Flat Stanley Comes to Visit Abu Dhabi....

We had a visitor not too long ago. Flat Stanley!!!!

Now, for anyone not familiar with the concept of "Flat Stanley", here's the Cliff Notes version via the Wiki page:

"Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur are given a big bulletin board by their father to display pictures and posters. He hangs it on the wall over Stanley's bed. During the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is entering locked rooms by sliding under the door, and playing with his younger brother by being used as a kite. One special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope. Stanley even helps catch some art museum thieves by posing as a painting on the wall. Eventually, Stanley is tired of being flat and Arthur changes him back to his proper shape with a bicycle pump."

Flat Stanley has become a literacy & geography tool in the classroom. Kids can write letters to friends & family in other cities, states, (and in our case) countries as a way to both address literacy AND learn about the world around them.

Stanley was sent to us via our friend, Milo, in Texas. Milo's letter asked that we take Stanley with us around town while we did our everyday activities. We then would write a letter back to Milo and his class telling about Stanley's visit and all about our little corner of the world. We had a great time... It's taken me forever to finally post about it because I wanted to mail a package back to Milo when we returned Stanley before I actually wrote the blog. I finally posted the "package" this week. I warn you, however, it's a long and complicated tale.... Here's the whole story starting with my letter back to Milo after Stanley's stay...

Dear Milo
We were so happy to have Stanley visit us for the past couple of weeks. We had several great adventures that I’m going to let Stanley tell you about in his own words. But before I turn this letter over to him, there’s a few things I wanted to say about Abu Dhabi and where we currently live.
Mr. Williams’ job has taken him to some very exciting places and that is the reason we are here in what is known to the rest of the world as “the Middle East”.

We are pretty far away from you right now. I’d say about half a world away! 

The UAE, or United Arab Emirates, is the little (almost) heart shaped piece of land just to the right of Saudi Arabia and above Yemen and Oman. We are a WHOLE ocean (North Atlantic Ocean) and a WHOLE continent (Africa)... plus a little more... away from Texas right now. In fact, we are 10 hours ahead of you! So, it’s possible that you are reading this and it’s already tomorrow where I am!!

The UAE is a country divided into 7 sections (the 7 emirates). Abu Dhabi is both the name of an Emirate and the name of a city. In fact, Abu Dhabi (the emirate) is the largest emirate AND Abu Dhabi (the city) happens to be the capital of the UAE. The president and ruler of the UAE is Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and he lives in a big palace here on an island.

In Arabic culture, your name is followed by the name of your father. So, in the case of the UAE president, “Al Nahyan” is his family name, “Zayed” was his father’s first name, and his name is “Khalifa”... the “bin” part kind of means “of”. Following this pattern, your name would be: Milo of Tom Nynas. Cool, huh! (I bet your dad thinks so!!)

Anyways, enough about geography... I’m going to let Stanley tell you all about his adventures with us. He’s been a great houseguest and travel companion. We are emailing this letter to you so you’ll have it time for your class presentation, but I’ll be placing a copy with Stanley and also mailing it back to you. The mail is just so slow here that I wanted you to have it in time. Be looking for Stanley soon... He’s bringing some of his own souvenirs with him.

Lots of love, Pamela Williams

... now... here's Stanley's letter, written himself....

Dear Milo...
Stanley here, and boy am I excited to tell you about the UAE. I’ve had some great adventures in my stay here. Thank you SO much for sending me to the Williams’ apartment.
Hey, did I tell you they live in an apartment? ... ON THE BEACH! Yeah, it’s pretty cool. I’ll show you the beach pictures later.

When I first arrived, the Williams’ children (Devin, Madeline, & Olivia) had to go to school. They have school Sunday through Thursday! It’s kinda weird getting used to getting up for school on a Sunday, but we did okay.

They ride a big bus to school. It’s yellow, but different than the one your school uses. It looks more like one of the buses you ride in to go from city to city. You know, a big city bus?! But this one is still yellow... REALLY BIG & yellow...

Oh, and they have to wear uniforms to school! Every day! They said they didn’t really like them at first, but now it’s fine. I guess when everyone at school is also wearing a uniform, you just get used to it... especially the tie. And, since I was wearing a tie, I decided to go to school with them. I mean, I was almost in the same uniform.. button down collared shirt (just red instead of blue), blue trousers, and a tie!!! Yippie! Off we go!

They attend an American school in Abu Dhabi called Gems American Academy.
It’s a really big building and you can look it up online if you want to see more about it. It’s a private school, which means that everyone has to pay to go to the school. In fact, all the schools in the UAE are private. No one gets to go to school just because they are old enough to go.... Their moms and dads have to fill out an application and pay fees for each student. The Williams’ school takes kids from preschool to high school all in the same building! 

They have students from over 60 different countries that all attend this school. It was pretty amazing to see everyone. I got to sit through a Chemistry class and the kids were as interested in me as I was about them. One of the kids even wrote my name in Arabic for me! I had a great time! 

But, school is school, you know....

