Eid Spooky?

There's no such thing as Halloween here, so we didn't really make plans for the evening. Just an afternoon of laundry and internship searching. Miriam and Aaron came over this evening to play cards and we briefly noted the passage of, in Aaron's words, "Eid Spooky."

Then, a text. Leigh had sent us a little Halloween greeting and outside our doors (between M&A's and our apartment), a carved watermelon!

It totally made our evening and we couldn't resist a couple of quick shots...

What did you all and your friends/kids/pets dress as?

Love the One You're With

No, not Jacob. Of course I love him - he's the one I love and the one I'm with (sorry Stephen Stills, I need it both ways - no compromisin' - even if you are one heck of a singer/songwriter). The season, the situation, perhaps. And my sweet husband came up with an original craft idea (two great things in one!) to help me deal with missing things at home like the fall leaves - which his mom has been, according to reports, kicking up for me faithfully.

We stopped at Lulu Hypermarket (the "super" markets at home are the "hyper" markets of the Middle East) and picked up groceries and some really really tacky-looking gold contact paper (where do they use this?) so I could craft some hand-made gingko leaves to adorn our little flat.

So, the Oman autumn has decended for the Hardys...humdul'allah.

Messin' on Messr

After much debate and chasing down of airline offices (do those even exist in the US anymore) due to faulty web programming, we finally have it arranged. In about a month, Jacob and I will embark on our last (for now?) stop on the Mid-East express and stage 7 of the honeymoon: Egypt.

My favorite section in elementary ancient history (ok, and later, too) will open up beyond the toothpick and styro-constructed tombs and pyramids and I can't wait to see it all with the hubby!

Oh, and the other part of this travelogue-blog entry? We'll return the 4th of December, pack it up, make one last stop in the capital city of Abu Dhabi to meet up with the venerable W and his crew at a conference and then hit the Etihad Airways to return home for the holidays.

Dubai it all over again

We had a long weekend and a short break from school, so we took it upon ourselves to make a break from internship searching and Buraimi along with Miriam and Aaron - to Dubai. We had a few "check it off the list" things to do (or attempt to do) and we, of course, hit the bookstores (as always) - because we are big dorks.

One of the attempted checkmarks was the much-talked-about Burj Dubai (now tallest building in the world?) observation deck. CLOSED. Boo. Although signage and gossip seemed to indicate it was open, we tried every which way to get in and had no success. We had to settle for an outside, but close-up view from outside the Dubai Mall.

Which, on the happier side of things put us close to our lunch destination. Mmmmm...CPK. Check (not really on the list, but never a bad idea).

Which, in turn, was right next door to the fanciest chocolatier we've ever seen. Having walked by it several times over the last 8 months, we decided to go in. We were tended by a man in a suit, who insisted we take samples (lavendar dark chocolate ganache with lavendar blooms on it), which he handed us from his be[white]gloved hands, just before telling us the price: 550AED/Kilo, or about $78/pound. Hid shocked (SHOCKED!) face, tried to look thoughtful and considerate before pulling out "must ask husband" excuse and hightailing it out of there. Check.

Later, we drove (yes, drove) to the metro station so we could try out Dubai's first mass-public-transport-operation, which debuted with much fanfare on 9-9-9 at 9:09. Having worked out the kinks of random people pulling emergency stops "just to see what they would do" (since there are no drivers and the whole operation is robot-operated), it was quite impressive, clean and, of course, a cheap thrill for us kids from Buraimi up in the big city. Ha ha. But no, really. Check.

Measuring Comforts

thehardyheyday.blogspot.com

It has been apparent (though maybe moreso than I thought) to people we met the times that it's been difficult for me to be away from the comforts and familiarities of home - family and friends (obviously), my dog and house and 'hood (obviously), my music (dumb, dumb, DUMB to pack it all up without loading to Jacob's computer, but hey - it is neatly organized and labeled!), my schedule, my activities, my work, my church, my life.

But sometimes, I'm afraid, it has been the unfamiliarity get to me even more than the lack of familiarity...sometimes the fact that measuring cups (Measuring cups! Everyone cooks!) "...do not exist [at Carrefour] (this week)," was too much for me.

Sometimes, as I cried to Jacob once just before our (it should be noted stellar, IwaswrongIwaswrongIwaswrong) trip to Jordan, "...going to another freaking Middle Eastern country is NOT my idea of vacation, ok?" (sniffle sniffle)

Sometimes, when heat nuked my feet and burned through my soles (and soul...oh, the exquisite pain, right?) and beat down on me and oppressed me and seasons did not change and weather did not desist, I cursed the dusty palm trees and their failed coloring. I sniffed contemptuously at the swirling, messy sand that blew and piled like drifts of dirty snow.

Sometimes, donning what I deemed to be unstylish and certainly uncomfortable clothes, I resisted the culture and turned inward to my own little corner wherein I could ruminate on my fashionable friends and variety of shoes that aren't dust-ridden.

But those sometimes have turned up less and less frequently as we've been here longer. And, while I can honestly say that even during those times I'd never make a different decision, I'd never leave before our time and I'd never say I wasn't having a wonderful adventure, I've come to feel something that surprised me a bit: affinity. Appreciation. Familiarity.

The thing is, I do miss my family and friends - most of all and most importantly - and as long as we're away, I will, but I can be home here. I can rejoice in the small triumphs like figuring out how to rig our stove to actually cook at a fairly consistent temperature - and use that to provide things for other people. I can appreciate getting outside and hiking around a Wadi - even dusty and not-as-green-as-I'd-like. I can appreciate that I don't have to make an outfit every single morning (fun as that can be!) - and that I have a husband who still loves me even though I occassionally have to wear a denim skirt (horrors!).

I can appreciate the privelege of helping others adjust to all this (culture shock can be at least disturbed with one simple thing: a VPN that allows access to sites like Hulu so you can watch TV shows from home). I can revel in the teeny tiny baby language steps I'm taking (even when I meet children who speak so perfectly - darn you, native kids!). I can even cherish the moments (this moment brought to you by Skype) of phone-passing amongst family members gathered at Sunday dinner, without thinking too much about being there.

And then, tonight I looked out the window of P's apartment atop the Hilton tonight during small group and watched the day change to dusk, coloring minarettes and small white houses against a clear blue sky, and I thought how beautiful it is here. And then I looked around my other surroundings inside the apartment - the women who are some of the expats and locals who make up my newest group of friends - and I truly realized how beautiful it is here.

I have been provided with everything I need here - and more (even measuring cups!).

Not-so-Top-Gear

It's two months until we leave the Middle East (probably) and pursue the next step in this International MBA quest: work. Internship searches have been the name of the game for all of us (even the non-student spouses), and one of the other students decided to hop a flight to a job fair opportunity. Jacob and I jumped on the early-morning airport drive so we could get out of Buraimi and explore a little more.

We made our coffee and rushed to get ready and down to the car no later than 5:50AM. That's right. Dave needed to be at the airport in Abu Dhabi by 8AM, so we had an early call time. No worries, though, Jacob and I were excited to see all of a Buraimi sunrise and enjoy the sometimes-even-pleasantly-cool weather of a time when sun doesn't dominate the landscape (oh, and did I mention the van has no A/C? We might have voted for 6AM anyway!).

Anyway, we head over to Dave's and, during a routine U-turn which included driving through a bit of sand, (and let me say here, SAND. It's everywhere. It's unavoidable. People drive more on the sand than they do the road since many of the neighborhoods don't even have pavement and the roads are so inconvenient to use that people choose the bumpy, dying-palm-lined shoulders instead!) we...guess...sink. Like sink. Like quicksand at the back tire of our real-wheel drive nine-passenger van. Positives: we've totally both been stuck before and are sure we can get out. Negatives: sand, so not really the same thing as dirt. 5:55.

 So we're thinking, ok. It's six in the morning! No one will be out at six in the morning!

