Top 10 of 2010

Here they are my top ten most memorable events in 2010:

10. Surprise surfing trip with Taylor and Christine- when a trip to Nantucket for the weekend was cancelled Taylor told me and Christine to be ready for 6am one morning with our bathing suits and a change of clothes. He picked us up and then we all headed to Hampton for a surfing lesson! It was so fun to start learning to surf from Phil, a family friend of the Arruda's. If you are ever in New Hampshire and need some summer fun you can take lessons with him at Cinnamon Rainbow's Surf Shop. After surfing we went to lunch with Edith and hung out at the Arruda's it was such a fun and relaxing day!

Surfing in Hampton

9. Driving to Sugarloaf, Maine with Whitney in the middle of a blizzard and living to tell!

In Febraury of last year after I had decided that I wasn't a good snowboarder I still went on a weekend ski trip. Although the snow was quickly falling Whitney and I decided to drive up to meet the rest of a group of friends who were already at the cabin. Whitney's slow and steady driving, a few stops and Deane and Taylor pushing the car in the driveway and we made it. It was a fun weekend and a good reminder that winter in New England is a force not to be reckoned with.

Whitney and Taylor clearing Taylor's car before we all headed out

8. Saying goodbye to Annie and Nikki as they head out west! Annie moved to Minnesota at the beginning of 2010 and shortly after Nikki moved to Chicago. When they made those decisions to get moving it reminded me that I needed to pursue things I really wanted. It was a huge part of me getting to the UAE! It was sad to see them go but, it was fun to have them come back and visit me while I was still living in Boston.

7.The 326. Everyday I rode the bus and train to work with Sarah. I loved riding the bus and seeing the same people on our commute each morning, it's one of the simple things that will stick in my mind from 2010.

6. Monday night dinners. Every monday night rotating the house we ate dinner at with our old roommates! It was something I looked forward to every week.

Here is the crew minus a few

5. My families Sunday afternoon visits. During the late summer and early fall my family was driving out to Eastern, MA for a kicking camp for my little brother. Most of those Sunday's they would stop and see me too- it was a fun time for them to be part of my life in Boston. And, it helped for Jared to have a great Senior Year football season.

Mom and Dad

Jared "doin his thang" at the first football game of the year

4. Road Trip to Philly/D.C.- In the spring a group of us girls went to visit Dani and Meg. It was so fun to see them and it felt a little bit like we were back in college and that's not a bad feeling.

Christine, Kendra, Dani and Kristen in D.C.

3. Mardi Gras 2010- This past year I went to Mardi Gras with a bunch of friends and my family. We all stayed at my Grandpa's house and we had a blast. My favorite part was getting to spend time with Andi, a friend from college who was just newly married and living in GA and really getting to know her best friend from CA. My new roommate also joined in and I think it helped seal the deal that Sarah and I were destined to be real friends! It was a long time dream that my family would get to experience the fun that my mom grew up with in New Orleans and we finally did despite a snow storm which forced Jessica, Christine and I to drive the 24 hours instead of fly. That's a car ride I won't forget!

2. Christine, Kendra and Andrew coming to visit. It meant so much to me to have friends come to see what this place is all about.

Andrew, Me and Kendra on a boat ride in Abu Dhabi

1. My Send Off and My Move to the UAE- The going away party, the Red Sox game, the beach trips and all the goodbyes.

"We Three Kings of Orient Are"

Matthew 2 “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him… they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”

Most of us know the story of the birth of Jesus and the three magi or wisemen who came to bring Jesus gifts as told in the Bible. While we are unsure that there were actually 3 wisemen we are sure that there were 3 gifts and we have adapted 3 wisemen into our traditional nativity scene. Here on Christmas Day in Al Ain we had the arrival of the 3 wisemen on camels.

Me and Beth Christmas Morning with the Wisemen and Camels

Some of the children singing carols as the wisemen arrived!

"Now bring us some figgy pudding..."

"And we won't go til we've got some so bring it right here."

Christmas was wonderful- better than I could have imagined it to be so many miles from home without any family.

This morning I woke up to head to the hospital for the coming of the three wisemen on their camels, a tradition that the hospital started 4 years ago. I will post those pictures on Monday- they are on my work camera and I shoot in raw on that and need to convert them at work and I took tomorrow off.

