First week

It's week two and I've finally got access to internet on my new work laptop in my new office so I can give an update of what's happened since I arrived ten days ago.

Unfortunatly, I can no longer harbor dreams of being an international criminal as I had my retinal scan registered with the government as part of a very slick immigration procedure at the airport.  I guess it bypasses the need to lift a woman's veils for identification and it was pretty cool.

I was put up at a swank five start hotel http://www.rotana.com/rotanahotelandresorts/unitedarabemirates/alain/alainrotana for six days while I went through orientation at the college.  My hotel room was bigger than my last apartment so that was nice.  Their gym was great and because of the time difference I was up early and able to work out before going into work everyday.

the lovely Rotana Hotel

Orientation was a bit of disaster due to several people being on holiday but there were five new hires so we banded together in survival mode and took advantage of Vijay, our driver/helper/savior.  The college is big with over 150 teachers and, what seems like, 500 administrators.  I'm sharing an office with some really nice people that I'm sure I'll be writing about in future.

My new apartment is echoing with 20 ft ceilings and tile floors.  It's huge and I'm going to get lots of exercise walking from one end to the other.  Interestingly, I had to buy all the appliances as well as furniture but they've provided me with $10,000 to do that and I think I can do it nicely for about $6000.  My whole world has become about shopping for the last few days so that I can have something to sit on and something to cook with.  Yesterday, three men took two hours to assemble my bedroom furniture set which is great...first time I've had more storage space than I can fill up...hmmm, more shopping I think :)

It's the holy month (Ramadan) right now which means that you can't eat or drink during daylight hours so that's made for long days out and about.  In addition, all the shops are closed from 2:00pm to 8:00 so shopping is especially difficult.  Next week, that will end but there is a week long holiday where all the business are closed so I won't be able to get services like TV/internet hooked up for a bit or get delivery of anything.  A bit of bad luck at the timing of my arrival but I'll survive. 



I haven't had time to take many photos as I've been running around like a crazy person but here are a few of my apartment that I took quickly before coming to work (which is a ten minute drive away).

This is what the rooms all look like..this one will be the livingroom.
You can see that there is a lovely jungle view out the window
and they all have that...limes, breadfruit and dates are growing
which brings in singing birds.

My kitchen...another lovely window view.  I've even got
Starbucks coffee for my new coffee maker

The bedroom...not much to look at so far but at least I'm off the floor now