Eid

My plans for Eid were to go to Atlantis with Hetty, Lucia, and Karen (Lucia's daughter), but that changed because Atlantis was fully booked and Lucia's daughter wasn't going to arrive until the 19th instead of the 14th like originally planned. 

Since Lucia's daughter hadn't arrived I still had a place to stay so I headed to Dubai on Thursday evening.  I went to Mirdif first to visit with Cindy and Craig (they had just arrived on Wednesday).  It was great to see Cindy and we spent the evening catching up while Craig borrowed  my car to get some errands done.  After visiting with Cindy I went on to Lucia's.

I picked Lucia up at Burjuman (a mall near her apartment) and then went back to her place.  It was late so we did some quick catching up and then got ready for bed. 

We went to church Friday morning and it was great to be back at Redeemer!  Worship was fantastic, as usual, and it was wonderful to see my friends.  I went out to lunch and spent the day with Cindy and Craig.  A few restaurants in the food court were open for take out, so we got Subway and headed to the parking garage to eat!  After lunch we went back to Mohammed's for the day.  Mohammed was going to take the boys to get a haircut while Cindy and I took Aysha to get henna.  We went to a little salon in Mirdif and got turned away because it was so packed.  We opened the door and almost tripped over the people sitting on the floor.  Since we got turned away, we tried to find another salon but we didn't know of anywhere else to go.  So after driving around for a bit we ended up going back to Mohammed's.

Mohammed came back with the boys and noticed that Aysha didn't have henna (getting henna is very very important for Eid) and he was upset.  We tried to explain that the salon turned us away because they were so busy.  He didn't like that and ended up taking Aysha and Angelina (one of their nannies) back so she could get her required henna.  We weren't sure how that was going to happen, but that wasn't our problem. 

I hung around with Cindy and Craig because they needed to use my car to get stuff out of their storage place and take it back to Mohammed's.  While we were waiting Mohammed returned and told us that he dropped Aysha and Angelina off at the salon and he was taking the boys out for Iftar.  He told us that Aysha was going to call Cindy when she was finished and we were to pick her up.  He told us that, not asked.  Emirati lifestyle for you.  I had not seen that side of Mohammed before and it was a bit weird. 

Craig and Cindy got the necessary stuff from the storage and then we ended up picking up Aysha and Angelina at 8:30pm.  They left to get henna around 3:30 or 4:00.  They waited quite a long time, but like I said henna is extremely important for Eid.  After Aysha got back I left.  I was very tired since I hadn't slept well; I was up all night coughing.

Saturday was spent hanging out with Lucia and Hetty.  We just stayed at home and caught up and did some reading.  It was a nice relaxing day.

I went out with Kristie on Sunday.  It was great spending time with her.  I really missed our Friday's together.  She is leaving on the 24th for the Philippines and when she comes back she'll be married!  We went out to lunch, now that Ramadan was over we could actually eat at the mall, and she tried to find a pair of shoes.  After I dropped Kristie off I left for Al Ain.

I got home around 9:30 and did some light reading before turning in for the night.

Monday was spent cleaning and reorganizing the apartment.  I moved the bed so the AC wasn't blowing directly on me and I had to change the living room around since there is currently only one working outlet.  I had to move my desk and dining table.  I don't like the arrangement, but until the outlet in the living room gets fixed I have to have the desk near the working outlet.  I also moved my bookcase into the "hallway".  I pretty much spent the entire day cleaning and rearranging.


So, now I'm caught up!!  It's Tuesday and I'm here at Cafe Nero catching up with the world; doing some emails, checking Fb, and updating my blog.  I have to do some grocery shopping while I'm here, but I have to be careful because I only left enough money in my account to last me until the end of the month and I found out we won't get paid until the end of September.  Yikes!  It's going to be a tight month and a half.

Tomorrow it's back to work and I have to follow the regular school schedule; 7:30-3:30.  At least it's a short week.  A nice way to ease into the schedule.  Next week the rest of the staff arrives.  Hopefully I'll have some more time in my classroom because it's nowhere near ready and students arrive on September 2nd.  I'll have pictures of my classroom posted when it's ready.  Hopefully I'll have Internet access at home this week since Eid is over!

