Old News but Good News

By now most of you already know that I will be Auntie Min by the end of this summer.

My sister Jessica and her husband Jeziel are expecting a baby at the end of July. Jess is a great big sister and taught me plenty of important lessons growing up (ie how to use a curling iron and how to put on lipstick) kidding aside, she will be a wonderful mom to her new baby! I will be home in June and will get to see her pregnant then and I will be home in the fall to see the new baby.

She might kill me for this but here is a cute picture of her at about 18 weeks. We are all so excited for them and can't wait to start wearing the new Auntie and Uncle hats!

Christmas in February

Most of you know that my Aunt Louyse was supposed to come visit me for Christmas and her flight was cancelled so she couldn't come.

She was here this past week and we had such a blast! It was even better than Christmas would have been.

Here is what we did in pictures:

Aunt Louyse turned 59 while she was in the air and lost 9 hours of her birthday because of the time change. She had her passport stamped on her birthday! Jessie and I (mostly Jessie) made this really good chocolate cake from Bon Apetit)

We made it to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque where you have to be fully covered to enter. They provide you with an abaya and sheila when you get to the entrance gate.

We made it down to the beach where we sat at a coffee shop. One of the things Aunt Louyse and I both love besides travel is the ocean and the Gulf counts in this as well!

The top of Jebel Hafeet- the tallest mountain in the UAE is right here in Al Ain. It's more like a hill to most Americans it is 1294 meters high.

We went off-roading at our friend's farm. She was having the grand opening of a new tourism branch of her business. Aunt Louyse was braver than me and Jessie she didn't seem to be nervous about it at all!

We made it to the pool and did a ton of shopping and my favorite day of all was Aunt Louyse's second to last day where we got to watch the fountain show at the Dubai Mall. I think I could sit there for hours at a time!

Squatty Potty

Here in the UAE you rarely find homes with bathrooms like we are accustomed to in America. In public places like the malls or our hospital and even in homes for foreigners there are normal toilets. But at local people's homes you will find toilets that are in the ground. To use these bathrooms you have to be a good squatter. That means your thighs better be in good shape, right? Well, not exactly, but it might be a thing you need to learn from the time you are young.

You try:

1. Put your feet flat on the ground.

2. Bend your knees as far as you can as you squat to the ground.

3. Don't fall down and don't pick your feet up off the ground.

This is how most people here are accustomed to using the bathroom.

Trey, Jessie and I were visiting a friend with the "squatty pottys" and we decided to have a little contest to see who was the best squatter.

You be the judge:

I love it when we're cruisin together

Last weekend I went to Abu Dhabi with Trey and Jessie and our friend Ahlam. It was so refreshing to get out of Al Ain for the weekend. I thought I just loved the ocean in America, but it's not true I love the water no matter what country I am in. We spent most of our time down on the Corniche (the road that runs follows the water).

We rode this little guy- I am sure it was not made for the 4 adults we managed to cram into it and so were a lot of other people who passed by us.

We also rode these bikes. A little more appropriate but still... did I need 3 wheels?

Trey and Jessie surprised Ahlam and I with a really fancy dinner at Shangri-La Hotel. We ate at Pearls and Caviar Restaurant and then headed out to a pool/ oceanside bar to hang out for the rest of the night. It was delicious food and a cool atmosphere. The weather this time of year is like summer at home, just warm enough during the day and cooler in the evenings.

Incredible India

The Indian Republic Day is sometime soon and there are many celebrations happening here because of the large number of Indians that live in this country. Most of them are here working and sending money back to their families in India. It's nice for them to have a chance to have some of the foods and cultural traditions from home. Some of the laborers and workers go home only every two years. That's a long time not to see your family especially if you have young children!

Jessie and I stopped in the grocery store last week after the gym and there was someone yelling into a microphone that was being projected in the entire produce department while about 60 people gathered around one table. We wandered over to find there was free cake decorating to celebrate the Indian Republic Day. Just a few minutes pass by and as I grab an apple and toss it into my produce bag Jessie screams out my name "Min, Min look" she's pointing to a man who soon rides by me on a bicycle right into the crowded produce department blowing a small horn like we use for birthday's in America selling ice cream that is apparently from Bombay. That's something that we don't have in America an indoor ding-dong cart!

Afghanistan: Land of the Brave

You don't know what it's like until you try it.

A Rebellion of Sorts
You have to take risks to see some things.
A Skip and A Hop to Kabul
If a door is open you should probably walk through it.
My mom would kill me if she knew...

This blog post could have had many names. When I touched down at Kabul International Airport the sign read "Welcome to the Land of the Brave".


Long story short is that I have two friends here at the hospital who are from Afghanistan (a married couple). From the second week I met them I started teasing them about me going home with them if they ever went. Well, on Sunday night I got a phone call from one of them asking if I would stop by their house, they wanted to talk to me... I always hate those I want to talk to you conversations they make me nervous so, I immediately went to their house that night.
They said they would leave on Tuesday for Afghanistan. I made a quick decision on Monday and went to get a visa in Abu Dhabi, thanks to some help from friends I got this in just a few hours. Tuesday our flight left at 6am and we were on the ground in Kabul by about 9am. I was a little nervous, but I trusted the friends I went with and knew they would keep me out of harms way. I was only in the country for 2.5 days but I had the opportunity to see a lot.
We drove from Kabul to Jalalabad and back on one of the coolest/ most dangerous looking roads ever. The scenery from Kabul down to Jalalabad was stunning. My camera does not do the country justice. The road was barely wide enough for 2 cars to be passing one another and driving from Kabul in the north down to Jalalabad in the south was a 2 hour winding road down the side of the mountain. We passed many accidents, military convoys and flipped over trucks!

We went shopping for a few hours in downtown Kabul and I managed to only walk away with 2 pashmina scarves.... unlike me!

We ate from a few restaurants like these...

To say the least life there is not so easy

Mom and Dad I am home safely! I hope you aren't too mad!

Strap in and Ride on

Last week I was talking with some of my co-workers about snowboarding and the conversation moved on to sandboarding. We decided that we should get a group together and all go. We borrowed some boards from a friend at the hospital, got some directions to some dunes nearby and packed up the car.

We went after work so we were racing the sun going down. The dunes we went to are quite popular mainly because they are close to the city of Al Ain so people don't have to drive far to get out there. There were about 10 other SUV's all just driving up and down the dunes so we were hesitant as we started out for a smaller one- we wanted to be sure we wouldn't get run over!

Essentially the boards are just converted snowboards. You strap into the boards just like a snowboard and there are sneakers that have more padding in them sort of like snowboarding boots. The bigger the sand dune the more speed you pick up.

It was a good time and we had about an hour and a half before the sun went down. We never managed to get to the top of the largest dune but, there is always next time. Unlike the mountains of New Hampshire there were no lifts here.