So.....I guess we are really playing the waiting game. Since we came here, last week was the only week that we had an official agenda. One day we had orientation, the next we looked at our apartments, and the final day-we went to get our medical check-ups. So now.....what do we do? Who knows. Right now there is only he say/she say or what I call "The word on the street..."
Since we are moving to Al Ain, which is far from the city, the "word on the street" is that we will be moving out of this hotel to one that is closer to Al Ain so we can really get on our way getting all of our furniture. Who has confirmed this? No one. So.......what next??? We don't know. Someone else said that we would be moving out this week coming up, someone else said not until the 27th......Who has confirmed this? You know the answer...No one..... :-)
Interestingly enough, this is really not bothering me, because even though it was many years ago, I feel like I am back in China again......nothing is for sure.
Yesterday Thomas and I ran some errands...things that we were told we had to do (unofficially.) We took a taxi to the bank because we had to pick up our bank cards. This is how we will be getting paid, automatic deposit into the bank that has already been set up. This is also the way that we will be receiving our housing allowance. They are supposed to deposit it into our accounts. But, "the word on the street is" (and there are several versions of this), that we have the bank card but we cannot use it until we get our residence visa, which we will get back in no more than 2 months. Until then "the word on the street" is that once we get the housing allowance, we will have to go to the bank and withdraw the money, around $5,000 (American), in order to use the money, because our cards will not work. This was said even though, one of the other teachers said that she talked to the bank manager and reminded him, that there were at this point around almost 400 teachers who would all need to withdraw this money. If that is the case, the bank needs to make sure they have a lot of money on hand.
In addition to this, we were given our bank debit cards and had to activate it via the ATM but, the card still does not work, even in that and we have to go back to the bank to make sure that all holds are off of it??????Hunh????? (Yeah my thoughts too.....)
So we move on to the next thing.....
Our next trip was to get our licenses translated into Arabic....This is in order for us to receive a UAE driver's license. Yes, we did receive an international driver's license, but you cannot use this if you are a resident, you have to have one of their licenses. So......Thomas can drive, or I should say he can rent a car because he is a visitor until I get my resident's visa, but after seeing how they drive in the city, he says he doesn't want to. This may change, when we go to Al Ain. The busses that we see here in Abu Dhabi, didn't see so much in Al Ain. The taxi's that we have taken here in Abu Dhabi...yeah, far and few in Al Ain. (I think he is going to change his mind.)
So, we went to another mall to get the license translated, and we sweated just standing in the heat looking for the place because, "the word on the street" was that the translation place was across the street from the mall. When we got there, we saw four other teachers also waiting for their licenses, and it was there that we found out that the cost was 60 dirhams even though, you guessed it, "the word on the street" was that it was 50 dirhams. Either way we paid it and my license is translated, but while talking to the other teachers there, we found out that Thomas and I's marriage license had to be attested, before I could get it translated, before I could apply for his visa. Now this attestation is in addition to me having to:
1. Get it notarized
2. Get a foreign approval stamp from Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia
3. Have it stamped by the Secretary of State (Hillary Clinton)
4. Have it stamped by the Embassy of the UAE in Washington D.C.
5. Finally sent back to me.
Mind you all of these things cost money, but hey, just one more thing to add on on top of everything else.
So...you know what we did next, went to get our marriage license attested. Now mind you, it is hot outside, and we are at the end of the Muslim Ramadan, which means that they are fasting from 6 a.m. to sunset. As a rule there is no eating or drinking in public....so it was around this time, maybe earlier that I was thirsty. Thomas and I decided to take the bus back to the other mall instead of taking a cab, which at this time was really beginning to add up. We asked the translator which bus to take and he told us #11, so we waited for the bus. Because of the heat, the bus stops are air conditioned with tinted windows....niceeeee......
When we got on the bus, Thomas had to sit in the back and I was able to sit in the front. I was cool and comfortable with plenty of space while Thomas took to the back with the MEN!!! Huuuuuh!
