Day 297 - Our Town House

As an employee of Etisalat, Alex was given a place to live, even though we already had a house through the embassy. Alex pointed out that he didn't need a place to live, suggesting the company could save the money by not renting anything for him. He also said he would be happy to receive part of the rent as salary, since the company would save it. Etisalat wasn't convinced.

So in addition to the fully furnished lovely house the embassy provided us one block from the corniche, we had a partially furnished apartment near Abu Dhabi town center. We called it our town house, in contrast to our corniche house.

Allan and Alex

The only advantage having the town house gave us is that it was close to the apartment of our friends Allan and Janis. When we spent time with them, we didn't have to worry about driving home at the end of the evening. We could just make our way to the building next door and walk up the stairs to the apartment. It was minimally furnished, and we had no plans to personalize it with our own items, so spending minimal time there was all that we aspired to. We had a couple of cups and saucers, a couple of spoons, a kettle to boil water, and a box of tea bags in the cupboard.

We spent a good amount of time with Allan and Janis, just as we had when we all lived in Doha. Allan had worked with Alex and had arranged for Alex to be hired by Etisalat. They also invited us to join the British Club where we had dinner most Monday evenings and spent all day Friday either at the beach or around the swimming pool.

Sandra and Janis

We had dinner on Mondays because that was Accumulator night. Each Monday, a card with the membership number of each member was placed into a jar and one was drawn out. That number was written on a board that was then carried throughout the restaurants. If the member with that number was present, he or she could claim the prize, an amount that would be increased, or accumulated, each week that no one claimed it. Allan and Janis were determined they would not miss their opportunity to claim the prize. Once we joined the club, we also attended every Monday. And one Monday evening, my membership number was on the board being circulated throughout the restaurant. I claimed the accumulator prize that evening and then spent that amount about three times. Did I really win anything?