Cheep Melins and Steacks

Living in Al Ain can be great. This city is hugely multi-cultural. There are people from all over the world living here. Generally, English is used as the lingua franca, with Arabic coming in second place. Of course, the local Emiratis speak their Arabic dialect at home, but since most labourers, shop assistants, mechanics, doctors, secretaries and so on are foreign nationals, even the Emiratis have to use English in their day to day lives. It's an odd situation (in my opinion), and a huge factor in why I'm not picking up Arabic as quickly as I would have imagined before coming here. However, as a result of all these different nationalities communicating in English, you do see a lot of incorrect English splashed around the place. I love it. I don't expect people to speak perfect English by any means, but I still enjoy seeing the "creative" spellings. Here is a small selection of some I've seen around the place.  Some of them are perfectly acceptable English, but still, I find them amusing somehow...

Here in Al Ain, Pierre Cardin seems to always have huge sales, and most of the time they are advertising this "deal"... It sure is a deal, but I still laugh. How do they make a profit?!? This is not a short term sale, this is almost a permanent thing, at least for the two years I've been here!

Hmmm... some people call it a "letter box", others call it a "mail box"... I guess here they're covering both bases by calling it a "letter mail box"

Is a "melin" different from a "melon"? No? They why spell it differently on neighbouring signs? Personally, I bought the sweet melin from Oman. It was yum! Oh, and did you know that Water Melon was two words?... well, in Al Ain it is!!

Cheep! Cheep! Cluck-Cluck? or Cheap Cheap?

enough said!

Steack anyone?

You know, no word of a lie, I actually had "seafood" written on my shopping list! How convenient!!

This is the new spelling of "Thomas"

I don't know why I find this amusing... but I do

Nothing phoney about Mr iPhony

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being mean, I just really enjoy the colourful English you see here. It can't be easy for non-native English speakers to come here and use a language that isn't their own. Geez, that was me in Japan for seven years! I'm not judging their English, just enjoying it. 

"Camel Goodness"

It was over two years ago that Liz and I packed up our life in Japan and came here to this oasis city in the Arabian desert - a place which couldn't be further from our comfort zone...or our friends!! It has been an adventure alright. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes exciting, this has proven to be an extraordinary place. Some things blow your mind in a fantastic way, such as standing at the foot of the colossal Burj Khalifa and looking up... and some things blow your mind in a bad way, such as the ultra-extreme disparity between uber-rich and miserably-poor. But it's an adventure which we are both grateful for, and one day we will look back on our time in the UAE as a really valuable experience.

I can't believe how fast this two and a bit years have passed.

But enough of the retrospective philosophical blathering... allow me to get to the point of this post, which is that today I ticked another box in the "unusual UAE experiences" checklist: I drank camel's milk. Now, Liz and I noticed camel's milk pretty much the first time we went to a supermarket here. The idea of it is nothing new to either of us now, but I'd never actually taken it off the shelf and tried it. I'd thought about it, and intended to give it a try, but always put it off and put it off... but not today. Today I tried it. 

Yes, that's right - it's called "Camelicious Camel Goodness"

A student at the university where I work told me once about how camel milk had medicinal properties and was extremely good for you. He told me that he had recently had a seriously bad stomach bug, and the standard medicine prescribed by his doctor didn't have much effect. The doctor then prescribed him camel's milk, and within a day or two of drinking camel's milk the tests showed that the bacteria in his stomach had reduced dramatically and he felt much better. This story made me all the more curious about camel's milk. After a little research, it became clear that camel milk is indeed nutritious. It has more good things than cow's milk, and generally fewer bad things, too. I'm no expert so forgive me for not going into details, but basically, it's high in iron, calcium, vitamins and minerals, good for your skin,   immune system, hair and nails etc. It doesn't have much lactose, so it's good for people who suffer from lactose intolerance, and it is good for the digestive system and doesn't leave you feeling bloated like cow's milk can. It's also lower in fat than cow's milk.

Looks like normal cow's milk, right?

As for the taste... well... I wasn't a fan. It was kind of salty. It wasn't as strong and stinky as, say, goat's milk, but it did taste different from cow's milk. It felt lighter (like skim milk?) but had that raw milky "straight from the udder" taste about it, which I found a little off-putting. That and the knowledge that I was drinking CAMEL milk... a little strange. That said though, it wasn't revolting. I could drink it again if I had to. I'm not sure that I'll buy it again though. Perhaps if I ever get a stomach bug... 

If you are curious about the health benefits of camel's milk, check out their website: www.camelicious.ae where they have all sorts of information. It seems camel milk is highly regulated and difficult to get your hands on in the USA, but it IS there, and I think it's obtainable in NZ also, but perhaps not readily. 

So, camel milk - CHECK!!!

I wonder what my next "UAE experience" will be...

last picture courtesy of gulfnews.com

Kobe Chinatown

I got my hair done on Saturday.  Not that that has anything to do with today's post, only that it took the better part of the morning.  I found myself wandering around Umeda around 2:00, texting Bryn.  I knew I wanted to take pictures, but with the sun setting earlier and earlier everyday I knew I didn't have time to go too far.  Bryn suggested China Town in Kobe.  It sounded like a good idea, but part of me couldn't be bothered, so I told him I would just go home. (I mean, I spent 20 minutes wandering around H&M and couldn't find anything to buy...I can always find something I need in H&M! It was a sign that I should go home and chill.)  So I started walking towards Hankyu station to catch a train home.  And kept walking to JR, and before I knew it I was on a Kobe bound train :) (What's life without a random decision every now and again?!)

 
Welcome to China Town!

Some details from the main gate...

 

It isn't huge by any means, but it is packed with restaurants, shops and food stands selling steamed buns, dumplings, spring rolls and loads of other Chinese goodies. 

Very cute steamed buns!

I started with Peking Duck.  It was my first time, and I was not let down!  I'm not a skin person, but even the crispy duck skin was pretty yummy.  After licking my sticky fingers, I looked down to discover the sauce had dripped all down my shirt!!  Luckily I had a scarf in my bag, so I could wrap up to hide my mess!

Always greet your food if possible... :-/

I followed up the messy Peking Duck with a spring roll (eh, ok) and some age (pronounced ah-gay...it means fried) mochi.  Unfortunately I didn't have any luck getting pictures of them, but the age mochi was SO GOOD!  Definitely my favorite food of the day!  For dessert I got a sesame dango.  It's a ball of sweet bean filled mochi rolled in sesame seeds.  I've had really nice ones, but this one was a bit dry.

There was live music in the little square half-way down the street.  Bryn found a live webcam and had me waving and scratching my head so that he could find me!

Before leaving I picked up some omiyage for the road - Chinese tea! Jasmine, oolong and some flowering jasmine tea (just for fun!).

No, not that stuff...I'm a tea bag kinda girl.