Our NEW Apartment!

We've been having a great time here in Abu Dhabi!  We were part of the first group of teachers that came over so we've had a lot of free time this past week. Last week, Melissa only had a few days of work, mostly for medical checks, finger printing and the likes. This week she has three days of school orientation. Still no word on her grade or school placement yet.

We have found out that we will be living in the city of Al Ain, which is about an hour and a half drive outside the city of Abu Dhabi City and is on the border of Oman. It is an oasis city and is called the "garden city" because of the lush vegetation. It is the second largest city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi with about 500,000 people. We've been shown our apartment, which is a brand new 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath place that has never been lived in. In fact, our group of  25 or so teachers and their families will be the first to move into the building, which will pretty much fill it up. We rented a Ford Focus last Sunday and Monday and drove into Al Ain to look around, start getting things set up, and start buying furniture. We ordered a bed, sofa, and dresser from Ikea that will be delivered to our apartment next Thursday. We haven't been told yet when we will need to be out of the hotel.

 Driving from Abu Dhabi City to Al Ain...desert the entire way!

 

The desert in Al Ain (This is very close to our apartment.)

 

The covered parking lot outside our apartment building.

Our apartment building

The hallway leading to our apartment which is on the second floor. We'll have an elevator in the building in addition to the stairs.

 

Entering our apartment...kitchen to the right, 1/2 bath to the left,

2 bedrooms and living room straight ahead.

 

Our kitchen-

We will have to buy all the appliances to go in it, including the stove/oven,

fridge, and washer/dryer machine combo.

 

half-bath

 

living room

balcony off the living room

 

one of the bathrooms

 

One of the bedrooms...notice the huge closet on the left.

We have 1 closet in each bedroom and 1 in the hallway. The door to the right is a bathroom.

The other bathroom.

Video: Here's a video of our apartment!

If you want to see the video larger, you can view the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a4GLc2kagQ

Livin' Like Rockstars at the Yas Hotel!

The Abu Dhabi Education Council has provided us a room at a gorgeous 5 star hotel in Abu Dhabi, called the Yas Hotel, for the next few weeks. We will be staying in this hotel, which is located on Yas Island while we wait for our location assignment and apartment.  In the picture above that we got from the internet of Yas Island, you can see an aerial view of the marina, the Yas Hotel in the middle, the F1 racetrack, and  the red structure in the back is Ferrari World. This hotel is amazing and is one of the popular tourist destinations in Abu Dhabi! The first F1 racing track in the Middle East runs through the middle of the hotel and it is located next door to Ferrari World, which is the largest indoor amusement park in the world that has the world's fastest roller coaster!

Front entrance of the hotel.

Outside lounge...too hot for now.

The bridge that connects the two wings of the hotel.

Under the skybridge runs the F1 track.

Front lobby of the Yas Hotel....very modern with an F1 racing inspired theme.

 

Us in the lobby.

Melissa in the lobby getting some hot Arabic coffee. It tastes very different from American coffee because it's made with cardamom, cloves, and sometimes cinnamon. It's delicious!

Outside the entrance to the hotel at sunset.

 

The piano in the front lobby is clear with neon lights running through it! We've never seen anyone playing it, though.

The inside of the skybridge on the second level that connects the two wings of the hotel.

We cross this bridge several times a day to get to our room from the lobby. When you look out the windows on the right you can see the F1 racetrack down below.

Lighted walls and entrance to the large conference hall where all the teachers get a complimentary breakfast buffet every morning...notice the racing inspired stripes on the floors.

 

We enjoyed a morning at one of the rooftop pools. It's been averaging about 112°F with 100% humidity outside, so this is actually the first time we've been outside for longer than a couple of minutes. Outside it feels like someone is holding a hair dryer in your face...it's really unbelievable! The water in the pool was 90°F and felt great!

 

 

 

Our room for the next few weeks! It's very modern and "high-tech." We have a remote control that is used to open the curtains and control the lights.

 

 

Our bathroom

 

 

On our balcony overlooking the marina.

 

Enjoying breakfast with our friends Princess (Ohio) and Lala (Orlando).

Arriving in Abu Dhabi

Greetings from the Middle East! Or shall we say as-salaamu alaykom, which is an Arabic greeting meaning peace be upon you. We are so excited about beginning our blog about this new adventure we have just begun in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Last week, we were in Orlando packing and saying goodbye to our family and friends and this week, we're relaxing and exploring one of the world's most up-and-coming cities: Abu Dhabi. We arrived five days ago on August 5 after a 2.5 hour flight from Orlando to New York and then a 13 hour flight to Abu Dhabi. Coincidentally we met two other teachers in Orlando at the security check who were also moving to Abu Dhabi, Lala with her 14 year old son Luis and Becca. It was fun getting to travel with our newly-made friends. Although the flight was long, taking Etihad Airways, the country's national airline, made it much more tolerable. The food was actually good and included meals like lamb with rice and spinach-cheese ravioli. We managed to get a few hours of sleep and the movies on the back of each chair made the time pass relatively quickly. The plane was completely packed, and had about 50 other teachers making the journey with us.

We arrived at 8pm and were greeted by some airport representatives who helped all the teachers with the visa/customs process. Everything went smoothly, except one of our bags was lost for about an hour and then our bus driver got lost going to the hotel. It didn't matter though, because we had made it to Abu Dhabi and would be staying in a gorgeous 5 star hotel for the next few weeks!

Abu Dhabi International Airport