Wednesday, December 31, 2008

For My 2009 Blogs:

If you're like some of my loyal readers, you haven't read any blog updates in a while. I couldn't figure out why my readership literally dropped by almost HALF after the new year. But I finally figured it out... You have to go over to the right and actually click on the "2009" hyperlink. If this works and suddenly you can see all of my new blog postings, please change the link you have saved for this blog. Thanks for reading! :)

Here is the link: http://sydney-itsalwayssomething.blogspot.com/

Huh? New Years?

I woke up this morning (at 6 again, thanks K-man!) and Mimi mentioned that it was "the thirty-first". What? Of December? Like, as in New Year's Eve?

It is so weird to not have plans and I feel like we should at least be chilling the bottle of champagne we've had around for months. But we've got no plans. For those who live in Dubai and had plans, they are no longer at liberty to celebrate as Sheikh Mohammed (Dubai's ruler) declared that all parties and all forms of celebration be cancelled and forbid its citizens from engaging in celebration for the coming year as a way of showing his support of Palestine and the people who have been dying in that region after the 5 days of attacks from Israel.

I'm torn by this. Awesome, show support of the hundreds of dead and many more dying people in Palestine... But do so by forbidding the welcoming of a New Year and, essentially, a new beginning, as we all typically pick the first day of the year to profess our goals and dreams for the coming year or to start anew after a particularly crappy year? It seems misguided to me. I am not affected either way, so I am not here to complain, I just wonder if there wouldn't be a better way to show his support.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve and parties hard while we cannot (again, not that we would anyway). We don't get to watch the ball drop until well into tomorrow morning since we're not on an actual time schedule with our TV here.

Happy New Year!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Resolved.

I guess it had to happen eventually. The New Year’s Resolution to lose weight! Ugh, I never wanted to be one of those people who made the same resolution year after and year and never come away with actual results (and hopefully I won’t!). But this year, Stu and I have been L-A-Z-Y for the past few months (since we got back from I-dee-ho) and we have BOTH gained too much weight. Sooooo, after Mimi and Papa leave (which, conveniently is on New Year’s Day!) we are going to (ack!) diet.

It’s not such a bad thought though. When Stu was fighting we were on a pretty strict diet. Now, somehow, we’ve snuck Pepsi, snacking, and high-fat foods back into our lives without much thought. Unfortunately the scales were watching and we’ve each gained about ten pounds! (I KNOW, right?) So, New Years, here we come! Less buttered popcorn accompanied by cans of Pepsi (nearly every night… I hate to even admit!), more carrot sticks with hummus; fewer mornings of high-calorie cereal, more egg-white omelets. And of course, dinners are to be transformed into lean chicken or fish with brown rice and vegetables. Again, not so bad. But I will miss my Pepsi.

I hope everyone can look back on 2008 with a smile and that 2009 is going to be even better! What are your New Year’s Resolutions?

Monday, December 29, 2008

Shopping and Date Nights!

I am pleased to say that Mimi and Papa are finally feeling better. Papa took a risk today at lunch and requested grilled cheese sandwiches (this is a far cry from his applesauce and toast diet). That went well for all (including Kaden who loves his grilled cheese) and so we finally ventured out of the house again tonight to my beloved "Hamdan Center" where they sell the cheap gifty goods as well as discounted designer digs. A double plus!

Mimi came away with three bags of goodies to take home to friends and family and some talk of her future purchases for "the next time" she comes to Abu Dhabi.

Papa spent his day researching schools in the Dhab that may be in need of a Special Needs teacher.

I am so glad they have enjoyed their time here... they keep talking about how this has been the trip of a lifetime and how much they love it here. They've given me renewed energy to take a step back and take Abu Dhabi for what it is instead of dwelling on what it is not. I've started to feel happy to stay here for as long as we need to, especially as we watch the economic turmoil taking place back home.

In other news, Stu and I went on TWO dates! First, on Saturday night we went to the movies, sans baby, and saw Traitor. Two things: First, a great movie to see here. I felt like a white guy sitting in a packed Kings of Comedy tour, trying to not to laugh at the black-guy jokes. Un-comf-y! It is about the typical American fear of jihadi-charged terrorists planning infinite bombings that will disrupt our daily lives. In this case it surrounds an American Muslim extremist, so we get that twist. It was a decent enough movie with fairly mediocre acting, but enough action to make up for it. Stu came away from it suspicious of every bus we passed, searching for terrorists, while I came away with it feeling weird about seeing it as the "idiot American" with the 5 dishdasha-clad guys sitting behind us. Great date though!

