As you know, Richard officially works in Abu Dhabi, so hitching a ride is no problem for me. This trip we got a look at two very different events – on the same weekend.

We are not really Formula 1 racing fans, so we have never looked into getting tickets for the race. That being said, this is clearly a big event in the city of Abu Dhabi. The race takes place on Yaz Island (remember that the city of Abu Dhabi is a series of natural and man-made islands connected by bridges). The track runs around a large hotel where they sell special viewing packages – if you decide you don’t want to sit in the stands.

The Galleria, the mall right next to Richard’s office building on Al Maryah Island, took this opportunity set out a display of “super cars” – as Formula 1 cars can’t be driven on the highways. J It was impressive to see these cars as we’re not likely to frequent any showroom that sells them. Richard didn’t even know that they actually make Bugattis any more. The cars are cordoned off with most having a security guy next to them, just in case people decide they want a really close look. Another display was of carpets based on designs of a Middle Eastern designer, Norma Kamali. The queen of the UAE has taken an interest in a project of having the designs transferred to carpet designs that are made by a women’s cooperative in Afghanistan.

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The other event was the premier concert of “Ibn Battuta, Traveler of Islam” composed and performed by Jordi Savall, a Catalan composer and musician (viola de gamba), best known for  performing and arranging music written prior to the 12^th Century.

Ibn Battuta was an Arab writer and explorer who travelled more than 120,000 km over a period of 29 years. The music is to represent the countries he visited on his travels. This piece is the first part of the composition – the second part is to debut next year. It consisted of seven sections played with “traditional” instruments with singers from Turkey, Syria, Greece, France and Morocco singing in Arabic with narration in both English and Arabic. Savall himself, while clearly the conductor, kept a low profile with the other instruments and voices playing a larger role in the composition. While most of the music sounded like music from the region, it also had sections that sounded like the “cante ondo” of the gypsies of the Iberian Peninsula and oddly, Andean music due to the long flute that sounded like a quena.

The concert took place in the theatre of the Emirates Palace Hotel. We had heard that this hotel was first constructed as a palace for the ruler of the UAE, whose palace is on the property next to the hotel, but apparently it was built as a luxury hotel, but designed by someone who has designed palaces in the region. It has 302 rooms and 92 one to three bedroom suites. We did spot a “first” for us – there was a vending machine that dispenses (providing you have your credit card) gold ingot-shaped pendants with different souvenir designs of the hotel and/or the UAE. The prices averaged around +/-1000Dh or around +/-$272.

Because of timing we decided to have dinner at the hotel and tried “Emirati” food at the Mezlai restaurant. The main course we chose was grilled seafood, but the appetizers were probably more “typical” as they were foods that were clearly designed to stick to one’s ribs – kind of different dip type things – the consistency of hummus – with bread.

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In the “because you asked” category –

Grocery shopping is rather easy – I go to a “Spinneys” grocery store for most of my groceries. It’s a couple of buildings down the marina from our building. I walk – outside or inside – depending on how hot it is. I can always use the exercise and carrying groceries for two a couple of times a week is no real problem. I’ve been known to stop by the Starbuck’s on the way back. (I think I was asked about the prices at Starbuck’s here – my regular order of “iced grande Americano” goes for 14Dh, about $3.81)

Because the tap water comes to us via the desalination plant, we use bottled water for drinking. There is a convenience store that is closer to our apartment, so I generally go there to pick up the water. They deliver, but would end up tipping the guy a lot considering the price (6-pack of 1.5 litres is 8.5 dh – about $2.31), again, it’s not far and exercise is a good thing.

There is also a small grocery store across the street where we get a few items from time to time, usually because it’s faster to get back from the metro if we cut through this store – which is really important in the heat of the summer.  It’s kind of the Dean and Delucca idea – really upscale and expensive- thus we don’t do regular shopping there.

Other larger grocery stores are here too, but not in my neighbourhood/close walking distance – Carrefour, Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Geant, etc. When we are in Abu Dhabi, there is a co-op grocery store in the Abu Dhabi Mall where I shop. Most US and British brands are available. A lot of the food, including fresh food is imported, so it tends to be expensive. Eating out is of course costs more, but proportionally to the cost in either Belgium or the US, I think it’s not as expensive.

