Vacation week in the Arabian Peninsula

كيف فظيعة (How awful!) I had a draft saved on here with notes of how I filled each day since arriving to use when writing this entry, but between yesterday and today it seems to have disappeared. I will do my best to remember the main events from each day and recount them for you.

Wednesday, August 21: Today, surprisingly I awoke at 7:30 without much struggle. I knew this wouldn't last, but decided to get up and moving early to take advantage of my mixed up internal time clock. Exciting my room, I ran to the hall windows and gaped at my new view of Abu Dhabi.

I ran to Marina Mall with some friends (Nick, Jaymz, Joy, Javi, April) to get our sim cards for our phones and to stop at Carrefour (a local version of Target/Walmart) to pick up a few food items.

The sim card process was a fairly simple. I bought an international sim card that was put inside my Iphone 4s, 1 GB of data and some calling minutes. My total was 200 dirhams, which equates to $55. I had a bit of a rough go with my phone at first, but upon return to the Intercontinental, technology guru, David Grandidge set up camp in my room for all the new EMT's and got my phone up and running. A new friend of mine, Meena, who I had met from an Abu Dhabi Facebook group prior to arrival, invited me and my new friends Joy and Danielle over to her house for dinner. Meena lives in Abu Dhabi city, on Reem Island in a beautiful tower that overlooks water and the city. I felt so blessed to have someone local open up their home and friendship to me on my first night in the city!! Meena, I will always be grateful for that :) Danielle, Joy and I took a taxi (cars are cheap here - most rides are 20 dirhams or $5) to Reem Island and arrived at Meena's apartment in awe. Her building is tall, three bedrooms, five bathrooms and a large balcony with a fantastic view. She had a few other girls over already (UK sisters Kay and Asma and another UK resident, Rahma) who have become good friends of mine as well. We talked into the evening, soaked up the view and ate home-cooked food cooked by Asma around a purple dining room table with gulf breezes breathing through the apartment. It was the best way to kick off my first night in a new city. Cheers ladies! (There is a great dining table shot of all of us that I can't post because the Muslim ladies weren't covered.) Oh, when I got back to the hotel, I didn't go to sleep until 3:30 a.m. The jet lag is real.

Thursday, August 22: I slept the whole morning away today and well into the afternoon. When I finally peeled myself out of bed (my normal love of sleep is not helping with the jet lag), Danielle, Joy and I met up with Meena, Rahma and the sisters at Madina Zayed shopping center (a local souk), where they were haggling prices on Abayas (long dresses) to wear to work. We went back to Meena's for a few hours, then Joy, Danielle and I grabbed a late meal at our hotel's piano bar.

 

 

Friday, August 23: Fridays in Abu Dhabi are holy days. Like Sundays for most Americans. I began the morning by receiving an electronic Starbucks gift card from my parents through Facebook :) and hit the hotel's gym to run a bit over four miles. I would have really preferred to run outside, but the heat/humidity here ain't no joke. I would have come back to the hotel deprived of all the water in my body had I done so.

After the gym, I met some friends down by our hotel's pool for the first time. They had reserved a few lounge chairs, but even in the shade, it was too warm to not be the pool. Thankfully, ours had cool water coming through the jets, so it felt refreshing. I did a running cannonball into the middle of the pool as soon as I got there. Just kidding. I slathered on sunscreen and spent the afternoon talking with my friends and reveling in the fact that I was sitting poolside in Abu Dhabi (WHAT?!).

After two or three hours or reapplying sunscreen and sitting in the shade, it was time to go. We were heading to a local restaurant we had heard a lot of buzz about for dinner: The Lebanese Flower. Took a taxi (we have been taking taxis everywhere - quite common) and were seated immediately. The food was relatively inexpensive and they had pickles!!! We all got chicken schwarma (sp?), which was delicious!

 

 

 Following Lebanese Flower, April, Nick and I got dropped off at the Royal Palace Hotel (where the President is staying currently) near our hotel to do a little evening touring. Still hot outside, but a little bit more manageable this night. We walked back to the Intercontinental Hotel and called it a night.

 

Saturday, Aug. 24: All I remember about this day was that I went to the gym. Lol. Forgive me. Oh wait, I think we visited our hotel's beach this day. The beach closes by 6 or 7 p.m. each night. I heard the call to prayer for the first time on the beach. It is heard across the city and sounds very melodic. Hearing the prayers in Arabic gave me goose bumps.

 



Sunday, Aug. 25: Today was our first orientation meeting. We met in a gigantic ballroom in the hotel surrounded by ADEC staff. We were welcomed and got some general information about the history of ADEC and teacher expectations.

Then, someone told us that after we filled out our banking information, we'd file into an adjoining room where we'd be receiving our housing location (city, suburb, rural) and our school name as well as have the opportunity to talk with car and furniture rental places. I stopped listening after I heard housing location/school name. I had no idea that was happening today! I could barely concentrate on the directions being given for our bank paperwork. I don't think anybody else could either, because when they said we were finished, the entire ballroom (300+ people) made a made dash for two tiny doors leading into the other room. It was comical, really. The pushing, the shoving, the elbowing. It reminded me of students at Brunson-Lee who would jostle around for positions in line. I always would say as I passed them, "Don't worry, you are all going to the same place. It won't leave without you." Well. Roles were reversed today. I understand their necessity to move quickly. :)

Below is a link to a video I made right before I found out:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100308854291055&l=4725581462764002247

Below is link to a video following finding out:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100308861446715&l=3830850066351343510