The second date was to a Japanese Restaurant where they do the whole hibachi coolness. I noted that it was almost a year ago (my birthday) that we had been to another Japanese steakhouse like this one, but in Boise with our friends. The food was good, though overpriced. And we had a great time watching our tablemates spill food on themselves from their overindulgence of sake. Another great date. I even wore shiny silver heels! (Yeah, told you it was a real date!)

After we got home, Kaden thought he'd better try out my shoes...




He has also decided to get up between 6 and 6:30 for the past few days (Gawd) which means this is what happens right around lunch time!


Side Note: As I went to plug in my camera to upload these pictures for this post, I caught of whiff of desert safari. Sure enough, upon closer expection ( a deep breath in), the strap of the camera still smells exactly like the campfire from that night. What a great memory!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Saturday As It Should Be.

This morning my dear husband drew a bath for me complete with bath salts and candles. I snuggled right in with a book and some tea and before I knew it he came bearing shrimp cocktail! What a Saturday! I hope everyone's Saturday is this blissful! :)

Friday, December 26, 2008

Mimi and Papa: Stuck in Bed.

So I got up this morning with Kaden just before 8 and Papa wasn't up yet which has been unusual since usually he is up every morning way before us (he actually gets up with Mosque Man as he has decided to pray every time the Muslims do).

It turns out that they were both up all night throwing up and have since been in bed all day. It is now past 6 at night mind you. Mimi got up for about 15 minutes to sit at the table with us before calling it quits and heading back to bed again. Papa we've only seen when he's needed the bathroom again. I am really worried about them and I am not sure what to do to help them. This morning Stu, Kaden and I went to Lulu's and got them some applesauce and Gatorade but other than that I am not sure how to make them feel better.

Just wanted to let you know what a bad day they've been having. Poor Mimi and Papa! :(

Desert Safari on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve, Stu and I finally went on a Desert Safari. We’ve wanted to go on one since we got here, but babies aren’t allowed to go and I never felt real comfy leaving Kaden with anyone else. With Mimi and Papa here, we finally found the opportunity we’d been looking for.

I’ve read a lot about these excursions and heard different takes on them, but I have to say, it was WAY better than I expected it to be. I think it officially became my favorite memory of Abu Dhabi thus far. Our driver, Mehmood, picked us up at the Sheraton Corniche at about 3:15 in the afternoon. Once inside the Toyota Land Cruiser with black tinted windows, we met Aussie couple Andy and Alison, who were shocked to hear my name was Sydney. “Ahh! We’re FROM Sydney!” Andy excitedly told us. During the hour drive to the desert we learned all about them and what they’re doing in Abu Dhabi. A very nice couple.

We took the exit off the highway for Al Khalim, which is little more than a tiny Mexican-feeling leftover of a village from an earlier time of Arab life. We learned from Mehmood on the drive home that these villages used to be local Arab villages and to this day they will still honor their past by taking a several-week trip to stay there once a year to camp in the desert and enjoy the simpler things in life (much like our version of camping, I’d imagine).

We arrived first at a camel farm a few hundred yards off the paved road. Camels are much larger in person than they appear in pictures. Ours were having some lunch so they didn’t seem very interested in us, but I thought they were awesome!

At the camel farm we heard a hissing sound and turned to watch our drivers letting the air out of the tires of the vehicles (this is apparently to help the car stay upright and not roll on the steep inclines). We said goodbye to the camels and their masters and headed off for the dune bashing.

Let me stop here for a moment to say that I have been in many a jeep in the woods of the States, going on inclines that I thought were steep… Dune bashing is so far beyond that… there were at least three separate occasions when I KNEW we were going to roll the car. We didn’t, but I swear to God we were even with the mountain and it is beyond reason that the car remained on its wheels. It was the coolest experience I’ve had in a LONG time. I asked Mehmood if he has ever rolled a car out there. His answer? "Sometimes."

Not only was it exhilarating, but it was absolutely beautiful out there in the desert making new tracks with no buildings or other people in sight. Amazing. The pictures can never in a million years do this experience justice, but they are worth posting in their own right.

