La Brioche

Yesterday, Wednesday night, Mario and I decided to have our nightly walk. We do not really have any idea where to go but Mario wanted to have coffee. He wanted to go to Starbucks but I wanted to go to somewhere new. So Mario suggested we visit La Brioche, a French restaurant famous for its breads and pastries. If you remember my previous blog about my birthday presents, you will see a birthday cake from La Brioche given to me by my office mates. I have heard so much about this cafe so I am very eager to visit the place. It's along Najda Street and near to where I work. 

  

Inside the rustic place...

Pastries....

Our orders..

I didn't much like the black currant custard cake. The currant is too sour and the custard is not sweet enough for the sour taste. Their coffee is quite okay as I have ordered cappuccino but comes in small size.

Next time, i will probably try their pasta and stick to the cakes :-)

Mario and I decided to go home and call it a night. It's a long weekend so no rush and passed by the park...Beautiful night!

Taxi Scene

I forgot to mention that on our way home inside a cab, our driver blew a horn on the car in front of us. Though it was late, traffic is still large. By the way, most Abu Dhabi taxi drivers are reckless and drives too fast, I just don't know why, and our driver is not an exception. 


So anyway, our driver said that the car in front of us is owned by a rich sheik. So my husband asked why he knew that. According to our driver when the plate number has only 2-3 numbers, it's expensive and owned by sheiks..So my husband already engaged in a conversation, told him that in his own country (meaning the Philippines) car plates are identifiable by color like green plate is for privately-owned vehicle, yellow for public transportation, red plate for government-owned vehicle,and so forth. As our driver was also saying something about "In my country........" and since, I cannot understand what our driver is saying, my mind drifted off somewhere not far not paying attention to what the conversation is about and only half listening to my husband's yes and nos.


Eventually I turned to Mario and asked..."Naiintindihan mo ba sinasabi niya? Sigurado ako hindi"....And Mario said..."Hindi. Um-oo ka na lang" which made me laugh! So i let him enjoyed the conversation. On our stop, we thanked the driver and went off the cab. 


I noticed my husband's puzzled look. So i asked him what about. He said "Did you heard what he said? How he pronounced the word government? I could not almost understand what he is pertaining to." So we had a little laugh at that. 


Word of the day: Government              Pronounced as: Gover-na-ment

Bloomsbury's

Mario has been sick over the weekend so I thought we will be housebound for two days. But yesterday late afternoon, he said he is feeling better and requested to go malling, our usual weekend activity. So off we went to Al Wahda Mall. So far this mall has been awarded as no. 1 mall in Abu Dhabi. See for yourself why...

The ambiance feels so great and very classy. So it just feels right that in the middle of the mall sprang Bloomsbury's. It's a new cupcake store with a tie-up from Bea's of Bloomsbury, "London's most fashionable Bakery". What's new? According to Abu Dhabi week magazine,' Bloomsbury's aims to combine Eastern and Western flavours to create indulgent cupcakes with a contemporary British twist...' 


So entering Bloomsbury's is like going into a different dimension...

I checked out their displays...

 

  

 We ordered German chocolate cupcake for Mario, chocolate as usual, and mine is one of their all-time fave Diabetics' dream. It's a banana cake with cream cheese on top and pecan nuts..

 And i ordered English black tea. Very nice presentation...

  

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me" - CS Lewis

The tea, made of fresh leaves in a bag, is dipped inside this delicate tea pot and is timed before drinking. You can ask for more hot water for second or third infusions. 

So busog!

Mario doesn't want his picture taken coz' he looks ill...Anyway, i enjoyed eating the cakes as much as the tea and will definitely go back. Though with Mario, it's just so, so...I swear I need to exercise after this treat =)

Presents

Though it's a little late, I wanted to show my birthday presents...

From Hassel...

Longchamp Cosmetic bag

From Hassel, again....

Khiel's facial toner,cleanser, eye cream and lipbalm and
a handy mirror made in Korea (not in picture)

From my  hubby...

Ipod Touch 32GB 4th Gen

And this comes with this...

From my office mates, Belle and Grace...

