Hey! It's Been a While! Let's Get You Caught Up...

WOW! Where have the past 4 months gone?! It feels like it was maybe a month ago that I last posted, but no...it's been since January, and here we are in May. So much has happened since then! I could insert your typical "Time flies" quote, but I'll let the picture below do the talking for me.

Ok...we good?! Go ahead grab a comfy seat and settle in because there is a long post ahead. I'll try to sprinkle in as many pictures as I can to help lighten the reading.

Let's get you caught up!

I last left you all with my story of how I got COVID-19, ended up in a hotel room for 10 days, and then made my escape to the Ritz. We'll pick up from there...

I made it to the Ritz and was immediately met by colleagues who were thrilled to see the whites of my eyes and I was thrilled to see them. Because I had missed my initial onboarding date, I would have to wait until the following Sunday to start work. So, it was time to do some exploring! A group of us were able to go on a tour of the city and, admittedly, I didn't take many pictures because I was taking in all of the sites and just being in the moment, which means, whenever any of you decide to come and visit, I will be primed to take all of the photos you need so you can enjoy the experience!

Our tour started at one of the most famous sites in Abu Dhabi, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. This place was stunning! It's the largest mosque in the country and a key place of worship.

Some fun facts about the mosque, courtesy of Wikipedia (I know, I know, great source of information):

• It was built between 1996 and 2007

• Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first president of the UAE, launched the project to establish a structure with the hopes to unite the cultural diversity of the Islamic world with historical and modern values of architecture and art.

• Sheikh Zayed died before the completion of the mosque in 2004 and was buried in the courtyard of the mosque.

• It covers an area more than 30 acres

• It can accommodate over 40,000 worshippers.

• The carpet in the main prayer hall is the world's largest carpet, measuring over 60,000 sq ft and weighing in at 35 tons. It took around 2 years to complete.

• There are 7 chandeliers that incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals.

• Strict dress codes are enforced at the mosque. Men are not allowed to wear shorts and women need to wear a long sleeved shirt and long pants or a long, loose fitting skirt and will need to wear a headscarf to cover their hair before they can enter. Prior to COVID-19, the mosque had abayas (traditional robes) that women could borrow to enter the mosque, but due to COVID, if you didn't have the correct attire on, you can purchase an abaya for 40 dirhams (~$11 USD).

After the mosque is where my pictures from the day stopped, so you'll have to come visit (or use your friend Google) to see what it all looks like! The next stop on the tour was the Presidential Palace, or Qasr Al Watan. This place was gorgeous! I had a prime view of the outside of the palace from my quarantine hotel room, but the inside was absolutely magnificent! This palace is mainly used for official purposes - hosting foreign leaders and meetings for the supreme council and federal cabinet. A few of the many highlights of this palace is the hall of gifts received from foreign dignitaries and a massive chandelier with 350,000 pieces of crystal and weighing in at 12 tons! It's so large that it has a small staircase within it to help with cleaning.

After that, we visited the Qasr Al Hosn, Abu Dhabi's oldest building, had an amazing Middle Eastern lunch at Al Mrzab Popular, and finished the day off at the Mina Date Market. The day was jam packed and I got home exhausted, which was what I needed because the next day was my first day of work. I had been dealing with some lingering insomnia from COVID-19 and was having trouble sleeping, so the exhaustion was welcomed with open arms and a good nights rest ahead of me.

The next day, my first day of work, brought with it all of the excitement of your first day of school. I woke up early, had my coffee and breakfast and headed out the door to the van that would take me to Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC). It's about a 15 minute drive from the hotel to the hospital. SSMC stands out like a mirage in a desert. You can see if from about 5 miles away because it is the tallest building in the area. When I first Googled SSMC, I thought all of the pictures I was seeing were artist renderings. I had thought to myself, "Surely this place doesn't look exactly like the picture." Boy was I wrong. The campus is beautiful. The people are extremely friendly, welcoming, and excited to have Mayo staff coming over to help build SSMC into a destination medical center (DMC) in the Gulf region.

I'll speak a little more about work before moving on to the other adventures I've been up to since starting the job. Right now, I help oversee nursing in the outpatient department at SSMC. On my first day, I was welcomed by my two amazing senior charge nurses (think assistant nurse managers) who have been my go to people when it comes to acclimating to the environment and understanding things such as the context behind email communication words and phrases such as "please do the needful" or "for your kind care." They have helped me navigate the cultural waters and better understand what our patients and staff value and expect and how the healthcare system works in the UAE. Every day I am learning something new and I am always asking "Why?"

