Grand Mosque Visit....Take 1

My day never seems non-stop busy, really. But, when I start to put it all down here it sounds like it is.





Here's Bella looking adorable with her hair pulled back, I hope she does this for school this year, instead of the wild Amazonian hairstyle she went with last year (the I'm too tired to brush my hair in the morning look).




We decided to try a new fruit today: Snake Fruit or Salak. Found a neat website about fruit species and it tells you more about it here: Fruit Species





It comes from Indonesia. It is easy to open and the skin peels right off. It shouldn't look like this though. It was rotten and smelled nasty.




We opened another one and it looked better. It has three big garlic-clove-looking things in it with a an inedible pit in each one. Bella and I tried a bite.










We both decided we didn't like it. Smells awful, tastes soury.




We went to a place called the Abu Dhabi Co-o Society. I thought ....ooh a Food Co-op. Um, no. More like some food mixed with Walmart quality clothes and some toys. The kids told me to take a picture of the Giant Cabbage heads though.


Then, we came home for a swim and lunch before heading out for our big event of the day: The Grand Mosque.

It's a "must-see" thing to do in Abu Dhabi. Today is Friday (Brian's first weekend day) and it is the Holy Day for Muslims (like our Sunday) and have I mentioned that it's Ramadan (the holiest time of year for Muslims)?

So...we checked the Internet (which I should know by now is NOT a reliable source of information for times) and it said there are guided tours on Fridays at 5 pm (it listed other times too and EVEN mentioned that the morning tours don't happen during Ramadan).

I thought, great! I wanna go, let's check it out. So......off we went.

You drive about 10 minutes from our house and see this AMAZING building. It is like a palace of white, rising to the sky. Incredible.




There were a few people around the outside area.



We read ahead of time that you need to dress conservatively and women should cover their arms and wear skirts to the ankles and cover your head. Men shouldn't wear shorts.




Bella donned a cute gold scarf that my mom's cousin Marina gave me as a gift for just such an occasion.

I decided to wear a Red dress with a purple scarf over my head and big sunglasses. (obviously not an attention-getting outfit or anything..). Looking back, I may have appeared as Victoria Beckham's Fat Sister. I walked quickly, with my head held high like I was supposed to be there and on a mission. People tend to leave you alone when you do this.

As we walked closer in, there were lots more people....ummm... Muslim men. Maybe one or two Muslim women.

Everyone was staring at us...ummm...me.

Awkward.

We got to one area where there was security and the gentleman said "women only this way" (usually there is a separate women's and men's mosque so I figured he was directing me to that)

Brian asked where the tour was held and the security guard explained that there are no tours on Fridays in Ramadan. (Duh....ignorant American)

Brian tried to explain that the website said there was. We were told again that there isn't.





This is us leaving.....




It is moments like this that I'm glad I don't understand those around me because I'm sure the looks and whispers weren't good.

We'll try again tomorrow.

Then Brian took the kids swimming and I relaxed with a few magazines....ahhh touch of home (so glad my trashy entertainment mags get delivered here)

We decided to venture out to dinner at Mondo Pizzeria, a place Brian has visited before. They are located at the Country Club and they deliver.

It was fantastic. (my dish was at least) We were the only ones there and had three or four waiters helping us. Great service. I'm getting used to being called Madam ("Mah-Dom") a lot.




















I forgot to take a picture of my main entree but it was a seafood dish with lobster, scallop, squid, Sea Bass, Prawn, Mussel and Hammour (local Amazing-melt-in-your-mouth fish).

I finished with a little mousse....(dark chocolate, white chocolate and milk chocolate). Glad I had four people to share it with.



The bill was 500 dhs before tip. That would be $150. So, there's our big night out for the month. Ouch!



Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hit the Gym

I toured a fabulous gym earlier in the week and finally decided to call up Brian's boss' wife to go to a class.

We went to Body Pump and it was fabulous. The instructor was a guy, which is different than my old gym where all the fitness instructors were women. He was Australian sounding and had a great accent but it took a little to understand him.

