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.