I also have a great group of charge nurses, staff nurses, and practical nurses who help make sure the clinics are running and are excited to be working for our organization. This excitement and energy only adds to my excitement and energy to help build up this team to support the mission, vision, and values of the organization and future DMC. While this does paint a pretty rosy picture, there is still a lot of work needed to be done to get us to where we want to be. This includes building up the nursing profession and upskilling staff, supporting continued multidisciplinary collaboration, and working on improving workflows, quality care, and patient experience. However, I'm confident that we will get there.

We're almost to the part where I tell you about the other adventures I've been on, I swear! I just want to share a bit more about the differences and similarities between working here in the UAE and working in the USA.

• My work day is still your typical clinic day (8am - 5pm)

• In the UAE, the work week in Sunday - Thursday because Friday is a holy day in Islam

• The time difference gets really weird when it comes to communicating with those working back in the states and with family. By the time Monday morning roles around for those in the states and my work email starts coming to life, I've finished my day and am headed to bed, preparing for the mid-point (hump day) of my work week.

• Virtual meetings are very much a thing here as they are in the States due to COVID. What I wasn't prepared for was the use of the "Raise Hand" feature. It was something I had never used before in Skype, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams, but has now become a regular function of meetings I attend.

• Instead of pagers that I had become accustomed to, the nursing staff use a device called Vocera. While it is a handy tool, it is also occasionally a pain to deal with. My device still has troubles recognizing my voice!

Ok, enough about work (though if you have more questions, I'm happy to answer!), let's get up to speed with the adventures I've been on.

One of the first weekends in February, I had been to the mall trying to work through cell phone issues and had stopped at the grocery store to grab a few items before heading home. Yes, there are grocery stores in the malls here, and there are SO MANY MALLS! Anyway, upon checking out and paying, my receipt printed and the cashier turned to me and said, "Congratulations, Ma'am!" I was very confused and she said to me, "You won 200 dirhams!" Come to find out, the grocery store was celebrating the opening of it's 200th store in the UAE and they were giving away 200 dirhams to 200 customers over 200 hours (or something of that nature) and I was one of the lucky winners!

During another weekend, a group of us went to visit the Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival. The best way to describe the festival was to picture a mixture of what you would expect to see at a county or state fair mixed with Epcot at Disney World, except instead of walking around and seeing the different countries of the world, you walk around and get to visit the different countries of the Gulf Region. It was a great immersive experience where we learned about the culture, got to see falcons, camels, music, dancing, light shows, art, spices, honey, scarves, and the even had fireworks!

Another weekend adventure involved visiting the Louvre. Yes, I said Louvre - many of you are probably thinking, wait - isn't that in Paris? Isn't that where the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Liberty Leading the People are? Well yes, that is the Louvre, but there is also a Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi! While there is not nearly as much artwork here as there is in the museum in Paris, it was still a great site to see for both the art and the architecture!

One other item I wanted to cross of the list of things to do and try before I bring people who come to visit me on them (and before the weather got too hot here) was a desert safari. This was an awesome experience! We went dune bashing for almost an hour, climbed to the top of a dune for some pictures, and went to a Bedouin desert camp for sunset, camel rides, dune-boarding (or hilariously sliding in my case - please enjoy XD ), dinner, and star-gazing while the Salat al-'isha prayer is being sung. It was an awesome experience and one that anyone who comes to visit will be going on (make sure you bring tennis shoes or some good Chacos!)

I giggle every time I watch this video!

Riding a camel! You feel like you're going to fall off when it stands up! Even more so when it sits back down!!

Besides all of these adventures, I've also had the opportunity to try out many different restaurants, brunches, and spent an afternoon/evening at the Saadiyat Beach club.

This drink was called Lavender Holyfield

The Sushi course at brunch! -Budda Bar St. Regis Saadiyat Island

We were invited to tea at the Ritz Carlton in honor of International Nurses Day.

Sunset at the beach on Saadiyat Island

So far, this experience has been an adventure of a lifetime! There are many challenges we face on the road ahead, but the journey to get there is what makes this experience all the better!

And, amidst all of this adventure, there is one more thing I have been doing behind the scenes over the past 4 months (and 3 years)....

...but more on that in my next blog post, which I promise will not take me 4 months to write!

Until Then,

Brittney