Etihad Airways to Abu Dhabi

After a long wait in T1 at Toronto, we boarded Etihad enroute for Abu Dhabi. What first struck me as fabulous were the ornately curved seating arrangements with laydown position, and helped immensely for the long 13 hour flight. There was also nice gourmet Arabic food (Arabic Mezze complimented by Chilean Sea Bass, finalized by Blue Cheese dessert), but the taste was offset by the seasoning which eventually gave me a stomach ache. The onboard entertainment system had many games (I beat the chess computer) and western movies. It is fascinating to see Bourne Ultimatum play beside you in Arabic. The service was great as the airline workers bent over backwards for us. I got over my fear of airplane restrooms also, these ones were very sanitary, and very necessary for a long flight. I met an Islamic man from Toronto doing IT business in Kirachi, it was nice to hear his views on conditions in the Middle East.

We had to land in Doha because of fog in our destination, so we refueled and were delayed a few hours before taking off for the remainder of the flight to Abu Dhabi. The airport in Abu Dhabi was very strange, and I was disoriented in trying to get through. Customs was easier than I thought it would be, I was expediently stamped through, and that was relieving. I found the driver easily, and he was very courteous, although he drove 140 km/hr to get me from the airport to our camp. The country has a strong cleanliness ethic in the face of the unending slow barrage of blowing sand. There are many planted palm trees to hold back on sand migration.

I made it to the work site, got oriented, and was driven to the camp that had our living quarters. Very acceptable room, but could barely hold back feelings of being "A Stranger in a Strange Land", as everything is a mixture of Arabic and Western themes. Most of the people around here are very friendly, the project has a few challenges, but overall it is a rewarding experience. I heard "The Call of Mohammud" (that is what I call it) over a loudspeaker at the end of work yesterday, that was very interesting. The process work we are doing is cutting edge, SNC Lavalin and the French are great to work with, very passionate and articulate about the project.

Back to work.