Al Jhali Fort by moonlight

It's not all Brazilian Jiu Jitsu out here in Al Ain, though it sure consumes a huge part of the week's proceedings; there's plenty of things to do out here and tourist destinations are dotted all over the UAE.  At the start of October, I had a superb afternoon at Al Ain Zoo, a huge place, packed with all kinds of fabulous animals from all over the world, a place to keep you occupied all day.

FULL MOON!!

This weekend has seen the Eid celebrations hit the Emirates and the streets have been packed with families all enjoying the extra few days off work and I was one such lucky individual.  The weekend for me consisted of chilling out with my fellow colleagues and enjoying a roof top BBQ, hanging out at the pool party at the Rotana Hotel and more hanging out at the Rotana, using the gym and enjoying the pool post training and then rounded the weekend off with a walk round the park at Al Jhali, with some new found ex pat teacher friends.

Al Jhali Fort - like a birthday cake!

Nearly all of the ex pat women you meet here are mainly school teachers, with a few nurses thrown in for good measure and they are the most helpful people you could wish to meet; most of the teachers I've met here have been here for over three years and have a mine of information for new starters such as myself and last night's walk in the park was one of them.

In the park

Full moon on show, the park was packed with families, squeezing out the last of the holiday celebrations and at the end of the walk, a brand new Starbucks was waiting for us, rounding the night off with coffee and blueberry muffins.

Main entrance

There's plenty to fill the weekends with out here in Al Ain, as well as trips to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, the desert, the mountains and the border of Oman is ten minutes away in a car; rest assured I'll be getting up to all kinds of adventures in my time off out here and will share the photos with you and hopefully some of the sun will rub off and into your homes :)