Wednesday, April 27, 2011

To Lebanon and Back

Last week Hannah and I headed to Lebanon for a 5 day power tour. We saw 5 cities in 5 days and tons of amazing sites!
We flew into Beirut on Wednesday morning from Sharjah airport which is about 2 hours from Al Ain. We had a great time that day in Beirut just poking around the University, shops and had lunch on the water. I was able to go outside and run along the water all alone, it was gorgeous and I felt amazing!
We went to Beeka Valley to the most famous winery in Lebanon called Ksara, then off to the Roman ruins in Baalbek.
Next up was more Beirut, a night out on the town in Gemayze, with the smallest restaurant I think I have ever ate in. The next few days we crammed in Byblos, Tripoli, and the Cedars of Lebanon up in Bcharre.
Byblos
Beirut
The Cedars of Lebanon
We had a chance to stop in the village where Hannah's family is from, just a few generations back!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

A guest is on her way!

My dear college friend Hannah-Jane Simon Girard (she has lots of names) is coming for a visit! She arrives tomorrow night and will be here in Al Ain for one week before her and I head to Lebanon for 5 days. I can't wait to see her and I can't wait for my big trip!
She is always a good time and we do a great job of wasting many hours talking about everything and nothing!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Workin' it out in Dubai

Jessie and I went to Dubai for a work trip! I felt like a big city girl again- we commuted in one morning and slept over and then headed back to Al Ain the next night. We were exhibiting for our parent organization CURE International. CURE won the Hamdan Award this past December and we were hoping it would get some exposure at DIHAD: Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development Conference and Exhibition. Here is a quick snippet from a press release I put out about it last week:

"The award recognizes four individuals or organizations which significantly contribute to alleviating the suffering of a large number of human beings subjected to exceptional circumstances such as catastrophes, epidemics, famine, wars, and natural calamities.

Oasis Hospital, located in Al Ain, UAE, is the hub of CURE International’s work in the Middle East region. Oasis Hospital provides substantial financial, training, and staff support to the CURE hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, and a medical clinic in Bangladesh. The hospital carries out the humanitarian work of CURE by bringing children from neighboring countries to the UAE to receive life changing surgeries and procedures. All of this work, along with CURE’s work in Africa and South America, were on display last week at the conference to bring awareness of the positive impact that medical staff from CURE hospitals are having around the world."

And here are Jessie and I in our booth the last day of the conference!




Saturday, April 2, 2011

World Championship Wheelchair Race

Yesterday I headed out to take some pictures at the World Championship Wheelchair Races at the Al Ain Club for the Disabled. Oasis Hospital is the official medical sponsor of the events. We provide the ambulance and nurses for anyone injured in the races.
Athletes who compete here can qualify for the Paralympics so these can be quite exciting and important races for some of the competitors.
I put the pictures on my work computer and forgot to send them home so I'll try to get more up later but for now:

As part of the "medical team staff" I had to wear this orange vest to enter the competition grounds. Don't I look official?