DAY FIVE - I am up before the dawn

Maybe it's because my body is still adjusting to local Abu Dhabi time, which is 8 hours earlier then East Coast time, but I haven't slept well for the past two nights. I fall asleep immediately, but then I wake up a few hours later.

Late last night I lay in bed for awhile hoping to fall back to sleep, but finally I gave up and went into the living room, turned on a light and picked up a manuscript I have been reading. All is quiet in this neighborhood, and the only sound is the ever-present soft hum of the air conditioning. Then I heard it, the Fajr, the morning Call to Prayer, which is sung/chanted just before dawn every morning. 

There is a mosque outside our windows about a block away. There are mosques everywhere because it is important that devout Muslims be able to hear the Calls to Prayer wherever they may be so they can  pause, bow toward Mecca and pray.

I used the zoom on my iPhone camera - the mosque is not as close as it seems

According to Wikipedia there are five pillars of the Islam faith which are the 5 basic acts considered mandatory by believers and are the foundation of Muslim life. The second of these pillars is Salat, the ritual prayer which is performed five times a day: Fajr (dawn - just before sunrise), Dhuhr (noon), Asr (afternoon), Maghrib (evening), and Isha (night). 

At the appointed time the Call to Prayer can be heard coming from the minarets, the tall spire that is part of the architecture of every mosque. The sound is amplified, and that adds an echoey quality to the call. This morning I heard it and noted that, yet again, I was awake at dawn. The Call is exotic and mesmerizing, and I paused in my reading and let it wash over me. 

Where I live in Hoboken I can hear the bells chime hourly from the Church of St. Peter and Paul two blocks away. At 6:00 in the evening they play a song - sometimes sacred and sometimes not, but always beautiful. As I listened to the Fajr this morning I reflected that almost half a world away I am experiencing a kind of symmetry: Christian church bells in Hoboken and a Muslim Call to Prayer in Abu Dhabi. Both cause me to pause in my day, and both fill me with feelings of peace and gratitude.

DAY FOUR - I get a private tour of Abu Dhabi

This morning I was taken on a tour of Abu Dhabi by Cathy Harborow, the Community Support person for NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD).

Our first stop was at the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan Mosque or The Grand Mosque. Construction was only recently completed, and it is absolutely stunning.

The Grand Mosque

This image is a bit fuzzy, but hopefully you can see the scale of the structure. The building is made of gleaming white marble, and in the bright Arabian sunlight, it is almost blinding. The interior is white marble as well, and even though the mosque is enormous, it feels light and ethereal inside. 

One must be modestly dressed to enter the mosque, and abayas are provided for women to don if needed. My sundress was a little on the short side, so I had to put one on. This is no different in my mind than having to cover one's head and shoulders when entering St. Peter's in Rome or the Duomo in Florence. Note the exquisite stone floral design on the ground. 

Close-up of a flower on the floor

Next we drove to Saadiyat Island where the NYU Abu Dhabi campus is under construction. It is due to open in the Fall of 2014, and that is what brought us here. Doug is acting as CIO (Chief Information Officer) for this project. The island is being developed as the cultural center of Abu Dhabi. Currently under construction are the Zayed National Museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. There will also be several resorts and uber upscale housing. 

The design for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

We stopped at The Marina Mall for an hour, and I was happy to find several stores with dresses that I liked. I discovered when it came time to pack for this move that my Summer clothes, for the most part, were not acceptable in this culture. The bottom line is that they showed a little too much skin. Cathy advised me that it is okay to wear a sleeveless dress if it is long, and you can get away with a shorter dress (to the knees) so long as your shoulders are covered. You have to cover one or the other. Good to know. 

Near the Mall was a small cultural center which faced the city. We stopped in so I could get some photos of the skyline and specifically so I could get a shot with Sama Tower in the background. I found out today that Doug and I will be moving there in two weeks.

Downtown Abu Dhabi is behind me. If you look over my right shoulder you can see a building with what looks like a golf ball on it. Immediately to the left of this building is a slightly shorter, squarish building, and that is Sama Tower. It is 50 stories tall to give you an idea of the scale.

This shot of the skyline shows the absolutely gorgeous colors of the sand and the Arabian Gulf waters. Once it cools down a bit, I will be swimming at the beach across the way, The Corniche.

Finally at the end of our tour, Cathy took me to Sama Tower. I was very anxious to see where I would be living. Sama Tower currently houses the NYUAD adminstrative offices, student and faculty residences, the wellness center and fitness facilities, as well as meeting and lecture spaces. When the new campus opens next fall, everybody will move there. NYUAD opened three years ago, so the plan is that the first graduating class will actually graduate at the Saadiyat Island campus. 

An apartment will not be available for us for another two weeks, but I was able to visit a model 2-bedroom 1-1/2 bath residence. It is not so grand as the place we are living now, but it is still very nice with more than enough room for me and Doug..... and hopefully guests, should anyone wish to come visit us (hint hint). We will be on the 24th floor, and the floor-to-ceiling windows offer a magnificent view. It takes a lot off my mind to see where we will be living. Once we move and get settled, I will post some pictures. 

It is now late afternoon, and quite frankly I am a bit tired. I am not completely adjusted to this time zone - almost there, but not quite. TIme to kick off my sandals and relax.

