We Have Arrived!!

We have been in Abu Dhabi, UAE eleven days now and so far it has been GREAT. Let me break it down for you…

Leaving Home: 8/11/11

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:45 p.m. from LAX to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi. My wonderful family drove us to the airport to say goodbye. Saying goodbye was very hard. It caused me physical pain, to say bye, and of course made me cry a lot. I sure am missing them a lot.

My favorite people in the world: Jose (husband), Caro (niece, Mido (sis), Art (bro), Me, Mom, Esther (sis), Pegzy (niece), Miranda (niece).

Day 1: Friday 8/12/11

       We arrived to Abu Dhabi after 8 p.m. on our one-year wedding anniversary!! Upon arrival A man wearing a suit with a sign saying “Welcome Alcira Anguiano” greeted us. I must say seeing him made me feel very important, lol. With him was another fellow Licensed Teacher (LT), named Martin. Martin is English and very young he’s 22 years old!! I must say he made me feel very old! After getting our work visa and eyes scanned we were greeted by the Nirvana travel agency staff. One of the men after saying hi to Martin and asking him where he flew from looked at me and then Jose and said “Ah you took a domestic flight.” We didn’t realize it at the time but he thought Jose was Middle Eastern! We were then taken to our 5 star hotel, the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr. I have never stayed in such a beautiful, luxurious hotel. Upon arrival we were greeted by the hotel staff who took all of our bags. After getting our paperwork and room key we were escorted to our fabulous room.

Day 2: Saturday 8/13/11

Our first whole day in Abu Dhabi began with me feeling very anxious, nervous and excited. I really did feel like a kid going to school on the first day of class. After breakfast we went to the business center to make several copies of our passport and visa. There I met Shelley a wonderful teacher from S. Carolina. We also met two teachers named Susan. After that we all went to the Carrefour, our version of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. On our drive there our taxi driver asked Jose if he was from India, Jose said no but the driver insisted that he was from India. The taxi driver then looked at Shelley and said “she’s from S. Africa.” Jose told him that we were all American but the taxi driver insisted that Shelley was from South Africa. He said “She’s from S. Africa! Johannesburg!” He then looked at me and said that I was from Bangladesh!! The taxi driver was very funny. At the Carrefour the funniest thing happened to Jose. A man kept looking at him and sort of followed him around too. After making eye contact with Jose he finally approached him and pointed at him and said “Arabic?” Jose said no and the man left smiling. At night we went to the Marina Mall. This mall is huge and has every store that you can think of.

Day 3: Sunday 8/14/11

This day was a very good day. We were shuttled to another, very fancy, hotel for orientation. Upon arrival I met up with Shelley and went into the meeting hall were we were provided with our bank account and debit card. During our break Shelley and I decided to get a pedicure to kill some time. The pedicure that we got has, by far, been the worst one! Shelley and I couldn’t stop laughing during the whole time because we couldn’t believe how bad it was. After the pedi we decided to have lunch. On our way there we met Andrea, who’s, from Oregon and Kim, who’s, from Chicago/Arizona. We all had lunch together and had a wonderful time with the new girls. After lunch we went back for the second part of our orientation. There, the best thing happened! Some of us were told where we would live and given our apartment keys. When everyone found out it became very crowded and chaotic around the lists and lines. Many LT’s became upset at the fact that they didn’t see their names on the list because they figured that if it wasn’t they were not going to be living in Abu Dhabi. Luckily I was one who saw my name on the list and was the second to get my key. I had been hoping to be placed in Abu Dhabi so I was very happy when I saw my name I even felt that I lost control of my body from the excitement, hahaha. To add to the good news Shelly, Kim, and Andrea also got their keys and we will all be living in the SAME building! We were all very excited and happy.

Day 4: Monday 8/15/11

I had to wake up very early this day to go get my medical test. We were taken to a clinic located in a high rise building. The medical check consisted of weighing, measuring, blood pressure check, skin check (to check for leprosy), blood (to check for HIV and other diseases), and chest x-ray (to check for TB). I was left with a huge bump on my arm that turned into a massive bruise from having my blood drawn. OUCH! That had never happened to me. Luckily, again, I was one of the first ones out so we were taken back to the hotel before the rest of the group was finished. The remainder of the day was spent eating, trying to book a desert safari, and sleeping. I was still very jet lagged.

Day 5: Tuesday 8/16/11

What an exciting and very long day this was. Shelley, Jose and I went to go see our apartment!! The building is beautiful and brand new. My apartment in on the 18^th floor, has two bedrooms, 1.5 baths, an awesome and equally scary wrap around balcony, living room, and kitchen. It doesn’t have an open floor plan or CLOSETS! The living room and bedrooms have huge windows that take up an entire wall. On the 21^st floor we have a pool and jacuzzi and men and women have their own gyms, locker rooms, sauna, steam room, bathrooms, showers, jacuzzi, and massage rooms!! We are definitely going to live very comfortably there. I can’t wait.

        At night we were taken to the police station to get our finger prints. Since I had been up since 4 am I was very sleepy. Luckily, I was the first one out, and only had to wait in the bus for about 20 min to be taken back to the hotel before the rest of the group.