I took some pictures along the way....enjoy.
Ladies only
One of the gas stations: 1.75 dirham/gal (around .30 cents)
We got our marriage license attested, AKA stamped (I could have done that), but could not get it translated because the guy there told us "I get off at 3." You get off at 3!!!! What a life........Sure enough when we walked up into this place that looks like a tinted DMV office, no one was there and this guy was listening to his IPOD....."Jump, jump, the mac daddy make ya, jump jump, Kris Kross will make ya, jump jump." (Well I don't know if this is what he was listening to for sure, but let's just really say that homie was Chillin'. Anyway, we'll get it translated another day.
So....we decided to head to another store to look at other furniture. We have not found a king sized bed here and IKEA did not seem to have one that we liked so we decided to take the escalator up.....Well as we got on the escalator, I needed another water break which can only be done in the privacy of my own bathroom stall, so while just getting on the escalator, I spotted a bathroom and told Thomas we needed to get off. Of course, the hubby AKA Superman, turns around and runs and jumps off the escalator with no problem....so me on the other hand....had a little issue. So I began my decent, only problem.....the stairs kept coming and it was at the point that I knew, I would have to jump........as I steadily descended I yell at Thomas "This is hard..." and I finally see myself jump, and realize....this next step is coming up fast....and all I could think about was ..."this is going to hurt..." but praise G-sus....I made it. I felt like I had won the prize and I should have heard applause as I say with pride "Success", only to look at my husband and see the laugh on his face as he tries to hide it with his sweat towel......Thanks a lot baby. I quickly go into my bathroom stall....and guzzle my water...not wanting to exert any more energy without properly hydrating myself.....Praise Him that the bathrooms are clean!!!
After many other stops and finally getting Cell Phones....that everyone says we need...we made it home....had some dinner, blinds closed of course, and was down for the night. Thomas at 6....I at 6:30......we woke up the next morning, yeahhhhh....our bodies are finally getting the hang of this....now the next thing to do is....wait and see what is happening next...and you know where this news is coming from...you got it...."The word on the street." - Our groups facebook page! Gotta love technology!
e-mail us for our number
Until next time family!
Since we are moving to Al Ain, which is far from the city, the "word on the street" is that we will be moving out of this hotel to one that is closer to Al Ain so we can really get on our way getting all of our furniture. Who has confirmed this? No one. So.......what next??? We don't know. Someone else said that we would be moving out this week coming up, someone else said not until the 27th......Who has confirmed this? You know the answer...No one..... :-)
Interestingly enough, this is really not bothering me, because even though it was many years ago, I feel like I am back in China again......nothing is for sure.
Yesterday Thomas and I ran some errands...things that we were told we had to do (unofficially.) We took a taxi to the bank because we had to pick up our bank cards. This is how we will be getting paid, automatic deposit into the bank that has already been set up. This is also the way that we will be receiving our housing allowance. They are supposed to deposit it into our accounts. But, "the word on the street is" (and there are several versions of this), that we have the bank card but we cannot use it until we get our residence visa, which we will get back in no more than 2 months. Until then "the word on the street" is that once we get the housing allowance, we will have to go to the bank and withdraw the money, around $5,000 (American), in order to use the money, because our cards will not work. This was said even though, one of the other teachers said that she talked to the bank manager and reminded him, that there were at this point around almost 400 teachers who would all need to withdraw this money. If that is the case, the bank needs to make sure they have a lot of money on hand.
In addition to this, we were given our bank debit cards and had to activate it via the ATM but, the card still does not work, even in that and we have to go back to the bank to make sure that all holds are off of it??????Hunh????? (Yeah my thoughts too.....)
So we move on to the next thing.....
Our next trip was to get our licenses translated into Arabic....This is in order for us to receive a UAE driver's license. Yes, we did receive an international driver's license, but you cannot use this if you are a resident, you have to have one of their licenses. So......Thomas can drive, or I should say he can rent a car because he is a visitor until I get my resident's visa, but after seeing how they drive in the city, he says he doesn't want to. This may change, when we go to Al Ain. The busses that we see here in Abu Dhabi, didn't see so much in Al Ain. The taxi's that we have taken here in Abu Dhabi...yeah, far and few in Al Ain. (I think he is going to change his mind.)