And pretty soon, the day was over. The Williams’ kids have a pretty similar school day to the kids back home. They start the day with a national anthem, go to classes, have lunch, go to more classes, have recess & PE... then go home or have after-school activities. Devin plays soccer with a local team (but not for the school), and Madeline & Olivia are taking golf lessons. Pretty typical stuff.....

So, on Monday, when Mrs. Williams gave me the option of going back to school with the kids or going grocery shopping with her, I chose to go shopping...
Hey, I’m on vacation!!! I’m not supposed to be in school everyday!
We had a nice breakfast together and then drove Mr. Williams to his office. 

I got to ride in his pocket so I could see everything from the front seat. Since the Williams’ live in an apartment complex, they have to park in the basement garage. It’s a huge room full of parking spaces. We had to take the elevator down from the 8th floor to the basement. They only have one car, so Mrs. Williams spends a lot of time being a chauffeur.

    

Driving in the UAE is NUTS! We all wore our seat belts! People drive way too fast, don’t always use their blinkers when changing lanes, and they honk their horns a lot... especially at Mrs. Williams. She won’t drive faster than the allowed speed limit. But, the drive is an interesting one. We saw this disc shaped office building and a mosque.. which is a kind of church. 

We dropped Mr. Williams off at his office. It’s located IN a shopping mall! There are lots of malls here. As a matter of fact, everything is located in a mall. They don’t have individual buildings for just one store here in the UAE like you do in Texas. (That means they don’t have drive thru either! YIKES!) The grocery store, the meat market, the school uniform store, the hair salon, the toy store, ... even the kids’ play areas (like Shenanigan’s)... all of it is located inside a mall. Mr. Williams’ office building is attached to a mall. It’s definitely different!

And while we are talking about stores, I should tell you about the kinds of stores you find here. You can pretty much find all the major clothing and shoe store brands in the malls. Keds, Nike, Addias, Clarks, GAP, Levi’s, etc. There are also names I’ve never seen... like H&M (clothing) & Carrefour (groceries).... and that’s where Mrs. Williams took me to first. We went grocery shopping at Carrefour....

The grocery store is pretty big but looks like a regular grocery store... well, except for a few differences.

First, the fish section is pretty big and has actual fish ... like with the scales and eyes still on it! And, it’s a pretty smelly part of the grocery store....

Nearby, is the fresh spices section.. and it was just as big.. but it smelled a whole lot better! 

There was also a section on dates and other fresh and dried fruits. Plus a huge section of olives from all over the world. The workers will let you taste anything before you buy it. I tried several of the olives and decided that I like the black olives from Lebanon and the green olives stuffed with lemon slices. (I know, it sounds weird, but it’s really good!)

When it was time to pay, Mrs. Williams pulled out some weird looking money. I’ve never seen Dirhams which is the money used in the UAE. Their money consists of paper bills and coins. They don’t have “dollars”, they have “dirhams”. And they don’t have “cents”, they have “fils”. Their money is written in Arabic on one side and English on the other. Mrs. Williams said she is enclosing some UAE money in the letter she’s sending back to you... so look for it in the mail in the next few weeks. 

While I was in town, the Williams’ took me to several restaurants. You can find lots of your favorites.... Like McDonald’s and Church’s Chicken (although they changed the name to Texas Chicken!!) 

And, then there are lots of fancier places to eat too. I got to go to an Italian place called “andiamo!” that is on the first floor of the apartment building where they live. It just opened and they have this really yummy (and beautiful) dessert. It’s called tiramisu.

My favorite part of the whole dessert was the sugar sitting on top of the cake. That’s a sugar circle on top!!

Probably the funniest thing about eating out in the UAE is that you have to ask the waiters for ice in your drink. And, you have to tell them you DON’T want a slice of fresh lemon in your coke!

Finally, Thursday arrived and the Williams’ kids were out of school for the weekend. It feels weird having a weekend that is Friday and Saturday... especially since everyone goes to church here on Friday.... But, again, I guess you just get used to it! We spent the first part of the weekend at the Emirates Park Zoo. 

It’s the zoo located here in the desert on the edge of Abu Dhabi (the city). There were lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!), and elephants, camels, seals, and monkeys.

In one section, there were all the different kinds of goats that can be found in the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, & Yemen. This one little black goat was very clever and figured out how to get of out his enclosure. We were feeding him grass from the zookeepers, but he tried to eat me, instead!

You could feed a lot of the animals, including the giraffes.

We had a lot of fun right up until the very end. Madeline was trying to get a picture of this cute little pigmy monkey when ALL OF A SUDDEN it PEED on her!!! We were all laughing so hard... well, except for Madeline. She was pretty mad at that little monkey. We didn’t get a picture... and Mrs. Williams had to get out the hand sanitizer. 

On Saturday, Mr. & Mrs. Williams had bought tickets to the Taste of Abu Dhabi. It’s a big food festival held on Yas Island (one of many islands in Abu Dhabi). It was also Devin’s birthday... so first.... We had birthday pancakes...

and a rather flat (like me!) birthday cake.... 

