Cooler Climes in Abu Dhabi

November, 2007

Yes, we are still here!!! I have been unbelievably busy since we arrived and am ashamed to note that there have been no updates to my Bloggaroonie since last February!!! Since the quick intro from August I was thrown into the pit of life in a new, burgeoning school. In early November, I spent a lovely week in Cappedocia Turkey with 60 seventh graders. It was an amazing place to visit. I cannot believe that I had never heard of Cappedocia before I was told about this trip. It is a MUST see! I took my first hot air balloon ride at dawn and was graced with the most amazing spectacles of light falling on weathered formations of rock and small villages tucked in between. We had a week without walls, and it lived up to its name. Each day we would find ourselves hiking through beautiful countryside, and the kids would stand and present a topic they had researched there on the spot where the event had taken place. Makes one resent those walled in classrooms with lined up desks…


For the first time we are living in a place where we actually are compelled to stick around on a long weekend. In fact we are in one right now – it is the 36th birthday of this young nation and the folks are celebrating in style. Lights with the number 36 are up everywhere and people are out and about in full force.

Last weekend was thanksgiving and we had a few people over and prepared a nice, American feed fest. True to the rules of Thanksgiving, we did not stop stuffing our faces until we were bulging from every bulgeable corner of our bodies. For the first time in 9 years, I have a kitchen which inspires me (and has Aircon!). Jared and I spent the day caring for our turkey, baking cakes, whipping potatoes and cooking shrimp appetizers. A fantastic Thanksgiving.

Because it was a long weekend, we arranged to try our hand at camping – it is the big leisure activity in these parts and the season has officially begun with the onset of fantastic weather. We started out with a mini camp out – at a beach halfway between here and Dubai. Our friends told us they had been there last winter and it had been nice, but we had heard murmurings that things were no longer the same….. We arrived at our destination in late afternoon, and put our vehicles in 4-wheel drive. We floored it onto the beach in deep sand and I immediately got stuck – in our newly purchased (second hand)_ Land Cruiser. Not to worry, a little gunning by my hero, Jared, and we were set to go. We pulled up alongside about fifty other cars and were assured that they would be gone when night fell. Around us dune buggies were screeching up and down the beach, we told our kids to look both ways before they made the 20 foot trek from our car to the water’s edge. Above us ultra light flying machines were buzzing overhead – cool to see but it added to the noise pollution. Distressingly, as the light faded and the gorgeous full moon began to rise, the buggies began to accrue and rev their engines; florescent lights went on in makeshift bars down the beach (all illegal), and music began to pound out of immense loud speakers about 50 feet from our pastoral camp. We eyed one another warily and pondered what to do. After downing a few more beers, the men went to ask what time the music would end. It turned out the loudest group comprised a bunch of Omani men, here for a month of partying. They told us in no uncertain terms that the music would go until dawn. At last we decided to pack up and return home. It was clear we would get no sleep and the dune buggies continued to drag up and down the beach, while more and more cars were approaching, in anticipation of a night of illicit drinking. Sam and Sophia were beside themselves with disappointment and Sophia has slept in her tent in her room for the past week!

Not to be deterred from a foray into nature, we are trying again tomorrow with a trip up to El Ain – about a two-hour drive. Tales of wadis and quiet, open desert have tempted us to dust off the sand in our sleeping bags and pack up again. I have warm brownies resting in their Tupperware, freshly baked bread and chocolate chip pancakes ready for the morning after.

We actually have had two journeys into the desert since we arrived in August. One time we accompanied our new Dutch friends to a farm out in the middle of NOWHERE. It is amazing how you can be in the middle of nowhere in this country, and still find yourself under a HUGE electric tower. This farm housed not only horses, but also two cheetahs, a few peacocks, emus, antelope-like creatures and small deer. We saddled up Sam and Sophia on the smallest of the equine critters and headed out..under the shadow of the largest electric tower I have ever seen. You could hear the current crackling along overhead. Amazing. Every so often a group of camels and riders would saunter by, on their way home from race training. It was great to get away from the glitz of Abu Dhabi where all the local Emirates are unbelievably wealthy, and everyone else is living here to sustain these people’s lifestyle. In fact, the workers (waterers, highway workers, construction, day workers, street cleaners, hotel personnel, etc) live in sub standard housing outside the city. Each morning they are bussed in to work long hours and then bussed back to their barrack like shelters at night. I see lots of these buses with exhausted looking dark skinned men each morning being trucked in to work.

