Not So Fast NZ

Auckland City skyline, from north of the Harbour Bridge – that needle poking up the sky, is the Sky Tower

COVID is back! In NZ, after less than a week from having zero active cases.

Whaddya expect? Can’t stay closed forever, right? Unless we wanna be like North Korea and Turkmenistan.

Looks like COVID is here to stay. Now let’s see who finds a cure for it the fastest.

Meanwhile, at work, we’re working on borrowed time. Officially requested for substantial completion, but in actual fact, tons of work remain. Which is not abnormal, ahem.

On the home front, we’ve FINALLY managed to kick the tenants-from-hell out of our apartment. They friggin ‘raped’ the apartment, took all our door locks (who fuckin takes door locks?), took our ceiling fan, our metal table (which we inherited from the Company’s rented accommodation – the Company didn’t want it, so we took it)… The tenants have not paid a single dirham since Dec 2019. If only I were a wizard, I’d cast a spell on them and …errr …take away their friggin genitals! Testicles Be Gone! Hah!

School’s coming to an end in less than a week’s time. But COVID is still rampant in the UAE. Some emirates have continued to maintain a ‘lockdown’ (Abu Dhabi). Some have completely opened up (Dubai), but with social distancing and mask wearing rules still in place (nope, children’s play parks and theme parks are still closed). Most of the other emirates are somewhere in between. Sigh, where can we go this summer? The wifey sez let’s stay home and save some money…

Meanwhile, here’s the rest of my selected photos from Auckland…


Here’s our first sight of New Zealand …just landed in Auckland from our 20+ hour journey from Dubai via Hong Kong on our Cathay Pacific flight


The boys (Justin, Jared and Jayden) at SkyCity, Auckland




Viaduct Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand


Justin and Nelson (the stuffed monkey) – Justin was to look after Nelson and write about their journeys for a school assignment


More photos at Viaduct Harbour - Whoa? Is that a Transformer? Nah... Doesn't do anything


Contraption of some sort, think it's a bridge, ...or another Transformer?!?


Wynyard Pedestrian Bridge at Viaduct Harbour – this bridge is an ‘openable’ bridge (bascule bridge) to allow yachts to pass thru


The Auckland War Museum, at night – no, it’s closed (it’s not friggin Dubai, OK?) – We’re serial latecomers, and all our trips to Auckland city were when the sun was about setting…

Here’re some photos from Kim’s home


Jared and Jayden, on their way back home from church, Christmas 2018, Kaurilands, Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand


Time to sleep. Good night everyone…

What Else Epebah?

“Papa, please tell me where my iPad is… Please Papa... NO!” That’s what this statue reminds me of, …when we, mean parents of Jayden and Justin, decide to take away the gadgets that are ‘corrupting’ the minds of the young ones… Just kidding, this is a statue of Mesrop Mashtots, creator of Armenia’s unique alphabet, in front of the Matenadaran (Book Repository) of Yerevan, Armenia. Armenia’s unique alphabet was created at the beginning of the 5th century AD (yeah, it’s that old) and is still in use today! (No, I can’t read a word of it. It’s unlike any other alphabet which I’ve come across before – You can see how it looks like in the photo…)

Here’s the rest of the photos of Yerevan, Armenia. The name in this post’s title, Epebah, or more correctly Epebaн is the name of Yerevan in Russian, in the Cyrillic script. In Cyrillic, P = R, B = V and H = N. Therefore Epebaн = Erevan. Even after more than 25 years of independence from the Soviet Union, you can still see some old Russian signs around, especially if you drive out of the city.

Now guess what Pectopaн is. (C = S). Answer: at the end of this post.

Here’s more of the Matenadaran. I dunno what it is with Armenia and Book Repositories. (Anyway, what’s the difference between a Book Repository and a Library??)


Anu at the Matenadaran


Hey Jayden, let’s go check it out…


The kids and a Khachkar (Armenian cross-stone), a common motif of Armenian medieval art. It’s found all over Armenia – Matenadaran, Yerevan, Armenia


Yerevan Opera Theatre – the Opera Theatre sits right smack in the centre of Yerevan. On the north, it faces the Yerevan Cascade. On the south, it opens up to Freedom Square which is the start of a wide, pedestrian-only avenue called Northern Avenue which eventually connects to Republic Square. This photo shows the north face (facing the Cascade) of the Opera Theatre


Northern Avenue – see free flowing drinking fountains? No, there’s no switch. It just flows, and flows, and flows. Where does Armenia get all the water from?


