...The Sheik was at the mall when I went to go grocery shopping today!
I didn't see him...just the entourage of black cars with single and double digit licence plates accompanied by police. But, it's my first brush with royalty so I will milk it for all that it's worth ;)
So, the Christmas Pantomime is over and I can finally turn my attention to other seasonal preparations. The play literally seemed to come together at the last minute--we did not have a good run though with all props and costumes and lines remembered until the dress rehearsal 3 days before the performance! Missing cast members and some disorganization throughout rehersals all contributed to the last-minute crunch. But, we pulled through and the whole thing seemed to go pretty well. Only a couple of my friends saw this one. A fellow Edmontonian from the PI said that I was "disturbingly good at playing a lecherous man", so I guess I managed to pull my part off. I was worried a little, because I had never done a panto before--or even seen one!--and so I was unfamiliar with the stock characters, mannerisms, and conventions. I seem to have got enough thigh-slapping in there, though, and ultimately if the audience likes it then you can't complain.
The one thing I was really worried about was making it through all the shows and rehearsals wearing the Instruments of Torture: four inch stiletto boots. I thought they fit when I first tried them on, but something must have been off because while I have worn heels that height or almost that height before, I have NEVER had such pain from shoes. After some of the rehearsals my feet were still hurting two or three days later! And that's from just going on stage for my scene, going off, and sitting down until I have to go on again. Anyway, FORTUNATELY I finally got enough padding and "stuff" inside them to make them marginally wearable. It took cotton balls in the toes, three pairs of insoles, gel cushions, foam padding for the balls of my feet, and thick socks, but I got there. I was still uncomfortable when wearing them, but when I took them off the pain went away shortly. The only other explination I can think of is either nerves exacerbating the pain beforehand or adrenalin helping me ignore it during the show.
I have too many photos to post as a blog entry, so I posted the pictures I took in my Flickr gallery. You can see them by clicking here.
Since then, I've been busy with other Christmas activities. I baked gingerbread cookies, and made ginger almond biscotti. I think I have finally finished my Christmas shopping, and almost done wrapping. I have also been out getting things for Christmas dinner. I was originally going to roast just a turkey breast, but I couldn't find one (turkey is not a normal product here). So we are getting the whole stuffed bird again this year, which means shopping for dishes and other necessities as well as for food and drink. We've also got a few more party invitations this weekend. It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a few days away!
I can't believe that Christmas is less than two weeks away! Luckily the cooler weather and shorter days make the season feel a bit like the holidays. I went Christmas shopping today and a helpful clerk from Lebabon wished me a Merry Christmas. It probably doesn't sound like it's worth mentioning but it's the first time that I've heard the word Christmas spoken by a non Christian. I didn't expect to see as many signs here proclaiming Christmas and having photos of Santa. I saw one sign that had Happy Holidays in English and Arabic. A Marks & Spencer store has a three story Christmas tree! There's also a large model of Santa with his sleigh and reindeer.
We've had our Christmas tree decorated for a while and it looks nice. I haven't had a tree this big since 1993 while this is Darcy's first large fake tree. We're able to use diffusing pine scented oil in order to make our tree feel more natural. I need to wrap presents and put them under our tree. Darcy wants to do some Christmas baking next week. It's too bad that we both didn't bring our family recipe books!
Darcy's Old King Cole play finished its three day, four performances yesterday. It was interesting to be a backstage hand from my standpoint. However, my brief involvement in the play was a time committment whlile Darcy's was much bigger. I don't know how people can memorized lines and act at the same time. It was difficult enough for me to remember which props had to be moved around in between scene changes!
That's about all for now....
I see that Michael has not been posting on the blog...well...guess I will have to take on the burden of bringing everyone up to speed.
We spent the weekend of American Thanksgiving having a traditional turkey dinner with friends. Much good food was eaten, much wine was drunk, and much fun was had playing cards. I do have some incriminating video from the night in question, but I will be nice and not post it online for the world to see :)
Believe it or not, we have had MORE rain!!!! Last weekend it absolutely POURED all day Saturday. There have also been a few other scattered showers in the past week or 2. I think we have now had the equivalent of over a year's worth of rain...and all in about 10 days! Michael and I always seem to bring atypical weather with us wherever we go.
The rain put a bit of a damper on the National Day celebrations here, which took place from the 1st to the 3rd. National Day is the anniversary of the UAE becoming its own country independent from the British--previous to 1971 it was a protectorate. It's strange to think that the country is only about as old as I am, and that all this urban development has taken place in so short a time. Wind the clock back two decades and there was not much more than sand, small fishing villages, and beduin tribes living off dates and camel milk. It's amazing how much this area has accomplished in so little time.
Michael got a long weekend for National Day, which was nice. There were fireworks on Friday night...we could see them from our apartment building's front door, but sadly I forgot to bring my camera down with me when we went to investigate what "that loud banging noise" was. Both Friday night and Saturday night the Corniche road was packed to a standstill with people out celebrating. Cars full of people all hanging out the windows cheering; people standing up through the sunroofs and riding on the roofs and hoods of the vehicles; loud music playing, and lots of noise as people spun their tires or gunned their engines until they backfired. Some people were dressed up, and some people had decorated their cars with hearts in UAE colours, flags, and pictures of the late Sheik Zayed and his two oldest sons, the current ruler of the UAE and the crown prince and ruler of Dubai. There was dancing in the streets--even some women who uncovered their hair and tossed it around Khaleeji style!--and much fun. We captured some of the chaos with my camera, and posted a rough video of the night on our video site at darcyandmichael.blip.tv. Blip.tv does allow you to imbed your video on blogs or other sites now, but I haven't been able to get it to link up to this blog properly yet, so for now you will have to click off Inshallah to see it.
The rehearsals for the Christmas Pantomime continue, though I am starting to be afraid that we will NOT be ready for our opening on Wednesday! Michael has been recruited to work backstage, so he will be back there with me during the shows, which is nice even if it will impede our ability to get photos of video of the show in progress. I have all my costume bits finally, and with the waistcoat, ruffled shirt, four inch stilletto boots, and tricorn hat with feather I look more piratical than Lord Chamberlainish, but my costume is less embarassing than some so I am DEFINITELY not complaining. Just this week, we finally managed to find a song for me to sing...Woman in Love from the movie version of Guys and Dolls. Cutting it close much? whew! I am also a little worried about the fact that I have to spend much of the first act hopping in high heeled boots that don't seem to fit very well. BUT, the show goes up on the 13th, and three days later it will all be over, so I am trying not to worry about the incidentals too much.
