The week (Aug 12)

Not a whole lot to report. Started flying nights yesterday. Usually I would fly at least 1000 ft above the ground or higher at night. Here we do a lot of the training at about 200 above ground some of the dunes are higher than that, so you gotta pay attention to where you're going. We're just doing recurrent night vision goggle training for the instructors now. Students will be starting next week.

The apt is coming along nicely. Should be in pretty good shape for the big arrival on Thursday. I told Allison that she better not have any jet lag because 3rd Friday is potluck after church! Can't miss that :-)

Inshallah (Aug 8)

Inshallah means "If Allah wills it" or "God willing." It's one of those phases you hate to hear here. It's just a way for people to pass on responsibility for getting things done. "It'll get done tomorrow is Allah wills it." My response in my head, "No, it'll get done if you get off your lazy butt and take care of it" while smiling and saying "ok!" So in the process of getting my bank account set up, waiting for my debit card, waiting for my check book, getting my visa, getting my insurance card, renting a house, etc., etc., etc., I have heard this phrase over and over again. I'm starting to think Allah must not like me because things are always slow and never on time. Hmmm...

I bought a car. Got a good deal from a guy that was moving back to the States and getting desperate to sell. 2008 Durango (I know, I know, it's a Dodge. Not too proud of that) but it's AWD, 70k miles, 5.7L Hemi, and I got it for 10,000. The guy is kinda weird, but has a cute little family, including a 2 week old.

So, I got the apartment last Thursday. Yay! My friend Luke just left a few days ago to go to the states, and left me his truck so I could move my stuff from the place I'm in to my new place. I got one of the priests from the branch, well, the only priest, to help me move things.

Hot. Allah was suppose to have my contract back from Al Ain city yesterday. They have to verify my family status for me to occupy the apartment. Hence the authentication process before we came of marriage certificate and birth certificates. Anyway, Allah still hasn't willed that I get the contract, so I don't power or water on yet. It's about 115 degrees lately, so it's hot in the concrete building putting beds and such together that I have bought. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get power on. Hopefully. Inshallah.

On a happy note, my shipment from TX got here this afternoon. They showed up and unloaded everything, Each box/package was numbered and I had to check them off on a list as they brought them in. All 67 of them. Everything made it! One glass and one plate broke. Everything else seems to be ok. They unpacked it all and took away all the boxes and trash.

Just as I start putting a few things away, my phone rings. It's the guy I bought the car from. I figured it something to do with the car, right? Well, he says he just got a message from the taxi place that he scheduled to take him to the airport in Abu Dhabi. They didn't have a taxi available anymore. "Hey, do you think you could give us a ride to the airport?" I tried to get myself to say no, but I just couldn't. Poor guy was supposed to leave already, headed back to the US, and was obviously desperate if he was calling me. Anyway, long story short, my neighbor Cynthia called me while I was in route to their place (25 min across town) and knew I was exhausted from the day and everything, and she offered to drive them for me. Had to take my car to fit everything, but at least I didn't have to go. It was already 6:30 pm and it's 90 min to the airport. What a day.

Tomorrow my couches are supposed to be delivered. If I can get power, water, and internet, I'll be pretty much set! I'll send some pictures of the place when I get things settled a bit.

Best news of all, if you're still reading this novel, I bought tickets for Allison and the girls! They will be leaving next Wednesday the 13th. Yay!! We were supposed to fly business class, but the company recently stopped doing that. Too bad. But, since I'm still in my probation period, they won't pay for tickets for my family. They reimburse me after my probation period. The total for the 3 tickets in coach was about $2800. The cost for business class on the same flight was $28,000! I wouldn't be able to afford that anyway to be reimbursed later. I can see why they stopped doing business class.

I love you all.

The end.

Favor from Allah (Aug 5)

I figure with it being so hot, it costs a lot to run the a/c to keep a house cool, so Allah knows I have another place to stay right now, so I don't need to be wasting money on electricity in the apartment. So I'm saving money on the power bill while I'm waiting.

It's all about perspective

Comforting (Aug 4)

Another interesting thing, as I opened a box with a couple of rugs and bathroom stuff, soap and what not, the smell of my home wafted into my nose. It was so pleasant to have that little bit of "home." It's so nice to look around and see MY stuff here. Now I just need my 3 crazy little girls to finish it off :)

Emirates Palace (July 30)

I guess I did get a picture of the hotel. Just looked at their site. They have a range of room options, from the basic room (which is big and extremely nice) for about $300/night, to the 3 bedroom Palace Suite for just over $17,000/night. It does include complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport in a BMW 7 series!

Abu Dhabi (July 30)

Not sure what the giant white building is, still haven't figured it out, but it's right next to the Emirates Palace Hotel (the 2nd most costly hotel to build in the world. About 6 billion USD). I didn't get a decent picture of the hotel. The most expensive to build is the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore. Did you ever see that one Kamm or Holly?

Flying (July 25)

Job is still going well. I have 2 students that I've been flying just over a week. They both just did their advanced instrument checkrides this week and did pretty well. The guy that does the checkrides was impressed with what I was able to do with them in a week and said they really like flying with me. Always good to hear!

I took a couple pictures the other day while we landed out in the desert so the students could switch seats and I got out to stretch. In the picture with a little of the helicopter shadow you can see the camels running away from us. One of my students said that I must smell bad because they took off running. Not so funny jokes are always funnier when they come in broken english.

Instrument training is great here. It's harder for students to cheat than it is in the states because of the visibility. It's pretty much always sandy and visibility isn't real great. In the past 2 weeks of flying I haven't had a day where you really had a horizon line. You might see a little further one day, but it still just blends into the dusty sky before too far. I had to sneak a picture in the cockpit to show the poor visibility.