How blessed am I?!

So there were a few things that I forgot to blog about the last time I wrote.  So here are some more interesting facts about Abu Dhabi and my experiences here so far..

The students here do not call me Miss Mulhall- they call me Miss Alyssa.  I have been told by other teachers that they do this so they are calling you by your name and not your fathers name.  Very interesting!

I also went to Dubai this weekend with a bunch of the new teachers at my school.  It is about an hour away driving.  Not bad at all!  I was able to see Ski Dubai and the tallest building in the world (pictures of both in this entry).  We ate at the cheesecake factory and Ihop!  So truly I haven't branched out too much with my food choices!  We also had a Friday brunch!  As we were pulling into Dubai it was like a reality check- like how lucky am I to be living where I am just go to Dubai for the weekend!?  It still is unreal at times!  I know I have written a lot about the things I have been doing and not much about school yet so that entry will come this week!

But here are some pictures!

 This is the door to my apartment!

 A view from my window in the living room- notice the sand that covers the windows!  Remember I live in the desert!

 My living room!

 Usually I probably would of lived out of my suitcases for months but I was SO happy to get all of my stuff I unpacked it all!!

 Looking at Abu Dhabi from the apartment!

 My students taught me how to write my name in Arabic!  I am hoping to learn way more!!

 Just a typical day in Abu Dhabi- notice what it feels like- HOTTTTTT!

 View of the Grand Mosque from dinner one night!

 What a longgggg journey- I think I looked at this on the TV screen on the plane every 10 minutes towards the end I wanted to get off the plane!

 Looking towards the corniche from the Marina Mall

 Tallest building in the world! Burj Khalifa in Dubai!

 Dubai!

Ski Dubai! Indoor ski slope in the mall!

I am also super excited that my family has been working on all getting their passports and tickets for winter break!  They will be here for 2 weeks!  We are working on our schedules matching up so we are able to have times we talk on Skype and we have done pretty well so far with it!  And luckily we all have Iphones has well so we can IMessage!  

I do miss home but feel so lucky to have this opportunity.  

Well thats all for now! 

<3 A