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.
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.
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