You know You Can Call Abu Dhabi "Home" When....

1. ... the weather falls under 100 degrees and it feels like fall is on the way!

2. ... you are used to everyone calling you "Madam" (sounds like Mah-dahm) everywhere you go!

3. ...it no longer fazes you that the water from the cold tap comes out warm!

4. ...every conversation with someone you just meet starts with, "Where are you from?" and "How long have you been here?"

5. ...your English is getting worse with each passing day.  And after being here three months you speak like a five year old!  At least I'm not having to learn a new language, or is it one?

6. ...everyone stares at you everywhere you go and you no longer notice!

7. ...you get used to every meal out is at least a two hour adventure, unless of course you eat fast food, and that's only forty-five minutes!

8. ... you don't even notice that you have given directions all the way across town with only landmarks and hardly mention any street names!

Selma's Smile

This past week I went to the Abu Dhabi Cultural Center to start art classes.  I am taking a painting course and beginning with sketching, which is something I can learn a lot about.  I was greeted by a lovely Muslim women named Selma.  She wore the abaya (long black over dress) and the shay la (head scarf) but not the veil or mask to cover her face.  She welcomed me by taking my hand and the Arabic greeting of  "maharban".  The first thing I noticed about her was her smile, it was by far the most friendly and welcoming of any Arabic woman I have met.  It was one of those smiles that "lights up" someones face.  I had to fill out paperwork and so reached into my purse for my reading glasses.  Those of you who know me, know I always have a pair that compliment the day's outfit.  I pick them up a dozen (or two) at a time when they are at the dollar spot at target.  And of course I brought a stash with me to Abu Dhabi!

That day I used my bright yellow reading glasses and Selma inquired about them and if I had bought them locally.  I told her they where from the U.S.A., and she said; "Next time you go back, you bring me pair, okay?"  With her face lit up with her smile, it was easy to say yes.  I knew I had extras at home but not sure what colors.  I couldn't wait to get home at check.  I was thrilled to see I had another pair of the same yellow ones!  I was certainly looking forward to the next class.  Not only for my lesson, but to bring Selma the glasses.

Two days later I arrived at the Cultural Foundation with yellow reading glasses in my bag.  After I set up my drawing and supplies in my station I saw Selma.  I couldn't wait to give Selma the reading glasses.  She was delighted!  And then asked me how much she owed me.  When I told her it was a gift her response was precious.  She raised her two hands in thanks, and then to my surprise opened her arms wide and hugged me!  Then as I settled into my drawing she shared with co-workers the delight of her new gift.  Now, my heart warms each time I go to class and am greeted with that beautiful smile from my new Arabic friend Selma!

Driving in the U.A.E. Chapter 2

Something is not right with the school bus driver's in this country.  They aren't just crazy they are certifiable!  The school buses look like a greyhound and are yellow and white.  They drivers go twice the speed limit, will run just about anybody over and turn corners on two wheels!  It would be way funnier if it wasn't so accurate and somebodies children weren't on those buses.  Then again, these buses are for the local schools not the private and these same children are used to their parents driving.  The private schools have buses also which are smaller and many are fifteen passenger vans.  I would drive my children to school myself if they were school age.  For now, I see a yellow bus and get in a lane as far from them as possible!  Happy driving to all of you!

How Do You Say.....

Here's a few Arabic phrases written with English pronunciations, if you ever have the chance to hear them anywhere, think of us and hopefully you will know what they mean!  I'll warn you that most are pronounced with the sound you make before you spit, quite lovely if I must say. This one's for you Ken, we'll quiz you next time we make it to Charlotte!

Welcome/Hello...................Marhaban

(there's that throat sound on the "ha" in the middle)

No........................................Laa

Yes.......................................Naaam

Slow down...........................Shway Shway

(this one is good for scary taxi rides)

Thank you...........................Shukran

(I use this one the most)

Please..................................Min faDlik

(Haven't been brave enough for this one yet!)

Finished..............................Ahlas

(I use in the market when telling vendors that's enough!)

No Problem........................Mafi Muskila

(Probably the phrase we hear the most, in arabic and english!)

God Willing........................In Challah

(Literally "if God wants", used in different contexts)

Peace Unto You.................Al salaam a' alaykum

(Used as a greeting; as in Good Day)

And unto you also.............A' alaykum. Al salaam

(response to above)

Driving in the U.A.E.

Driving in Abu Dhabi can be described in many ways but if I only had one word, it would be insane!!  I have been driving for almost two months here, although not everyday.  Some days I drive Barry to work and then I have the car for the day.  For now it's working out fine sharing one car.  On days Barry needs the car I just taxi it.  When I drive or when I don't just observing how ninety percent of the other drivers operate is cheap entertainment!