We were wrong, humdulli'allah, and two different groups of guys (henceforth called shebab) walked down the road and tried gallantly to instruct Jacob in Arabic and helped us push. Negatives: No dice. Buried tire deeper. Positives: Arab hospitality, Arabic practice. 6:15.

Call Dave. Tell him we are stuck. Try other friends for help. Begin to wonder how long it would take even a high-powered flatbed truck to pull our large white van out of the sand. Begin to think exactly how funny we look on the side of the road. AT SIX IN THE MORNING!

Yet another group of determined shebab show up and try to reason through the problem, basically deciding we're not going anywhere right now, so we should all at least hang out and laugh about it. Good attitude, but we're still feeling pretty panicked about getting Dave to the airport when Matthew answers phone and heads our way to pick up Dave and take him to the airport. Great! Positives: Problem solved. Negatives: A long, hot day of standing by the car/walking into town in search of a flatbed truck on prayer day flashes before my eyes. 6:25.

New shebab show up on the scene, but this time, familiar greetings are exchanged. Apparently it's our teacher Hussein's friend's brother (of course, right?) and he remembers Dave. Yay! He walks around the vehicle, sizing up the situation and decides he can help. He walks back to his SUV and pulls out what looks to me like a reinforced laundry line with two hooks. One goes on his car, another on the - barely accessible - part of our car that seems to be designed for just this scenario.

I'm like, ok, Oman's Funniest Home Videos, give it a try. I can see where this is going.

Wrong! In about 10 seconds, the van popped up out of the sand and back onto the pavement. Ma'sha'allah! Everyone is duly impressed, we call off Matthew - who returns to bed - and get on the road. 6:39.

After hauling it to Abu Dhabi, Dave arrives at the airport. 8:19.

So good luck on the search Dave!

Who in the World?

It's amazing how much my perspective has opened up in the last few months. I don't mean I've had some political revelation or great change of heart. It's just that, we live in an enormous country and I can't keep up with all the news in our own nation, let alone really get a grip on international situations.

I even considered myself a news junkie and constantly listened to talk radio, mostly NPR and frequently tuned into all-day news stations on TV...at least for background info. But being here and being involved with the lives of people from, literally, all over, things just mean a bit more.

That's why I just want to take a moment and say:

Thank goodness the situation in Indonesia wasn't as bad as last time. An Indonesian girlfriend of mine, June, still has her entire family at home, but they are fine and we will be praying for the other people in their country who struggle to rebuild lives and structures after the recent earthquake.

It is a miracle that a friend of a friend was released from Somalia after being kidnapped from his office in Kenya, where he was working with a French aid/relief agency. Read more about it here.  We will be praying for him, the others captured and freed, and their captors, who are desperate in their situations and surroundings.

Shower the People

Tonight was a fun and special night - the baby shower for the person who graciously encouraged me through frustrations and taught me the Arabic alphabet with such phrases as, "No. Is wow (a letter pronounced as such), not ya. If you confuse again, I will bite you. One more time say wow for ya and I will bite you. Now, read."

All tutoring issues aside (and the fact that she calls me Dth-oo-bah or fat every time she sees me), it was such a sweet night to celebrate Huda and welcome her almost-here-bundle-of-joy-to-be, Saeed, and I got to take photos!

But, even though I now have actual real proof of my Arab-girlfriends, I can't show that proof to you (especially you men - married or single!). Most of the women here are very sensitive about even having pictures taken, not to mention the thought of them being posted on. the. internet. When Huda got her wedding pictures back, we had to sneak them into a side classroom and post a lookout at the door in case a *gasp!* man should walk by.

So, instead, here are a couple of my faves that don't compromise anyone!

This is Blair and Roman on the left (due in two weeks) and Huda and Saeed on the right (due in four).

And Miss Party Planner Ellen's tasty and cute decorations...I'd say they speak for themselves, but the writing on the top two rows of cupcakes is in Arabic. They say (reading from right to left) Mabrook Huda (Blessings or Congratulations Huda).