Abu Dhabi - day 5

I've been here for 5 days but let me start from the beginning...

On arrival I am welcomed by a sandstorm and weather of 34 degrees celscius (hot) and a very happy Fadi :)
First impressions at the airport, alot of men wearing dresses and are walking with their gross toes sticking out... But then i notice how beautiful the mosaics are and think how happy I am to be here...
Our apartment...well its nice for a short stay. I might be a snob by saying this, but sharing a kitchen with a bunch of other people (no matter how clean it is) does not appeal to me...Fadi promises it's temporary, and my mission is to find us an decent home to start our new lives...
We soon realised that for our budget Dubai is going to make the cut. We visited "new" apartments in the Al Mushrif area (very local, emirates area) and they were dirty, with barriers on all the (small) windows and no oven! So thursday we are going to Dubai to check out the city, say hello to my friends, and visit a few places... (Alvin we'll be neighbours, so come onnnnn, get your butt here)

I've been hanging around the compound while Fadi works, our neighbourhood is really nice, Bain al Jessrain, and wow there are some amazing villas here...I'm totally blown away by these humongous mansions...
Also we are near the Shangri-la hotel, a beautiful resort with stores and about a dozen different restaurants...Oh and beautiful beach...white sand...turquoise water...the works! One of my new favourite places (anyone that comes to visit i will bring you there) it's called Pearls & Caviar (yes yes very snobby name) its this bar on the sea with the warm wind that blows in your hair, mosaic floors, wannabe sails as a roof....aaaaaaa luxury...

After 2 days of being here, after tasting a few restaurants, we decide to go do the groceries...It's just so funny to see the same brands we have in America or Europe but written in arabic...Thank God for famous logos, thats how we bought Tide and Dove and Colgate... :)
Also you see all types of people there, blonde bimbos in tight jeans, a zillion different types of muslims, and Fadi can tell me which country their from just by their costumes...(I have seen alot of Saudi women, well seen is a big word because they don't show an inch of skin, fully veiled, they even wear gloves on their hands)
I experienced different smells, the fresh fish area, the cheese area, the spices area, the different types of sweats (can't wait for summer time, i'll probably die of intoxication)...

There's also a bunch of activites to be done, but i was so sad, we just missed the Camel Fest, where there's an actual camel-milking contest...???!!! I so wished i saw that! next year!

There's so much to see, so much to experience, but I think both of us just want to find our apartment first...

Tonight i'm going to see Amani...She made a good point, wherever I have lived, no matter the reason she came to the city/country in question, we have seen each other... Ok actually this is the 1st time she comes to a country without ME being the main reason, but that's ok, i get to see her :)

as i'm writing this i'm hearing in the background the 12 o'clock call for prayer...