Abu Dhabi - Day 3

We decided to head out to breakfast this morning. It was a wonderful little Australian cafe called "Jones the Grocer". It had black out curtains across all the windows since you aren't supposed to eat/drink in public during Ramadan.

The food was yummy and I had a delicious caffe mocha. The also have a lovely cheese room with all sorts of cheeses to purchase. Alexander was disappointed to not find pancakes or waffles on the menu though. He had Bacon-wrapped sausage and a croissant.

Then, it was off to Ikea for a few household items. The parking lot and store were sooooo empty. Friday is the Muslim holy day.

Ikea is located on Yas Island whic is also where Ferrari World is (home of the fastest roller coaster in the world) and a future Warner Brothers Amusement Park and a bunch of hotels. We drove around checking things out. It is about 20 minutes from where we live.

Then I was off to LuLu's for some groceries and a store called Daiso for Made in Japan miscellaneous stuff (pens, post its, organizer baskets for the pantry space, etc...)

I wish I could take pics of the people in the stores. Everyone is so different and the clothing is so different too. I saw a 2 year old girl with drawn on perfect eyebrows and a little gold ring and tiny gold bracelets and a gold necklace, yet her parents looked very simple. Is this normal? No idea. The abayas are so different too (the black outfits the women wear). Some look made of cheap, black fabric and others look made of really nice, flowy, black fabric with pretty (sometimes sparkly) designs on the sleeve. They usually are carrying expensive designer bags too. The men wear white outfits and sometimes white head coverings with black ropes around them or without or sometimes red coverings. I have no idea what it all means yet. There are also Indian saris, Pakistani clothing, and things I don't recognize at all.

After that it was home for a swim (I'll post house and compound pics tomorrow) and we made dinner.

I want the kids to try different things as often as possible. We bought pretty-colored dragon fruit today but for dinner we opted to make quail with rice and asparagus. We had pitas on the side (one of the few cheap food items - they only cost 2.5 dirhams or $.68)









We also bought mango juice. Bella's new friend, Ella showed her how to make a simple Indian smoothies by mixing it with yogurt and sugar (with a fork in a glass).

Now it's family movie night.

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Abu Dhabi - Day 1

I was up around 9 and enjoyed a typical breakfast of Fage yogurt before checking emails, making a to do list and planning the day.

Brian pointed out some of the security measures of the house and by the time the kids were up I was ready to go.







Brian made pancakes for them and we were out the door by 10:30.

We walked down the street a few steps to the compound's clubhouse. It has a pool, hot tub, gym area (like a hotel) and a fun play area with a couple indoor little tykes climb-on toys for Cameron. After a brief tour, it was time to head out.

First stop.....The US Embassy. It is about 10 minutes from the house and there are signs posted that it is against the law to take pictures anywhere in the embassy rd area.

The embassy is nice and there are several levels of security. We met a few people, found where I can pick up various bits of information, borrow movies or books and saw the gift shop (handmade AD magnets and jewelry, US candy and snacks and alcohol). I picked up some Cab-Sauvignon and a bottle of vodka.

I started the process for my AD license and ID and met Brian's boss' wife (who will get me the name of her housecleaner, will introduce me to a few SAHM with young kids and have our family out to dinner).

Brian drove us around a little to show us a few things And we headed to Mushrif Mall where a wonderful grocery store is located (LuLu's Hypermarket). It was a little overwhelming and I look forward to going on my own to take more time there. It was sorta like a Super Target. There are toys, clothes, household goods and TONS of food. Everything had Arabic and English writing on it. Lots and lots of new foods and some things I recognized with different names. I bought a few new things to try (date-flavored milk, quail, couple other things). It was overwhelming to think about the prices so I honestly just grabbed a few different items. Brian was there to help out, of course.

Here is what I bought for 446 dirhams or $121.50.....








We walked around the mall a bit too. It is really new and not aa lot is open, but it looks promising. I saw this in one area, but didn't look too close to see what it was. The signs around talk about the moon phases.







There is also a large Sparky's on the top floor, which looks like chuck e cheese.

Since it is Ramadan, we can't eat or drink or even chew gum in public before dusk. We headed home around 2:30 for lunch. After lunch, the kids decided to go for a swim. I took Alexander to the house of a kid he has been communicating with via email (his parents work at the embassy and his mom is going to be Brian's admin person in his office).

Brian, the kids and I all headed down to the pool and they are all swimming away while I finish up here.

Later we will head to another (Walmart-like) store and a place to get my cell phone plan set up.

I am hoping to stay up until 8-ish. I hear the best way to get used to the time difference is to wake up and go to sleep at the right times, not nap and spend time in the daylight. So far, so good.

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