Off the Grid

After the slightly grueling 16-hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Chicago (enough to make you a child-hating-tetris-addicted-hypochondriac-alcoholic), and a mercifully uneventful pass through customs, we made it home for the holidays.

Not surprisingly, we have spent the better part of our time in the last couple of weeks with family - celebrating Christmas and catching up - and we've even snuck in some time with our besties along the way. Regardless, we've been off the grid since we got back. No blog posts, limited facebook, email and even phone or text time.

The time has been pretty eventful, though, including Christmas with both sides of our families, a new baby for some close friends and celebrations of the New Year.

Christmas Morning with my sweet in-laws

New Year's Eve with old time friends

Hanging with Grant and Kendall (Team O) on New Year's Eve afternoon

And what a difference a day makes! Daddy Grant with baby Calloway (12-31-09, 7lbs-4oz!) and Jacob.

Getting in on the traditional Hardy New Year's Day bowling event.

 

And more of the ladies on bowling day...(back to front, left to right) Momma Hardy, Momma Sab, Aunt Mary, Momma Suff and Aunt Jaqui.

أشوفكم انشالله

I have a little break in the action, so to speak, as I wait for our last load of laundry to dry so I can pack it up. Our wardrobe is empty, as the drawers and the cabinets, stuff is piled everywhere - whatever clothes escaped the cotton-chewing insects which plagued us as well as souveniers and books and little scraps of memories. Perhaps, looking at all the things in the latter categories, it's better some of our clothes won't make the return trip!

The last couple of days have been full of sweet sendoffs from our friends here. Friends from different backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and situations who all gave us something during our time here. Lessons, support, tips, rides, meals, family, faith, perspectives, a seat in their homes, a place in their lives. We have one more full day in Buraimi, Oman and then it's an early day on Saturday when we'll head to Abu Dhabi and wing our way West.

الله يلوم when we'll be back (God knows), or if, but they have a saying here when you leave, even for the day and it's been used more than a few times the last few days: أشوفكم انشالله, which means, "I'll see you, God willing."

FAIL

One of the things I'll certainly bring home is the big, bubble-wrapped-with-a-bow-and-shiny-paper-present of memories of tourist and expat FAILS we've experienced here and during travels. Now, it's one thing to be inappropriately dressed for the weather in Italy or sporting an offbeat or unique ensemble in Paris. It's another thing entirely to be caught wearing a normal everyday summer outfit here in the desert (outside of the sacred walls of the Hilton - aka buraimi expat oasis), where anonymity and modesty rule the runways of mall fashion.

What this often means for those of us not qualified to wear a full-time abayya (Never have to pick out an outfit! Always appropriate!) or sheila (Never have to do your hair! Not fair!), is that often we end up wearing maternity-looking long shirts over loose-fitting jeans or 1st-grade-sunday-school-teacher-inspired long skirts (yes, ugh, denim...sometimes kahki). Always long sleeves, always long pants. Fashion, my friends, is not something I've conquered here.

So, you have the choice of looking a bit frump (some of my friends with longer time spent in the area have mastered it), or being inappropriate to a degree (some have bucked it - with varying results). Every person has to decide their own levels. I, for example, will sometimes wear a knee-length dress with a sweater in Dubai or I may even just opt for short sleeves with my jeans. This aggression will not stand (in Buraimi), man.

Other expats and visitors have shown notably less caution in their decisions. Sometimes they're uncautions in the style choosing things like gold lamee. Sometimes they're uncautions in choosing things that are revealing like tube tops. Sometimes it's both (Gold? Lamee? Tube Top? Whaaa...? Ooohhhh, she's English...). Always it's a FAIL.

I wish that Miriam (a fellow collector) and I had more concrete examples to bring back with us (you can't always be at the ready with a hulking D90 in the mall), but in Egypt I found a couple of stand outs that will have to tide us over and prod our memories when the summer winds warm back home and the inappropriately dressed come out...

