New Beginning

Thursday, August 28^th, 2014

Post by Kim

Greetings from the United Arab Emirates (UAE)!  For those of you who are wondering why Adam and I are in Abu Dhabi, here’s our explanation.   After two years of teaching in Baltimore, Adam and I figured that it was time for change and wanted to discover another part of the world.  Adam searched online for work abroad and came across a teacher recruitment agency called Teach Away.  Postings on their website showed that the Abu Dhabi Educational Council (ADEC) was looking for English-speaking elementary and secondary school teachers as part of their educational reform.  After an application, interviews, letter of offer, paperwork authentication, and months of waiting for the visa to get processed, Adam got the job and here we are today: a week into our adventure in Abu Dhabi!

What attracted us to this opportunity is that Abu Dhabi is an exciting, rapidly developing region with many attractions to see (akin to its neighboring UAE city, Dubai) Thanks to oil, Abu Dhabi has gone from a relatively small desert town to a highly modern cosmopolitan metropolis in the span of around fifty years.  Some other perks of the job are that (a) there are no income and sales taxes in the UAE, such that our net income is similar or better than in the United States, (b) housing, furniture allowance, airfare to and from our hometown, and vacation airfare for the teacher + relatives/dependents are all fully paid by the employer!  Unlike Adam, I did not get a position with ADEC because they were specifically looking for people with experience in general (not special) education; however, this might turn out for the better because I was informed by both the recruiter and current people in Abu Dhabi that there is a lot of job opportunities for people with my background and credentials—including tutoring and teaching in a homeschool setting, which are more suitable for my preference in working with smaller groups of children or individual children.

Right now, we are staying at the Grand Millennium Al Wahda hotel in Abu Dhabi city for Adam’s one-week orientation.  It’s a swanky 5-star hotel, with 844 guest rooms, a beautiful pool, a spa, and a health club, among other things.  We found out more recently that it costs approximately 600 US dollars per night here!  Thankfully it’s all covered by Adam’s employer J.  Anyway, here are some pictures from outside of the hotel and of our view of the city from the 17^th floor.

It feels like a free vacation so far; the breakfast and rooftop pool are fantastic!  While Adam has been going to his orientation sessions, I’ve been indulging myself to a wonderful massage and facial at the spa (on our dime, but with a 50% discount for employees of Abu Dhabi Education Council) plus a trip to the sauna and Jacuzzi at the health club.  Haha – I’m so spoiled!

Our hotel is directly connected to the Al Wahda mall, so of course Adam and I have spent the past week going there as well as to the many other luxurious malls in the city, such as the Marina Mall and the Abu City Mall.  We find that everything is so modern and clean here (which could be explained by the fact that the city is so young).  Also, every possible store/restaurant that you would find in America can be found here: from Gap, H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, Banana Republic to Cold Stone Creamery, Fuddruckers, Noodle House, PF Changs, etc.  The price of things here in Abu Dhabi is about the same as in the United States, except that there are no sales taxes here, which makes things less expensive.  Also, gas here is very cheap.  Another financial perk of being a teacher here is that we get a credit card with unlimited number of movie tickets at 2$ each!

Anyway, here are pictures of the inside of the Al Wahda mall.  Two of my personal favorites are little reminders of Canada…

And here are pictures just outside the Marina Mall in the evening.  As the name implies, the mall is right next to a marina.

The mall has a skating rink, which is ironic considering Abu Dhabi’s hot and humid climate (often around 40 degrees Celsius or 110 degrees Fahrenheit).  Here is a picture of the rink, as well as another showing a bit of the marine/cool blue theme of the mall.

Aside from all things American, we could find many Asian and Middle Eastern food items at the superstore.  At Lulu Hypermarket, for example, there was EVERYTHING from bitter melon and small bananas to dates and baklava.  This could be explained, in part, by the fact that the city is quite multicultural.  It looks like about 15% of people here are Emiratis and the rest (85%) are expatriates, who consist mostly of Philipinos and Pakistanis.  There are also many Westerners.

Adam and I are really enjoying Abu Dhabi so far and we feel good about how things are progressing for us here.  The other new teachers in Abu Dhabi are also all very nice; we met people from Canada, the United States, Ireland, South Africa, and New Zealand.  Adam just got his school assignment and it looks like we will be in the region of Al Ain, which means that we will live in a compound with other teachers and their families; this is very nice because it makes for automatic friends and a strong sense of community – not to mention that I would have more employment opportunities teaching/tutoring their kids and other kids in the area.  Al Ain is also very nice because it is the in middle of various places; a little over one hour away from Abu Dhabi City and Dubai, and less than one hour away from Oman.

In the meantime, we are waiting for the keys to our apartment in Al Ain.  We might transfer to another hotel that is closer to our future home, before Adam begins teaching on Sunday (for those who might be unaware, weekends are Friday-Saturday rather than Saturday-Sunday because of the predominant Muslim culture).  

Anyway, we’ll keep you updated!  Unlike in our blog from Africa, I will probably write most of our posts; Adam is probably going to be busier than I am with his new job.  My goal is write around one a week.  I am excited though for when he’s going to share with you some of his thoughts on the differences between Emirati/Muslim culture and American/Christian culture; I think that they are very insightful and interesting.  Please keep on reading and feel free to write any comments!