Farewelling Japan

As you know, we're both settling in to our new life here in the UAE, but in all the excitement and frustration of starting up here, we haven't had the chance to tell you about our last few days in Japan.

Liz lived in Japan for four years; I lived there for seven. That's a long time, and in that time we obviously formed many good friendships. It was hard to leave. It was the right thing to do, and we both knew that, but it was still hard to actually pack up, say goodbye to everyone and leave.

A week or two before we left Japan, we reunited with my former Iwataki English Conversation Group. This is the group that I used to meet up with every month for dinner, drinks and English conversation. Really nice people. Liz used to come along to most of the dinners as well, so everyone loved Liz, and in fact when Liz and I got engaged this group threw an engagement party for us. We l0ve them. So it was really nice to meet up with everyone again in our old regular place. We had a great night, filled with fun and laughter, though it was hard to say goodbye at the end of the night.
Also a short time before we moved out, it came time to say goodbye to my oldest friend in Japan - Toru. Toru and I have been close friends since the very beginning. Toru was supposed to be a groomsman at our wedding, but his wife Kana was having a baby at the time, so he couldn't make it. I owe him so much, and we've done some pretty crazy things and some pretty random road trips together over the last seven years. As such, Liz and I saw it as pretty fitting to go off on a "farewell road trip" for old times' sake. Our destination: an old temple built on a cliff face up high on a mountain in Tottori Prefecture. The temple is called "sanbutu-ji". It sounded cool, because you have to follow the old old pilgrims' path through the forest and over rocks and so on. So Toru picked us up early in the morning and the three of us drove down to Tottori. When we reached the temple entrance (at the base of the mountain), we were asked to show our shoes! Liz's shoes were appropriate, but mine and Toru's were deemed "unsuitable" and so we weren't allowed to climb up the mountain in them. We had to take our shoes off and wear straw sandals instead. Apparently the rough straw sandals have better tread/grip and is what the pilgrims used to wear in the old days. Ok, bring it on!! Toru and I donned our straw sandals and headed on towards the "track".
It was at about step three or so that I realised this was going to be a VERY painful treck, since the sandals were rubbing and digging in to me. I could feel blisters and scratches forming already! Just before the track started, we had to sign a waiver and wear a number!!! GET THIS!!! one or two people die on this climb every year, and someone just fell and died FIVE DAYS BEFORE!!!!!!! FIVE DAYS PEOPLE!!!!! DEAD!! So we signed our waivers and put on our numbers and continued on, Liz striding in her shoes, and me hobbling in my hellish straw sandals. Toru was very excited.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the scenery was stunning. We were deep in the forest, filled with tall cedars, streams, big rocks, moss and slivers of sunshine darting down and reflecting off young leaves. Can you see Toru?

However, we reached a treacherous part of the climb when it dawned on me: my health insurance just ran out!! If I fall or twist my ankle on these warped roots I'm screwed!!! So Liz and I agreed to call it quits. Toru was disappointed, but he understood. We told him to go ahead and we'd wait for him at the bottom, but he chose to hang out with us instead, so the three of us headed back down again and went out for lunch at Moss Burger!

I tell you, it felt SO GOOD to take those straw sandals off! My feet hurt for days afterwards!
We did have a good time though. Even if we never made it to our destination.

Oh the relief and the pain!

When the time came to move out of our house, we stayed a few nights in Kyoto City before heading to the airport to fly out. Yoko drove us to the city, and even managed to get a room at the same hotel as us for that night. The three of us had a great chatty drive down to the city, and went out for dinner that night. The next day we met up with Junko (who was also in the city that day) and Ippei took the afternoon off work and trained down to the city to meet up with us, and the five of us all went out for an American dinner at a steak house. It was a fantastic night. These are the three friends who came from Japan to our wedding. It's something we'll never forget and the three of them will always be close friends of ours. Again, it was very hard to say goodbye at the end of the night.

