Tuesday, June 12, 2012

There's a New Girl in Town

and it's not Zooey Deschanel.
A new roommate arrived about 3 weeks ago to fill the last empty room in my apartment. Her name is Cherie and she is from Indiana. She will be a nurse as soon as her license arrives from the Health Authority in Abu Dhabi. For now she is working in the same office building as me. This was her at Lulu, our grocery store her first week here.
Lulu is a really normal grocery store except for the occasional odd ingredient like camel meat.
Cherie is super sweet, clean, likes the pool, gets my sense of humor and watches Modern Family. That means she is staying if it's up to me.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Easy Like Friday Morning

Summer is here in the UAE. It was 51 this weekend which is 123 degrees and we only have about 4 more degrees to go. The hottest it really gets is about 55 on really bad days. The hot weather sort of keeps you trapped inside. If you want to know how we feel then wait until it's July or August in New England, then get in your car, roll up the windows and turn your heater on. The wind blows here and it's as if a heater has been turned on and put right in your face.
This Friday we went to our friend Ahlam's house for breakfast with her family. It's nice to visit people in their homes because doing anything outside feels like a chore.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy International Nurses Day

Yesterday was Florence Nightingale's birthday, she opened the first formal training school for nurses. It is also the day the whole world celebrates Nurses.
As Hallmark would put it "Some superheroes just don't wear capes".

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Happy Cinco de Mayo

It was a Cinco de Mayo party so we had to have Mexican Mustaches
Today is Cinco de Mayo. I live on the Arabian Peninsula so we threw a Mexican Bunco Party for all our Mexican friends. Since that number is zero we invited people we work with instead.
There were winners

There were losers

There were party goers

There were prizes

There were many people having a lot of fun

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Al Ain FC

A few weekends ago Trey, Jessie and I went to an Al Ain vs Bani Yas football game. By football I mean European football not American football. There aren't really people here who play American football. We sat in the "family section" because Jessie and I were there. If Trey had been alone or with other men he could have sat in the main stadium seating.
It was cool because the televised half time show commentary happened right in front of us. At half time we went up to see a friend that Trey and Jessie know and he just happens to help manage the Bani Yas team. We got to up into the VVIP, no this is not a typo. This is the Very Very Important Person section. There was also a VIP section but we passed right by that to go where we belonged.

Monday, April 23, 2012

some people say "don't wish your life away" but, i am just getting the countdown started:



Monday, March 19, 2012

And Jessie's an Athletics Announcer

Jessie's moment of stardom!
This past week the Al Ain Club for the Disabled hosted the 6th International Athletics Competition. Oasis Hospital served again as the medical sponsor for the event by providing staff and an ambulance.
After a small injury Oasis Hospital staff provide support to a UAE National athlete.



We went to support our medical staff and some of the athletes that Trey and the guys from the hospital compete against in wheelchair basketball. When we arrived our friend Percy who runs Oasis Living Magazine was the announcer for the event. She quickly pulled us all in! I ended up being "interviewed" over the loud speakers and Jessie subbed in for Percy's partner when he stepped away! Jessie was a pro, announcing names from all over the world in track and field events she was unfamiliar with!
And I added this one because I like that you can see the field behind Trey. They are throwing the javelin in the distance.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Something for Everyone

1. I have not forgotten about my blog
2. I went to a horse show a few weeks ago and one of the jumps was decorated as a mosque. I bet, in all the horse shows you have attended that you have never seen a jump decorated as a mosque.




3. We went out to eat around that horse show time and Jessie got a steak (she did not attend the horse show- if you were wondering). Back to the steak- they cooked it on this stone grill thing. They heat this big slab of stone in the oven and then bring it out and bring out the raw steak and you cook your own steak. I had never seen that before, although I am sure it exists in America. Essentially Jessie went out to dinner and still cooked dinner. Weird.

4. I ran a race 2 weeks ago in Dubai. It was with 3 other ladies from the hospital and we had a blast despite getting lost on the running route. The route went along the Dubai Creek and through the Old Souq where people now sell lots of things for tourists.