Last night we attened a wine tasting hosted by one of the local liquor shops, which was fun. It was in the same hotel we were staying at when we first got here. They provided grazing food and desserts, which were quite lovely, and there were 10 tables of wines from different countries to be tasted and compared. Nice to be able to sample some expensive wines, chat with the experts, and compare all the different varieties. I know, what a decadent life we lead :)
Apart from that we are just trying to get ready for Christmas. We have finally mailed our cards, and we are putting up our tree this weekend. We do have a couple of parties to go to already, and after the play is over I will have to seriously start cookie baking and planning our Christmas dinner. Michael is being his usual UNHELPFUL self as far as Christmas wish lists goes...he always asks for boring things like socks or shirts or other things he "needs." I keep on trying to tell him that presents are not for things you NEED but things you would LIKE--fun rather than necessity--but he seems to remain unconvinced. Well, at least he can't ask for a cheque this year! Any money I gave him would be his already!
Enough for now...hopefully Michael will provide the update next time!
We got quite a surprise today. It rained at about 1:30 this afternoon! I noticed the sky getting dark...then the rumble of thunder...I grabbed my camera and got outside just as conditions went from a sprinkle to a full-on downpour. The clouds were very low, and moving incredibly fast--I could see them being pierced by a tall building across Khaled bin al Waleed street. Winds were gusting very high; high enough that a chair at the side of our building flew out into the parking lot and hit a car! Trees were whipping around and I could see fierce gusts of rain and wind whipping down the street. The gutters and streets were flooded. I felt right at home, back in the middle of a typical Florida afternoon storm!
Apparently the UAE gets about 6 to 10 cm of rainfall yearly. After today we should be at least halfway there...
This has been a pretty party-full weekend. We had our own housewarming party last night! We think it went fairly well...we didn't really run out of anything, lots of people came, and everyone seemed to have a fairly good time. The last guests did not leave until after 3am, so it was a pretty late night!
I had to do some last-minute shopping for decorations and such, and I was also lucky enough to find some household things that I actually liked in the stores. Maybe it was just that the seasonal stock and end-of-range sale stuff this summer was not to my taste...or maybe after a couple months off from house shopping I don't feel so burnt out on it all...but I like a lot more of the things on offer right now than I did when I was out every day trying to find the "least offensive to the eye" furnishings. I got some new curtains for my sanctuary, some cushions for the couches to match the ones from the souk in Sharjah, and some nice candleholders and accessories. We also borrowed a drill and managed to hang one of our divider/curtain thingys that we bought at IKEA months ago...we tried to hang both but encountered problems drilling into the solid concrete seems to comprise our ceiling and all our walls. As it is, to be honest, I am not really 100% convinced the one we did manage to hang will not fall down at some point. But at least it held up for the party!
So between shopping for the house, shopping for the food, shopping for the drinks, uploading music to our computer and figuring out how to set up iTunes to be our DJ for the evening, cleaning, decorating, rearranging the furniture and preparing our buffet I was pretty busy this week! By the time the party was set to start I was almost ready to go to bed for a nap! But, we had a good time and it was all worth it in the end. Bigger parties like this one actually may not be as common here as we are used to. Michael said more than one person commented during the night that smaller dinner parties are more the norm. Both types have their charms but every once and a while it is fun to get everyone you know together and have them meet each other!
I've created an online gallery from some of the pictures we took...you can view it by clicking here.
This evening, our friend Rachel hosted a Hallowe'en party. It was a relatively small gathering...a dinner party rather than a big event. I got to meet some more people from the PI and FINALLY see Rachel's apartment and her two new kittens, who are very tiny and VERY cute!
I didn't know about the party until a couple days before, so it was a bit of a last-minute scramble for me to get a costume. I ended up improvising an "American Tribal Bellydance Lite" costume from some things I brought from home and a few pieces of fabric I bought in Sharjah. Michael wore his biking gear and went as Lance Armstrong.
Here are a couple photos of my costume, and a group photo from the party. You can see my new sanctuary curtains in the background of my photos!
Well, we are just back from a week in Sharjah and Al Ain. Sharjah is an emirate to the north of us...so close to Dubai that they are kind of blending together as construction expands the sprawl. It markets itself as the cultural capital of the UAE because of it's many heritage and arts attractions. It's much more conservative a culture, and still dry, unlike Dubai or Abu Dhabi. We were in the older area of town, which was interesting to say the least. The kind of place where you have a restored historical fort next to a normal looking highrise bank building next to a crumbling slum where the poorest labourers live. I would stay in this same location again, actually, because it was a facinating mix of places and people within walking distance of the galleries, historical and heritage areas, and souks, but I would NOT stay in the same hotel. we were right above a taxi stand and a square with a tent market selling cheap goods where hundreds of the local Indian and Pakistani men came to socialize and hang out every evening. So very noisy 24/7, very crowded, and extremely difficult to drive in and out. Strangely, the traffic and the crowds disappear about a block in every direction! Also, the restaurant in our hotel was terrible. I actually got sick one night we were there, though fortunately it came on quickly and did not last long and I was fine for the remainder of the trip.
We saw many more men holding hands and walking with their arms around each other than you do in Abu Dhabi. Actually, we saw very few women on the street period! I don't know if the population in this district was made up more of men who left their families at home to work here, or if it was just because more of the women were at home or running home-related errands, due to the more conservative mindset, rather than out on the street with the men. We saw very few other Western expats there.
We paid a visit to the central souk and ended up buying a couple of Caucasian carpets--deep reds and greys, and bolder tribal patterns. The souk is also known for its jewelry stores...I don't think I have ever seen so much gold in one place in my life! Beautiful Asian styles, totally unlike the things you see at home. We also visited some historic buildings and a couple art galleries.
After 3 nights there we travelled on to Al Ain, an oasis city in Abu Dhabi that borders on Oman. *Much* nicer accomodations there--the only options in Al Ain are 5 star!--and it is a quiet, peaceful, relaxing city. Unlike the other places we've seen in the UAE so far, the city is made up of low rise buildings, and since it is an oasis there are lots of trees and working date palm farms. There is also a mountain--Jebel Hafit--that we could see from our hotel room balcony. The woman we had our first UAE job interview with lives there, so we got to meet her in person; she took us up the mountain and out for dinner one night and met us for coffee the next day, where she introduced us to some other librarians that live and work there. We visited local coffee shops, the Al Ain Palace Museum, a couple of the oases, the Al Ain National Museum and Sheik Zayed Fort, and also managed to find time to relax by the pool and hang out.
So for the most part a very good vacation.
Almost every woman I saw had lovely henna for Eid. I wonder about it though...whether it was wholly natural or not. The colour was such a uniform mahogany, and often little to no variation from fingers to hands to wrists and forearms. It would be sad if adulterated henna was the norm here. I still haven't gone out and found a salon to do henna on me, so i don't have any personal experience yet. Mostly the very flowery Gulf/IndoArabic style, with a lot of dipped fingers.
