We're Here

Hello from hot and humid Abu Dhabi! The jet lag is starting to wear off and I’m finally able to collect my thoughts and update the blog.

Our flight here was GREAT! I could not have asked for a better behaved child, Artem was so good! I think our little talk must have worked. In the past when we traveled to Cancun and I traveled to Phoenix, Artem did not do well on the airplane. As a matter of fact, on the return flight home from Phoenix in May, Artem was THAT child on the airplane that I’m sure passengers were talking about when they got off the plane. He would scream, cry, kick, and hit me and was basically inconsolable on the flight. This time he was a completely different child. On our flight to Atlanta he sat in his own seat and wanted to wear his seat belt. He had his truck to play with and was very content the entire two hours. I thought, “Sure, you’re going to be an angel on the short trip and be a holy terror on the long flight.” He proved me wrong again and was so well behaved on the 14 hour flight to AD (Abu Dhabi) that several people commented to me on what a well behaved child he was. We left Atlanta at 9:00 p.m. and after we ate our first meal I changed him into his pajamas so he knew it was time to go to sleep. Randy’s company pays for us to fly Business Elite, which was pure heaven to travel in, and we each had our own seat and I made a little palette on the floor for Artem and he slept from 11:15 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. Halleluiah!!! After we ate breakfast I took Artem to the bathroom to brush his teeth and two passengers asked me if we had been in business class the entire flight because they didn’t even know a child was there. As we were leaving the plane, the flight attendant that had been taking care of us for our flight said, “It’s obvious you work with him, he’s a really well behaved child.” Way to go Artem!


It was so good to see Randy again and he and Artem went back to being two peas in a pod right away. Artem and I have arrived at the end of Ramadan which means stores and restaurants don’t open until the evening since the Emirates are fasting during the day. A resort called Shangri La is open during the day and they serve a big breakfast buffet. When I was growing up in Phoenix, the Shangri La was a well known nudist resort outside the Phoenix area (for the record, I’ve never been there) and in the past Randy would tell me he ate at the Shangri La for breakfast I couldn’t help but think of the nudist resort. This Shangri La is definitely not a nuddie resort and was right on the water and had an incredible breakfast buffet with some beautiful amenities at the resort. I’m sure that will be one of our “usual” spots in the future. Ramadan has proven tricky when trying to eat out and shop as most of the restaurants don’t open until 7:00 p.m. and many of the stores including Ikea, which we needed to go to, don’t open until 9:00 p.m. but they stay open until 1:00 a.m., not the best hours for a 22 month old. We’ve had a few late nights but tonight we are finally back on track and Artem is in bed at a reasonable hour. Today is the end of Ramadan so everything will go back to normal tomorrow. Additionally, Eid begins now, which marks the end of Ramadan, and all government offices are closed which means Randy gets the next 6 days off and we will be able to get out and see more of the city. Today the humidity was not as bad so hopefully this is the beginning of the nice weather people have been promising me. I was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ, so I know about heat and I’ve lived in Georgia, Alabama and Texas so I’m used to humidity but I have never in all my life, experienced the kind of heat and humidity that they have here in UAE.


In August when Randy was home, two of the Emirates that Randy works with traveled to our town for business along with Randy and we went to dinner with them. They told me that their culture adores children and they are very pro family. That is evidenced here by the many, many parks and children’s stores that are everywhere. Even though the Emirates warned me that people would love Artem here in UAE, I had no idea the kind of rock-star treatment he would be given here. EVERYONE touches Artem, they rub his arms, they squeeze his cheeks, they give him balloons, hand him free Krispy Kreme doughnuts hot out of the oven, give him bottled water, the kid is well taken care of. I’m like the girl in high school that people knew about but only because she hung out with that one really popular girl. I’m the girl that gets to carry the popular girl’s books, or in this case, change his dirty diapers. I get noticed by default because I’m pushing Artem around in the buggy. As soon as we walk into a store or restaurant people that work there come up to him right away and touch him and talk to him. I swear if they could take him out of his buggy and carry him on their shoulders around the place they would. Sometimes this makes me uncomfortable, especially since we worked so hard on attachment issues and making sure that Artem didn’t “parent shop” when he met strangers. Some people are content to shake Artem’s hand or give him a high five, but a few people have gotten in his face and cupped his face in their hands. I don’t want to offend anyone and I certainly don’t want to be the ugly American, but first and foremost I have to protect Artem and it’s a hard thing to balance at times. They just really love the children here and shower them in affection. I told Randy this is going to be major culture shock for Artem when we return to the states and people aren’t fawning all over him as soon as he walks into a room. I also told Randy that we are going to have to be careful, because here in Abu Dhabi there is no real problem with “stranger danger” but in the states, children have to be very careful of whom they talk to. It’s going to be a thin line that we have to walk with Artem.


I included a picture of our house which has 7 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms and no that is not a typo. You either get a small one bedroom flat in downtown Abu Dhabi which is very crowded and parking is horrendous or you get a mega sized villa in a quiet neighborhood that is less expensive, like we have. There isn’t a lot of in between 2 and 3 bedroom houses, and right now the new 4 bedroom villas are renting for 400,000 dirhams a year, which is roughly $109,000 US dollars a year, and rent is paid in full, one year in advance. To say the housing market here is competitive is the understatement of the century. I also included some photos of Shangri La, the Emirates Palace hotel, the Marina Mall, various pictures of driving around town, pictures of how blue and clear the water is in the Persian Gulf, and of course pictures of Artem. I hope to have more up as we spend time together over the next week while Randy has a lot of time off.


Our house:

Our neighbors, I think we are the only westerners on the block:


The Emirates Palace Hotel, just a very fancy, high end hotel in the area, it's beautiful at night when it's all lit up:

Downtown Abu Dhabi, there are trees, plants and flowers planted all over the city and it's very green for being in a desert.

Street signs are labeled in English and Arabic so they are easy to read:

Artem's first words when he walked into the house the first time were, "truck?" so we bought him a riding tractor the next day so he would have a "truck" to ride on:

The Marina Mall:

A little boat docked at the marina:

The parking garage has lights that hang above the parking spot that turn red or green depending on if the spot is available or occupied. Now why can't the US have technology like that?

The Shangri La resort we had breakfast at, beautiful courtyards and grounds there.

The beach at the Shangri La: