Here I am sitting in my classroom, waiting to receive my first class of students in about two hours. I have a mountain of work to do, but for some reason I really don't feel like doing. What I mean to say is that I usually feel like doing work, so when I feel like not doing work and am actually not doing work that is a bit of an oddity for me. So I decided that I would write a small update for my blog.

So far everything has been going very well, and I believe I have adjusted very well to my surroundings. To be honest I really like this country so far, and the climate (though extremely hot) is really nice; although it would be nice to see some big fluffy clouds in the sky every once in a while.

The vegetation that I have seen in Abu Dhabi is very interesting to me. Essentially in the area I live everything either has grass or concrete, it makes it easy to forget that I am actually living in a desert. However, if you go about 15minutes south of where I live there is less and less grass and the plots that would traditionally hold grass back home, are instead lots of sand. When I see those it reminds me that I'm living where I'm living. However the trees (for the most part) are completely different, as most of the streets are lined with well-trimmed palm trees. It's also interesting to see the big sack(s) of dates that grow from the tree. In many of the highly populated areas of the city, the dates are actually secured to the tree using a bag. I'm not certain if this is because they want to protect the dates themselves, or the people walking under the tree. I have read in several books that date trees are fundamentally important to the cultures in this part of the world, and that families take great pride and care concerning their personal date trees. However, I have not inquired whether that is the case specifically in this country or not.

I just want to give a warning to those who travel here, be prepared to spend money. It's just so easy to go shopping, and their centers are so big you end up going for hours. Now that being said, if you know where to go shopping you would be surprised by the amounts you can buy for the price. I don't think there has been a night where I haven't wandered out of the apartment for a while, and found myself in a shop or two. Last night was grocery shopping, though not super cheap, you can still get a good number of groceries for the price if you spend some time in the shopping centers.

A note on the shopping centers if I haven't mentioned this already, and I'm not really sure if I have or haven't. They're huge, and have everything (but coffee makers and electronic kettles, or coffee -_-"). Seriously I went shopping for a little bit, and I was in there walking and browsing for over an hour. I seriously could have spent more time in there as well, if they weren't so chaotic! I swear I need to stop going grocery shopping during prime time, shopping time, which is usually around 7:00-9:00pm here. You have kids running around and screaming, people zigzagging through the allies, people just park where ever they feel, tons of people; honestly it can be quite stressful, and sometimes I will complete avoid an Isle if I feel the people are just too much. Mind you I could start going to one of the cheaper super-markets around my house, but meh.

So a note on taxi's, they're incredibly cheap here. In fact, taxis are too cheap here. They're so cheap; I don't even consider taking the bus even though it's only a Dirham ($0.27) to travel anywhere in the city (practically). Sometimes you get some really nice taxi drivers, and they make for interesting conversation. So far they love to hear I'm from Canada, as it's usually one of their three favorite countries. One taxi driver couldn't even believe that I would come here, as I was from a country that everyone wants to go to in the world; well he understood why, but was making a general statement about how people regard Canada. So far I have been asked if I'm married about three times by taxi drivers, it's pretty funny actually.

Going to the bars in Abu Dhabi are something interesting. I know I've mentioned before that the only places that are legally allowed to serve alcohol are the hotels. So the hotels will designate one or two or several areas within their establishment and rent/lease them out to various business/bars. These bars will then be able to serve alcohol since they are in the premises of the hotel. So far I've gone to two or three places like this. One place called Heroes, another in the Sheridan hotel called Zenith and an Irish pub somewhere in the city. All of which seem very nice (regardless of it not really being my thing), however it feels a bit ritzy going to a hotel for drinks. Another interesting thing is at pretty much any night of the week, they will have ladies night. Meaning that girls can drink free cocktails all night, boys however pay huge amounts for drinks. I went to a ladies night last Thursday, and man did I have a few to many I think. Although it was pretty flattering, I had this really good look and fairly obviously wealthy guy hitting on me. I told him I wasn't interested, but he was French and from Turkistan, had a really handsome accent, tried to impress me with his fancy car keys. Though not interested, still the attention always feels nice.

I went to the Grand Mosque the other day; if anyone has been following I put a lot of pictures from it in the gallery. Although this site compressed them, and they look nowhere near as cool as the pictures I currently have on my computer. The Mosque is beautiful, and it is rather large. I don't really know what else to say about it, other than it was my first time entering a mosque where I needed to wear the full abaya. Every time you visit a mosque it is required that you cover your hair with a hijab or scarf etc… However, first time I had to wear the whole outfit. Must say the abayas are not as heavy as I had thought they would be, but they're still hot in that heat. I also love how they make you take your shoes off before entering, I know some of you will think I'm crazy, but I love the feeling of the cool marble and the soft carpet on my bare feet.

Hummm what else.

Well I did visit the Emirates palace, but to me that's not too exciting as far as I'm concerned. It's just a really big and fancy hotel. Though admittedly beautiful and would be a wonderful place to stay if you're a tourist, but big expensive places have never been my thing. I had much more fun trying to buy fabrics from a man who barely spoke English, in a tiny shop in a back alley, than going to this big grand thing on the beach. I don't know matter or tastes I suppose.

Well I feel like that's a good update. I'll try to put more up in time. I'm starting to teach, so I should start having a bit more of a consistent schedule. Thanks for reading.