Foaming at the mouth

The big event for us (so far) this weekend has to be the CAMEL RACES! They were possibly one of the best sporting events I have ever had the pleasure to watch. When we got there, we drove in with really no clue where we were meant to go or what we supposed to do as spectators. Well, just as we pulled in, the next race was starting and we found ourselves cruising around the track with several large SUV's, chasing down the camels. We're not sure if that is the way you are supposed to watch a camel race, but since the track is so BIG, I can't really see any other way. Thankfully, we were smart enough to bring our camera, because words really can't explain...

Getting the camels lined up at the starting line seems to take a bit of effort.

The sheiks are there at the finish line!

Coming down the home stretch

A man and his beasts

Pete got his pic taking with a very nice looking camel.

I was not so lucky! Mine needed a muzzle. 

Yeah, this guy looks a little bit worn out.

Right after the start of the race - they are going strong

The race track for the cars...

"A camel looks like a horse that was planned by a committee" 

Enjoy my commentary of the race. :-)

We found our camera!

We spent some time exploring this past Friday. During the morning hours on Fridays, the whole city is completely quiet because everyone is in the mosques. But come 1 pm, the streets are bustling, the parks are full, and so are all the stores! We went to visit the heritage village, which is supposed to be a representation of what life was like in the Emirates before it became so developed. There are also a couple of photos from Pete's first few weeks here. (If you click on the photos, you can see the larger version)

Some guys hanging out by the water on their day off 

One of the tallest flag poles in the world, naturally

"Dear Visitors, Please do not come close to the beach or swim"

Cell phone palm tree.

The GIANT portrait of Sheik Mohammed (these guys didn't know I was taking this pic from the car...but what the heck is that guy doing with that baby?)

This one's for Steve - skateboarders in the lot by our hotel!!

Enjoying the local fare at Eat n Joy. Mmmm

The first (and only, so far) case of beer for Pete

That one really tall building that you keep getting email forwards about. 

Prayer Time at Heritage Village (Pete didn't know I was video-ing)

Some Abu Dhabi Sights

A few pics from Christine's first week in Abu Dhabi

Drinks with my new amigas Mary and Jenny at 3rd Avenue Pub

What the hell is this?


The entrance to the children's park across the road from our hotel...pretty fancy!

Mmmmm, some delicious hummus & pita

Entrance to 3rd Avenue Pub

Fresh Fish for Valentines's Day

I got to Abu Dhabi just in time to spend my first Valentine's Day as a wife! Pete did a good job and actually remembered! So sweet :-) We went out for dinner at this restaurant called The Fishmarket, which is at the Intercontinental Hotel. Sadly, we thought we had lost our camera that night, so I have no photos to show you how cool it was!! The restaurant has no menu - they just have a huge U-shaped bar thing that is like the fresh fish section at the grocery store. The entire thing is packed with ice and then all kinds of animals from the sea. After we were seated, a little Indian man named Kumar (he might have just come from White Castle - who knows?) came over and guided us through the meal selection process. We picked out some fresh scallops and a GIANT jumbo shrimp for an appetizer. The shrimp was as big as a lobster, and the lobsters they had were as big as my arm - NO JOKE!! Then for our main course we had grilled hammour (local fare) with lemon garlic sauce, seafood fried rice, and vegetable stir fry. It was delicious! Our table could not have been in a better location either. We were sitting right next to the door and the seafood bar, so we had a prime spot for people-watching...and let me tell you, there were some interesting couples that came to that place.

Another funny thing...some little girl was having her 8th birthday party on the lawn outside the restaurant. Pretty posh place for an 8th birthday I'd say. I wonder what her wedding will be like?

Also, we found our camera when we got home. So I should be posting some pics very soon.

Together Again

Photo 1: 4 buildings on Saadiyat Island

Photo 2: The GIANT mosque

Photo 3: Aerial view of Emirates Palace

For the past month I tried to get Pete to add something to this silly blog...but I guess he has been too busy for that! So now that I am out here in Abu Dhabi, I thought I should get on here and write something.

