NO DANDRUFF!! World's best casting call from Bareface on Twitter

Overheard in the office: Saturday night fever edition

"It's the most polite mean thing I've ever heard."

Today in tiny sandwiches: White and Brown bread edition

You guys! It's the best treatment ever!

I walk by this sign every day in my building and it always cracks me up. Don't explain what the treatment is, just use the word "CRYSTAL", charge a ton and declare it a winner of historical proportions.

I am probably just jealous that the spa in my building is only for gents.

Examining the expat: 20 signs you've lived in the UAE a long time

...you only stop to take pictures of the funny things you see about one-third of the time now

...people eating with spoons and forks makes perfect sense

...when you finally understand something after a period of confusion, you nod and say "ahhh, okokokokok" 

So, A Canadian in Abu Dhabi has been pretty busy lately and here's why...

...and by the way, it's hard to keep a blog going for six years! But I really love doing it, and I haven't lost my sense of wonder at the UAE, so I am again vowing to step it up. There are a lot of faithful readers of this space and I am grateful to each and every one of you. It's also a pretty great record of my time here and a valuable research tool for the book I hope to finish one day.

One of the reasons I've been out of touch is that I've been focusing on building the web over The National's features section, which you can find here and here. We also now have four really cool blogs going strong, fed by a team of talented, funny, in-touch writers, and I suggest you check them all out for an inside scoop on all the best and coolest things happening in the UAE: Bites, Scene&Heard, All Dressed Up and The Art Blog.

I've been doing my part to fuel them too. If you want to check out my posts, here are some links:

•The one where I try Abu Dhabi's first CrossFit gym.

•The one where I spaz out about the UAE finally having a good place to get yoga clothes.

•And these three, where I obsess about Zuma Abu Dhabi's desserts, Namakin Lime Juice and a place to drink kopi luwak in Dubai.

Here's to 6 years for A Canadian in Abu Dhabi: Happy Anniversary to me!

I arrived on a boiling hot morning - April 2, 2008 - and this blog and a crazy new life was born. To celebrate this mind-boggling milestone, I present to you the occasion of meeting my first camel at the Al Dhafra Camel Festival. A lot's happened since then (I carry nicer purses, for example, although I still can't seem to grow out my hair) but I still try - and usually fail - to cozy up to any camel I come across.