My journey to Abu Dhabi started Tuesday morning. I woke up and grabbed my phone just like every other morning, check for the infamous email saying I would be on a plane soon headed to my new home. When I looked at my phone I saw that I had 4 missed calls from my sister and several texts saying I had received my ticket! She is my in case of emergency person, so she was CC on the email with me. I ran out of my room, let me dog out and immediately got online to check my visa and reply to the travel agent. I began to panic at that point because 1) I had just woken up and was not fully processing what was happening and 2) even though I was packed (thank goodness I had repacked myself the night before), I had so much to do still! My sister took the day off to help me get ready and thank goodness she did because I don't know that I would have been able to say goodbye to my best friend in the whole world, Justine! My parents and I were headed to the airport on the same day (Wednesday) and so we had to drop the dogs (mine and theirs) at the boarding place. Although it was a quick goodbye to my Moe, I am glad it was quick so I didn't have time to think about it. He will be just fine at my parents house and I am so thankful they were willing to take him on while I am away. On Tuesday I also started to loose my voice and by Wednesday I had completely lost it. I did not sleep the night before, so by the time I got onto the plane to NY, I was pretty tired, but also so excited/nervous to begin my journey.
Travel
I started my travels at 3 am when my parents and I left for the airport, arrived at the ticket counter and checked my bags, I then had to say goodbye to my parents, which was difficult in itself. I road the train to my terminal and sat and waited to board my plane. It was a quick plane ride to NY. When I arrived in NY, I knew I had time to find my next gate (8+ hrs to be exact), but I asked the Delta agent where I needed to go (this was the second agent I asked because the first one decided he didn't want to talk to me anymore and answered the phone while I was talking instead. I made it to my terminal which was interesting in itself and went to check in to find out I wasn't able to check in until 8:15, well I arrived at 3:00! So I sat in the food court that smelled like pee for 5 hrs, fell asleep for 30 mins at the table I was sitting at and watched LOTS of people. After going through security again, I found my terminal and sat again for another 4 hours waiting for my plane to arrive/board. Let me tell you, the wait was sooooo worth it! I flew Turkish Airlines and it was amazing! They had me in economy plus which is in between first class and economy. Holy balls it was amazing, first off I was sitting next to only one other person and the seat was HUGE! I was able to recline my seat and a foot rest came up! There was a toiletry bag on my seat along with a blanket, pillow, slippers, and eye mask! The food was decadent in every way!! I was able to sleep for a good portion of the flight which was good. When I landed in Turkey, I sat in the terminal for another 3 hours and boarded the plane to head to Abu Dhabi. That flight had amazing food as well and also free movies! I was able to watch The Interns (funny!), The Hangover III (not impressed, but was also falling asleep!), and Parental Control (I think that was the name of it, it's the one with Billy Crystal and Bett Midler, it was really funny!) It turns out I was sitting next to another teacher, well he is actually in administration. The airport was beautiful! I can't really even describe it! We were greeted by a representative from the travel agency with our names on an iPad which I thought was pretty awesome (it's the little things....). We arrived at our hotel which is beautiful and smells like the hot towels they gave us on my flight from NY to Turkey. I entered my room and was frightened because I saw my reflection (pretty scary after traveling for so long) in the mirror on the wall, I was not expecting it and I thought someone else was in my room. I was checking things out when all of a sudden the lights went out in my room! At the exact moment I heard a knock at the door which turned out to be the gentlemen with my luggage, the first thing I said to him after "hi" was how do I make the lights stay on? He took my key card from me and put it into a slot located right inside my room, I need to keep the card in that slot to keep my lights on and a mini tablet by the bed controls everything in your room. If he hadn't come to my door, I would have never been able to figure it out! I immediately took a shower (I smelt bad and felt gross!) and went to bed!
First Day In Abu Dhabi
I fully intended on waking up for breakfast, I am not sure who I was trying to kid, but that in no way shape or form happened. Instead I woke up at 1 pm and immediately got onto Facebook to discover that a friend I had made who is also from my recruiter was staying in my same hotel! I went to her room, was greeted with a big hello and hug which made me feel so welcomed and we took off with her husband to the mall. The mall is located right next to our hotel and let me tell you, it was stimulation overload! We started on the ground floor in LuLu's which is the grocery store and we decided it was Walmart on crack! We walked up and down EVERY isle to see what they had, the spices, the fresh fruit and veggies, the meat, everything looked amazing! I exchanged my money on the next floor and was able to purchase some water! We continued to the next two levels and just walked around and took in all that this mall had to offer, so many US stores and most importantly, a Starbucks, seeing Starbucks written in Arabic was sooo cool! We left the mall and decided to explore our hotel, we found the health club and spa along with the pool where we relaxed for a bit and chatted about how we even came across this job. I felt so blessed that Lindsay and Matt let me tag along with them to meet a wonderful veteran teacher named Cindy. Cindy took us to an apartment building located next to her apartment where she was interested in buying a wardrobe and curtains from another teacher who was preparing her apartment to move back home. It was nice of her to let us check out her apartment, she was also American. We then went to an amazing restaurant called Jones Grocer which turned out to be Australian food. I ordered the mushroom risotto which was recommended by Cindy and it was AMAZING! I think at this point anything would have been amazing because it was my first meal! It turns out that the restaurant also sells bread, desserts and cheeses. Cindy was gracious enough to pay for our dinner which was super sweet and I cannot thank her enough! After dinner, she took us to a shopping center where we went into several Abya stores, let me tell you, they are beautiful! Lindsay tried on several to get an idea of what she wanted to buy. In this shopping center, you can haggle for a price you want. We were able to see Cindy in action, she knows what she's doing when it comes to this, and it was impressive! We walked into several shops just looking at things. We left the shopping center and returned to our hotel where I went to bed. I am currently finishing up this post in the morning watching the sun come up. I hope to post another blog this evening after I meet up with another veteran teacher whom I became friends with on Facebook. Melissa is from the northwest and is going to show me around more and take me to dinner!
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