Since this is my blog I get more than one word, so I will describe the insanity.  Every car, at least eighty percent of them, have one main objective.  That is to get in front of the car that is in front of them!  For example; in the U.S. when one stops at a red light they should leave some distance between them and the car in front of them.  But not in the U.A.E.  If you leave any room, and I mean ANY, the car behind you will pull around you and stick it's nose in front of you!  If they can't get around then the car beside you will stick it's nose in that space because they are now inches farther down the road.  Now when you are stopped this is one thing but when all this insanity is happening at twenty, thirty, and more miles per hour it's plain crazy.  I never thought I would say it's actually safer to tailgate!

Now when the traffic is not heavy, the insane weaving from one lane to another is manageable.  I have seen cars going perpendicular to traffic just to get to a different spot!  It's amazing when one is not driving to look down the road ahead and see so many cars weaving in and out, often at decent speeds, no turn signals and not crashing into one another.  Rush hour turns this insanity up several notches.

Traffic is lighter in the summer when so many Expats leave for a break from the heat.  It picks up in September when they come back from "Holiday" and school is back in.  With Ramadan (more about this in a future blog) in September this month and all Muslims leaving work each day several hours early certain sections of the city turn into grid lock and the insanity takes over.  Every driver simply wants ahead of the one in front of him, like that will somehow get him home quicker.  My favorite moment driving so far happened at this time of day during the first week of September.

Suzy (Barry's co-worker's wife) was driving me home after lunch out with some ladies.  We were heading down 11th street, also called Haza A Bin Zayed Street, but referred to by everyone as Defense Street.  Maybe that's one reason the driver's are crazy, they probably don't even know what road they are driving on!  Defense St. is eight lanes with four going in each directions.  The back street (it has no name) our apartment is on runs parallel to 11th, it is two lanes, one in each direction.  We just had to make a right, go two short blocks, make a left and then not far down that road and my apartment is on the left.  From Defense St. when you turn is less than five minutes.  It took us ten minutes to go the two short blocks and then we went to make our left turn into grid lock.  Five lanes of cars were heading in our direction!  In the shoulder, the sidewalk, anywhere a car could get around the car in front of them they did and now there was nowhere for us to go!  It took almost twenty minutes to go two car lengths into the oncoming traffic and make a right handed turn.  We then went around a few blocks to get to our apartment.  Suzy hung out with me playing cards a few hours till the traffic broke!  

I would be amiss if I didn't mention the honking.  This is what insures the level of insanity is at the highest!  There is the light tap of the horn all about the city and signifies multiple meanings, but usually cab drivers looking for fares from pedestrians or drivers just making you aware they are next to you.  The louder horn is usually; "hey you cut me off" or "speed up".  The second the light turns green you will here multiple honks signifying cars to "get moving"!  Turning high traffic times the honk gets louder to "get moving", the catch is they don't care if you have traffic in front of you and CAN'T move!  The longer traffic sits the louder and longer they honk.  They are completely clueless that it doesn't help!

So this is driving in Abu Dhabi!  You just go with the flow, laugh at the craziness, and ask the Lord to surround you with protection every time you are behind the wheel or in a vehicle!  It's good to know He goes before me.

You never know what you'll find in a ladies bathroom

Every girl can wish!

There is a picture inside and out of every stall!

A little bit of self confidence is always a good thing!

Isn't this a hoot!  Shopping diva, abaya and all!

I just HAD to write about this!  I LOVE going in the ladies "toilets" here, if you ask where the ladies room is or the restroom they just stare at you and say "What Madam?"  The women who walk around the malls in their mysterious abayas and sheylas and veils completely hidden come uncovered in the ladies toilets.  And they are beautiful!  I don't know if I would take that much time on my makeup and hair if no one saw me but my husband, sorry Barry!  They have beautiful clothes on underneath that peak out, and before they leave they cover back up and gracefully exit.  I don't know what it is about being completely covered in black that makes them look like they walk on air!

Then there are the stalls you open that have a toilet buried in the ground for you to "squat" above, I opt out on those!  And then of course the hose and sprayer in each stall to rinse with, they kindly supply toilet paper for us westerners!

Many are unbelievably decorated.  Fancier then lobbies in five-star hotels.   And my favorite:  I'm in the mall movie theater and go to the ladies "toilet" and it's like an art museum!  With deco art of very skinny girls on the outsides and insides of every stall!  With each one saying things like; "I know I look good" and "Updating my wardrobe is fun!"  It makes me think of Chico's!  Here's a shout out to the management team at Woodbury Commons, I miss you girls!