This is a rare sighting - the maleFAIL. Yes, they are often dressed in unsightly manners, but it's much harder to achieve levels of appropriateness-FAIL for men. But this guy...Wraps. It. Up.

Skinny white dude

In no sleeves

SHORT SHORTS!

Guthra

Extra bonus neg for amount of white, hairy leg exposed and possible wedge-picking

This is also a special kind of FAIL. It's the tourist FAIL. Look at this photo and you may notice that, yes, she's dressed in a sort-of-modest manner. Look closer and you'll see the FAIL.

WEARING the belly dancing scarf with coins that jingle while you walk (obviously purchased at souk prior to arrival at monument)

WEARING the matching headpiece (the one that is a woven/beaded skullcap of glitter and coins and comes free with the belly-dancing-scarf because you are a good, good friend of the stall owner who sold you this monstrosity and promised you the "local" price. HINT: Locals don't wear this.)

This post is dedicated to Miriam and all the attempting to be appropriate girls out there. It's also dedicated to Paula, Jenny V. and Jessie V, just in case you needed any help on the true meaning of FAIL!

Inventory

thehardyheyday.blogspot.com

Part of our leaving here is the dreaded...packing. This is a special kind of packing, though, one that falls just out of the difficulty of packing everything (we only have four suitcases) and just past the ease of short trip (WE ONLY HAVE FOUR SUITCASES!). This week, while Jacob labors in his last week of lessons, I volunteered to stay home and finish the detail things to get us ready to go so that our evenings can be spent alternately on time with friends or job searching.

So, in a flash I'm taken back to this time last year, when another frantic pack-a-thon was in progress, but one that involved nearly four years of accumulated stuff, from clothes (yes, I have to admit it, my clothes were in my dresser, my closet, the dining room closet and the guest room/office closet) to inherited furniture, the robot vaccum (bought to clean up after the puppy) to the dog himself - all while a For Sale sign hovered over the front yard like my mom all those times I refused to clean my room for weeks on end.

The rest of the story, as you may know, is that the clothes got packed or thrown out (lots of things thrown out, thank goodness, but what to wear when we get home?), furniture placed in foster care or storage, vaccum junked and dog relocated to mom's house. My sister-in-law and her girlfriends now occupy the little house in Chevy Chase and Jacob and I took up residence in one of several abodes, the last of which being this little flat in Buraimi.

And now we leave.

We'll leave the things I put in the sale/giveaway list: things like pots, pans, dishes, basil plant, coffee maker, ginkgo leaves and all the toy prizes from all those Kinder Suprise Eggs. We'll bring home souveniers, gifts and whatever posessions make the cut...but what else?

Lots of memories...of our trips and experiences, but also lots of friends!

Messr Memories

thehardyheyday.blogspot.com

We returned from Egypt just this morning on a redeye flight from Alexandria to Sharjah and, after sleeping off a long day, I'm ready to post a preview of pics from our trip. The day started with visiting the only - of seven original - remaining, in tact wonder of the world: The great pyramid of Khufu and ended with a 2:30 am flight from a podunk Egyptian airport on a budget airline. But, we made it safe and sound and much edified and entertained by the time spent.

Jacob and our "friend" Mahmoud (friendship is cheap at Egyptian landmarks - usually about EL1)

Inspecting ancient hyroglyphics - I always wanted to be an archeologist.

Sunset over the Nile from the roof of our hotel in Luxor.

Felucca on the Nile at sunset.

And, the "money shot" of the trip.

Eid Break II

thehardyheyday.blogspot.com

Thanksgiving turned out to be a wonderful day for us - even so far away from family - more on that later (including pics of the yummy food and fab folks)! I hope it was the same for you.

Right now, Jacob and I are frantically scurrying around to get packed and get out...of here for a little while - on our last great adventure: Egypt.

Oh, you can be sure there will be lots more pics to come!

