3 am...

Since we landed on Thursday evening I have seen 3 am every night!  It's gotten to the point that I don't even really look forward to 3 am...I know it's coming but I don't actually want to admit it is.  I would love to wake up just once and find out that I slept past 3 am and better than that that B slept past 3 am but no such luck.  On the bright side it's only Sunday so maybe our luck will change this week.  But I digress...

We landed in Abu Dhabi on Thursday night after a very uneventul flight - thankfully B slept a majority of the flight and then continually followed the flight path on the monitor throughout the flight.  She thought it was awesome to see where the plane was in relation to the world.  We were able to make it through customs with no issues and were dropped off at the hotel.  The best part of the whole thing - besides the room which B described the tub as "Holy Moley it's huge" was that there is ALWAYS someone willing to help. I had a porter at the airport for my luggage as well as the hotel who brought it up.  The man was willing to help me unpack!  (No I did not let him but I did think about it LOL).
 The view from our room is wonderful - although the view from the other side of the building is a bit better due to the fact it over looks the water and the Grand Mosque.  But we're still thrilled with the hotel!  B wants to live here - well she would if it was pink ;-)  The room is huge with 2 double beds and a tub that she canNOT get in and out of herself!  It's way too deep for that!  We're totally enjoying the beach and the pool areas - who knows maybe B will have a tan by the time we leave here!

On Friday we were fortunate enough to have pool and beach time before getting picked up by my friend Katie and her husband - Katie's from Michigan and this is her 4th year.  I was able to get some food and a phone in order to conduct the business that I need to get done here.  Everything is done via text - banking, bills, etc.  My goal is to get an unlocked smartphone eventually but I'm holding out until I'm getting paid on a regular basis ;-)  It was nice to have people who knew the area - malls, stores, etc and how to get around!

 Plus on Friday night we were able to spend dinner with Andrea and I may have fell in love with Lebanese food ;-)  Sooo yummy!  And food is fairly inexpenisve - even going out isn't bad.  Ok once you get over the dhuram vs. dollar.  The first time you read a bill and it says 60 for dinner it's kind of freaky but then you translate it to dollars and it's only 16 it makes the whole world a bit different!

 Saturday was spent at the beach and pool - it's a tough life for this little girl but she's adapting well LOL.  She thought the robe thing was awesome and HAD to wear one like Mommy.  She really is being a champ about the whole thing - the worst part of the adjustment is that she wakes up at 3 am STARVING and doesn't want to go back to sleep.  Of course now I'm up and starving but she's sleeping like a rock ;-)  I'm not planning on waking her up until 8 or so since I know she needs the sleep!  She's been so good that I'm fine with letting her play in the water all day.  Of course I'm also grateful for sunscreen as the sun here is great for me but not so good for her!
Today is the first day of "work" - we have a 3 hour orientation meeting which should let me know where I'm placed.  Once that occurs it'll be time to either move from this hotel to another one this week or this will become our semi permanent home until we get our housing which could be 2-4 weeks.  I love this hotel and so does B so I would NOT be upset with staying here but who knows!  At this point she just wants to go to school so that will be the next priority for her.  Poor kid can only handle so much adult time before she is over it ;-)  Oh well - more pictures and info to come but for now it's time to get the day started!  Happy Sunday!!