Welcome to Abu Dhabi – My First Few Days

Welcome to Abu Dhabi – My First Few Days

9:30 pm, August 7, 2008

I’ve been here for 25 hours, now. I’ve found Ikea and Carrefours. And I’m tired. It took me hours yesterday to get a call through to Charles because I didn’t know that, for international calls, the city code is the area code. Of course, Etilisat’s (the phone company) computers were down, so their international operator couldn’t help me. Now I know…

It was extremely nice to have a service meet me at the airport and escort me through immigration and customs. I would have been an exhausted, confused mess by myself. My escort, Irene, was waiting around the corner when I got off the plane, with my name on a sign! How cool is that? LOL She led me right to my very first retina scan, too. (Yep, my eyes are on file.)

Getting off the plane and seeing armed military personnel (men) was a bit disconcerting; it’s not what I’m used to.

Backing up a bit (yes, very disorganized writing – I would mark my students down for this), the flights. All three of them were very good, fairly comfortable, but crowded. And making the connection at Heathrow was an absolute hell. First, I had to walk a long distance (at least 10 minutes brisk walking), then take a shuttle bus to a different terminal, followed by a security checkpoint. Allow me to interject with a bit of advice: do NOT fly with liquid hand sanitizer in your carry-on bags. Apparently, it causes some kind of test strip to turn an ominous color, indicating SOMETHING VERY BAD. All of my liquids were then checked (the rest were okay), and after my name, passport number, and where I was going were marked in a log book, I was allowed to proceed, sans sanitizer. After that, another hike (at least 10 minutes again) led to the 3rd from the farthest gate in the whole of Heathrow. Mine. Sigh. (Note: The family MUST NOT come this way.)

The flight from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi was a British Airways flight. It was good, with lots of good food. They fed us dinner (I passed on the lamb and went with chicken) and a snack, with sandwiches. And here I am, back in a world where ice in drinks is not a given; at least the flight attendant asked most of the time. Here, I’m not sure about. The soda fountain in Ikea didn’t have an ice dispenser, so…

I’ve also learned that not every cab driver in Abu Dhabi knows where my hotel (the Abu Dhabi Plaza) is. My first ride back from Ikea was quite an adventure, with my driver stopping at every light to ask other Pakistani cab drivers where it was. I tried really hard not to panic, and mostly succeeded.

As for the Abu Dhabi Plaza, it’s not really a hotel; it’s a short-term apartment rental place. Oops, flats, not apartments. Anyway, I have a one-bedroom flat, with a nice little kitchen. In the living room is a lovely flat-screen tv that I was unable to operate; finally, I called for help, and the “electrician” came up and turned it and the satellite on for me. Now I’m afraid to turn it off. I asked him for an adaptor for the iron (provided by them) plug, which didn’t fit the one socket in the bedroom. I’m still waiting for it. (NOTE: Bought my own on my second trip to Ikea.)

Let’s see (very informal writing style), food. I’m eating in the hotel restaurant, and the food was good, but I have no idea how much I’m spending. There’s no menu (the restaurant is just getting up and running), so the chef just came out and told me what he had, after the waiter and I failed to communicate. (NOTE: It was much too expensive – won’t be doing that again.)

I’m still figuring out the money; when I was at Carrefour’s (grocery store), I was getting a little sticker-shocked by the cost of things, but in retrospect (and with calculator in hand), I see that it wasn’t that bad. For example, one can of Pepsi was 0.90 UAD (dirham), which is about $0.30, so…I can buy another can. LOL

I’ve figured out the numbers by the dirhams, which have English on one side and Arabic on the other. I’d rather be able to read both sides, in a money-paying or change-receiving situation. Although the money is color-coded, so I guess I can handle it no matter which side is up. Maybe.

Prices. I’d heard that books and magazines were expensive here. They are. A People magazine was over $7, which is fairly expensive and rather irrelevant as I don’t read People, but it was familiar. I didn’t look at anything else.

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Everyone keeps asking me where I’m from. I don’t know if it’s just me, of if that is typical here, as most people in the UAE are from somewhere else (about 80% ex-pats). One gentleman in the hotel lift (elevator to you Americans, haha) just looked at me and said, “Italian?” When I said, “American,” he got flustered and said, “Oh, sorry!” I’m not sure what for…

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9:30 pm, Saturday, August 9, 2008

After I wrote the above, I met another American – the first one so far. I was writing in the hotel restaurant, and heard a familiar accent, so I turned around and invited her to join me. She will be teaching with me at ECAE. We sat and chatted for a while, then met yesterday and went to Ikea and Carrefour’s. Yes, again. I’m the expert now! LOL
She brought her computer, and that’s what I’m using to type this up. It’s a Mac, so I’m confused and hitting all the wrong function keys. I just hope I can cut and paste without deleting this whole thing! Please note, too, that I don’t know how to run the spell-check. (I’ve just figured out that it’s “command+S,” ect., rather than “control+S.” My friend’s just bought this thing, so she didn’t know either!)

I’ve now had Philippine food and Indian food, but no Arabic food. Well, I bought my own flatbread and hummus (terrible – do NOT buy canned hummus), and had that and cucumbers and tomatoes for lunch today; that may count. Oh, cucumbers! I couldn’t believe the price; they came to abour 24 cents a pound! I’ll be eating lots of those! I imagine that, if I’m going to get sick (knock on wood), tonight will be it. I ate tomatoes, which are mostly water, and drank a Pepsi with ice at dinner, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I’ve actually been eating in a lot. I bought some kind of cheese spread the other day, and it’s good on flatbread. Of course I bought a pitcher, tea, and sugar, and made iced tea. I have instant coffee (bleh), and yesterday I bought some “puck cream” to put in it, rather than the milk I’ve been using. This morning, I opened said “puck cream” (which comes in a small can, with a pull-top), to discover a semi-solid, quivering mass of whatever puck cream is. Yes, I put some in my coffee. No, it did not work. I poured it out, made another cup with milk again, and wrapped up the puck cream until such time as I can figure out what the hell it is and what to do with it.

Thursday night, I could NOT sleep. I went to bed around 11:00, and lay there until 5:30, when I gave up. Periodically I got up, looked out the window, drank some water, tried to read, watched tv, tried to write, but mostly I just lay there. Bleh. Then last night (Friday), I was so tired, but I made myself stay up until around 10:00, and went to bed, setting my alarm for 6:00. When it went off, I got up, turned it off, went back to bed, and slept until 10:00! So I guess I was tired. Now I feel fine; I think I’ve acclimated to the time.

Tomorrow (Sunday, which, remember, is like Monday here), we go to the school for the first time and meet everyone. I’m very excited, but don’t feel comfortable with the clothes I have to wear. I forgot my suit back in the States, and when I went out looking this afternoon, admittedly only in a couple of shops in the immediate vicinity, I was unable to find anything that was not shiny. I may have to start wearing shiny stuff. The horror…