Scrawlings

• There was zero buzz over the Olympics over here.
• Most shops downtown and in the suburbs close at 1-1:30pm and reopen at 4:30-5pm, at which point many are open until 11 or 12am. There aren’t usually problems with this, unless you find yourself needing to buy something at three in the afternoon… it happens more than you think
• There are bag checks everywhere! That is, upon entering any store, there are employees waiting to check your bags that you have from anywhere else. This took some getting used to. There were a few times where we just walked in, and were approached minutes later by someone asking us to check our bags- oups!
• “Cat calls” over here, actually sound like cat calls… And by that I mean, they sound like a kissing sound that you would make if you trying to get a cat’s attention.
• People don’t use windshield washer fluid over here, just water.
• It is not unusual for somebody to pass you whilst on a one lane on or off ramp.
• Speeding tickets work very differently over here. Cops don’t pull you over for speeding. There are speed cameras in obvious places that are pointing in such a way so that the driver can see them, before the camera can see the driver. That doesn’t make sense you say… I know. Typically this system just enables people to drive at maniac speeds and then break very suddenly in time to pass the camera. Nope, not dangerous at all…..
• Speedometers in many cars beep once they hit 120km. Apparently it is possible to have this feature removed, a popular choice I’m sure with all the “street racing” that exists.
• Traffic in Abu Dhabi relies on U-turns. That is, you almost always have to drive by your destination, and then pull a u-turn to get to it.
• Enough about traffic! Skylar and I love our jacuzzi! However, we’ve learned that the hot water heater in our bathroom (yes the kitchen’s is separate) is not large enough to fill our jacuzzi with hot water. How do we manage to have a hot soak in our tub you ask? Picture if you will this senerio… I pull out our two largest pots and fill them with cold water. I place them on the stove and crank it to the max. Then I start filling the tub with hot water. As it’s filling, Skylar and I take turns filling our largest tupperware bowls with hot water from the kitchen sink and cycle them into the tub. Once the hot water runs out in the bathroom, we turn off that tap, continue to bring in hot water from the kitchen until that water heater is cool, and then finally add the two pots of boiling water! Finished!  Quite a procedure? Yes, Worth it? Totally! (come the summer months, we probably will not be able to get cold water )
• You think Bell is bad, try Etisalat! Here’s a rough outline of our attempts to get connected to the internet at our new place. We go in to their building, wait in line and all that jazz, and finally apply. They say it will take 5 business days. Okay. Six days later, nothing’s happened so we call. Oups, they lost our application, we’ll have to come back in to reapply. We go in THAT DAY, and reapply. I am purposefully not hiding my emotions. The teller asks me “Why you look so angry?” I reply “Because we applied last week, and we should have internet by now, but I’m here, having to reapply!”. The guy tries to make us feel better by getting us a cup of water and telling us that he’s put our application status as “urgent”. He said it should be up and running within two to three days max! Long story short its been a month – still no internet. Skylar has been calling every day this week, he is told the same thing every day “in the next two or three days”… (In case you’re wondering, we had purchased a USB modem through Etisalat’s competitor “Du” as soon as we moved to our new place because we anticipated having problems with Etisalat. Unfortunately, this form of internet is not reliable and is quite expensive. Either way, it’s better than nothing for the time being. Friends of ours had to wait about three months to get their internet hooked up through Etisalat, we’re really hoping we don’t’ have to wait that long!
• Although I don’t know enough about Islam and the call to prayer yet (I still have to read a book I’ve borrowed from Jill entitled “Simple Guide to Islam” ) I have a feeling that prayer times are slightly flexible. I mean, so many people must be driving, or in some situation where they cannot pray at the exact time of the prayer call. However, as for the case of driving, there are highway mosques where men can pull over to pray. The crazy thing is that the area where they kneel on the ground to pray is not three meters away from highway traffic that is barreling down the road at breakneck speeds. This blows my mind, if there was ever an accident at one of those highway prayer areas it would certainly be a tragedy.
• When it rains, it floods! Hahaha, just thinking about this makes me laugh. I mean, we’re in the desert, honestly… So a few nights ago, we had a 20 minute downpour, our street was flooded, and water was leaking into our windows because just about everything in Abu Dhabi is built with sketchy workmanship… The following night, there was another downpour. I go outside, about to drive myself to school to find our street has (no joke) a foot of water in it. I get in our Yaris rental car and proceed to drive out of our suburb. All of the streets and roundabouts are the same, at least a foot of water. Cars are broken down on the side of the road, it was a mess! Luckily I made it out of Khalifa, and on to the highway. Everything was great until my exit was closed since it was a dip and it too, was flooded Don’t worry folks, I made it to school after a panicked call to Skylar who directed me through another route. It was a close one though, I almost drowned!
• Busses are segregated over here. Women at the front, men at the back. If there are empty seats at the front of the bus, Skylar is allowed to sit with me (only because he’s my husband) but if a woman comes on and doesn’t have a seat, to the back of the bus he goes! At first I thought this was very strange. However, things are so different over here. Local men don’t know how to behave around women, they stare, they’re awkward, plus they don’t usually wear deodorant, so this system is really for the best
• Car seats are pretty much non existent over here.  A few expat friends are the only people that we have seen with a car seat for their child. The norm though, is to see a bunch of children jumping around in the back seats of vehicles of all sorts. Mothers will be holding their baby or toddler on their lap in the front seat, children’s hands will be waving out of sunroofs- too weird.
• Lastly, something that we found out in December, but forgot to write about… For Skylar’s birthday we went out and saw Avatar. This has been the only time that we’ve seen a movie in theatres over here thus far. Let me tell you, you are spoiled in Canada to have such well behaved fellow movie goers. There was no advertisement reminding people to turn off their cell phones, and well, they didn’t I had someone beside me answer her phone and proceed to have a conversation in the middle of the movie. The audience was a glow with people texting non stop throughout the movie and they were simply quite noisy in general. You could hear a lot of talking, and children. Did I mention that the woman beside me also had a chatty one year old on her lap the whole time, an interesting experience for sure.

