Our apartment complex is about 20-30 minutes outside of downtown and it is hard to get a taxi out there because there are no specific street addresses-just an area. We found ourselves a good, reliable taxi driver who we always call and he knows how to get us around without too much confusion. It's very evident that I will need a car out here, so as soon as I get my residency visa so I can get proper insurance, I'll be leasing one.
Today is the first day of Eid, (Eid Mubarak!) which means the malls and stores are FINALLY open all day and we can eat and drink in public (woohoo!) I think this will make life here easier and more easy to adjust to. There was a parade through the mall today with random disney characters and people dressed up in creepy masks. The UAE is a very family oriented place and there are always lots of activities for kids-that's one of the most admirable things about this country.
Al Ain is much more conservative than Abu Dhabi, which is conservative to start with. In the mall I am currently sitting in, there are signs up that say "Please wear respectable clothing" which means that your shoulders, chest, arms to the elbow and to the knee should always be covered. In Abu Dhabi you would see the occasional woman tarted up in a mini skirt but you definitely will not see that here. The signs also warn against "Inappropriate displays of affection" and the sign shows a couple holding hands :S
I have been doing a lot of shopping here for big ticket items like my appliances and I have to say that shopping in Carrefour (like the UAE Walmart) for appliances is one of the most frustrating things in the whole world. It is a very slow, disorganized system where in you go see a salesman (who will try to pressure you into the highest ticket item), then once you decide he goes to his computer and fills out a form, it prints at a different counter, then you go wait at that counter for anywhere between 10 minutes to an hour to pay for it while every local person pushes in front of you to go first. The concept of a "line" in this country is truly a laughable thing. Where I would usually pipe up and say I was waiting first at home, I keep my mouth shut and get really frustrated here. Being confrontational is seen as very offensive here and it is just not worth the fight, frankly. I am happy to say that I have all my major shopping done and now I just need to settle in. I am still waiting on my internet hookup at home, so that is why I have not been blogging as frequently as I'd like.
We had a crazy sand/rain storm yesterday. It started out as sand blowing across the roads in an almost "white out" effect..."sand out" I guess. When we got back to our apartment, it was clear that there had been a crazy rainstorm. The hallway in our building had large puddles of water and the tents in the parking lot had been blown down and destroyed. Apparently when it rains in the desert-it literally pours!
Soon we will start work oriented stuff-on September 4. I am excited to find out where I will be teaching and what my students will be like. Till then, I get to play house and decorate. Stay tuned bloggies..I'll be back when I get my grubby little hands on more internet!
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