Cat 988H

On the stockpile we have several machines. There are wheelloaders, dumper trucks, graders, bulldozers, ... However, there is one machine which is, I think, amazing. That's the Cat 988H. It's a wheelloader. But not just any generic wheelloader, but a huge one.

The machine is about 12m in length and 4m heigh and the tires have a diameter of 2m. But what is offcourse important on a wheelloader is the bucket. This one has a bucket of about 6m³, which means it can fill up a dumper truck with just three buckets or about 30 ton.

Rain

Yes, it's raining here in Dubai.

When I woke up this morning and got into my car, it was raining outside. And not just two drops.

However, when it's raining in Dubai, the roads are full of water because they do not have any kind of drainage system on the roads. And on the site, your car gets a nice wet sandwash.

Bad Weather

Since it is winter in Dubai, the weather isn't as good anymore as it was before. Temperatures are only around 18°C anymore. But that is not the most remarkable thing outside. There is also a strong wind (up to 30 knots above the sea). Because of the rough sea, a lot of ships/barges can not work anymore. On landside, the wind takes up the sand and causes small sand storms. Especially on the site, where they move around a lot of (dry) sand, the visibility can be severely reduced because of the sand in the air.

Also, they say that if it ever rains in Dubai, it is during this month. But so far I didn't really notice any rain here.

Ajax - Inter Milan 2-2 (3-2)

Because the ruler of Dubai (full name: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai) is celebrating his second (arabian) anniversary as ruler of Dubai, there is the Mohammed bin Rashid International Football Championship. It's a small competition with four clubs: Ajax, Inter Milan, Sport Club Internacional and VfB Stuttgart.

This was offcourse an excellent opportunity to go to my first football match ever: Ajax - Inter on Saturday evening. The match was played in a relative small stadium (I think about 15 000 people) in Dubai Sports City on a (to our impression) small field (close to 60 m by 90 m).

The match itself was enjoyable. After about 15 minutes, Inter opened the scores with 1-0. Only a few minutes later, Ajax made their first goal of the evening as well. Then in the second half of the match, Ajax converted a penalty after the goalkeeper of Inter grabbed the legs of an Ajax player. At the end, Inter made it to 2-2 which was also the end score of the game.

But since it is a small championship, there had to be a winner. So after the draw, there were penalties. Luckily, we were sitting on the good side of the stadium so we had a nice view on this part of the game. Although the goalkeeper of Ajax stopped one penalty, two Ajax players weren't able to put the ball inside the goal which made Inter winning the match.

You may have noticed that I didn't mention any names of the football players. Well, that's because I don't now the names and/or didn't recognize any of the players. Except for Edgar Davids.

New Year in Dubai

My First New Year in Dubai has been celebrated already. Together with some colleagues, I had a nice evening. As can be expected from a city like Dubai, there was some fireworks. However, I've seen less than expected.

At the company, most of the work simply continues. However, everything runs a little bit slower and more relaxed. There are a lot of people on leave at this moment and while the job goes on, it's just that little bit more quiet.

The weather is still fine here. I think we reach 25°C during the day. Only early in the morning or after sunnset, when there is no sun shining, it's a good idea to have a pullover nearby.