Archive for the ‘socialization’ Category

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Twestival

March 29, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

First, what is Twestival? This is an annual event where Twitter users all over the world get together and raise money for charity. The 2009 Twestival in Dubai was one of the first Twitter related social events we attended. This year, DaddyBird attended “stag,” so to speak. You will see him and hear him in the video below, along with several of our friends. (The video was artfully shot and edited by our friend, Faisal.)

This year the proceeds from the Dubai Twestival went to the Dubai Autism Center. Twitter Festival raises over Dh100,000 for charity.

Recent news article about the Dubai Autism Center.

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Examples: Good or Bad?

March 26, 2010

In addition to the 20 something year olds we hang out with saying that they wish their parents were like us, our friend Nas just tweeted:
snap shot of tweet
So, dear parents, you may have wondered if we would ever amount to anything, but apparently we are setting some kind of standard.

(For the non-computer geeks among you – FTW means “for the win” an exclamation that means its a good thing.)

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Kanga’s Birthday

March 23, 2010

Posted by Kanga
birthday girl and birthday cake
Happy birthday to me! We went to one of my favorite places, Bu Qtair Cafeteria.

party goers
With some of my favorite people.

party goers

fish on a plate
And ate some of my favorite food.

fish on a plate

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Quoted

March 15, 2010

Posted by Kanga

http://jazeeramagazine.com/2010/02/01/twitter-arabia/

I’ve been quoted in the article at the link above talking about Twitter. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. We are having an atypical experience because we are able to socially connect with wonderful people that we would not have crossed paths with otherwise. We know more Emiratis than Americans (in Dubai). We know WAY more Indians, Pakistanis and Syrians, than Americans. And, we mustn’t overlook our dear Maltese. (If I’ve left out your nationality, please don’t take it personally. We love you all.)

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Palm Island

February 20, 2010

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to a party at a villa on the Jumeirah Palm Island. Our friends Lara and Terry are on a one year adventure they are calling GranTourismo. They’ve combined their career as travel writers with HomeAway Holiday Rentals and are traveling around the world this year spending two weeks in each destination. Their first stop was in Dubai on the Palm, then to London, then to Marrakesh, then ???? If you like good pictures, good food, and good travel advice, you should follow their blog.

First let me say, our twitter friend Grace did a better job of documenting this party on her blog (than I am about to do). So, I recommend that you click here and read what she said and check out her pictures. Also, there is an entry by Terry detailing the food served and you can click here to read that. Extra points for those of you find us in the pictures on both the blogs.

Here are my pictures:

villa on the Palm IslandThis is the villa on Frond E. It is a five bedroom home with a lovely kitchen, dining room, living room and den. (Five and a half bathrooms, by the way.)

beachThis is the view toward the stem of the Palm.

beach

beachThis is the view toward the end of the fronds. It was atypically stormy. It didn’t actually rain, but was cool, cloudy and breezy.

cell tower disquised as a palm treeThere was a nearby cell phone tower disguised as a palm tree. Notice the fake dates hanging in the fake tree.

close up of fake palmIt was a beautiful evening with (in our opinion) perfect weather, good friends, and good food. We may never have another reason to go out onto the Palm, but at least we can say we’ve been there.

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One More Picture

February 19, 2010

birthday partyI tried to stand far enough back to get everyone in the picture.

[In DaddyBird’s defense, we started out sitting together, but as the group grew, he mingled. We ended up sitting next to each other. As for my birthday, I don’t know what we will do, yet.]

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Saturday Tweetup

January 11, 2010

people having dinner at Al Baghdadi Restaurant, Al Muteena, DubaiSaturday we met with our Twitter friends at one of our favorite restaurants – Al Baghdadi on Al Muteena Street. The very first time Daddybird and I ate at this restaurant, my purse was stolen. You can read the detailed account of that experience here.
Anyway, back to the Tweetup. There were 26 people, according to my count, not all pictured here. They are a marvelous group of people from a wide range of countries, ages, professions, etc.  people having dinner at Al Baghdadi Restaurant, Al Muteena, DubaiRami showed up late, but that’s the beauty of a tweetup. People come and go as they please or their schedule allows.
people having dinner at Al Baghdadi Restaurant, Al Muteena, DubaiNow a word about Twitter. It seems that my friends and acquaintances back home haven’t figured out what to do with Twitter. They prefer Facebook. For me, Facebook is fine for keeping in touch with people you met and made friends with “in the flesh.” I have never made a new friend through Facebook. For me, the beauty of Twitter is making new friends. We are having an atypical expat experience because of this. We would never have met these people through “normal channels.” I once described Twitter as: “like being in a room full of people who are all talking, but you can hear and understand what everyone is saying and join or ignore any conversation.” This got “retweeted” a few times, so there may be some truth in it. The people (mostly stupid journalists) who say they aren’t interested in Twitter because they don’t care what other people had for lunch, really don’t comprehend what is happening in Twitter. There was a study that randomly sampled tweets and determined that 40% is “pointless babble.” This study was deeply flawed, because you can’t pull tweets out of context without turning them into pointless babble. Twitter is a conversation.
man wearing a coatWhy did I take a picture of this bystander who was not part of our group? Because he’s wearing a leather coat over his kandura BECAUSE IT’S SO COLD! The low that night was 63F. Since the people back home are complaining about rain, wind and sometimes snow, the thought that people think Dubai is cold is amusing to me.

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More New Year’s

January 8, 2010

partial lunar eclipseNew Year’s Eve was quite a night. There was a partial eclipse of the moon. We had a great time with friends. The fireworks were spendid.

Then, I went and got the flu. Rats! Anyway, I am feeling better, so will try to get caught up on posting what we’ve done and seen lately. In a week, we will be off to Kuala Lumpur for six days and I am sure that will involve new adventures to share.

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Bu Qtair

October 26, 2009

Last week we met up with friends and completely new people we’ve never met before at Bu Qtair Cafeteria for lovely fried fish. There were about 18 people in our group. Tom Gara and Rami were having some kind of private hat contest. Tom is sporting a red fez these days. Rami wore a Russian army cap. Rami won the contest. Daddybird could have blown them both out of the water with his Viking hat, had he known. RamiRami is collecting money to pay for the meal, but it looks more like a Russian black market deal going down.

You might remember Bu Qtair from a post last June – https://livingthetravelchannel.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/buqtair/

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Bowling

October 16, 2009

The library staff, families and a few others went out for a bowling night, just for fun. Few had the faintest idea how to bowl. Made for a bit of chaos. I had to turn off the part of my brain that cares about abiding by the rules and common lane courtesy – like not stepping onto the wood floor area, if you are not the one bowling. Daddybird was afraid he was going to bean some of the kids with his back swing.
Bowling1
Bowling2It was strange to be in a bowling alley that wasn’t smokefilled and you couldn’t get a beer (or buy illegal drugs). I don’t think there were any pinball machines either. Not quite the American experience. Also, the TV screen between the scoreboards was showing a soccer game. Do American bowling alleys have football or baseball playing on TV screens?
Bowling3Above is most of us. Not all the family members joined into the pose.
CastlesAnd, to answer the inevitable question, yes, Emiratis wear abayas and kanduras when they bowl.Bowling4

Bowling5