suzannainthesand

Although Arabic is the official language of the UAE, English is the “common” language. Only 12% of the UAE population is native to the country. South Asians make up the bulk of expats, along with Brits, Americans, South Africans, New Zealanders, Australians, and Canadians. In the past two weeks, I’ve met people from every corner of the world, and almost everyone speaks English to some degree. So Americans have it easy in that respect. What’s difficult as a foreigner is getting used to converting everything: how many dollars am I spending in dirhams?? What is 47 degrees Celsius (aside from very hot) in Fahrenheit? How deep is the pool (m)? At the grocery store, do you walk up to the deli and place your order in grams or fractions of a kilogram? What litre capacity are you looking for in a washing machine? How many cm wide is the space for your refrigerator? Some things can be estimated but, as we all know, when buying furniture and appliances it’s better to be exact. I’ve caught myself drifting back to “the land of feet and inches” when talking to salespeople and I know I must sound crazy; after all, the rest of the world adopted the metric system long ago. While shopping last week, we avoided buying sheets because we couldn’t figure out the sizes. Turns out they use some sort of guestimation process for many brands of sheets anyway, so we weren’t entirely to blame for our confusion. Even so, I’m hoping to catch on to the metric system eventually. I’ve already learned that it’s much more fun to be weighed in kilograms as opposed to pounds; I haven’t seen double digits on the scale since 7th grade!

Another American hassle is that the voltage of our household appliances is 110 while the rest of the world is 220. Therefore, we not only need an adapter so the plug fits in the outlet, but we also need to use a converter to change the voltage. That’s doable when vacationing but not for an extended stay since, over time, things tend to blow up regardless of the precautions taken. Because newer laptops and cell phones are dual voltage, I bought UAE charging cords to avoid the need for an adapter at home and school. Unfortunately, I put a small dent in my furniture allowance because I had to buy a brand new iron, blow dryer, printer, and other household items.

So there you have it- the United States is stubborn and I’m paying the price for it right now! But because I’m forced to adapt, I’m learning… which is one of the reasons I decided to come here in the first place.

Complete insanity. Fast cars, expensive cars, and smaller cars that just can’t hold their own. Before arriving here, I read up on what a nightmare it is to drive in Abu Dhabi. The inexperienced are frequently advised to steer clear of the roads, or at least the left lane. Accidents are commonplace; one new teacher told me he’s been involved (as a passanger in a taxi) in several fender-benders already. I’ve been advised on what to do WHEN I get in an accident, not IF. I haven’t been allowed to rent a car to this point because I don’t have my Emirates ID, so I’ve been taking taxis or the bus for the past week. Unfortunately, I was fingerprinted and photographed for my ID yesterday, which means a car is in my near future. I, along with many other teachers, will rent a vehicle instead of leasing or buying. By far, it will be my largest monthly expense, but in addition to being able to choose a new model, insurance and maintenance are included, and WHEN I get in an accident, someone from the rental company will bring me a new car on the spot if necessary. On a positive note, gas is below half the cost it is in Chicago so filling up won’t be the headache it used to be (and the gas stations are full service to boot… remember those days?)

As nervous as I am, I don’t have it the worst. Fellow teachers from the UK, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand not only have to navigate dangerous roads teeming with reckless drivers, but also have to learn how to drive on the right side of the road, which is not easy because of the way everything is set up (u-turns and roundabouts are everywhere). To make matters worse, directions are given by the location of a building in relation to its location to something else, not by a street address- internet directions to a furniture store we went to yesterday are as follows:

Address:

-Abdullah Hassan Hamarain Bldg, Madinat Zayed

Behind DHL / AL Falah (9th) St.

– Abu Dhabi

Say whaaaaaat?? (Yep; you want mail? Get a PO Box). For my furniture deliveries, I write the building name, apt #, and my area of Abu Dhabi. There is always a box underneath for “landmarking” that I leave blank. In the box, I just want to write in huge letters “IDK.” No clue where I am or where I’m going; this is how I feel all day, every day. Hopefully, it will get better once I’m in the driver’s seat. I’ve noticed that some people plug actual coordinates into their GPS. I may try that once I sort things out a bit more here.

