Five Malls in Seven Days

Those of you who know me well will be surprised, perhaps even shocked, by this revelation: I’ve been shopping almost every day since I got here. Wow. Even I can’t quite believe it! Over the weekend (which is Friday and Saturday here), I bought a computer and some furniture. We now own a matched "suite" of bedroom furniture. I feel so grown up! No mattress yet; when I have to move in, I may be sleeping on the marble floor. At least it’s cool.

That’s something else that’s a bit surprising: me and the weather. It’s not that bad. Don’t get me wrong – it’s hot. Really hot. I never see the temperature displayed anywhere, but I heard a rumor of 43 or 44 Celsius last week. And the humidity in the evening is horrific. Even on the least humid days, when I walk outside, my sunglasses fog up completely; I really can’t wear them for a few minutes. A friend found out that camera lenses do the same…

Inside, however, some places are freezing! Even I was chilly last week at my school. The malls are lovely and cool, and even the simplest little shop is air conditioned, so it’s not that bad. Of course, my clothes are always damp, but I think I can handle it. And I’ve been told that the winter weather is really quite nice, so I’m looking forward to being able to sit outside at one of the hotel restaurants when it gets cool enough.

That still seems backwards to me, though…

What else have I learned? A partial list might include the following:

- I really like Lebanese food, which is a good thing because there’s lots of it here.

- Doritos in the UAE do not taste the same as Doritos in the USA. I will not be doing that again.

- Snickers are Snickers, though. And Kentucky Fried Chicken french fries are different, but nice. (Please note that I visited KFC at the request of a friend who fears the Filipino restaurant across the street because she is afraid that her food poisoning good karma is about to run out, although I was happy to do it!)

- Not being able to read Arabic bothers me a lot, much more than not being able to understand the spoken language. I need to learn to read very soon. My school will offer Arabic lessons for instructors after Ramadan, so I’m looking forward to that.

- One last thing – there are pianos in Abu Dhabi!

Today after work, a friend and I walked around for while, looking for an ATM. (They’re not in every other shop here as they are in the US. You usually need to find a bank or a big store or mall, especially if you’re using a foreign card.) In our wandering, we stumbled across a music shop! With pianos! Lots and lots of beautiful Yamaha pianos! I was so excited. I asked about delivery and tuning, and dehumidifiers. And I learned something else: These pianos don’t need dehumidifiers because they have been “tropicalized.” What a great idea. What a great word!

Now my brain is full of piano music….