Hello everyone!  I will not let this day go by without blogging. I took a day off from the office after consecutive nights of overtime work to meet a project deadline. There's always a huge relief after meeting goals with a timely submission. To pat myself behind the back, I'm indulging in a day of doing nothing. (Oh, not exactly nothing because household chores have piled up and I'm catching up to make this longer weekend much more relaxing).  

I do miss the career-break days when I can wake up anytime and do as I please. On the other hand, working makes me appreciate these free days even more, like taking a walk under the sun on the way to the neighborhood supermarket and watching old films on TV.  Can you believe Independence Day was shown 17 years ago? Bill Pullman's presidential speech just got me glued on the sofa while devouring spaghetti with creamy tomato sauce.  Not to mention that final scene with Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith trying to infiltrate the alien's mother ship to disarm the enemy's protective shield.  I was a mere teenager when this film was shown. How time flies!

Wishing you all a happy Wednesday!

What do you fancy doing during your free days?

Love & Light,

Arni

I've never encountered salt up close until this South American trip. Visiting Maras / Salineras, a terraced Pre-Inca Salt mine is a huge contrast to the  flat 10,000 square kilometer salt desert of Salar del Uyuni in Bolivia. It was part of our taxi stop from Cuzco. Salineras is one of the cultural sites in the Sacred Valley of the Incas located 7 miles from Moray. It is made up of 3000 salt ponds, each with an average area of 5 square meters connected to a naturally flowing salty hot spring from the mountains.

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Nostalgic. That's the perfect word that sums up how my husband and I feel while browsing through pictures of Peru this afternoon. We could hardly believe that was 5 years ago. Our first 'real' nights on the freezing bus- in the middle of nowhere backpacking trip.  Those times when you want to get out of the bus for a p** at 3AM and you know the bus driver couldn't because it's in the middle of a deserted land with no rock nor bush to hide behind from. And the only decision you have to make is, if you can hold it in till morning or just do it.  An empty bottle with all the passengers sleeping.  You might be asking me now, is this experience for real? I'll leave it to your imagination what happened after that. :)

Find your rhythm after a stressful week. The company I'm working for organized a fun team building activity after work care of  Dubai Drums at Urban Tribe Dubai .  We all headed to the nearby artsy district of Al Quoz in Dubai. Al Quoz is an industrial area known for its Arts Scene. Don't judge the book by its cover. The metal facade of warehouses with sandy parking spaces will surprise you. Art Galleries, Coffee Shops, Meeting Places, Furniture manufacturing, Automobile Service Centers, storage and factories dominate this area.  You'll find majority of the who's who in the interior design industry here.

Once we turned left at the Marina Furniture Warehouse junction at Umm Suqeim Road, we found ourselves in a maze of warehouses. After following the driving instructions and several minutes later, we all sat in a big circle of 18 in a mirrored wall studio and were briefed how to play an African Djembe drum.

Drumming is the oldest known form of team building. It brings out creativity and sparks imagination.

I've never done this before. We tucked the carved hardwood  between our legs and pounded our palms on the goat skin covered drum. We started by introducing ourselves, one after another, with a rhythm we can think of, while everyone will repeat it as a form of saying hello. 

We followed the maestro's guidance and we all became attuned to each and everyone's beat as we all created music together in harmony.  We also got to improvise to complement the overall music.  After the drumming session, despite our sore hands, everyone left feeling happy.  

Interested? Contact:

Urban Tribe Events
PO Box 73102
Street 17
Al Quoz Industrial Area 4
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 4 3474790
Fax: +971 4 3474798
Email: guy@urbantribedubai.com

Office Location Map

During this hour of playing music together, we all forgot about work, stresses and mundane concerns and we were all present in that moment, in complete happiness.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Love and light,

Arni

Poor blog, my lack of posts lately might have made it seem neglected. I will be back in the blogosphere soon. Apologies for not being able to visit you as often as I want to. Life in Dubai is fairly tranquil, despite the busy work weeks and deadlines. Wishing you all a wonderful week!

 

 

Love & light,

Arni