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.

Visa and house (July 25)

I finally got my visa! Yay!! Now I can actually get things done. I already found a place to live, so it came just in time. I'm have a meeting to sign a lease contract on Sunday, then I'll have the rest of the week to get some things moved in. Hopefully my shipment from the US will be here in a couple of weeks. And my girlies shortly after that :)

Here's a picture of the building, there are 8 apartments here, it's not all my house unfortunately. It's in a nice area, I also took a picture of the neighbor's house. His is about the same size as our entire building. People have some huge houses here.

A few more pictures (July 23)

Cody and Nat, I know what I'm going to make for you guys when you come! Cashew coconut chicken from Sri Lanka. It's delicious! I just noticed the gluten free label on the package :)

Dad, we can even go to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory when you visit. No bear out front though, I guess it's too hot for him here.

Crosswalk signs make me laugh every time!

When a tree grows this big in the desert, you even have to build the road around it. There are actually a lot of trees and green here in Al Ain.

Mmmm... bacon (July 22)

You can buy turkey bacon at the regular grocery store, but I was lucky enough to find this place. I'm not sure if the place even has a name other than "pork for non-muslims only"

It's basically a store with pork everything. And a few other western type foods.

Eid (July 20)

So there's a big party called Eid (eed) after the end of Ramadan. Basically a week of partying and gluttony. Even though that's what they did every night during Ramadan. Anyway, we were just informed today that the students will not be coming in next week. Hmm... ok, I guess we just come in and sit, I can do some additional training for the other courses that we teach. Then, as I was walking out of work, one of the team leaders, Dave, says "Hey, I just got a message saying that we're all off next week!"

So apparently I have the whole week off next week. I'm hoping I can get my visa back and find a place to live so I can work on setting up the house while I have time off. Or, if not, I guess I'll go explore the UAE.

Ramadan Kareem! Happy Ramadan!

Profanity (July 20)

Someone obviously made the announcement before I arrived at work 2 weeks ago that the new guy is mormon. On multiple occasions other instructors have caught themselves swearing and immediately stop and apologize. "Sorry about that," or "pardon my language, I didn't mean to." Overall, all of my coworkers have been very friendly and helpful. It's a pretty good group of guys.

Life goes on (July 18)

2 weeks has come and gone. I went to church again today. Every 3rd Friday we have a pot luck after church. Our records are officially moved into the Al Ain Branch of the Abu Dhabi Stake.

As you saw before, our meetinghouse is a big villa. Judging by what I know about the neighborhood, the monthly rent is probably between $3500 and $4000. Anyway, I was thinking this morning that when I was walking around last week that I never noticed a kitchen. As I was looking around before church started, I walked out back on the patio. I walked out the door into the blazing heat, and a door to my left had "kitchen" on it. Yes, you have to go outside to get into the kitchen. Kitchens here are not anything spectacular. In the US, you build a nice big house, the kitchen is a show piece, right? Here, no. Kitchens are not meant for the family, they're meant for the maid or the cook. No reason for the family to have access to it.

Everything about housing takes some getting used to. Everything is very hard (tile or concrete or marble or granite). Nothing soft and homey like I'm used to. The mentality has to be drastically shifted when thinking about housing. So I looked at a nice place that I'm interested in, small kitchen of course, but nice big rooms. Centrally located within the shopping areas for Allison and the girls, and right by the Al Ain Hilton.

The Hilton has an amazing pool, gym, and everything else that they offer memberships for people not staying there. Some of our friends have a membership and go there often. Very reasonably priced, so you'll probably find us there quite a bit during the 10 hot months of the year :)

Work is going well. I flew my first students yesterday. The team leader that has been training me sat in the back seat while I flew one student. He said he was impressed and jumped out while I took the second student by myself. We're doing instrument training right now, so we go out in the middle of the desert and practice instrument maneuvers. Landed to use the restroom (a small bush) and watched a few camels wandering around, looking at this funny contraption that just came out of the sky.

