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Projects

So projects are kinda sensitive, so I won't go into detail, but one of my projects is the Development Framework Regulations which will be an incredible merit-based zoning system to ensure sustianable development. It's going to be a model framework, and we'll even be presenting it at the American Planning Association conference in (yawn) Minneapolis in April.

My other big project is still ongoing - the Western Region Plan - the largest regional/urban plan in history! And you don't even want to know what the planning budget alone is!

I went on a reconnaissance tour and have some pictures from it!

Pictures from Al Gharbia

There are so many of these, that I have to create their own page! I love Al Gharbia (Western Region)!

Safety First

So this page will be about the day-to-day in Abu Dhabi. One of the coolest things is the safety here.

All the western expatriates that have been here for a while all share one frame of praise for living in the UAE - safety. Crime here is virtually non-existant, with a stolen car or a murder a few years ago, causing a lot of outcry. With the exception of driving, it's really safe here. I like that, and hope it doesn't warp my mind, so when I go back home, I don't have a false sense of security in a dark alley or something.. because you know I love dark alleys(?).

My real-estate agent was a single mother of two from the UK, and she said she'll never go back to London because of all the crime. Crazy!

Agnetha in UAE

So I was at the US Embassy. There are not that many American expats in Abu Dhabi, but the Marines have a party once a month for US expats and their guests. Anyway, I hadn't even had my first drink yet, when IN walks a lady that looked JUST like Agnetha Faltskog (the blonde from ABBA). Agnetha today, not Agnetha-stretchpants-1979. She kind of dressed like her, too.

I told my friend (who didn't know who ABBA was - typical Americans!), and then after a few drinks she passed by and I said, "Excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but I just wanted to tell you that you look exactly like Agnetha Faltskog". Of course this wasn't Agnetha in Abu Dhabi, at the US Embassy no less. I didn't have to explain who Agnetha was, and she responded very positively and was very, very flattered. The man she was with concurred.

... then I had an idea...what? I was bored.

So as the night wore on, I mentioned to someone that I had heard that the blonde from ABBA was here, and how random is that? Well, one Marine was like, "woah, Agnetha?" He apparently was a huge ABBA fan - random. Anyway, later I was with a group of people, and stated that the marine-guy had said that someone from some seventies pop group or something was here. Who is it? Oh, you'll have to ask him, here - Hey who was it you said that was the blonde? Oh Agnetha? Okay - it's Agnetha from ABBA; the blonde. Yeah, that's what I thought, too - weird. That's her over there right?

And On and On and On.. "No, I heard that, too - I have to admit that's pretty cool, I guess.. If you like ABBA." "That can't really be her, can it? Who said it was her? That couple over there did? Okay, well.. cool I guess haha"

By the time the evening was through, people were convinced that they were the one that spotted her, and it went so far as someone asking the Marines to play an ABBA song on the boombox outside at the BBQ pit. It was hilarious. It was also amazing how many people were excited about her being there.

And I have to admit, it was kind of sweet the way it stirred people up, as if one of my pop idols was really at the same party as me. Like if you drank a lot of beer and imagined really hard, it was as though she was really there haha

In order to enter and exit the US Embassy compound, you have to sign in and out, so I was sure to sign Agnetha Faltskog out that evening.

I've been to two parties since and that mystery woman is still being talked about.

Haircut by Jihad

Michelle recommended a haircut place and now my haircutter's name is Jihad. When he does the thing with the razor, I get nervous because I've seen a lot of horror movies.

The only noteworthy excitement is that at the end he does this thing where he brushes the loose hairs off my face and stuff and then WHACK! he starts hitting my head in a fast succession and it's hard and loud, and rapid and I had a look of astonishment on my face for the duration of the whack-whack-whack back and forth like a machine gun (punctuated of course by me trying not to laugh out loud). It was like I was being smacked and beaten and I paid for this.