Al Massa Hotel, Al Ain, UAE

We arrived at the Al Massa Hotel, where we are supposed to stay until our permanent housing is ready. I found out through word of mouth that our apartments are in the final stages of being completed. There's a whole area filled with apartment complexes for the teachers. I thought that was a great idea to help us cope with being so far away. We could be close to each other for support and other things. The hotel was no aloft hotel but it was very nice as we entered it. I noticed it was a two star hotel but that didn't bother me a bit but the other teachers were not impressed. The lobby was very clean and filled with beautiful flower arrangements. The floor was made up of marble tiling. All of the teachers waited for instructions and found out this hotel didn't know we were coming. They had to prepare and make sure enough rooms were vacant for so many of us. The hotel didn't so some teachers were sent to two other hotels.

We were given our room cards and told we had to pay for wifi again. It was 20 AED per hour which is only $5 USD. Not one teacher was happy because it really adds up and most teachers were on a budget. We really need wifi to connect our magic jacks and use skype etc to contact our families. It was very stressful having to pay. I linked up with my friend and found out where her room was located. Luckily we were on the same floor. We decided to go to the nearest Lulus supermarket which her sister recommended we go to do our shopping.

As we went outside, I noticed a bunch of teachers dressed like they were back home. I was in shock!! We were highly pushed to cover up when we were outside. One male teacher, who was about six foot two was dressed in some boxing shorts with a wife beater on showing all of his native tattoos. His disposition was like I'm not from here and no one can tell me how to dress. Also, a few women were dressed in spaghetti straps showing plenty of cleavage and shorts. I was thinking to myself boy are they asking for it. Overall, the teachers were dressed like we were suggested to which was the women wear long skirts and love sleeve shirts and the men wear long pants and short/long sleeve shirts.


We waited for a taxi and split the fare to get to the supermarket.

The market was very nice! It was like Walmart mixed with a flea market but way cleaner and fancy.The cashiers were all women from the Philippines. I kept noticing how the emirates don't work. The only jobs I've seen them have so far is the women working at the bank and teaching. I made sure to stock up on snacks, juice and detergent as I didn't know where a laundromat was and the hotel didn't provide laundry service. The market had so much fresh produce. I saw dates for the first time. There was all types of nuts, rice and fruits I've never seen before. The meat section had whole chicken and I was surprised to see how small it was realizing that's the right size a chicken is supposed to be. After shopping at the market I made plans with my friend and some other teachers to carpool as we had to go to our schools the next day. We already missed orientation and training.