It probably hasn’t been such a good idea putting my life in the hands of cab drivers, anyway. On the way home the other night, the driver topped out at 140km/hr in an 80 zone (87 in a 50). Instead of being stopped roadside and ticketed, offenders are texted or emailed tickets (there are cameras/ speed monitors everywhere) and have to go to the police station, which is located in the mall, like everything else, to pay their tickets. To say the lines are always long is an understatement. I don’t think a place with gold ATMs can successfully use fines as a deterrent for unsafe driving!

Well, the worst is over.

Saying good-bye to my friends and family was torture, and the girls took me to the airport yesterday. After prying myself away from them, I made my way through security. Due to the snail’s pace check-in at the Etihad counter, I only had about ten minutes before boarding. After the cattle call, I settled in to my “smaller than I thought it was going to be” seat. Because the woman next to me ended up sleeping for most of the flight, getting up to stretch or go to the bathroom was next to impossible; I was held captive for hours. So an aisle seat is definitely in order when I fly home.

I met four teachers on the flight but didn’t realize that there were quite a few more until we gathered in the AD airport. Upon arrival, we were immediately greeted by a woman who checked us in and delivered us to a man who led our group through the eye scan/questioning area and visa/passport stamping. We retrieved our luggage, were loaded onto a bus, and made our way to the InterContinental.

After enjoying a welcome mocktail- a glass of watermelon juice- my new acquaintances and I found our rooms (four out of five of us are on the 10th floor, which aids in communication because our phones are messed up for various reasons that I won’t get into now.) I eventually went to bed around 3am and slept until 6:30. In an effort to regulate my sleep/wake cycle, I got out of bed and busied myself by unpacking. A few hours later I went to the free breakfast buffet, which is enormous. They serve everything: various types of eggs, potatoes, waffles, French toast, fruit, vegetables, hummus, labneh (sort of like tzatziki), salad, meats, cheeses, olives, breads, etc. There’s also a small table with pork products and specially marked plates to keep them separate from everything else. I had a few tried-and-true breakfast items and sampled one or two new things. Extremely dehydrated, I drank no fewer than eight glasses of water (nobody drinks the desalinated tap water in the UAE; all of it is bottled). One of the many nice waiters told me to call housekeeping whenever necessary to have extra bottles delivered to my room at no charge. Had I known that last night, I wouldn’t have rationed what littIe I had.

After breakfast, our group of five went to Marina Mall to exchange dollars for dirhams and to buy local SIM cards. We ate in the food court, where the people-watching was much more interesting than the food!! After returning to the hotel, we ventured over to the pool (I can’t get the captions to post, but the 4th pic is the hotel pool and the last pic is the awesome Gulf view from the 3rd floor pool area). A woman signed me in, added bottled water and ice to a small cooler, grabbed a few towels and set me up under an umbrella- no complaints on this 109 degree day! It took less than five minutes for me to sidle up to Aquarius, the swim-up pool bar. Thanks to the teacher discount, what would’ve been a rather expensive Heineken draft was reduced to approx $7.50. Our group enjoyed the pool and Gulf view for a few hours before calling it a (very) early evening; everyone wants to rid themselves of jetlag as soon as possible.

This is the life! We’ll buckle down on Sunday (the UAE work week is Sun-Thurs) when orientation begins. Until then, it’s time to get some sleep!