Lots of the little girls were out in their sparkly new Eid clothes...so cute!
Well, since we have a new car it was time for me to bite the bullet and start driving. Not a wholly comfortable proposition. Traffic here is....well....slightly less than sane. Especially during Ramadan when everyone is lightheaded from hunger and dehydration! Tailgating is routine, as is speeding and merging without warning or ensuring you have enough room. Add to all this the fact that if an expat and a national get in an accident, the expat is automatically at fault...and...you have a recipe for nervousness! However, after a couple of successful short trips to the mall and the grocery store, and a drive from Michael's work back home (a half hour highway drive), I am feeling a little more confident on the road. So far so good! Michael has created a video about the car...take a look for it in our video postings at http://darcyandmichael.blip.tv.
So far I have learned that the concept of "letting someone in traffic" is definitely not understood. I tried to let someone merge my first trip out and caused confusion, to say the least!
Of course, we do still have to take taxis to go out anywhere where we will be drinking. There is an absolute zero tolerance policy for drinking and driving, due to Islamic views on alcohol consumption. Being caught in a car with any alcohol in your system at all is an invitation for legal problems. Apparently the current city taxis are going to be phased out during the next year, which will mean that taxi fares will go up by a lot. But then if you double the price of a one or two dollar taxi ride, you ar still getting around pretty cheap!
This weekend was a pretty busy party weekend for us. The tradition of Ramadan house parties continues even if bars do now open during the holy month. On Thursday night, the cast of The Flesh Game met for a belated cast party/potluck dinner. Our director had gifted us with a bottle of champagne on the final night of the show, and this is the first time we had been able to get together to drink it! Last night we were at the home of a couple we met through the PI (the husband works there) for dinner and drinks. They've posted some pictures on their blog...if you'd like to see us and some of the people we know here you can click here.
Other than that, we are looking forward to our vacation trip to Al Ain and Sharjah at the end of the month. There are supposed to be a lot of good souqs in Sharjah, so we are hoping to get some Christmas shopping done!
Happy Thanksgiving to our friends and family in Canada! Darcy cooked a delicious dinner and we had nice Chilean wine. Big news is that I drove home our new car on Saturday. Darcy had a name picked out for it - Galahad. The car is really nice and it seems really strange to be driving a brand new vehicle! I have to pay the interest free loan back over four years. The price was about $28,000 USD which is pretty good. We took some photos of the car and we're in the process of making a video of our new addition to the family. Stay tuned...
Well I continue to spend money like there's no tomorrow. Last weekend I went with my work colleague to Dubai to the only reputable bike store in the UAE. It's called Wolfi's . I decided to buy a road bike as my previous bikes have been mountain bikes. This way I have two different types. I had no intention of buying one but I test road two (rode around the block) and really liked the light weight feel. So I decided to treat myself (again) and bought a Scott CR1 . The gave me free clip shoes and clip pedals. But I also needed to buy one pair of shorts, fancy bike shirt, gloves and a helmet. But I think it's worth the high price tag in the long run and I told Darcy that she can spend that much on herself too.
I'll put the bike in the car and drive to work sometimes to ride near the university. My colleague rides out there and there's not too much traffic yet. It's a new development area and It's flat like South Florida so I should be able to get a good cardio workout. The timing is good as the Calypso cardio machine that I've been house sitting for will be picked up in a few days. I can also bike on the corniche bike path that follows the water. It's about four miles long but I'll have to watch out for pedestrians. People often walk on the separate bike path.
The citation for my journal article is:
Article title: A Library of One's Own: A Survey of Public Access in Florida Academic Libraries
Subjects: Academic libraries, Library resources, Public access, Polls & surveys
Author(s): J Michael Shires
Document types: Feature
Document features: Tables, References
Publication title: Reference & User Services Quarterly. Chicago: Summer 2006. Vol. 45, Iss. 4; pg. 316, 11 pgs
Source type: Periodical
Text Word Count 7261
Abstract (document summary): Public users represent a small but growing clientele in academic libraries. Many academic librarians grapple with the issue of serving public users, partially because of shrinking academic library budgets and growing user demands. This article presents data from a 2002 survey about public access in Florida academic libraries. A Web-based survey consisting of nine questions was sent to sixty-six libraries, of which thirty-six responded. Results show that while a majority of publicly and privately funded academic libraries allow public users to access their resources and services, many do not actively promote themselves to the community at large.
I'm still waiting for the new car to arrive. It should be ready to be picked up by this weekend. The big news for Darcy is that she auditioned for another play called Old King Cole and won the part of Lord Dan. The character is called a principle boy where a woman plays a man. It should be interesting for her. Since she has a role that means that I will be a stage hand in the play. I'm not sure how good I will be....
ThenNext piece of good news is that I received a cheque from my work to buy a car. I finally decided on getting a 2007 Volvo V70 stationwagon and I managed to get the price down to 100,000 dirham ($30,000). I went to the dealer this morning and gave the money and signed paperwork for registration. I will get special window tinting called V-Kool. Apparently it uses NASA technology that heavily reduces heat and other harmful rays from entering a car's interior and without using really dark tinting. It will cost about $600 but I think it will be worth it. I should get the car in about a week.
I saved the last bit of news for last. My article that took me almost four years to write was finally published! It appears in a peer-reviewed American Library Association publication called Reference and User Serivces Quarterly. The article's title is A Library of One's Own: A Survey of Public Access in Florida's Academic Libraries. I wished that it had been published before I left Florida but c'est la vie. It was a lot of work to write it but I owe my thanks to many at my last job with helping get it published. Darcy and I need to get ready to go out now so until next time...
So, this week marked the beginning of our first Ramadan here.
Ramadan, apparently, is the time when the Qu'ran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. During the month, the gates of heaven are open and the gates of hell are closed. It is also a time of charity, generosity and sympathy towards the poor.
Muslims are fasting for purification from sin, and in sympathy for the poor and hungry, from sunup till sundown. They are are also not allowed to do things like smoke (you could swallow the smoke and thus break your fast) or chew gum (which produces saliva that breaks your fast). Apparently really pious Muslims will even spit all day rather than swallowing any saliva! They are also supposed to eschew sex during daylight hours (at night is okay), follow Islam's proscriptions against gossip, lies and bad speech more strictly, and read the Qu'ran through at least once during the month. There are Qu'ran readings every night in the mosques for a couple of hours after the last prayer...we can hear the ones going on across the street in our living room!
