"Nacho" regular dinner....

Apparently, once a month the hotel throws a themed dinner night. Tonight was THE night! 

It's a pretty big deal no matter what the theme because it means a major variation from the typical steam table fare. Invitations are slipped under all the doors at the hotel & people actually show up early to watch the staff put together the final touches on the decorations. 

Tonight the theme was.... Wait for it.... Mexican food!!! 

The staff decorated the cafe with cut outs....

... and were even sporting ponchos & sombreros! Ole!!

I have to admit, I was pretty excited. It's been almost 4 weeks since I've had even a fast food taco much less honest to goodness Tex-Mex! Ahhhh, the thought of sizzling fajitas, gooey bubbling cheese, tangy guacamole.... & my favorite, the spinach enchilada. Goodness, it makes my mouth water. 

But, let's be honest.... I'm a looooong way from home; I should probably lower my expectations a bit. So, it was with cautious optimism that I approached the steam table.

The chef had prepared a kind of burrito buffet. To be honest, it reminded me of a Freebird's burrito restraunt.... an assemble-it-yourself Freebird's, if you will.  You had your overly large tortilla, choice of seasoned chicken or beef, & "green" rice (which turned out to be white rice with an excessive amount of cilantro). 

THEN you had "toppings" which ranged from cold corn relish salad to Pace picante sauce... with the typical shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, pickled jalapeños, etc.

I had to giggle a little at their cheese offerings. Look closely at the yellow stuff in the first bowl after the chips. This is the "Nacho bar" complete with that nacho cheese that comes in the giant can... you know, the one at the consession stand of every football game? 

Yeah, well that's the yellow stuff in the little bowl. Straight out of the can! They didn't heat it up... at all! LOL! Oh, & those chips? Not a crystal of salt on them! 

All in all, I give them a 10 for effort. The food was tasty, just not flavored like any Mexican or Tex-Mex I've ever had before. We had a good time & did enjoy the desserts; their Tres Leche cake was fabulous!

My girls had a great time visiting with the other kids & hamming it up for photos. 

But, at the end of the day... I'm still craving spinach enchiladas. I wonder if I can find a good recipe online? 

It's a Small World After All....

So, the world really is shrinking. Or, at least, it feels that way. 

Before we even left Texas, a friend told me of another family in our same hometown who were ALSO moving to Abu Dhabi. We met the mom & 4 kids before leaving the states. Our husbands work for different companies, but the destination is the same. 

Then, my Mary Kay consultant tells me she met a lady while getting her nails done in Dallas who flies back & forth between the UAE & the States because her husband works for the Shiek here in Abu Dhabi! What?? 

THEN I get a Facebook tag from my friend, a realtor, who says I need to meet this couple who just used him to list their house in Rowlett so they could move to Abu Dhabi! She took a job with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) to teach over here in Al Ain! What? What?

And of course, I've met other families here in the UAE who are also working alongside my husband... Like the cuties we met at Al Whada mall today. They are from Sachse! 

James (AKA Superman) & Justice (AKA Batman) really enjoyed playing with Devin's turbo car game. The twins were a little shy at first, but quickly adopted Devin as their big buddy. 

Their mom & I enjoyed the grown-up conversation while my 3 kids entertained her 3 kids. My girls especially enjoyed showing little Gwyneth all the "special effects" to be had on their newest app:

So, it's crazy... But the world must be getting smaller. Or maybe, Texas is getting bigger! 

Random bits...

I spend a lot of time waiting these days....

The kids too.... & they're getting more creative about it. 

(Don't get me started on Devin's fashion sense. I keep telling myself he'll care once he notices girls... Sigh.)

They used their "beds" to make a fort... 

All I can say is all that extra padding in the room is helping to dampen the echo. 

Currently, I'm waiting for the second maintenance team to come address the thermostat issue in the bedroom. The first guy that showed up only does gas & lighting. Oh, & let's not forget that LuLu's is delivering the TV sometime "this afternoon". Seriously, that's their best time estimate. 

