Last night was a restless night for me. In Abu Dhabi, building crews work 24 hours a day (day crew and night crew). On the road next to our hotel, workers are doing road work. BEEEP, BEEEP, BEEEP (trucks backing up), machines smashing concerete, and other random sounds made for a restless night. My friend, Andrea Brown, talked about an app that plays quiet noise...So, downloaded it and choose rain...sounds like rain falling on a spring day with the wind blowing and an occassional thundering in the distance. Slept like a baby for about 2 hours! Will definitely use that to go to sleep tonight!
After my nap, Andrea and I went to a local teacher store. Don't know if I have talked about directions here, but finding a place is hard sometimes. Directions are given in terms of behind the HSCB bank and up two streets on the left. There are no street addresses, only P.O. box numbers. Someone recommended a store on Facebook, so thought we'd try to find it. Many cab drivers here speak very little English and there are lots of new drivers who don't know the city well. We were a little leary of going off into the great unknown, so asked the concierge to tell him where we were going...arrived without a hitch! The teacher stores are mostly in malls, of course. Because we don't know what grade we will teach until Monday, we looked in general at the materials. Being the OCD person that I am, I packed an entire suitcase full of bullein board kits, sentence strips, borders, reward charts, stickers, etc. Those who are teachers will understand...sometimes you just have to have your STUFF! Not knowing what would be here was troubling to me, so I brought MY STUFF! There was a good variety of items to choose from and we will definitely come back when know grade level.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Spinney's, my new favorite grocery store. It reminds me of Stephen's in Vienna. Just the right size and does not overwhelm , people will help you, and have good variety of foods. The most exciting thing is the "back" room. Through a sliding door, there were my old friends....ham, bacon, sausage, pork chops, roasts, Pop Tarts, and Ranch dressing. This room has pork products...not sure why Pop Tarts and Ranch dressing are there, but pork must be involved someway in the preparation. Oh, and there's Spam...can't say I've ever had Spam, but they have interesting flavors in addition to the regular (cheese and olives...yuck!) and their were Vienna Sausages...never had those either. I realize I've been sheltered! There are lots of fresh vegetables and they have bagels!!!!! First time we've found bagels. Dr. Pepper is REALLY hard to find here. Andrea LOVES Dr. Pepper the way I LOVE Diet Coke and been looking for it for days...there it was!!!! When we rounded the corner, I did the happy dance! Might seem silly, but get excited when some little piece of home is found...it's the small things.
Staying in a hotel has its benefits, but there comes a time when a girl needs to do laundry...it's been three weeks. The hotel will do you laundry, but very costly. We found a laundromat really close and decided to make an evening of washing our delicates! Nicole, Andrea, Ethan, and I packed up and headed over to Lavenderia Laundry. Very nice people. Remember those washing machines when you were in college where you used 2 quarters to wash....that's them! You load your clothes, they provide the laundry soap, and dryer sheets. 2 hours later, your delicates are clean and dried...you fold. For 20 dirhams (about $5.50), I have all my clothes clean...well worth it! Clean pjs for my restful sleep tonight. Good night, my friends! It's been a good, good, day! :)
After my nap, Andrea and I went to a local teacher store. Don't know if I have talked about directions here, but finding a place is hard sometimes. Directions are given in terms of behind the HSCB bank and up two streets on the left. There are no street addresses, only P.O. box numbers. Someone recommended a store on Facebook, so thought we'd try to find it. Many cab drivers here speak very little English and there are lots of new drivers who don't know the city well. We were a little leary of going off into the great unknown, so asked the concierge to tell him where we were going...arrived without a hitch! The teacher stores are mostly in malls, of course. Because we don't know what grade we will teach until Monday, we looked in general at the materials. Being the OCD person that I am, I packed an entire suitcase full of bullein board kits, sentence strips, borders, reward charts, stickers, etc. Those who are teachers will understand...sometimes you just have to have your STUFF! Not knowing what would be here was troubling to me, so I brought MY STUFF! There was a good variety of items to choose from and we will definitely come back when know grade level.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Spinney's, my new favorite grocery store. It reminds me of Stephen's in Vienna. Just the right size and does not overwhelm , people will help you, and have good variety of foods. The most exciting thing is the "back" room. Through a sliding door, there were my old friends....ham, bacon, sausage, pork chops, roasts, Pop Tarts, and Ranch dressing. This room has pork products...not sure why Pop Tarts and Ranch dressing are there, but pork must be involved someway in the preparation. Oh, and there's Spam...can't say I've ever had Spam, but they have interesting flavors in addition to the regular (cheese and olives...yuck!) and their were Vienna Sausages...never had those either. I realize I've been sheltered! There are lots of fresh vegetables and they have bagels!!!!! First time we've found bagels. Dr. Pepper is REALLY hard to find here. Andrea LOVES Dr. Pepper the way I LOVE Diet Coke and been looking for it for days...there it was!!!! When we rounded the corner, I did the happy dance! Might seem silly, but get excited when some little piece of home is found...it's the small things.
Staying in a hotel has its benefits, but there comes a time when a girl needs to do laundry...it's been three weeks. The hotel will do you laundry, but very costly. We found a laundromat really close and decided to make an evening of washing our delicates! Nicole, Andrea, Ethan, and I packed up and headed over to Lavenderia Laundry. Very nice people. Remember those washing machines when you were in college where you used 2 quarters to wash....that's them! You load your clothes, they provide the laundry soap, and dryer sheets. 2 hours later, your delicates are clean and dried...you fold. For 20 dirhams (about $5.50), I have all my clothes clean...well worth it! Clean pjs for my restful sleep tonight. Good night, my friends! It's been a good, good, day! :)
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