So the past week I’ve been in Al Ain. I flew over with my sister, her kids and my brother. It was krazy because we had so much luggage for our month long vacation.
We landed in Abu Dhabi late last Friday night. I flew over 18 hours with a 3 hour layover in Amsterdam and a 2 hour taxi ride to get to my mom’s. I wasn’t tired until a full 24 hours later.
Jet lag held me back two days. All I could do was sleep it off. I might have to take some type of motion sickness medicine before I head home.
I’m over here visiting my mom but work doesn’t stop for me. I’m still working on Fusion Tour 2014 with my team. You’ll read more about that on Monday.
Back to all I’ve seen and done in just one week in Abu Dhabi.
I’m still getting used to the conservative customs over here. And I’m learning more about how the economy works here as well. I hope to share more about their customs and economy in upcoming blog posts.
I’ve gone shopping at two malls. What girl doesn’t love to shop? Me!! But I did get some really cute headpieces. Can’t wait to wear them to an event.
Anyway it seems like everything is more affordable over here. So I’ll probably come back with new clothes for the tour and when I speak. Always leave an impression whenever you’re networking.
We went downtown to see fireworks for National Day which is their independence day. But it never happened. They are way worse than CP time.
Fun Fact: This country has only been around 42 years.
So far I haven’t eaten breakfast because I’m picky and it doesn’t taste like home. Oh I take that back. I’ve eaten breakfast once. It was at an Italian restaurant. The bacon and eggs were delish. But they don’t make biscuits. Being from Texas, I eat biscuits with practically every meal. I might have to make a run to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast one day.
Fun Fact: You can get American fast food delivered to your home. This is a lazy person’s dream, lol.
I’ve eaten at Chili’s twice so far. The food here taste so much better than home. Well they don’t use all the unhealthy grease we do.
The streets are confusing to me. All streets end in a roundabout and are in districts. So I have no clue how to tell the taxi driver how to get back to my mom’s place. And I haven’t noticed a taxi driver with GPS. My mom has to tell them to turn left or right. She doesn’t even use a street name just straight, left or right.
The one nice thing is everything is written in both English and Arabic. So hopefully I will learn my way around before I leave.
I’m seeing all new construction. The houses here are beautiful to made from concrete. I was told they don’t build just one house. They build multiple houses so each wife has her own. I’m living in a “Big Love” episode for the next month.
I’m going to share some of my Facebook updates describing my experience so far.
Not sure if I can get used to these loud Arabic prayers coming out of speakers every morning. That jet lag set in. That was all she wrote. Think I slept 18 hours but not sure. Day 2 let’s see how well you go. But this place is gorgeous. Way prettier than in the pictures.
My body has yet to adapt to the time zone change. I’m sleeping in 6 hour increments. So if you see me online in the middle of the day your time, it’s in the middle of the night here. Now it’s morning and you’re getting ready for bed.
Today I saw a herd of camels near the side of the road while riding in a taxi on the way to my mom’s school. I didn’t have the camera out so no pics on that. But I’m sure I’ll see this again. Then we spent the morning minus my brother bc men aren’t allowed at girl’s schools watching their program for National Day. The U.A.E. has only been a country for 42 years. It was interesting. The entire prog…ram was in Arabic. Loved their traditional wear. Found out the PE teacher is a former Olympic athlete for her country. All the teachers and students tried to speak to us in English. So there were a lot of smiles. If you’ve ever taught ESL you know they do this when processing their thoughts. One student looked at the 2 year old and asked if he was a boy from Charlette instead of is he Charlette’s grandson? I laughed so hard. Then every student and teacher kissed the 2 year old. He liked that. We were locked out of my mom’s flat and ended up spending a few hours at the mall. Which happens to be in walking distance. Not sure if that’s a good thing my mom lives so close to a mall.
Well up and getting ready for church. They go to church on Fridays over here. Can’t believe its been a week over here.
And today we went to our mom’s church. Loved that it’s multicultural. Everyone from literally all over the world all came to worship God. There were people from America, Norway, Canada, India, and South Africa. I know there were other countries represented.
After church we ate dinner at the home of a church member. I’m assuming all of the ladies there were from South Africa because of their accents. They were very nice.
Then we went to the Rugby club to watch “American” football. One of my mom’s teacher friend had a son playing and we went to watch him. I wanted to laugh out loud. They were still learning to play together as a team. They also had adults playing. I asked my mom why these grown men were playing. She said it gave them something fun to do. Some of the men don’t work because their wives came over here to work. So this is how they pass time.
I would have stayed to watch them play if there weren’t a millions flies around. They are awful here. If you visit make sure you have some type of fly spray.
Well that’s it for week 1 of my month long working vacation in Abu Dhabi.
Check out the slideshow of pics taken.
This is awesome! Enjoying the post as well as pictures. As a story-teller, this is something I would want to experience myself. Hopefully, I can share blogs from abroad and beyond the horizon. Peace and blessings.
You should think about bringing a group of your students when they graduate high school overseas for a week. It really does open your mind to new ways of thinking.
Yall are truly blessed. So excited for you. The Pic are beautiful,=. I can’t wait until I can come.
Thanks. You should definitely come for a visit.
You are so fortunate to have an opportunity to travel to such an exotic place and I can honestly tell you that I’m envious. What a great story. I’m looking forward to reading more about your adventure as the month progresses.
If you can believe it, Texas is having freezing weather conditions in many parts of the state and Dallas is shut down because of inclement weather. Of course, you’ll be spending Christmas in Abu Dhabi so you won’t have to worry about being cold.
Have a super vacation and try to catch up on your sleep.
Yes I heard the weather in Texas is awful. I am enjoying myself.