Home Is Where The Plane Lands

Today was a splendid day!  It was our first full day in Al Ain, our hometown.  We got up early enough to catch the free buffet breakfast in the hotel.  This buffet is not as robust as the one in Abu Dhabi, but there’s still plenty of foods to choose from and once again, its free.  We came back up to the room and took a nap.  We are doing that a little too much, but its so nice right now. 

After our nap, we decided to brave the heat and take a walk to the Mega Mart.  We could see it from our hotel room the

night before and it looked like it might be about a 15 minute walk.  So we put some sun screen on, made sure Logan was blocked from the sun and set out.  It was hot and we started sweating pretty quickly.  It wasn’t  horrible though.  I think the more I get used to it, and if I shed a few pounds, I’ll be just fine.  Anyway, the walk was ok.  We passed by a large fort, which kind of looked like a castle.  It made me think it would be the perfect place for

 Medieval Times to come for a month in the winter.  There’s no roof, so it would have a cool outdoors feel.  No worries, I’m not dying to come back to the castle yet.

The Mega Mart is two stories.  First floor is a grocery store, second is kind of a Walmart.  We wanted to get some foods we could have in the hotel room so we wouldn’t spend a bunch of money eating out.  We got some essentials – bread, tuna, some type of chicken meat in a can(think SPAM), peanut butter, jelly and some drinks.  Oh and Doritos and Kit Kats.  Oh and some sort of Ramen Noodles things.   We didn’t check out the upstairs, just headed back to the hotel.  We had the Ramen Noodles things for a late lunch.  They seemed good enough. 

We headed down to the pool while they cleaned our room.  Alanna let me swim for a bit while she took Logan for stroll through the hotel.  Let me tell you – a dip in a pool when its over 100 degrees outside is soooooooooo good.  The water

felt amazing.  I made sure to slather up with sunscreen.   Not taking any chances here.   Its been a few years now since I had a Myrtle Beach tan.  We went back to the room and laid around for awhile.  We sat out on our balcony for a bit as well.  We can see a nice mountain range to our right.  I believe it is called Hafeet Mountain.  During the bus trip the night before, we saw off in the distance what looked like to be giant Christmas lights curving up in the air for miles.  Today we realized its a lighted road that leads up the mountain.  We’ll be exploring that I’m sure. 

As we sat on the balcony, we also noticed a family of stray dogs.  They seem friendly enough, playing, barking, etc.  They aren’t around much during the day (guessing they’re shading somewhere), but at dusk they come out and hang around our side of the hotel.  One of the hotel guests went down and fed them tonight.  They all jumped around the guy and were very friendly.  I might go down to see/feed them once this week as well.   I’m sure they’re used to that routine.

After the sun went down, we all headed back to the pool.  I wanted Alanna to get her chance to swim as well.  We were going to take turns watching Logan, but one of Alanna’s teacher friends, Debbie, was outside with a few other teachers and was more than happy to watch Logan while we swam.  Logan is a very good baby.  He really is no pain at all 99% of the time and was an angel for Debbie.  Alanna and I got to spend some adult time playing around in the pool so that was very nice.

After we swam, we went over and sat with the group of teachers and their families.  Being an expat, with other expats, gives you a genuine melting pot experience.  At our table, in this one group were – Americans, Irish, French, Scottish and Welsh.  It was such a neat time just listening to everyone talk.  We talked about differences in culture.  All of them were very nice.  I do hope we are put in the same apartments when we finally are placed.   I’ve never gotten that experience on a vacation before.  You may go to a foreign country, but its usually just that native tongue and a few different ones from other vacationers.  Here, we’ll be living with all kinds of people.  It will be such a rewarding experience for me.

We finally made it back to the room and had a late dinner.  I choose the canned chicken meat stuff.  I broke the opener on it, so I basically had to saw my way into it with a butter knife.  Alanna enjoyed my pain.  I’m sure she’ll elaborate more about it on her blog!