Barry's Job Site

Barry was hired here in the U.A.E. to be the Project Manager of the New Military School (to be modeled after West Point) very early in the project, not even into design yet.  So early in fact that the project has been put on hold while they search for a new location.  So for now he is working with the team building the new Sorbonne University on Al Reem Island.  The entire island is under construction with no one living on it yet.  Sorbonne is slated to be the first finished project.  Sometime in 2010 I believe.  This past week Barry moved from the offices in center city to the job site offices out on Al Reem Island.

So today, Barry and I, joined Dave (the Project Manager of Sorbonne University) and his wife Suzy and their boss Gary (Division Manager for PARCOM projects in Abu Dhabi) out on the site.  They decided to plant some flowering plants outside the job site offices.  It was a great morning, very hot but you just do your best to ignore that anymore!

Barry got the first dig in!

Dave (on the left) and Gary got plenty of digs in to!

They planted larger ones by the steps.

The crew!  From left to right, Hussein (the office boy), Dave, Gary, and Barry.

Barry and one of the construction workers.  He brought water to us to give the plants their first dose of water.

The job site offices for Parsons and their client.

A view of the actual job site from the construction offices.  The crane to the left of the two large buildings (which are actually farther away then they look) is where the Sorbonne will be.

Barry's office, real fancy!

The job site closer.  They were just finishing the construction of the first crane.  Fifty percent of all the world's cranes are in the united Arab Emirates.  Mostly Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Can you see the guy up there working?

That's as close I as I could go.  There will be a total of over ten buildings when the project will be complete.  Hopefully someday I'll be able to post the finished University!

My First Earthquake

Well today I experienced my first earthquake.!  I guess being a east-coaster all my life that experience had never passed my way before.  It was a few minutes after 3:00pm and a friend and I were sitting in my dining room surfing the net and talking about if we wanted to go anywhere before the afternoon was over.  All of a sudden I felt a little dizzy at the same time that she said "Do you feel anything?"   The floor was trembling underneath my bare feet in our sixth floor flat and as I visually took in the plant across the room shaking it's leaves, I answered.  "Oh yeah, the room is shaking."  

Suzy being a west-coaster was immediate on informing me that we just had a earthquake.  And my savvy response was: "That's my first earthquake!"  We immediately checked a few news websites and couldn't find anything informative.  We also each called a friend, one who was on a first floor said, no she didn't feel anything.  And the other on the eighteenth floor was quick to answer the phone with; "Did you feel the earthquake?"  

A little later on Gulf News we found out that the Iranian news agency is saying that a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit southern Iran at approximately 3:00pm.    The U.S. Geological Society is saying it was a 6.1 on the Richter scale.  Either way it was a good sized one and was felt in Dubai, Fujheri, and slightly in Abu Dhabi.  Supposedly tall towers in Dubai swayed!  Everything is built over here with Earthquakes in mind, so for those of you who are questioning, we are very safe!  Just wanted to share another of my firsts!

Sir Bani Yas Island

On Friday, August 29, 2008 while we staying at the Jebel Dhanna Resort we had the opportunity to take a boat to Sir Bani Yas Island and take a bus tour around the Island.  The weather was still very warm and I wouldn't normally recommend a 120 degree day to visit an animal reserve but it isn't officially opening to the public until October.  We were fortunate that the person who put our trip together had a connection and so they allowed us on to basically practice their "tours" on.

This was the first peak of the island.  It was a very humid day which causes there to be a haze in the sky.  This was the Sheikh Zayed the First's private island.  It was his favorite spot in all of the UAE.  He brought over 30,000 plants and trees onto the island where nothing grows naturally.  There are millions of miles of tubing laying on the ground to water all that greenery!
He also had a private palace on the island along with several majilis.  A Majili in Arabic is a meeting room, comparable in the states to a conference room or depending on size center.  The island and palace had been developed for personal use only.  After the Sheikh passed away the family eventually decided to open the island for others to enjoy.  Opening in October is a small resort, in a redesigned part of the palace.  hey also created a company to come onto the island and care for the animals and give tours.  The Sheikh introduced thousands of animals onto the island, most but not all of them this would be a natural environment to them.  They are working on relocating some of the animals, those that the environment is not natural to them and those that have over populated.  They are also taking down miles of fencing and creating a more natural environment where they can.  After they finish that they will be introducing two cheetahs and two hyenas to the island as natural predators to maintain numbers to a healthy amount.