115 degrees at 3:00pm.  Back to the desert!  It is going to cool down though; down to 108 by the end of the week!!

First Week at ENS

My first week at my new school was pretty uneventful. It was filled with a lot of meetings and a ton of information. Most of which I have already forgotten!

A bit of information about ENS. There are 4 campuses; KG (which is made up of KG1 and KG2), primary (grades 1-5), boys school (grade 5-12 boys; I know there's an overlap between primary and boys/girls schools I'll explain later), and the girls school (grade 5-12 girls). The primary school is made up of students in grades 1-5, but the grade 5s are single gender so their classrooms are in the boys/girls school.  It is a huge campus and if it weren't for the bus transportation I would have gotten lost trying to find the primary school (eventually I did when I got my car). ENS provides bus transportation, which is great, but I had to get a car.  The driver was not a good driver and it was so hot; I don’t think the AC was working properly. 
During this first week, I got to meet a lot of new people.  Many of whom I won’t see again when school starts since they are working at a different campus.  So far the staff seems really nice.  There is one other new 4^th grade teacher and she and I spent the week together.  She seems nice and we’ll make it through this year together!  She lives in the Sharjah bank apartments (which is only like 5 minutes from where I live).  There were 5 other new primary teachers (2 Arabic, one grade 5, one grade 2, and one grade 1).  They seem nice enough and we spent time chatting and getting to know each other.  I know once the rest of the staff arrives (Aug. 26^th) things will change, but right now it’s nice to just be a small group.

In addition to meeting people at work I got to know Deborah (she will be teaching at the girls’ school).  She lives upstairs with her daughter Sophia.  We went to the mall a few times together, had dinner, and rode to school together once I got my car.  She’s really nice and it’s been good to just be the 2 of us in the complex!  That will change as more people come back from their vacation.

I also got sick this weekL  I think it was a cold that was aggravated by the fact that the AC in the bedroom blows directly on me.  I had a sore throat for a few days and then a terrible dry hacking cough for about 1 ½ weeks.  Not good.  The worst day was Tuesday.  Brian, the principal, looked at me and asked if everything was ok.  Things were not ok.  I was sick.  I felt like I was going to throw up and my throat hurt and I couldn’t have a cough drop due to the fact it was Ramadan.  I made it through the day thankful for the short hours (9-2) and the fact that Eid was coming up so I would have 3 days off.  I just had to make it through the rest of the week.

I ended up getting my car on Tuesday.  I was so sick Tuesday morning due to the ride on the bus that I had to take matters into my own hands.  I had emailed Fast Cars and told them that I was going to come on Wednesday, but I went a day early.  I ended up getting a Hyundai Elantra.  It’s a nice car; bigger than the car I had last year and it’s cheaper! 

We got the news on Thursday that we would be off until Wednesday for Eid!  A 5 day weekendJ

Arrival

Logically following Departure comes Arrival! 

My arrival into Abu Dhabi International Airport was without excitement; which is a good thing.  I got off the plane and headed to passport control.  Before I could go through immigration I had to go to the Visa Collection area.  No problems.  I just had to wait in line, then show them the copy of my Visa that ENS sent me and he promptly gave me my second official residency Visa.  From there I headed to the eye scan area where they scanned my eyes for authenticating my identity.  Very quick.  Then I got to go get  my passport stamped, collect my luggage and exit the airport.  Amazingly my luggage was off very quick so I grabbed it and headed out to meet my ride.  ENS had set up transportation and they were to be waiting for me.  And sure enough they were.  He took the luggage cart (free mind you, not like at Detroit where you have to pay) and we went out into the heat.  I know I have done this many times, but the heat and humidity still shock me when I exit the airport.  It's like a slap in the face.  Yes, I was cold on the plane, but once I got outside I was more than hot.  It was a short walk to the car and then we had to load all the luggage into the van.  He had picked up another ENS teacher and her family (husband and baby) so there was more than just my luggage.  He squeezed it all in and we began the drive back to Al Ain.

Once we hit the freeway, he needed to stop for gas (called petrol here) and I ran into the little store to get Etisalat minutes and a water.  Now I knew it was Ramadan, but that didn't even occur to me as I bought the water and took it back to the van and opened it.  I totally forgot that you don't drink water during Ramadan.  Ooops.  It didn't occur to me what I had done until later that evening when I was home.

On the ride I chatted with Leah (the other ENS teacher).  She had been living in Egypt for the past 2 years with her husband.  She will be a KG teacher.  I tried to fill her in on Al Ain and give her some tips as to where to go and where to avoid.  We chatted for a bit and then we both kind of rested.

Leah was dropped off first at Sharjah Bank; that's where her apartment is.  It's right in town center and she wasn't too thrilled about that.  Leah and her husband got their luggage and inspected their apartment.  I was left alone in the van while the driver got them situated and then it was off to my apartment.  The drive from Sharjah Bank to Al Ain Mall was about 5 minutes.

Since I had already seen my apartment it would be a quick process of checking the form and giving the required documents to the driver.  I was hoping that the AC in the bedroom would be working.  I checked the form and handed it to the driver along with my Visa and then I was left to unpack, shower, and fall into bed.  I was exhausted.  Well, that was my plan anyway.  Thing is the AC in the bedroom wasn't working so I had to make some phone calls.  I called Nicolas, director of ENS, and told him that it wasn't working.  He said he'd call maintenance and then call me back.  I began unpacking while waiting for Nicolas to call me back.  He called back within 5 minutes and told me that maintenance should be able to come out tonight after Iftar (that's when it hit me that I was drinking water during Ramadan) and if they couldn't come tonight they would be there tomorrow.  My original plan was to go to a hotel if the AC wasn't working, but since maintenance was going to come out after Iftar that changed.  I finished unpacking in the sweltering heat of the bedroom while waiting for Iftar to end.  At around 9pm (Iftar was definitely over) I moved the mattress into the living room and collapsed.  I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and was out until 9am the following morning when maintenance woke me up by knocking on my door.  They couldn't fix the AC, but they called someone who could and I was told they'd be there before noon.  I took a shower and met some neighbors while waiting for the guys who could fix the AC.  They showed up at noon and got it fixed!!!  Yeah!!!  I moved the mattress back to the bed and headed to LuLu to get some groceries.  I hadn't eaten since the pizza at the airport and I was famished!!!!

Departure

Although this was a week and a half ago, it is just getting posted now due to the fact that I haven’t had Internet at home since I arrived on Aug. 10^th.

My departure on Aug. 9^th began quite early seeing as though my flight was at 10:30 am.  That meant that I should be at the airport by 8:45 am at the latest.  We would have to leave the house by 7:45 and that would mean dealing with rush hour traffic.  So I got up at 5:30 and took my shower so Amy wouldn’t have to adjust her schedule too much. 

We actually made it out of the house two minutes early!!  That’s quite impressive for us!  And there wasn’t too much traffic until we hit I-275.  I guess it was just a steady flow of traffic, not really too bad.  I’m not sure what time we arrived at the airport, but I knew I was going to have plenty of time.  Dad dropped me and Mom off and went to find a place to park (just in case they could wait with me at the gate).  We walked right up to the Royal Jordanian ticket counter and I began to check in.  My checked bag was way over weight, but they didn’t say anything!  Praise God!  I’m really not sure how it was way over weight this time since I had extra room when I came.  Yes, I did go shopping, but I left some stuff too.  Oh well, no worries since there wasn’t a charge.  I asked if there were any extra leg room seats available; and there were, in the exit row.  I had to pay an extra $100 for them, but that’s nothing for a comfortable ride!  So I paid and got my boarding pass while Mom asked if they could go to the gate with me.  Unfortunately, Royal Jordanian is the only airline that denies gate passes so the answer was no. 

Mom and I began walking to the checkpoint when I looked at my boarding pass and realized that I had been given a boarding pass for my flight from Amman to Abu Dhabi, but not from Detroit to Abu Dhabi.  We turned around and went back to the ticket counter.  I was going to wait in line, but the guy motioned for me to go to the front so I did.  He was busy with another customer so I talked to the lady next to him.  She wasn’t sure what to do, but he told her to just print out a boarding pass.  Simple enough.  With both boarding passes in hand we walked back to the checkpoint when we bumped into Dad.  We said our good-byes, knowing that we would see each other in 4 months when I returned for Ann’s wedding and Christmas.  That made it easier!  I walked to the checkpoint and made it through quite easily.  Mom and Dad stayed there so we could wave and blow kisses before I headed towards my gate. 