Le Brioche Birthday cake

Thank you for friends for making my birthday special and to my husband who treated us to Chili's and for giving me the Ipod. It's a very useful small giant machine that helps me communicate with my unico using skype and my handy camera when I am out....God is really good! :-)

Sinful

Sinful...My merienda....


Somebody in our office might be celebrating something - a winner in a photo contest, a son or daughter's birthday, their own birthday, work visa, regularization, increase, a new born baby, world cricket, and anything worth celebrating about. Anyway, i didn't ask. I was too busy with work and when the teaboy hand you one 'sweet' well it's a treat. :-)


Look at the picture...This is taken from our office while I was looking out the glass window (please do not mind the dirt plastered on the window). Look at the white car in front of the big tree..

Closer...

Closer still...

This drama has been going on for more than 3 hours. I heard this guy, with hands up on his head, took a ladies' arm and allegedly harassed her. The lady, not shown, reported the matter to the police. The other gentlemen are probably friends or relatives of hers. They did not allowed this guy to escape until justice is served.


Sinful...


A woman's voice in UAE is very powerful. 

Coming and Going

For most of you who lives in this country you know what is coming and what is going…   

The very first thing I find hard to adjust to is the language barrier. Asking one question to a saleslady is an entirely different matter than when you are into a long conversation with a different nationality.

In our office the majority is Indian, then Lebanese, then Filipino and the minority Greek, Italian, Brit, Egyptian, Jordanian, S. African, etc..We are really a fusion of multi-cultural races and so are the twangs which really makes me crazy…

I am relatively good in speaking English. In fact, back home, some Korean OJTs love the way I speak.  Coming to Abu Dhabi changes all that. Most of my co-workers are fluent in English, however, as I've said the twang makes it difficult to understand. Since I am normally shy and timid in a new environment, I am afraid to ask and repeat what is being said  to me. Relatively new, it's frustrating. I feel like an alien from outer space! (Hi, I am a Martian :-D)

I was very hard on myself then, expecting too much,  and so it makes me more depressed. Later on, a co-Filipino told me that most of my office mates do not understand how I speak. Instead of taking it negatively, I was even relieved by the news.  I realized I was not the only one suffering from the language barrier. It was mutual for me and them. 

And so began my Abu Dhabi eloquence. I changed the way I speak and make sure to pronounce each words  carefully.  I also soon came to understand how words are used differently. 

 "Pardon me?" is not the usual. instead its "I'm sorry?" 

"Coming" is used when a person is on his way to a place regardless of distance 

"Going"   means leaving

Sometimes   it can be more artistic…like" upstairs' means on top or "downstairs" means below.       Pronunciations also matters..Compliance is pronounced as "complaince"…so I thought its (complaint. dang! I almost missed that..)

Vegetable is pronounced as ve-je-tabol… and so the list goes on… 

Asking for a spelled word might be more risky...RAK would be spelled as R-EH-KEH (??) 

But the worst so far is our tea boy,  who according to some was interviewed using so much of a sign language..(he doesn’t know how to speak English at that time but he is quite improved now and is one of my friends).Since he normally goes to an Indian restaurant every morning to buy his breakfast, sometimes i ask him to buy me "chapati". So this morning, I asked him if he had gone to the Indian restaurant already. He said "Ohhh I am going and coming already. So next time". :-D

After all the familiarization, adjustments and hardships, I am proud to say that I feel human now like the rest of them. I also now have the confidence to ask if I do not understand, which, I think is the most important thing I learned. Though I have somehow changed my 'americanized' diction, it's not important. What matters is you are understood. What matters is your acceptance that every being  indeed is different...When acceptance comes, then confidence do sets in.  

This way, That way

One thing I noticed about Abu Dhabi is that its streets, especially in the city, are parallel to each other and you would think that you can easily find any place as clear as day.That is what I initially thought. 

