A few mental notes......

Soooo....it has been about three days of really being here. We are surrounded by so many foreigners that it really does not feel like we are out of the country until the music begins to play, declaring that it is prayer time in this muslim country. The scenery is very pretty and I took pictures of our view from the hotel, though it won't be our view for long.

We found out yesterday that we will be in the city of Al Ain, about two hours from Abu Dhabi. We will take a trip tomorrow and look at our apartment and see what we need in order to furnish it. We will be surrounded by other teachers, so I am sure that we will be building a family.

Thomas and I are still adjusting to the times, so even though we should have been up and active for the day, we took a long nap at 12 noon, because we couldn't stay awake any longer. There are a lot of people who brought their families with them, and I am so glad that Thomas came with me because the way it sounds it will be about two months before people whose family did not come with them will be able to join them. We will have to do a border run, or rather Thomas will have to in, order to get another visitor's visa, but Al Ain is close to the border of Oman.

So far, we have only eaten at two places. One was in Marina Mall...and can you guess what we had? Pizza.....Figuaro's pizza! It was the safe bet as we really didn't want to venture out too much! It was a different kind of cheese and honestly, we ordered the salad bar, and was only able to eat the salad bar one time! Fancy that, but we know for next time. All in all, it was not so bad but for a whopping A.E.D.110 we were full.

The next restaurant we visited yesterday was the Lebanese Flower. It was really good food located in the travelers section of town, or so they call it. This food was really good. When we were seated we were given a basket of thin pita bread, olives, tomatoes, some leafy vegetable (Thomas said it was nasty) and pickles, and cucumbers. I guess this was the appetizer so we ate it with no objections. Next we ordered falafel, vegetable soup, french fries (gotta go with the safe bet), and Thomas had an Arabic Salad. The food was wonderful but the best part was asking the waiter how we were supposed to eat the food. It was at this point that he used his hands to make us a falafel sandwich, dipped it in the sauce and shoved it in my face! Hey, I had no problem eating it, I know that is why we say grace, and really mean it. :-)

Nothing too new and adventurous here, but living the life for now in Abu Dhabi. Until next time!!!!

Let's see what we eat tonight! --Chante