My Oh Maldives

Photo: The dock to Kurumba, Maldives.

Our flight for our vacation to the Maldives last week left at 3 a.m. Surprisingly the terminal was packed with people. I wonder if it is this full at 3 p.m.

I did not have a chance to enjoy the famed Emirates Airline service as Larry and I immediately went to sleep for almost the entire four hour flight. We arrived at 8 a.m. local time in Male, "the world's smallest capitol." We signed in at a booth bearing the name of our resort and drank four small bottles of water at a waterside cafe ($12!) while waiting for our boat.

The staff loaded our luggage into a speed boat and wisked us off to Kurumba. The Maldives is made up of a bunch of islands and there is a limit of one resort per island. Our resort, with Thai-inspired open architecture was beautiful.

We were escorted to check-in where we were presented with colorful fruit drinks. After that, they loaded us into golf carts and drove us out to our rooms where our luggage was already waiting.

I say rooms, but because we were on the Emirates package, we'd been ungraded to deluxe bungalos. Alec called them "casitas." They were right on the beach. But I loved the exterior bathroom which was inside an enclosed small garden area.

We did a bit of unpacking and then Larry and I walked the diameter of the island, which took about 20 minutes. We came back to our room for a nap. Despite the fact we've been living in hotels for months, only now do we finally feel as if we're on vacation.

Abu Update

Photo: Our first dinner in our new home.

While I am too busy getting settled to do a real update, here's some quick musings about Abu Dhabi to keep you entertained:

A taxi ride to anywhere on the island costs less than $2.

The island is so compact, ALL the restaurants offer free home delivery. This includes Chili's and Popeye's Fried Chicken.

The same streets that are deserted every afternoon, have a lot of families walking around at 10 p.m.

If you lift the seat on the toilet, you can feel the heat rising from the water in the bowl.

Any kind of public display of affection, such as holding hands, is considered very offensive. Couples who live together without benefit of marriage can be jailed.

Shopping malls have prayer rooms, with separate rooms for men and women.

I got to choose my cell phone number from a list. Taylor’s and mine are sequential.

There is ONE service provider for cell phones, long distance and the Internet: the government.

My local grocery store is so well stocked, I can buy Reese's peanut butter cups, Indian spices, vine leaves, pine nuts, Bluebell and Haagen Das icecreams, and Mission Low Carb tortillas. What more could a woman want?

Picky, me. I still want my furniture, which has arrived and is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. Stay tuned for further adventures.

Boxed In

We are finally exchanging the joys of room service and housekeeping for blow-up mattresses.

Yes, after months of hotel living, our "air" ship has finally arrived and we are moving into our flat today.

Check back after July 24 when I will hopefully have an Internet connection and hot water in the kitchen.

Peaceful Vacation

Photo: The Kurumba Resort at the Maldives.

The highlight of our summer is Alec's visit next week. While he's here, we decided to go on vacation.

I looked at a lot of package deals put together by the two local airlines, Etihad and Emirates. We eventually chose the Emirates package to the Maldives. Between our move to Abu Dhabi and Alec's move next month to Buenos Aires, we wanted a beatiful peaceful beach.

Even though the Maldives was a bit more expensive, I am awfully glad we decided against one of the cheaper alternatives I considered--Beirut, Lebanon. Not much peace there now.

Typical Days

Photo: Tanned and fit, Taylor plays video games.

My typical day now starts by going to some coffee, where I can network with other expat women. I am filling up a notebook with reference information that will serve as my personal Yellow Pages.

Yesterday, I found out about a tour service that picks up in Abu Dhabi and takes your guests to the major tourist stops in Dubai for the day and brings them back.

I also found out about some hole-in-the-wall place (opposite Abu Dhabi mall, behind the old Coop building) where they have a lot of little shops selling interesting stuff people like to take home as souvenirs.

Someone also gave me a business card for a popular tailor. I was keen to see how they handled the address as Abu Dhabi doesn’t have any. Sure enough, they listed their p.o. box, as if I was going to mail them fabric and my measurements. As for their physical address, the card said, “Khalifa Street, pink building, behind Oman Jewellers.”

I usually meet Taylor for lunch at some restaurant. Yesterday we went to a recommended Indian food place where we were the only Westerners. It was packed but I was the only woman other than the wait staff.

After lunch, Taylor spends the rest of the afternoon working out at the hotel gym, playing video games or perfecting his tan by the pool. Legally, he can’t work here. So he is missing the character-building summers of boring minimum wage jobs that Larry, Alec and I all endured at his age. Taylor doesn’t consider this a bad thing.

Afternoons or evenings, I spend practicing my yodeling in our empty, echoing apartment while waiting for someone to show up. In self-defense, I have learned to overschedule.

Yesterday, I had the electrician, the curtain guy and the appliance installation all coming at 5 p.m. The electrician actually showed up on time. However, he needed to get some other supplies and we agreed he’d come back the next day at 1 p.m.

About 5:30, the appliance guy called to reschedule. So I told him 1 p.m.

At 5:45, I called the curtain guy, who assured me he was on the way. He showed at 6:15 and took two hours to install curtains in two rooms. He had previously installed the hardware in a three hour session.

The curtains looked good, but I am making him replace the cheesy tassled tiebacks with matching fabric ones. So that's one more appointment.

I walked back to the hotel around 8:15 p.m. I was astounded at all the people I saw out and about. I’m sure many of them were shopping as the local stores and offices stay open late.

For dinner, I had the Southwestern cobb salad. Tay had Cajun chicken pasta and chocolate molten cake. All of this was delivered by Chiles to our hotel room.

Larry, who had just returned from Cairo, kept us entertained with his story of how he got roped into an extended camel riding session in his business clothes at the pyramids followed by an aromatherapy sales presentation. His day, at least, was not so typical.