While most of the fruits and vegetables are familiar, there are things like rambutan, fresh almonds and the wide variety of dates (who knew there are more than 100?) that let you know you’re in another part of the world. That garlic is only sold in bags of 10 and the cooking oil selection is probably the biggest variety of any section with possibly the exception being the selection of juices, lets me know that there is something about the local cooking that I’ve missed. Due to the large population from the Philippines and the sub-continent, plus Emirati cooking, I’m sure the markets in other areas of town look very different. We haven’t visited the outdoor markets (near the Dubai Creek), that have a different clientele and so what is sold will no doubt reflect this.

We’re off to Jordan next week. I have a FAWCO Conference and Richard’s office manager informed him that no one gets to carry over more than a week of vacation days to the next year, so he’s being “forced” to take time off. We’ve been before several years ago, but it is a very interesting place, so we’re looking forward to the return visit.

As I seem to (finally) be spending more time IN the UAE than outside, I’m again starting to get out and do things here – some more interesting than others (and to others).

I have a couple of friends that I met during our stay in Brussels (Waterloo) and have gotten together with them a few times. Melody lives in Dubai. She was in a fashion show of a friend’s shop a few weeks back and invited me come and watch. I sat with a lovely Australian woman, Karolyn, who has taken me under her wing and been taking me around to see things and meet up with some of her friends. She lived in Abu Dhabi for several years and now lives in Dubai. I also see Julie who lives in Abu Dhabi (my other friend who used to live in Brussels). When we can get together, I hitch a ride with Richard and spend the day with her. I also have seen women I met through FAWCO, the umbrella organization for the American (and international) Women’s Clubs around the world. It’s a start.

The Wafi Mall, where the fashion show I attended took place, is located by the Raffles (the same chain as the one of Singapore Sling fame) Hotel. I actually won one of the gift certificates from the shop, so got a dress and something for Sarah plus the promotional discount on offer for the day. Richard thinks that the architect who designed the mall got the wrong memo as to where it was being built as it has glass pyramids and a definite Egyptian motif. In contrast, there was some sort of Russian culture promotion, so giant-sized matryoshka greet you in the main atrium. This is close to where my new friend, Karolyn, lives, so we may be due for a return visit.

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Clearly coming to the UAE was different than the last international move. We knew we were on the short list to move when Sarah graduated from secondary school at the end of June 2013. So, no, we didn’t really have time to deal with the “empty nest syndrome” – we were too busy getting ready for the move to the UAE. Accordingly, what has been significantly different upon our arrival here is that we didn’t have to look for a school (Sarah was in kindergarten when we left Maryland), plan our housing accordingly and automatically meet new people while getting her settled. Although I didn’t join the American Women’s Club of Brussels right away, we were in BE for six months before that happened, once I did join, it was easy to meet people because they have a clubhouse. I’m still trying to find out if the ex-pat women’s organizations are able to do more than meet socially. This is something that I definitely miss about the AWCB, the variety of things that one could do. I think some financially support charities here – I’ll let you know what I find out.

I also have had my first experiences with medical care here. There is a clinic with an entrance just off the Dubai Mall, and even though I now have a driver’s license, Richard uses the car most days, so I can get there by metro. We have insurance through Richard’s office and like in Belgium there is socialized medicine. Unlike Belgium, I didn’t have a co-pay – even for prescriptions. I don’t know how it works as far as who is paying for this, but I didn’t pay anything out of pocket for visits with two different doctors. I have heard that emergency services for non-Emiratis are limited, and thus not a good (to really bad) experience, but I don’t know first hand. I also think that Richard’s office may have better coverage as a number of people have less of a selection as to their health care providers.

Now to the really mundane – you know that I’m really running out things to write about because this involves furniture shopping. To help legitimize this paragraph, I think that buying furniture is a sign that you actually are living somewhere. Despite promises to myself that we would NOT buy any here, we got a couple of small book cases for Richard – the haunting images of storage units in Maryland, Oregon, Waterloo, plus the family antiques in Richard’s mother’s house loom large here. He has been warned that once they are filled he either has to start sorting and discarding or stop buying books – yeah, like I know this is going to happen. He does seem to realize we have reached our furniture/book case limit – at least in theory. I think I’ve got +/-18 months before we have this discussion again…

Other than that the “yes, I live here, but still feel more like a tourist activities”:

• taking the brand new tram to the other side of the Marina – Jumeira Beach Residences (JBR) for a quick look at the local beach access (it’s been open less than a week, so has some glitches, but certainly the best way for us to get to that side of the Marina)
• double take looking at the gold plated Porsche near the Jumeira Beach Hotel (the one that looks like a wave near the Burj Al Arab Hotel) and
• spotting a white-haired Japanese-American woman sporting Elvis-inspired blue suede shoes that she got on sale – wait a minute – that’s me!