Archives for 2009

You’ll be so jealous of my bathroom tile.

Housing has been a bit of an… issue. To say the least. Let me quickly share a few of the details I had been purposely withholding.

Originally, my employer stated that teachers would be given an unfurnished apartment and approximately $5,000US to furnish it. Well… it seems as though (before I arrived) the real estate contractor backed out of the deal. At the time this seemed a little sketchy… however, having lived in Abu Dhabi for nearly 2 months, it isn’t all that surprising. Unfortunately, this put my employer on short notice… scrambling to find a few hundred people places to live in a very competitive and expensive market. Without sounding too judgemental, business moves slooowly here. Needless to say, by the time I arrived I still didn’t have an apartment and circumstances had changed.

Now… teachers (unless they had pets or families and needed pet/family appropriate housing) would be housed in “hotel apartments.” These are basically furnished apartments and therefore do not qualify for the $5,000US. Oh well. It’s actually quite a bit better because the added stress of finding furniture and then deciding what to do with it in 2 years is not very appealing.

But still… it took about 7 weeks to actually get my apartment. Because of the Formula One, this town is going crazy. Hotels are fully booked (even the really junky ones) and the rooms are going for amazing amounts of money… as in increasing rates by 2,000 dirham (about $550) per night. Basically, our employer had to get us something permanent or open their own homes to us. There are a few people still waiting and I am incredibly grateful for my place. Someone had to move out for me to get it… although I’m not sure where she went.

My favorite aspect is the natural lighting. If you live in a big city with high rise buildings… you know natural light is scarce. I feel so lucky to have natural light in every room and especially the kitchen (bathroom excluded). There’s a tiny little balcony too!

I’d say my apartment is pretty on par with Molly’s apartment and much nicer than a few other buildings where teachers were placed. Molly’s apartment has a more convenient location and people she arrived with living there… but my apartment has better internet and parking. So it all seems to work out in the end.

Last night was my first night sleeping here… so of course I began to enthusiastically puke all over it. But that’s a different story.

xo, jill

It’s kind of a big deal.

I can’t say that personally I’m excited for the Formula One Grand Prix… but this town sure seems to be. I couldn’t even tell you when it is… but I know it’s coming up. There’s a countdown on a big billboard along the Corniche keeping track of the moments until the grand event.

I do know however, that the festivities kicked off last night, and I was there.

In honor of the Brazil bit of the circuit, Abu Dhabi decided to party Brazilian style with live music, a parade, and Formula One themed booths. (I’ll let you decided which of the three I bailed on).

One funny little cultural bit is that the Brazilian dancers wore colorful body suits under their skimpy little costumes to avoid baring any skin in public. Love it.

The weather was fantastic and the event was the perfect finish to a fantastic day at work.

xo, jill

The movie theater will do it.

The Middle East International Film Festival was held here in Abu Dhabi over this past week. Wrapping up today, I believe.

I splurged and bought tickets to four films although there were many more I wanted to see. Tickets were only 20 dirhams, which is about 5 dollars. Regal Cinemas, take note.

Funnily enough, the drama started before the film in 3 out of 4 cases, but in the end we always made it.

Film #1:
Earthwhispers Mother Earth–
Profiling 10 environmentalists living in New Zealand and their efforts to protect and embrace nature. This film was painful… in a good way. You can’t exactly compare the desert of Abu Dhabi to the lush green forests, mountains, and pastures of New Zealand. I’ve never missed my garden more. One of the subjects showed his composting efforts and soil transformation. Amazing. Then there was the guy (who closely resembled Santa) that felt the only excuse for not riding a bike or walking to your destinations was “well… maybe if someone didn’t have legs or something…” .

Film #2:
Wild Grass
A non-genre specific film following a man who finds a woman’s wallet and becomes obsessed with knowing her. I really liked this film… but I would never claim that I understood it. Especially the last scene… so you all need to go see it so we can discuss. Get on that.

Film #3:
On the Way to School
The story of a first-time teacher from Western Turkey who travels to tiny remote Kurdish village to be the only teacher at the village school. He only speaks Turkish… the students only speak Kurdish. All to relatable. There were times in the film that the main character spoke my mind. Something like, “It’s like I’m wasting my breath… I talk and they don’t understand.” Plus, the kids were adorable. Adorable.

Film #4:
Laugh Until it Hurts
This was a special program and my favorite of all the films. In a historic moment, this showing was the first time silent film accompanied by live piano music has ever been shown on the Arabian peninsula. Four silent films were threaded together and accompanied by Neil Brand on the piano. Brand is apparently one of the best silent film accompaniests… and I didn’t even realize that was something to aspire to. He did a fantastic job accompanying Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant, Buster Keaton’s One Week, Charley Chases’s Mighty Like a Moose, and Charles Bowers in Egged On. Completely hilarious and a unique way to spend the afternoon.

xo, jill

Still living in flux here in Abu Dhabi but two small successes to report:

1. Yesterday I received my health insurance card so I can get medical attention if needed. Considering I’ve come down with a cold, this is quite nice. (Of course I’ll need a roommate intervention to actually get me to the doctor.)

2. Today I received my medical exam! Wahoo! This means my residence visa is closer to being completed. I only got a little bit teary eyed and freaked out looking at someone else’s blood in a vial. Not bad.

xo, jill

She’s someone I wish all of you could meet. The Egyptian PE teacher at my school in her 50s who starts my day off right with old school calisthenics.

Today she gifted me this engagement/wedding style ring set.

I’m not even going to go there… you know.

xo, jill