On the bright side, I now have a working hob ... & the name & direct cell # of the maintenance guy for THIS building should I need help hanging light fixtures, or such.  (This was forthcoming AFTER I tipped him.... Hmmmm. I think I've discovered a secret.)

As I understand, tipping is not required in this country. I've actually had a tip handed back to me by a worker. He wouldn't take it even when I insisted. Maybe it was because I was alone & am female. I don't know. But, aparently, our maintenance guy feels differently... 20 ED & he was quick to supply his number for future jobs. Ok. I can work with that...

Now, back to the waiting.... 

You can only drink so many cups of tea. 

... And I already did the breakfast dishes..

I AM working on the laundry, but it's slow going. We have a 7 kg capacity. It sounded like a lot in the store.... But TWO beach-sized bath towels & it's stuffed. 

That's ALL towel in there. You can't even see the silver drum at all. The "regular wash" cycle takes about 90 minutes. 

What to do, what to do?

Tea, anyone?

Camping out... AKA "Moving Day, Take 2!"

Our company-approved time in the hotel ends this week; all our stuff is still held up in Customs with no delivery day forthcoming. The kids start school in 7 days & Lindsey is about to have one of "those" weeks at work.  

Hmmmm.... What to do, what to do???

IF we wait until the last possible moment -- check-out day at the hotel -- then I have to move EVERYTHING from the hotel with only the kids help. (It's a work day at the office for Lindsey.) 

IF we move this weekend, Lindsey can help & we can settle into a routine before school hits, but there is no internet, no TV ... um, no furniture to speak of... for we-have-no-idea how long. 

These are the questions we pondered since Wednesday of last week. It's been a surprisingly difficult decision. The hotel offers security (staff are everywhere), sanity (kids have internet), & serenity (there's a coffee/tea bar 24/7). None of this is true at the apartment.... There's lots of big, empty, echo-inducing space... and an IKEA table. 

Never let it be said that I take the more pampered, quieter, sane road... Nope, not me. 

Looks like we'll be transitioning to the apartment sooner rather than later. 

So, after a terrible Birthday-day on Thursday... (nothing went as planned... right down to Lindsey's meeting running well over an hour late pushing my "chauffeur duties" out past 7 pm!) AND spending most of Friday hunting a microwave, TV, kettle, & crockpot with three kids who hate to appliance shop... I was already exhausted before we even packed (repacked) the first suitcase today! 

But it gets better!!! (Not in a good way....)

It takes 3 loads in the CRV to bring most of our stuff over. We had 65% humidity today. Lugging all those suitcases, bags, duffles, dress clothes that must be carried to prevent wrinkles, & backpacks (WHY did bring all this stuff?!) down to the hotel carpark... then up 8 stories from the apartment carpark... in such heat & humidity was almost the death of me (& Lindsey!)

After the first load, we put the kids in charge of their own rooms & stuff. But, remember... We have NO furniture. No dressers, no beds, no side tables, etc. I haven't looked, but they somehow managed. 

We did buy them these little pallets to sleep on tonight. It's pitiful, but at least the kids are looking at it as "camping". 

Lindsey & I have a bed because we couldn't ship our king size (it wouldn't fit in the bedroom here) so we bought something from IKEA.... That's a full size & it just about fills the room. 

But get this..... The A/C unit in our room appears to NOT be working. <Sigh> It's always something. 

Whatever.  We're in the apartment; we'll cook a home-made meal. 

Ahhhh... that would be true IF the Hob were working! There's no gas coming to the burners.... and the oven won't come up to temperature either. 

Of course not... 

... & I also notice I can't get hot water from the kitchen sink. 

Dear Lord, send me patience. Send it now...

I CAN get hot water in the bathroom sinks & showers (thank goodness for small favors!!!) We all agree that that's where I would've drawn the line: no hot shower, no spendie the nightie in the apartment. 

Period. 

So, We made 2 calls to the 24 hour emergency maintenance number, but nothing so far. 

We ate dinner out at Applebee's... where I managed to drop some kind of red sauce into my lap... on my very light tan pants. Grrrr... At least my washing machine works.

