The Verows @ UAE!: It's slowly coming together...Shway Shway

Shway Shway - means "slowly" in Arabic.

We have wheels! We even saved a little dirhams since we went with an older car – older meaning one year older! It’s a 2009 Honda Civic. Can’t complain. One thing that is interesting about the car is when you hit 120 km/hr (the speed limit on the road to Al Ain) it beeps and this light blinks warning you you’re at the max. But that stops no one. We had quite a few cars – or SUV’s really – come speeding by us. You would never imagine the number of Toyota Land Cruisers! And if you’re in the left lane – what we in the states refer to as the fast lane – and not up to their standards of speed – they do several things. They will honk, flash their lights repeatedly until you move, or even just pass you on the left where there is a very narrow shoulder. Freaks!

We ventured around Abu Dhabi yesterday, took the kids to Fun City again, and even went to dinner at Chili’s with two other families. Cole met his match there too! One of the daughters talks as much as he did. I think she exhausted him! So driving here was quite hectic but not as crazy as I thought it would be.

Today we took 4 of our 8 suitcases to Al Ain. We figured we had a car, and a day to do something – why not make it productive! We dropped off the suitcases in the nice cold air conditioned villa and headed to Al Ain Mall! And NEVER GOT LOST! On the way to the mall we jaunted off to see Jennifer’s school. We searched out directions and maps the other night and had lots of landmarks to find it. So after the 4^th roundabout you turn right and pass the small roundabout and follow it around and it’s across from the few furniture stores and a few restaurants. We were surprised how large the school appears to be. See the picture of her school below.

We found a new store and wanted to venture out to check it out and get some items for the villa. We got just about everything we needed for the kitchen and other miscellaneous items. Dishes, silverware, towels, sponges, trash cans, vacuum, iron, ironing board, kids’s back packs, cutting boards, knives, cups, air freshener (more on this topic in a minute) hangers (which we never found kid sized hangers!), pots and pans, some cookware items, etc. We spent about $2,000 dirhams which translates to roughly $545. Can’t beat that!

So air fresheners…I’ve had it with the Abu Dhabi aromas…not to offend anyone, but we’re just not used to the smells. Lots of them. Good ones at times, and bad ones. The incense is out of control sometimes. And I FINALLY found some that plug into walls! Not just some timed spray ones. It’ll be nice in our villa because here in our hotel apartment – the aromas travel all over. So when you get a bad one – it’s bad!!! I even had to buy one for the car too! YIKES!

The kids were SOOOO excited about their backpacks today. Cole, of course, picked Ben 10. He has become obsessed with Ben 10 since we arrived here in the UAE! Caralyn wanted some LuLu Caty backpack – which is apparently come cartoon thing. No clue. I attempted to ask the clerk who helped us but I don’t think she had any idea what I was really asking. But you can google it and find out all about it – there are even You Tube videos!

OSN – Orbit Showtime Network – was installed today. It’s situations like these that frustrate me! But that is the American in me. I called YESTERDAY and asked when they would be there to set it up since I was not living in Al Ain yet. I was told Saturday sometime. Well tonight I get a call around 8:30 from the technician who was there to install the OSN satellite box. Of course!!!! Well luckily – we were smart – and left a key with the neighbor across from us (who we knew already) and they let him in. It’s nuts. But again – another one of our many to come – an inshallah moment!

The weirdest thing today was it rained. We left the mall and we noticed it was somewhat dusk like and it wasn’t time for dusk. Sure enough – it started raining. Not terribly heavy at first but then we got some really decent showers. And the funniest thing – FLOODING! There were areas (especially the round abouts) where water was above the curb. And I thought if they are already crazy drivers – can’t imagine what it’s like in the rain! But we make it through with no issues. There was even some debris in areas. Then the wind stayed and sand went everywhere – so I guess that’s a sandstorm?

Tomorrow – church again – and our last one in Abu Dhabi. This is a great feeling to know Sunday night we’ll be living in our villa in our nice new awesome bed we bought. Well we didn’t buy it – our employer paid for it! Can’t beat it!

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