Before the dawn prayers, usually around 3am, they have a small meal called suhoor. Then right before the sunset prayer, they break their fast with a small snack--traditionally an odd-number of dates, soup and water. After prayer they have the first real meal of the day, called iftar. All the restaurants in town are having big iftar buffets, of course, many with an "arabian tent" decor and including shisha, etc.
Pregnant women, old people, prepubescent children, and sick people are not required to fast. Neither are menstruating women, though they have to make up the days of fasting after Ramadan is over. I am wondering if that last is an example of pollution taboos or an acknowledgement that a menstruating woman's body is already purifying itself! I'd like to think the latter, but don't really hold out much hope. People who don't fast are supposed to feed the needy each day they miss.
What all this means for us expats is we cannot be seen eating, drinking, smoking, etc. in public from sunup to sundown. Store and office hours are reduced, so one must take that into account when running errands, and apparently we should be more careful than usual about modest dress.
In the past, bars have been closed completely during Ramadan, leading to the expat tradition of stocking one's liquor cabinet and having Ramadan parties every weekend. However, as of last year, the bars are staying open. I am assuming it's because our neighbor, good old Miami-meets-the-Middle-East Dubai with its more liberal ways, has been keeping their bars and nightclubs open for a while now, and Abu Dhabi is feeling the need to be competitive. Yet most of the expats of my acquaintance are actually unhappy with the new policy, and most are having parties at home this month rather than going out anyway! It seems Ramadan work hours in some places are also stretching longer than in previous years. Just another example of global homogenization, I suppose :(
So, my play went up last week. I think things went really well, all things considered. There was only one night where I forgot any of my lines--the one night almost everyone I knew was there, of course!--and people who saw the shows seemed to enjoy them. I was lucky in that I think I managed to get into the best cast of all four plays. The women I performed with were all really nice and I'm glad I got a chance to know them! Our director gave us a parting gift of a bottle of champagne, so we are having a party in the next couple weeks to get together and drink it.
Michael took a couple of tiny video clips with his digital camera, which I've edited and put up on our new...video blog! Yes, we finally found a site to host all of the videos we end up making. If you'd like to see a bit of the play in action you can surf to http://darcyandmichael.blip.tv.
So next up is the Christmas Pantomime. I auditioned on the weekend, and I have managed to snag a role--Lord Dan, King's Chamberlain. Yes, you read that right, I am playing a man--and a womanizing, terror-of-the-maids-quarters man to boot! Apparently, along with the tradition of the cross dressing "dame" character, it is common for Pantos to have "Principal Boys", which are men's roles played by women. Not my typical casting to be sure, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun!
Weather has been very humid here for the last few days. At night condensation forms on the windows outside and during the day the evaporated water leaves a mucky mess. So it's difficult to see outside. Living on an island means that's often windy so that prevents window cleaners from doing their job on the highrise buildings.
We finally got our UAE driver's licenses yesterday. We were denied the first time because Canadian citizens need to have Arabic translations of their local driver's licenses stamped by the Canadian Embassy. But it was tense for a moment yesterday as the government workers were confused by our Alberta licenses being called Operator's License and not using the more standard Driver's License term. Then there was confusion about our newly revamped Alberta driver's licenses not matching what was pictured in their book of Canadian provincial licenses. We explained that our licenses were newly issued with a re-worked design.
I have now passed my three month employment probation but I've not yet received official word from Human Resources. So I can't yet start the paperwork for purchasing a car. We're in no hurry as we've grown accustomed to not owning a car. I've not owned a car in six months. Renting cars is about as expensive as in North America. But it's difficult to rent for a day or two and the companies prefer people that rent them for a month. It works out to not being too much cheaper than car payments for owning a new car.
We need to start thinking about where we want to visit on our next vacation. I have asked for a week off at the end of October and the end of Ramadan. We'll probably vist Liwa (desert oasis), Al Ain and the northern Emirates and maybe northern Oman. I've been Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for a few days. I got a referral from a colleague and the place is in close walking distance from our apartment. The lady performs a massage, accupuncture and cupping. It's provide some relief but my problems with my left ulnar nerve and sciatica like symptons will not go away quickly. But I will continue to get treatments and the $30 dollar fee for an hour treatment is a heck of a deal!
The Mitsubishi Outlander didn't look too bad but it's classed as an SUV which we decided not to buy. Honda had no cars to test drive when I visited and the new Accords are not cheap. Ditto with Subaru which also has poor resale value. People here love Toyotas. I've been told that for safety from all the idiotic drivers that it is smart to drive an SUV. Dubai Police recorded over 900,000 traffic violations over the last eight months. That works out to 157 an hour! Sixty-three percent of those were recorded by radar. I was still thinking of looking at stationwagons but there aren't too many models here to choose from.
So I naturally turned to Volvo as I've driven them most of my life. I loved my old Volvo Max despite the mechanical problems that it had. It was a heavy car with comfortable seats and was great for cruising. So I decided to test drive a 2007 V70 stationwagon. It's got the venerable 5 cylinder 170 hourspower engine and 17 inch mags. Despite being owned by Ford the car still has the Volvo feel. We bargained the price down to 106,000 Dirham which is 6,000 over my limit. I need to go back and do some more negotiating. One of the best sites for looking at new and used cars here is Drive Arabia.
We tried unsuccessfully to get our UAE driving permit last week. We discovered that the Canadian Embassy requires Arabic translations of your driver's license to be stamped by the embassy. Plus if you license is less than one year old then you may be required to take a driving test first. I got my Alberta drivers's license in April and I stupidly didn't keep my Florida driver's license number so I may end up having to take the test. I'd like to get my license and buy a car within the next two weeks before Ramadan starts. The month long religious holiday makes for strange business hours and some people not wanting to work much (especially the poor Muslims who are fasting all day). I paid $7.00 USD and watched a Canadian Football League (CFL) game online yesterday. The CFL seems to have a new broadband service for this season so I will take advantage of it. Now if only the Edmonton Oilers hockey team could offer the same thing as the new season starts in a month!
Darcy and I created a video tour of our apartment but the files are a bit large. The Mac imovie software can compact it down to a maximum of 10 MB and our first year honeymoon viedo was well under that. But it would be nice to post a link to video somewhere. Unfortunately Blogger doesn't seem to offer that service so we'll check around for other sites. Using our digital cameras and Mac are easy to use to make videos but we'll likely get a camcorder at some point....
That's all I can say.... :)
Our laptop has come with all sorts of crazy software. We are creating comic books and editing videos from our digital cameras and subscribing to podcasts and rss feeds and essentially doing our best to wear out our internet connection and new hardware. I'm sure that this is just new-toy syndrome, and it will settle down with time, but wow is there a lot of stuff to play with here!