Finally, the day before we left, we managed to catch up with Takatsugu (one of my favourite graduated and grown up former students) in Kyoto. We had chatted with him a wee bit back in Yosano just before we left, since he was back home working in a cafe during his university summer break. He came back to Kyoto to have dinner with us before we left. He really wanted to come meet us at the airport and wave us off, but I told him not to since it would cost him too much in train fares to and from the airport. Such a nice kid. I miss him and his brothers, but I'm sure they'll come visit one day soon.

Takatsugu messing around for our amusement at his part time job.

Finally, when we were at the airport wasting a few hours before checking in, we RANDOMLY bumped into my best friend Ryosuke (AKA Mr Hattori). He had decided to come hunt us down. Everyone had told him it would be impossible to find us, but he came anyway, and sure enough... we bumped into eachother. I was so stoked to see him there... but it sure made leaving so much harder. I had emotionally prepared myself for leaving and blocking out all emotions, but then for him to come and surprise us, and wave us off made me quite sad to leave. But I was really stoked at the same time. Ryosuke called Yoko to tell her that he had actually FOUND us, and passed the phone over to Liz so she could speak to Yoko, who then passed the phone around her entire family, each person taking a turn to say goodbye to Liz. It was really nice for both of us.

Me and Ryosuke at the airport

Anyway, in a nutshell, it was really hard to leave Japan. It was my home. Liz and I have many friends there and a million memories. But, change is natural and it was time to move on and start something new. We are really starting to love our new life here in the UAE. I will probably miss Japan for the rest of my life - though not in a sad way, but with fond memories and a smile.

And so, now there's a whole new and exciting country just waiting to be discovered by us. Stay tuned for our adventures - whatever they may be!

Results!

Do you see that?? That's our brand new, fully functioning oven! The kitchen is so happy to have it's gap filled in.

Ok, that's all. Now I'm gonna go bake something!

Welcome to the Thomas's!

Well we are finally moved in! Our apartment is far from finished, but it is livable, and so far we really like it. First we will start with just a couple of “Before” shots. This is what we were shown on our first day in Al Ain, after a bit of cleaning (actually A LOT of cleaning) and elbow grease…

Being showed to our complex on the first day in Al Ain. (This is looking toward the gate from our front steps)

Our apartment (first floor)!

First meal

The rather vast hall

The kitchen required A LOT of cleaning!

Our first purchases were a refrigerator and an oven (still waiting on our oven…it is quite the saga…) followed shortly by a washer/dryer. Since there are no street addresses in the UAE, you give the delivery people your cell phone number, and they call you and ask how to get to your house. This means that you learn to give directions really fast! (I’m not going to post directions to our house because who knows who actually reads this thing, but if you are curious let us know and we’ll tell ya how to get here!!!)

Giving directions

I told you there has been a saga with the oven which is ongoing (it never got delivered, there was tons of miscommunication between store and warehouse and delivery, apparently another salesman resold our oven to someone else, and now we are waiting for it to be reordered…I have been on the phone with the company far more than I would like!) Well, there was also a mini-drama with the washer/dryer combo.

First, neither Bryn nor I could figure out for the life of us exactly where it could be connected. Finally Bryn met one of our neighbors who told him that we needed to have the bidet taken out of the master bathroom, and the washing machine would go there. There is a Bangladeshi maintenance/security guy who lives by the gate of our complex. He doesn’t speak English or Arabic, so it’s quite fun to communicate. He knew right away that we needed the bidet removed in order to put in a washer, and said he would take care of it (in so many words). Well, the washer was delivered before the bidet was gone. We weren’t sure whether dude was contacting a plumber or what, but a few hours later he comes in with a wrench. There was some clanking, then a few minutes later he walks into the kitchen carrying the bidet, instructing me to open the door to our tiny “balcony”. I said and gestured no, that I didn’t want to keep the bidet and he should throw it out, but he swore up and down that it had to stay with the apartment, so we have a bidet living on our balcony…perhaps we will plant something in it…

So then dude goes to install the washer, not rocket science, except (now I’m going to get real technical here...) the hose connector thingy didn’t fit the tap thingy on the wall. Dude said he was going to get an adaptor and it would cost us 9 Dirhams (just a couple of dollars). Fine. The next afternoon he rings our doorbell and waltzes in with three rolls of waterproof tape….ooooookay. …..splash, clank, splash… he comes out, says “OK” and walks out. He had taped the hose to the tap thingy on the wall!!!!! We turned on the water, and knew immediately that this was a no-go as water dripped onto the already soaking floor.