The flight went well, but the problem came when I got on the computer to do the grading. I went to look up my student, Mohammad, and of the 13 students in the group, 7 had the name Mohammad. Hmmm... Fortunately there were pictures with each one :)

Pictures in no particular order:

A couple of nice villas

The pool at the Hilton

Flying

PF Changs is coming to one of our malls :)

Pit stop (July 14)

On our way back from Dubai we (company driver was taking me) stopped to get gas. Behind the gas station is a little mosque. He requested I give him a few minutes. He then walked over, took off his shoes, and went in to pray.

All the mosques have very loud speakers on top to announce prayer time. I'm definitely considering where the nearest mosque is when looking for a house!

Which way is east? (July 12)

Is there no sun in this cursed country?

Movie quote! Who knows it?

Hotels have a red arrow on the ceiling in one of the corners so people know which direction to pray

Man date (July 10)

Shea Stone is one of the sisters in the branch who I made friends with on facebook a couple months ago. She gave me a lot of great info and helped with things to get ready to come over. She and her family have been here for about a year. They are about our age. Her husband Luke works for the military also. So there's the regular army here, and then there's the Presidential Guard Command. The "better" or higher level of the army. He teaches the PGC basic combat, navigation, how to use guns, grenades, that sort of thing in combat. I teach the PGC how to fly.

Shea and her kids just left today to go back to the states for about 6 weeks. Luke is going in a couple weeks. Anyway, he called me this morning to see what I was up to tonight, if I wanted to go grab dinner with him (can't say "go out to dinner" or something, guys don't do that, right?). So he came and picked me up. We actually went to a member's house to help move a bed and some things from their house to another member's home. Luke has an F150, so he's "the guy with the truck" in the branch. So he ends up helping people with stuff of course. Anyway, we do our service, then head out to find some food. Because of Ramadan, nothing would be open for another hour, so we stopped by his house (villa). That's where I took the sunset picture (attached). I was on top of his villa.

We went to the mall by his house to eat. TGI Fridays, McDonalds, Burger King, the usual stuff. We ate Charly's Grilled Subs. I took a few pictures for Dad (Cold Stone and Cinnabon) They had a Krispy Kreme, but I didn't get a picture of it. Anyway, we had a good time hanging out on our "man date."

Then a picture for Holly, the rancher. This little Toyota Hilux hauling two bulls. Usually you see camels in the back of pickups, but this guy had this whole cage thing to haul cows around. Probably camels at times as well.

I flew again this morning (yesterday was my first flight here). More local area orientation. While landing out in the desert we had to watch out for some camels wandering through the area. What a different world!

It's hot. Feels like Phoenix. Little bit humid, but pretty much just feels like I'm in Phoenix.

Tomorrow is church. I feel like I've met half the branch already, but I'm excited to go to church and get a feel for things.

Mom said it's like having a missionary out again with these emails! I kinda feel like a missionary. Similar emotional rollercoaster of "this is so cool" and "what the heck did I get myself into" kinda thing. But it's going well, I think we'll be happy here. It'll just take some getting used to.

The end.

Title (July 10)

By the way, my official job title is:

Helicopter Instructor Pilot for the Presidential Guard Command

Translated:

Highly paid baby sitter for spoiled kids who are supposed to learn to fly helicopters.

Rama-dama-ding-dong (July 10)

So during Ramadan we have a 6 hour duty day instead of the normal 8. The military says we can only fly for 4 hours after fasting begins. So, that results in starting work at 430 am so we can be done early enough. Fun. Only until July 28.

I'm going to help a few members clean the church this evening before we have church tomorrow (Friday). During the summer while everyone is on vacations and such, attendance is down, so they cut the block from 3 hours to 2 hours. Sacrament every week of course, and the 2nd hour alternates between Sabbath School and Priesthood/RS. So I'll have to let you know tomorrow what the branch is like.

