Okay, first off I know, I suck.  I missed sharing the entire month of November with you.  It’s not that I didn’t want to pop in here and tell you all about the cool things I get to be a part of, or that I haven’t been taking pics to post (I have plenty!) — it’s just that when I finally do have the time to type, my eyes are like “no way, woman!”  And before you know it I’m snoring alongside the dog and Joe —- seriously all three of us have our own little orchestra going.

Speaking of which, we did get to see the Russian ballet perform the Nutcracker in Brussels (sorry about that abrupt transition) — and while I’ll never regret going to the ballet, it was the first performance I’ve ever watched to canned music not alongside an orchestra.  It was lacklustre, BUT I got to go to the ballet in Brussels and that’s worth something.  We’ve also been busy doing all sorts of glass clinking and touristing thanks to friends visiting.  Thanksgiving week was busy, busy, busy with Suzanne and her beau flying in from Chicago, Jordan and Wilber from Korea, and Emilio from Phoenix.  Needless to say lots of laughs and feasting went on — lol never once having a turkey included, although we did get to eat delicious pheasant.

Last week of October, first few days of November I was home meeting my adorable grandson and spending time with my own children.  That time always goes by way too quickly, and I don’t have enough of it, but I’m grateful for every second of it.  Warning:  baby pic alert!  And, yes, I look at pics of him (and video clips Kaylene sends me) way, way, way too much —- cannot get enough of that face.  He’ll be walking the next time I see him in person.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

My Babies and their babies

As for life here, it’s beautiful.  I LOVE Christmas time, and Europe does it up right with the lights and Christmas markets.  So far I’ve been to the Christmas market in Liege (another pretty Belgian city) and Cologne (my favourite German city); Joe also got to go to another one in Germany.  Mons Christmas market opened up on Friday, but it was raining so much we decided to wait until today to stroll through it.  Tonight, we’re just going to relax and soak in all the Christmas cheer despite the gloomy weather (which I also love because hello?  candles!).

Kyle and his girlfriend arrive on Friday, so we’ll spend the weekend in Amsterdam with them, and then cart them back to Mons.  I’m so excited they’re coming.  They’ll be with us for three weeks, and we have all sorts of fun stuff planned (including a weekend in Paris!  Yellow Jacket protests or not, we’re going).  I’ll try to pop in to post pics and whatnot, but if not life will slow down again in January, so just in case I don’t get to type again until 2019:  Happy, Happy Holidays!

I brought in 2017 bundled up next to my man, getting fireworks ash in our eyes, in Reykjavik, Iceland; I ended it huddled up under my new soft blankie (thanks to Aaron’s girlfriend), alone on my couch in Mons, Belgium.  That sounds sad, but it’s exactly where I wanted to be.  Of course I’d have preferred celebrating New Years with family and friends, but work begins again tomorrow, and my best flight option meant being back in Belgium on the 31st.

After two weeks of rushing around to get things done in Arizona, and a return journey that included three flights, a hot bath, some wine, and lots of shut eye is all I wanted.  I slept until noon today!  And it felt great.  It’s been raining since I returned, so hibernating inside my warm, cozy apartment is what this weekend is all about.

My trip home went by way, way, way too quickly.  My only 2017 regret is that both my trips back home were too rushed because there was so much to do, BUT the doing is done.  My house is pretty much sold (signed all the papers; buyers sign on Jan 4), Badger and Joe are all set for their big move (the hound is chipped and immunised; the man is stressed and tackling his list of to-dos), and my kids are moving along in their versions of happy.

We spent Christmas at Kelly and Kaylene’s, where I finally got to meet Kelly’s mom (we had fun embarrassing our kids with our stories — hopefully something we’ll do many times more!).  We feasted, we drank, we laughed, we watched movies, we played Game of Thrones monopoly, we familied it up!  I sure do love my people.

I cherished my time with Joe and the kids, and I’m so glad we got to spend Christmas together.  Again, I’m proud of all of them and love being witness to the adults they’ve become.  I didn’t get to spend much time with friends, but the little bit of time some of us got together was awesome.  Summer 2019 I’ll be back for a much longer visit, so lots of whooping it up time is in our future.

Party time with friends included a pub bicycle crawl to celebrate a friend’s 50th.  LOL after all my years in Phoenix I can finally claim I hit the downtown Scottsdale bars.  I also got to fit some patio bar time in, something I can no longer do during the winter where I now live.  Sadly not pictured is my outing with Julie and Sushi with Tiffany and Joe.  There are so many others I didn’t get to see, but we’ll catch up some where some time and it’ll be great.

As for 2018 resolutions, I have none.  I’m a lucky, stable, healthy soul who is cool with her extra lumps and wrinkles.  No need to promise to lose weight or save or whatever (but you know I’ll try).  My only goal is to continue embracing all that comes my way.  Good or bad it usually works out toward something great, so Happy New Everything that comes our way — and good riddance to the bad that usually, eventually melts away.

