Friday, December 31, 2010

New City, New Villa - Welcome to Villa 3

 Merry Christmas!

Some pictures of the inside of the villa, there are several rooms that are currently empty, but those rooms have been locked so people like me can't snoop in them.

The living room/dining room area that never gets used....

...except by this one. 
Patty is actually a cat that belongs to Villa 4, but you know how cats are. 

 In the dining room! Left over art from my sister in her attempt to give the place a little warmth.
 I was really pleased to see this was still there,
 a little reminder that Mel once roamed these halls. 

 The best-used room of the villa, where everything important takes place, morning coffee, rushed breakfasts and dragon taming. (The dragon is the nickname given to the oven by former tenants, as it's a beast that spews uncontrollable fire!)

It's actually a huge room... larger than some commercial kitchens I've seen!

And my room, which is the one with a balcony. I took this the week I moved in.


Since I have a balcony, I've put out some birdseed in dishes. The birds here are pretty amazing, we saw Hoopoes and Egyptian Vultures in Al Ain, and I have seen Green Parakeets in the villa vicinity, but all my dishes can attract are a bunch of these grey Laughing Doves, a couple of sparrows and a pair of these guys below, who seem to prefer cat food to birdseed.


The bird above in the not-so-great photo is a White Eared Bulbul. This guy is native to this area and Saudi Arabia and has a very nice song. While looking up info about this little cutie, I came across this video, which was made by current and former compound comrades! 


P.S. - Obviously that isn't really the birds actual song, but it is a piece of music based on it - a shout out to my friend Ken who created a lot of excellent videos, music, stories and poems during his time here in KCA. You can see more from him here at his blog - Ken's Room.

4 comments:

  1. Obviously a picture of your room before you moved in.

    Dad

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  2. The little chair and table in the kitchen is new! I wonder where they came from? Other than that, it's all the same. ; )

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  3. Hey! Thanks for the promo! As for birds, if you look closly along the road to the airport you might see some Gray Franklins. (I've seen several spellings) They are members of the partridge family. A bit lacking in color but still unusual to see.

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  4. You got it dad! The place already looks different! ^_^

    The little table and chairs in the kitchen are the best, it's where we do 100% of our villa coffee drinking and catching up. No idea where they came from though.

    Thanks for the tip Ken, something to make my morning bus ride a little more interesting!

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