We just had a long weekend...the UAE is switching from a Thursday-Friday weekend to a Friday-Saturday one, so during the turnover Michael got three days off. Everyone seemed to expect we would go away for the weekend, but this was really the first chance we had to just hole up at home and relax without having to run errands or go shopping, so that's essentially what we did. Nice to not to *have* to do anything for a change!
Rehearsals for my play are going along well...we only have a few to go before opening night! We are missing one cast member, who seems to have done a back-door exit at the last minute, so that is a bit of a worry (jus a bit!) but otherwise everything is going well. I managed to learn my lines before we started so now it's just a matter of getting comfortable with the flow of doing it "live", and the voice projection issue. The Club has one of those stages where all the sound goes up instead of out, so we have to speak up and speak out!
Other than that not much news, except I tried getting back to the yoga mat after a long haitus only to find out how out of shape all those yoga muscles are. Lots of work to do there I guess!
Well, we finally moved into the modern age today. Last week we bought our first computer, and today we got our internet connection installed! Finally we will be able to access the internet at home, rather than at work or at the internet cafe. Which means you should see a lot more frequent postings!
Our computer is actually a laptop. We splurged on one of the new Macintoch ones...a MacBook Pro with dual intel processor and lots of neat software. I've been having fun figuring out how to create my own comic books, author my own movies and DVDs, and compose my own music. Michael has been playing chess, and saying he will get to all the other stuff "soon" :)
Other news here...I did get a part in one of the Abu Dhabi Dramatic Society one acts that will be going up in September. My play is called "The Flesh Game", and it's a comedy about woman at a health spa trying to lose weight. I came in with only about 3 weeks to go until opening night, so the learning curve is pretty steep!
We've been watching the news about Ernesto this week and feeling very, very glad we are not in Florida.
Setting up house continues slowly but surely. We finally got some curtains up this week, and I have started to furnish my little sanctuary room in the small third bedroom.
Here's a photo of two quirky lamps that we recently bought. Guess who bought which!
Sadly today (Sunday) is a workday for me so Darcy and I can't spend the entire day together. We went out to an Arab restaurant last night which BTW was very good and cheap (50 Dirham or $15 USD). Darcy wants to cook dinner tonight which I'm sure will be good. Unfortunately I don't have a liquor permit yet so we won't be able to have wine with dinner. I plan to apply for a liquor permit in the next day or so. So we have one year under our belt with many more happy ones to come!
We returned home late and changed clothing before heading back out to the Beach Rotana Hotel. We went to a restaurant called Pregos which was where we had our celebratory last dinner before moving into our new apartment. We had wanted to have dinner at restaurant called the Rodeo Grill but they were full. Pregos was our second choice but their indoors section was full. Their patio was empty so we braved the elements and sat outside. The solitude and scenery was nice but the humidity was high. So it was a nice birthday but it strangely did not seem like it. Perhaps it was because of the new surroundings! Scary though as I edge closer to hitting middle age. We'll take more photos of our place as we acquire more furnishings...
So, we are moving in and starting to make our new place a home. There's still plenty of things that we need--basic stuff like curtains, coffee tables, bookshelves and blankets for the bed-- but we have enough to live, if roughly, until we are done. Strange to be starting totally over--I've moved with next to nothing before, but I've always had a few things to unpack and set out to make my place familiar. This time there's nothing but a clothes and a couple of books.
Running around and shopping would be easier except I've come down with (another!) cold. This one I got from Michael, who picked it up from a coworker at the PI. I guess between the stress of moving to a new climate and the likelihood of new bugs here that my system is not used to, it's not surprising. But after almost a decade without a cold it seems strange that I've had three of them since March! Also, I need to learn to adjust my schedule to the location. I am used to slow mornings and picking up the activity early in the afternoon. Many shops and offices here are closed between 1:30 and 4:30, which is right when I would normally be going to them, and of course the heat is at its worst right when I'm ready to go out. I need to get up earlier, rest or work inside during the early afternoon, and then go out later in the afternoon or in the evening.
The director of the other play I mentioned earlier contacted me today, and sent me a script via email with an invitation to audition. This part looks much more achievable for me than pretending to be 70 with a heavy regional accent. He is going on vacation soon, so there may not be any more news for a couple of weeks.
Also, the PI asked for my photos and scheduled a medical for me, so we are one step closer to getting our residence visas. Thank goodness!
Finally, after being here six weeks, we can check out of our hotel and move into our apartment tomorrow!
We had our sofa and chairs delivered today. Dark brown in a comfy faux suede fabric. Our dining room table and chairs arrived Wednesday. Michael bought a bed, television and DVD player from a coworker which they put in Thursday. I've also got enough in the kitchen (appliances, dishes, cookware) to be able to actually cook and serve meals at home as well. So the major things are taken care of, and the smaller things will come after we're settled. What a relief!
Yesterday we decided to have a "last day of luxury" before we check out of the Beach Rotana. Now that we have some money we can actually enjoy some of the things available at the hotel. So we ordered breakfast from room service, had hour-long Swedish massages, spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel beach and ate dinner at Prego's, an Italian restaurant downstairs. The food was excellent, and even the wine was good--a rarity as far as we can see for this area.
Now all we need are our residence visas.....
We are taking lots of pictures, and as soon as I unpack my USB cable and have enough time with a computer to sit down and upload them to the web, I will post them. Promise!
In other news, I did go try out for that theatre production and it went well. The part is small enough that even if I did not manage the age or the accent 100%, it still would not have much impact, and it looks like fun. However, the director told me today there's another director in the group looking for actors for his play (the show will be a series of different one-acts), and that he may call me too. So I may end up doing another show after all, or possibly both if it can be managed. We'll see what happens in the next week.
I also got my 50% July salary advance so we actually have more than enough cash. But we needed to pay the 5% commission for our real estate agent for finding our apartment. Since we still don't have our residence visas we can't make cash withdraws from our bank account. I discovered that after the bank teller inadvertently deposited my salary cheque and I couldn't make a withdrawal from the ATM! After waiting an hour the branch manager gave me some money. I set up direct deposit for my paycheques so I hope that I get my visa by the end of the month. I'm not sure what will happen if we don't get our residence visas before our 60 day tourist visas expire on August 2.
I'm suffering from another cold although it may also be allergies. It's been very windy with smog, sand and grit in the air. Apparently this has blown in from Saudi Arabia. Last night we went out with friends for dinner and afterwards saw a live band. It was comprised of a keyboarder and two young lady singers. They were Polish and performed Western pop songs. The sound was quite good although the keyboarder played to loudly and drowned out the vocals. The singers were a bit cheesy with dance moves but it was fun to watch and listen. We have a bunch of photos to finally post. Also took some video using our digital camera. But the latter's 30 second clip seems to be too large to email or post anywhere. We'll see what we can do. I Better go soon and catch the shuttle back to the hotel...