All in all, another great day here in the middle east!  Lastly, for those of you who are always wanting more pics of Logan – here is one from bath time tonight.

Tuesday was a rough day for Roberto.  I woke up early that morning with a bad allergic reaction.  I was sneezing non-stop and my eyes were itchy and watery.  This is common for me.  It happens every now and then, so its something that I’m used to occuring from time to time.  I tried to sleep but starting getting a headache.  Alanna gave me some ibuprofen.  That seemed to help and I went back to sleep for awhile.  I woke up later to take care of Logan while Alanna went to some teacher meetings.  As I sat on the hotel bed eating an apple, my lips started to tingle.  I thought that was a little strange.  I finished off the apple and went to the bathroom to take a look at my lips.  To my suprise, my lips were severely swollen.  I had trouble talking to Logan after that, or even whistling.  I felt fine though.  No shortness of breath, etc.  I checked back an hour later – my lips were bigger and there were puffy swollen bags under my eyes.  Alanna called a few times and I lied to her.  She freaks out about stuff like this and I didn’t want

 her to worry.  So I waited for her to get back to the hotel to show her the damage.  The picture here is when Alanna got back.  It really doesn’t do me justice.  It was MUCH worse in person

Alanna came into the room and freaked out a little, then laughed. It was funny after the initial shock.  We both were a little worried though.  We took a quick nap and when we woke up, no real change.  We headed out for dinner, but made a stop by the pharmacy.  The lady there recommended a antihistimine to me.  So we bought that, had some dinner and then went back to the room.  I took the pill and went to bed.  I was still a little swollen this morning when I woke up, but by afternoon I was pretty much back to normal.

Trouble is, we have no idea what could have caused the problem.  All I had that morning to eat was an apple, and my lips were already swelling before that.  I didn’t do anything different, use any different lotion or soap.  Some lady said it could be a bug bite.  Could have been.  I went outside with Logan for a bit that morning to get some fresh air.  Maybe something bit me.   Whatever it was though, there is no permanent damage and everything is back to normal.

In other news, we checked out of hotel today and made the trip to Al Ain, our home town.  We got here in the evening, so I really didn’t get to see much.  I did however see a LOT of big sand dunes on the way though.  This really is the desert.  Al Ain is an oasis though, so it will be pretty nice.  We checked in to ANOTHER 5 Star Hotel, so we’ll being living it up for a while longer.

We’ll  hopefully get out and explore Al Ain tomorrow.  Until then…

Most muslim women wear abayas, which are full length black robes that cover their bodies from head to toe.  Many of them cover their face, leaving only their eyes exposed, while others even cover their eyes.  First of all, how can the see?  Is it like one of those secret spy mirrors where you can see through one side but not the other?  Secondly, are they looking at me???  You can’t tell!  They could be giving me dirty looks for all I know.  I don’t think I’ll get used to seeing that as long as I live here.

Alanna had a quick orientation this morning, so Logan and I took a nap after breakfast.  I tried to feed him some formula after that, but he screamed like a banshee.  We’re really going to have to work harder cause there will be days where there won’t be enough breast milk pumped and we’ll have to suppliment with formula.  I think he’s just too used to Mommy.  She does grow on ya.  Alanna has a longer orientation tomorrow.  She’ll be getting her background check, medical check, etc.  Luckily I can skip all that.  I guess Logan and I will cruise around the mall for a few hours. 

 That’s starting to bore both of us though.  Getting a bit of cabin fever being here in the hotel.  We check out on Wednesday though and are moving to Al Ain.  We’ll be in another hotel until the weekend, but at least its a change of scenery.

We got 2 sim cards today.  Alanna’s phone wouldn’t work with the new one, so we bought here a cheap one for around $30.  No big loss there.  The other card we put in my IPhone.  For the first 3 or 4 hours, neither phone would make calls.  I was worried I didn’t unlock my IPhone correctly.  Alanna called one of her other teaching buddies, Alma Joy (that’s what I call her), and she said that the cell phone people said it would take a few hours for the cards to activate.  She was right.  A little while later, both phones kicked in.  So now we both have really basic call features.  I can’t even use my cool Iphone features because I don’t have 3G yet.  But the cell company does offer that and we can get that once we’re settled in Al Ain I believe.   So for now we can call each other, and call our family and friends in the states.  And really, isn’t that what a phone is for anyway?