Mermaid

Photo: The site of the former Mermaid Building.

While the Mermaid Building may be gone, it’s not forgotten.

I’d never actually seen the Mermaid Building in Abu Dhabi. I’m told it held a lot of medical offices. Perhaps this is why there is a Mermaid Pharmacy across the street.

All I know is that they tore it down to make way for my apartment building. That’s turned out to be a big advantage for me. When I needed to tell someone where I lived, I use to say: “I Iive on Khalidiya Street. It’s the brand new building with green windows down the street from the Islamic Bank, next to RAK Bank.” This is a lot of information to have to impart to a taxi driver who may not be that fluent in English.

Now that I know the history, however, I just say, “Old Mermaid Building.”

I’ve been hanging around the Old Mermaid Building site a lot lately. Yesterday I arrived at 4 p.m. to wait for the delivery of my washing machine and dishwasher from Carrefour.

They arrived promptly and unboxed it. However, they wouldn’t finish the installation as they said I needed “filters” for both appliances because of the salt water. And lucky for me, one guy had a friend who was a plumber who could handle the whole thing for me right away.

I may not know about water chemistry, but I do know about suspicious sales pitches regardless of culture. I signed for the appliances, noting they had not yet been installed, and told the delivery guy I’d get back to him about the whole filter issue.

I don’t really have to solve this immediately as we are not moving in for at least another two weeks. My air shipment is STILL in Moscow. My sea shipment which left June 29 may actually arrive first! This is like mailing a parcel post package the same day as an overnight delivery and having the parcel post get there first. And, of course, the air shipment has all the things I need immediately.

The sea shipment’s is supposed to be delivered Aug. 1. That works out perfectly as Larry is planning to leave that day for the U.S. on business.

In expat life, no self-respecting international mover would ever deliver your furniture when your husband is actually in the country and could possibly help you. I think there’s some kind of law that your shipment will only clear customs and they can arrange a delivery truck ONLY when hubby is far, far away.

If you have small children, they also try to coordinate delivery when one of them is sick. But as my baby is 17, they can’t pull that on me anymore.

An hour after he left, the Carrefour guy called me to see if I was ready to get the filter installed. I told him I’d let him know. I was still in the building, waiting for my second delivery of the evening: my master bedroom and guest room curtains I ordered.

The curtain worker guy, who spoke no English, arrived 45 minutes late. This didn’t really bother me as I am used to Moscow where this would be considered prompt. He spent the next three hours working and managed to get the hardware installed. I actually think he didn’t even bring the curtains.

Eventually, he lost the light which is when I discovered the master bedroom had no power. And by spending hours in the apartment, I also realized that I was outlet deficient. Between my 4.5 bathrooms, I had 0 places to plug anything in. The curtain guy pantomimed that someone would call me about meeting them tomorrow morning when I would be logging more time in my empty apartment on the site of the old Mermaid Building.

All at the Mall

Photo by Taylor Perkins: Nancy tries to rouse herself for more shopping.

When we moved back from China, it took me awhile to get use to the variety in American stores. In Beijing, you were lucky if there were ONE type of orange juice. At my local Albertsons, they had fresh, they had frozen, they had cartons, they had mixes.

And within each category there were various brands with further choices on pulp levels and calcium fortification. I would stand in front of the orange juice section, unable to choose. How could I possible decide which was best?

I solved my orange juice dilemna, followed by the laundry detergent dilemna, followed by the butter dilemna, etc. But it took about a year before I could comfortably venture into the overwhelming choices in a mall. During that time, I decided that if Target, Ross, or Costco didn’t have it, I didn’t need it.

As I reacclimated to my home culture, I was eventually able to venture into Scottsdale Fashion Square without becoming paralyzed. I guess I am just resilient that way.

I had no trouble last week, when Taylor and I took a field trip to the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. This is the same size as the largest mall in the U.S., the Mall of America. Although I am not exactly a shopping mall groupie, I have actually visited it as well.

Mall of the Emirates doesn’t feel that big. It’s laid out like an oval track with two and a half levels so it’s easy to loop around and see everything. Part of the reason it’s so big, is that it has a lot of really big stores. Think of a mall with a Target next to a Home Depot next to a big Sears next to a ski slope.

Yep, Mall of the Emirates has an enclosed 400 meter fake ski area called Ski Dubai. They will rent you a snow suit and ski equipment, and you can ride the ski lift up to the “top” and shush down.

Having actually skied on real mountains, this held no appeal to me. Taylor was game but thought it was no fun alone. He decided that Alec would probably declare Ski Dubai “La Lame,” but that he might be able to talk his father into it on a future excursion.

So Taylor contented himself with buying a new tennis shirt. In a sure sign that I am completely shopped out, I bought nothing.

Photo: Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates.

Pop Star

It seems that our furnishings have decided to spend the summer without us in Moscow. (I guess they checked the CNN weather forecast for Abu Dhabi and decided to stay where they were.)

In the meantime, I have decided to amuse myself by pretending I am an American pop star who lives in hotels. I DO spend a lot of time at the gym and shopping but neither activity feels very glamorous. Perhaps that’s because instead of practicing some exotic Eastern exercise regime, I am pedaling on the stationary bike. And instead of jewelry and designer clothes, I am shopping for a washing machine.

While out shopping I’ve noticed that banks, like restrooms, have separate branches for men and ladies. And along with the usual “six items or less” checkout line, Carrefour has an optional one for “Disabled and Ladies.”

While some things feel foreign to me, some things are just the same. Last night Larry and I walked down to Popeye’s and got spicy chicken, red beans and rice, and biscuits. We are also walking distance to KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Dominoes Pizza AND Starbucks. However, having developed a taste for shawarma, our favorite fast food place is the nearby Lebanese restaurant.