In Abu Dhabi

Well I am in Abu Dhabi again, visiting Mum for a week. I arrived yesterday at 2am. Dubai airport is so big, it takes forever to get from the plane to the baggage carousels. And the baggage then took a further forever to be unloaded. But aside from that Dubai airport is so fast, maybe just because in the middle of the night they can't be bothered, but there seems to be no going through customs. You get your passport stamped and go right through. Nothing to fill out, you can declare stuff but I wouldn't even know what you have to declare, they just don't tell you. Not at all like trying to enter New Zealand.

Anyway it takes a couple of hours to drive to Abu Dhabi from Dubai. It is not at all like driving from city to city in New Zealand, here the road is well lit the whole way, runs in a straight line and there are four lanes on each side with a big divider in the middle. Which is really very helpful when you are not used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Mum's apartment is mostly the same when I was living here, except a bit tidier and there is a bit more stuff on the walls, photo-frames a bit less empty, a new rug. Not as nice as the rug that we got in Turkey of course. It is a huge apartment, three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms (the half is just toilet/basin of course), plus a maids room with another small bathroom, which is now the cats room and their litter box is kept in the shower. And a big kitchen and living room. All for Mum and her two cats. Unfortunately even though you live up high in an apartment building, so does everybody else so you cannot actually see anything except buildings.

The stupid cat Nunu is acting all weird at me again. Last time he just hissed at me for my first two weeks. He doesn't do it to anybody else though. Now he is hissing again and looking at me very evilly, but he is not hiding at least. The other cat is friendly, he is not cuddly but likes to rub all over you and pur a lot. Both of the cats like to lick stuff - it's really strange, especially shoes. The other cat can play fetch, I taught him wehn I was living here earlier in the year. He has a rubber ball and he will bring it to you and meow until you throw it, race after it and bring it back. He even drops it right into my hand. Not quite like a dog though, not as stupid. When you only pretend to throw it he figures it out pretty quickly. Maybe indoor living turns cats a bit strange? Mum would like to bring them back to New Zealand. The fat cat is very distinct looking, I think he might only be half domestic, half sand-cat. Nunu on the other hand looks like a normal domestic cat to me.

So far I haven't been outside yet because yesterday I accidentally slept all day. The time change and all. I will go out today though. Mum says it is now just warm and not hot but we will see. It is impossible to know when you are indoors because everything is air conditioned. It is still incredibly early, I feel like I have been up for hours. The working day starts a lot earlier here, something to do with the heat I guess, everybody sleeps through the middle of the day. A bit later when Mum has finished work we will go to the mall, or the beach club that she joined. It is like joining a gym, only I think it is a part of a hotel. As well as gym facilities and a swimming pool there is a private beach, and there are people to wait on you there. You sit on beach chairs and the give you towels and set up beach umbrellas for you and bring you drinks. It cost her a fortune to join but that's just what people do here. They are on big salaries so that they can spend it all. But perhaps if NZ was warmer we would do the same.