DAY THREE - I've always wondered.....

how exactly those combo washer-dryer machines work. If you watch House Hunters International like I do, and have seen Americans hunting for homes or apartments in Europe, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

When I was asked what my "requirements" were for a place in Abu Dhabi, I named just a few things: 2-bedrooms (ever hopeful that we'll have guests), a gym in the building or nearby, and a washer/dryer in the unit. While I totally want to explore the city and counryside and take a camel ride to an oasis (stay tuned), I am NOT up for trekking to a laundromat every week. Call me spoiled, but that's how it is.

One of the first things I spotted when we entered the apartment was the very large kitchen, and sure enough, there was that Mystery Appliance. The next day I looked for an instruction manual, and when none was to be found, I asked at the front desk. She told me she'd send the maintainance man to show me how to use it. 

Seriously, I did not want the maintainance guy to show me how to do laundry, especially since my first load was mostly underwear. My underwear. When I saw today's temperature was going to reach 106 I decided today was the day to stay in and, among other things, tackle the Mystery Machine. 

Doug had shown me long ago that manuals for everything exist on-line, so I Googled up the manual for my AEG Electrolux Lavamat-Turbo. Trust me when I say the dials and buttons are not intuitive. If anything, they are intimidating. I pulled up a chair in front of the machine, plunked my iPad on my lap, and proceeded to read. I realized in that moment that I was missing the all-important laundry detergent. Sigh.

I asked Doug to pick up some detergent on the way home, and then I confidently but carefully loaded up the machine, poured in the Tide (guestimating the amount), turned the dials, hit some settings, and then with only the smallest of hesitations hit START.

And here it is in action! I sat and watched it for a few minutes, but when it appeared to be humming and tumbling along with no problem I decided I could leave and let it do it's thing, a Mystery Machine no longer.

DAY TWO - A little bit about this place

When I told friends Doug and I were moving to Abu Dhabi for a year or so, the first question was "Why?" and the second question was "Where's that?" I wondered that myself because while I knew the general area, I certainly couldn't look at a map and immediately put my finger on it. I've done a lot of Googling and reading over the past few weeks, so here's a little info on my new home:

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a very small country along the Arabian Gulf, bordered by Oman to the East and Saudi Arabia.

The UAE is made up of 7 Emirates of which Abu Dhabi is by far and away the largest and the richest. The city of Abu Dhabi is also the capital of the country. 

Most of the country is desert. Think Lawrence of Arabia kind of desert. During the Summer months the temperatures can get up to 115, but I am told the Winter months are very pleasant with daytime highs in the 70's. When we arrived yesterday it was 104, a personal Hottest Day Ever for me. When I told my daughter, Leah, about the heat she replied, "well at least it's a dry heat". I had to correct her because while this region gets very little rain, it is incredibly humid. I assume it's because the Gulf waters evaporate and steam things up. In the evening when you walk by buildings you can see all the windows fogged up and dripping from condensation. It is what Leah calls "wrinkle plumping weather". 

Up until the 1960's, when vast offshore oil reserves were discovered, there were only small fishing villages dotting the shoreline and a handful of oases settlements in the interior. In 1971 the UAE was born, and under the leadership of  Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nayan much of the oil money was directed into building cities from literally the sand up. The two best known are Abu Dahbi and Dubai. It explains why everything looks so brand, spanking new. 

Abu Dhabi today

One fact about this city does confuse me, especially considering it's so new. One would think it would have been laid out in a lovely grid or some logical pattern, that the streets and avenues would be numbered, and that business would have a corresponding address. Not so. Not even close. People navigate by landmarks. For example, when we were coming from the airport last night we told the driver that our apartment was on 9th Street next to the Nissan Showroom. That is literally how it's listed on their website, and as addresses go around here, that is pretty straightforward. Navigating by landmarks made sense where I grew up in the rural New York State, where some roads were unpaved, and there were no house numbers. "Go down the road for a quarter mile and turn right at the barn". But in a big city? I am confused. 

DAY ONE - I arrive in Abu Dhabi

If you had asked me 16 days ago if I ever envisioned myself in Abu Dhabi, I would have laughed. Yet here I am, sitting in a lovely, furnished apartment in Abu Dhabi, prepared to make this my home for the next 12-18 months.

Doug and I arrived in the evening after sunset, so I don't know what view will greet me tomorrow when I look through my windows. I know it's a hopping neighborhood of high rises and cafes and shops because that much I could see through the car windows. Will the Arabian Gulf be visible in the distance (don't say Persian Gulf - that is not PC in this part of the world)? How far am I from the Corniche, this city's version of the Hoboken or Battery Park City waterfront? Where AM I?

It was a long flight, so tonight I decided all I wanted to accomplish was to unpack. I am a "nester". I am one of those people who, even if they're at a hotel for only a weekend, feels compelled to unpack and fill up the drawers and closets. No living out of a suitcase for me. 

Doug made sure the tv and wifi were up and running, always his first priorities. Then he went out and bought a few supplies: toilet paper, hand soap, some juice and yogurt for breakfast tomorrow. I am making a more extensive list for later this week. When Doug goes to his new office at NYUAD (New York University Abu Dhabi), I'll shop and set up the apartment. I am a Nester. I need my home base. I need a home.  It won't take long, and then I'll be off and exploring in earnest. 

Tonight, though, I am tired. It's been a whirlwind two weeks. Just two weeks to go from Life-as-Usual in Hoboken to halfway around the world in the Middle East. Crazy!

Just a quick disclaimer. I have never blogged before, so the current "look" is rudimentary. I've been fighting with the wifi all evening, so tonight is not the night to play with it and make it look better. That will come later. 

Traveling Business Class is definitely the way to go!