My trip out here was long! My flight out of DIA was delayed almost FIVE hours... which caused me to barely catch my flight in London. Naturally, since I barely made the flight, I couldn't exactly expect my bags to make it to the plane. So when I got into Abu Dhabi at 2 am, I had nothing to bring back to the hotel with me. I didn't really mind though because it was nice to FINALLY see my husband again! ("Nice" is an understatement, haha) Anyway, they brought my bags the next morning, so it wasn't a big deal.

The first day I was here went by FAST because I slept for the entire time. When Pete got back from work that afternoon we headed to the GIANT mall down the road to go to IKEA for some hangers. Fun stuff really... 

--Side note here: You would NOT believe the malls here. I know I've said this before, but they are absolutely INSANE. Pete and I were at the mall at 11 pm and it was packed. There are kids everywhere, people with carts and numerous bags, teenagers out with their friends, men kissing and holding hands...the noise is pretty unreal. There are also grocery stores inside the mall. These are even crazier than the rest of the mall. It seems like everyone is out trying to find a deal. People are pushing carts around that are filled up with stuff up to eye level, and the carts have 4 pivoting wheels (unlike those at home that just have 2) so the carts are moving in all directions. On top of that, the grocery stores sell TV's and computers and radios and hairdryers...and all of these things are on and turned to full volume! On top of that, there is aguy driving around in a mini Zamboni looking thing that is cleaning the floors and it is just as loud as everything else! And he is just driving around through all of these people. Completely nuts! Funny thing happened there - we were looking for a blowdryer, and Pete went up to a guy to ask him where we could find one and the guy just busted up laughing and walked away!!! WTH!?!? -- okay, end of side note. 

The weather the past few nights has been brisk! I actually needed a jacket! Totally unexpected!! The wind has been blowing so hard and it's been really hazy outside. Today it cleared up, and I got my first glimpse of the water from our hotel window. We are situated right on the Corniche, which is one of the main drags in Abu Dhabi. There are a lot of stores, restaurants, malls, and mosques (naturally) around. It is a prime location, but we can't really stay in a hotel forever. Which leads me to our adventures of the day.

Fridays in Arab-land are awfully quiet. All the Muslims are in the mosques until 1 pm, so it's a good time to drive around without all the crazy traffic. We headed over to Emirates Palace (Wooooo, GIANT hotel!!) to look at 2 exhibits that they have there (giant hotel + museum!). One exhibit is of this island that they are about to start developing called Saadiyat and the Abu Dhabi people are really going all out with this one. They have commissioned all kinds of world-renowned architects to build these insane buildings and the exhibit had models of each of them. I can't even describe how crazy they were! Really, there are just no limits on anything here it seems. The other exhibit is from local artists. There were some really interesting pieces, especially a couple of collages that I thought were really cool. One was made completely out of rolled up pieces of newspaper that were put into a pattern and in the middle was a sheet hahaha! (a.k.a. one of those red/white towel things they wear on their heads here)...kinda cool. :-)

After that, we cruised down to Airport Road and Carrefour (That's the name of the area...no addresses in this town, and Carrefour is a grocery store - it would be like saying our house in Littleton was at Broadway and King Soopers). We were down there to look at an apartment. It was a nice 2 bedroom pad with a kitchen and 2 bathrooms, but it is about 10 paces away from one of the biggest mosques in the world! We told the real estate lady (who speaks some pretty funny English) that we might want to have a little distance from a mosque, but then she reminded us that there is a mosque every 500 meters in Abu Dhabi - no exaggeration, it's a government law. So it looks like we won't get that wish. But we are hoping to find a place that is somewhat reasonable to RENT - this place was ~$5,000/month, and you have to pay the whole YEAR in advance. I guess we'll have to keep looking.

I'll try to get on here a little more regularly, but forgive me if the stories are somewhat lame. Just trying to give everyone a little idea of our new expat lifestyle.