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!!!!