PS-Pics

You can see the rest of pics of Mia on my google picasa account here, and photos and stories from past posts about the Emirates, Jordan, Oman, Arabic, the US, and various rants and raves about being an independent woman in the middle east at thehardyheyday.blogspot.com!

Tour de Force

Ever since my wedding, there's been this rumor going around that I get things done by, well, forceful measures. Something during the MOH speech about me coercing people to be friends with me by depriving them of house and home...

So, yes, it's true, I threw Sarah's house keys out the window of a school bus after one day in second grade so that she would have to come to my house instead of heading to hers. But it's not like I threw them into a cornfield or a creek! I threw them into my front yard, obviously. And, hey, it worked. Credit where credit is due, thankyouverymuch.

Because here it is some 20-odd years later and we're still the closest of friends (although I'll credit her ability to persist with me through attitude as much as I insisted with her through lack thereof). It's been many moons (as my mother would say) we've seen through all the elementary school recitations, icing fights, carwashes, choir rehearsals, beaded-button rings, goofie movies, catchphrases, college apps and acceptance, marriages, moves and, now, babies (she had just let me get all caught up and then there she goes, moving ahead again).

I've linked to Sarah and Travis' blog before, wherein they've chronicled the 2+ year journey of adoption, but now the process is complete, the family is together and Mia is home.

The absolute and undisputed highlight of the trip home for me was seeing my best friend and her wonderful husband become parents (you can see it, too, on their blog). We had two whole days to drop in and visit and share dinners (and Mia's first cereal) and laughs and hugs before Jacob and I got back on a plane. Praise God for this little family and that I got to see them all together! Below are a few shots of their arrival from Ethiopia with their darling baby girl.

After abandoning my husband and the car at an airport dropoff, I ran through the terminal and up an escalator - pushing people out of my way - to get my first glimpse of this baby. Isn't she gorgeous?

With Travis' dad - proud grandfather!

Momma and baby getting used to being home.

Daddy and Mia, sharing dinnertime.

Cutest nursery EVER!

Parties with the Petries

It's damage only in retrospect (all the eating over the last month at our favorite hometown haunts and vacation spots) as far as the potential (?) weight gain. Now, in photos, I can relive all the wonderful times we had, which, hey, happens to include food...and markets. And people. Mmmmm...markets.

Here are a few shots of our trip to Cleveland, which was at the end of our time at home, but the beginning of the camera's rehab. Beginning with the most important first:
Ha, ha! Just kidding! Dogs are not more important than people...

But seriously, Jackson is so cute and reminds me of Kipling too much and Sadie can catch food she tosses up in the air from her nose!
But, hey, so can Phillip! Just kidding, but maybe with some training. These are the Petries, Phillip is a longtime friend of Jacob's and Josie is a new friend of mine (Marriage is great, right? You get a spouse and new friends!). Mmm...markets...this one was indoor/outdoor and fabulous! I hope we live near one the next place we go. And, hey, I had to show the pig as it should be - a beacon of gastronomy, not a shameful, haram dinner reject!

Eating alfresco? Not something we get to do here, much. And the beautiful, in-season, sweet, tart glistening peaches...oh, yeah. That's summer.

And just one for the road: a delectible cheese plate from Luxe, which, if you're in Cleveland: yum!

PS-Ramadan

I totally forgot-following our culinary frolic through France that when we returned here it would be Ramadan. So when we made our first trip out to the grocery, it was odd and interesting to see that the entire mall was devoid of food (not the grocery, of course, but anywhere one might purchase and partake of food on the spot). That means KFC, McDonalds, Curry (my fave little Indian spot), Herfy's...you name it - all dark. In the middle of the day!

It makes sense, though, since fasting is the order of the month - from dawn until dusk. And, that old saying, 'when in Rome...' has real implications here. Even a non-Muslim foreigner can't be spotted eating in public; the offense can result in jail time for the remainder of the month.

I guess we'll be eating in...

Back to Buraimi

It's hard to believe that it was five short weeks ago that we packed up our little Buraimi flat and headed out (encouraged by our desire to get home and one of the many summer power outages that plagues our little town during the "hot" months). Last night, after a minor snafu regarding some very expensive film, an x-ray machine, the French police and two late-arriving travellers (more later), we made it back to Dubai and were reunited with our SC Crew.

It was familiar to get back to the Middle East in a surprising, yet comforting way. The Arabic, the local dress, the sand (oh, the sand), and the heat.

But the first thing (after a bit of sleep) I was excited to get to was the trip pics. Unfortunately, our camera up and got a bit of flash flu and had to go to the shop for most of our trip and little Coca-Cola bath washed over our early-home-trip-pics-including memory card, BUT we do have a few of the end (and some really extraordinary events) as well as a TON of France and our romantic-buffer-birthday trip.

As soon as I get them downloaded, I'll be sure to post (and they'll be posted in the order of occurance on the memory card).

In the mean time, enjoy your Labor Day weekend, which we don't have (such a cruel early reminder of the culture change!).

Too Cool for School

In addition to one of our fave wedding gifts, the Nikon D90, we are continuing to move into the tech-savvy subculture with the latest addition to the Hardy family: The Hardy's Kindle (thank you Aunt Mary, who has been tirelessly committed to bringing us into the new world with the digicam and, now the reader).

Looking back on Journalism 101 and all the chitter chat about internet media and case studies of those weird things called "blogs" and the bastardization of news by "online publishing," I can't believe that I, former print magazine writer and editor, own a Kindle.