All of my kids adopted puppies, so our holidays also included a lot of pooch love.  Not pictured are Kyle and Kendra’s two dogs, Piper and her puppy Penny.  Kaylene and Kelly’s two white lab puppies are also Piper’s babies, and Aaron and Stacy’s pups are rescues.  Dexter, the brown cutie (um, the dog who wanted to eat my unicorn slippers) won me over with his snores and snuggles.  Okay, the others did too.  Badger has learned to cope with all the whipper snappers.

And that’s all that I have for you right now.  My jet lagged self needs to figure out what she’s torturing her students with tomorrow.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I’ve been spreading the love, showing off all the things I treasure here.  Since the wind alarm, that seems to be only near my complex, woke me up most of the night, I’m in the mood to share some of the things I could do without.

1. That siren!  Although today its warning was real.  My drive in was scary.  It was all awesome and oh-wow-it’s-gonna rain at first, but then I hit a sandstorm streaking across Truck Road, which —- get this —- is where trucks drive (imagine that!).   Apparently, at one point we drive over a drainage ditch because a wave of sand hit it, crashed up over the wall, and curled over my car.  Had it been water my car would’ve flooded.  The most excitement I’ve had on my drive in, ever (well except for the first time I saw a camel caravan use the cross walk).  But back to that siren —- it goes off every few minutes on windy days.  Leche?!
2. It’s not a good idea to park in the right lane, so you can run into wherever, nor is it a good idea to take a right hand turn from the left lane — especially when there are cars in both lanes you need to cut across. On the bright side, I no longer flinch when this happens.
3. Please don’t honk at me as soon as the light turns green.   My foot was on the gas, but you just scared it back onto the brake —- and now I think I’ll wait awhile.
4. I live near Dewan not Tawam roundabout.  If I got paid a dirham for every time a delivery person called me from near Tawam —- where Miss?  A. I realise my delivery dilemma is a sign of just how spoiled I am (because I can have just about anything brought to me), and B. I miss having an address.  Although C. I’m amazed at how well we manage without it.
5. Starbucks oh Starbucks why don’t you deliver?!!!  It’s such a pain getting in my car and driving to even the one with a drive through (which is just a few minutes from my place).  Yeah, I’ve officially gotten too lazy to brew my own.
6. The definition of consistency has somehow gotten lost in translation.  To my future employers: know that when I say I’m flexible and adaptable, I’m a flipping chameleon who can do yoga tricks with my appendages tied.
7. My appendages, however, are in great shape because I use them a lot when I attempt communication.
8. Arabic or Indian pickles —- just don’t like them.  I’ve tried.
9. The heat, which isn’t a problem now, but will be in too short of a time, and the heat brain that goes with it.   We get a little zombified.
10. Attempting to teach when it’s raining outside.  The girls are all excited, and quite frankly so am I.  All we want to do is enjoy this extremely rare phenomenon.

That said, I will probably miss all of the above as well —- except for the wind alarm (God help me if I ever move to tornado country because I’ll just end up ignoring the siren).  Good news is I’m not leaving anytime soon, so I can whinge about it some more.  Even better news:  Tomorrow after school, I’m off to Bahrain for the weekend.  whoop!  whoop!

I’d be lying if I typed that I’m not paying attention to the news, or not worried about this latest rash of terrorist attacks.  Of course I’m bothered by it all, and of course I worry about where this will all lead.  This time next week I’ll be packing my suitcase for another trip into another predominantly Muslim area, and while I’m not losing sleep over whether or not my friends and I might be targets, I am losing sleep over the state of our world and its bigotry/idiocracy.

I’m outraged by any human being who thinks it’s okay to slaughter other human beings in the name of their perceived God or higher calling; I’m sickened by those who pontificate the same sort of shit from their keyboards or political platforms.  An American-Muslim friend of mine said she doesn’t consider ISIS (or better yet let’s get that whole Islamic State out of their name and call them douche — I like it better than daesh) Muslim.  They are not what her faith or her people represent.  I say the same for any authority figure —— politician, businessman, clergyman —- in America who spews anti-people vitriol.  They are not America.  They do not represent what my country’s doctrine represents.  Deep within my heart of hearts I have to believe that the majority of Americans do not think this way.  I have to hold on to hope that the majority of the world does not think this way.  Because if they do, then the terrorists aren’t who we should fear.

I cannot believe I live in a time where I can watch movies on my phone and have my car tell me where to go, only to scan headlines where alleged leaders cater to a twisted version of playground politics.  Sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but words will never hurt me.  That’s the lie:  its our words that are killing us.  They lead to more fear and more hate, which feeds into “their” (insert enemy of choice here) fear and hate.  Can’t we do better than this?

I’m not naive.  I know wars need to be fought.  I know, unfortunately, bloodshed will need to happen to prevent more bloodshed.  I know more of our young people around the world will have to do the very adult thing of fighting these wars.  I don’t know what to do about the Syrian refuge crisis.  Of course there are douches imbedded with some of these camps, but oh my goodness so are countless good human souls. There are douches of all sorts imbedded in all forms of our societies.  Do we give up on the good just because of the few, or do we use our damned intellect and figure a way to weed out who needs to be weeded —- and do we figure out how to do that without giving in to our prejudices?