Well, Michael finally got his first paycheque. So, we have a little breathing room until our furniture allowance gets in. Our apartment has been safety inspected and cleaned, and the contractor who does the modifications like water filters and shower curtains should be in the apartment as I type to finish up. Today I sunk 6500 Dirhams--about 2000 US dollars--into a stove, fridge, washer and dryer which should be delived tomorrow night. We have a friend who will sell us a bed, some kitchen necessities like knives, cutlery and a coffee maker, and a deposit on some dining room furniture. Our hotel room reservation runs out on Sunday morning, and god willing we should be set to move in with the basics by then!
Finally having an apartment again, no matter how spartan, will be a big relief. We have been homeless for over three months now!
The other news is that I am auditioning for a play on Saturday. The character is 60 years old with a thick english accent, so I really don't think I am suited, but the wife of a teacher at the PI gave my name to the directors in her dramatic group and so I will go to this one, even if I don't get it, so they know I'm interested when other roles come up. She also invited me to the Wednesday morning coffee meetings of the Abu Dhabi Ladies group, so I will check out one of those as soon as I get a Wednesday morning with no household shopping and other duties to take care of.
I've been busy with unpacking the books and journals and re-shelving them. Much time seems to be spent figuring out policies and learning the ropes that goes with starting any new job. This is my third job helping to open three brand new libraries in six years so I'm used to being in a bit of a chaotic situation. The library currently has four professional positions and four support staff. There are openings for more in both categories including my counterpart that is to start at the end of July. I will share the office with my new colleague plus we'll help staff the brand new women's college library when it opens in a few months. My primary duties for the fall semester will be developing an information literacy program and teaching library instruction classes to first year students. Collection development will be important too and also helping develop various policies. It's exciting to be opening another new library although this one will be unique. It will be challenging teaching students whose first language is not Arabic and who have not read much. Islam has been a predominantly oral society so history and culture has been passed down verbally so reading and doing research in the Western style is a fairly new concept here.
It's been interesting talking with expats here and the social circles that have developed. Society here is stratefied and the many different cultures work together but remain separate socially. The Arabs, Westerners and Asians from the subcontinent have formed their own social networks. I can see why based upon language, religion and customs but there also is some loss of community. Darcy and I moved here in large part to learn more about the Middle Eastern culture and interact more and not less with them. But I expect that there will be opportunities for us once we settle into our apartment.
Darcy and I are still at the hotel as there have been some delays with getting my paperwork done. But I got my first paycheque today so we can buy a washer and dryer and a fridge! We should also take possession of our apartment (they're called flats here) tomorrow and my furniture allowance will follow in a day or so. The climate is very hot but it's not as humid (yet) as I had expected. There have been a few mornings with heavy fog though! We've gone to the hotel's beach later in the afternoon and it's tolerable sitting in the shade. It's breezy here because Abu Dhabi City is on an island. But the Arabian Gulf water is very warm (29 ceclius or about 85 farenheit). I thought that the ocean water in South Florida was warm! Speaking of which I'm currently listening to WLRN's Saturday Edition. I do miss NPR and can at least catch some of the news online when I'm at work. I better go catch the work shuttle. Later....
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!
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.
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? :)
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.
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.
My Dad found a buyer for my Chevelle while Darcy and I were in Jasper. I sold it for a lot less than it was worth but at least we don't have to worry about it anymore. Ironically the buyer lives near my Dad and the man restores old cars. So my Dad was invited to check on the progress of the car's restoration. Maybe I could buy back the car once we return home! I'm happy that the car has a new home and will be given lots of TLC.
Last bit of news is that the Oilers beat the Anaheim Might Ducks in five games to win the Western Conference Championship. It's unbelievable that my team is now in the Stanley Cup Finals after a 16 year drought! Unfortunately I will not be able to watch the game in Abu Dhabi (unless there is a sports bar that has a satellite). But I can check scores online. It's dinner time so I must go. We'll try and post one more entry before we leave Edmonton....
Many difficulties that we encountered in late April have been resolved. My claim with Atlas Van Lines is finally being investigated, Darcy has her Alberta driver's licence and our deposited U.S. cheques were finally cleared by our banks. As well, I'm clear to invest our savings in bank sponsored GICs and I decided to rollover my American Automobile Association sponsored CD for two years. The interest rate was an impressive 4.8%.
Darcy's car passed Federal and Provincial car inspections which means that she can now sell it. She will sell the car to a friend on May 23 which is within the two week deadline for selling the car and getting it registered within Alberta. Darcy and I will rent a car from that date to when we depart for Abu Dhabi.
My Chevelle is still for sale and I'm having to reduce the price. I've had several people call about it but there have been no takers. Sadly, last week someone vandalized old Bessie by shooting out the driver's side door window. The window is intact but is shattered. Repair cost is about $400 because of the car's age and difficulty in finding parts. I'd rather not repair it and sell the car at a reduced cost. I'll call an auctioneer and consider reposting a classified ad at a reduced price. But this means that I can't move the car for fear of having the shattered glass spray the car's interior.
Darcy and I need to locate a few boxes that contain items that we want to take with us overseas. Yesterday I went on an invigorating bike ride with my mother through Edmonton's beautiful river vally. We biked about 8 miles along trails that I had never taken. I think that Edmonton has one of the most beautiful walking and biking trails of any city in North America. It is roughtly 21 times larger that New York City’s Central Park and is the largest stretch of urban parkland in North America. It cost me almost $200 CDN to get my bike fixed due to my lack of using it in Florida. Inactivity for a bike is not a good thing and bike repair staff told me that they can disassemble and pack in a box bikes for long term storage.
Weather in the City of Champions has been hot the last few days with today reaching almost 30 celcius (86 farenheit). However, the humidity was only 25%! Today in Ft. Lauderdale it was 80 farenheit but the humidity was 62%. To top it off the temp in Abu Dhabi today was 100 farenheit (close to 40 celcius) with 82% humidity!
Some exciting news is that the Edmonton Oilers defeated the San Jose Sharks 2-0 tonight. The mighty Oil advance to the Conference finals for the first time since 1992. The teams is playing fantastic but will have a tough time playing their next opponent (Anaheim Mighty Ducks). So I've enjoyed watching the hockey and cheering on my team. I must admit that I'd be pretty disappointed being in Florida and not being able to watch my team play right now. The last bit of news is that Darcy got her hair cut tonight. It looks cute and she looks great! We continue to rotate with visiting parents, stepparents and inlaws and friends and enjoying the wonderful spring weather. That's all for now....