The end.

Fun Zone at the Al Ain Mall (July 9)

Peoples (July 8)

I've been around so many people from so many different countries since I arrived. Mostly at the various government facilities where I've had physicals, Emirates id processing, and also in the hotel and at work. There are so many people of obvious humble circumstances that are trying to get visas, id's, etc. to be able to work here. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, India, you name it. Well, all except Mexico. You can't get away with illegal immigration here. So you combine government facility speed, UAE heat, and a lot of poor people, and you get some very long, smelly waits. Two of Horizon's drivers are Pakistani, and in our trips around town and to Dubai I have been learning a lot about different cultures. Also learning how to recognize different nationalities. Picking up a little Arabic as well.

Saw the Burj Khalifa today (tallest building in the world. Located in Dubai), a camel farm, a really cool marriott for Kyle to work at, and a bunch of other stuff that I hope you can all come see someday :-)

The First Few Days (July 7)

Well, here I am. After a long day of travel, I made it to Dubai on Saturday evening. A company driver picked me up and brought me to Al Ain. The hotel where I'm staying is very nice. I've been told it's the nicest in the city. (Al Ain is about an hour and a half from Dubai and has a population of about 500,000.) The company is paying for 10 days here including 3 meals a day. The breakfast buffet is not your typical continental breakfast. Quite fancy, and costs about 30 bucks.

A driver picked me up Sunday morning for my first day (work week is Sunday through Thursday). HR stuff, more paperwork, usual first day stuff. People at Horizon are very nice and helpful. It was a bit strange to go into the HR office and find 4 women at their desks, dressed in black abayas from head to toe. Some women cover their faces as well but most don't. I also met several of the other instructors that I'll be working with. Just like Rucker all over again! Everyone I've met here at Horizon is very kind and willing to help with anything. I'm excited to work here, as soon as I can get over all the initial hurdles!

I was done about 2. Came back to the hotel for a late lunch. I was a little worried about the "a la carte" lunch they talked about. Since it's Ramadan all Muslims fast from sun up till sun down. You can't eat, drink, or even chew gum in public. The few restaurants that are open during the day have to cover their windows or do something to mask the inside so the people on the outside that may be fasting can't see in. In spite of all this, I found the $55 steak to be quite adequate :-) I'm gonna miss this place when I have to move out. I have till next Tuesday in the hotel.

While eating lunch I sent a message on Facebook to one the branch members named Ross Kellogg (he had contacted me through the private Facebook group for the branch about a month ago wanting to know if I would house sit while he and his wife go back to the states for a month). He had offered to show me around. A couple minutes later he replied and said "we'll be there in 15 minutes." So he showed up with the branch president and they showed me around town a bit. Ross is probably in his mid 50s and the branch president is around 60ish. We went to Ross's house where I'll be staying. He also happens to have extra furnishings for a 3 bedroom home which he bought as a package deal from the branch president who is moving back to the US next week. (No worries, a new presidency was just called.) He has everything down to sheets and silverware. So I might get some good stuff for a great deal there.

Today I had to go to a government health center for blood test and chest x ray as part of the visa application. If they find anything like aids, hepatitis, stuff like that, they kick you out of the country. Tomorrow I have to go back to Dubai for an aviation physical. Only certain doctors do them. I guess there isn't one here in Al Ain.

After work today one family from the branch came and picked me up at the hotel. We went to another member's home who's getting ready to move to see if any of us wanted to buy their stuff. We also stopped by another member family's home who lived in the same complex to say hi. I'm so grateful for the church, what an amazing help in a transition like this. I already have friends who want to help me with anything and make sure that I'm doing ok. What a blessing.

Also tomorrow, get resident visa, then I can open a bank account, get a driver license, buy a car, rent a house, etc. etc. etc.

I love and miss you all. Thank you for your love and support, and your prayers!
Until next time,

Chad