Our First Day in the Sand Box

Day 2 - Saturday, December 22^nd

Oh my tired, aching body – I slept until noon – catching up on the lost sleep from the flight over.  It’s really quiet in Andrea’s apartment building – almost all the teachers have gone home for the holidays or are taking the opportunity to travel to other countries.

Andrea wanted me to cook an American breakfast -Oscar Mayer Bacon, Eggs, Grits (from the USA). The egg yolks are dark orange and each egg was stamped.  Cooking on her cook top was a challenge because the flame was so high - hard to control the heat.  While our breakfast had a good flavor, it didn't taste like home.

Andrea was anxious to show us around Al Ain so we dressed and headed out.  We didn’t know what to expect but I realized I needed a notebook and should journal these next two weeks. I will have to say that Al Ain was not what I expected.  I had expected desert like we saw in our text books in middle school.  On the contrary, it was very pretty – green tree-lined medians and beautiful, blooming flowers - petunias, marigolds, salvia - throughout the city.

The traffic was insane. There are very few red light intersections like in the US.  Instead there are round-abouts – vehicles continuously move in a circle with 4 exits or roads to exit.  Almost all of the round-abouts are elaborately landscaped/decorated with a theme.  Some people use these as landmarks when giving directions or describing where they live. Andrea seems to have mastered the traffic – she’s a great chauffeur.  I guess being the daughter of the UPS driver and her years of traveling Interstate 285 in Atlanta has helped her with this traffic. I will write about the traffic and the round-abouts later. 

Then we stopped at the grocery store – LuLu’s.  We walked around to see if we could recognize any of our products from home.  Andrea wanted us to see the meat/seafood departments.  The meat department was behind glass but all was marked from what country it was from – Australia, Africa, Britain, etc.  Seafood was displayed on ice – just lying out in the open.  We bought some huge prawns for dinner and headed home.  I cooked Greek-style Shrimp Scampi and oh my goodness, it was yummy.

We spent the evening reading and relaxing and catching up on our talking and giggling time.

Today’s history lesson:
 

A little about the United Arab Emirate

• Located in the Arabian Gulf (they don’t call it Persian Gulf)
• Borders Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south; shares sea borders with Qatar and Iran
• Made up of 7 emirates (like the US is a union of 50 states) – Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Umm al-Quwain
• Capital city is Abu Dhabi in the Abu Dhabi Emirate
• Became an independent country December 2, 1971

A little about Al Ain – the city where Andrea lives

• Located in the emirate of Abu Dhabi; second largest city in the Abu Dhabi emirate and fourth largest in UAE
• Located inland about an hour from Dubai and about an hour and half from Abu Dhabi
• Also known as Garden City due to its greenery; many oases, parks, tree-lined avenues and
• decorative roundabouts
• Population – approximately 600,000
• Broken into districts – an easy way to orient yourself around the city and get directions;  Just to name a few: Al Mawaiji (where Andrea lives), Al Towayyah (where her school is), Asherej (where her friend Christine lives), Hili (where her friends, Nicole and Elizabeth live), Al Jimi (where one of the malls is)

Currency

• Dirhams and Fils – exchange rate $3.67 US
• Very pretty – looks like monopoly money
• I didn’t even try to figure out how to use it – just depended on Andrea and Randy. Although, it wouldn’t be hard since the amount is written on it and each denomination is a different color.