I love books...the real things. The ones I can look at and smell and flip through and admire on my shelves once their done, like some kind of finished piece of art I can pride on. I love holding a real newspaper and getting inky while manipulating difficult pages into manageable creases. But, I am not about to turn down a device that is thinner than my iphone and stores about as much media as I can cram onto it - especially while we're still so transient, constantly on long- and short-haul flights and carrying our entire lives in no more than four suitcases and two carry-ons (yes, that's the baggage we packed for an entire year of living and traveling abroad).

So, let's be honest, the first thing that catches an avid reader about the Kindle is that, hello, it's soooo cheap to buy books and mags. You'll remember my obsession with YThe New Yorker, my search for the pub and finally locating it in one store in one mall in one province of the UAE. And, you might remember that it was about $10 a pop. Not exactly the best budget line item for newly-married MBA student couple, right? Well, it's $2.99 for a month subscription (weekly) and $3.99 for an individual issue! YES!

I also found a searched-for, but slightly random title, Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage (the story of Suzette Kelo and her neighbors in New London, CT in an eminent domain legal battle that went to the Supreme Court). It's half the price of print in the Kindle Store!

So, we leave off for our next US step with our little digital world intact. The D90 is home, the Kindle is loaded up and we are on the road again.

Look out Cleveland, here we come...

Uuuugggmmmhhh

Jacob and I aren't too addicted to TV, especially since we have all of six English-language channels at our humble abode in Oman.

But can. I. Just. Say...

Food Network. Where have you been all my last seven months? I miss you, Giada and Paula and culinary inspiration and excitement about cooking and fun utensils and aromatic herbs and worn wooden cutting boards and roasting vegetables and...of course, cooking with wine (or Brandy or Beer even) and pork.

You say goodbye and I say hello

It just doesn't seem right that we're already making rounds to say goodbye. It's been way too short, but it's also been pretty amazing...and, it's not over yet.

One thing I've been thinking about since we arrived in Lexington is my former life. My sweet little Chevy Chase Bungalow is about to be rented to my sister in law, I stopped by my old office and visited my successor at work and lunched with my boss from another former job (in fact, my replacement for that position just friended me on facebook!). It's like a changing of the guard in my own life! It's hard not to look at things and wonder, "where did my life go?".

The good thing is that, though the lives of friends and families move on as we're out of pocket in "the deserts of Africa," as my girlfriends still refer to our sometimes-location-unknown-status, with them is one place I don't feel like my old life is blowing kisses to me from the VIP entrance to a hip club whilst I stand in line.

We've had parties, cookouts, dinners, movies, concerts, card games, hikes, adventures, chats, coffees, engagements (2!), late-nights, couch time and cleanups (mostly at my house and the home of the in-laws, recently renovated).

So, we'll go on the next few days making the most of this time and head to Cleveland next weekend to visit some growing-up friends' of Jacob and then on to Indy for the final days, which will be anything but boring.

Michael will host a bonfire Saturday evening and then we'll head to the airport on Sunday to greet the new Taylor family, comprising Sarah, Travis and Mia! Check out the updates at their blog.

The maybe bestest news of the morning is that we just got a call from Murphy's and our camera is back from the digicam hospital. Yay! We'll have only a few days to make up for lost time, but it'll be just in time for the trip to France!

Oh, and a little shout out to the Browns, who have lent us their beautiful West Lexington home in which to play house (complete with wonderful dog, Bama) while they are vacationing in the Greek Isles.

When it rains, it pours

Sunday's time of worship at our home church, TCPC, was such a bright and blessed time. Though we're fortunate to have a church to attend in Al Ain, it is, as they say, "just not the same as home." We got to reunite with lots of friends and friends of family and friends of friends. We got to take communion with our own congregation and see lots of people who had wished us well and seen us off from the church steps seven months ago.

In addition to church, Jacob and I also had a date night at Lexington's annual Ballet Under the Stars at Woodland Park complete with wine and picnic. What was once a plentiful resource is now a limited commodity: alone time. I mean, let's be honest, if you count sleeping, most days we are together about 18-20 hours a day. Here, we are learning the art of operating as a married couple in a socially demanding situation. People keep asking us if it's harder to be married abroad, but my answer has usually been, "No, not really." (even though we spend tons of time together and hadn't experienced the flip side). Now, after a little experience, it's an "Absolutely not!" Despite the challenges, though, we are having a ball with everyone.

Today I woke up early to get breakfast with a friend and was greeted with something I miss tremendously: the pale, diffused, misty blue light of a Kentucky morning. A thunderstorm, which has now fully blossomed, was on the sunset's horizon, creating gorgeous bright colors of morning. So, now Jacob and I are sitting with the family enjoying the beautifully dreary weather in the way that only happens during storms and snows.

We head to Indy later today for a concert with mom and Michael, followed by hiking in my childhood haunt of Brown County State Park. Then off to TN for more hiking, cookouts, lazy days and card games. Doesn't get much better than this.

Getting Phat

Not sure who the anonymous commenter was who said I'm going to get fat, but he/she obviously hasn't seen me lately because, ha, I've already gained weight and it happened before I got here! Foiled!

Don't worry, unnamed fitness guru, we have lots of hiking (not to mention moving) planned for the next couple of weeks and insh'allah, we'll be able to maintain our fitness.

The sad news is that our fave wedding present (sorry, so-un-pc), the D90 has come down ill and had to be sent away for repairs. We're anxiously awaiting its return, but photos will be unfortunately lacking as we are separated.

Big rest of the weekend news is that we're excited about heading to our home church (and the church in which we were married) for the first time in seven months and seeing all the great friends there tomorrow.

Hope your weekend is as wonderful as ours is shaping up to be! The (much-desired-by-me) rain has mostly drifted off into the atmosphere and sunny weather has moved in. What a lovely lovely time we can have walking around in the temperate 80-degree summer weather. Dreamy.