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!