 

Phillipinos love babies.  Well, they love Logan.  Everyone wants to poke him, touch him, talk about him.  He is adorable after all.  Just didn’t expect that here.  Folks in the states don’t just come up and poke your baby like they do here.  Speaking of people touching babies and the dangers there in…  we got a note today from the hotel that says that the WHO (World Health Organization) has announced level 6 of the Influenza Pandemic Alert!  I checked online and didn’t see anything on any of the news sites.  Level 6?  What does that mean?  It reminds me of the Terror Alert thing.  We go to orange and people are supposed… to… do… what?  They did reassure us in the note that there is no risk of infection from eating well cooked pork products.  As if I can get pork here.  We had Pizza Hut the other night.  It had Pepperoni on it.  I’m guessing that was beef.  Or Turkey.  Subway has turkey ham.  What is that???  Pork restrictions are not cool with me.  At least I have the cow.  Moo.

 

 

We had another lazy day on Saturday.  We had the normal breakfast buffet.  They had some camel milk sitting out so I thought I’d try it.  It was nasty.  It was  slightly warm and had a nasty after taste.  Maybe it would be better cold.  I’ll try it again sometime.

We got back to the room and I decided to take a nap, followed by Alanna and Logan.  We all slept until 3pm.  Although it won’t help our internal clocks, it felt really good.  We went back to the mall after our nap and back to the walmart/grocery store type place.  We explored the upper part, which has clothing, electronics, etc.  Lots of selection, and some very cheap stuff.  We are trying to save money though just in case we need it when we get to Al Ain, so we didn’t buy anything.

Pizza hut was lunch and dinner for us.  It tasted just like the pizza from back home.  I got some wings.  They were slightly different but still tasty. 

After the mall, we decided to brave the outdoors for a bit.  This was around 7pm and it was still over 100 outside.  We walked along the private beach behind the hotel, taking in the view, which is basically the ocean, then its blocked by construction of an island.  Yeah, they build islands.  If you haven’t seen what they can do here… take a look at this from Dubai..  http://www.theworld.ae/   They also have a nice pool, a kiddie pool, and all kind of watersports which we are so not taking advantage of.  We’ll be here for two years though.  We’ll find a babysitter and do some adult stuff soon. 

We also walked out the front of the hotel and down the street for a bit.  We stopped into a pharmacy to check it out.  We finally went back to the room, hung out for a bit, then put on our swim trunks and went down to the beach at night, which to remind you, is still over 90 degrees.  We dipped Logan in the water.  He didn’t really care for it much, but he did like the shining lights and noise of  the construction of the island in front of us.  They do most of the work at night since its a little cooler.  Its a really neat experience to walk along and listen to people.  In about a 15 foot range, we heard people speaking Arabic, French and German.  Its such a diverse culture here.  People watching (and listening) has quickly become one of my favorite hobbies.

Back in the room, it was time for my fantasy football draft.  The guys back in NC helped me out by holding the draft at 2pm EST, which is 10pm to me.  The draft went quick, I think I did pretty well, and we got to bed by 11:15.  I was a homer though and picked a Redskin.  Season starts on my birthday, so get ready!  Well, technically there’s a Thursday night opener, but the SUNDAY start is on my birthday.   I wonder if I will get any of the games here? 

Bye for now.

I’m blogging again today so I can get caught up.

Today was the holy day here for Muslims.  I really didn’t notice much of a difference though.  As I said in the last blog, we didn’t get to sleep until 4am.  Not wanting to miss that good FREE breakfast, we got up at 9am and went down to eat, then came back and slept to 2pm.  We’re working hard to get ourselves (mainly Logan) back on a normal sleeping schedule, but its tough.