I mention waterers, because, it NEVER rains here. Not a drop from the sky since we arrived. Yet there are flowers, shrubbery, and trees everywhere. There is the most intricate underground watering system I have ever seen here. Everywhere you walk or drive, there is water in the streets and the grass is green and lush and wet. Little men in florescent green and yellow uniforms are pruning, watering and carting away unwanted rubbish. Anyway, back to desert trip number two. There is a population of expats here who have been here for years. We newbies were crying that we wanted to join their reindeer games and at last the invite came. An afternoon foray into the desert about an hour outside of town was on the table. There were 14 vehicles and we travelled in convoy the entire way there. Highway to local road, all beautifully tarred. In the middle of nowhere, we passed one of the prince’s car museum (our neighbor the rainbow prince!). We saw an immense pick up truck, the size of a small motel – it has a café inside the bed of the truck! Onwards we continued until suddenly we all turned off to the right and stopped. Our fearless leader got out of the car, swung open a gate and in we went. It was private property – a HUGE expanse of desert, but he had permission to enter. We drove about one mile turning this way and that, until we stopped at the base of the most beautiful sand dunes I have seen. All 14 cars parked next to one another (kind of sounds like the beach I just wrote about!), but we were the only humans for miles around. We had a lovely picnic, some of the wilder ones went dune bashing, the kids all were given glow sticks when the sun set, so we would not lose them in the dark desert. The sand was lusciously soft (and got everywhere!!!), the company was great – I met a few geophysicists, who later came to my science class to talk about geology and such. The people here are wonderful – massively educated and in professions which are very interesting.

Anyway, the night is getting old, and I must rest up for tomorrows camping expedition. I end with the note that I feel extremely happy to be here. I have learned something about myself. I like things that work, I like order and infrastructure. Coming here after nine years in polluted, overcrowded , dysfunctional Asian cities is like entering paradise. It is funny to hear people who have lived here for years complain about traffic and how life has gotten so much worse here. To me it is close to perfection. There is no traffic, compared to the standstills of Jakarta, the weather is as close to perfection as one can get at this time of year (sunny and 80’s in the day and 70’s at night), the people we meet are fun and interesting. We will probably never enter the world of the Emirates, but I like my life here and yearn for nothing. Last night we saw a high school drama production, which was one of the most entertaining pieces I have ever seen. That was followed by a bunch of us heading for drinks and a few shisha puffs out at the bay, at an outdoor bar, watching the lights of the city and the moon rise over the water.

Next weekend, we play in a Frisbee tournament in Dubai and I sing in the holiday concert in the Abu Dhabi Choral Group. I am doing the things I love – do not get me wrong, I would never regret the years spent in Manila and Jakarta, for I would not have the perspective on this place that I have now. We have had wonderful experiences, all fodder for my tales, mwahahahahahah!

And with that, I will go move Sophia to her bed and pack up her tent for the desert!

Arrival in Abu Dhabi

August, 2007
Hello Abu Dhabi!

Wow! Upon first impression I was worried I would have nothing noteworthy to tell about this new post perched in the desert. Everything seems to work here and service comes with a smile. So the stories of rats, pestilence and bombs will have to change to tales of satisfaction and quaint vignettes of local spottings.

Among my first impressions here is the plethora of Pilipino workers everywhere from household help to fast food servers to service people in almost every shop in all the malls. I have not been called “mam/sir” for over three years – it brings a sentimental tear to the eye. I realize I have progressed (or regressed) from being “mam” to “Missus” to “Madam” over the course of our wanderings. That brings me to the best news yet: we seemed to have found our new magical sorceress in the personage of Nirosha, a nice girl from Sri Lanka. As a believer in first impressions and one who was lucky enough to buy the first wedding gown she tried on, I had the good fortune to hire the very first girl I interviewed. I should really say the first person, as many of the house help are men! Nirosha is 29, has a beautiful smile and a compelling giggle, which she employs regularly. Sophia seems taken, but Sam is still not sure – the nervous giggle sends him running for cover.

Our apartment is the size of a palace (this is a HUGE exaggeration, if you could see the real palaces which abound here!), but it seems quite large. We have a living/dining area of about 40 feet by 20 feet and if you are smarter than a fifth grader, you will know that covers a lot of area. Pardon the digression, but I had the misfortune to watch the show “Are you smarter than s fifth grader” the other night (you will read why in a moment) and was dumbfounded by the ignorance of our fellow Americans. I know they must screen the candidates first, lest they be able to actually calculate area and know how to count over a thousand, but the pace of questions, and the banter of the contestants with the moronic host was more than insulting.

So, back to the apartment…. We have four bedrooms and a lovely kitchen with lots of counter space – I would say I hope to be inspired to cook, but lovely Nirosha has begun whipping up delectable Indian food, so I may remain the lazy sot that has sustained me for almost a decade overseas. We have five bathrooms if you count the maid’s bath, which one should, as it is as beautiful as the other four. No balcony, but aircon (that’s AC to those of you Stateside) throughout the abode – a HUGE improvement over our other two Asian postings! All in all, this is a destination – we have purchased the fixings for guests, so let us know when you want to come!

