Day two in my new role is in the books! Today I met my supervisor, who strangely enough, works out of Dubai. He is a very intelligent, driven and intense guy, but with a good sense of humor. I think we are going to get along very well. The to-do list I have after our meeting is as long as my arm. As I suspected, this is going to be a very demanding position. I'm really looking forward to being challenged!

I hope you have read Gail's posting about the Grande Mosque. While the statistics and facts are amazing, they can't compare to standing in and around this beautiful structure. There are light towers that surround the mosque that are cleverly disguised. At night they light up the mosque beautifully, and the shade of blue changes as the moon moves through the lunar changes.

The paper work here must have been designed by the IRS. No offense to my friends there! Todays adventure involved bailing out of work at 3:15, jumping in a cab and heading to the center for disease prevention. They take that very seriously here. If you have it, you get booted out of the country. "It" includes HIV, TB, and a few other acronymes that I can't remember.

I shot through the process thanks to a tip I got from a fellow employee.....go after three in the afternoon. So, my cab ride both ways and the blood draw, xray and paper work took less than an hour! I was prepared for two or three! On the ride back the cab driver asked me a question right before we got back to my hotel. As hard as I tried, I could not understand him. I felt horrible. I apologized profusely and left him a nice tip.

There are people from all over the world here. While you can pretty much skate by with English, you really feel bad for the low wage people from places like Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia that are trying to learn new languages just so they can work and support their families.

After medical I went on a 40 minute walk around the area. Amazing how large Abu Dhabi is! A block here is like walking a block in Vegas! What is fun is getting off the main roads and cruising through all the side roads and back alleys. There are so many little shops. On every street you can find a laundry, a travel agency and a pharmacy! There are little groceries everywhere, and many translation shops. Several of my documents will have to be translated to Arabic before being submitted.

I feel very safe wondering around. The biggest danger seems to be the drivers! It's crazy here. The other thing I don't miss is panhandlers. Sorry if that sounds crass, but I had to pass by 3-6 everyday of my 13 year commute to Seattle. And while I wish I could change their lives somehow, the skeptic in me thinks they'll turn my well meaning contribution into cigaretts and booze.

I hope all my friends are doing well! Love you all.....Mark

Grand Mosque visit. May 28, 2011

The Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al NahyanMosque ( The Grand Mosque). A amazing must see! Read on.....

The majestic Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is probably the most imposing religious and national landmark in Abu Dhabi to date. It is also arguably one of the most important architectural treasures of contemporary UAE society - and one of the most beautiful in the world - initiated no less by the late president HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who is fondly thought of as the father of the UAE.


First considerations to build the Mosque began in the late 1980s and much thought was given to its location and its design over the next decade. The initial architectural design was agreed upon and the inaugural cornerstone laid in the late 1990s.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, popularly called the Grand Mosque by local residents, is seen as a construction to ‘unite the world’, using artisans and materials from countries such as Italy, Germany, Morocco, India, Turkey, Iran, China, Greece and the UAE. More than 3,000 workers and 38 renowned contracting companies took part in the construction of the Mosque.


The Mosque’s initial architectural design was Moroccan, but it evolved to include many global features, including exterior walls that are of traditional Turkish design. Natural materials were chosen for its design and construction due to their long-lasting qualities, including marble, stone, gold, semi-precious stones, crystals and ceramics.


The 22,412 square metre Mosque site is equivalent to around the size of five football fields, and can accommodate 40,960 worshippers – 7,126 in the main prayer hall; 1,960 in the open prayer hall; 980 female worshippers in the open prayer hall female section; 22, 729 in the open Sahan (courtyard); 682 in the main prayer hall entrance and 784 in the mosque’s main hall entrance.


The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque features 82 domes of Moroccan design and all decorated with white marble. The main dome’s outer shell measures 32.8 metres in diameter and stands at a height of 70 metres from the inside and 85 metres from the outside - the largest of its kind, according to the Turkey Research Centre for Islamic History and Culture.

The Mosque has approximately 1,000 columns in its outer areas which are clad with more than 20,000 marble panels inlaid with semi-precious stones, including lapis lazuli, red agate, amethyst, abalone shell and mother of pearl. The 96 columns in the main prayer hall are round in shape and inlaid with mother of pearl. Additionally, the Mosque has four beautiful minarets standing at almost 107 metres each at the four corners of the mosque.
Reflective pools, totaling 7,874 square metres and laden with dark tiles, surround the Mosque, whilst coloured floral marble and mosaics pave the 17,000 square metre courtyard which is decorated with white marble from Greece. The pools reflect the Mosque’s spectacular image, which becomes even more resplendent at night.


