Getting Settled In

Yesterday was a good day. I woke up at about 7:00, got some coffee downstairs in the cafe, then had to catch our bus to go to the Hilton for some more meetings. When we got there, they had free breakfast and coffee waiting for us, which was awesome.

The 1st meeting was pretty dramatic due to the fact that several people were pretty unhappy about not getting the roughly $6000 furniture allowance we were supposed to get since our apartments are already furnished. I don't really care since my furniture is pretty nice and now I don't have to spend a whole lot of time picking out and arranging new furniture. There was also a group of people that are living in a different hotel and think ours is better, so they threw quite a fit about that. At this meeting, we also found out that our internet and utilities will be paid for by the hotel, so now the only expenses I will have while I am here are my phone bill and food.

After the 1st meeting, they provided us with lunch (and more coffee) while they were getting things ready for the 2nd meeting. At this meeting, we met some of the administrators from the Abu Dhabi Education Council (essentially, our bosses). Of the four that we met, one was American, one was Canadian, one was Scottish, and one was Australian. They mostly just introduced themselves to us, gave us a few practical pointers about living here in Abu Dhabi, and then gave us a preview of all the different curriculum and professional development seminars we will be attending next week.

Since we are going to be "working" for 8+ hours each day next week, we decided that we should do something fun after our meetings. So we went back, changed into our swim suits real quick, then left to go to the beach/spa. We sat on the beach and swam in the ocean for a few hours, then we went inside to sit in the steam room and hot tubs for a little bit.

For dinner, one of the girls had organized a birthday dinner for one of the other girls at a Mexican restaurant. The food was pretty good, but it was funny because they put BBQ sauce on a lot of their dishes. Now I'm curious to know how much we back in the US "misinterpret" other cultures foods and make it likeable for us.

Finally, some of us went out to a place called Trader Vic's, where they were playing live music. We all danced for a while then headed back to our hotel.


Today, we didn't have anything planned for the day since Friday is the holy day here and therefore the 1st day of the weekend. I didn't set my alarm clock and I ended up sleeping in until 11 o'clock. It was great.

Shortly after I woke up, I could hear the super-long special holy day prayers that are played over the loudspeakers at the mosque. This lasted for about 30 or so minutes.

After getting ready, I wandered downstairs to the internet cafe (since our internet still hasn't been connected properly) and ran into my friend Andrew. After a bit, we decided to head over to the Marina Mall to do some exploring/shopping. We got a cab, and we headed through town to the marina. On the way, we saw lots of cool buildings, including the royal palace.

At the mall, we grabbed lunch. I got Sbarro (Italian food), and once again they had a unique Italian dish I had never seen before: rice with meatballs. After lunch, we headed to Ikea to look at home furnishings. I didn't really buy much since I wasn't totally sure about what I did and did not need for my apartment, but it was nice to get some ideas for some things. I had never been in an Ikea, but Andrew said that it was almost exactly the same as the one he goes to in Toronto.

On the 5 minute drive back to our hotel, we probably saw 9 or 10 Porsches and lots of other really fancy cars (mind you, brand new BMWs and VWs are very average here). You can get a pretty good idea of how wealthy (or not) the people in a particular place are by the kinds of cars you see. It is pretty obvious that this is one of the wealthiest places on earth.

This afternoon, I used the day off as a chance to relax and get a few things done. I finished unpacking all of my things. I also rearranged some of my furniture in my apartment the way I want it. Then I played Wii Golf for a bit.

Overall, I'd say I am feeling a lot more settled in and comfortable here in Abu Dhabi now.