hurry up and wait

Well, we still have no apartment, no paycheque or furniture money, and (for me) nothing to do, so in lieu of any real news, I give you the following observations of daily life in the UAE so far:

I'm seeing lots of pretty henna in flowery arabic styles on the women here--both veiled and modern. I'm not sure where they get it done, but I'm sure a few questions at salons (or, as they call them here, ladies' saloons) and nail places would find it out. Once we're a bit more settled I'd like to get some done...and find a place to get new henna supplies. I thought about bringing some here, but somehow trying to carry a plastic ziplock bag filled with powder over multiple international borders didn't seem like a good idea ;)

Grocery shopping, at least at the Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society attached to the mall beside our hotel, is an interesting trip through Western and native foods. Their deli counter has no hummous, unfortunately, though it has quince jam and a million different kinds of labneh (yoghurt cheese). Going to the meat counters, you will find the usual lamb and beef and chicken, but also intenstines, kidneys, brains and tongues, neatly shrink wrapped and waiting. Oddly, given my usual reaction to such things, I can examine all the vicera with no problem but have problems with the skinned and smoked (or otherwise preserved) lamb's feet. At the fish counter, you find all the fish, whole and ungutted, packed in ice. You won't smell it before you get there, but once you do the odor will follow you into the next departments. You find the usual fish but also whole shark, octopus, and other interesting things. I assume they will clean it for you when you buy the fish but I don't know for sure as I haven't had the courage (or the cooking facilities) to try it yet!

The roads are congested but little to no gridlock. Taxis are everywhere--you flag them down like you would in New York, or you go to a hotel or taxi stand near a mall or other major landmark. Taxis are incredibly cheap--you can cross town for the equivalent of about 3.50 USD. Driving styles are aggressive--lots of speed, tailgating, and cutting people off.

Weather here remains at about 45 degrees celsius (that's about 113 for you fahrenheit folk) but so far less humid than in Florida. Get out on the beach in the afternoon, in the shade with a breeze, and it can actually be comfortable.

That's about it for now. HOPEFULLY next time we post we will be able to say we are in our new apartment!

only in the UAE

So we went to watch soccer at the Emirates Palace last night. The palace is a huge seven-star hotel--so large that you need to travel to and from your room by golf cart! They have a grass amphitheatre cut into the grounds behind the hotel, and they put up a huge projection screen in the centre for the World Cup. Then they arranged red and yellow couches all around the amphitheatre for seating, and raised a big air-conditioned tent on top of it all. 150 Dirhams--about 40 US dollars--gets you in for the night, plus four drink tickets and all you can eat at the outdoor barbeque buffet, all with attentive service from the many available hotel staff (who really lucked out by being able to watch the Cup on work time!). Only here would something like this happen....just a little surreal!

In between the games (there were 3 played last night), they had a raffle to pick people to come up and compete in a playstation soccer game competition. I was picked to do this last night, and ended up playing against an Emerati man. Even more amazing, given my lack of experience with video games, I actually won! For my pains, I got to go home with a small gym bag filled with goodies: a World Cup water bottle, an Emirates Palace soccer uniform (shorts and shirt), an inflatable soccer ball, referee foul cards and whistle, and...a copy of the playstation soccer game. Too bad we don't have a playstation! I will have to find someone to give that to.

So, an interesting night overall.

We are otherwise still waiting for our apartment to be ready. I've been to a couple of places looking for furniture, but haven't found much yet. Not that I have a place to put anything yet anyway--or any money from our furniture allowance, which will only be released after the PI finishes with our lease. It will be nice to have a place of our own again after 3 months of living out of a suitcase, though, no matter how bare it is.

things start to move

Well, Michael's security clearance is finally done, so he's at work now. He called the PI's Human Resources department on Monday for an update and was told it was finished. Kind of makes you wonder how long they would have waited to tell anyone it was done if he hadn't called! I guess HR is the same the world over...

So he's been busy mainly helping the library get ready for the move to the new building, which is coming in a matter of days. Mapping out shelves and book locations, helping with the physical moving, and so forth. The work day starts a little earlier here--7 to 7:30 am--and without a car he is depending on the shuttle bus, so he has to get a very early start to his day. But, it means that he is out early too, and while in the short term he's getting home too tired to do much but relax at the beach after he adjusts to it I'm sure he'll appreciate the extra afternoon time. It also means that once we start shopping for furniture etc., we can do some of it together.

The other big news is that we have found an apartment! The one that we looked at earlier that was the best within our price range was still available, so we sent the information on to the people at the college and got the ball rolling for them to inspect and sign the lease. I am still not crazy about the pink and blue bathroom tiles...but...the place seems to be very well located. There is a supermarket, bakery, and fruit/vegetable market right across the street. We are close to the Cultural Foundation, some Heritage sites and gardens, and three souks, according to the map. Plus we are only a little more than a block away from Corniche road--a major thoroughfare on the water. So I think for that I can live with the tiles!