The next morning we went to the Ace Hardware store ready to buy REAL adapters and fix it ourselves. We got everything and got home, where we started to fix it, when the LG technician called to see if we would like him to come install our washing machine. YES, PLEASE!!!! A few hours later we had a perfectly functioning washer and dryer.

We had a major shopping spree in Ikea during our second week, and everything was delivered and assembled a couple of days ago. That was fairly drama free, however there was a broken runner on one of the dresser drawers, but the delivery people assured me they would bring the replacement part the next time they came to Al Ain…if I don’t hear from them in a day or so I am calling. I tell you what, this country is definitely making me a more competent phone person.

Still not sure what to do with this little "nook" off the main hall...more furniture? reading nook?

Our poor kitchen wants an oven!!

We really like our furniture though, and are looking forward to picking up some more things as we go and adding little things here and there. It is nice to finally be living in our own place!

*Update* Since originally writing this post, we have had a lot of progress! Ikea came with the parts and fixed the dresser drawer. Yesterday we had our internet, tv and phone lines hooked up. Bryn has gotten his UAE drivers license and we were able to rent a car yesterday. My residence visa is being processed, and hopefully I will have a drivers license in a matter of weeks as well.

Still no oven.

Dining in Style!

I was waiting on a taxi with Bryn one day last week when my cell phone rang – it was Bryn’s dad. “How would you like to have breakfast at the Burj Al Arab on Thursday morning?” Umm…I would love to!!! I mean, how can you say no to that?!?

If you don’t know, the Burj Al Arab is one of Dubai’s major icons. It is the sail shaped building that dominates the skyline. It is the only 7 star hotel in the world (only because it claims to be though…haha) and you can only get in if you are a guest or have reservations at one of the restaurants. It’s meant for the elite of the world, not people like me!

The company that Robert used to work for and had been helping out throughout the week had invited him (and a guest) to the graduation ceremony they were holding (Don’t ask what for…I don’t really know so I am not getting into it.) So, we got up bright and early on Thursday and hit the road for the 1.5 hour drive through the desert to Dubai.

We arrived a bit early, so we had some time to have a look around the hotel. It is pretty over the top, and dare I say gaudy…it’s all gold (real gold I believe) and had fish tanks in the walls. There are exquisite fountains all over. It’s definitely one of those places where someone like me is afraid to touch anything or do something wrong!! We went up to the top, where there is a restaurant that looks over the gulf. You could see the unfinished World islands to one side, and clearly see one of the palm islands from the other – really neat to actually see the shape for yourself!!

That's the world...

That's the palm.

One view of Dubai

Another resort next door to the Burj Al Arab

Another view of Dubai (you can just make out the tallest building in the world through the haze)

Next was the ceremony (mostly in Arabic other than Robert’s short speech, so I had no idea what was going on!) followed by brunch. It was nice…eggs, turkey bacon, veal sausage, pancakes, waffles, pastries, cereal, the works. The food was good enough, but I’m glad I didn’t have to pay anything for it!!

After everything was over, we wandered around a bit more while we waited for the glass elevators that will take you up the outside of the building (definitely a tourist attraction!).

Looking straight up

In front of the many musical fountains

Afterwards, we popped into a couple of malls, where I got some kitchen things from Crate and Barrel. Can’t wait to go back for more shopping when I have more time!

It was definitely an experience, and I don’t think I would have ever had the opportunity to go into the Burj Al Arab otherwise! It just goes to show how many really neat things there are to do in the UAE…we have some exciting times to come!