Republic Square, Yerevan, Armenia


I HEART YEREVAN


The Key to the City of Yerevan – that is one helluva key… On Northern Avenue, the grey building at the end of the avenue, right at the back, is the Opera Theatre

That’s all the photos (that I collected) folks!

Coming back to reality… i.e. Dubai, the temperature has now reached 49.5C! Official summer midday work ban (which disallows workers to work in the open from 12.30pm – 3pm) has come into force now and will last till Sep 15. Our Project’s completion date (16/6) has come and gone… We’ve applied for Project Completion (we’re officially 97.5% complete, but in actual fact there’s still a ton of things to do). Hopefully the Government will say OK. That invisible, pesky little germ called the Coronavirus, doesn’t seem like it’s going away. School is 2 weeks away from finishing for the academic year. It looks increasingly likely that we won’t be going anywhere this Summer Vacation… Ahhhh… Can’t wait to enjoy that 50 friggin degrees sun! Fry, baby fry…

Answer: Pectopaн = Restoran (spelt exactly the same as how restaurant would be spelt in Malay!)

New Zealand 1 – Coronavirus 0

Bravo to New Zealand! First country with confirmed COVID-19 cases of above 1,000 to completely clear all cases within the country. Well done to the leadership of NZ under their Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. You rock Madam! It is times of crisis like these where true leadership shows. Can’t say much about some other national leaders though… (the names that come to mind ...Trump, Bolsonaro). God help their countries.

Here’s to remembering the fun family times we had in NZ in December 2018. When will we meet again?


One Tree Hill, Auckland, New Zealand – Where’s the one tree? I dunno! I can only see that humongous ‘lightning rod’ poking at the sky. What’s it supposed to do? Is it some secret device to open up a portal or a wormhole in the sky to another dimension?? (That’s the result of watching too many movies… For example, Ghostbusters and Avengers…)


The Kids! (Photo compliments of Kim) …That’s Dad’s Whatsapp Profile Picture. The only grandchild missing from this photo, is Stacey


Kim and Anu at One Tree Hill


Hazel stopping for a rest… It ain’t such a long walk, is it?


Jayden & Papa


Anu at the Obelisk – it’s a monument to the Maoris


Kong-kong (Grandpa) trying to keep up with the kids


Naked sheep at One Tree Hill, Auckland, NZ




Views of Auckland from One Tree Hill


This ain’t One Tree Hill – This is inside Auckland Zoo


Here’re the kids at the zoo

Not all is good in NZ though. The 2.5 months’ lockdown over the pandemic closed down many restaurants, some for good. One of those affected is the restaurant where Daniel (Kim’s husband) works as Head Chef. I hope they reopen soon.


Here’s the time we had dinner at Hinge & Co Restaurant in 2018 – In the kitchen, you can catch a glimpse of Daniel


Hinge & Co Restaurant, Clevedon, NZ - (It’s on the outskirts, east of Auckland city). Let’s see, it’s on North Road going towards Maraetai, exactly 4.7km to the north of Clevedon’s central roundabout (the power of Google Maps!)


Stop it boys! Everyone can have a go. Alas, boys will be boys… Hope we meet again soon!

The Stairs at the Centre of the City

Cascade, Yerevan, Armenia

Summer is back in all its fury. Today is 40C. Which is actually normal for Dubai. (Hell, it could reach friggin 50C… Hope it doesn’t this year).

We’re still struggling in the Project, and completion doesn’t look likely for 16-June. I thought it’d be a little less hectic by now, and we’d fix our working timing to alternative Saturdays off, but boy, am I wrong?!

