And the adventure continues…..

The Abu Dhabi airport….my first encounter of what is to come….tons of people in a small room fighting to get their luggage, kids running around wild, and people taking that 1 inch of room that you left open between you and the person beside you.  I think all the women put Thomas Gamboa to work that night, he was our hero, he would grab our luggage off the carousel as we pointed it out….we all worked as a team to watch other EMT kids, pass luggage back to whomever it belonged to and watch each other’s carts and purses so we could point to luggage and maneuver.

After we finally had most of our luggage (some people were still waiting for theirs, but we were told if we had our luggage to leave with the group) we had to fight people walking in front of you while you’re pushing a trolley full of luggage, stopping in front of you as you’re pushing said trolley, and a moving sidewalk type thing that has enough of an angle that your luggage falls off the front if you’re not prepared….good times my friends, good times.

The bus to the hotel…omg! Luckily one of the experienced teachers warned about the bus. The busses come equipped with 2 seats on 1 side a middle aisle and 1 seat on the other side….with a seat that flips down to fill the space in the aisle…..and I was near the back.  Yaaaaa I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t be OSHA approved…lol…but we made it safe and sound to the hotel.

We arrived at the Grand Millenium hotel in downtown Abu Dhabi…niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.  But of course we couldn’t have an easy check in….They had all the new teachers set up at a special table to check in with the travel agency and then get our key for our rooms and were told our luggage would be brought to our rooms when it arrived (it was thrown into a truck that followed..not my first choice of options but oh well…when in Rome). So I received my room key, entered the elevator, found the door to my room. There was no slidy thing like in the States to stick the key card in to unlock the door…lol. Soooo being a problem solver (with no sleep) I started holding the key to everything on the door..lol….nothing…lol. Then I see a little yellow light to my right on the wall, but it was too dark to really see what it was so I start holding the key to that. As I accidentally hit a button I hear a bell inside the room, and then a click on the door unlocking it…success! As I walk into the room, here comes a man walking towards me from the room…..ummm, really? This is happening to me again…Jekyll Island part deux! Luckily for me and him, he was dressed…lol. Well Matt wasn’t there for me to laugh and back out of the room this time, so I had to apologize and say sorry they gave me this room and key…close the door behind me and go back downstairs.  When I arrived it’s almost like they didn’t believe me, so they told me to wait while they investigated….as I waited the luggage arrived and I pointed out mine so they marked it with tags as to where it went (lucky me!). Finally the hotel person came to me and apologized and gave me a new key and new room number. I hit the elevators again….made it to my room, which was at the end of the hallway, and being an expert now on the key, held my key to the pad….NOTHING!...seriously???? Soooo I trekked back downstairs, they rekeyed my card and took me back upstairs…finally in my room!!! It was veryyyy nice!

By this time I was starving, I mean fall on the floor someone throw me a bread crumb or I’m going to die starving. I found the room service menu and the instructions say, just use “one touch” to order room service…..ummm, wtf is one touch???? I couldn’t find anything with one touch on it, I hit the number 1 on the phone, nope not it. I went through all the manuals for the room, nothing explaining one touch, just that you use it for everything. Yup, I had a breakdown…laid on the bed exhausted and crying….after a few minutes of getting that out of my system, I started looking on the phone, finally I see on the menu one touch…friggin really? So room service was ordered, food was ate, and I facebooked my partner in crime Debra that I had met at the Chicago airport who was stuck at the Abu Dhabi airport waiting on her luggage. She had finally received and was at the hotel, she came up and we chatted for a few.

The next day Debra, Thomas, and Janell ventured out, we found the mall right next door (soooo convient and HUGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!) and bought a few necessities.  The next few days were spent doing things for ADEC and getting situated in the country and Debra trying to kill me (she opted for an adventure walking in the heat)a…lol! As well as seeing some beautiful places, going to Ikea, and visiting a few other malls.

Within a week we received our placements and would have to leave to go to them. I was placed in a city in the Western region of Al Gharbia called Madinat Zayed. But before we could move in to our accommodations we had to relocate to a hotel an hour plus away…ugh! Soooooo checking into the new hotel….the adventure continues…..There was about 15 of us checking in to our rooms, I was about 4^th or so in line, they asked for the copies of our passports and entry visas to make copies and start the process, the first 4 of us gave the guy making copies the items and he placed them on the desk next tto the lady doing check in. She got through with the first 3 and looked at me, I told her she had my copies right there (pointing down next to her), she looked at me, then to another teacher, took their information, gave it to the guy to make copies and handed them a room key. When she got through she looked at me and I told her the same thing, she did exactly the same thing again….She did this over and over and my voice got stern and louder each time, and to say my face was starting to look a little pissed off is putting it mildly…finally I was the last person, I broke down, I looked at her (trying not to cuss) and said with gritted teeth…YOU HAVE MY STUFF RIGHT THERE! I started to cry again…I’m not a crier, but I was done and exhausted! She looked down, picked up my paper and said oh sorry miss for the miscommunication….ummm, what miscommunication????? Buttt anyways I finally got my key and headed to where the sign said my room should be. I get to the other side of the doorways and the room numbers are in the 200’s, mine is in the 100’s…wtf??? Luckily I see a porter who was coming down the hall and he asked if he could help, I told him I was trying to find my room and told him the number. He looked a little bewildered, repeated the number to me and I said yes. He tells me he thinks that room is already occupied…..say it isn’t sooooooo, really??? Again????? So we went together to the room (which I would have never found on my own) and knocked on the door..yup one of the other teachers was already in there…..ugh! So back to the front desk….the lady who checked me in face went pale when she saw me coming. I remained calm, all I could do was laugh at this point….twice in one country…who would have thunk it…lol. Finally got to my room and in…..A couple of us received a message late that night that we had to show for work the next day….omg I was tired, but knew I needed to go. So began the long drive back and forth and the added stress of trying to get situated in a new country with no car and nothing near by.