Disappointments, Different Experiences, Flag Day, They Love Me, They Really Love Me

Since we've been here we have only had great experiences. The food has been amazing, the people we've come in contact with have been helpful and nice, and the buildings are awesome to see.

When the Emirates Palace announced that they would be starting brunch again we were all too excited. That was a place that I had on my list of places I wanted to visit. It was where the Fast and Furious 7 was filmed and many people know about Abu Dhabi because of this place. We booked our table in advance and we waited in anticipation.

The day of the brunch arrived and we decided that we weren't going to eat until our reservation so we could enjoy everything they had to offer. As we approached the Emirates Palace my stomach began to growl and I let it know that soon and very soon it would feel so much better.

We pulled up at the Emirates Palace and we were amazed by the sight. The palace was so grand. As soon as I saw it I thought about the Fast And Furious 7 scene that was filmed there. The Security Guard asked us why we were here and we told him we were there to enjoy brunch. He told us where to go and drove slowly and in amazement. Since Mike was driving I decided to take pictures.                         






We parked and walked up to where brunch was being served. I was so ready to eat but also wanted to take in the scenery. We were greeted by the hostess and she showed us where we could sit. Our friends are expecting a baby so sitting in the sun was not an option. I'm not expecting a baby and that still wasn't an option. All of the tables with umbrellas were taken so we had to find a place that was somewhat shaded by trees by and scenery. We sat down and after a few minutes we had our drink orders taken. While we waited for the drinks I walked around to see all of the food options and I was not as impressed as I was at the Sheraton brunch. I hoped that the taste would blow me away but that too fell short of the brunch we had at Flavours at the Sheraton.

They had a nice array of fresh seafood. Crab, sushi, fish. They had a chef that would roll the sushi to order. I'm not a fan of sushi but those that had it said it was pretty good. My favorite dish was the fried prawns and fries. I know it's very simple but it was delicious.


I thought the Emirates Palace brunch would be over the top with their food selections and ambience but in my opinion it definitely fell short. It could be because it was their first brunch of the season and it was new for everyone. I just know that as far as brunches are concerned the Sheraton brunch is my favorite so far.

After we ate we enjoyed the scenery.

I also experienced my first Girl's Night Out. I had not experienced this and I was very ready for a Girl's Night. We decided on a Halloween themed party. I've never been into dressing up or even other dressing up because I'm not a fan of those in costumes where I can't see their faces. My friend whose idea it was to go said she would probably not dress up because she could not find a costume. When I arrived to her flat she was dressed up! I was shocked but it was it all good. I had no idea who she was but everyone who saw her knew what she was dressed up as. In my defense, I was not allowed to watch those movies growing up. But I digress. We got to the party and we were taken aback. None of us expected the party to be on the beach. 2 of us had on heels! Heels and sand don't mix. We took off our heels and just tried to take in the scenery. Our expectation and what we were experiencing were on different ends of the spectrum. We tried to make the best of our Girls Night Out because all of our husbands and other husbands were having a Husbands Night In. When we couldn't take it any more we headed back and got ourselves ready to hear what the guys would have to say. They laughed at us and told us we wasted good outfits. They were definitely correct about that statement.

2 disappointments and I sure hope they are the last! But life is still good and I still love the life I'm living!

I've experienced what we would we call Open House. I'm used to being in my classroom and parents coming to see the classroom. This open house was in the common area. There were desks for all of us teachers and there were chairs in front of us for parents to sit and chit chat. It was very great to see so many parents, mostly fathers, truly concerned about how their son was doing in school. I was pleased by that!

I have realized that living in America has somewhat made me wear the blinders that they put on horses. Things here are very different! We have Flag Day in America but I'm sure it is not celebrated during school. Flag Day here is huge. The boys came in dressed in UAE color hats, scarves, and almost all of them had flags in their bookbags. During school, we all had to meet in the common area to celebrate Flag Day!

                                             

At the end of a hard week, any nice gesture is always welcoming. I was sitting in class with students wrapping up our class and one of our security guards came in with flowers and cupcakes. I was so surprised. He told me it was from one my parents. At that moment, I felt great!

 

Thanks for reading! We are about 3 weeks away from Winter Break and we both are ready to see our family and friends. My BFF, Ellen DeGeneres and I, are trying to coordinate our schedules so we can have some BFF time. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Be Kind to One Another and Be Uniquely You!

Halfway There

Well during lunch this week one of my colleagues said, "Ok girls, we're halfway through this trimester." I wish you could hear her because she's from South Africa but has lived in New Zealand for years. So her accent is something else.

Anyway, I couldn't believe it. Trimester 1 is 15 weeks and here I am beginning Week 8. These past 2 weeks have been rather eventful.

• My old Principal, who left Cochrane to be a principal in Mumbai, India was in Abu Dhabi (of all places) for a conference. He told me he would be in my new country and that dinner was a must. Mike and I met him, his family, and coworker/friends of theirs for dinner at a restaurant called El Sombrero. El Sombrero is in the Sheraton which is on the Corniche. The Sheraton is the same place where Mike and I experienced our first brunch. If you've not read that blog post, click here to see some AMAZING pictures and videos of food. 😁 Back to dinner though. We talked, we laughed, we compared our experiences. It was so great to talk to others who could directly relate to what we are currently experiencing as well as take advice from them about what's to come. All in all dinner was great and we plan on going to Mumbai to see them.

