Just out walking around a week ago, took some photos of the environs. Where we have been for the last six weeks. Some of you have asked about photos. Finally, we have some. Here is the link.

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What’s next for Landon Donovan? Way back in March, after coming back to SoCal after his loan to Bayern Munich, Landon told me he wanted to play in Europe after the 2009 Major League Soccer season. Given that he just won the MVP award and was, of course, voted into the MLS top XI … […]

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Arabic is going to be a tough go. The language situation here is similar to the place we were in a year ago: In a country where we can’t read the native tongue, where English is commonly understood  and where I work in something rather like an English-language bubble. The local language is difficult, and […]

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The holiday that expatriate Americans miss most? Thanksgiving. And, from my experience, whatever holiday is second … isn’t close. Fourth of July? Once you get past fireworks, you’re just missing some barbecue.  Christmas? It goes on pretty much everywhere (even here, it seems), though you might miss mom, dad and the cousins. But Thanksgiving? It […]

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It took me a while to notice this. One of those “you don’t pick up on absences as fast” sort of things. But here it is: There are very few insects in Abu Dhabi City. Which is bizarre. But I now am convinced of it, after five weeks in-country.

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Yes, I know a lot of you aren’t interested. But five more teams got into the World Cup over the past six hours, and I did a big post on the circumstances over at the “Countdown to SA 2010” blog. Which can be seen over on the right side of this page. Or, you can […]

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We turn on the tap here, we get hot and cold running water. Fresh water. Since it’s been through the salination plant, that is. Practically the entire water supply for the United Arab Emirates (of which Abu Dhabi is the biggest, most populous and wealthiest) comes from the seawater of the Gulf. It is a […]

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So, back at it today. Back out to the tiny place in Al Muroor, which I tried to write about yesterday, lost the file and directed you to Leah’s site … But before we get to that, some general impressions on finding housing in Abu Dhabi, city of.

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The internet goes down here, in the hotel room. It crashes without warning. It’s one of the parts of Abu Dhabi that is more Third World than First. Phones, communications … they can be erratic. Anyway, this site is supposed to auto-save every minute or so … but given the history of this service, I […]

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Yes, at it again. More World Cup information over on the countdown to South Africa blog. You can find a link to your right, and here’s another. Pretty wild day out there. Nigeria jumped Tunisia on the final day of group qualifying to snatch a bid to South Africa 2010 … New Zealand is headed […]

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