We stopped to take pictures mid-way through the dune bashing and I fell in love with the sand. It is so much finer than any sand I’ve ever met and when you stand up you can just brush it off your hands and clothes and it actually comes off. It was so awesome.

After about an hour of dune bashing we made our way to the camp/compound place where we would be having our dinner. Right off the bat we got on camels!!! (I know, all I could think of was Kim from work who I promised I would send a picture to of me on a camel!) They smelled REALLY bad, and mine had a face mask on (presumably to keep him from biting his riders as he was in quite a foul mood) and had flies surrounding his face and neck. But it was really cool. Throughout this trip I had to keep grounding myself by thinking that here I was, in the desert, half-way around the world, riding a camel on Christmas Eve. How many people get this opportunity???

After the camel ride we made our way down into the camp (by this time I’d taken off my shoes for good as even in flipflops your feet sink so much that you can’t possibly walk in shoes). We had our first taste of Arabic tea and got to sit on pillows at little tables. As with everything here (except driving), it was very slow and relaxed. We found that we had an hour until dinner and took one of the men up on his offer to dress us in traditional dress. That was a blast and I think Stu looks so handsome as an Emirati!

They lit a fire in the pit and we all sat around it on more pillows talking with our fellow trippers and sharing stories of lives worlds apart. We met a Canadian Family from Nova Scotia. The Dad, Dave is here with his wife Cindy to work in the education department. He got this particular job a day after he retired from 30 years of teaching. Their teenage daughters were visiting for a week from Canada and came to camp with Santa and reindeer hats to celebrate the Christmas Spirit (at one point they even had the reindeer ears on the camel… that was pretty funny).

Another couple were German and visiting for a week. Only the mom spoke fragmented English while the Dad and 11-year-old son entertained themselves with sticks and the fire. Of course our fellow car sharers were there, as were a couple from Austria, also here on vacay. It was great to sit around a fire with a group of strangers, learning about each other, and after such a short period of time, feeling like life-long friends. Dave had the idea to sing Christmas Carols and we all sang a lovely desert-y rendition of Silent Night in both English and German. What an experience.
Dinner was announced and was served buffet style. We had grilled chicken and beef, Biryani rice, hommos, some sort of cilantro salsa thing (which was my favorite), some mixed veggies, and of course, Arabic bread. It was really good and we ate at our little tables on the ground, enjoying the food (although freezing as by this time the temperatures had dropped into the 50s in the desert night). After dinner we made our way back to the fire pit to enjoy shisha and more conversation until the belly dancer arrived.

The belly dancer was good fun and she really put on a great show. At one point she beckoned me up on stage with her and “taught” me some moves up there. At the end of the show she invited everyone onto the stage to dance and Stu was a belly-dancing natural! :) We both had so much fun (although Stu couldn’t help but make a reference to our favorite, Anthony Bourdain, and what he’d have to say about this tour-bus-vacay style entertainment in which we were indulging). We ended the night with chatting and then got back in the cars to head back to Abu Dhabi.

We had such a great time and I feel so thankful for the people I met and the conversations I was so privileged to have on Christmas Eve, in the desert, with good people, good food, and such a good time. It is something I will not soon forget.


A new view of the Corniche buildings from where we waited for our driver.

Camel farm!



The hut where the camel herders stayed.


Me with the camels.


Mehmood deflating our tires.


See the car disappearing?


It was sooooo much fun!

And beautiful.



Yep, that's facing straight downhill.


Stu in the dunes.

Making the first footprints in this pristine environment.

I just couldn't get over the sand.

Our shadows!

Sitting on the edge of a dune!

Stu making a sand angel!


Sand angel for Christmas!

The camp area.

Stu on his camel!

My camel standing up!

I rode a camel!

Our shadows during the ride!

The camel sitting down. Scary! Haha.

Our fellow car riders.

We climbed to the top of a dune to get this pic of the camp site.

Sunset in the desert.

Our tables.

Getting dressed!

Looking like locals!

Isn't he a handsome man? :)

Girl power!

The group by the campfire.

My dinner.

The belly dancer.

Trying my hand (and Belly???) at belly dancing.

It was so much fun.

Stu the dancing fool!

Stu reading Kaden "The Night Before Christmas" before bedtime.

Santa Papa reading Kaden "Humphrey's First Christmas" about a camel who was at Jesus' birth.