October 30, 2013

"Body-Odor and Perspective"

Dear Reader,

These first 7 weeks in Abu Dhabi have been wild...and even though I still don't have a mattress, we're finally starting to get settled.

Here's how life is going for me in Abu Dhabi:

I wake up in the morning (feeling like P-diddy) and roll off of my little mat. I'll grab a towel and head towards the "maid's shower" because it's got hot water and my bathroom's shower can barely reach lukewarm. (For those in the States, I'll explain why it's called the maid's shower. In almost every apartment and villa in Abu Dhabi, there is an unbelievably small bedroom and bathroom that is used by the maid, if you have one. We don't have a maid, so we use the room for storage and the bathroom for it's beautiful shower.) After cleaning up, I'll get dressed, and by then, my mom will usually have some sort of awesome breakfast ready for Sam and I. After breaking our fast, Sam and I have to figure out how to get to school.

We have two options: Take the city bus, or share a cab with some friends of ours. For the past week or so, Sam and I have had to take the bus. I don't know about you, reader, but I don't find it very pleasant to be caught between a glass window and 15 funky-smelling men. Sometimes, Sam and I can find a seat.....or, in other words....Sometimes, we don't have a terrible experience on the city bus. But unfortunately, there aren't many seats, and we've have had to stand and endure that 40-minute ordeal one too many times. I guess that you get what you pay for..............I just didn't know that I was paying to be uncomfortably close to sketchy looking men.

Fortunately, my brother and I figured out that we could share a cab with Ella Sullivan and her little sister. Trust me on this one: riding in a cab with two Aussies is awesome, especially compared to our experiences with Abu Dhabi's public transportation system.

One way or another, we make it to school alive and....well..........alive.

As I walk up to the main gate of the school, I always wave to the guard, and he never fails to wave back. Once Sam and I are inside of ACS, it's essentially just like being in a high school back in the US. Except, there are only 90-ish kids in my entire class, and no one is "normal". (What is normal, anyways?) Almost everyone has some insane cultural identity and proficiency in some foreign tongue. After learning a little bit about the countries and cultures that everyone else comes from, I've begun to look at my time spent in the US and my American identity differently. Having to introduce myself as an American really helps me to recognize that the country I've come from has (in a significant way) shaped my ideals, my personality, and my cultural identity.

Our school is fantastic. My classes are academically grueling, but I'm learning, and that is what matt-......Oh my gosh. I just realized that I have a BUNCH OF HOMEWORK.

Well....in a nutshell, I'd just like to say that no matter how crazy things get........Life goes on.
Even if you move to the other side of the world in the middle of high school......Life goes on.

Keep rockin' it, have a slammin' Halloween, and thank you for reading. NM

(Sorry to be abrupt. I really do have homework.)

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