As for safety…this place is among the safest (and most regulated and most “surveilled”) places on earth. If you take a photo of the wrong building you may be carted off and interrogated. I heard a story of a British man who gave a police officer the finger after not being able to pass him on the road. He was chucked in jail for three months and then deported along with his family. These, however, are among the measures, which afford us the luxury of not locking our doors at night. Speaking of locking doors, my security minded hubby felt compelled to double lock our door the other night and kept the key in the door for extra protection. When we left the next day, we forgot to take said key out of the lock. For those of you not in the know, such a manoeuvre precludes being able to unlock to the door when you return at night, exhausted from a day of shopping! This is precisely what happened to us. Two hours later and having used up a year’s worth of goodwill from our wonderful neighbour, the locksmith finally drilled out the final bit of the world’s toughest lock and our door swung open. This was when the kids and I were perched on the sofa of our neighbour and submitted to insult of the game show mentioned above.

Did I mention that we are in a totally new building and we are the first inhabitants of this apartment? That means there are NO holes in any wall, no hooks – everything is pristine and gorgeous. We got our shipment and among the goods are at least 20+ pieces of art awaiting hanging. I certainly hope we stay here awhile, as the damage we are about to inflict upon those empty walls will not be insignificant!


Speaking of damage…our shoes are suffering from an interesting phenomenon. As soon as you step out of our building, you and your shoes sink into deep sand. The owner has the clout and money to afford our own cul de sac for parking, but it is in the process of being built. Back in May, there was a lovely sidewalk leading up to our building, but the moment we arrived, the sidewalk bricks were ripped up and the bulldozers have been moving piles of sand ever since. We never know just how far we will have to jump into the sand pit each time we leave the place. I felt really sorry for the Crown Movers when they delivered the 129 boxes of our goods to our place, schlepping everything through the sand in 120 degree heat! Egads.

Earlier I mentioned the plethora of palaces dotting this town. We happen to live within a block of one of them. It is known as the white palace and it is HUGE – it takes up about four big city blocks, I am guessing. It belongs to one of the many sheiks; this man is known as the rainbow prince, because of his obsession with cars. Supposedly, he buys one of each color when he takes a fancy to a new model. He has the colors painted in the parking lot and his collection of cars sits in rainbow splendour. Speaking of cars, the SUV we bought from a departing teacher had a faulty window and was stuck in down position for about 10 days. Obviously, locking the door would have been ridiculous and so we never did. The back of the SUV was filled with old camping gear. Throughout the entire ten days of an open window’ed car, not one thing went missing – proof of how crime free we are here. I am sure there is crime, but I was pretty impressed with our ten day stint.

The interesting thing about getting around here is that there are really no addresses. For instance, to tell a taxi driver how to get to our building is quite a challenge, as it lies on a road with no name. Just recently, they changed all the main road names to names with numbers. I am slowly learning the numbers (it is easy, as it is basically a grid), but the taxi drivers still use the old names, which are all written in Arabic on the signs, and I have NO idea how to read the language. In addition, there are multiple 13 Streets, as each little block of housing has its own numbered grid, so if you want to go to the corner of 26th and 13th, there are several such corners. We new teachers are all realizing we can walk to each other’s homes, but for the first few days the bus driver would drive for ten minutes between houses, leading us to believe the place was more spread out that it actually is.

Have I mentioned how bloody hot it is??? No one would actually walk the hundred yards from one place to another at this juncture in the year. It is a heat I have only paid money for in spas upon entering a sauna. Truly breathtaking! I will say no more about it – it is like becoming a parent…you have no idea what it is like until you have experienced it.

The weather here is basically sunny all year and ranges to being HOT as hell to perfection in the winter months. Because there is very little rain, they have arranged for faux showers to occur here and there. I was at IKEA the other day and heard thunder! Sure enough, up above me there is a recurring thunder and lightening show, which repeats itself all throughout the day. This man made wonder includes rain showers as well; it is hilarious – you have a crowd of people sitting in an outdoor café (under cover of an air-conditioned mall), enjoying the sights and sounds of a summer storm.

Goodbye, Jakarta!