An equally impressive interior design complements the Mosque’s awesome exterior. Italian white marble and inlaid floral designs adorn the prayer halls and the Mosque’s interior walls have decorative gold-glass mosaic features, particularly delicate on the western wall. The main glass door of the Mosque is 12.2 metres high, 7 metres wide and weighs approximately 2.2 tonnes.

The main prayer hall features the world’s largest chandelier under the main dome – being 10 metres in diameter, 15 metres in height and weighing over nine tonnes. The Mosque’s seven gold-coloured chandeliers, from Germany, feature thousands of Swarovski crystals from Austria and some glasswork from Italy, and cost about US$8.2 million (AED 30 million).
The main prayer hall can fit in around 7,126 worshippers and also features the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet. Designed by Iranian artist, Ali Khaliqi, the carpet was hand-crafted by 1,200 artisans in small villages near Mashhadin in Iran, a region renowned for its carpet making expertise. The artisans were flown to Abu Dhabi to stitch the carpet pieces together for the final fitting. Consisting of 2,268,000 knots, the Mosque’s carpet is estimated to be valued at US$8.2 million (AED 30 million).


The Qibla wall (facing the direction of the Holy City of Mecca) is 23 metres high and 50 metres wide, and is subtly decorated so as not to distract worshippers from prayer. Gold-glass mosaic has been used in the Mehrab (the niche found in the middle of the Qibla wall).

The 99 names (qualities) of Allah featured on the Qibla wall exemplify traditional Kufi calligraphy, designed by the prominent UAE calligrapher - Mohammed Mandi. The Qibla wall also features subtle fibre-optic lighting, which is integrated as part of the organic design.
In total, three separate calligraphy styles - Naskhi, Thuloth and Kufi – are used throughout the mosque and were drafted by Mohammed Mendi (UAE), Farouk Haddad (Syria) and Mohammed Allam (Jordan).


The Mosque has 80 Iznikpanels - highly decorated ceramic tiles popular in the 16th century - which feature distinctly in Istanbul’s imperial and religious buildings. Traditionally hand-crafted, each tile was designed by Turkish calligrapher Othman Agha.


28 different types of marble have been used throughout the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, and include:-


Sivec from Greece & Macedonia, used on the external cladding (a total of 115,119 square metres of cladding has been used on the Mosque, including the four minarets)
Lasa from Italy, used in the internal elevations
Makrana from India, used in the annexes and offices
Aquabiana and Biano from Italy
East White and Ming Green from China

Settling In

Well, it was Gail's turn to lie awake last night. I slept like a baby! Since she was awake, and I felt her pain after spending Tuesday night awake, we got up and out for an early walk. There is a nice park a block over from us, so we did a couple of laps and then stopped on the ninth floor for a beautiful breakfast buffet. Everything was delicious! I expected that they weren't giving breakfast away, but didn't expect the 130 dirham bill! Oh well.

Gail had a date with the American Womens Group so I took care of some business back home, then went to the gym and the pool. Just waiting from a call from Gail now. We are going to check out the apartments that our friend Kathryn lives in. It's very nice, but may be a bit out of our price range if we can't talk them down a little.

After that we are going to hit the Abu Dhabi Mall and look for an iPad for Gail.

OOOH, 12:20 call to prayer! The first call to prayer is at 4am! It is very interesting seeing the culture here, although it is quite confusing because there are people from all over the world working and living here....kinda like the US!

We had a nice walk back from dinner last night. The temp had come down considerably and we really felt safe walking the streets. Even at 10pm the city is buzzing. People come out to do their shopping and socializing after dark.

We do get a lot of looks from locals. Gail especially. A tall white women gets a lot of attention, both good and bad! We don't exactly blend, but stay courteous and friendly.

Time to go meet the ladies.....mark

We're settled in at the Crowne Plaza. As they say, "things are just going too well". Then you get knocked back to reality. We checked in, went upstairs and were going to drop the bags and go exploring. I told Gail I wanted to take my work clothes out and get them hung up before we left. Imagine my surprise when I opened the suitcase and found all dresses!

The exact same bag as mine mistakenly came home with us. We went into scramble mode, and 2 hours later, and 150 dirhams lighter we were back with the correct bag. All wasn't bad though. We were originally escorted through the airport so quickly, we didn't have time to hit the duty free shop! Since we were back and didn't have anything better to do, we stopped to stock up the cupboards. This caused a slight flap as we tried getting back out through customs, but eventually they realized how honest we are.