الحمدلله (Thanks to God)

Halal Turkey
AED 367.33

Cans of pumpkin puree from expat specialty store for traditional pie
AED 182.78

Sweet potatoes for hubby's favorite casserole
AED 0 (they don't exist here)

Fresh cranberries for traditional sauce                                                
AED 0 (they don't exist here)

Having expat friends who now all the tricks of holidays abroad - and who graciously host us in their homes
Priceless

Here's to a Happy Thanksgiving for you, wherever you are, whatever you eat!

Clinically Insane, perhaps...

thehardyheyday.blogspot.com

Talking with my mother-in-law last night, she said something that many of our closest family and friends have (probably) always thought, but never really said, "You guys did a crazy thing, running off with someone you barely even knew." Yeah, we all laughed about it and made offhand comments about running away and making insane choices and all, but none of those ever matched the feeling I percieved last night that spoke to me and said, "No, really. What you did...that whole getting married in six months to a relative stranger (I think you realize that after being married for a little while - how little you know at first) moving abroad for a year...that. Was. C-r-a-z-y. Like, clinically insane."

Maybe someone did look us dead in the eyes and say that, but I don't think we ever heard it. What we did hear were comments like those from a dear friend of Jacob's in respose to Jacob's statement, "I can't just marry her and take her overseas after six months!" Phillip's answer: "Why not?" (Do you know how many times I've silently thanked God for Phillip?!)

Maybe if we had heard it, we might have chickened out or something. But probably not. I guess it's safe now to hear it, since we made it. Our young marriage still has a lot of room to grow and, insh'allah, many years in which to grow, but we have bonded through the fun times and through what we call "marriage boot camp times."

A Buraimi Sunset, surprisingly beautiful this time of year. It's like the sunset of our time here...I'm so deep.

Even though I treasure our adventure-seeking and sojourning around this area of the world, I think my favorite things from this experience include having some humdinger miscommunications and disagreements and getting through them - maybe not always well, but getting through them and learning from them. Knowing that no matter who's fault it was, I still love him and he still loves me. Another thing I treasure is our time together. I know I've said this before, but we have been spending more time the last few days just hanging out with each other and holding hands or reading next to each other. Proximity, man, it's key. That way, when something comes to our minds we can just talk about it. I hope we're able to always cut out some time to just be together. And our collaboration on something so huge - our mutual investment and commitment to a big decision, then seeing it through.

When we left the states, we'd just had a weddding, but I feel like we're coming back with a marriage.

Look how happy - and how clueless! Ha! Jokes on you, selves of 11 months ago! But it all turns out well...

Sous much more...

Thehardyheyday.blogspot.com

I am the luckiest girl in the world.

I have a husband who loves me well and enthusiastically and creatively and thoughtfully.

When he wakes up before me, he always puts away the clean dishes and starts the coffee.

While I'm just down the aisle at the grocery store, he buys me flowers.

Every time I see him whether it's because I was in the other room or out of the apartment all day, he comes up and wraps his arms around me and kisses me.

He works with me through our miscommunications and disagreements so patiently.

And, even though  prior to marraige, I was used to my kitchen being a one-woman show, he has turned out to be the best sous chef I could have ever (not) asked for.

And that's just the start of it...

You belong in a zoo

We celebrated two birthdays this week for wee ones belonging to my small group girls at the Al Ain Zoo, what a treat! It was our first time at the zoo here and we had a blast!

A few shots from the afternoon - we felt like kids again oohing and ahhing at all the animals and crowding around for feeding time in the "African Safari" section - my favorite. When did I stop going to the zoo? It's such a great place!

First off, let's all be honest and admit it - part of the fun is watching the animals and part of the fun is watching the people...

Flamingoes!

Feeding time at the 'African Safari'

"How many kids can get on the see-saw at once?"

Oskar!

And our other birthday boy, Nathaniel, with sis Amelia.