We went over to the mall again and had lunch.  For lunch today we had McDonalds.  I had a Quarter Pounder Meal.  The burger tasted like a steak burger.  Like everything else – different, but not bad.  The fries were the same though as was the Coke.  After lunch, Alanna took Logan back to the room and she let me stay and see a movie.  I wanted to see GI Joe because the 80s cartoon version and the Hasbro action figures were a big thing during my childhood.  The cinema experience here was pretty neat.  You buy your ticket at the window like normal, then they turn the computer monitor around which gives you a seating chart.  You actually pick the seat you will be sitting in, and that seat’s ticket is printed for you.  I skipped on the movie drink and popcorn (rare for me) since I’d just had Mickey Ds.  When I made it into the theater, a worker took a look at my ticket, then used his flashlight beam to point my seat out.  I saw a new Jean Claude Van Damm and a Dolph Lundren preview.  Guessing those won’t be making it to the American cinemas.  GI Joe was better than I thought it was going to be.  It had lots of neat special effects.  They also slipped in quite a few 80s references that made me laugh.  I was the only one laughing though.  Everyone else in the theater was quiet the whole time. 

I left the movies, went back the the room and grabbed the honey and kid.  We went back to the mall and ate dinner, Subway this time.  My Subway Club has “turkey ham” since they don’t do pork.  We then made our way to the very bottom where they have a grocery store.  It was SO CROWDED.  Its kind of a Walmart, with clothes and stuff on one level and then groceries on the bottom level.  We bought a few items – diapers, 6 pack of Pepsi, baby wipes, all of which were cheaper than you could get them in the US.

Now we’re back in the room, hoping and praying to get Logan to go to bed early!  Wish us luck!

Technically we aren’t in the desert yet.  Abu Dhabi is on the coast, so most of the sand I see is beach sand.  It is hot and humid though!  We woke up on our first day and went down to breakfast.  Free breakfast at that!  It was very good and had everything you would expect in States.  Except pork of course.  Muslims can’t eat pork.  They did have turkey bacon and for me that was close enough.

Alanna went on a tour with the other teachers after breakfast and left me with Logan.  He didn’t like formula very much, so he cried, then fell asleep and we both slept until Alanna got back.

Our hotel is actually connected to a mall.  Its the Abu Dhabi Mall.  Its huge, three stories and very clean.  They have similar stores as back home and some exactly the same such as Radio Shack, etc.  Their food court has many American fast food chains such as McDonalds, Hardees, KFC and Popeyes.  We chose Popeyes.  The food tasted basically the same except for the biscuits which just tasted a little… different.  Not bad, just different.

The mall is a good place to people watch.  Their are 3 types of people I’ve noticed so far.  There are the native Muslims, which seem to be the majority.  Lots of them wear the traditional robe type outfits – the men wearing white, the women black, with head pieces that sometimes cover their entire faces.  I call them robes at this point because

 there are about 50 names for them.  The second group, a large minority, are the Phillipinos.  They seem to travel from the Phillipines to the UAE to work.  They are the majority of the working class that I’ve seen.  Lastly, are people like me, who are called Expats.  Basically its any non-native from another country – US, lots of Europeons, etc.  Its strange to be the minority but so far everyone seems to just fit in here.

After the mall, we went back to our room and then down to the beach that night.  Alanna played with Logan while I jumped into the water.   You know that feeling – when you first jump into ocean water and its a cold rush?  Well, not

here.  The ocean, even at night, feels like your bath water at the very end when you’re almost ready to get out.  Its not warm, but its not cold.  Last night it was refreshing.  When I got out, I wasn’t cold at all.  The breeze on my wet skin felt really nice.

We ended the day by staying up until 4am.  Yeah… major jetlag.  None of us, including Logan, could sleep.  We finally got some sleep this morning, but we’re still not on a normal schedule yet.  Luckily, we still have 2 more days to do nothing before Alanna’s orientation begins.  

Thats all for now.