First is that all U.S. citizens, regardless of the country they are living, must submit annual income tax forms. One must do this even if no income is earned. The 1040 form can be used in conjunction with a foreign earned income form (2555 I think). One loophole is that gross annual income (wages, interest from investments, etc.) under $80,000 USD will not be taxed by Uncle Sam. So I should be safe from paying U.S. taxes while working in the U.A.E.
The Canadian Government handles things a bit differently for non resident Canadian citizens. The Federal Government has tax treaties with nations so our accountant printed off the lengthy treaty between Canada and the UAE. It stipulates that the Canadian Government retain 10% from all income earned in Canada. This includes interest from savings accounts, GICs (Guaranteed Investment Certificates), CDs (Certificates of Deposit), etc. Darcy and I are planning to invest our meagre savings in Bank of Montreal GICs. We're thinking of staggering our money in a couple of GICs: a one year and another for three or five years. I also opened a U.S. dollar savings account at my bank. This will allow me to easily wire money from my new bank in Abu Dhabi (National Bank of Abu Dhabi). I will be paid in U.S. dollars. My mother has power of attorney for my Bank of Montreal accounts so this allows her to deposit, withdraw and invest money for me back in Canada. I will have to change my bank account address to my new address in Abu Dhabi. Then the bank will know to automatically give the government 10% of my investment interest. Luckily I won't have to file paperwork for the Canadian Government annually like I will have to for the American Government.
To make a long story short, Darcy is on track to receive her full Alberta Driver's Licence. She was able to get documentation from DMV in Florida that stated her five year driving record. So she will be able to get the International Driver's Permit in Abu Dhabi. Darcy also received her vacation and sick time payout from Broward County Libraries. We'd like to take that money with us overseas to help get us settled for the first month. However, all banks here now hold foreign cheques for up to one month. This is a fairly new policy and indicative of 9/11. However, Darcy has enough money in her account to cover cashing in the USD cheque so we'll have to be firm with the bank teller.
I booked log cabin for May 24 and 25 at Beckers Chalets. It's just outside Jasper and a bit south of Alpine Village where we spent our honeymoon. The latter was already booked for those dates so I called Beckers next. Beckers is a bit cheaper but it has no outdoor hot tub like Alpine village. So we'll visit Miette Hot Springs that is about 40 miles outside Jasper.
On Friday, May 26 we'll drive the scenic Banff Jasper Highway 93. It's about 180 miles and it connects Jasper National Park and Banff National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. There are many sites to visit along the way before entering the town of Banff. Then we'll head east on the Trans-Canada Highway (longest highway in North America at almost 4,900 miles). Our destination that day will be the bustling city of Calgary where we'll visit friends. We'll depart for Edmonton on Sunday, May 28 and then fly out from Edmonton to Abu Dhabi a few days after that. That's assuming that my new employer can purchase plane tickets for us fairly quickly. More to come later....
At the moment Darcy and I are staying at my Mom's and Stepdad's condo. The weather has been very cool with snow showers one morning. Today got up to about 8 celcius or 48 farenheit. But it's sunny and I love it! Last weekend Darcy and I drove to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It's a five hour drive (330 miles) southeast from Edmonton on the Yellowhead Highway. Darcy wanted to visit her cousins, aunt and uncle there. We had great weather and Saturday was a balmy 26 celcius or 77 farenheit. It's a picturesque little city that is reminescent of Edmonton in the 1960s and 70s. It's one of about three cities that we'd consider moving to when we decide to leave Abu Dhabi. The other two cities are Calgary and Denver.
I think I forgot to mention that the total number of miles that we drove from Florida to Edmonton was about 3,800. On the topic of transportation, Darcy will take her car to a mechanic next Monday to have modifications done to meet Canadian auto standards. Then it needs to be inspected before she can register and insure it in Alberta. Luckily there are still a couple of people who are interested in buying the car. I have posted a classified ad for my 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle in the local paper. It's currently parked in front of my Dad's house with a *For Sale* sign. You can also view the car's ad at Freecartrader.com . I hope to sell old Bessie by the end of May before we leave Edmonton. More to come later...
Well, the rest of our stuff finally arrived from Florida today. An early day as we had to drive out of town to the international airport to clear our shipment with customs, then all the way back to unload. So our things are now in storage, although how safely I can't really say. We didn't have time to unpack and check each box--I'd still be there repacking if we'd tried it--so I'm pretty much trusting things are okay on the fact that none of the boxes were physically open/ripped/etc. and none of the fragile ones made tinkly broken-glass-or-crockery noises when we shook them. I am in the middle of sorting and repacking the things I left in my parents' basement after the last move--I will be moving those things into storage when I'm done. Getting the stuff here finally was a big relief.
So now that our things have arrived and Michael has his drivers licence and our authenticated marriage certificate, he is essentally finished everything he has to do before leaving. Which means that I am in the unenviable position of Holding Everything Up. I haven't got my bank statement in the mail, which means I can't show proof of residence to get my licence. I haven't got the list of modifcations for my car from the Registrar of Imported Vehicles, so I can't get the modifications done, which means I can't get it inspected , registered and insured in Alberta, which means I can't sell it. Everything is down to sitting on my hands waiting for pieces of paper to arrive in the mail, essentially so I can do the few short things necessary to wait for other things to come in the mail. I'm getting to the point where I feel like it will never come and I will never get out of here...
In less stressful news, we are going to be leaving town to visit my cousins, aunt and uncle in Saskatoon this weekend. I haven't been there in about 3 or 4 years, and before that short visit (for an ill-fated job interview) I hadn't been for probably about 10 years. Strange when we used to go all the time! So that should be fun. We still have trips to Calgary and Jasper to plan as well.
Well, I seem to have left most of the updating of this blog up to Michael for quite some time. Figured it was about time I posted a new entry, too!
As Michael mentions below, we are indeed in Edmonton after our road-trip odyssey. It was an interesting trip, even if we didn't have time to stop as much as we'd have liked to. I'm glad we decided to break up the trip by going through Denver. By the time we got there a rest was more than welcome. Plus, I haven't really had the chance to get to know Michael's brother and his wife very well until this point (they had moved from Edmonton by the time Michael and I got involved), and it was really nice to spend some time with them at last.. Malini teaches grade one, and she took me to her class one afternoon, which was really fun. We also had a chance to do some shopping and go out for dinner a few times. All told a great visit.
Thankfully we had a relatively easy border crossing at Sweetgrass/Coutts. I always worry that something will go wrong every time I have to cross, so it's always stressful for me. Fortunately we ended up well prepared. the only thing we hadn't done was assign a value to all the things on our moving inventory, and as it turned out we only had to spend about an hour on that. The agent that helped us said that many times people come to the border without any preparation beforehand, and spend about 7-8 hours there doing all the paperwork they need to hand in, so I think we got off pretty lightly! Even importing my car went off without a hitch.