I don’t know how we afford to feed and house and provide some sort of peace for so many who can no longer go home —- and not just Syrians, but so many others who also face a violence and fear most of us, thankfully (and hopefully), will never know. Some of those people are our own living and dying within our own borders.

There’s so much I don’t know, but what I do know is the older I get the more primitive my world seems to become.  Or, maybe it’s just my country’s handling of it.  Forgive me for connecting my world view with my country view —- I am American after all, and we sometimes do that.  But, that’s also not always a bad thing.  We have so much good to offer as well —- seriously, I know many of you in other parts of the world may not see this, but we are also a giving and loving people.  Why oh why are we letting our uglies get center stage?

I try very hard to not publicly post political comments because the dialogue that tends to take place usually doesn’t solve anything, but today I’m posting my version of a war.  It’s my war against hateful words.  We can’t stop the media from focusing on the bullshit, but we can stop ourselves.  Let’s not give credence to the fools who say hateful things that pull us back.  Instead, let’s start posting our solutions or sharing things that might make sense —- even if they don’t align with our normal political or religious affiliations. If we take out our own biases we might just come up with something that works versus tearing us apart.  Yeah, I know haters are still gonna hate, BUT WE don’t have to.

It’s early Monday morning, and I’m up so that I can print out my daily lesson plan just in case an administrator comes into my room and asks for it again.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to print out this week’s plans yesterday, and of course I had a pop in.  I had a good lesson and resources prepared and the girls and I were doing what we needed to be doing, but that one little mistake made me nervous and I stressed over it throughout the rest of the day (even though I really didn’t need to). So, despite my lovely life I still stress over paperwork and whatnot.   Later, on the same day, a parent came to ask about her daughter and emphasize how important the child’s grades were.  She was a kind and lovely woman, and I’m glad she stopped by, but I’m also even more stressed because what if I don’t have enough time with her daughter before the big exam in December?  I care as much about her marks as she does.

Last week I wrote an advice piece for TeachUAE (I’ll share when it’s published), and I wrote something along the lines of delete “it’s unfair” from your way of thinking.  And, ever since I typed those words I find myself reminding inner me to stop whining.  I’m stressed because I want to do a good job, I want to help my kids get to where they need to go, but sometimes I feel like I’m getting pulled in a million different directions.  There’s not enough time in the day; there’s too much paperwork; there’s too much to teach in too short of a time, etc., etc.  I want to throw my lil temper tantrum and yell It’s Not Fair!  I’m only human.

Sounds like I’m back at home, doesn’t it?  Thing is the hard stuff doesn’t go away just because I’m on another continent, living the life.  The job is still difficult because it matters, and darn it all I — like everyone else involved — still care about those kids.

Then when I come home there’s no Joe to rub my tired feet, no Kaylene to discuss the innards of life with, no Aaron or Kyle to tease about whatever odd thing they’ve done that day, no Meiko or Badger to drool on my lap.  Of course I do still chat with all of them, but it’s not the same.  I miss my family.

I miss autumn in the states as well.  Even in Phoenix it’s getting cooler (although not by much).  I’d be making stews and planning for birthdays, halloween and the upcoming holidays.  Fire pit season begins soon as well — oh how I miss sitting under the stars laughing through the craziness that is our lives.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still LOVING my life here, and I have a wonderful network of friends I laugh with here (sometimes at a shisha place, which has become my new version of the fire pit).  I cannot believe how lucky I am to have had the chance to do this, and it’s paying back in ways I didn’t expect.  I am not complaining about my life here at all.  I just wanted to share that it’s not all beach time and parties.  I stress, I worry, I miss, I wish for more just like I did when I lived on my own soil.  Apparently, those things never go away.

That said I have a fun weekend coming up.  I’m going to the Dave Mathews Band concert — woo hoo!  Cannot wait!  And then I have a 5-course tasting event at the St. Regis on Saadiyat.  Plus, we have an extra day off next week, so I’ll have time to catch up on rest and grading.

And when I do go back home, I will miss all that I have here.  So, basically, I think I’ve set myself up for a life of missing ‘home.’

Okay, so it seems I’m spending most of my Monday on hold. You see about a month ago I called my financial institutions to check wire transfer fees, etc. — you know all the make-sure-my-money-is-good stuff. Today, I’m calling to get swift codes and whatnot, and holy hell it seems what person A told me is now different from person B, so I have to switch around the way I was going to bank.

It’s all good I’m getting it worked out (and if my credit union person B is correct there is now no incoming international wire transfer fee so that’s good news), but what a big ole pain in the butt. If you ever decide to take a job overseas know that the red tape you go through to get the job is just the beginning. From what I’ve been told this is a cake walk compared to the paper trail I will follow once I’m in my new land.

I will be so well documented, authenticated, visa whatevered. I’m developing a new skill: patience with stuff I hate doing. Hmmm, so I wonder if I’ll be like on the FBI/CIA watch list once my American accounts start receiving funds from my Middle Eastern ones.

Hahahha just call me Double O BB (prefer my initials to 7). Ewwww, the line is ringing. Onto to the next customer service rep…