Again, this is not a rant, I simply want to share some of the funny things that we’ve been experiencing. We are happy, I promise.

Every Tuesday evening, somewhere in Abu Dhabi there will be a group of young women who meet to eat, catch up, and usually laugh. This weekly affair goes by the name of  ”Hump-day Dinner”. Remember that my hump-day comes one day earlier than yours This week’s hump-day occurred the day after my birthday, and the day before another friend, Molly’s birthday. Jill, my friend & coworker at Al Jawhara just happened to be hosting dinner this week. Jill is incredibly crafty, so I thought I should share some of the fun she created for Molly and I. All of these photos were taken by Jill since I didn’t have my camera on me.

Definitely a special Hump-day Dinner for Molly & I. Also, you should see the lovely bag that Jill made me for my birthday! These photos were also taken by Jill, you’ll notice my debut as a bag holder .

It’s reversible, and super cute!

I taught my girls a new song today… Well, I taught them the first half, they already knew the second half

This one goes out to none other than my Yugoslavian Momma Hayes. Who would have thought I would stumble on such a find downtown Abu Dhabi. Skylar and I used to drive by this Yugoslavian furniture joint regularly from the plaza on our way to church. Mom, although your not the only Yugoslavian I know, you were the one that came to mind upon every passing. Here’s to you & your Yugo charm!

(Although the shop was closed at the time, I did get a sneak peak of some Arab(?) men unloading a truck that contained some  ”Yugoslavian Furniture” -check it out!)

Staying along with my current theme, this post is dedicated to Bert the builder! The following pictures are of the Etihad Towers. These five mega structures are being built simultaneously and as you can see they are quite close together. While Dubai has slowed down with the construction of their obscenely tall skyscrapers, it seems that Abu Dhabi is just getting started…

(The last picture (the arial one, that we definitely didn’t take- not to mention the fact that it doesn’t look quite real…) is a rendering of what the towers are supposed to look like once completed )

While the abundance of plants at the plant souk made me think of Mom Vk, a different parent came to mind upon stumbling across a small shop called the Abu Dhabi Commercial Corporation. Here’s to you Daddy Hayes! Although it may seem strange that I purposefully went back to this shop to simply take a couple photos of a crooked 3M logo on the storefront window, since I am so far away from family, I only have these little things. Either way, thanks to Daddy Hayes, 3M has done me well over the years, even my girls in Abu Dhabi are feeling the effects, so I found it only fitting to write up a little tribute. Dad, know that I think of you every time I’m in a pharmacy (It’s been at least a dozen times over the past two months!) as there are 3M products everywhere; from knee braces, to eye patches to a buttload of Bandaids, 3M is alive and well in Abu Dhabi

This past Valentine’s day Skylar and I spent the afternoon shopping for our new apartment. This trip included a visit to “Costless” in order to purchase our stove, microwave and sound system, followed by a trip to the plant market! We were both able to enjoy the day, Skylar had fun shopping around for speakers, and for anyone who knows me well, I love plants. Here’s a little shout out to Mom VK, who  loves plants as much as I do, the plant souks were pretty sweet! There are over 50 shops, and although many of them sell the same things, there are definitely a lot of unique finds for really good prices. I ended up buying a small indoor tree, half a dozen medium bamboo sticks, half a dozen indoor plants and a small cactus for the equivalent of about $60, like I said, happy valentine’s day to me! Skylar also got me lots of chocolate, a sweet day indeed

