I'm a few days behind with this blogging thing. You see, I would backtrack for you being very specific about days and times, however that would require me to KNOW the days and times of the present as well as those that came before this moment. We "lost" a day in there somehow and with the time difference and a really bad case of jet lag, I'm doing GREAT to even remember how to open this computer and find the letters! We are impressed with ourselves that last night, our 4th night in Abu Dhabi, we all actually went to bed at a normal time and woke up at a decent hour (well, actually when the alarm went off telling Amy to get ready for her first day of work! :)).
The night we arrived, last Thursday, we walked around our new hotel with our mouths on the floor gawking at such grand fanciness. As Greg put it in a fb post "country done come to town". Being the good and proper parents we are, we have been prepping the children on not pointing and staring in a foreign place. ehhh-hhhmmm.... "Mommy quit staring!" said Riley-bug. Whoops!
.JPG)
At this point, I think it was about 9pm. On the plane, after 40+ hours of no sleep, I looked at dear, precious, night-owl, love to research and explore hubby and said, "Let's make a pact right now. When we get there, we are going to BED. We aren't going exploring until we sleep." He laughed and nodded, but somehow I knew that wasn't a sufficient pact hand-shake.
We waited for our 9 big-ole bags to be delivered to the room and then, oh yes we did, we called for a taxi and took off. To where? I mean, we act like we know where we are and where we were headed! Riding in a taxi was also a new experience for the kids. They were very excited....until they discovered the smells inside. YIKES!!! We also quickly discovered that the drivers apparently don't NEED the blasting cold A/C for driving comfort as we Americans do!!! HOLY HOTTNESS!!!
We ended up at the Mushif Mall. Come to find out, restaurants are not located on "Hamburger Alley". Nor are they freestanding buildings. They are all located in several story malls. In which you will also find the local supermarket, LuLu's. The equivalent of our Walmart (Carrefour) is also in a mall or by itself. They are very "happening" places to be, especially around 9pm (which is their dinner time) until about 1 in the morning.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Hayden and Riley were most excited about the "transport" system of getting the carts around the mall and stores. Keep in mind, the buggies don't turn, they only slide! baaahhaaa I'm going to make a sign for our buggy: BEWARE: If you get in the way--you WILL get hurt! (in Arabic it may look more like this __);....___(\;;;___ ) lolol The lines would be pretty squigglies and dots. I can't get my computer to do that, but you get the point!
We had an eventful and exciting night. On the taxi ride home, a couple of us, who shall remain nameless, fell asleep in the cab.:) Finally, all 4 Davidsons got tucked into our new "home" for the next possible 14 days.
Like I said, that night, we did not sleep long. Friday, we got up and explored a bit. By our 4th or 6th taxi ride, Greg was giving the directions to the taxi drivers! Woohoo! That's MY MAN!!! However, it did take us getting snookered by a cabbie taking advantage of those "silly Americans". But he SHALL NOT BE FOILED AGAIN! lol He has already began making his own customized Google map of highlighted places we will need to get to. How he will be able to conveniently pull this up in the moment of need, is yet to be determined seeing how our awesome iPhone and Droid do not work! hmmmmm..... pulling out the laptop that will melt in this heat is not a foreseeable option.
Saturday. Well, not so much to report for this day----seeing how we slept the ENTIRE DAY!!!! ugggghhh..... oh well.... it was needed. After only being awake for 6 hours, I tried to be a responsible teacher and go to sleep at a decent hour in preparation for my first day on the job. HA!!!! There was NO sleep to be had! I was thankful for the energizing adrenaline rush that comes from trying to interpret 23 different languages surrounding me. I KNEW that somewhere amidst all the babble there was something important for me to know or at least know where to go! oh geee..... Needless to say, I made us all stay awake until a decent going to bed hour and thankfully we all slept a normal night's sleep! YAY to overcoming the jet lag!!!!! Hopefully, from here on out we will function as normal once again!
The night we arrived, last Thursday, we walked around our new hotel with our mouths on the floor gawking at such grand fanciness. As Greg put it in a fb post "country done come to town". Being the good and proper parents we are, we have been prepping the children on not pointing and staring in a foreign place. ehhh-hhhmmm.... "Mommy quit staring!" said Riley-bug. Whoops!
At this point, I think it was about 9pm. On the plane, after 40+ hours of no sleep, I looked at dear, precious, night-owl, love to research and explore hubby and said, "Let's make a pact right now. When we get there, we are going to BED. We aren't going exploring until we sleep." He laughed and nodded, but somehow I knew that wasn't a sufficient pact hand-shake.
We waited for our 9 big-ole bags to be delivered to the room and then, oh yes we did, we called for a taxi and took off. To where? I mean, we act like we know where we are and where we were headed! Riding in a taxi was also a new experience for the kids. They were very excited....until they discovered the smells inside. YIKES!!! We also quickly discovered that the drivers apparently don't NEED the blasting cold A/C for driving comfort as we Americans do!!! HOLY HOTTNESS!!!
We ended up at the Mushif Mall. Come to find out, restaurants are not located on "Hamburger Alley". Nor are they freestanding buildings. They are all located in several story malls. In which you will also find the local supermarket, LuLu's. The equivalent of our Walmart (Carrefour) is also in a mall or by itself. They are very "happening" places to be, especially around 9pm (which is their dinner time) until about 1 in the morning.
Hayden and Riley were most excited about the "transport" system of getting the carts around the mall and stores. Keep in mind, the buggies don't turn, they only slide! baaahhaaa I'm going to make a sign for our buggy: BEWARE: If you get in the way--you WILL get hurt! (in Arabic it may look more like this __);....___(\;;;___ ) lolol The lines would be pretty squigglies and dots. I can't get my computer to do that, but you get the point!
We had an eventful and exciting night. On the taxi ride home, a couple of us, who shall remain nameless, fell asleep in the cab.:) Finally, all 4 Davidsons got tucked into our new "home" for the next possible 14 days.
Like I said, that night, we did not sleep long. Friday, we got up and explored a bit. By our 4th or 6th taxi ride, Greg was giving the directions to the taxi drivers! Woohoo! That's MY MAN!!! However, it did take us getting snookered by a cabbie taking advantage of those "silly Americans". But he SHALL NOT BE FOILED AGAIN! lol He has already began making his own customized Google map of highlighted places we will need to get to. How he will be able to conveniently pull this up in the moment of need, is yet to be determined seeing how our awesome iPhone and Droid do not work! hmmmmm..... pulling out the laptop that will melt in this heat is not a foreseeable option.
Saturday. Well, not so much to report for this day----seeing how we slept the ENTIRE DAY!!!! ugggghhh..... oh well.... it was needed. After only being awake for 6 hours, I tried to be a responsible teacher and go to sleep at a decent hour in preparation for my first day on the job. HA!!!! There was NO sleep to be had! I was thankful for the energizing adrenaline rush that comes from trying to interpret 23 different languages surrounding me. I KNEW that somewhere amidst all the babble there was something important for me to know or at least know where to go! oh geee..... Needless to say, I made us all stay awake until a decent going to bed hour and thankfully we all slept a normal night's sleep! YAY to overcoming the jet lag!!!!! Hopefully, from here on out we will function as normal once again!
No comments:
Post a Comment