DUSTING
While there are definite perks to living on the top floor with a balcony, there are also definite drawbacks. First, we are always opening and closing the sliding glass door to go inside and outside. Well it’s starting to get hot so every time that door opens some of my precious air-conditioning escapes outside. It doesn’t help that our air-conditioning sucks. Cleaning when your house is hot and muggy doesn’t help to motivate you! Second, the same sliding glass door and air-conditioning unit blow in dust and sand. The air-conditioning units have no filters so it just fills my house with dust.
I seriously have to dust every day and I’m not talking about “light dusting” I’m talking about moving books off shelves dusting. But by the next day the dust comes back in and it looks like I haven’t dusted in weeks.
VACUUMING
(yep, that’s how it’s spelled-that word never looks right) Kieley used to be scared of the vacuum which was great because she would stay out of my way. Not anymore! Kieley chases the vacuum, barks at the vacuum and bites the vacuum-it doesn’t make my day easier! Since poor Kieley is an inside dog she never gets the chance to dig and hide her bones. As a result, she “hides” her bones and toys all over my house. This is what I found when I went to vacuum the couch today!
She got a new bone last week that has gone missing-I still can’t find it! She waits until she has about three new bones (I gave her another one today) and then all of a sudden she finds them all…tricky dog.
MOPPING
There are no apartments or villas in Abu Dhabi that have wall to wall carpeting. Every inch of the houses here are marble or tile. Even the walls in our kitchen and bathrooms are tile! So wouldn’t you think this would be the perfect place for Swifters? Nope, there are none. I finally broke down and bought one online and had it shipped to my mom who is going to send it to me.
LAUNDRY
I’ve already posted about how frustrating the little washer-and-dryers-in-one they give us are. Well we have a two full size washer and dryers downstairs for the whole building to use.
The dryer on the right doesn’t work so that leaves one dryer for the building. Fine. But what’s really frustrating is that the water heater on the wall leaks so the whole floor is always flooded! So my socks get totally wet. Tony and I are planning on buying our own full size washer and dryer soon!
GARBAGE
Every floor in the building has a room in the hallway that’s the garbage room…except our floor. We have to take it downstairs. No it’s not that big of a pain but it does mean you have to get dressed to take out the garbage. You don’t want to run into a neighbor you haven’t met or one of the Muslim men who work here in your pj’s with no bra on.
GROCERY SHOPPING
Grocery shopping without a car sucks! It’s getting hot outside and sometimes I have to wait 15 minutes for a taxi. And then the majority of the population here has no clue how to wait in a line so people cut in front of you all the time. I’ll admit I’ve gotten pretty ruthless about snagging taxis. The way back is even worse though. In order to get to the front door of our apartment building the taxi has to make a couple U-turns and they look back at you like “you ridiculous, lost American!” Then if you’ve done a big shopping you have to unload all of your groceries on the street, and run them in shifts to the front door praying that no one runs over the rest of your food, punch in the code and carry them in shifts to the elevator, then in shifts out of the elevator and finally inside. Bleh!
THE KITCHEN
As you all know my fridge is down the hall. I think the reason that doesn’t bug me is because there is so much else in my kitchen that does. For some reason every room in the apartments here have doors-even the kitchen. Here’s what the doors in my kitchen look like open.
They block drawers I need to get into in order to cook, and they completely block my stove. If I close them I can’t get to my pantry which is on the other side of that door. Also, if they’re closed the kitchen get SO hot. There’s no air-conditioning just this fan. 
In addition, all that comes out of my sink in HOT water-on the “coldest” setting there is steam coming off of it. Ok so I wear gloves when I wash dishes-no biggie.. But there are other hazards. The other day I was making soup in the microwave and I spilled some on my hand and burnt it. I rush to the sink to put it under cold water…ooops there is no cold water! I put my burnt hand under boiling water!
THE TOILET
Ok this one is apartment specific to me. There are a couple things that the management company hasn’t fixed in the apartment-one is the toilet seat in the master bathroom. It is cracked in two places to when you sit on it, it bites you! And it hurts!
I know I’m ranting but there are some really great things too. We had everyone over to BBQ again last Thursday and it was a really great group.
We had a blast! The next night we hosted the weekly poker game and it was so nice we played outside. Thanks for listening to all my frustrations…sometimes everyone needs to vent!
This is a view of the living room when you're standing in the hallway. 
The green on the TV wall isn't done yet but we should finish soon! Isn't it pretty? We got a steal on rugs and they are so worth it! It's amazing how much better carpet looks then our gross stained tiles! 
This is looking down my hallway...I have no idea what color to paint that-any suggestions? 
This is my dining room. I know I'm brave with paint, but people seriously thought I was crazy when I said I was going to paint green, yellow, orange, and brown stripes in my dining room...but it looks awesome! At least I think so! 
No, I don't set the table like that everyday...but maybe I should!
It's not really as big of a pain as you would think! But Tony and I are planning on buying a mini-fridge for the kitchen anyway.
It's so funny-when people leave my bathroom they are cracking up! Thanks Kelly!
I still put it on everything and lecture everyone else when they wont let me put it on them!
They smell gorgeous! People coming over tell me they can smell them all the way down the hall! 
No more "big flame, little flame!" Real life temperature settings! They are in celcius...but oh well! Here's the ironic thing, I finally have an oven with temperature settings and I haven't cooked with it yet even though we've lived here two weeks! The reason for that...Tony has been grilling on our balcony literally every night! And the food has been delicious! He found mesquite chips here and grilled an actual roast last weekend-with vegies and all! It was so yummy! It's been so much fun to grill every night and we've had people over almost every day! It would just be cruel to send the grill sent wafting through the building and not offer to share! 
Usually you can see pretty far beyond that mosque. 
The round building in this picture is the soccer stadium. Nights when they have a soccer game they shoot off fireworks and everything! 
Actually, we are talking about getting a small kiddie pool and tell me this isn't the perfect place for a slip and slide! 
I haven't ordered it yet...but it will happen! (We better buy a first aid kit at the same time!)
Poor Kyle...Matt and Tony were trying to act out dentist...