A typical Al Ain drive
When I left the Dubai airport my senses were overwhelmed with the hot sticky air and a faint scent of perfume. Welcome to my new home.
The group of new arrivals loaded on school bus with all of our bags before boarding another school bus for our rides home. The bus had narrow seats and ran loud enough that I could barely hear Jordan speaking to me from a foot away. I hoped to have conversations with the other new teachers and get to know them, but it became clear that would not be possible on this trip.
Our bus made a stop at a gas station so we could buy snacks for the night. As we walked into the store I was again met with the smell of perfume and thought to myself that these smells would accompany all my new experiences and be a part of my new world. Before picking out snacks I stopped in the bathroom. I walked into the stall, latched the door, and carried on. However, when I tried to leave, I could not get the latch back open! I twisted it around and still the door remained locked. I twisted it in the opposite direction and still the door was shut. It was several minutes of jimmying the lock before I escaped, during which I was in a panic. I couldn’t call anyone because my phone wasn’t set up yet! There was certainly something terrifying about the prospect of being locked in a bathroom at a gas station in the middle of an unknown desert that was thankfully avoided, and was very on-brand for me.
Eventually, our bus arrived in Al Ain. The bus was only capable of going about half the speed limit so it was a long slow journey to our beds. The single women were dropped off at their new apartments in the Al Jimi neighborhood, and we and the other couples were brought to the Ayla Hotel to stay until we attain housing.
This first week would have very little scheduled for us, leaving us we open to explore our new country.