5. Lastly, in an effort to keep people from disturbing the many church services that meet at all different times throughout the day in our church hall someone has posted this sign:

It makes me feel like I am still in Springfield with that spelling... home sweet home.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

And we are back...

When I say "we" I mean the royal we. Actually I just mean me. And on that, I don't really know what people mean when they say "the royal we". I will Wikipedia that as soon as I finish this post.
Here's my sob story:
This past Saturday I noticed that my computer charger light was not on when I plugged it in but, the computer was still charging. Then on Sunday night I noticed my computer was not charging. This made me very sad. For the past 5 days I have been totally without my computer. 




I had exactly 3 hours of battery power (thanks to Trey and Jessie who let me charge my computer at their house). Then I went to the iStore, yes that's what we have here.
 And today I bought a new charger. Only thing is, I am sure Apple is getting rich because of these chargers. Just to replace the charger it was 400dhs. That's about $100. 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

A Day in Oman

We went to Oman to visit some friends the other day. It's a short drive and you have to cross the border which is not too tough with our UAE residency visas. My brothers good friend has an Oasis- a really green area where things like to grow and water actually runs through the land (that's my definition, you can look up the real one on your own). This is the top of the hill right before you enter the Oasis. It is one of the most beautiful sites you find over here in this desert.


Jessie's parents were here and our friend gave them special honey that you can only buy in the winter here. It was like nothing I have ever tasted before!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Cunning Falcons

Yesterday I joined Dave Savvas and met 3 other people at the starting line of the Wadi Bih Run- this formed our team, The Cunning Falcons for the 72 kilometer run. (Check out what Dave is doing as he raises money for CURE International)
We left the starting line at 6:30 and ran for the  next 6 hours through the mountains in Oman.
Little did I know until I arrived that I had joined a team of super-fit superstars!

 Each team of runners had a support vehicle that carried the runners who weren't running at that time and we met our team at each leg of the run to switch runners. There were 26 total legs, each of them were different distances and inclines.

We finished the total race in about 6 hours. It was a challenging run for me and inspiring to be around so many people who are in such great shape.

Shiny drove up with me the night before and Dr. Shirley met us the morning of the run. Together they were my cheerleaders! It was fun to have them there as support!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Support My Team

Remember this? That was in October when I ran a half marathon with Lauren and Lisa in Lowell, MA. Lisa tricked me and I ran my fastest time, I think it may be the fastest time I will ever run a long distance run.
When I came back a runner named Dave who is raising money for CURE International (CURE is the parent organization of Oasis Hospital where I am working) asked if I would join him and a team of runners for the "Wadi Bih Run" it's about 75km through the mountains in Northern Oman. I foolishley said yes. As I started training I realized hill training is much more vigorous than regular road running. I have been working hard for about 10 weeks and this weekend I am set to run at leat 15km through the gorgeous mountains of Oman on a 5-man team.
Dave is raising money so that children born with club foot can one day walk, run and play!
Would you support my team by giving money to Dave Savvas, our team captain who is training to ultimatley run the Gobi March in China this June? You can give to CURE by using your credit card here: https://secure.cure.org/give/gobi-march-for-cure-oasis. All money given goes directly to CURE. Dave is supporting himself and has gained sponsorship through local companies and Saucony.


My goal is to get 50 friends and family to give $20 each to raise Dave $1,000! I think we can do it!


