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.