Greetings from the Middle East

It’s official; I now live in the Middle East (at least temporarily!). Every time I think about that it almost surprises me that I’m actually here but I suppose I’ll get used to it and it will just start to feel normal. I meant to blog earlier but just haven’t had the time (and some computer issues) so here is an overview of my first (short) week in Abu Dhabi!

Let’s start with the flight over. I flew to JFK to meet the partner (Dean) who flew over with me (having an escort made the process much less intimidating!). My 5 hour layover ended up going by pretty fast because 1. I had to hike from the terminal I landed in to the terminal I was flying out of (JFK is starting to rival Miami as one of my most hated airports!). 2. I got a pedicure (I am queen of airport pedicures at this point since I never have time for them prior to my trips!) and 3. I started drinking. After boarding a few minutes late (courtesy of the nonsense from Yemen last week) I was in heaven. Business class on Etihad was just nothing like I expected. I’ve seen the business class sections on my Paris flights so was expecting something similar, but alas, this was way better. I had my own cubby essentially in the last row of my section of business class on the window. The champagne started flowing as I explored my little area. The bed goes almost fully flat, and it was perfect for someone of my size (if you are tall, this would probably suck but I think that holds true for flying in general if you are really tall!). Oh..and the chair had massage options on it…really?! After sitting on the runway for 2 hours (mechanical issues, oh joy) we finally took off. I stayed up for a few hours and watched Grown Ups, drank more champagne and wine and had my delicious dinner. I then proceeded to pass out for 7 hours and had a great sleep. Woke up and had breakfast (forgot to mention, there is a menu of options for all meals, plus a plethora of fun goodies you can have at any time) and then watched Letters to Juliet prior to landing in AD. Got to airport, blew through immigration, pickced up my bags (yay they all made it!) and then proceeded to duty free for an important stop, booze. You can’t buy booze in Abu Dhabi without a liquor license so I made sure to stock up. Dean used part of his allowance to supplement mine and I ended up with 2 litres of Grey Goose (plus a free small bottle they threw in) and 4 bottles of red wine. Customs laws are pretty good in the UAE, you can bring in 2000 cigarettes and 200 cigars (I think that’s what I read!). We got a car to the hotel and I watched in wonder as we headed away from the airport (unfortunately it was dark and there wasn’t much to see on our trip!). Arriving at the hotel was fairly amusing as I had 2 large rollers, 1 small roller carryon, 2 bags of booze plus my laptop bag. Dean had a small rolling carryon. The hotel staff gave me some strange looks when we told them which bags were going with which person. It doesn’t help that my reservation at the hotel was only for 4 days, ha. Checked in (first night room was okay..got moved second night to a fabulous one!) and then went to the bar. I slept terrible the first night..from 2am to 5am and then ended up getting up since I couldn’t sleep (excitement, jet lag, etc). I was at the office at 8am (11 hours after landing…nothing like giving me time to transition right?!) to meet with another partner and both escorted me to the client for my new job. I felt like a child being taken to school on the first day of kindergarten but it was nice to have familiar faces around who could show me how to navigate the cabs, how to get to client, etc.

First day of work was good…met lots of people, got settled in, started answering US tax questions immediately! Everyone I have met has been great and the office is really nice. I am in a cube again for the first time in over 2 years so that’s a bit odd but its good cuz I’m out in the mix with everyone else. There is this big, beautiful, free breakfast spread each morning in the Lounge which also has foosball and pool tables for fun! They also have free soda and bottled water which is great.

The rest of the time has been fairly uneventful…work all day, dinner at hotel followed by drinks at hotel followed by bed and all over again. It’s Thursday now, my Friday (woot!) so we are actually going to leave the hotel after dinner for some fun. Another director (Oliver) from our NY office landed the day after I did and he is here for 18 months so we’ve become fast friends and I’m really glad to have someone around that is in the same boat as me. Tomorrow I move in to my permanent housing so I’m really excited for that. Living out of 3 suitcases has been a bit difficult (trying to find where I packed anything is quite a feat!). Plus my beautifully organized packing is getting messed up!

Culture shock hasn’t been too bad since I was fairly prepared for it I think. The first moment I felt that wow, I’m going to AD was at the airport in JFK when I had to re check in at Etihad and I was the only white girl in the whole line, not to mention one of very few females at all. Being here is fine though, some men wear the traditional white robes and head dress, some females are in burkas and then everyone else is mostly in suits. At night anything seems to go….I’d never imagine I was in the Middle East when I see people at the bars.

I feel like I’ve already made some friends so it’s not so lonely. Someone at the client that gave me advice on where to live, etc lives in the building I chose so that will be nice. We made plans to hang out next week (she is off to Beirut for the weekend). Yesterday I had to call someone in legal on a US tax issue and what do you know, she is from Falls Church, VA and is over here for 6 months like me. So we’re going to do lunch next week since she works offsite. Oliver is my anytime buddy as well so ideally we can go explore this weekend and figure this place out. He might live in Dubai but for the time being is in Abu Dhabi. I also joined a Meet Up group called New in Abu Dhabi so they organize a bunch of events which I plan to start attending. There is a 10K tomorrow, but its my first week and I’m sick (my body is having a hard time getting used to the change…was close to vomiting my whole first day at work..now have a head cold and sneezing up a storm!) and don’t think that trying to run 6.4 miles is the smartest. It will be nice to work out again tomorrow since I’ve done nothing since last Saturday!!! Anyway, there is a group that is going to start running along the Corniche (along the water) every Tuesday night and there are also Arabic lessons, cooking lessons, happy hours, etc so I’m sure I’ll find lots to do over the next few weeks.

Oh..the other fun thing…I found out that there is a holiday here the 16, 17, 18 (T, W, R) so I get a 5 day weekend sine I work Sunday to Thursday (will be weird getting used to that!). Also, the big Formula 1 race is here on the 12-14 so I don’t think anyone is working on the 14th either. There will be lots going on next week for Formula 1 events…Sean Paul, Kelly Rowland, Kelis, etc etc are doing free concerts on the beach which I plan to attend. I couldn’t get race tickets since I got here so close to the event, but a number of ppl at work have already offered to give up some of theirs (ppl who don’t plan to attend all 4 days). Kanye West, Prince and Linkin Park are the after concerts on race days but you have to have race tickets to go….I think I already scored LP tickets…working on the others now! And…the weather is amazing. Everyone said that I came at the perfect time cuz its finally starting to cool off some. Mornings are a little warm (since I’m in suits) but at night, it’s gorgeous and breezy and I’m in love!

Okay I think that just about covers the past week……I’ll write more this weekend and upload pics.