After a quick stop so I could change, we ended the night walking IKEA, dreaming about our own couches in Customs, & having an ice cream. 

Seriously, IKEA ice cream is the best deal in town. One Durham ($.36) per cone!  

In the end, no maintenance call back today... Guess we'll just lay on top of the duvet & sweat it out tonight, have cereal for breakfast in the AM, & boil our own water for dish washing.

Hey, it really is just like camping!

TOAD... It's not your typical frog legs

So within a few days of moving in at the hotel, I found this magazine outside our door. Of course, I haven't really had a moment to read it until now...

Time Out Abu Dhabi (TOAD, for short) is actually a wealth of information. It's full of restraunt reviews, upcoming events, movie releases, shopping venues, spa & health services listings, etc. I'm pleasantly surprised. 

I will admit to being totally baffled by this listing... 

... Until I realized "grape" means "wine"!!!

Ahhhh.... That makes SO much more sense. 

But, can you only enjoy "grape" on these 3 nights? I have no idea. It's going to take more investigating.... 

Yellow dog....

The kids will all be attending the same school here in Abu Dhabi. 

It's a pretty big deal as schools here are private & have an application process.... for each kid, individually.  It's not uncommon to have a family with kids split over two schools because space was an issue at their first choice. 

We were fortunate. GEMS American Academy had available space in all 3 of the grades our children will attend.  Whew! So today, we took the official school tour. 

The guide walked us through the lower floor where Olivia will spend the majority of her time. It also contains the indoor swimming pool, indoor gyms, clinic, auditorium, & cafeteria. The upper floors (there are 2) support the middle school & high school classrooms along with all the music/dance/theater stages. There is also a green screen production room, a library, & a 3D planetarium! 

I was impressed. 

Devin & Madeline really liked the black box theater (it's like a theater in the round.... but square), but Olivia said she's really looking forward to time in the planetarium. 

The school follows the international baccalaureate plan. I don't think it will be much of a factor in my kids' current class schedules as IB truly affects the high schoolers (which I don't have yet).  But, it will be very interesting to see how it plays out over here. Rockwall is starting their IB  program this year; I have several teacher friends who are involved. 

Since we only have the one car, we will be making use of the school's door-to-door bussing service. We happened to see the busses today, although we did not go inside one. 

I guess they were doing maintenance & driver checks ... Or perhaps the yellow dogs were the transportation for staff. Apparently, new teacher orientation started today. Our guide told us that they had 50 new teachers on campus!

Dry & dusty...

Sunday is the first day of the business week here in the EAU. That means all the offices are open & the schools are hard at work getting ready for students. 

I took Lindsey into the office just like any other work day. But, along around 3 pm, the wing picked up. 

I mean it REALLY started blowing....

Here's our view on any given day so far....

And this is what happens when you mix a lot of wind with all the sand around here....

Take a good look at those trees. They are plastered to the left. You can't even see the water anymore. 

Within a few minutes, visibility dropped to a few hundred feet & you couldn't see across the Plaza. 

Lindsey sent me this photo from his office window. 

I was supposed to pick him up at 6 pm, but the concierge suggested I wait a bit. It was crazy windy with no visibility to speak of. 

It did finally start to calm down enough that I felt confident enough to drive. It gets dark here around 7 pm & I just didn't want to add lack of daylight to this already murky conditions. 

The normal 20 minute drive took closer to 30 minutes, but I made it. 

Lindsey brought a water bottle with him & I was glad. The dust lodges in the back of your throat; you can't help but breathe it in. I felt so bad for the day laborers all along the roadsides. They had their head scarves wrapped in such a way that only a small slit for their eyes was visible. 

It took a few hours for the dust storm to completely clear. It has left everything -- I mean EVERYTHING -- coated in a very fine layer of sand colored dust; it's like a fine dusting of talcum powder on everything. 

Surprisingly, the streets don't seem to be greatly affected. They don't have large amounts of sand piled along the edges or between the lanes, as I expected this morning.

It was my first sand storm & we weathered it well.... But, honestly, I'd take a good ol' fashioned Texas thunderstorm instead.