My lovely room

View from my hotel room

Interesting sign

So all I had to do was blog about it and the next thing I knew my visa and itinerary arrived via email.
As I said earlier, I’ve been in procrastination mode. When Group 1 left two weeks ago I was having heart palpitations because I was nowhere near ready to leave my daughters. I couldn’t stop myself from checking email on my phone every three minutes, whether at home, work, or a friend’s house, not to mention in the middle of the night. It was embarrassing since I’m usually annoyed when someone acts so important that they can’t put their phone down for an afternoon or evening. At any rate, for the past few days we’ve been busying ourselves with fun activities, not only to take our minds off my impending departure but also to avoid the sorting and packing that still needs to be done at home. I was proud that I didn’t check my email for four hours yesterday since we were canoeing and I thought it best to leave my phone in the car instead of risking its death in the water. However, today was a different story.
My sister’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their daughters are in town from Atlanta for the weekend so we joined them for a day in the city. One of our stops included a visit to TILT on the 94th floor of the Hancock Building, a new attraction where you stand at the window, hold on to metal bars, and are tilted forward at angles of 15, 30, and 45 degrees. For someone who has gone skydiving this offered no thrill whatsoever, but it’s one of those things I wanted to experience before leaving Chicago. After wandering around the 94th floor for a few minutes, I was compelled to check my email even though the reception was sub-par. And there it was…the elusive email that has caused me sleepless nights for three weeks. My visa is correct, which means I’m as good as gone because it needs no modification. And my itinerary… leaving Wednesday, August 13th. Time stood still for a minute. I wanted to leave after August 20th! I planned to take both girls to college! But it’s not going to happen. Kate (20), aka Waterworks, began to cry. I followed suit. Even Jenna (18) joined the party. Ugh. We knew it was coming and we’ll deal with it now that it’s here. My sister and parents will take Jenna to school on 8/19. Kate’s more mobile because she has a car; she was originally going to Grand Rapids on 8/14 but will now most likely stay to get Jenna off to school before driving herself up to Michigan. I love my family. They’ve stood in for me countless times when I couldn’t be in places I wanted to be and they’ll continue to do so while I’m gone. So for now I just have to focus on the fact that I WANT to go. It may not be the perfect departure date, but there are still many teachers waiting for their tickets, and I’d rather know I’m on my way than find myself sitting at home a month from now wondering when they’ll call me over. Now it’s time to kick it into high gear! Although I’m grateful for the five-day notice, there’s so much to do, and very little time in which to get it done!

The 2nd wave of tickets started trickling in today and the departure date is Aug 13th, which is 2 wks after Group 1 was sent over to the UAE. If Group 3 follows suit they’d leave on 8/27, so that’s the one I want to be part of (I really don’t get to choose; I just need to throw good thoughts out there)! Many people have called, texted, emailed, and messaged me inquiring about my departure date- I’ll definitely let everyone know when I hear the news!
Until then, I’ve been keeping busy/procrastinating, which is the same M.O. I implemented in grad school. Instead of cleaning and packing (Jenna needs nothing less than God’s help with that) we went canoeing on the Kankakee River today. I’m more interested in traveling, restaurants, and music, but every once in awhile I step out of my comfort zone; I wouldn’t want the girls not to try something just because it’s not up my alley. So we went to Reed’s Canoe Trips, where they provided a canoe, seat cushions, and a ride to the drop-off point. The guy told us to row 6 miles and to stay to the left after the 3rd bridge and look for the orange sign, which is their pickup point. It was good prep for my Abu Dhabi travels, where they don’t use addresses but instead direct everyone to locations based on various other locations. We were passed up by several kayakers (confirming our amateur status), then a few guys serenaded us -or rather, my daughters- with a lovely rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. A few minutes later we were given a verbal warning by a resident who was watching us from the shore. What is that lady yelling?? Apparently she was trying to tell us that the water in front of us was very shallow because as soon as Jenna yelled “Rapids!!!!” due to the waves, we crashed into some rocks (not good for the lower back) and were stuck in the middle of the river. After realizing we weren’t going to be able to rock ourselves free, I stepped out of the canoe to dislodge it; as it started to float away, I grabbed onto the side and tried to jump back in. My right foot was wedged in the rocks and my left leg was hooked over the side of the canoe. As the boat moved further, I felt like a wishbone and groaned “Ohhhh, this is NOT good.” I have a history that includes all my major accidents occurring in the water, hence my apprehension to orchestrate this excursion in the first place. The girls just sat watching until I hurtled myself back into the boat, right knee shredded and burning. For the rest of the afternoon, they would just give each other that “sister look” and crack up so hard that I couldn’t be mad at them for leaving me in the dust. It’s fun to watch them laugh themselves to tears, even at my expense. I know my place within our little triangle. But they’ll miss me when I’m gone. I have to believe that.