Moving from Abu Dhabi to Ruwais

Living in the bustling city of Abu Dhabi with around 200 nationalities surrounding us, the many different versions of English seem to be the default language. With less of an opportunity to learn Arabic and a thriving desire to do so, Ben looked around and spied a place away from the city... out in the western region... near camel farms and the desert version of country life, where most of the students and fellow teachers don't speak much English and found a place where he could probably learn Arabic with more immersion: Al Sila'a.

Nature colors Mix at the Port of Dalma Near Ruwais

We will be living about an hour from there in the community of Ruwais. (pronounced: "Roo-wayse") It is about two hours from Abu Dhabi. In the 1970-80's the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company built compounds in several areas with shopping areas, gyms, grocery stores, houses, parks, schools and hospitals within a 6km block. We are supposed to be placed in a villa inside one of these, which means all of the amenities like gym and beach passes, are free. Ruwais seems to have everything I liked about Abu Dhabi, and not the things I didn't, plus some extras like a free gym and more families with children. We will be able to visit Abu Dhabi once or twice a month, but, as with any move, I will still miss so many of our friends who live here.

Here are a few Facebook photo albums of Ruwais if you're interested in more pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/ruwais.pulse

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.583105298389709.1073741838.578389815527924&type=1

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.358156627611563.116106.358092837617942&type=1

http://ruwais.ae/

Ruwais Pulse 

I hope to learn about it first-hand soon and share my own pictures and experiences.

"Arabic" Numerals and Arabic Numerals

Yes, numbers are written differently here, which is ironic since we call what we use "Arabic numerals." Here is an example, from right to left of course, of numbers in Arabic compared to Arabic numerals: http://www.languageguide.org/im/num/ar/

I'm in the process of learning these as it comes in very handy in this sort of situation:

Learning Arabic Starts With the Alphabet

Learning a new language is always challenging, but when you have to learn a new alphabet before you can even read the language, it always adds a new twist to the challenge. When I taught in Guatemala, my Korean students enjoyed teaching me their alphabet and it was fun to use the Korean characters to write messages in OTHER languages to make a code for certain things (like when they did gift exchanges.)

Getting around in Abu Dhabi, especially in the city, isn't looking like it will be too difficult for several reasons, even without knowing much Arabic.

* English is a MAJOR language here. That doesn't mean life wouldn't be easier knowing Arabic, too- just that not knowing it isn't as big of a handicap here as in some places. One of the places where knowing Arabic would be especially handy is when speaking with the taxi drivers.

* The majority of workers (and people in general) here are from the Philippines or India... both of which have a large English-speaking population. Only about 18% of the population is Emirate. The rest are foreigners.

However, it would be a linguistic waste of an international experience to not try to absorb as much Arabic as possible while here. Though, Arabic isn't the only language. Though church is in English, most of the people there speak Tagalog/Filipino as well... so who knows what languages we'll get to learn!

If you would like to see some common Arabic phrases with the English pronunciation beside them, check out: Linguanaut.