After the three wisemen arrived I headed home to put the Christmas turkey in the oven (usually in America we eat ham but, there were no hams for me to buy here so dinner was more like Thanksgiving). Around 12:30 I put the stuffed turkey in the oven, at about 3:00 I picked up Shiny,

she was my designated sous chef/ co-host for the evening. We made some final dishes like the cranberry relish, a few cookies for all of us to decorate and set the house up for the guests. Yesterday I made all the casseroles and a pumpkin pie (this is a recipe Jessie uses and everyone loves it!)

My dad usually carves the turkey at home and I have to say that carving the turkey was the biggest challenge for me. I had trouble getting the stuffing out and separating the white and dark meats.

We all decorated cookies while we waited for everyone to arrive- we weren't exactly the best artists but a cookie will always taste good despite it's appearance!

Me, Shiny, Gabi and Rita

The weather was perfect and we were able to eat outside. It even got a little chilly and we had to head in after dessert.

Me, Fazilla, Saleem (they are much like family here for me, I spend more time at their house then my own apartment), Gabi, John, Rita (one of my apartmentmates) and Shiny (my sous chef/co-host)

If only in my dreams...

I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams...

Don't get excited it's only in my dreams that I am home for Christmas. It is Christmas Eve and so far I am holding quite true to most traditions we have at home. There is one exception, I went to the pool for about 2 hours today and got a little more tan... I never do that in Massachusetts! Last night we had a candlelight service at church, we always go to one at home on Christmas Eve so this one was just a night early. Today I went to the mall (there was no traffic and not too many people, Christmas is not a widely celebrated holiday here) tonight I had dinner with some wonderful people from our church at our President's house and his wife magically made Christmas in the desert feel much like New England!

This is Tabitha, Demi, Beulah and Esther 2 mother daughter sets from our church and both of the mom's work at the hospital too!

Here I am with Tesheen, Beulah and Tabitha (mother and 2 daughters) they are a great family and have been so kind to me as I have settled in here!

Lastly, I opened one present today and this was my favorite tradition growing up. We would come home from church and then mom and dad would choose one present for us to open on Christmas Eve.

The present I opened was from Christine and it was this sweatshirt:

It is the address of our old apartment where she still lives with some of our other friends- I really love it! I think I might have a new weekend uniform!

The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night

Christmas in the desert with a twist... although the sun is shining here it has not been such beautiful weather in London where many flights stop on their way here. My Aunt Louyse who was bringing Christmas to me was scheduled to be on one of the many flights affected by the huge storm that hit London this past week.

I received an e-mail that she was in Chicago- only leg number one from Georgia to here, she wasn't going to make it here until the 24th at the earliest and she would have to stop in Jordan for a few nights. I told her to fly back home and come see me later. While I am very disappointed not to have her here it has forced me to be creative with my plans for the holiday. My first choice was to go home- that wouldn't work I don't want to spend $1,000 to be home for 5 days, second choice was to go to Afghanistan with a couple that is from there- that doesn't work they want to wait until their sister gets married in a few weeks, choice number three is what my current plans are. I am hosting Christmas Dinner at Trey and Jessie's house. I never imagined I would be hosting an entire Christmas Dinner at 24, I feel like these are things you do when you are married with kids and you are sick of driving to your parents and then your in-laws so you host the holiday yourself.

An advantage of this is that Trey and Jessie have a great kitchen outfitted with everything you could need to host, the disadvantage is that Jessie is not here. Jessie is usually the head chef in this kitchen and I am the sous chef. I have no choice but to brave it alone!

Wish me luck!

"Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright...

Last week we had a staff Christmas Party here at the hospital! It was really fun to have everyone bring a "sweet" from their own country. I only really tried one new food a Phillippino Rice Flour dessert. I don't need to have it again. It was not a taste problem it was a texture problem (Sarah, you know what I mean).

My next few posts will let you know how Christmas goes in the desert.

Here is a start:

We had the children decorate Christmas cookies.

