DiClaudios in Abu Dhabi: February 2014

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Dubai Part One

We have been in Abu Dhabi long enough now that we have visited many of the attractions and places to see. The kids are actually getting bored playing on the beach at the Corniche. We figured it was time to venture away from our new home and our first road trip was to Dubai a few days ago. It was just a day trip to see some of the sights and be able to plan out a more detailed visit in the future.

Dubai is a little over an hour away from our hotel and about 45 minutes from where our flat is. There is one main highway that connects Abu Dhabi and Dubai, called "E11" (see Wikipedia for an explanation of road numbering). It is also called Sheikh Zayed Road, but many roads around here either contain "Sheikh" or "Zayed" or both so the names don't stick too well. Most road signs include the route number, but they *all* say "Dubai this way" (at least the ones point to Dubai) which is what I look for:

Even technology-oriented me doesn't rely on GPS to get me around too often anymore. The built-in Apple maps on an iPhone is almost useless as I have driven across a peninsula on a road that very much exists, despite Apple maps saying there is nothing but water there. Google maps is spot on with locations and directions so it is there when I need it.

So we piled in the car filled up the tank and started following signed toward Dubai. First stop was one of the palm islands, called the Palm Jumeriah. As you could imagine, the island is shaped like a palm tree with the Atlantis resort at the top of the tree. The trunk is lined with hotels and residences and each frond is its own gated community. We drove the length of the trunk and down the outermost leaves for a ways until we could see the Burj Al Arab hotel which is it's own little island.

Megan, Katrina and the Burj Al Arab

We also stopped at some shops next to Atlantis but could not get in to take a look around. It is definitely on our must do list for later this spring.

We set out for the Burj Khalifa and tried to get there using sign navigation. I knew the general direction to go so we got back on the main road toward downtown Dubai. It also helped that you could see the building from several kilometers away (for you metric-challenged people, that's several miles away). The Dubai Mall is right next to the Burj Khalifa so we parked in the mall parking lot (level 9!) and spent some time seeing the sights in the mall which included the Dubai Aquarium with it's 3 story tall fish tank for visitors to gaze at while shopping. We ate dinner at a Rainforest Cafe next to the aquarium and could see the fish swimming along as we ate.

At the same area as the mall and Burj Khalifa is the Dubai Fountain. It is much the same as the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas and I believe designed by the same people. We got there just before the first show of the evening at 6pm and claimed a spot at the edge of the water. We got a front row spot and watched the lighted fountains dance around in time to an Arabic tune blasting through the speakers. After the show we wondered over near the base of the Burj Khalifa and did the obligatory pictures. We stuck around long enough (15 minutes) that we got to see the next show which was set to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You".

Our evening ended there and we attempted to find our car in the car park ("parking garage"). We got part way through the mall and I downloaded the mall app which led us through the various arms until we found our car. Again, we just followed the signs toward Abu Dhabi and completed the day trip. And we now know what we want to see more of when we go back. Diana is now comfortable with the city and managed to run off to Dubai all by herself for a day-long shopping trip this past weekend, ostensibly for furniture, but ended up with a few bags of clothes and shoes.

You don't see this in the US

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Hotel Living

We are nearing the 30 day mark into our expat adventure and we are getting into a groove with daily routines and places to go. My daily routine is easy--get up early and go into work for 8+ hours then come home. Diana and the girls' routine is not quite that simple yet. They do some school work, Diana makes some phone calls, the kids play on their phones then they do a little running around the city. Sometimes it involves shopping in the local markets for dinner food (the refrigerators are ridiculously small) or playing at the Corniche or beach.

We have been living in a hotel since we got here. It's a 3 bedroom suite so there is certainly enough space for us all, but it is still a hotel. Hotels restaurants are the only places allowed to sell alcohol with meals, but we ended up in a totally dry hotel. We do occasionally venture out to try a different hotel restaurant occasionally, but they are really expensive. The meals are very gourmet and we are definitely enjoying it. Aside from the hotel restaurants, there are small, local cafes everywhere, with just about any kind of food. We went out looking to try something new a few days ago and stumbled across a vegetarian Indian restaurant that is worth going back to.

We have found housing in the area we want to live, called Al Raha Beach. It is a 3 bedroom, 200 sq. meter flat on the 3rd floor of an apartment building on the island of Al Muneera. There is a shaded pool which is essential in the hot summer and there is a private beach for the apartment complex. There is also a gym in the building to keep Diana happy. The process to lease the flat is not particularly well defined and varies by the owner. The common trait is that the lease is paid up front for the 12 months. Sometimes (as with our landlord), you can make 2 payments, but you need both checks at lease signing.