P.S. I will update you after this weekend with some team photos!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Facing My Fear

If you know me well at all then you know that I am scared of dogs. It's not a reasonable fear but, it's my fear and no matter how many times you tell me that your dog will not bite me, I will still be nervous to meet your dog. Over the past 5 years I have sort of come to grips with this fear and I can nervously meet your dog and be semi-comfortable when the dog and I are in the same room.
The reason I get nervous is that dogs are unpredictable and could do anything at any time, like bite me.
In the same fashion I am a bit nervous around "birds of prey" and in this case falcons. Falconry is a hobby for men in this region. Our friend buys, trains and sells falcons. This weekend we were at the farm where they train the falcons. While we were there one of our friends noticed that I am always taking photos of others holding the falcons. He called me out and I had to face my fear. He handed me the falconry glove and said "come on, don't be scared"as he showed me the small scratch on his wrist from a falcon talon. I thought no one had noticed, it had been almost 2 years and I still hadn't held a falcon.
Before you judge my fear, let me remind you of this:
Lesson for the day: Face your fears, it's not so bad, even if the person before you made it look pretty scary!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

In the midst of fame

Let's first state the obvious: My hair is being blown by the wind and my facial expression is a little strange. But, let's focus on the point here, do you know who is walking behind me?
Does this give you an idea? It's a Nike endorsed golf ball that has been hit off the course and came down just over my head as I was watching the game.

Do you see him here?

If you still don't get it- it's Tiger Woods. This weekend I went to the HSBC Golf Championship with my neighbor Brenda. It was really fun to see some famous golfers and learn more about the game while I was there. It made me want to really start practicing in lessons more.
And Tiger's ball really did land off the fairway and near us as we were walking to grab a spot at the hole. Instead when Brenda saw that it was a Nike ball we ran over as close as we could. We got a spot right there and before I knew it Tiger was in arms length reach of me. Felt pretty good being so close to fame!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

A reason to celebrate

Last week was my friend Roshna's 27th birthday and we had a small party for her. I just love other people's birthdays. I like celebrating things even the things that we celebrate every single year. The best part about birthdays here is that you can almost never find normal birthday hats instead you get amazing things like these feathered crowns you see us wearing! We had a few girls over for cake that Shiny made. Shiny is getting married in March and we like to tease her that she is in "wife training" now so we let her cook all the time.
Roshna is the birthday girl in the middle and Shiny is the "wife in training" on the right.


Thursday, January 12, 2012

All the pretty girls are doing it

A popular thing women do here is get henna on their hands and feet. The best comparision to it a manicure for us. Henna is interesting though- it is a plant material that is crushed and made into a dye and leaves the skin a dark brown or reddish color. There are versions of henna which are not actually henna that are not derived from plants that will leave the skin black. As my friends here say "that is not good for her skin" when they see the black design on someones hands.

Women go to the salon here to get henna done prior to weddings, parties and holidays the same way I get a manicure before any of those things.

Now, this is different then Indian Mendhi which uses the same type of plant but the designs are much different.

P.S. This is not my hand- I don't like getting henna because I hate how long it takes for it to come off and I can't stand the inbetween stage when your hand looks dirty because the design has faded.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Photographer in Training

A few weeks ago we had a hospital event and as usual I take photos at our hospital events. I take pictures for a few reasons; to send out press releases to local papers, our hospital website, our hospital event archives, it's my job and oh yeah, I like to do it.
Well, there is this one newspaper photographer who loves to take pictures of us Hulsey Kids or maybe it's the Hulsey Ladies! He dropped the pictures off at the hospital from the event this week. It's nice to have pictures of yourself when you are always taking pictures.


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

It's Designer

If you have to know, yes, my new shirt is designer.
And, according to the sign above me I am "a winner". This picture is from a going away party for our friend Latifah. She will no longer be working at the hospital but, since I mostly see her at home I will still see her. So, in short- the party wasn't very sad for me!

Now, about this designer shirt of mine.
Tailors here tend to be pretty amazing and fabric shops in Al Ain are like Dunkin' Donuts in America- they are on every corner. So, getting clothes made that you dream up is easy as pie! And I dreamt up this fancy schmancy thing. Picked out the stripes and then the oh-so very American accent material.
And I did shamelessly just post a self-shot photo booth picture. That's it, my designer shirt. Put your orders in now before this stuff goes to the red carpet and you people can't afford it anymore. It's the next big thing buttons ups.

Sunday, January 1, 2012