Ramadan

Ramadan. The time of year that most expats tend to complain about & dread. Long hot summer days with nothing to do, nowhere to eat during daylight hours and most of their friends escaped from Dubai or working.

But, Ramadan isn't all bad. For those who haven't had much exposure to the Muslim culture, Ramadan is about consideration for those less fortunate than yourself, appreciation for what you have and self improvement to be a better person.

One of the more achievable goals during Ramadan is being charitable to others. Of course, this is something that we should try to do at other times as well, but if you've been lost for something to do, Ramadan month can be a good motivator to get started and get ideas.

Back in my home country, myself & my coworkers used to collect the toiletries from our hotel rooms when we stayed in other cities. There was a collection bin in our main office where we could drop these off and the company would then send them on to charities and hospitals to make use of them. Lots of hospitals loved these items, as often they had families of sick & injured patients coming at short notice to stay, often with whatever they happened to be wearing at the time and no luggage. With Australia being as large at it is, some patients were flown in from remote areas for treatment and had nothing with them. So, all of the small shampoos, soaps and toothbrushes came in very handy.

Since arriving in Dubai I have still been collecting the items, but was unsure what to do with them.



I discovered the website Helping Hands UAE; an organisation that helps labourers, abused maids and others in less fortunate circumstances with donations of toiletries, food and other items given by donations from expats and others. I got in touch with them and the lady that organises these things said that they are always in demand of hotel items. They can be transported easily and are a good fill-in measure for people who just need a few items until more permanent arrangements can be made.

So, if any of my fellow cabin crew or foreign, travelling expats are reading this, I urge you to do the same- collect the toiletries and other small "giveaway" items that you don't use and send them on to others who will. Helping Hands also accepts other donations, just contact Elle (via their website) to see what is required. Ramadan especially is a busy time for them and all help is gratefully received!!!

(Please note, I am talking about the items I am expected to use in hotel rooms, such as soaps, shampoos etc. I am not taking anything such as towels, robes or the like as this would be stealing. I also do not use any items from onboard the aircraft in accordance with company policy. My airline has their own arrangements for charity and I support those also where I can. This post was written solely by me as a result of my own experience and Heping Hands UAE did not request me to write such a post. However, I am sure they would be happy to hear from you for anything you may be able to give!)

Mixing It Up

A week or two back. my friend Robyn came through Dubai on her way back to Australia for holidays with her family. Now Robyn actually is qualified as a raw chef and makes lots of yummy things that are also super-healthy for you. Me, well I'm a bit of a sweet tooth and have found it very hard in the past to stick to a healthy diet as I just love my sweets too much!

Lately though, I've been managing to get to the gym quite often (at least once every three if not every 2nd day or even oftener) and I wanted to have the right food to go with working out more.

Robyn & I went for lunch while she was here in Dubai, and afterwards we traweled the mall as all good Middle East-dwellers do ;) The fruit & veg section of Carrefour was duly visited (and raided!!!- I bought lemons, oranges, and some fresh mint) and then I decided that I was finally going to stop putting off getting a blender!!!

I settled on the Kenwood 3-in-1 Wizzard, as I wanted something that not only would blend but I also could chop with. It wasn't the fanciest model but at 129dhs instead of about 179, it was a good price.


Really glad I got it, have used it a few times already now, and it's very easy to use and the attachments it comes with are just what I wanted.

So, here's a recipe I thought I'd share with you, for a yummy cold juice.

1 orange
2 or 3 slices of pineapple
1 or 2 kiwi fruit
ice cubes
lemon or lime to taste

(I don't have a juicer yet but I used the old fashioned hand juicer. The Kenwood comes with a big measuring/smoothie cup so as I mixed things in the chopper part I'd put the blended fruit in the cup to mix more later...)

So:

1. Juice the orange and put juice in the cup
2. Trim the skin off the kiwi and blend it, add to cup
3. Blend the pineapple and add to the cup
4. Add a squeeze or two of lemon or lime juice if desired
5. Add a small amount of water to thin out the mixture
6. Use the hand mixer to blend the ingredients together in the cup



You could pour the juice over ice, but I was naughty and used the hand blender part to crush two small ice cubes into the mix (I shouldn't really as the manual says it won't do ice but it seemed okay, but I'll limit this as much as possible.)

This was so refereshing in the summer heat!! Next time I might try adding some strawberries or mint too if I have them on hand.