We had hoped to find a furnished flat and confirming what we found on the internet, there are only a few options for furnished flats. Our flat at least has kitchen appliances and a washer/dryer which leaves us more of our budget to buy furniture. So far we have made 5 or 6 trips to Ikea but have got most of the necessities on order and ready for delivery (and they will assemble it for free). I'm not thrilled about being surrounded by Ikea furniture for the next year. If we can't sell the furniture before we leave, we will make some college-bound kid happy with enough furniture to fill a dorm room.

While we didn't send any furniture we did send some of kitchen necessities along. Our belongings have been sailing the world on their way to get to us. We (well, just me) have been tracking the progress of the container ship with our goods. Since it has left Baltimore, it has visited Norfolk VA, Charleston SC, Freeport (Bahamas) and Haifa (Israel). It is currently transiting the Suez canal on it's way to the port of Salalah in southern Oman. It should only be another few days until it arrives in the port of Jebel Ali (between Abu Dhabi and Dubai) then it needs to clear customs and only then will it get scheduled for delivery to our flat.

Hopefully this weekend will be the last in the hotel. If things work as planned (ha!) we should sign the lease for the flat and have our Ikea furniture delivered this week. There's even an outside chance that our sea-going belongings will show up. If that's not busy enough, the girls may be starting school next week as well. More details on school and our day trip to last weekend to Dubai in the next post.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Best Zoo Ever!

So beautiful-not sure what kind of bird it is

We went to the Emirates Park Zoo last week and had an absolutely fabulous time! Weather was perfect, kids were excited to go with our new friends, and the animals were so close! Got to feed many by hand. There were a few bites and scratches, but we all have updated tetanus shots, so it's all good! Although some of the enclosures were a little small, overall the zoo felt very happy and friendly-most of the animals were quite perky. Really great day!!

Megan could not get enough of these little guys!

We kept coming back to feed the giraffes

These monkeys would gently take popcorn from your hand

Friday, February 7, 2014

Getting Settled

We have now been here just a little over 2 weeks and things are starting to settle down. Diana and the girls have made friends with another homeschool family (Jim and Stacey) with 4 kids. They are a bit younger but they just can't get enough of each other. Jim and I work at the same office and he has been awesome at helping us get familiar with things around here.

We decided to lease a Mitsubishi Pajero (the Montero brand in the US) for the next year. It would save us some cash if we bought a used car, but I don't have my residence visa and accompanying Emirates ID card yet. They are both required for putting a car on the road. There's just too much to learn about the way this country does things and leasing was a much easier option.

Driving here is on the right side of the road and there are lines to separate lanes and arrows in the turn lanes so the roads are familiar. Unfortunately, many drivers seem to feel the lines and arrows are merely suggestions. It is normal to turn left from pretty much any lane, not just the lane that is, um, specifically for that reason. If the car to your left is turning, well then you can, too. Traffic circles (roundabouts as they call them here) are even less organized. You are free to exit the roundabout from any lane as well. Somehow all of the drivers manage to cooperate and I haven't seen any accidents yet.

Once you get out of the city streets it seems you can drive anywhere you like. We saw a bunch of cars parked on the beach on Yas Island so we decided to find out how they got there. We got off the highway, made a left and the road just kind of stopped at the sand. We drove along the beach for a while, got out near a group of people kite surfing and watched for a bit. The girls (except for Diana) loved the 4 wheeling on the bumpy beach.

Diana has driven more than I have so far. She drove the kids to the Emirates Park Zoo yesterday and took her new friend Stacey to a baby shower at a swanky hotel off-island. The shower was for one of the ladies I work with and included many of the company wives so she got a chance to meet a few more people, including one who recently relocated from Eldersburg.

We have narrowed our housing search down to the area called Al Raha Beach. It is outside of the city and close to where I work and where the girls will likely be going to school. I don't expect to find a sea view flat, but we are looking for at least a partial sea view. We visited a few flats last week and are going again this weekend. We also saw a couple huge villas away from the beach but they are a bit lonely.

The girls have toured a few of the American schools in the area. There are only a handful of options but all of the girls like the GEMS American Academy. It is a private co-ed school (most of them are). It is also a for-profit school which seems a bit strange to me. We are in the process of registering with GEMS and some of their required documentation is a bit difficult to find since the kids are homeschooled. Like a letter of recommendation from the teacher, for example!

Other little things we had to deal with this week included a windy day where the sand got all stirred up and was all over the place. Not exactly a sand storm, but more like a dust storm. Who would have thought that granite sidewalks had a downside? Dust on granite is like the ice storm that just hit our area, right?