Back at the hotel, bag in room, we set off looking for grindage. It was now 10:25 so we tried the bar in the basement. An English band was rippin' it up, the Hienie's were cold and I got to watch cricket?

Our room is very nice. Tomorrow we will try to endure the blast furnace type heat and see a few things. It's now 3:30am, and I can't sleep.

That's all for now,

Mark

Well, I think every 12 hour flight should be like this! We’re about to start our descent into Abu Dhabi. Gail and I had a very nice dinner, watched a movie and actually got some sleep!

It’s my first time flying through this many time zones, and I found it very bizaar to take off in the dark from Chicago and have the sun come up four hours later! The flight attendants have been amazing! The entire experience has been over the top.

One attendant in particular had a few minutes to stop and chat with Gail and I. She was very nice and gave us some encouraging words. The current temperature is 38c, which translates to damn hot fairenheit.

The next couple hours will be very interesting. Because we got bumped up to business class we have a fast pass through immigration! It will be like the fast pass at Disneyworld, where you have to walk by all the poor souls standing in line with your head bent in shame. I’ll try not to feel too guilty!

Once through all that, we’ll take our first drive into our new hometown. Sadly it will be dark by then, so we won’t get the full flavor of the city. Who knows when we will make it out this way again.

Wow! We’re here, we did it! More when we get settled in our hotel.

Mark

Travel days - part one

Ok! What a day so far. It started fairly normal, Breakfast, pack, repack and catch a shuttle to the airport. Check-in went smooth, but security was crazy. After a 40 minute wait, we were through and had just enough time for an adult beverage prior to boarding…..Then things went a little sideways. As our flight started boarding there was a ruckus across from our gate. There was an undercover officer with a man pinned to the floor, and appearently the man didn’t like his face on the floor, so he wasn’t exactly holding still for the officer.

The authorities got things under control and carted the man off, but not what you want to witness prior to getting on a flight.

Then it was four hours of cute children behind us kicking our chairs. Tolerance and patience I told Gail through clinched teeth.

We landed safely in Chicago with what we thought was plenty of time before our connection……that was before we realized that we had to leave security and go to another terminal, get ticketed and go back through security. This is the point that we fully grasped that we were entering a new world!

It took quite a while to get up to the front for check-in, even though we had no luggage. While in line, we met a nice representative who went to check our connection, even though we were still a few people back.

He came back and said we were good to go and walked us over the special line! When we got there he leaned in and thanked us for flying Etihad and informed us that we had been upgraded to business class! Sweet deal! Check out the pic!

We have sleeper beds and individual flat screens and my seat vibrates! They even brought us hot towels, menus and took our drink orders BEFORE we took off. Gail is worried about looking like Debora Messing in The Wedding Date when she wakes up from the trans-atlantic flight! No hair stylist on board as far as I can tell.

I forgot to mention that I watched the Beiber Movie on the flight to Chicago. I have a new-found respect for the little twerp.

I’m going to stop typing now and enjoy being totally spoiled for the next 14 hours!

Cheers!

Mark

Last Day at Lewis

It seems surreal to think my days at Lewis are over. It's very hard to describe the emotions. Not sad, not happy...more resigned to the fact that my run is over here. I'll miss the people a great deal, and hope that I get to see them at some point in the future.

In the words of the famous poet Jimmy Buffett:


Drink it up
This ones for you
It's been a lovely cruise
I'm sorry it's ended
It's sad, but it's true
Honey, it's been a lovely cruise

Everythings Coming Together

Thankfully, mostly to Gail, things are coming together for our move to the UAE. The house is rented, the cars are being sold this week (thanks Jeff), and then we are down to the little stuff.

We're excited, nervous and a little sad about the move. It will be a great opportunity for us to experience the culture of the middle east, and maybe get a better understanding of the religion and politics of the region.

It's also a great opportunity to travel around that part of the world and Europe without a 20 hour trip. Greece is a four hour flight!

Looking out over Elliott Bay on this semi-clear day, I'm starting to realize how much I'll miss the "good weather days" in the GNW. A friend that has traveled out of the county quite a bit told me that you can't truly appreciate what we have in this country until you leave it.

Mark

Thanks Blogspot!

I posted my first blog the day before the website crashed, so I lost it and had to re-create the site.

Something more interesting in the near future.