• When we were planning to come here one thing I told myself is I don't want to be a homebody and miss all of the excitement happening around me. So, when events occur and as long as it's something that will interest me, I definitely want to attend. My new BFF, the person who was instrumental in getting me here, asked if I wanted to go to a comedy show, of course I said yes! I love to laugh and I told myself I would make the best of my move so we went and sat right up front. The show lineup was comedians that if I listed them you would not know who they were. In my opinion only 2 of them were seriously funny. This one guy from Sri Lanka and a guy from New York. We laughed at them so much we had tears in our eyes. The other comics need to go and look at some Def Comedy Jam or something! In spite of all of that we had an awesome time and we ended our night at a little Jazz Club for a late night snack before turning in for the night.

• Mike and I are very different people. We have different interests. We are in very different circles but the one thing we have in common is music. We are lovers of music! I saw a post for
  
  a Silent Party and was definitely intrigued. The concept seemed dope but I wanted to see for myself. This is the concept. Everyone gets a set of wireless headphones. This party had 3 DJs and you choose from which DJ you want to listen to. You can change to any DJ at any time. The options were R&B, Hip Hop, and Reggae/Carribean. We walked in, got our headphones, and immediately started jamming. It was so awesome! It was something to see everyone with their headphones lit up having a great time. Each DJ was a different color so if you saw someone really dancing and singing hard it made you want to change to their DJ and hear what they were listening to. We had soooo much fun!

 

 

• Before leaving the Queen City I was working out with friends. I mentioned in a previous blog. When we first moved into our flat, I was going to work out first thing in the morning. I did that for a week and then one day I didn't go and the routine was broken and I stopped completely. I walked by the mirror one day and I scared myself by how much weight it looked like I gained. The very next day I got up early, before work, and went to exercise. My friend had sent me some things I could do each day. So I walked/jogged 2 miles and then did some of the exercises. The 2nd day I did this I was mid run and the security guard told me I could not be down in that area. (I was walking the little trail around the pool.) He killed my vibe and my routine was broken. I had been talking to my new BFF about working out and she said she would. We met after work and walked. She had been working out before the summer break so I decided to walk the route she had been doing. It felt good to have a workout partner. We did this for 2 days. On day 3 she was tired and needed a nap but I was determined to be consistent so I asked Mike to join me so I could keep up my routine. He was happy to join and I got it in. So far, I've been consistent for 6 days! I know this is small to some but for me it's an accomplishment! Below are the sights we see on our walk around the island.

 

 

• School life is going ok. I'm starting to get in the swing of things and build relationships with my boys. One day this week, DURING MY LESSON, an Indian man came in to show the boys some art. (Remember that word flexibility that I so adamantly talked about. Here it is again.) He rolled some paper up and made some cuts and the finished product was something nice and creative. He told the boys they could buy the set for 15 dirhams. That equates to like 4 US Dollars. The very next day he came back to my class and over half of my students bought a 2 page booklet and some paper. 

• I was given another schedule/timetable on this past Thursday and it will start on Sunday. I've lost count on how many schedules I've been given. This one doesn't seem so bad. I feel that now I won't have to rush through my lesson. I think I'll also feel like I'm back in the states teaching because our periods were 90 minutes. Check out Wednesday though! What this shows is when you see 6A, 6B, or 6C that's when I'll have class. All of the blank places are my free periods.

• We have decided that we are going to try a new brunch once a month. This month's brunch will be at the Emirates Palace and we are going today! We have decided not to eat so we can fully enjoy brunch. Don't worry I got up this morning and my workout in! 😃 If you plan on coming to visit me please make sure your stay goes through a Friday so you can enjoy a brunch with me! I'll definitely be posting about the brunch once we get back! If the picture looks familiar it's because it was where the Fast And Furious 7 crew went when they came to Abu Dhabi.

As always Be Kind To One Another and Be Uniquely You!

So Easy

And now for the moment we've been waiting for....We bought a new car!!!

When you buy a new car here they have it covered and then they unveil it for you!

Yep, that's right we are the proud owners of a 2017 Toyota Rav 4 and we could not be any happier. I have never bought a new car off of a car lot. Every car I have ever owned has been pre owned and at least 5 years old. So this accomplishment is something.

We were renting a car from National but when you do the math and look at the numbers it makes more money sense to purchase so that's what we did.

The process to buying a car is so simple here. We went to the lot to look. We had an idea of what we wanted but not sure of the make and model.

Once we got to the lot we were greeted by a salesman. He asked us what we were looking for and our price point. With the feeling of no pressure he showed us some options. The prices were exactly where we wanted. Once we decided on what car we wanted, the finance manager came and told us our options. He made it very clear that we will not have to run around to get things done. We would not have to apply with a bank, the dealership would handle all of that. We ordered the car and were told after we signed with the bank it would be brought to the dealership. A few days after visiting the dealership a bank contacted us and we were approved. We went to the bank office to sign the final papers. 2 days after signing with the bank the car dealership said our car had arrived and we could come look at it and they would prepare it for us to drive the next day. We had to turn in our rental car that day so we told him we needed it the same day. They said no problem. The car dealership is who applies for your registration and tags. There is no wait for the tags to come to another office and we ride around with temporary tags. The tag was put on the car before we drove off. This process was super simple and the car dealership is a one stop shop! Gotta love it!

The one thing I want to point out is in every car you purchase in the UAE it comes with a fire extinguisher! The fire extinguisher is on the passenger side. We asked about it and he said many times when cars catch on fire the driver can't get out and get to the back of the car so it's right there for convenience. Brilliant!

Now you should come to Abu Dhabi so you can ride in my new car! Be Kind to One Another and Be Uniquely You!