There was also a small bonfire and sticks to roast marshmallows. Marshmallows in America are made with pig fat and the ones here are not because Muslims do not eat pork and products from pigs. That little bit of pig fat makes a big difference but, for most people here they have never had American marshmallows so they would never know what a marshmallow should be like after you roast it for a while and it puffs up and is gooey inside!

Here I am with Kim our director of HR- she is from the states too so she was fully aware of the marshmallow situation. It was a fun celebration for all of us and so my Christmas Season in the desert has begun!

Please don't stop the music

10 days feels like a lifetime and then it ends.

Christine, Kendra and Andrew were here for 10 days and we trapped that time and shoved a whole lot into it and still it ended! Doesn't it just baffle your mind when you feel like something is taking for ever and then all the sudden it's over! This use to always happen to me at work in the States, I would feel like the day was dragging on and then suddenly it was over!

One of my favorite days with them all here was also one of our most tragic days. The first Friday they were here we all headed out to our friend's farm. A "farm" here is much different than what you would imagine. The farm looks like this:

This is our friend's brother and he trains falcons. Falcons are "birds of prey" and Christine took a shot at holding one, she is much braver than I am!

The farm was a really great time and we were even able to four wheel on the dunes. Just about the time for dinner Christine and Jessie took a spill on their bike. Christine went one way and Jessie and the bike the other. As most of you know by now her leg looked like this. I will let you see her leg on her blog... it was pretty nasty!

This was a day to remember for sure- I think we became 10 times closer to our local friends, tragedy has a way of doing that to people and my visitors from home will not forget the blood dripping out of Jessie's open wound! That night quickly came to an end.

Jessie's has repeatedly told us that "we are going four wheeling again as soon as I am better" it was fun and apparently it was worth the injury!

Home Alone?

Home Alone? Not quite. Trey and Jessie will be “Home for the Holidays” this Christmas and because my Thanksgiving went so well with visitors from home I have decided to stay here for Christmas. That’s not exactly how it went but, that’s my story and I am sticking to it.

I will not be Home Alone this Christmas.

When I was 14, I started what became a tradition of flying to Georgia every summer to visit my Dad’s older sister. I have almost stuck to the tradition of seeing my family from Georgia every year with just a few patchy years during college. This year my Aunt Louyse will be flying to this side of the world to spend Christmas with me! I am so excited to have family here for Christmas. I am sure there will be no snow, no need for hot chocolate and surely there will be no fireplace. It will still be Christmas without those things. We are of course, celebrating the birth of Jesus and he was born closer to this part of the world than he was to Massachusetts anyway.

The Pilgrims were thankful and so are we...

This year I celebrated my first Thanksgiving out of the country, out of New England that is. As we all know, the Pilgrims came to Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower and we celebrate the first feast that they had with the Native Americans after the long winter.

At my parents house our traditional Thanksgiving starts with a time to express what you are thankful for from the past year. After each person from the table says what they are thankful for my dad will pray and then the meal that we had been preparing for the previous 6 hours is devoured in about 13 minutes or less. We continued these traditions in Al Ain this year!

At home we typically only get a chance to be thankful for one thing (with a dinner table always full of 6 or more people you have to be quick so that your food doesn't get cold) I will take this opportunity to express my thanks in more than just one sentence:

I am thankful for...

-the 8 sentences in arabic that I have learned in the past 3 months and all the people who have repeated these sentences to me over and over again

-this past summer in Boston and the friends who made the hours on the beach fly by

-having a real Thanksgiving dinner with family, friends from New England and new friends from here

On Thanksgiving we took advantage of the holiday spirit and put up a Christmas Tree. Thank you to all my friends and family for the beautiful ornaments you all sent! It's a great reminder of each of you this Christmas!

A Hulsey family tradition, the youngest child sits on our dad's shoulders and puts the angel on the tree. This year I was the youngest child and Trey filled in for dad. (Dad and Jared, I expect to see a photo like this of the two of you this Christmas)

Just a few of the ornaments that Christine brought from all of you. So.... if you have not yet decorated your tree, "Deck the Halls" and turn up the Christmas music!

I shipped them home.

Attention All: I have shipped those kids home! Andrew is in Massachusetts, Christine and Kendra are now boarding their plane. We had a blast and I can't wait to share some of the great pictures with you.