Tuesday was a long day. Alanna, Logan and I woke up at 5am at my parent’s house. By 6:15 we were out the door and off to the Charlotte airport. We were worried our luggage would be too heavy (5olb limit per bag) but were suprised to find that none of our bags were over the limit! They also checked them all the way through to Abu Dhabi. We had three legs of our journey to go.

First was a quick flight at 9:30 from Charlotte to DC. Logan slept like a champ and the flight was uneventful. We had a short hour layover in DC. We grabbed some snacks and then hopped on the plane to NYC. Another easy flight, nothing crazy to report thankfully. Well except for the flight attendent. She was rude. Yankees… pfft. We then had a 9 HOUR LAYOVER in JFK. We thought we’d be smart and get a hotel room so we could relax and refesh. The Ramada was the cheapest. And we found out why. It was a rat hole. The wallpaper was peeling, the drink machines didn’t work, room service wouldn’t answer, the only power outlets that worked were in the bathroom! Though it sucked, it still was better than staying in JFK for 9 hours.

We headed back to the airport and headed for our departure gate. We started meeting people along the way who were also going to be teaching with Alanna. They started boarding an HOUR before takeoff because the plane was THAT full and had THAT many people. The plane was full with mostly people from the Middle East and then about 150 teachers and family. We were booked on Etihad Airlines. Etihad is very nice. We boarded before everyone else because we had a baby. The seats were spacious and we had plenty of room to stretch out our feet. Each seat came with its own TV, so we could watch tons of movies, TV shows, play video games, view the travel map, or even watch the trip from cameras on the outside of the plane (watching that while we took off and landed was pretty cool). The plane has a killer first class and business section. You can lay down all the way and sleep and people wait on you hand and foot. Their TVs were as big as a typical computer monitor. Unfortunately, we were in coach. But coach was still very nice and we didn’t pay for the tickets. The trip from JFK to Abu Dhabi takes a whopping 13 hours. That’s just too long for anyone to sit on a plane! Logan was well behaved though. He slept or fed for most of the trip, and only got a little fussy right before we landed. I only took in one movie while we flew – Watchmen. It was… ok. I had skimmed the graphic novel a few times, so I knew the basic plot. Amazing camera work, but other than that it was just so so. I’ll stick with Superman. Alanna watched 17 Again. The one with Zac Efron. I think she has a crush on him. He is pretty.

Anyway, we landed in Abu Dhabi around 7:30pm local time. That’s about 11:30am EST if you’re curious. The Abu Dhabi airport is spectacular. Its very clean and looks state of the art. We were greeted by members of the ADEC (education dept of the government) as we came off the plane. They escorted us through to baggage claim, where a nice man (every teacher got a nice man) got all our luggage and pushed it around for us. After some general confusion of where to go and what hotel group we were in, we were whisked, and I mean whisked through Customs. Basically, we just bypassed it. They didn’t even check our passports or luggage. Stepping outside was the first major culture shock of the trip. As soon as we made it through the sliding glass doors, you could feel the heat. And it was dark already! My glasses immediately fogged up. I had to wipe them off a couple times as we made our way to the bus. The heat wasn’t unbearable, but it was definitely something you could feel. 

We got on a bus which took us from the airport to downtown Abu Dhabi. The city is the capital of the UAE and very busy. its very modern and looks just like any other urban big city in the US. We were dropped off at the Beach Rotana Hotel. Its a 5 star hotel if I’ve ever seen one! They greeted us at the door with a beverage of choice ( we drank some orange juice). After waiting a bit with the other teachers, we were escorted to our room. They had a crib for Logan waiting on us! The room is wonderful and we have a balcony that leads to a large balcony that over looks the beach and has beach access. Internet access is not free, but necessary to stay in touch. The TV has a lot of Arabic stations, and some here and there that we can understand. So our bags got brought up 20 minutes later. We ordered some room service and then hit the pillows for the night.

A very long first day indeed.

 

Here are some more pics from the trip…

 

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