Building where we will live.

Our balcony

Day 6: Wednesday 8/17/11

This was the beginning of our five day break. We decided to go to the Marina Mall, Carrefour and IKEA to shop for clothes and furniture. At the Marina Mall we decided to make dinner reservations to eat at the Tiara Burj, that is a REVOLVING restaurant that provides a bird's-eye panoramic view of modern Abu Dhabi from a height of 126 meters. We decided to arrive to eat approximately 10 minutes before our reservations. I haven’t mentioned this but, we are in Ramadan. As stated in Wikipedia, “Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex with their partners during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and submissiveness to God.” To eat, drink, and chew gum in public is prohibited. When we arrived to the restaurant we were starving since we had been out all day and had not eaten or drank anything. While I was taking in the amazing city views Jose convinced Shelley of trying some of the dates that were on our table. As soon as Shelley put the date in her mouth I heard the waiter say “No ma’am no.” The way he said this scared the, you know what, out of me. He immediately went to our table and told her that she couldn’t eat for another 5 minutes. He said it wasn’t allowed and if a local would have seen her she would be done. He said while running his hands together twice! Shelley asked him: “They would have killed me?” He said: “No, you would have been arrested and locked up until the end of Ramadan.” Wow! This totally made me realize that we really have to remember what we cannot do and be very cautious. Thank God there were no locals around us when Shelley tried the date. Although it really scared us we couldn’t help but laugh for a good while after. After dinner Shelley and I got Henna for free at the mall.

Thursday: 8/18/11

Jose, Shelley, Martin, and I decided to go to furniture stores this day. When we arrived at the furniture store it was closed because of Ramadan. We then decided to kill some time by going to the mall and eating. We ate at a Lebanese restaurant called the Lebanese Flower. I had never had Lebanese food and must say that I really liked it. Upon arrival we were seated outside. According to Martin only men were allowed to sit inside. Keep in mind that it is over 100 degrees over here so sitting outside was like sitting in a sauna. During eating we were all sweating as if we were working out. After dinner I began to feel very upset and began to miss my family very much. When I arrived to the hotel I was lucky enough to chat with my brother. I felt so sad and missed everyone very much that I began to cry while chatting with him. Luckily we weren’t Skyping or talking over the phone.

Friday: 8/19/11

        Dessert Safari. We were picked up at our hotel and taken to the dessert where we waited for more groups to arrive. While we waited our driver opened the hood of the Toyota Land Cruiser to let the engine cool off and lowered the tire pressure on all four tires. I was lucky to sit in the front for the dune bashing. The ride was so exciting. When we would go down the dunes the vehicle would drift and create a huge sand wave. To allow the vehicles to cool down we were taken to a camel farm. There we took many pictures with the camels that were out in the open. Jose being the animal crazy guy that he is approached the camels and immediately a camel got very close to him and allowed Jose to pet him. Martin called Jose the camel whisperer. Haha! After the dune bashing we were taken to an area where we would eat, ride a camel, and sand surf. The day was so much fun. I will absolutely do it again!

Day 9: 8/20/11

Dubai! Jose, Martin, Shelley, and I rented a car and wen’t to Dubai this past Saturday. We went to the Dubai Mall first were we got to go to the Dubai underwater zoo and aquarium. At the aquarium Jose and I met a wonderful Mexican family who was on vacation. They are currently living in India. Talking to them reminded me of my family back in Mexico. We exchanged contact information and they even invited us to go to India.

We did a lot of sight seeing as well. We saw the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, it is more than 828 meters (2,716.5 feet) and more than 160 stories. (Thanks sis!). We also saw the Atlantis hotel and Burj Al Arab. We also went to the Emirates mall where we had amazing Indian food. I had never had Indian food and since I liked it so much was very happy that Martin recommended we have some.

        Our highlights and funny stories of the day were trying to eat lunch, the water taxi ride and outdoor souk. Eating lunch felt like committing a crime. We drove to a camera free parking spot in a parking structure and then proceeded to eat lunch while hiding my head in the back seat. Like Shelley said “we ate like savages.” The water taxi took over two hours to find and the ride was just awful! It was very hot and the water taxi provided very little shade! My favorite part of the day was shopping in the outdoor souk. The souk reminded us of Sex and the City 2. We even bought some shoes just like Carrie did. Here Shelley and the guys had a lot of fun bargaining with the vendors! 

Day 10: 8/21/11

            Yesterday was supposed to be a “lazy stay in bed all day” type of day to recover from the past two days but we ended up going out. We received a message stating that if we had received our keys and furniture allowance that we only had 5 days left to stay in the hotel. Because of that message we decided to go and start buying our furniture. We ate at a very inexpensive Pakistani restaurant. It was, again, the first time eating food from a different country. I had chicken curry with bread. The bread was a flat huge thick bread that looked like a flour tortilla. 

Day 11: 8/22/11

            Today I decided to stay in all day. I didn’t even go out to eat. I’m wearing my sweats, hoodie, and fuzzy socks and just enjoying staying in and resting the whole day. Tomorrow I start a 3 day orientation. Since we have to move out really soon we will also be shopping for furniture these next few day. It’s going to be a very busy week!