We're baaaaack!

Hello, from hot and sunny Al Ain! Long time no see. Sorry about that, but we are finding that things take a little longer here in the Middle East. We are some of the lucky ones, and are able to use Robert and Jan’s (Bryn’s dad and stepmother’s) internet until we finally get ours sorted out (any day now they tell us…haha)

We had a great, but busy final few weeks in Japan. Lots of “see you laters”, packing, and moving in general. That is for another entry though.

So far though, Al Ain is a really interesting and great place. First, a little about Al Ain and the UAE. The UAE is made up of several Emirates, kind of like states or prefectures. Al Ain is the 2nd largest city in the biggest emirate, Abu Dhabi. It is located inland, and shares a border with Oman, so we can drive to another country in a matter of minutes! Al Ain means “the spring” in Arabic, and sure enough it is a city built around an oasis, so there is a good amount of natural green in a lot of places. In the UAE it is known as the Garden City. It has tree lined streets and lots of green grass and flowers (not natural…they must use so much water to keep it green, giving it one of the biggest carbon footprints in the world!) It makes for a very pretty city, though.

The weather…well I am sure you guessed it, it is HOT and dry. Apparently it gets quite humid on the coast, but Al Ain stays pretty dry, but hot, hot, hot!! Lately, the temperature has been about 104-111F, or 40 - 43C. The sun is pretty intense, so you get dehydrated easily if you aren’t careful. Most evenings last week we had some rumbles of thunder, and the winds picked up and sand went everywhere (like a mini sand storm). There was a freak rainstorm too, and although it didn’t last long at all, a lot of streets were completely flooded. Since it rains so rarely, all of the drains get blocked up with sand, giving the water nowhere to go when it does rain.

From reading online and in the local magazines, it seems like there is a lot to do in Al Ain. It is home to the UAE’s tallest mountain (Jebel Hafeet), several natural oases, and several newly instated World Heritage Sites. It has an awful lot of history, so I am sure we will be telling you all about it as we discover it! So in other words, Bryn and I have a lot of exploring to look forward to!!!

The University Bryn works for put us up in a hotel for the first week, and now we are crashing with Robert and Jan while we get our place a little more livable. While Bryn is at work, my job is to sweep up the sand, and stare at the walls in between bugging the various delivery people about when they will bring us our oven, furniture, and so on. We have a great apartment though, and I can’t wait to give you a tour once it isn’t quite so empty! We are having a great time perusing the home stores, the huge supermarkets and the malls. It is great to have some foods, restaurants and stores from home after four years of my little Nishigaki and weekend trips to the city for shopping!

Bryn will have to tell you more about his job later, since I don’t really know much about it. Robert has invited me to come to Dubai with him tomorrow and have breakfast in the Burj Al Arab…very excited about that (and what on earth am I going to wear?!?)!!


A few observations we have made so far (again, we’ll get into more detail at another time):

-In summer, the cold water tap = hot, and the hot water tap = cold. Since the water tanks are outside, the water that is normally cold, sits in the hot sun for hours, becoming hot. The hot water tanks are inside, so the water is a bit cooler, but far from cold. They tell us that in October we will probably find that we need to turn on the hot water.

-“I’ll call you back.” Does not mean you will get called back. It means something like, “I don’t know the answer and am sick of talking to you, goodbye.”

-I never want to be in a Muslim country during Ramadan again…not being allowed to drink water in public in 100+ degree heat…not good.

-Desert sunsets are beautiful.

-Patience is a virtue here – well, it is everywhere, but especially here.

-Roundabouts aren’t as scary as they may seem.

I’ll leave you with a few random pictures from our first days here (taken on our fancy cell phones). Just a little sneak peak into what’s to come! Don’t be surprised if you see some of them again as we get to the proper blog entries!!

A sign down the road from our apartment.

Our front door!!!

View from our "chalet" at the Hilton.