May, 2007 Selamat Jalan dari Jakarta! (Goodbye Jakarta!) As I sit here on my twentieth day in lovely Nantucket, I am struck by the dichotomy of life in Jakarta compared to that in S’conset, Nantucket. In one city, a visitor is introduced to the depths of poverty and the crush of humanity, and as you enter the other extreme, you are brought to the pinnacle of decadence and ostentatious wealth. I have not written since the disastrous flood of February, mostly out of a sense of lingering despondence, as we served out our final months in Jakarta. We yearned for the day we would leave that metropolis for the last time and when it came, I expected to feel some sense of sadness and melancholy, but all I could do was whoop for joy as we took off on our Singapore Airlines flight. Unexpectedly, I did shed a small tear as the man at Jakarta passport control stamped my passport for the last time and asked whether we would be returning to Jakarta. Once we hit US soil, the madness of a Rodgers summer began. We are the family of schleppers…with our trunk filled to overflowing and leg room consigned to my dreams, we set off for our annual trek from Williamsburg to Nantucket (not as adventurous as the trip from Milan to Minsk, I am sure, but as of yet, no sitcom has been written about our trials and tribs). We actually had a stellar stay up on the Isle -the weather was gorgeous, we caught up with old friends, played tennis, spent time fixing the house, eating, cleaning, eating, cleaning, answering the phone, dealing with laundry and cleaning and eating some more. Welcome to America. Ride’em Cowboy (and girl!) After our luscious five week stay on Nantucket, we were treated to the crème de la crème of the summer: a week at Moosehead Lodge in Moose, Wyoming. Mom and Charlie have been regular visitors there for a few years now and this year we were able to make it a family reunion with brother Richard and his crew. This place truly has earned the name of dude ranch, as each guest is assigned a horse for the entire week. My equestrian chariot went by the name of Dutch and must have gotten fat waiting for me to climb onto his back. Since Sophia was too young by a year to ride, we took turns hanging out with her while the others went exploring. The landscape was spectacular! Under the shadow of the Grand Tetons, with elk, bison, antelope and other hidden wildlife, it was an amazing spot to roam. At one point, we rode through a herd of hundreds of elk with bison within a Frisbee throw. The food was magnificent, the weather perfection – all in all it was off the chart for a perfect family vacation. Sam now wants to be a wrangler when he gets older. He was able to ride every day, and had some interesting moments on his steed, Autumn. He only fell off his horse once, when the horse broke into an unexpected canter. He held a rein in each hand and spread out his arms, and began to list to the right… and slowly slid further and further to the side, until he finally toppled onto the ground below. Amazingly, the only part hurt was a scratch on the left elbow. The other priceless entertainment was a visit to the county rodeo. Along with the gratuitous bull riders and a bevy of small girls doing feats of equestrian derring do, my favorite event involved the budding broncho buckers, aged 3-6 years(!), riding on sheep. Each child would climb onto the back of a sheep, the gate would swing open and he/she would hang on for as long as possible. The average ride lasted about 3 seconds and then the poor child would be thrown onto the ground and often trampled by the frantic sheep! The best one was the little guy who climbed on with his head at the sheep’s butt and his legs straddling the sheep’s head. He lasted the longest! Even Sam and Sophia got involved as all of the kids in the stands kids ran onto the rodeo arena to chase calves while trying to grab a red ribbon off of their tails. By the time our kids realized the rules of the game, it was long over. Poor Sophia was still chasing the calves after the other kids had headed back to their seats. She looked up and upon seeing us wave her over, the promptly face planted in the middle of the arena - to great applause from the adoring crowd. On the Road Again We ended our romp out west and headed back east where fog caused our final flight back to Nantucket to be cancelled. After a long day of travel, we were forced to take the bus to the ferry and the ferry over to Nantucket for our final night on Isle. Thank goodness Sam and Sophia are such seasoned travellers… We arose in the morning and had our final meal at the Downey Flake diner – replete with impromptu live music from a barber-shop quartet. We are still not sure if they just wanted a free meal or were so inspired by the lovely food to sing, but it was great entertainment. We got in the car to head for the ferry and I checked the time of our ferry only to discover we had missed it! Alas, a beautiful day on Nantucket is a nice place to be stuck for a few extra hours. We made it to our destination, Jared’s aunt and uncle in Orleans on the Cape and had a lovely dinner and snooze before rising again and heading to our final Stateside destination: NYC. I already mentioned the dichotomy of travelling from Jakarta to Nantucket, but this last stop brought home the reality of reverse culture shock. We spent one night in the Manhattan Club in central Manhattan. After paying the bellhop an outrageous tip for his “service with an attitude”, we turned around the next day to switch hotels to the adjacent Park Central Hotel. We had to persuade grumbling bell hops to transfer our17 bags of varying size and weight from one elevator shaft to another (along with another monstrous tip). After a great dinner at a local diner (with white table cloths and tuxedo’d waitstaff), a visit to a street market, it was pretty much time to head for JFK and the inevitable strip search and delays and unfriendly personnel. Nothing was different this time. We stopped in Frankfurt to meet up with the other new teachers headed for Abu Dhabi and here I end this instalment and prepare for our coming adventure!