There I am, sitting on the balcony, watching the busy city drive by 9 floors below. The kids are having a ball playing on the Nintendo with several of the other teacher's kids who live in the building.  The wife is having a nap, sleeping blissfully through all the commotion due to great soundproofing.  Life isn't bad at all. Some people might balk at the idea of living with the people you work with but ENS is so expansive and full of such wonderful people that there's always someone new to meet and how much you interact with them is purely up to you.

There's also something to be said for living in a bubble, free from the worries of cost cutting and labour cutbacks.  Not only have you got money to spend, so have the people around you.  I've heard that for the frugal it's possible to live on less than 10% of your salary, though with all the temptations around, rather you than me!  

You've already missed Elton John, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Alicia Keys and George Michael, and with Andrea Bocelli, Iron Maiden and Coldplay in the next month alone, who knows who is around the corner.  For the sports fans, we've had the Capitala tennis tournament (Murray, Nadal, Federer, Roddick), Bayern Munich and AC Milan both played in the UAE and for the next two Decembers Abu Dhabi is hosting the World Club Championship.