We spent our last night on the road in Lethbridge, and took our last day of travel a little slower. I drove the last day, even though it was Michael's turn, because I've never been through Alberta as a driver rather than a passenger and I wanted to do the last leg myself. We slept in a little later than usual, and stopped at the Penny Coffee house before leaving town. I used to love that place, but going there just proved that there's truth in the idea that You Can Never Go Back. The independent bookstore that used to open into the shop was gone. All the funky posters and pictures on the walls were gone. All the feminist posters and quotes were gone from the womens' washroom. The place had been completely stripped and sanitized and it's fun-hangout character was gone. On top of that, the cappuccino I ordered was watered down to a latte with a little bit of foam on the top...something that always irritates me. Oh well. I still have the good memories from when it was a good place, I guess.
We stopped in Claresholm around lunch time, so I could show Michael where I lived and worked there. The place does not really look good in some respects. Lots of empty storefronts and empty houses. Even some of the churches have closed! The town does have a very nice brand-new public library, however, and the greenhouse I worked in looks really good, so at least that business is thriving!
We also stopped in Red Deer, not far from Edmonton, so that Michael could show me where he lived and went to school the years he was there. The house they were in was almost exactly the same as he had left it!
We stopped at Michael's dad's place when we got into Edmonton, and his mother and stepfather happened to be visiting, so we got to see them all at once! We spent the first few days at my parents' house, then moved to Michael's dad's, and have just set up again today at his mom's place. A little bit different this time around, as we are moving together and have to balance three different families.
Unfortunately not much to report as far as progress goes since we arrived in Edmonton. Our moving truck is late, and we can't really do any out-of-town visiting until it gets here. Whenever that will be. We have to get Alberta drivers licences before we move, which is harder than it used to be--we have to show proof of residence and then wait 2 weeks while everything gets vetted in Ottawa. Thank goodness we both kept bank accounts open here--bank statements are the only thing we would have on the list of acceptable proof! But I have to wait for my statement, then wait for my licence, and what with that and the things to get done with my car before I sell it it's going to be a longer time than anticipated before we will be ready to move overseas.
Not that I've really been able to wrap my head around the reality of our actually moving to Abu Dhabi yet! But, one step at a time I guess!
What with everything that's going on I think this blog needs a facelift/makeover. I'll try to get to that soon....
I've had two good work outs with my brother this past Friday and Sunday. I can always count on my brother to have a good anaerobic workout! He is studying to become a certified personal athletic trainer. Sunday afternoon I shot some hoop (played basketball) with my brother for an aerobic workout. I can't emphasize enough how refreshing it is to be outside in a cool, dry climate! My stamina is so higher and I feel better. Plus the spectacular mountain view is breath taking! The shorter, brown colored front range mountains provide a start contrast to the white capped Rocky Mountains. Maybe one day my wife and I will settle in Denver.
Other somewhat boring news to report is that I went to my bank and made a withdrawal from my checking account. I will keep my Washington Mutual account open but will take most of my money up to Canada to invest. We also need to take about $2,500 with us overseas to sustain us until my first paycheck. The college will pay for our hotel and some food but we'll need to rent a car until I pass probation. The other news is that Darcy's Sentra is in the shop because it needs a new starter and front brakes. Unfortunately the starter was rebuilt only a year and a half ago so this shouldn't have happened. But this wasn't the first time that one of our cars needed a part replaced that had only been repaired the previous year. It happened to my Volvo last month (new alternator) and I was forced to sell it at a terrible loss.
Anyway the car will be ready Monday morning so we should be on the road around 10:30 am. The distance from Denver to Edmonton is about 1,100 miles and it will take two days of driving. We'll likely stay in Butte or Billings Montana Monday night. Time permitting I'd like to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana. We'll drive right by it so it's possible we'll have time to visit. The other landmark that I'd like to see is the Lewis & Clark Intrepative Center in Great Falls, Montana. It's not too far south of our home province of Alberta so we'll likely visit it this coming Tuesday.
I guess that's all for now. I need to refill my drink and visit more with my brother and sister-in-law. The next blog entry will likely be later in the week from Edmonton, Alberta!
We were forced to place many of our belongings by our apartment complex dumpster since we couldn't get Goodwill or the Salvation Army to pick up our unwanted items. But we were pleasantly surprised to observe that fellow tenants took almost all our former belongings! It took us longer than expected to clear out several small items in our kitchen and empty the refrigerator.
We filled Darcy's 1999 Nissan Sentra with valuables and fragile items that we didn't want packed on the moving truck. Darcy and I didn't leave Broward County until 3:30 pm on Friday March 31. Our destination of Edmonton, Alberta was over 3,400 miles away. But we had decided to break up the long trip by stopping in Denver and visiting my brother and sister-in-law.
We didn't have an itinerary for our trip despite getting a detailed travel planner from the AAA. Orlando ended up being our destination that first day of driving 224 miles (Darcy drove). We stayed at the Days Inn and our first restful night in about a month. On day two I drove and it was one of traffic congestion in Georgia. Despite being on the road for almost nine hours we only covered about 440 miles that day. We stayed overnight at the Quality Inn in Morrow, Georgia (just off I-75 in south Atlanta). If we had more time I would have liked to visit the Carter Center there. But it turned out that we were able to visit another Presidential Library later on our trip.
Darcy drove about 550 miles on day three and we travelled through Georgia and Tennessee. After analyzing the AAA planner we decided to visit the Chickamaugua/Chattanooga Civil War Battlefield. Being a history buff I had to stop since I had never seen a Civil War memorial before. I'd forgotten how mountainous the state was by having the Appalachian Mountains. That night we stayed at a motel called the Microtel in Clarksville, Tennessee. That night turned out to be rife with tornadoes and squawly weather hitting the area. A terrific windstorm blew in and brought a dazzling lightning storm. The temperature also dropped and we had to break out our northern climate clothing.
It was my turn to drive on day four and we covered about 500 miles. We drove through Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri. We stayed overnight at the Best Western Truman Inn in Indpendence, Missouri. The next day we spent about three and a half hours visiting the Truman House and Truman Library. The Miniature White House had amazing detail and was on loan. We could have easily spent the entire day there but we wanted to be in Denver that night. Sadly we didn't have time to visit the Eisenhower Library in neighboring Abilene, Kansas. The trek to Denver was about 600 miles straight west and it took nine hours. We arrived at my brother's condo at 11:00 pm on April 4 a bit tired and stiff but ready to relax in the cool, crisp mountain air for a few days!