Apart from work, there ain’t much happening. COVID is still all over the UAE. Dubai has started relaxing the ‘lock-down’ (not that there was ever an official lock-down). Malls are reopened but only for those between ages 12 and 60, meaning that the kids can’t go. No, not even to the food court or the cinema. And we wouldn’t want the little ones to go out anyway, because they’ll touch everything (and the little one will even pick things up from the floor and put them in his mouth!) School’s still online, which freaks the missus out. Only 4 more weeks to go before the end of the school year, can’t wait for that to happen. But flights are still grounded for most of the world, so it’s looking increasingly likely that we’ll be stuck in burning hell (50C – what else do you call that?) for the summer vacation.

For the time being, here’s a quick picture post of our 2 week summer vacation in 2018 – to the Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, in that order). It so happened that when we went, it was a heat friggin wave! 40C when we landed in Armenia! (So, not much different from what we’re experiencing now, hehe.)

Here’s Yerevan, capital of Armenia, the first country of our visit. (If you read the guide books or articles, they’d always recommend visiting Azerbaijan before Armenia, because they might not let you into Azerbaijan, if you’ve visited Armenia beforehand. This is definitely true IF you’ve visited the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is recognized by most countries as an integral part of Azerbaijan, but is in all, but name, the Republic of Artsakh, predominantly populated and governed by Armenians. And accessible only from Armenia). We had no intention of visiting Nagorno-Karabakh, besides the flight schedules the other way round (i.e. from Dubai into Baku (Azerbaijan), and from Armenia back to Dubai), are all screwed up. So, we stuck to our plans and voila! We made it without a glitch!


These staircases in the centre of Yerevan are the Cascade – It’s become something like the defining landmark of the city


I call them the Stairs of Quirky Art – There’re modernist sculptures and art pieces, all over, around and under the stairs. The cascade stairs are actually the roofs of the Cafesjian Museum of Art, and cover an interior of exhibit halls connected by escalators.


Statue of the greatest wizard of Armenia… Kidding, let’s see. It’s the statue of …Alexander Tamanian, the primary architect of modern Yerevan (How do I know? Wikipedia mate, hehe!)


Now I know what Jayden is talking about! He’s always said that there’re some round fountains in Georgia or Azerbaijan. It’s actually these! In Yerevan, Armenia


Anu, with a view of the second tier, the garden courtyard below, and the city. On a clear day, you’d be able to see the majestic Mount Ararat (the national symbol of Armenia) from the Cascade!


Third tier of the Cascade – see people gathering below at the base / courtyard – they’re preparing for a massive folk dance!


Fountain on the fourth tier of the Cascade (there’re five tiers)


At the top of the Cascade! It’s 40C when we were there, but luckily there was a constant breeze in Yerevan (not like what we’re having in Dubai now, stifling hot, stagnant and humid…)


Now, that’s what I call unity! A massive folk dance at the base of the Cascade! It was a Friday evening and anyone can join! Anu did (I? I was err… busy taking videos, somebody has to do it, right?)


Café scene around the Cascade, Yerevan, Armenia


The Cascade, at night


Let’s call it a night. Ending the day (and the post) with a shawarma dinner and wine. A shawarma with a difference though – pork! Where else in the world, can you get a pork shawarma / kebab! And they’re good and hugely popular. The shop (Artashi Mot – it’s not written in English, it’s completely in Armenian, but Google Maps has the English equivalent of everything – hah!) lies just around the corner from the hotel-apartment we stayed in on Stepan Zoryan Street. We bought our dinner there for 3 nights!

Life before the Pandemic

Eid is done. Trudging back to work is a pain, but we’ve only got 2 friggin weeks before the Project completion date!!! If we don’t finish by then, it’s a whopping 102,500 dirhams penalty per friggin day!!! So, we’ve gotta do what we gotta do!

Doesn’t stop me putting up a post though. It’s my yearly people post. Our gatherings of 2019. I guess you won’t see that happening anytime soon this year… with COVID going thru the roof! Well, here’s to remembering a time when gatherings were OK… Dunno how long more it’ll take for the world to get back to normal. …With all the hype and scare about the pandemic, will it ever get back to normal?!? Will we stop shaking hands forever? Looks like the sanitizer and mask makers are in for a bonanza year!


