...4 years later....

We are four years into our UAE adventure, and are still loving it! Seriously, loving it. The people are great, the country is safe, Al Ain is awesome, and the expat community is very supportive.

We, like everyone else who comes here, only thought that we'd been here for the obligatory contract length of 2 years, but those two years have quickly turned into 4. If you're considering working here, I highly recommend it! 

I am grateful to go back home every summer and see family and that we can pick up quickly like it hasn't been a year since we'd seen each other. I am grateful that Leslie, her dad, my mom and Jason's mom have come and visited us. I'm grateful for free medical insurance with ridiculously low copays, numerous public holidays, that 95% of the population speaks some variation of English, and for my friends and coworkers who are all in the same boat.

I'm grateful that living in another country gives me a worldly view of America and how it is perceived by people from 6 of the 7 continents. I'm grateful that I can celebrate American and Christian holidays openly with friends, and that my Muslim friends and students wish me Merry Christmas.  I'm grateful that I can experience traditional Emirati culture and food, stroll through an oasis and souq, and walk among archaeological ruins dating back to the Bronze Age. 

I'm grateful that I can see blockbuster movies on Thursdays in the cinema and purchase Bath and Body Works Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin candles. I'm grateful that Jason can watch the Cowboys play fairly easily (with the exception of the time difference- 5:30 am games are unpleasant).

Moving across the world was a great idea. Al Ain is a wonderful place to live, and if you're considering it, take the leap!

Our First House Guests

Eid Mubarak!

 Well, officially Eid is over, but we enjoyed it! We had our first (and potentially only) house guests come to visit us over the holiday. My wonderful friend Leslie and her dad Duane spent 10 days in the UAE with us, and it was great! Guests for that long...yikes! But, it worked out perfectly. Jason was a good tour guide, Duane was a good Papa to the girls, Leslie and I were able to hang out and talk, and we all sang along to some Garth Brooks in the van on the way to Dubai. I am not joking.

We were able to be tourists in our country of residence. When we first moved here, we visited places and saw things, but then got bogged down with the daily minutia of life and kinda stopped paying attention to the world around us. Leslie and Duane helped us go to places we hadn't been in a while and some places that we've never been before at all.

View from Jebel Hafeet at night

We went to Jebel Hafeet, which is the tallest mountain in the UAE. (Jebel = mountain in Arabic.) The picture above makes me think of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark for some reason.

Duane's cowboy hat was a hit everywhere we went. "Hey Cowboy!"

One of the Gold souqs

Guiness Book of World Record's biggest gold ring

Burj Al Arab at sunset

Jumeirah Beach at sunset

We went to Jumeirah Beach for the first time. We happened to get there at sunset, and were able to watch the sky turn beautiful shades of orange, purple and yellow. We'd never been to a beach in Dubai, and hadn't realized that the sand was perfect and the water warm. Leslie, the girls, and I put our feet in the water and watched a bunch of men in their whitey tighties get in the water before we were oogied out and had to leave. Yuck. Saggy, wet, whitey tighties are not attractive. But, the water was beautiful and calming despite the surrounding scenery.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi

Compulsory Abayas

We went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi because everyone HAS to go to this place. It is amazingly beautiful. There is so much love and beauty built into every single detail. Granted, we were so hot that we may have, in our haste to cool off, not appreciated every single marble tile.  As a matter of respect, they make all women wear abayas with their hair covered. It is amazing that with all the planning that went in to this beautiful structure, they didn't plan for the fact that every woman will have to be given and return an abaya. There was one room with one desk handing out abayas. It was hot, stinky, and overly crowded. To avoid the possibility that we would have to come back to get an abaya for Ava to cover her bare arms and shoulders, we got her one. She may or may not have needed it, but I was not standing in that line again. Ava said she felt like she was in Harry Potter and was going to see a quidditch match.

By the end, we were getting "Hangry" as Leslie put it. So hot and hungry that we were getting frustrated. We went to Cantina Laredo and had tableside guacamole with lunch. Tableside guacamole makes everyone happy.

Recharged, we went to the Abu Dhabi Corniche and took great pictures and absorbed the atmosphere.