My 10:30am flight was delayed and we didn’t leave until 11:30.  That was fine with me.  I figured the later we left the later we’d get to Amman and that would cut down on my 7 hour layover there. 

My seat was in the exit row in the second half of the plane.  I usually sit in the first half so this would be a new experience for me.  Not a good experience though.  As it turned out the people sitting in the first couple of rows were all family (I think there had to be at least 15 of them – including 3 infants).  So it was like a huge family reunion at the front of the plane.  That made for a very noisy trip.  Eventually the grandmother came to sit next to me because she said there wasn’t enough room for her where she was sitting.  Mind you, I paid $100 for this seat and she moved there for free.  That slightly angered me, but she was quite old so I guess she needed a better seat.  So with grandma sitting next to me that meant that the reunion moved to in front of my seat.  UghL  Too much noise and people, including the kids, moving around.  Not fun.  I tried to talk to the grandma, but her English was about as good as my Arabic.  We did have a few conversations about time and when the plane was going to land thru the help of her daughter.  There wasn’t much talking for me, just letting people pass by to talk to grandma or to hand her a baby. 

In addition to the noise, it was quite a bouncy flight.  Lots of turbulence.  That meant that for a good part of the flight we had to be in our seats with our seatbelts on.  That ruined my typical flight pattern which is to watch a movie, read, or do some puzzles, for about 2 hours and then stand and walk around.  I didn’t have much of an opportunity to walk around, but I did stand and stretch frequently enough I guess.

Even though we left late, we arrived on timeL  Now that would usually be a good thing, but I wasn’t looking forward to my 7 hour layover in Queen Aliah International Airport.  I made it through customs easily enough and then headed to the transfer desk. That was a nightmare.  There were 4 people working and all they had to do was tell you what gate your plane would be leaving from, but I waited for nearly an hour, and there weren’t that many people in front of me.  OK so I should have been glad about waiting an hour, but I was tired and didn’t want to be standing in line.  I wanted coffee.  When I made it to the front, the guy told me what gate my plane would depart from and I went to get some money changed to Jordanian Dinars.  As soon as I got my money changed it hit me that I was Ramadan and I might not be able to get anything to eat.  Oh well I could always change it to dirhams in Abu Dhabi. 

As I was walking through the airport I noticed many people eating and drinking so I figured Ramadan rules didn’t apply in airports.  Good thing.  I needed coffee and something to eat since Ramadan rules do apply on airplanes they hadn’t fed us anything since breakfast at 4am (which wasn’t good so I skipped it).  I found a café and got a mocha and turkey sandwich (I know not very breakfasty, but that’s all they had) and did some checking in on the Internet since I knew that I wouldn’t have access at home.

The airport has kind of like a holding area, before you can go to the gate, which has the restaurants, bathrooms, a few stores, access to Duty Free, and cold metal chairs.  I walked around for a bit and then headed to the chairs to stretch out.  I knew there would be no sleeping for me, but I did try to make myself as comfortable as possible. 

While I was waiting a guy noticed me (he was on the same flight from Detroit) and sat next to me.  We talked and I found out he was an American citizen originally from Jordan but his family now lives in Abu Dhabi while he lives in Detroit and works internationally.  He was headed to visit his family and start the process of moving them to Detroit.  A nice guy and he didn’t hit on me at all!!  He didn’t propose to me or tell me he loved me!  How un-Arabic!  I guess that could be because he actually loved his family and couldn’t wait to be with them!  We got pizza around 10:30 and then headed to our gate.  Turns out we sat next to each other on the flight to Abu Dhabi.  We didn’t do much talking on the flight; we were both pretty exhausted and tried to sleep as much as possible on the 3 hour flight to Abu Dhabi.  We got to Abu Dhabi at 4:30pm on the 10^th and that ended my 22 hour departure from the States.