Etisalat, Apartment, and Helen

Since we don't have internet at home yet, I'm creating posts when and where I can. We also don't have a telephone, television, or furniture at home yet either, even though everything was supposed to be in place weeks ago. But we're getting used to that. In shaa'al-laah, as they say around here, which means "God Willing" or "Maybe somebody will take care of it if they feel like it". The communication company in Abu Dhabi is called Etisalat. We like to call them It-is-a- lot as in It is a lot of work or It is a lot of money. We call them every other day (on our mobiles) to find out when they will be making our connections and they say someone will get back to us in 48 hours. John first asked for the connections a month ago. Hmm. But don't worry, in shaa'al-laah.

I was horrified when John first sent photos of the outside of our apartment building a few months ago. In fact, I went into denial and hid the photos in some forgotten corner of my laptop. When we visited in March, we had looked at so many gleaming new apartment buildings and villas (really town-homes) in nice compounds with all kinds of ammenities like rooftop pools, gyms, and tennis courts. Yet somehow we end up in one that's twenty years old without any ammenities? Our first visit spoiled us. But now that we're here, I love the place. It has views of the parkway along the Corniche, the Gulf, The Children's Park, and, in the distance, the amazing Emirates Palace Hotel and Marina Mall. The views alone sold me on the apartment. The kitchen (no dishwasher!?) and bathrooms need work, but that can be overlooked given the generous size of the living/dining area and the bedrooms. It even has maid quarters (standard here) which will end up as storage space for us. It's a duplex apartment with a nice central staircase. The apartment is as large as our house in Oak Park. Plus, it's a one block walk to the Corniche, a five minute walk to the beach, and a ten minute walk to the girls' school. There is a Choithram Grocery store in the base of our building, so I can get all the food we need within 75 steps and a short elevator ride. I'm sold. We're staying.

Many of you have been asking about Helen (of Troy), our big Golden Retriever. She was the most stressful part about moving to Abu Dhabi, but we're all happy she's here now. Yes it is hot for her and there is no back yard, but we have the shady green parkways of the Corniche just one block from our house. She gets exercise when we walk to school in the morning and the temperature is cooler. Then she gets 3 or 4 shorter walks the rest of the day. She misses the rabbits and squirrels of Oak Park, but there are enough stray cats around here to keep her entertained. I'm not sure if she wants them as a friend or as dinner, but I haven't let her close enough to find out. There are other dogs around here, both big and small. We have already made friends in the building through our dogs meeting along the Corniche. One family in our building owns nine dogs and has two Phillipino maids working for them full time to take care of them. But most Muslims have been raised to fear dogs, so we get lots of apprehensive looks and people crossing the street when they see us out walking. Occasionally people have wanted photos with Helen, so dogs are still a bit of a novelty around here. It will take a lot to convince the Emirati that Helen is the sweetest dog out there and just wants to be friends with everyone.