Off the ChiZang

Abu Dhabi is “off the chizang.” Well, at least that is what Spencer keeps saying—that and “bumpin’.” I’m fairly certain that means he is impressed. Nick and I agree. What a city!

We arrived here without incident (if you don’t count three VERY tired back-sides). We left SLC at 2:10 pm Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Abu Dhabi at 12:30 am on Thursday, which means we made the journey half way around the world in just 22 hours, 20 minutes. We’ve just learned that beginning in June there will be a direct flight from Dubai to Atlanta that should shave 8 hours off the travel time. That could make the flight from the UAE to Utah actually shorter than the drive from Utah to Randle, WA. Imagine that!!

We flew from SLC to Minneapolis/St. Paul, where we had a 3 hour layover. That gave us enough time to eat dinner and make some last minute calls. We killed some time playing catch in a quiet corner of the terminal with the bright orange squishy ball Spencer won the night before from one of those 50-cent machines that usually win the 50 cents. We got a few weird looks, but it did help pass the time.

The planes we were on from Minneapolis to Amsterdam and then to Abu Dhabi were both Airbus A330’s. They are very nice plans, but either the seat needed to be an inch wider, or I should have been an inch thinner . . . Ok, maybe the latter. I am very motivated to do something about fitting into the seat better next time. Each seat was equipped with it’s own TV screen and remote control. We could choose between movies, TV, games, and maps. The maps featured a graphic display of where we were at any given moment, complete with altitude, time to destination, temperature, and speed. It was rather fascinating to watch. I think it took less than 2 minutes to fly over the tiny nation of Qatar.

We didn’t see much of Amsterdam (unfortunately). We disembarked, went to the screen to locate the gate for our next flight, and learned that it was already boarding. We made a mad dash for the next gate, pausing long enough to use the restroom and snap a quick picture, and were off again. The runway in Amsterdam is a LONG way away from the terminal. We must have taxied for at least 5 minutes after we landed. We even crossed over a bridge. Mostly we passed a lot of neatly ploughed fields. I wish I could have seen more.

One of the first things we learned when we got off the plan was that smoking is allowed in public places. Let me just say what good laws those are. I will miss that, for sure. As we disembarked, there was a very nice Chinese woman there to meet us. She worked for the airport and not HCT, but HCT had hired her to facilitate our getting through customs. It was really nice. She took us directly to the head of the line, and we were through in no time at all. Then we retrieved our luggage and went to meet the HCT representative who had been sent to pick us up, Mr. Abdul Jabar. Dr. Cook was also there to meet us, which was very nice. Jabar has been our guide ever since.

Thursday we slept too much. Friday we got to go to church (which felt wonderful). Guess what? Friday they made the Abu Dhabi branch a ward! Our stake now has two wards, 9 branches, and 40 military units. Geographically, it covers a space as large as the United States. How would you like to be that stake president. Because Friday was also ward conference, the stake president and one of his counselors was there. Everyone was SOOOO nice. The ward meets in a villa that is rented by the church, but we’ve just received official recognition by the government, and are waiting to learn where we can build a chapel. It will be the 1st LDS chapel in the middle east.

After church, we went to the Cook’s for dinner (which was great), and then after church Brad (Dr./Bro. Cook) took us to the most amazing hotel on the planet. No, really, the whole planet. It is called the Emirates Palace, and it lives up to it’s name. We were greeted at the door by a tall Ethiopian gentleman named Thomas (who Dr. Cook has made friends with), and then we walked around inside—at least in the parts of the hotel we were allowed into. (When you pay $24,000/night for a room, you don’t really want tourist walking and gawking around the hallways . . . and trust me, you can’t avoid gawking!) They had several areas where models were laid out for upcoming projects in the UAE. This place is an architect’s paradise. They are building this area up to be a center for the arts. It will have a Louve, and Guggenheim Museum, and huge performing arts center all along one end of the island, and the other side will be 4-star hotels and multi-million dollar residences.

Today we got to go see our flat. It is on the 16th floor of the Liberty Building. We have a beautiful view of the Corniche and the Persian Gulf. The Corniche is the park/promenade that they have built all around the island. It is a very nice spot! There are three bedrooms and a maid’s quarters, but I can’t imagine asking anyone to live in that space. It is a better spot for some storage and the ironing board. There are 4 bathrooms! The floors are all tile. It looks like the tile in the entry way and living room are marble, but I might be wrong. The kitchen is small, but big enough to do the job. The kitchen and bathrooms all have a feature that I love: a drain, so you can hose down the floor. Sweet! We also have something that is very hard to come by in Abu Dhabi, a garbage disposal. This flat comes with all the appliances, which is also hard to come by, including one of those European washer/dryer combos. One of the perks of living in the Liberty Building is that we can use the pool and work out room of the Meridian hotel across the street. Nice! I’ll get some pictures to post later.