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Showing posts with label desert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label desert. Show all posts

Saturday, June 18, 2016

The Last May Surprise

So many things happened in May. Many of them are in my last 2 posts, but there are two in particular that I didn't mention. One was how special my family made Mother's Day by hanging up beautiful homemade cards on my door to surprise me when I got home! I hadn't been feeling well, so when Ben asked what I wanted for Mother's Day, I said "some good vitamins!" And, sweetheart that he is, that's what I got. And they did make me feel better, until all the sudden I didn't. I started getting really nauseous and tired.That's when I found out my last present in May: a positive pregnancy test.

This pregnancy has been harder, so far, than others I've experienced. The nausea is more intense and I don't feel well often. It makes it easier to like that Ben says this is the last one. It would be much harder to miss easy pregnancies than to remember how disgusting this one feels and be glad it's over. International moves while pregnant are no joke. Thankfully, I think we've mostly got it down. Minimize, minimize, minimize, then pack clothes and books and go! Then, find a midwife as soon as possible. We are in the minimize stage of: separating things into storage, give away, throw away and take right now.

Previously, the saving grace of living in a desert during summer has been the really great air conditioning available. Here, that's not the case. Air conditioners are for one room only and, in my experience, barely cool that. So we do what everyone else does, spend the sweltering evenings outside where there's a breeze until the sun goes down enough that the house isn't quite boiling. As we live on a main street, any semblance of privacy goes out the window, literally, because you can't afford to keep them closed in the heat. Cabo is such a beautiful place. I will always remember that part of it. But now, I am also really looking forward to visiting family in the States with their air conditioners!


Sunday, August 16, 2015

Tucson, Arizona to Calexico, California; Texas to Cabo Trip 2015 part 3

This morning we left Tucson, Arizona for California. Our first stop was in Dateland, Arizona where Ben tried a date shake. There were also these date treats: date butter, pecan pumpkin pie spiced date rolls, balsamic date vinegar and regular date vinegar.
There were mountains (and tons of RV parks) after Dateland:

Then we went to Yuma for some family history:
Where we walked around in 115 degree heat looking for the plank road until...
We found it!

This was our first time in California.
And it was interesting to see signs like this periodically:

We ended our day in Calexico where there are several places for the kids to play, a consulate and a border crossing and the people have all been very nice!




Friday, November 7, 2014

Green Spaces



I recently had a conversation with a friend comparing this desert to the desert of Las Vegas. Las Vegas, they said, was all sand, buildings and plastic "grass." Coming to Ruwais, then, it was refreshing to find more trees and grass than they had expected. 
There is an extensive gardening and landscaping effort throughout each city I've visited in Abu Dhabi. Miles and miles of Palm trees line the highways watered by even more miles of black hoses that utilize desalinated water from the gulf and give gardeners from places like  Bangladesh and jobs.
I have read some complaints about the amount of energy and water that is used to produce these green places in the desert and I'm not sure how to solve that problem, but every time I see these green places, I appreciate them. I'm not sure there's a way to measure, but I would bet it helps people stay sane and continue living here longer.

Friday, December 27, 2013

10 Favorite Things About Winter in the Desert:

1) It's 70* degrees instead of 120*. 

2) You can open the door without your glasses fogging up and feeling like you're trying to breathe under water. 

3) Ben gets a good December break. 

4) The irony of watching people native to the desert put on thick coats for 60-70 degree weather is humorous. 

5) Kids can play outside for more than an hour without the risk of heat stroke. 

6) It's easier to stay hydrated while pregnant. 

7) Butter doesn't melt between the store and home a block away.  

8)The air conditioner actually goes off sometimes and we can open the windows! 

9) It's the growing season for tomatoes! 

10) They take the umbrellas off of the baby palm trees because they don't need as much protection now and they're prettier that way.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Stuck in Desert Sands

Me: "So why'd you decide to go off of the road?"
Ben: "It looked like the road went to the top of the dune, there were lots of tire tracks... Soooo, I just wanted to see if the grass was greener over there. ;)"


Me: "Well maybe those tracks were made by a Toyota 4Runner not a Dodge Durango. ;) How'd you manage to get help? Did you pay them?"



Ben: "It was Saturday morning so they were all kind of lounging around anyway, a couple of them were nearby. I went to ask them if they had a number for tow truck because the regular mechanic I use is in Egypt now. They started helping and eventually workers from nearby houses came out. All working together they lifted the truck and put rocks and boards under the tires. I gave them enough to buy all 12 of them a drink. I was going to go get the drinks but they preferred the money."

Monday, July 1, 2013

Moving from Abu Dhabi to Ruwais

Living in the bustling city of Abu Dhabi with around 200 nationalities surrounding us, the many different versions of English seem to be the default language. With less of an opportunity to learn Arabic and a thriving desire to do so, Ben looked around and spied a place away from the city... out in the western region... near camel farms and the desert version of country life, where most of the students and fellow teachers don't speak much English and found a place where he could probably learn Arabic with more immersion: Al Sila'a.
Nature colors Mix at the Port of Dalma Near Ruwais

We will be living about an hour from there in the community of Ruwais. (pronounced: "Roo-wayse") It is about two hours from Abu Dhabi. In the 1970-80's the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company built compounds in several areas with shopping areas, gyms, grocery stores, houses, parks, schools and hospitals within a 6km block. We are supposed to be placed in a villa inside one of these, which means all of the amenities like gym and beach passes, are free. Ruwais seems to have everything I liked about Abu Dhabi, and not the things I didn't, plus some extras like a free gym and more families with children. We will be able to visit Abu Dhabi once or twice a month, but, as with any move, I will still miss so many of our friends who live here.

Here are a few Facebook photo albums of Ruwais if you're interested in more pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/ruwais.pulse

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.583105298389709.1073741838.578389815527924&type=1

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.358156627611563.116106.358092837617942&type=1

http://ruwais.ae/

Ruwais Pulse 

I hope to learn about it first-hand soon and share my own pictures and experiences.