4:44 PM Saturday 28 February 2009
We began the morning with breakfast at a local cafe around the corner from us. At our little table, there was a button you can push to summon the waitress to take your order - how very civilized. We also used the button to summon the waitress for our bill when we were ready to leave. I had the mushroom crepe, which came with french fries and coleslaw. It was quite good.
Today is Saturday. In the UAE, Friday is a Holy day and many people don't work on Friday. So, Friday is like Saturday + Sunday combined. Many of the foreign nationals don't work on Saturday so that they can have a two day weekend, Friday + Saturday. Which makes Sunday, tomorrow, a work day and a school day.
My son has his second day of school in Abu Dhabi tomorrow, so we needed to run out to Raja Mall to purchase some more school uniforms. There's only one store which sells school uniforms, and that store is in Raja Mall. It was very quiet when we arrived at 10:13 AM, the mall opened today at 10 AM. While my wife and son were finding clothes, I had a test drive on a coin operated leather massage chair.
For 1 dirham (DH) (100 DH is about equal to $30 US) I could pick the massage of choice and just relax while the chair eased out the tension in my back, shoulders, neck, thighs and calves. I had enough time to try out the massage chair 4 times. Every mall should have these things in them. Recommended.
We've had almost perfect weather since we arrived here last Sunday. Today began sunny with a light breeze, but the breeze picked up and the sand and dust started blowing. As I've mentioned before, there is a lot of ongoing construction in Abu Dhabi. Let me say that again, there is a lot of ongoing construction in Abu Dhabi. The soil here is fine and powdery similar to talcum powder. So the wind just picks it up and blows it everywhere - my eyes are itching as I type. You can see how dusty the day was in my cell phone camera photos here.
We were also looking for some other needed items. Luckily, I found a store downstairs that had a standard 15 pin VGA cable. I never thought of bringing one from home. This cable will let me connect my laptop computer to our digital TV, so that I can play DVD's from home here. We have a DVD player in the apartment, but it won't play DVD's from the US. I also found a useful English to Arabic phrase book.
Our third and final mall visit was Khalidiya Mall. Khalidiya Mall is the mall closest to us and it has a large grocery/shopping center called Lulu's. We enjoyed lunch at a Mexican restaurant upstairs. The Limonada was perfect. We asked for guacamole, and the waiter made it fresh for us right there at the table - 1.5 avocados, garlic, fresh lime juice, onion, cilantro, tomato and something else I missed. Perfect.
Long day of running errands. Hope tomorrow is not so dusty.
We began the morning with breakfast at a local cafe around the corner from us. At our little table, there was a button you can push to summon the waitress to take your order - how very civilized. We also used the button to summon the waitress for our bill when we were ready to leave. I had the mushroom crepe, which came with french fries and coleslaw. It was quite good.
Today is Saturday. In the UAE, Friday is a Holy day and many people don't work on Friday. So, Friday is like Saturday + Sunday combined. Many of the foreign nationals don't work on Saturday so that they can have a two day weekend, Friday + Saturday. Which makes Sunday, tomorrow, a work day and a school day.
My son has his second day of school in Abu Dhabi tomorrow, so we needed to run out to Raja Mall to purchase some more school uniforms. There's only one store which sells school uniforms, and that store is in Raja Mall. It was very quiet when we arrived at 10:13 AM, the mall opened today at 10 AM. While my wife and son were finding clothes, I had a test drive on a coin operated leather massage chair.
For 1 dirham (DH) (100 DH is about equal to $30 US) I could pick the massage of choice and just relax while the chair eased out the tension in my back, shoulders, neck, thighs and calves. I had enough time to try out the massage chair 4 times. Every mall should have these things in them. Recommended.
We've had almost perfect weather since we arrived here last Sunday. Today began sunny with a light breeze, but the breeze picked up and the sand and dust started blowing. As I've mentioned before, there is a lot of ongoing construction in Abu Dhabi. Let me say that again, there is a lot of ongoing construction in Abu Dhabi. The soil here is fine and powdery similar to talcum powder. So the wind just picks it up and blows it everywhere - my eyes are itching as I type. You can see how dusty the day was in my cell phone camera photos here.
The Grand Mosque.
We passed the Grand Mosque on the way to Marina Mall. It is a most impressive Mosque. We're planning a visit soon. A visit on a day that the wind is not blowing. A very beautiful building this cell phone camera image does not do justice.
Next stop was Marina Mall. Marina Mall is one of the main malls in Abu Dhabi. You can catch a boat ride to Lu Lu Island there and it was also the pickup location for our desert Safari caravan yesterday. This is also the location where they are building SKI ABU DHABI. We saw the large ramp where people will be able to ski and snow board in the desert, just like in Dubai.
We were also looking for some other needed items. Luckily, I found a store downstairs that had a standard 15 pin VGA cable. I never thought of bringing one from home. This cable will let me connect my laptop computer to our digital TV, so that I can play DVD's from home here. We have a DVD player in the apartment, but it won't play DVD's from the US. I also found a useful English to Arabic phrase book.
Our third and final mall visit was Khalidiya Mall. Khalidiya Mall is the mall closest to us and it has a large grocery/shopping center called Lulu's. We enjoyed lunch at a Mexican restaurant upstairs. The Limonada was perfect. We asked for guacamole, and the waiter made it fresh for us right there at the table - 1.5 avocados, garlic, fresh lime juice, onion, cilantro, tomato and something else I missed. Perfect.
Long day of running errands. Hope tomorrow is not so dusty.
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