So I've not been blogging much. Hmmm, well I’ve been busy. Let me see if I can catch up a little.

Last Thursday (the last day of the work week here) I went to a different Emirate of the U.A.E called Al Ain, approximately 1.5 hours East of Abu Dhabi near the border of the country Oman. DeSimone is working on a big project in Al Ain, the expansion of their zoo. When complete, the zoo will be the largest zoo in the world. Gorka and I ventured into this city to meet with local contractors where we learned a bit more about local construction techniques. We also attempted to meet with the Al Ain government officials in charge of project approvals, but didn't find the right department. We were advised that we would need to find people more familiar with the city's government to help navigate the bureaucracy. So we will likely return there soon. While travelling in the city, we passed a truck hauling camels. I wasn't fast enough with my camera, but yep...camels!

The trip was through one of many Arabian deserts. We traveled through areas where we were completely surrounded by sand dunes. It was quite a site! Many trees are planted next to the highway in an attempt to keep the sand from blowing across and covering the highway. However, this only partially works and we passed crews of highway workers clearing sand from the highway. The temperature was upwards of 100 degrees (37 C – I’m still trying to get used to talking in Celsius) and I felt bad for the crews. I couldn’t help but think of those who crossed this desert on foot or camel in the past. A couple months from now, temperatures will reach close to 115 F (46 C) and feel even hotter with the humidity. I hope no once has to be out clearing sand then…

Thursday night I went to a social meeting of a group called the American Business Group (http://www.abgabudhabi.org/). I met many people and one potential DeSimone client. Kinda stuffy in the room (both heat and the people), but the boss picked up a round of drinks, so it made it bearable… Later I went to another hotel/bar, and then finally to one last hotel bar/dance club. I found out that Abu Dhabi does not close bars at 2 am (although at my age, I was kinda hoping they would have) and I finally made it home at 3:30 or so.

We think of the US and California as a melting pot of people, but Abu Dhabi is a true melting pot. In this one night, I was introduced and talked to people from Spain, Armenia, Malta (a small independent country in the Mediterranean just South of Sicilia…I had to look it up), Russia, Vietnam, Iran, and a covert communication specialist from Tennessee (I think he was some kind of spy...but i'm not sure..). Everyone is in this country for work and mostly here alone. So by necessity, everyone is very friendly and very open to conversation. It is a very interesting place, and I’m learning so much about the different people of the world.

Friday was another trip to the beach. I’m usually not much of a beach person, but the Red Bull Air Race was here (www.redbullairrace.com). Don’t worry, I didn’t know what this was either. This is a race where each propeller driven acrobatic plane must navigate a predetermined course. The pilot with the least time, wins. The course is set out using large air gates which look like giant traffic cones. A helicopter was flying overhead the entire day, likely filming the action.

Sorry for this horible picture. I'm not mad, really!

Starting Friday night (the middle of my weekend) we began preparing for Cityscape Abu Dhabi (http://www.cityscapeabudhabi.com/). Friday night, Gorka and I picked up DeSimone's marketing director from the airport and did our best to get her settled into her hotel without any hiccups. Saturday morning we went to the exhibition hall and set up our booth. Cityscape is a large exhibition where real estate developers set up extravagant booths to display and unveil different development plans. Many of the booths are two stories with meeting rooms, others are built with fountains, and still others are built with entire miniature displays of entire city areas. Very impressive! Architects, Engineers, and other consultants also set up smaller booths to help with business development. Our founder, Vince DeSimone, also flew in to attend. Sunday, we spent the day manning the booth talking to potential clients and, basically, did our best to promote our companies name. We had a great first day exhibiting, and hope that the next three days go equally well. Pictures are not allowed to be taken of the exhibits, but I should be able to at least take a picture of our booth. Stay tuned.

I don't think that my email is anywhere in the blog, but feel free to either comment or drop me an email at nicolas.rodrigues@de-simone.com. Thank you for those who have put in comments, it is nice to hear from you all.