My City, My Life (Also, My Livingroom, My Cats)

Alrighty.... it's been too long since we've posted some good photos on here, and with plans for Canada next week, we decided to take a drive around town to show you where we live.

First off, though, the livingroom, and the COOLEST couch thing in the world. As you can see, we went with a bit of an orange/blue theme for everything. We had the majlis made - and it's our first piece of married-life furniture. Definitely a keeper.

The bookshelf is crammed full of random memorabilia from Cambodia, Korea, South Africa, Malaysia, India etc. The framed photos are going to end up on the wall to the right of the bookshelf eventually...

We still don't have a table, so we opted to not include any pics of the gaping space opposite the majlis area.

And then, we headed out into town...

Our first stop was the park across the street. We used to have picnics here once a week, but now it's just too hot. That doesn't stop them from watering it in the middle of the day!

And the dates are ready for harvesting!

Most towns have a sort of collection of rock sculptures, showing desert scenes, coffee pots, animals etc at their entrances as a way to welcome you there. I do love the falcon picking the bunny up by his bum while the other bunny flees in terror. Yeah, uh, Welcome!

Another item that's always found upon arriving at a new town is the "Big Picture of Sheikhs". Sheikh Zayed, who is floating up at the top there, is the man responsible for uniting the Emirates between warring clans, and then developing the economy, education, hospitals etc. He brought the country from an almost primitive way of life to one of the richest places in the world. The other Sheikhs are on a lot of the posters around here too, but their names escape me.

Into the residential area now, where we find a typical street of houses on one side, and a few camels on the other.

This is a random building in the middle of nowhere, just off the main drag, that makes us laugh. It's all small grocery stores, and a dentists, and that's about it....

And this is my school, walled in behind a big gate (so we couldn't get in to take closer shots).

Across from my school is a sort of farming area, with goats and a few shacks, all surrounded by traditional palm frond walls. Palm fronds are pretty useful building materials here, which is why this guy has a load of them (the driver was a hundred-year old Bedouin guy with a long white beard).

Downtown Madinat Zayed is pretty much just long aisles of small marts that sell a weird variety of objects. Ty's magical photo skills have made it look much more picturesque than it actually is.

About a kilometre from the bustling downtown core is a sort of camel shanty-town. Just a bunch of fenced-off, well, dirt, and tons of camels. I don't know if this is a market or holding pens before the big chop-chop (camel meat is, apparently, very good for you).

Awwww, aren't they cute?

Anything that isn't built on or irrigated into forced greenery is reclaimed by the desert. This patch is between the downtown and the camel place, next to an intersection.

Finally, our apartments, back in town. Our building is the one furthest away in this photo.

In other news, I'm determined to get my cats to be lolcats. I blame the cabin fever and too much wine last Scrabble night. Which photo do you think is best? And how would you caption it?

And on that note.... see you in a few days!