The thing is I find its street names a little confusing. Probably because of the rapid growth of the country, you will mostly encounter 2 names for each street. They name it by ranking (1st street, 2nd street, etc…).  I learned that the 1st street is named after Sheikh Zayed, the father and founder of UAE. There also street names like Hamdan street, Najda street... One good example is Electra Street or Sheikh Zayed the Second Street :-) 

The worst is if you find yourself in the middle of a street block with minor roads, then you will feel more lost than you actually are. So, if you live in a flat or a building located in the middle of the major roads, you will be lucky if the building itself has a name. Otherwise, you will be describing where you live graphically and with all the adjectives you could muster. 

To simplify matters, most residents here go by the PO Box. I, for one, have never known the physical address of where we live. If somebody asks, I take a deep breath and then go on with my tirade of giving directions and descriptions with matching hand movements.    

So when I was assigned as a reliever for the company's telephone operator, giving directions to clients is a dilemma. I can only say as much as our building name and some landmarks near our area. If the client further asks, then I will need a helpline, meaning transferring the call to the GM's secretary, also a Filipina.   

When I was only here about a month ago and still trying to find work, the best way for me is to get a cab in case I have a scheduled interview. My husband advised me to schedule any interviews on a Saturday so that he may be able to accompany me. (Friday is an official rest day. Some companies have Saturday work. Sunday is a Monday) But then it is not always the case since it will depend also on the time availability of the interviewer. If the interview date would be on a weekday of the following week, my hubby and I will find time to locate the office on a weekend and check if it will be walking distance from home or he will advise me how to instruct the cab driver going there. And then if the company is located outside of the city, then "Kalas" or finish - the job will not be considered at all.

Anyway, if you are new and confident enough, find time to walk around the city. Try to go from one block to the other. You will notice that the streets are almost similar to each other. The difference of course would be the buildings and commercial establishments located along the streets.

In time you will get the hang of it and will identify some landmarks that will be useful in 'describing' your address, making directions, and just simply going from one place to the other.

Khalidiyah Mall

Last Saturday night my husband and I decided to go to Khalidiya mall located along 26th street. (See my next blog about Abu Dhabi streets).

The first time I went there, I was amazed at the façade of the mall. It's very Arabic in architecture and looks huge. At night, the building changes its color from pink to yellow and yellow to pink. You would feel that there's always a celebration going on.       

I noticed that most of the shoppers are locals and you will only encounter a handful of Filipinos and other expats.        

Around the city, you will notice that each mall has its unique shops or restaurants where only you can find exclusively in that particular place. With Khalidiyah, we go there for Krispy Kreme  (which Mario craves from time to time)   

Very comfy on this sofa reading Tempo magazine.

A weekly FREE magazine distributed to all major malls.

He read Tempo, while I read Agatha's magazine :-) (Yes, there is one small shop here. Back home it's located in Greenbelt)  
The mall has 3 floors. The ground floor has a big Lulu grocery and some shops while the third floor has a cinema and food court. What's in between are more shops.  Some known brands are housed here, but too few for a shopaholic like me.   
     

La Senza

Woolsworth

                 Oh and of course we visited Alcott's. It's an Italian brand that offers casual clothing. This is also one store  where you can only find in Khalidiyah... My sister knows this because there is also an Alcott store in Bahrain.

 Inside Alcott …it’s a sale!        

It's a sale and so we left not empty handed…yay! After going around the mall for sometime, which is not as big as I have thought before, we went up the food court and tried this Thai restaurant for a change. Thai Express claims to offer authentic Thai food. I asked our server what she recommends and pointed out 3 dishes which I find so common. She said that is what mostly Filipino orders. But I told her I want authentic Thai taste and she hesitantly pointed out a dish which she cautiously  said might be too hot for me. When our food arrived, we eagerly tasted the fare. Mine is chicken with red curry. It is hot but not as hot as I expected.

Over-all it was a tasteful meal but back home in Manila most of the Thai restaurant still heads on my list... Before heading home, we passed by the groceries.  From time to time, we do enjoy shopping at Lulu because we  see  products not available in Carrefour or Coop. After checking some stuff, tasting some fruit called Kaka (which according to the merchandiser comes from S. Africa), and buying our food for the week, we finally headed home. It's a Sunday the following day and a work day after all...