Hot and Painful

Today is a terribly troubled day at the office. There are a lot of work and the whole day I could not rotate my head. Our site nurse gave a pain reliever patch he said "Stick it on your neck." Salonpas makes you feel hot and makes you smell like menthol. But does not remove pain.

Byun's Visit

Anneong-haseyo! We were refreshed when we met our friend from south korea who came back to UAE to see us. Her name is Byun. Such a sweet lonely girl. She used to work day and night non-stop like the other koreans, but now we were glad to see that she had found her "inner peace". She said she was able to think for herself during her visit in Turkey, hehe. 

St. Petersburg

photo credit: danielkorzeniewski

St. Petersburg is the 2nd largest city in Russia with a population of 5million. It was built by the famous 'Peter the Great'. When Peter the Great ruled Russia, he opened and reformed his country to grow and become one of the most powerful in Europe. The city is like a big cultural center, it has 150 museums and 60 theaters.

Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia. In 1993 the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia became a democratic state. It has 12million population. 16million in daytime because some people live outside in their country houses but work in Moscow so 7 million people commute daily to the city. Private offices working hours are from 10am to 6pm  while government offices are from 8.30-9am to 5pm. Some markets are 24 hrs open. And big shopping malls open from 10am-10pm. Russians love to wear black. They have black dress black jackets, black boots and black gloves and caps.

A Taste of Thunder in the Emirates

It rarely rains in the UAE. If it does, its only mild and just for a few minutes. Today is different. Its strong and there is a sound of thunder also. 

To: Philippines...From: The hearts of PISA

Typhoon Yolanda (haiyan), one of the most powerful storm to hit the world crashed a part of our country recently. It is very devastating. Terrible news runs through the local as well as in the international networks during the last weeks. To help even in a little way we combined our donations from the different nationalities in our workplace (filipinos, koreans, indians, lebanese...).

Welcome back Logos! Hope Floats in Mina

The Logos Hope is a christian charity ship which travels the world, they have crew of about 400 volunteers from 45 different countries. They help people in the country they visit by giving medical assistance, providing water purification systems, building infrastructure, or setting up libraries.

In Love with the Prince of Asgard

Thor's new movie is as good as the previous one. It is great fun watching it. The same great actors played it skillfully that you will get carried away so easily. And they shot most of the scenes in the beautiful city of London. The story plays with the opposites of our emotions: love & anger, hope & despair, forgiveness & revenge, then of course tears & laughter.

Bibimbap Dinner at Hankook Abu Dhabi

There are many nice international cuisine restaurants scattered around the city. And we like everything korean so we stopped by to try the HANKOOK restaurant near the bus station last week.

Shushi Lunch at Sho Cho Abu Dhabi

Everyday we eat free food from the Company's catering services....but me and my friend agreed that we are tired of its same taste over and over so last week we both decided to go out for lunch. Our project site is near Fairmount Hotel and there is a nice 'shushi' restaurant in souk qaryat al beri. Even though we only have an hour to spare, we risked getting late back to work and went inside Sho Cho.

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia. It is a small European country between Asia and Europe, east of Black Sea, and south of Russia, near Turkey. Visa is open for tourists, you'll get it upon arrival and costs approximately Dhs.100 ($30)

Farewell Ms. Sri Lanka!

As we live we come to meet many people, we open our hearts to some, they become our friends and by and by we have to say goodbye. We joke and fight at the same time but most of all we try to learn from all. No matter how much we want to keep our friends but still it is necessary to separate ways again. Today we said goodbye to our one and only beautiful Sri Lankan colleague.  Such a sweet yet stubborn girl.

<pretty rona, joan, & gayani...PISA at the background)

Beauty does not come in a Size

My stomach is hurting. I think I exceeded tonight the maximum allowable food volume to put inside. My dinner was enough for 3people. Food can be therapeutic you know, when you have a problem.

Moving On...

Today is Thursday. 5:20am, I awoke with a heavy heart, took hot shower and drink bitter coffee. I am scheduled for a job interview today. Here in the UAE, the market is very competitive, there are so many nationalities, and its normal to feel nervous for interview. Finally I got down on my knees and poured out all the fears, doubts, & desperation. The sky is very bright this morning, at 8 AM its a little difficult to catch a taxi, there are no commuter trains, the public buses are always full especially in the morning and it has to stop in each parking lot.

Obsessed with South Korea

What is it about South Korea that charms the world?

Korean Gifts ^^* memorabillas

<from sir Baek_08.09.13>

Shawarmas and Curtains

We finally moved in to our new room in flat 1208 Al Yousuf Tower

beside Pizza Hut in Hamdan Street, in the center of Abu Dhabi City.

 My room mate brought many of her things....

It's your Life but I love you!

We know what needs to be done.

And we know what is good and bad.

But we often ignore everything else and do what we like. 

Even if it harms us, we don't care. 

Sometimes we don't know but someone cares.

Be MAD & RIDICULOUS! (or be boring)

~~Thanks Ms. Marilyn!

Give It All Away (Short Story)

Legend has it that a man was lost in the desert, dying for a drink of water. He stumbled upon an old shack-a ramshackle, windowless, roofless, weather-beaten old shack. He looked about this place and found a little shade from the heat of the desert sun. As he glanced around he saw a pump about fifteen feet away-an old, rusty water pump. He stumbled over to it, grabbed the handle, and began to pump up and down, up and down. Nothing came out.