So, once the formalities are done we can move in. Likely another couple of weeks. And, once the PI hands over our furnishing allowance, I can start shopping for furniture and appliances. I hadn't realized that apartments here don't come with appliances, so I will have to go look for a washer, dryer, refrigerator, stove, etc. Fortunately everywhere here has free delivery, so I won't have to worry about getting things home. We are hoping to be set up enough by Michael's birthday to have a joint birthday-housewarming party.

I have been concentrating lately on learning the Arabic alphabet, because not being able to read any of the Arabic signs has been driving me crazy. I want to learn Arabic anyway, and learning the script can only help that I would think. so I can slowly spell out arabic words now, even if I can't understand them. One of Michael's co-workers drove him home yesterday, and offered to help us learn (Arabic is his first language), so that should be good!

For now I'm just enjoying the downtime while I have it, going to Starbucks, going to the beach...hard life, eh? :)

We're here!

Just time for a short post here as I am at an internet cafe and my time is almost up!

We are FINALLY in the UAE...left Edmonton the afternoon of June 1 and got here late the night of June 2. Michael cannot start work yet; the Petroleum Institute forgot to get his security clearance done when he was here for interview and so we must wait until that is done. Then we can look for an apartment and settle in. In the meantime we are in a very nice hotel--a suite in the Beach Rotana, which has gorgeous rooms, good restaurants, a well-equipped health club and a lovely beach. Not too much of a hardship to stay here, that's for sure! After 3 days jet lag is finally subsiding and we are starting to feel a little more normal or adjusted.

Of course, even with the PI paying some of our expenses in the interim, money is a bit of a worry until Michael finally starts work and gets paid again, so we haven't felt we can really get out and do too much exploring or touristy-type stuff. We have been out with some of Michael's new coworkers, expats who seem very nice and have been very welcoming and willing to answer questions and help us acclimatize.

I've been invited to audition for a dramatic group and a choral society. There are also class listings in the paper and Time out Abu Dhabi for Arabic language and bellydance classes. Lots to explore...I hear from some expat wives that it's VERY easy not to work here, and I can see how that would be the case even as I assume I will still end up with some kind of job--librarian or not--somewhere down the line.

One of the strangest things is seeing all the familiar stores, fast food places, etc., so far away. I guess wherever you go you can't get away from Chili's, Pizza Hut, McDonald's and Starbucks. I'm sure a time will come when we are glad to retreat into the familiar now and then, but for now it's almost disappointing.

The streets are a colourful mixture of Gulf arabs in dishdashas, abayahs and veils, Indians in turbans and saris, and western clothing of various degrees. Most people speaking Arabic amongst themselves, of course, but in the hotels, restaurants and stores everyone speaks english. It's true that you don't really need to know any Arabic to live here, though I'd still like to learn it nonetheless!

Five minutes left to go in my time. Better stop here! We'll post again when we can.

Greetings from Abu Dhabi!

Hi every one! This is our first post from Abu Dhabi. We're in an Internet Cafe at the Abu Dhabi Mall. We were at Starbucks earlier and Darcy had her first Starbucks coffee since leaving home. Anyway Darcy and I departed from Edmonton at 2:00 pm MST on June 1 and arrived in Abu Dhabi at 11:30 pm on June 2. I spent May 30 with my Dad doing errands that included returning the rental car and sending off one box to be shipped to Abu Dhabi. I used a shipper (Can-Tran) after being told by Northwest and KLM that they don't ship household goods as freight. They have a strict policy of only allowing two checked bags per person. I got a call today saying that our box arrived at the Abu Dhabi Airport so we'll go tomorrow to claim it at Customs. We'll have an Arab representative from the Petroleum Institute to insure that everything goes smoothly.

It was a long but fairly uneventful journey that took us from Edmonton to Minneapolis to Amsterdam, Bahrain and finally Abu Dhabi. I was here briefly just over three months ago so I recognize some of the surroundings. We are staying at the five star Beach Rotana Hotel and we have a spacious suite. It consists of a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom - all courtesy of my new employer.

Darcy and I have gone out a few times with people from my new workplace. We've gone to Western style restaurants which most expats tend to frequent. I worked out this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks and it felt good. Temp is hot (40 celcius or 104 farenheit). Humidity isn't a factor - yet. Our hotel is connected to the Abu Dhabi Mall so we can window shop and get some ideas on what to buy once I start work. I'm awaiting my security clearance to pass so we have about another week before we can start apartment hunting. We did go looking one day with an agent and we liked one apartment. But I doubt that it will still be available once we start officially looking. The apartment was near the water and close to a park. The building was a highrise and the apartment was a three bedroom with two and a half baths. Lots of room for guests - hint, hint...Anyway the city has much hustle and bustle with many different cultures and languages spoken and various clothes worn. The UAE attracts people from all over Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. It's a wealthy country with lots to offer. I bought my first cell phone, oops I mean mobile, yesterday. It's a Motorola V360 with Bluetooth. Very nice and cost me 800 Dirhams or about $250 USD. This will be the first of many items that Darcy and I will be purchasing over the next few months. We can't wait for the housing allowance to come!

Darcy has been nursing a cold so she is resting much of the time. She will likely post the next entry. My hour limit is almost up so I better sign off.