Christine's Initial Impressions

Hi All , Christine here, Tuesday 8p May 26
Okay - let's get this clear: It is Hot, Hot and Hotter in UAE, the people and food are varied and wonderful AND things are done in a very specific and official manner. I arrived late on Saturday and immediately made a mistake (showed a copy of my resident VISA) ---- Oops, you go to the back of the line. I was taken from office to office, person to person and I was still in the airport! Ever heard of the Tom Hanks movie"Terminal"? One man finally took pity on me and let me thru, where Scott was waiting for me (surprise and so welcome a sight AND he brought me flowers...). I had to go back into the terminal and see the nice man and he stamped my real visa with a big stamp (stamps are huge here). Scott and I were driven to Abu Dhabi and then we took my first walk outside. This is a huge city - think NYC and you cannot understand a word anyone is saying. Just like NYC !

Sunday (work day for Scott) and I stayed in bed to relax. Scott took half a day to show me some sights. We went to a large and luxurious mall --- mostly I looked at the people. All shapes, sizes, colors and degrees of being covered. Many women are really covered from head to toe in black robes called abaya's. Before coming here I assumed that all the abaya's were solid black - NOT correct: they are embroidered, decorative stitched, embellished and beautiful. Many women have a head scarf and some have an attachment that covers all but their eyes. Lots of local men were a robe over their clothes - mostly white, but some other light colors. I commented to Scott that I noticed that the women wore the heat absorbing color! People, men included, wear mostly sandals. The malls and streets are full no matter when we go out and it is warm (very) even at 3:30a in the morning. Driving is crazy and fast; lots of taxis & many drivers want to talk with you. Food is so different - not at much meat and many spices. We have had something like a gyro two nights and a broasted chicken one night - The grocery stores have so many choices of fresh fruit (which I have been having for breakfast - mostly because someone else had to peel and cut it up).

Scott's villa is on track - saw it this afternoon. Big developement called Sas Al Nakhl - this translates to "area of trees" - Scott and I think it means the trees are on a purchase order and are on a boat somewhere and may be planted at some point in the future.... possibly. The cleaning crew (all men) was there this afternoon. We looked at appliances on Monday. Will have them delivered one day when I can be there for the installation. Heavy, sun resistant drapes will have to be installed. We also saw the Toyota dealer and Scott's white camry should be ready a little later this week - hope to have it for our weekend jaunts.

Went to Mafraq Hospital today with Scott. Had to have my medical exam. The doctor is of Indian descent but grew up and went to college in Michigan. We had 2 meetings (remember things are done in a specific pattern and all papers have to be stamped and made "official" We spent 4-5 hours getting the proper stamps on my papers for me to get my meds and appts for cortisone injections..... I still have neither!

Scott is a person to be dealt with here - people get up when he walks into the room! Swear he introducted me to half of the administrative staff at the hospital today. This is an uphill battle, sort of like the cosmos of "the way it has always been done' Scott has been using his combination of humor and tenacity to get things changed. Heard many positive comments about Scott's efforts to improve central stores AND he has an official stamp too!

After three days my utmost thoughts are how wonderful it is to be together and my luggage was on the same plane with me.
Love to you and thanks for your concern, Christine