Emirates Palace hotel on the left, and the Sheikh's Palace on the right

 Our last few days together were spent on a desert safari and chilling at a UNESCO World Heritage site that also has a nice park. My desert safari pictures have yet to be uploaded, and I can't promise I'll remember to blog once they are.  Just imagine a cowboy riding a camel, a provocative belly dancer, a full moon, and crazy driving over sand dunes. It was great.

I was very happy to be able to spend time with Leslie and Duane. I've known them both for so long that it was like family came to visit.

So...who's coming next?

Ma salamah!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and boats)

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and boats)

Kids were so excited to see Gas Monkey

I am not one of the fortunate souls whose employer pays for the entire family to fly back home once a year. However, I am very fortunate that they pay for private school tuition for my kids. I actually make out better this way, but it is damn inconvenient when it's summer vacation time. So, bearing in mind that we had to spend LOTS of money just to get anywhere for the summer, we went back to Texas. Awesome free family lodging, our cars are there (so no renting), and free entertainment in the form of sisters and cousins and relaxing on the back porch.

Carnival Sunshine Cruise

We had a cruise credit from Carnival Cruise lines from when our ship broke down in St. Maarten in March 2013, so we went on a brilliant 7 night cruise on the Carnival Sunshine. The thing Jason and I (and most parents) value most from a Carnival cruise is that you can dump drop your kids off in Camp Carnival where they are entertained and provided with age appropriate activities, leaving you with pina colada quiet time. BEST. THING. EVER. 

Grand Turk

 We went to Nassau, St. Thomas, Grand Turk and Puerto Rico, and took too many pictures. Beach time, exploring time, and relaxing time. Ahhhh.






Road Trip

Road Trip stop at the BlueBell Factory

On our road trip to Florida, we stopped in Brenham, Texas at the BlueBell Ice Cream Factory for a tour. After a BlueBell trivia game during the tour, I realized that I should be embarrassed by the amount of knowledge I have about BlueBell ice cream. The workers really can eat as much ice cream as they want. "We eat all we can, and we sell the rest." True. They have freezers stocked with ice cream in the break rooms. Ava changed her career plans that day.

We also stopped at the USS Alabama. We had fun exploring, but Jason was like a kid in a candy shop. A hot, humid candy shop, but a candy shop nonetheless. We all played shoot shoot bang bang with the mounted guns. It was a nice road break, and a good family road trip type place to stop.











ChiTown

We had a 10 hour layover in Chicago on our way from DFW to Abu Dhabi. Why? I don't know. Instead of sitting in the airport for 10 hours prior to a 15 hour flight, we decided to take the L train into downtown and walk around. It was kinda rainy, but tolerable without an umbrella, especially since we had spent 10 months with no rain. Walked to Millennium park, Theater district, ate lunch out on a patio, and had some Famous Garrett's popcorn, which coincidentally they have in Dubai Mall.

Although happy to go home to Texas for July, it is always nice to return to your own bed, your own house, your own place. I am extremely fortunate that my kids travel well. Alhamdulilah (Thank God)!

Ma Salama, Texas! See you in a year, Inshallah!

Reflections on our first school year in the Al Ain

So, it is the end of the first school year here in the United Arab Emirates. I have learned a lot about myself, our family, and other people.

I am a very touchy person. I like to touch people. When I'm talking to you, I like to put my hand on your arm, smack you if you're being silly, goose you if I'm feeling sassy, or hug you because I want to. I have had to make a conscious effort here to not touch people when I am talking to them. It makes me kinda lonely in a strange way. I miss touching people.

I am a very flexible person. I can roll with the flow, even when it is illogical and a waste of time.

Jason, the girls and I are pretty rad people. We love each other (even when Ava is on my VERY last nerve and Landry is yelling). This adventure is bringing us closer together, and we can depend on each other. We've been able to ride camels, go dune bashing, visit the Grand Mosque and central souk in Abu Dhabi, Dubai Mall, ski Dubai, the Burj Khalifa fountain, Global Village, Gulf of Oman on the beach in Fujairah, watch a meteor shower in the desert, drive up Jebel Hafeet, see remains of a village from the Bronze Age at an official Unesco world Heritage site a few kilometers from our apartment, and go to an Easter sunrise service in many different languages with people from all over the world.