Body Pump is a class where you use weights and all the weights are in kilograms instead of pounds. I had to recalculate things in my head to figure out how much to use. You would think that lifting it to see if it was a good amount would work, but no - I wanted to know how much in numbers it was. They don't compute simply. 2.5kg, 5kg and 10kg weights become 5.5 lb, 11 lb and 22 lb. It's not even in my head, but I'll get used to it.

I left the class feeling a good burn and a wonderful mood enhancement, I forgot how great of a mood that exercise gets you in.

I spent an hour visiting with Yvonne after class and we got along great. Now I'll have a gym buddy! She also promised to introduce me to three or four gals who are SAHM's with similar age little ones. We talked about doing dinner & drinks with the four of us next week and she has a teenage daughter who babysits. Score!

She also filled me in on who to contact at the embassy about furniture issues, carpet cleaning, lightbulb replacement and etc... (The GSO - clearly this GSO person is someone I should've met by now......maybe Brian is keeping them from me so I don't pester them with concerns?????)

We also talked about past job stuff and she said that working in the PA dept sounds right up my alley. Considering the amount of turnover here (everyone does 2 or 3 year commitments), there is bound to be an opening when I'm ready for one (which is not now).

So, wrapped up with that and then home to grab Brian and the kids for the last fun soccer/football night. Kids had a blast until midnight and I think I got a little video of the guy doing "freestyle football" that I will have to wait until my computer gets here to download.

Our stuff has been here for a week and we are waiting for it to clear and get delivered. Next week is EID (big holiday time celebrating the end of Ramadan and everything shuts down) so if it's not delivered by Sunday, it will be another week.

Tomorrow is Brian's weekend. Hoping to try church again before heading off for something fun!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Abu Dhabi - Day 4

We've acquired an unwanted pet gecko. Supposedly they don't bite and they catch spiders so I'm leaving it alone.








Jet Lag caught up with us today. Cam woke me up (from a cruddy sleep on a cruddy mattress) at 7:30 am to nurse (yes, he still nurses and no I don't mind and no I haven't tried to wean him with all the changes going on in our life).

We followed with breakfast and a nap.

I woke up again and started feeling antsy to get out of the house but the big kids were sleeping and did so until I woke them at 12:30 pm. We were all feeling sleepy and slow moving.

Decided to head out to check out the gym. There are only a few choices with childcare (they call them a "creche"). We went to the gigantic and all-encompassing Abu Dhabi Country Club.








Services offered:
Nail Salon
Men's haircuts
Pizza place
Fine dining
Kids sports club
Fitness Classes (4 separate rooms)
Indoor pool
Outdoor pool
Squash courts
Wind Tunnel (??)
Steam rooms
Sauna
Gym (co-Ed)
Separate women's only gym
Another restaurant
Creche

The basic gym price just for me isn't bad at $130-ish per month vs the entire family for almost $500. But, the childcare is another 10 dhs ($4) per hour. The nail salon prices are great at $13 for a basic pedicure and on up. You can get a day pass for fitness classes or to use the pool so we'll probably just get a Membership for me and bring the kids now and again for other stuff.

Then, we drove a few minutes across town to go bowling. It was huge with 40 lanes and totally empty because of Ramadan. It cost only 60 dhs ($15) for shoes for 5 people and one game.















It was at a huge facility called Zayed Sports City. It really was like a little city. It had a giant "football field" (soccer) and other smaller football fields, an ice skating rink, bowling alley, gym and more. Everything is so overwhelming and big and there's so much to look at when we drive around.

Then, we headed home for swimming, dinner and another movie night.

Here are a few pics of our complex too.







It looks like the entrance to an office complex.








No garage - just a carport with the rental car in it. A little nervous about where all our stuff is gonna go....








Here's the front of the clubhouse, three doors down from our place.








Clubhouse lobby.








Indoor play area upstairs in the clubhouse.








The pool and hot tub. Water temps vary everyday. Sometimes the pool is warmer than the hot tub and the hot tub jets shoot up rather than from the back. It was like an ice cold enema the first time I turned them on - surprise!








The kids being silly in a "triple bunk bed".

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad