Yes, Ramadan is still going on and it does make it a little tougher on people who don't celebrate Ramadan. For instance a few of us were out from 10:00am yesterday until 5:00pm or so and in that whole time there was no where open to get something to eat or drink. Some places allow you to purchase food, but only for take out then you have to find a private place to eat it, like your home or if you're out in public a restroom. We did see a couple of Burger King drive thru's and think they were open, but were not able to pull in there.
For instance one of the people with us bought some chocolate at a chocolate store because she was hungry and she actually took it into a stall in the restroom and ate it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Another option is most if not all of the nice hotels can and will serve food during fasting times which are essentially all day. Since they cater to mostly westerners they are allowed to serve you food and alcohol even if you don't have an Alcohol Commission card. So if you have transportation or want to hop in a cab you can go to a hotel and there are lots of them and sit down and order something to eat and drink even in the middle of the day. Muslims are fasting from about 4:30am to 6:30pm.
This next statement almost borders on heresy for me to say, but I found a bookstore yesterday that may very well be better than Barnes and Noble. "Books by Kinokuniya" was a huge, phenomenally well-stocked place with almost anything you could want in a book and in English and Arabic. http://www.kinokuniya.com/
Wayne
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Running on Empty...Again
Only this time it's not about running. I've had a loaner vehicle for a week until my leased car comes in. So we went golfing Wednesday morning and the gas gauge was low. We got to the golf course and back and according the system I still had about 6 kilometers I could go based on the gas I had left.
Well I had a meeting at 1:00pm I was going to drive to because the shuttle bus schedule wasn't going to work for me. I realized I was going to need to get gas because of my schedule the rest of the day. So I left with enough time to get gas ( a first for me in Abu Dhabi) and to get to the meeting.
I asked one of my co-workers where the nearest station was and she told me. I go downstairs out into the 43 C temperatures (about 110 F). It's hot, I start up the Honda CRV and look down to see now I have only about 2 kms range left. As if it's not hot enough already outside and in the vehicle I'm starting to get a little concerned about even making it to the gas station without running out and then making it to the meeting on time. So I'm not sure if I'm sweating because of heat or nerves, but I really didn't feel like running out of gas on the busiest street in Abu Dhabi at 12:45 pm in 110 degrees.
2 Kilometers sure go fast and I'm not more than 1/2 way to the gas station and the gauge is reading 0 km range left. So now I'm shifting into neutral to simply coast when I can, scanning the road ahead for the ADNOC gas station until finally I spot it off in the distance. Now I start praying that I'll get there, neutral, drive to go faster, back to neutral to coast a while. All the while staying in the right lane so if it stops I can hopefully get out of the traffic lanes. Finally here pulling in and immediately shift to neutral while I wait in what seems an incredibly long line of cars all needing complete fill-ups. They have attendants pumping the gas and they are each working two pumps so it takes a while. I'm thinking that at 51 yrs old I'm finally going to run out of gas for the first time in my life. I slowly creep towards the pump. Don't want to shut the car off because I don't know if it will start up again and I'd die inside right at the gas station because of the oppressive heat and humidity.
Finally at the pump and I shut it off and let the guy fill it up. 91 dirhams later I'm on full and heading to my meetings. Arrived 2 minutes late, but with a full tank of gas.
Feel free to make any comments you want about this blog, send the link to your friends that are perhaps interested in reading about all things Abu Dhabi or at least some things Abu Dhabi.
Stay cooler than me.
Wayne
Well I had a meeting at 1:00pm I was going to drive to because the shuttle bus schedule wasn't going to work for me. I realized I was going to need to get gas because of my schedule the rest of the day. So I left with enough time to get gas ( a first for me in Abu Dhabi) and to get to the meeting.
I asked one of my co-workers where the nearest station was and she told me. I go downstairs out into the 43 C temperatures (about 110 F). It's hot, I start up the Honda CRV and look down to see now I have only about 2 kms range left. As if it's not hot enough already outside and in the vehicle I'm starting to get a little concerned about even making it to the gas station without running out and then making it to the meeting on time. So I'm not sure if I'm sweating because of heat or nerves, but I really didn't feel like running out of gas on the busiest street in Abu Dhabi at 12:45 pm in 110 degrees.
2 Kilometers sure go fast and I'm not more than 1/2 way to the gas station and the gauge is reading 0 km range left. So now I'm shifting into neutral to simply coast when I can, scanning the road ahead for the ADNOC gas station until finally I spot it off in the distance. Now I start praying that I'll get there, neutral, drive to go faster, back to neutral to coast a while. All the while staying in the right lane so if it stops I can hopefully get out of the traffic lanes. Finally here pulling in and immediately shift to neutral while I wait in what seems an incredibly long line of cars all needing complete fill-ups. They have attendants pumping the gas and they are each working two pumps so it takes a while. I'm thinking that at 51 yrs old I'm finally going to run out of gas for the first time in my life. I slowly creep towards the pump. Don't want to shut the car off because I don't know if it will start up again and I'd die inside right at the gas station because of the oppressive heat and humidity.
Finally at the pump and I shut it off and let the guy fill it up. 91 dirhams later I'm on full and heading to my meetings. Arrived 2 minutes late, but with a full tank of gas.
Feel free to make any comments you want about this blog, send the link to your friends that are perhaps interested in reading about all things Abu Dhabi or at least some things Abu Dhabi.
Stay cooler than me.
Wayne
Malls Again?
Admittedly I don't have much to do right now because it's still hot and muggy out so I go with people to malls so they can shop for furniture for their apartments. These trips serve two purposes for me. It gets me out of the apartment and it reinforces my complete lack of desire to shop for furniture and everything else it takes to furnish a home.
So I've found my two bedroom furnished apartment and all I have to buy is food to stock it with. It comes with everything else right down to the glasses and dishes and I get maid service once a week.
Back to Malls. They're all incredibly upscale, they have marble floors everything is always clean and shiny. They almost all have movie theaters, ice skating rinks, bowling alleys and even small roller coasters. It's the main entertainment destination because during the summer kids can't really go outside to play much so families head to the mall.
There are two other neat things I saw yesterday down in Dubai and I've seen at malls here in Abu Dhabi. If you park in the parking garage there are portable car wash machines so guys come around and wash your car for you while you're in shopping. Then as you get into the parking garage there are LED display boards telling you how many spaces are available on each level. I know that's no big deal, but the cooler part about it is as you pull down a row or up a ramp there are indicator lights over each space, red for a taken space and green for an empty space. So you simply look overhead and can drive right to an empty spot and know it's empty.
Sometimes I look around here and am amazed that they haven't figured out a mail delivery system yet, but they have things like sensors and green and red lights in parking garages to make your life easier.
Wayne
So I've found my two bedroom furnished apartment and all I have to buy is food to stock it with. It comes with everything else right down to the glasses and dishes and I get maid service once a week.
Back to Malls. They're all incredibly upscale, they have marble floors everything is always clean and shiny. They almost all have movie theaters, ice skating rinks, bowling alleys and even small roller coasters. It's the main entertainment destination because during the summer kids can't really go outside to play much so families head to the mall.
There are two other neat things I saw yesterday down in Dubai and I've seen at malls here in Abu Dhabi. If you park in the parking garage there are portable car wash machines so guys come around and wash your car for you while you're in shopping. Then as you get into the parking garage there are LED display boards telling you how many spaces are available on each level. I know that's no big deal, but the cooler part about it is as you pull down a row or up a ramp there are indicator lights over each space, red for a taken space and green for an empty space. So you simply look overhead and can drive right to an empty spot and know it's empty.
Sometimes I look around here and am amazed that they haven't figured out a mail delivery system yet, but they have things like sensors and green and red lights in parking garages to make your life easier.
Wayne
Friday, August 20, 2010
Miscellaneous Stuff
Got my drivers license this week. The process is they have to translate your US license into Arabic then have you come in to take an unflattering photo to go on the license. Of course this also means I can now drive here and I'll be getting a car this week. I'm just going to get one on a 2 yr lease for now. Lease payments here include all necessary insurance along with required maintenance and they will come get the car to do the maintenance and leave you one in it's place while they have it.
I also received my Work Permit which is another hard card much like the drivers license with another unflattering photo on it. This is the important one to carry and to have at all times for identification.
Did you know that the "close door"buttons in elevators in the US is turned off in every elevator in the US. They truly aren't active. Strangely enough here they are active so you can simply press the button and the doors close right away. It's great for limiting who gets on with you. Remember that when you see the new M. Night Shamylan movie that's coming out in a few months.
Out shopping the other night in a bookstore and came upon two old magazines on a book shelf beside some sports books. After pulling them out and looking at the cover I realized I was holding two copies of the first issue of Sports Illustrated in my hands. Dated August 16, 1954 with a picture of Eddie Matthews on the cover. I've been a subscriber for about 30 years and had never seen the first issue. My boss and I left them there and as I thought more about it I decided to go back two nights later to buy them. In the meantime he looked them up on E-Bay and it turns out they are worth between $150 - $200. So we went back and each bought one for about $10.
I've finished two books recently on my Nook (like a Kindle only tied to Barnes and Noble). The first was "War" by Sebastian Junger. If you want to read a detailed account of combat in Afghanistan this is the book to read. It will also be out in theaters since the whole time he was writing they were also taping operations in Korengal Valley. I believe the movie has the title Restrepo.
Another book I just finished was "Sh*t My Dad Says" by Justin Halpern, hilariously funny, but pretty foul language. I think this started as a blog and website and has finally gone into a printed format.
Soon the Kindle will become a paperweight since there is no way to download anything from Barnes and Noble here. I may send it back to the states to one of my girls to use because it's cheaper to download books than buy the printed version.
Stay Cool,
I also received my Work Permit which is another hard card much like the drivers license with another unflattering photo on it. This is the important one to carry and to have at all times for identification.
Did you know that the "close door"buttons in elevators in the US is turned off in every elevator in the US. They truly aren't active. Strangely enough here they are active so you can simply press the button and the doors close right away. It's great for limiting who gets on with you. Remember that when you see the new M. Night Shamylan movie that's coming out in a few months.
Out shopping the other night in a bookstore and came upon two old magazines on a book shelf beside some sports books. After pulling them out and looking at the cover I realized I was holding two copies of the first issue of Sports Illustrated in my hands. Dated August 16, 1954 with a picture of Eddie Matthews on the cover. I've been a subscriber for about 30 years and had never seen the first issue. My boss and I left them there and as I thought more about it I decided to go back two nights later to buy them. In the meantime he looked them up on E-Bay and it turns out they are worth between $150 - $200. So we went back and each bought one for about $10.
I've finished two books recently on my Nook (like a Kindle only tied to Barnes and Noble). The first was "War" by Sebastian Junger. If you want to read a detailed account of combat in Afghanistan this is the book to read. It will also be out in theaters since the whole time he was writing they were also taping operations in Korengal Valley. I believe the movie has the title Restrepo.
Another book I just finished was "Sh*t My Dad Says" by Justin Halpern, hilariously funny, but pretty foul language. I think this started as a blog and website and has finally gone into a printed format.
Soon the Kindle will become a paperweight since there is no way to download anything from Barnes and Noble here. I may send it back to the states to one of my girls to use because it's cheaper to download books than buy the printed version.
Stay Cool,
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
We Interrupt this Blog...
for an unpaid advertisement for members of our military and their families. If you have 10 minutes watch the video at this link. Oh yeh and get the tissues out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSMlIM9zLio
Stay Cool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSMlIM9zLio
Stay Cool
Monday, August 9, 2010
Life in Abu Dhabi
I've touched on this briefly already, but I'm currently ensconced in a furnished studio apartment. Which is fine, it's rent free and I have until the end of September to find a place to live. The only problem right now is it's Ramadan and life truly slows down here. The work day is shortened to 6 hrs and some people actually work split shifts. They may work from 9am - 12pm and then work from 7:30 - 10:30pm. It's just different. My boss wanted to meet with a gentlemen about some sports possibilities and the options he had for an appointment were 11:30am or 10:30pm. So seeing places to live has been tough.
I did look at one place that provided furnished apartments. Three bedrooms completely furnished, maid service, cable etc... Within walking distance of my office and the Downtown Campus classrooms, but they want just a little too much. Here you pay the whole years rent up front and in the case of NYU employees the school pays that for you as part of your housing allowance, but this place would have cost me money out of my own pocket and even though it's convenient and I wouldn't have to worry about furniture I decided to pass on it.
The few places I've seen are all pretty modern, marble floors, big windows, possibly great views of the water. There really aren't too many places that are old here since most of the buildings have gone up in the last 40 years.
I went out last week with some friends to the Carpet Souk which is essentially a couple of long buildings with maybe 30 carpet vendors in their own separate shops in each building. As we pulled into the parking lot they all started waving to encourage us to come into their shops. The four of us got through about 5 of the 60 or so shops. At that point the couple that wanted to buy a couple of silk rugs ended up making a deal with a guy for two Belgian silk rugs about 12' x 15' for AED 600 (which is 600 dirhams). So each rug was $163. We believe that is a relatively good price.
Interestingly enough across the street from the carpet souk was the slaughterhouse and as we were driving by we saw people walking out with dead goats in wheel barrels. Certainly a strange sight.
Next stop was the Fish Market, which I'm sure you can find in most cities right on the water and needless to say it smelled fishy and they had all the fresh catch of the day there and you could get it cut anyway you wanted.
I think it's starting to cool down a little here because I don't start sweating as soon as I walk out the door anymore. This past week we made the move over to our offices in Sama Tower where I live temporarily. So my commute is a ride on the elevator from the 17th to the ground then up a different elevator to my office on the 4th floor.
Next blog is about shopping again.
Stay cool,
Wayne
I did look at one place that provided furnished apartments. Three bedrooms completely furnished, maid service, cable etc... Within walking distance of my office and the Downtown Campus classrooms, but they want just a little too much. Here you pay the whole years rent up front and in the case of NYU employees the school pays that for you as part of your housing allowance, but this place would have cost me money out of my own pocket and even though it's convenient and I wouldn't have to worry about furniture I decided to pass on it.
The few places I've seen are all pretty modern, marble floors, big windows, possibly great views of the water. There really aren't too many places that are old here since most of the buildings have gone up in the last 40 years.
I went out last week with some friends to the Carpet Souk which is essentially a couple of long buildings with maybe 30 carpet vendors in their own separate shops in each building. As we pulled into the parking lot they all started waving to encourage us to come into their shops. The four of us got through about 5 of the 60 or so shops. At that point the couple that wanted to buy a couple of silk rugs ended up making a deal with a guy for two Belgian silk rugs about 12' x 15' for AED 600 (which is 600 dirhams). So each rug was $163. We believe that is a relatively good price.
Interestingly enough across the street from the carpet souk was the slaughterhouse and as we were driving by we saw people walking out with dead goats in wheel barrels. Certainly a strange sight.
Next stop was the Fish Market, which I'm sure you can find in most cities right on the water and needless to say it smelled fishy and they had all the fresh catch of the day there and you could get it cut anyway you wanted.
I think it's starting to cool down a little here because I don't start sweating as soon as I walk out the door anymore. This past week we made the move over to our offices in Sama Tower where I live temporarily. So my commute is a ride on the elevator from the 17th to the ground then up a different elevator to my office on the 4th floor.
Next blog is about shopping again.
Stay cool,
Wayne
Living and Working during Ramadan
Ramadan starts this week. It is the holiest time of year for Muslims. Things change dramatically during this month. We go to 6 hour work days out of respect for some of our fellow employees and our host country. So some time starting this week I'll only be at work from 9 - 3 and it will be that way for about a month.
A major part of Ramadan is prayer and spiritual reflection, but it's also about friends and family. Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown. Others are asked not to eat or drink in view of Muslims during the day, even water. If you're going to you, you are asked to do it behind closed doors out of respect for the their sacrifice. Once sunset hits though the fast is broken, usually with dates and juice or water and then 15 minutes or so of prayer and feasting will begin each night. The feasts are called Iftars and are held throughout the city and are usually free to everyone.
Muslims fast from about 4:30 am to 6:30pm which means no drinking anything and no eating. Obviously not everyone here is Muslim, but a majority of the Abu Dhabi population of approximately 1.7 million people are Muslim. An interesting side note is that there are many Christian churches here with the Catholic Cathederal boasting 100,000 members and they celebrate over 30 masses a week. Not all in English either.
In our little cafeteria they put up screens or room dividers along the inside of all the windows so if any of our Muslim employees walked by they would not be offended seeing us eating and drinking. If I went out to buy a sandwich and wanted to walk back here with it I'd be expected to keep it covered so it couldn't be seen. This is a serious issue here and literally people can be arrested for flaunting the rules of Ramadan. You definitely don't want to be walking down the street eating or drinking in public. All women are also asked to dress more modestly by wearing long sleeves and showing less skin. Imagine that in 110 degree weather?
I actually worked a little later than we were supposed to today and was in the office from 9 - 4pm. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with the other 17 hrs. I will actually take care of a few of those in the early morning hours tomorrow with 9 holes of golf in 90+ degrees from 6:30 - 8:30. Long pants are mandatory though.
What's the future hold? I'm working on getting my drivers license changed over so I can lease a car and I need to get my alcohol commission card so I can buy alcohol. I'm also starting to look at places to live.
I'll let you know how all that goes.
Wayne
A major part of Ramadan is prayer and spiritual reflection, but it's also about friends and family. Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown. Others are asked not to eat or drink in view of Muslims during the day, even water. If you're going to you, you are asked to do it behind closed doors out of respect for the their sacrifice. Once sunset hits though the fast is broken, usually with dates and juice or water and then 15 minutes or so of prayer and feasting will begin each night. The feasts are called Iftars and are held throughout the city and are usually free to everyone.
Muslims fast from about 4:30 am to 6:30pm which means no drinking anything and no eating. Obviously not everyone here is Muslim, but a majority of the Abu Dhabi population of approximately 1.7 million people are Muslim. An interesting side note is that there are many Christian churches here with the Catholic Cathederal boasting 100,000 members and they celebrate over 30 masses a week. Not all in English either.
In our little cafeteria they put up screens or room dividers along the inside of all the windows so if any of our Muslim employees walked by they would not be offended seeing us eating and drinking. If I went out to buy a sandwich and wanted to walk back here with it I'd be expected to keep it covered so it couldn't be seen. This is a serious issue here and literally people can be arrested for flaunting the rules of Ramadan. You definitely don't want to be walking down the street eating or drinking in public. All women are also asked to dress more modestly by wearing long sleeves and showing less skin. Imagine that in 110 degree weather?
I actually worked a little later than we were supposed to today and was in the office from 9 - 4pm. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with the other 17 hrs. I will actually take care of a few of those in the early morning hours tomorrow with 9 holes of golf in 90+ degrees from 6:30 - 8:30. Long pants are mandatory though.
What's the future hold? I'm working on getting my drivers license changed over so I can lease a car and I need to get my alcohol commission card so I can buy alcohol. I'm also starting to look at places to live.
I'll let you know how all that goes.
Wayne
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