• Some produce items can be soo cheap! Take one large red pepper and one medium orange pepper for instance… 3.58 dirhams. That’s $1.10!!
• Many a car windows are tinted so dark that it is impossible to see inside them.
• Many Pilipino saleswomen sing along quite loudly to the music that is on the radio. I have witnessed this in stores on at least four separate occasions.
• An effective way of bartering is as follows: Leave money at home. Skylar was able to save 15 dirhams on his capo (and my egg shaker) simply because he only had 60 dirhams on him at the time (that and a sad puppy dog face).
• Pork is so expensive over here! It is only found in a private room, in only one brand of grocery store, and it is not cheap. Bacon is more than double the price over here!
• Beer on the other hand, is not that expensive. Skyar purchased some 500ml Heinekens yesterday for the equivalent of two dollars a piece.
• “Banana Milk” – That’s right, banana flavoured milk. It’s pretty good actually…
• Rain plays such a huge role in keeping a city clean. Living in Abu Dhabi demonstrates this so well! The everyday dirt that we take for granted back home… the pop spilt on the sidewalk, the bird poop, any remnants of food, plain old dirt that gets blown around… Well back home it would rain often enough to wash this garbage away, but over here where it rarely rains, well, you get the idea. Everything seems much dirtier.  Not for lack of trying though – they have employed many street sweepers.  No, not the machine you’d see back home – just a man with a broom and a garbage bin!
• Although the Emirate relies on bottled water, recycling bins are very hard to find!!!
• If you don’t want to be harassed at the carpet souk, go during siesta time! Be quiet though or those overbearing salesman will  roll over from their slumber and try to sell you the rug they were sleeping on! (not literally. Yes they literally sleep on piled up carpets in their store, but they have many, many carpets to sell you besides their sleeping mats! )
• Muslim women, particularly the ones that I work with, are for the most part incapable of understanding why I haven’t popped out a baby yet. One woman specifically, urges me every time that I see her that I need to have a baby “NOW!” So that I can “grow with my baby”. After all she tells me, “your body heals faster when you are young!” and “it is better to be a young mother, then people will look at you and think how young you are, and how good you look for a mother”.  One time I told her that I was too young to have a baby. She asked me how old I was. When I told her I was 23, she said “Pfttt! That is old! I had my first baby when I was 19!!!” I tried to explain to her that I have lots of time since I don’t want to have five children like she has… I fear it’s no use… Luckily she’ll be going on mat leave within a couple of weeks.
• Shedding tears may just do the trick! I was supposed to get paid 11 days ago. That didn’t happen. A week after still not seeing any money being deposited into my account, Skylar and I visited ADEC (my employer). Things were apparently sorted out, there had been a glitch in the system, and I was told that I could expect money in my account the following day, or within three days at the latest. It had been a frustrating experience waiting for money when we were looking forward to furnishing our new apartment. I am also currently on my winter break holiday, so I especially, wanted to get our home set up while I was off. Needless to say, three days later and there was still no money. Today, the 11^th day, Skylar and I went back into ADEC. This time was like any other. They told me they will transfer the money right away, and it will be a couple of days. That was not what I wanted to hear after waiting this long already. Naturally I began to cry, being the emotional wuss that I am. This finally had some impact on them I guess because my salary was transferred into my account within two hours time. Lesson learned, next time I’ll start crying sooner!
• There are a handful of really kind individuals at ADEC. One woman who has been trying to insure that I get paid as soon as possible pulled me aside today, right before I started crying, offering to lend me some money out of her own pocket! She was genuinely concerned for us, it was very touching. Skylar and I are not in dire straights though, we just wanted the lump sum of money so that we could furnish our place, so I assured her that we were okay financially. She told me that she is like my elder sister and she made sure that I knew that it was no problem if I ever wanted to borrow money from her
• Everything simple back home, seems to be such a complex process over here. Not only did it end up taking me almost a month to get a debit card…. But today, after getting the phone call from ADEC to inform me that the money transfer was successful Skylar and I went to the mall to withdrawal some funds so that we could hit up IKEA. We had to go to the branch at the mall because just about all of the other branches all over the city close up shop at 1:30pm. As it turns out my account was frozen. Apparently, my bank branch (one that I’ve never been to because I was originally told to use the main branch) had not received a copy of my passport and visa (which they should have because I gave it to the main branch, and they were supposed to send it over). Therefore I was unable to access the funds, and no shopping could take place. Skylar and I will be visiting said branch tomorrow morning with my passport and visa, and will apparently be able to access our funds instantly, we’ll see what happens…
• Everyone here is very welcoming and hospitable. In the nearby corner store, one of the men working will kindly come and take the groceries you’ve selected up to the front counter for you so you don’t have to carry them around the store. Our real estate agent was shocked to see that we were “only drinking water” after a 10 minute chat regarding our apartment. I suppose he wanted us to stay for coffee or tea.
• There are so many amazing people to meet and develop meaningful and lasting friendships with over here!
• I love the school that I’ve been placed at, the staff I am working along side with and most of all I love my grade one girls!
• I was not meant to be hired by the Waterloo Region District School Board this Fall. This is where we’re supposed to be right now!

Stay tuned for future issues of “Some Things We’ve Learned Thus Far…”

Hurray! My employer finally signed our housing contract! Yesterday we received the keys, and today was spent cleaning! Now I just need to get paid & get our furniture allowance (both things that should have happened already ) so that we can furnish the place! Check it out!

So Sarah had to remind me that it was groundhog day.  In reality I don’t really care how long your miserable winter is going to be.  But best of luck to all of you .

This video is from our Boxing Day trip to the Grand Mosque.  I apologize in advance for some of the shaky footage – the sun was in my eyes…