Today will be an at-home day, the kind of day that starts with me sipping coffee in my pajamas while I play on the internet. Abby is watching The Sound of Music, and Mark is still asleep. I love at-home days. It's Saturday, which is like Sunday here, the last day of the weekend. Today it's hazy outside and cool. Unlike in Texas, the haze isn't just fog or pollution. It's a dense desert dust blowing in the wind.
We've been in Abu Dhabi now for six months. It feels very normal to be here now, no different than being settled in Florida, far away from family and old friends. We have an amazingly convenient life here. We pay two bills, the internet and our credit card. We have no car, so we take the bus or walk wherever we need to go. Just downstairs, there are two grocery/department stores that usually have anything we might need. There is a video rental store a few steps away, as well as a produce stand. The best tandoori bread we've ever tasted is made just down the street. It's only one dirham per round, and baked when you order it.
Now that I've changed schools, my workday is over by 1:45, and I get home by about 2:30. Abby and Mark have usually finished school lessons by then, so we have long afternoons and evenings together. Some days we go to the park for Abby to ride her bike or skateboard. On Mondays, we head to the homeschool association play group in the park across the street from the Corniche. We sit for about three hours, talking with the other parents while the kids play. Some days we head to the mall (we have about four to choose from on the bus routes) and hang out. It's a lifestyle that allows for plenty of down time and family togetherness.
We are thinking alot about our living arrangements for next year. We have the option to stay here, in the hotel apartment that is fully furnished and has housekeeping service. It's in the middle of the city, with high rise buildings, traffic noise, every kind of store imaginable, and crowds of people at all times of day and night. But we're leaning towards a move to the suburbs. It would be closer to my school, in an aparment complex populated with mostly expats. It has a pool, small private gardens, spacious rooms, and pets are allowed. It would feel very much like being at home, especially if we bring our dog over. We'd have to get a car and drive to the grocery store or the mall. We would have to buy furniture, kitchen equipment, linens, and every other kind of thing we just got finished selling in a series of garage sales before we left the US. I'm not sure that it makes sense to move, and yet, it seems so attractive.
There are only three weeks until we head to Thailand for a week, then only four months left before we go back to Texas for the summer. It's going by really quickly. We'll have to make a decision on our housing before we leave, so by June at the latest.
Link to Al Reef Apartments (in the suburbs): http://www.habtoorproperties.com/sample2.html
Link to Abu Dhabi Plaza Hotel Apartments (our current residence): http://www.abu-dhabi-map.com/map/data/html/Hotels/Abu-Dhabi-Plaza-Hotel-Apartments.html
We've been in Abu Dhabi now for six months. It feels very normal to be here now, no different than being settled in Florida, far away from family and old friends. We have an amazingly convenient life here. We pay two bills, the internet and our credit card. We have no car, so we take the bus or walk wherever we need to go. Just downstairs, there are two grocery/department stores that usually have anything we might need. There is a video rental store a few steps away, as well as a produce stand. The best tandoori bread we've ever tasted is made just down the street. It's only one dirham per round, and baked when you order it.
Now that I've changed schools, my workday is over by 1:45, and I get home by about 2:30. Abby and Mark have usually finished school lessons by then, so we have long afternoons and evenings together. Some days we go to the park for Abby to ride her bike or skateboard. On Mondays, we head to the homeschool association play group in the park across the street from the Corniche. We sit for about three hours, talking with the other parents while the kids play. Some days we head to the mall (we have about four to choose from on the bus routes) and hang out. It's a lifestyle that allows for plenty of down time and family togetherness.
We are thinking alot about our living arrangements for next year. We have the option to stay here, in the hotel apartment that is fully furnished and has housekeeping service. It's in the middle of the city, with high rise buildings, traffic noise, every kind of store imaginable, and crowds of people at all times of day and night. But we're leaning towards a move to the suburbs. It would be closer to my school, in an aparment complex populated with mostly expats. It has a pool, small private gardens, spacious rooms, and pets are allowed. It would feel very much like being at home, especially if we bring our dog over. We'd have to get a car and drive to the grocery store or the mall. We would have to buy furniture, kitchen equipment, linens, and every other kind of thing we just got finished selling in a series of garage sales before we left the US. I'm not sure that it makes sense to move, and yet, it seems so attractive.
There are only three weeks until we head to Thailand for a week, then only four months left before we go back to Texas for the summer. It's going by really quickly. We'll have to make a decision on our housing before we leave, so by June at the latest.
Link to Al Reef Apartments (in the suburbs): http://www.habtoorproperties.com/sample2.html
Link to Abu Dhabi Plaza Hotel Apartments (our current residence): http://www.abu-dhabi-map.com/map/data/html/Hotels/Abu-Dhabi-Plaza-Hotel-Apartments.html
