mixed together by the workers (who haven't quite grasped the concept).

However, the idea is excellent and does work to a certain extent - and every little bit helps as each resident in Dubai generates 1 tonne of rubbish every year - the worlds highest per capita rate.

A carpet of plastic waste strewn across the deserts near Dubai is killing wildlife and domestic animals in alarming numbers. Two of every Three animals autopsied at a Dubai laboratory have died in part due to plastic ingestion.

In a remote corner of the desert about an hours drive from Dubai, dozens of stinking, rotten corpses of camels, cattle and other livestock are proof of the huge problem.

a camel may eat a lot of plastic, which then fills up the stomach (up to 50kgs of plastic) leaving less room for regular food. The animal slowly dies of starvation and constipation as there is no movement of the bowel. Disgraceful!

A typical dump in the desert.

On a happier note - a tiny rural community is living in Oman and producing rose water using timeold techniques and sustainable resources.

Here a woman gathers delicate pink roses in her veil

the fresh roses are placed in huge clay jars and a bowl is placed over them and sealed. The jar is then lowered into a mud oven and placed on a gas stove. The mouth and lid remain outside the oven and water is poured into the lid. As the stove heats up the roses, their essence evaporates and rises to the top of the jar where it reaches the wool metal lid and condenses, falling into the collection bowl. The collected essence is then poured into large clay pots and left to decant and purify for one month.

Farmers live a modest life despite earning about Dhs 150.000 a year producing rose water.

"Another busy day at a wharfage in Deira. The wooden dhows carry goods to countries as far as Somalia besides the Gulf states, emphasising the historical position of Dubai as a centre for regional trade."

Well, we have again travelled to Denmark for Easter this year - now for a working holiday 8with breaks thanks to friends and family). Our house is now finished and looks fantastic.	The extension blends in with the original design and will be perfect with a coat of paint in the summer.	the back of the house next to the kitchen entrance
		The garden looks awful - not only from building the house but we needed a new sewer pipe and have also had gutters fitted which drain into three fascines (drains in the ground where the water runs through filters and into the soil rather than through the sewage system).
	We arrived to a house in a mess - here you can see how much we achieved on the first day: <- paper on all floors to protect them and furniture everywhere and in the evening ->
	<- we had breakfast and went straight to work nice, isn't it ->
	<- and the last view towards the extension soooo much light and sooo many windows->
this used to be Marcs room, now it's Charlottes reading corner when the guys are watching football or other interesting programmes on the tv.	Those of you who remember Charlottes parents home may recognize this painting, which, by the way, used to scare the living daylights out of me when I was 5.	More of Marcs ex-room
This is where Martins room used to be. It is now the "Workzone"	again an item with history: this clock has been in both my grandparents and my parents house.	another corner of Martins ex-room
windows in the ceiling provide the livingroom with much needed extra light.	- and now evrything is roughly in place - and ready for some finishing touches to come in the summer	the new bathroom
spare bedroom	and our bedroom	this concludes the tour of the summerhouse - we are very happy with the builder and what he has managed to do with the house. Now we look forward to the summer when we can enjoy it all.
Back in Dubai, summer is on its way. In the morning temperatures are already 27dgr and in the afternoon 37dgr.	The plants on the terrace like the hot weather and are in full bloom.	with summer comes pests - and thisl ittle fellow ate the desert rose
Sad, isn't it?? But Prakash, the gardner, will "-put medicine, he eat, two - three day, he finish..." When in Rome....but I do not like all that "medicine". If I want to keep my plants I will just have to accept it.		Also the bougainvilla is beautiful

As the Cow-parade proved popular other places in the world, Dubai has its own parades: the Camel-parade, the Horse-parade and this is the Falcon-parade.	The principle is the same: the white figures are given to artists, who decorate them and money is donated to charity by various companies and institutions.	Strangely enough in this money-fixated country, no-one has come up with the idea to take the concept that step further and sell miniature copies, like the Cow-parade miniatures you find everywhere
To me, that would be a much nicer souvenir from Dubai, than all the copy handbags and watches that people are throwing their money at.
Duabi International Academy, one of our local schools, held International Day in April	the Danish stand with lots of Dannbrog (our flag) and little pigs	the ladies were serving æbleskiver and frikadeller.
		Rasmus and Rasmus sporting the Danish colours
		Dubai
Indonesia	Pakistan	In Pakistan they have competitions on painting lorries (real ones) (check the link to Allan and Mashas homepage for real life pics)
Papua New Guinea	Iranian New Year table, which is full of symbols	Switzerland
South Korea	Poul holding my dish of Korean specialties	Colombia
The Emirates Golf Club hosts a party for the members every year - the tables are laid for 550 people!!	Shisha tents (traditional arabic tents for reclining and smoking the shisha-waterpipe)	All the senior staff are lines up to welcome the guests (ie us!)
the bar	We arrive on the red carpet - you can just see Poul in the light green suit behind me and another lady	table decoration at the desert buffet
the 19th anniversary cake	our table	the view is rather spectacular
The two Captains draw the lucky winner of a years free membership	and the winners were Lorraine and Allan, who practically spend their whole life at the club - worthy winners indeed!	Chef Francois, who was recently elected the best chef in Dubai by his peers.