So, we went to another mall to get the license translated, and we sweated just standing in the heat looking for the place because, "the word on the street" was that the translation place was across the street from the mall. When we got there, we saw four other teachers also waiting for their licenses, and it was there that we found out that the cost was 60 dirhams even though, you guessed it, "the word on the street" was that it was 50 dirhams. Either way we paid it and my license is translated, but while talking to the other teachers there, we found out that Thomas and I's marriage license had to be attested, before I could get it translated, before I could apply for his visa. Now this attestation is in addition to me having to:
1. Get it notarized
2. Get a foreign approval stamp from Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia
3. Have it stamped by the Secretary of State (Hillary Clinton)
4. Have it stamped by the Embassy of the UAE in Washington D.C.
5. Finally sent back to me.
Mind you all of these things cost money, but hey, just one more thing to add on on top of everything else.
So...you know what we did next, went to get our marriage license attested. Now mind you, it is hot outside, and we are at the end of the Muslim Ramadan, which means that they are fasting from 6 a.m. to sunset. As a rule there is no eating or drinking in public....so it was around this time, maybe earlier that I was thirsty. Thomas and I decided to take the bus back to the other mall instead of taking a cab, which at this time was really beginning to add up. We asked the translator which bus to take and he told us #11, so we waited for the bus. Because of the heat, the bus stops are air conditioned with tinted windows....niceeeee......
When we got on the bus, Thomas had to sit in the back and I was able to sit in the front. I was cool and comfortable with plenty of space while Thomas took to the back with the MEN!!! Huuuuuh!
I took some pictures along the way....enjoy.
Ladies only
One of the gas stations: 1.75 dirham/gal (around .30 cents)
We got our marriage license attested, AKA stamped (I could have done that), but could not get it translated because the guy there told us "I get off at 3." You get off at 3!!!! What a life........Sure enough when we walked up into this place that looks like a tinted DMV office, no one was there and this guy was listening to his IPOD....."Jump, jump, the mac daddy make ya, jump jump, Kris Kross will make ya, jump jump." (Well I don't know if this is what he was listening to for sure, but let's just really say that homie was Chillin'. Anyway, we'll get it translated another day.
So....we decided to head to another store to look at other furniture. We have not found a king sized bed here and IKEA did not seem to have one that we liked so we decided to take the escalator up.....Well as we got on the escalator, I needed another water break which can only be done in the privacy of my own bathroom stall, so while just getting on the escalator, I spotted a bathroom and told Thomas we needed to get off. Of course, the hubby AKA Superman, turns around and runs and jumps off the escalator with no problem....so me on the other hand....had a little issue. So I began my decent, only problem.....the stairs kept coming and it was at the point that I knew, I would have to jump........as I steadily descended I yell at Thomas "This is hard..." and I finally see myself jump, and realize....this next step is coming up fast....and all I could think about was ..."this is going to hurt..." but praise G-sus....I made it. I felt like I had won the prize and I should have heard applause as I say with pride "Success", only to look at my husband and see the laugh on his face as he tries to hide it with his sweat towel......Thanks a lot baby. I quickly go into my bathroom stall....and guzzle my water...not wanting to exert any more energy without properly hydrating myself.....Praise Him that the bathrooms are clean!!!
After many other stops and finally getting Cell Phones....that everyone says we need...we made it home....had some dinner, blinds closed of course, and was down for the night. Thomas at 6....I at 6:30......we woke up the next morning, yeahhhhh....our bodies are finally getting the hang of this....now the next thing to do is....wait and see what is happening next...and you know where this news is coming from...you got it...."The word on the street." - Our groups facebook page! Gotta love technology!
e-mail us for our number Until next time family!
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