"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.

Jo Bros

When you are living abroad you often find that you do things that are a little bit out of the ordinary. After talking with a friend on the phone this week I realized how strange my weekend plans really were. On Thursday afternoon I skipped out of work a few hours early and headed to Abu Dhabi with our Director of Human Resources, Kim and her two daughters Hanna and Sarah. We were trying our best to make it the Jonas Brothers Concert around 6. Our tickets literally said to be there "around 6:00" and the Jo Bros didn't get on stage until about 8. Now, talking with my friend from home

she said "really, you are the last person who I would ever think would be at a Jonas Brothers Concert", she's right- it's not a typical weekend for me. Then she said "I just can't really picture you jamming out at a Jo Bros concert" but, that's exactly what we did and I think she would have been proud of me... am I right Sarah?

It was a great new experience and I am so thankful to Kim and her family

for a concert experience in the UAE!

Did I mention that we stayed in a fun hotel with a great pool!

"It's Friday Night and I Feel Alright"

Last Friday was the staff celebration for the 50th Anniversary! The event was also at the Al Ain Palace Museum and Jessie planned the major pieces of the evening.

There was a formal program with singing and a children's choir "The Shephard's Flock" directed by our CEO's wife, a former opera singer and Years of Service Awards. The longest standing employee received an award for 35 years of service, that is true loyalty to a company!

We had an Arabic Fusion Band play music during dinner... they were amazing! There was a magician, clowns, stilt walkers, cotton candy and face painting for the children too.

It was a really fun night and it was so great to see co-workers, doctors and nurses out of uniforms and relaxing!