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