We're seeing new people, new places, new cultures, and some of it is good and some of it makes us appreciate the United States more.  Talking to people from many different countries and hearing their stories and choices in life makes me see how fortunate we are. Watching the cleaners and nannies and service workers deal with disrespect and low wages and realizing that this is better than their situation in their home country is saddening. Almost every service worker or nanny that I have spoken with has a family in the Phillipines or Pakistan.  Their low wages and disrespect here are still better than the money and conditions at home; so much so that they leave their children and send money home to them.  Maybe people look at me that way.

I've met people with so many different accents and dialects of English that I am making a list of new English words that I've learned that are indigenous to other native English speaking countries. My top favorites are: rubbish, dodgy, fek, eejit, and keen.

There are more expats than Emiratis in the UAE, but Al Ain has a higher proportion of locals than other large cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai.  I have weekly conversations with a local mother of 5. We share a commonality in our children, and get along very well. I don't think that many expats make it a point to get to know locals.

We are fortunate and say a prayer of thanks daily for our blessings.  Alhamdulillah!

Ma Salamah!

Wow, I am bad at this blogging thing.

I don't understand how people can blog daily. I don't have enough universally appropriate things to say. That's what makes me wonderful. : ) Daily stuff is boring...as evidenced by the following:

We're officially into the routine of living here instead of just visiting.

Jason is very manly proud of the fact that he can get around Al Ain and Dubai without using the GPS.  He takes it as a personal affront to his manhood when I plug in the GPS when he's driving. An insight into Jason's mind......

                =

We still get looks wherever we go, but they're not bad looks.  It's more what's up with those people? looks.  Let me explain a few things.  Women here speak in undertones. Or I am deaf. It could just be my perspective. I never hear women when I am out in public. I think it's for the same reason they wear the abayas and veils- to not draw attention to themselves.  Just a thought.

Then there's us. I think we didn't get the memo about hushed undertones.  I don't think it's possible for us. Have you heard me laugh? I think the world has heard me laugh. Our kids are the same. They think everyone needs to hear every conversation we have.  When Ava sees people looking at her, she decides to put on a loud, obnoxious show for them.

The countdown is officially on until we go back to Texas for July. 

11 weeks and counting!

I wouldn't exactly say I've been missing it, Bob.

I find it strange that now that we live a bazillion miles away, I want to visit American landmarks. Ooh, maybe we can stop over in New York so the girls can see the Statue of Liberty, or DC so the girls can see where the president lives. OOOhhh, we still haven't visited the Grand Canyon.... We are sorely missing American Social studies and civics here- but thankfully also missing the crazy political crap that has been going on.

I've heard that there is some tax law that we can only be in the US for 30 days in a calendar year without having to pay taxes or some such. So, if we go home for 30 days in the summer, we can't go back again until the following summer? Something like that.  Anywho, we have to make the most of our 30 day limit.  Maybe stop off in another country- because we don't technically have to be back here until the middle of August. 

So, we are looking for suggested itineraries for July into August. WWYD?  What would you do? Please post your suggestions in the comments below- maybe a budget conscious one and an extravagant one??  

And....GO!

Ma Salaamah

Ava's Blog Entry

So, Ava really wanted to post a blog entry- I'm pretty sure because she watches waaaaay too much of the irritating show "Dog With a Blog" on Disney Channel. 

I can tolerate some shows on Disney channel- Jessie- and even like some others- Good Luck Charlie- but I cannot handle Dog with a Blog or ANT Farm. Overacting and laugh tracks never bode well.  But, I digress.  Here is Ava's blog:

u.a.e trip.

I have some relatives coming to visit but not now.

My friends are kind but sometimes mean like Noah, Harrison, Mariam, Alyazia, Hessa ,Lydia, and Khalid.

I normally play with Noah, Khalid, Harrison, and Lydia.

They are some of my best friends.

But in my old school my best friend was Mari she was by best friend in the world and then I had to leave 

her and come to the u.a.e.