Devin’s mom and dad gave him a Ripstick and the kids all played on the landing outside their front door. All the apartments open into the middle of the building. There’s an atrium at the bottom with square planters full of flowers, trees, and water fountains.

In the summer, the temperatures are over 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the UAE. Wow, that’s really hot! I’m so glad you didn’t send me to visit until their “fall”, almost “winter”. We’ve had really good weather: Blue skies and temperatures in the 70s and 80s. The Williams’ kids were wearing shorts and t-shirts when not in their school uniforms!

After lunch we, packed up and went to du Arena for the festival. Devin really wanted to take his Ripstick, but we were all glad he didn’t when we found out the festival was in a big grassy field! 

The Taste of Abu Dhabi had loads of good food to try. I’d heard of some of them (beef stew and crab cakes), but then I’d never had camel cookies! 

We even got to see a sultan and a camel dancing!!! It was very funny.... 

After we stuffed ourselves with ice cream, smoothies, lots of different meats and cheeses... plus cokes and fresh squeezed juices, we decided to go home and finish the day with a walk on the beach. 

The sun is going down pretty early now that the “winter months” are approaching. It gets dark at 5:30 pm! Since the Williams’ apartment is on the beach, we drove back home and headed to the water. It was a very nice sunset. 

I had a great time visiting the UAE and the Williams family. I hope to see you soon. Be looking for me to arrive in a package in the next few weeks. I will have some surprises for you and your classmates!

See you soon, Milo! 
Stanley 


.... Because I had no idea how to send these letters via snail mail and Milo's class presentation was only a few days away, I contacted Milo's mom and emailed her a .pdf copy with the promise that I'd figure it out (eventually) and then I'd send Flat Stanley back to them.  

Thank goodness for technology!!! 

So, the kids and I (here in Abu Dhabi) set about to create one heck of a care package to accompany Stanley back to Texas. We shopped for prepackaged, souvenir sized arabic treats, local flavors of chips, gum & candies... We also collected the 1 Dirham coins so we could send one back for every kid in Milo's class. I threw in a couple of "I love UAE" balloons & a wristband.... added a CD we got from the Taste of Abu Dhabi and a map of one of the local malls (written in English & Arabic). It was an epic package!

Meanwhile, I started asking around about how to mail a package from the UAE. Most people didn't know. They've never really tried to SEND packages... they mostly have RECEIVED packages only... Furthermore, what limited mail that they did receive has come to them via their offices.  Hmmmmm...

Remember this is a predominately expat community. Almost everyone I know is here because their husband/wife/son/daughter/parent is working for a company in Abu Dhabi. They are here on a tourist visa (30 days) or an employment visa (usually 12 months) & the UAE has some crazy special rules for living here. The biggest one is that you must be employed by some entity. You can't rent a villa, flat, or townhouse without a letter of employment from your company. To get a local bank account, you have to have a "letter of recommendation and introduction" from your employer.  Almost everything centers around your employment.... Basically, this means you get fired, you get deported. 

No job, no visa.

So back to the mail issues..... 
Most people send and receive mail (letters) via their company's mail system. This is to say that most companies have some sort of courier system in place for mail.  You can certainly order things (packages) and have them sent to you via a system called "desert cart" (it's the local Amazon at crazy expensive prices), but even they have their own courier service directly from the airport. 

We do have a post office here in Abu Dhabi. There are three, I believe. At least I found 3 listed when I googled. Most people I spoke with had never been to one. I wasn't even 100% sure that the local post office would do business with me. So after school on Thursday (it was a half day anyway), I took the kids & the package and we set off for the big post office downtown. If any of the 3 branches could help me, I figured it would be the largest one in the heart of the city. 

I was wrong.

As it turns out, the post office here only RECEIVES packages (if you have a PO Box with them.... which is a WHOLE other story!); they don't mail them.  I had to use a courier service (like Fedex, DHL, UPS, etc.) I ended up at Aramex because, well.... it was the closest courier to the downtown PO where I at. FedEx and the like are all at the airport. <sigh>

When I arrived at Aramex, they first question as I handed over the box was, "What are the contents?" As soon as I said, "chips, bubble gum, arabic sweets.... ", the man started to hand me back the package. I was confused. He said, "Sorry, no food items allowed.

Really? They are all prepackaged... and some of them come from Oman and Saudi Arabia... I didn't open them...

"Well," I thought, "okay, I'll just open the package, remove the food and send everything else..." So I did just that. 

I asked for a mailing pouch. The man at the counter then watched as I opened Milo's fabulous care package and removed the contents. As I started to place each non-food item in the pouch,  the man inspected each one and "approved" them. He would not "approve" the coins I was sending for Milo's class. Apparently, you can't send cash either..... 

All that was left was Flat Stanley, himself, the letters he and I wrote, a map of a mall, some balloons, a wristband, and a CD. 

That's it!!!

Then they charged me 280 AED to mail this pitiful care package... (that's almost $100!)

I'm so disappointed .... and a bit miffed.

Needless to say, MILO will be the ONLY person we mail a package to from Abu Dhabi.

Flat Stanley is finally on his way back home. Whew! It was an adventure from beginning to end!