Our Neighborhood

We are finally getting settled in our now permanent apartment.  We have furniture, our boxes from the States has arrived and now we are slowly unpacking.  I've taken some pictures of some of the sites we see every day.  They are from the car as it is too hot to walk around! Hope you enjoy!

This it main road in front of our apartment.  If you look closely, in the center of the picture, in the distance, is Jebel Hafeet. (Mountain with an oasis at the bottom of it.) It has a an elevation of 1250m.  Someday when it is cooler we'll explore it more.  There are several parks and other things to do there.

The current Oasis Hospital and the new one being built in the background.

A new mall within walking distance from our apartment....too bad it doesn't have any stores in it right now.  We've heard rent is too high for most stores to come.  : (

 The Al Ain Club football (soccer) fields right behind our apartments.

The small grocery store in our apartment complex...we haven't made it in yet.

Gabe wanted me to add this...FC Al Ain is the best team in the Gulf and their practice fields are behind our apartment.

Some towns in America have a church on everyone corner, here there is a Mosque in every apartment complex.  This is our neighborhood Mosque.  At night the top of the tower is lit up green.  And you can see the loud speakers on the tower that broadcast the prayers throughout the day.  

Our apartment.  We've been blessed to stay in this 4 bedroom apartment since we've arrived and now we get to call it "home" while here. The balcony is just off our dining room (where I'm sitting and typing at this very moment) and the window to the left of it opens to our living room. Behind the gates in front is where we will park our car....which we will be getting very soon! We only have one other apartment in our stairwell which is nice.  They are an Egyptian family with 3 children (2 girls and a boy) who are several years older than our kids.  Hopefully when the weather is cooler they can play outside some together. We took them a cake recently and they invited us right in, sat us down and fed us fruit and some delicious desserts that I think the wife must have whipped up while we were there.  We have much to learn about what it means to be hospitable in this country.  

Looking out to the right of our balcony.  When it rains...which I've been told happens in January, the creek under the bridge fills up.

Looking out to the left of our balcony.  To the right is the roof top of the new hospital.  Gabe can walk to work. 

The view from our bedroom balcony which is screened in.  The kids looked out and said, "Wow, so much sand to play in."  Yes, yes indeed. 

We love you all!  Ma'a salama.