This is a type of gazelle, there a over ten different types on the island.  We were able to walk right into their compound.  They were just hanging out under the trees trying to stay cool.This was as close as we could get to the giraffes.
These are the male ostriches, the female aren't nearly as attractive!
The sand gazelles are the most over populated of any species on the island.  There are over three thousand of them and according to our guide they are over running the island!  Some will be moved off the island, some will never see the cheetah coming!  Oh well, it will be a more natural environment. They often give birth to twins, this past foul they saw many triplets!
This sand gazelle stood gazing at us as we drove by below him!
These are the salt formations that make up a part of the island.  The entire island is about 82  square kilometers.
This is the largest Majili on the island and is also the first tree the late Sheikh Zayed the First planted on the island.
We were warm but it was an amazing afternoon!  I can say we were part of the first group that ever toured the island!Remember every thing you see green was planted here and has an irrigation tube running next to it!  They are now working on burying the irrigation tubes because the sand gazelles can smell water and have been nibbling through them!
I love this picture because remember everything you see green has an irrigation tube.  Yep, that means tubing all the way to the top of that hill!
This is the Arabian Ornyx that was very close to extinction.  The former Sheikh was very instrumental in helping rebuild their population.
Barry was able to get pretty close!
The llamas are miserable on the island!  This really isn't their natural environment so they are slated to be moved completely off the island.  For now tubing is hanging in the trees to mist them twenty four/seven.They were really sweet!
I think they got full from all of us, because by the time Barry tried to feed them this guy just wasn't interested.
They are pretty cute though!
These are the two couples we planned our trip with.  The entire group was twenty eight of us.  From the left, Doug and Patty Lockard, Sharmini and Michael Johnson, and myself and Barry.
And our fabulous tour guide Nikki from Australia.  It was a fabulous afternoon!

Jebel Dhanna Resort

On August 29th and 30th Barry and I went away for a weekend with a few other couples.  We got on a bus early on a Friday morning and returned home late on Saturday evening.  We were at the resort after an almost three hour ride at about 11:00am.  We all of that day and most of the next to enjoy the beautiful resort, we didn't have to check out on Saturday till almost 5pm.  On Friday afternoon we took a boat to Sir Bani Yas Island, it was so amazing it deserves it's own blog!

On Saturday morning (very early) Barry and I without another soul on the beach got 

these amazing pressure point massages while we listened to the waves lap the beach!

This is the view looking out our balcony window.  The weather was still quite warm, around 120 degrees, so it was a good thing that the water in the pool was chilled!

The resort looking up from the pool!
Walkway to the private beach.
Nice place for a nap or a to nestle with a good book!  Barry and I chilled out a these for about an hour after dinner on Friday night!
The beach was amazing!  Quite warm though so we hung out at the "chilled" pool!  We did go for a swim on Saturday morning after our massages.  It was about 8:30am and the water was already beginning to get warm!

It was a great "getaway" , and because it was our first since moving here will always hold special memories.

Broiling a Cake?

Even though we are renting, the apartments come without any appliances.  So when I visited in May right before Barry moved in I picked out our appliances so they could be delivered before we settled in the apartment as a couple.  The kitchen is very odd shaped so I needed a stove that was 50x50 centimeters.  I decided against gas because I would have to give up cabinet space for the tank, similar to what is attached to a gas grill in the states.  So I picked out a small electric stove and went back to the states to prepare for the "big" move.

As Barry and I settled into the apartment in July I didn't do too much cooking as we awaited our air shipment with our pots, pans, and various kitchen gadgets.  August arrived and I struggled with the stove top as I realized they weren't "really" electric burners.  They are just "hot plates",  slow to heat up, slower to cool off, and don't really have levels of heat just "hot" and "not as hot"!  It took a good month but I am adjusting to them and remembering life is all about flexibility anyway!  While I was adjusting to the stove top burners one day in August I decided to use the oven to bake something.  It's a European appliance (along with the washer and dryer) so the controls are quite different to anything I had seen in the states.  After perusing the manual for a good forty minutes I still hadn't figured out how to get the oven to bake!  I had no problem figuring out how to broil, the elements on the top were easy to see.  There are no elements on the bottom of the stove that were visual, and none of the controls made sense!   I was stumped, changed dinner plans, and the next day headed to LuLu's.  I spoke with the rep from Bompani (my brand stove) and through much broken English and much repetition I gathered I purchased a grill oven.

   So I had to ask; "What's a grill oven?"  Or maybe I should have asked; "Who buys a grill oven?"  or how about "I can't believe I bought a grill oven!!  And yes to confirm what you're thinking, my oven doesn't bake, it just grills or broils.  So I can broil a cake or cookies, yum!

It does have one regular oven rack and the other is solid enamel, kind of like a broil pan.  I set it up near the top and the rack real low and it's better.  I did finally figure out, no help from the rep, that it has a non-grill setting that is kind of like a regular oven.  I bought a oven thermometer so with the solid pan on top and monitoring the temperature I can bake a lot of things but probably never a cake!  You just have to laugh!!!!

I'll spare you the story of figuring out how to use my washer and dryer!  Thank the Lord they both work!