Started off 2019 with a birthday party, for little ummm… forgot her name, the little daughter of Dilip, colleague of our niece Karishma. At the Orchid Vue Hotel, Bur Dubai


Jayden and his best old friend, neighbour Romaisa, of our International City England Cluster home. This was just before Romaisa and parents shifted back to Pakistan for good. Bye-bye


Jayden at Newlands School with teacher’s assistant, Ms Balisado, on International Day (or was it International Mother Tongue Day?). She’s from the Philippines


Farewell Newlands School. Jayden graduates from kindergarten. That’s Jayden’s favourite teacher, his FS2 (Foundation Stage 2) class teacher, Ms Leila Borich, from Bosnia


A gathering with old friends, parents of Justin’s Year 1 classmates. From left: Jasna (Mashel’s mom), Madhavi and Roby (Aria and Vivah’s parents), Anu & niece Sweety. Where’re the kids? There, Jayden’s at the back playing with a phone, and the others would be mucking around since they would’ve finished their food. This was our third outing of the year with the group. At Da Vinci’s Italian Restaurant, Millennium Airport Hotel, Garhoud, Dubai


And here’re the kids at our new Motor City home! – from left: Vivah, Aria, Mashel, Justin & Jayden. Aria and Mashel are Justin’s age, and Vivah is Jayden’s age. This proves that girls are taller than boys. At least when they’re this age! Or maybe, our kids are just smaller sized, ...what the heck, they'll grow up fine!


See, another proof of girls being taller than boys – Mikaela (first left) has grown so much. She’s a few months younger than Jayden. At church. The last they met was about 9 months earlier (we’re not very good church goers), and she was about the same height with Jayden!


Bumped into my Chinese colleague Jia Weimin’s son at Mirdif City Centre. Their parents call him Jia Jia (we just called him Teddy, because he looked just like a teddy bear when he was small)


Jia Jia now has a little brother!


The kids’ new teachers at GEMS Metropole School – Here is Ms Sophie Hunter, Justin’s Year 5 Class Teacher


And this is Ms Louise Higgins, Jayden’s Year 1 Class Teacher. Both the teachers are from the UK


Justin’s new friends – Anton (middle) from Vietnam and Matei (right) from Romania. At Adventure HQ, Galleria Mall, Al Barsha. On the occasion of another classmate’s (Shaun Linz) birthday


There, that’s the birthday boy, Shaun Linz. He’s Indian


Justin meets an old friend – Justin with his Year 1 classmate from Royal Dubai School, Leah from Ethiopia. That’s Leah’s younger brother. At the Kenken National Round Competition in Dubai Knowledge Park. Leah’s paternal grandpa used to be the governor of Asmara (now capital of the independent country of Eritrea), before Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia. By the way, Justin also met another old pal at the Kenken Competition, Rayaan. None of em made it to the International Round though…


Enough with the kids’ friends. Here’re my colleagues from the Project I’m currently in, ITS2020/1B. Celebrating last year’s Eid Al Fitr at Patiala Restaurant, Souk Al Bahar, Dubai. From left: Evika (with head turned backwards), Francheska, Trinu, Kevin Williams, Jaicin (front), Ayush (behind), Naveed, Habeeb, Yours Truly, Ramakrishna (I think), Laith, Parthiban (behind), Baber (kneeling), Hussein Shawkt (standing, he was the PM before I took over), Abdul Saleem, Selvam (I think), Antoine (in suit), Ibrahim Dib (kneeling), Ahmad Kefry (behind), Someone I Don’t Know, I Think This Is Santhosh (half hidden), Vijith (Sr VP of Scientechnic’s Mobility Division - Scientechnic is our JV partner in this Project), Mubashir (kneeling), Bernar (behind), Abhishek, Qamar (behind), Shahid Alam, Devansh (kneeling), Sarvesh, Nawaz (directly behind Sarvesh), Half Hidden Face, Aliasgar, Mukadas (kneeling), Another Half Hidden Face (behind), Haider, Jagan Johnson, Someone I Don’t Know, Harinder (with turban), Hidden Person behind Turban, Rathinavel and Dilawar


And finally… Dad and Hazel visited us in Dec – Oia Residence, Motor City, Dubai

That’s all for now folks! We'll meet again soon (hopefully...)