Today we started earlier than usual, and headed over to the Grand Mosque. It is such a gorgeous building, I cannot even begin to describe it. I have photos, and I will post them probably on Friday. We have our last day of orientation in Abu Dhabi tomorrow, and are supposed to be moving to another hotel in Al Ain in the afternoon, so I have packed most of my things and can't upload my photos just yet. Anyway, it was so beautiful. It is a newer building, and they are still adding onto it and have great plans for it's future. They were talking about possibly having a university connected to it, amongst other things. It was dreadfully hot when we got there, and as a female I needed to put on an abaya and shayla to be fully covered. I already was covered with my long skirt and long sleeves but it is the dress code to wear the outfit. They are really very light, but because I had a full outfit on underneath it was that much hotter and I thought I was going to melt. I also am not as skilled at wrapping the shayla, and it came undone from my sweaty hair every 2 minutes or so. I spent a lot of time trying to fix it. One time the whole thing fell in front of my face and I was blinded. I give those girls a lot of credit. Some of them even wear it like that for more privacy, I don't know how they get around- I couldn't see a thing! There must be an even more sheer piece than what I had.
The building holds many world records. One of them is for having the world's largest single piece carpet. It is in the men's prayer room, and it is beautiful. I don't remember how many, but the measurement was in tons when it was delivered and unrolled to be placed. They also have the world's largest chandelier, as well.
By the time we left the Mosque we were all ready to go back to the hotel and take a shower and recoup from the heat, but we still had most of the day of orientation left. We were bused back to the school we have been at all week and we finally found out the schools we will be working in. I will be at an all girls school in Al Wagan. I am pretty sure it is a brand new school because I can't find it on the list of schools from last year, and I heard there was construction in the area. We will not be able to get to the school until 3 days before school starts for the kids. And that is variable, because of the Eid holiday, so things could change based on the moon and when the holiday begins and ends. I know a couple of people at my school, so that is good. Also, like I said before, we will be living in a different complex and bused to the school because it is far out. We don't know anything about this yet, but possibly this weekend we will get out house keys. Then we have a few days to secure furniture before they make us move out of the hotel.
We got our bank cards today, as well. That was the end to the day, which was exciting, but one last, long line to stand in. This made our day go until after 4 p.m. In the U.S. that is fine, but here in the heat it is very different. We also started an hour earlier than normal today. And the buses here do not have good AC like they should. So by the time we all finally got back to the hotel, many of us packed our bags and took it easy for the night, even though it is our last in Abu Dhabi city. The only problem is, the bank cards don't work. Tested out at an atm, and nothing. So the piece of plastic means nothing right now. Hopefully this is resolved soon and we can get our furniture settled this weekend so no one is sleeping on a cold, hard floor next week...
I will work on those pictures, they are well worth the wait!
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