Monthly Archives: September 2010

Frugal Expat: Back in Track

Posted on September 12, 2010 by | 4 Comments

I have been contemplating about my blog posts lately. It seems that I have gone astray with my initial goals in setting up Frugal Expat. I was hoping that it would turn as a hub of local information and guide about Abu Dhabi and UAE in general, not sort of personal rants about life and work. **wink**

The plan earlier was to share helpful information that goes beyond the marketing oriented texts (written by well paid copy writers) that you read in the travel websites and brochures.

Having these thoughts in mind again, I will try my best to write quality and informative blog posts that will align with my goals for Frugal Expat.

Setting aside decency, (**smile**) I am proud of the following blog posts because it somehow serves the real purpose of Frugal Expat.

And because writing such kind of posts will require time to research and write, I will not be posting as I regularly do now but hopefully I can still manage to do at least once a week.

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Posted in freelance writing

Lazy Long Weekend…

Posted on September 11, 2010 by | 1 Comment

I wish this is my long lazy afternoon..

I had been looking forward to this weekend, a 3-days consecutive off, because of Eid Al-Fitr. Somehow my things-to-do-list has already been clearly written in my mind days in advance.     

And here I am on the second day of Eid holiday, struggling to complete one sentence and not making any progress in my writing projects.   

I fret for each minute that passes because I know I could have written and finished at least one of my writing assigments. Unfortunately, it seems my mind is stubborn and uncooperative.. I find it difficult to write.   

As a result, I have been wasting my time since morning watching documentary movies and surfing the net.   

Sigh.. I really cannot afford to continue doing like this today and tomorrow. After this Eid break, I will be busy again and for sure I will not have an ample time to write again.   

I must be productive during this long weekend. I have to..

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Posted in Extra Income, Life in Abu Dhabi, Public Holidays

Eid Mubarak

Posted on September 9, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Last night at past 9pm, I received a confirmation that indeed Eid is on Friday and not today though government offices are already closed for Eid holiday since yesterday while other private firms started today.  

Eid Al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.  The beginning and the last day of Ramadan is always determined through the moon (sighting of the Crescent moon) because Muslims follow the lunar calendar in which the year is shorter for 11 to 12 days compared to the commonly used solar calendar.

For this reason, the exact date, as to when the Ramadan will start or end, will not be known in advance. However, one thing for sure! Eid is always anticipated because it means public holiday for expat workers. (**Smile**)

Generally it is a 3 days off for government and 2 days for private firms. If the Eid falls on weekdays then followed by weekend, it makes a longer Eid holiday. Sadly, the Eid this year falls on weekend.

As of next week, normal working hours and workloads are back again. (**sad**)

Anyway, Eid Mubarak to everyone!

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Posted in Events, Life in Abu Dhabi, Public Holidays, Ramadan

Online Extra Income

Posted on September 4, 2010 by | 7 Comments

There is no such as job security nowadays here. As much as the management wants to keep their staff, the business is just really bad that the only way to survive is to let go some employees

This is the reason that I am always on a look out to find means to augment my income. So, I was very excited when I learned another online job opportunity here.

For me, it is really important to have diverse source of income streams because companies now cannot guarantee any job security.  Sad reality but true..

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Posted in Extra Income

Part Time Writing Jobs

Posted on September 2, 2010 by | Leave a comment

I always dream of pursuing a writing career unfortunately I am not in the liberty to give up my current daytime job, my bread & butter, because of financial commitments.

So, I pursue my dream career as a part time. Honestly, it is not easy to juggle a demanding daytime job and meeting the deadlines of my writing projects but still I cannot simply give up my ultimate dream career.

I do not allow my present predicament to deter my commitment to be a fulltime writer.  

Right now, I am happy earning from my part time writing jobs in which a big portion of it goes to sending off a friend of mine to college. Lately, I found a good source of writing jobs here that offer lucrative pay. I hope that it will continue as it greatly contributes to my extra income.

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Posted in Extra Income, freelance writing