Sandstorms, Lightning Shows and Earthquakes

This week has held quite a bit of crazy climate.

What started as a breeze, turned into a strong wind which then became a full-blown sandstorm.

The wind then blew in some rain apparently and a friend of ours caught this photo of an excellent lightning show:

Then, an earthquake in Iran caused many of the really tall buildings (65 stories etc.) get evacuated temporarily. Emirates247.com reported:

The UAE’s National Center Of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) spoke to Emirates 24|7 confirming the same, saying: “An earthquake has struck South of Iran measuring 6.2. The tremors were felt in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah because of its epicentre.”

Iran had several casualties from the earthquake.

Thankfully, no tsunami on the gulf is expected as a result.

Desert Taxi

Dancing Elephants

Talia drew these elephants wearing high heels (she didn't get that idea from me) and dancing in the water.

"They are scaring the crocodile away" she said, "but the duck can stay to play and splash around."

Seen in Abu Dhabi 7

Have you ever seen pomegranate molasses?

International experiences at the park in Abu Dhabi: Who Needs the Same Language to Play?

Abu Dhabi is an awesome place for a blending of an estimated 200 cultures and languages. This is always evident to me at the parks and playgrounds.

I recently saw this in action: A little girl about Talia's age was jabbering away in a language I couldn't figure out. My best guess would be Russian... She didn't speak any English and Talia didn't understand a word she said either- But they were still communicating! It was fun to watch them communicate in 'kid language' jumping up and down and laughing at each other and pointing at stuff and running and chasing without knowing the same words! When we had to leave Talia waved and said "bye" and the girl waved and responded.

Who needs to speak the same language to play and have fun!? Apparently, not children.

Kids Unscripted; Chapter 14

Talia: (to Ben with her play food set) "Would you like a big tonk of icecream on a cone?"
Ben: "What's a 'tonk?'"
Talia: "A big 'ole scoop!"
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Talia: "Why don't they make high-toed shoes instead of just high heeled shoes?
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Me: (to Ben as we are driving back from Dubai) "I wonder if Elias is hungry..."
Elias: "BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITE!" 
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 Talia: "I'm an 'iguala!"
Me: "What's an 'iguala'?'"
Talia: "It's like an iguana and a koala at the same time!"
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Ben: (to Talia) "I wonder what you'll look like when you're 25..."
Talia: "I guess you'll just have to wait and find out because I don't know either."
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Me: (to Talia) "Do you want some spicy pasta?"
Talia: "No, because it might make me catch on fire!"
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 Me: (to Elias) "Do you want to sit up here?"
Elias: "DOWN!"
Me: (later) "Do you want to go up stairs?"
Elias: "DOWN!"
Me: "What's the opposite of 'up,' Elias?"
Elias: "DOWN!"
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 Talia: "I want to use all of the colors of the alphabet!"
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Talia: "When I was little, I had surgery and the doctor took out the bad chimney so it wouldn't mess up the good one."
Ben: "Chimney!? Do you mean 'kidney'?"
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Talia: "I'm going to draw this with 'pork dots.'"
Me: "What are 'pork dots'?"
Talia: "Like polka dots, but with little pigs everywhere!"
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 Me: "What are you drawing, Talia?"
Talia: "Something fuzzy-armed and toady-eyed!"
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Ben: "Talia, are you made out of questions?"
Talia: "No, I'm made out of a little piece of my Mommy, a little piece of my Papi and dirt."
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Talia: "Why doesn't a toad have a neck?"
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Talia: "Mommy, do we have some sort of telescope bone, like behind our eyes or something?"
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 Talia: "This lotion smells yummy! But I guess I won't eat it since it's not a food like mashed potatoes or something..."
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 Talia: "Do a lot of people have straight hair?"
Me: "Yes."
Talia: "Do a lot of people have curly hair?"
Me: "Yes."
Talia: "Well, I guess that just means there are a lot of people..."
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Me: "Talia, how much soup do you want?"
Talia: "Enough so that I don't have too much..."

Abu Dhabi International Triathlon 2013

The beach has been blocked off for a couple of weeks now in preparation for something big... but I wasn't sure what. Today, we found out, it was for the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon.

Aileen took this photo of the cultural dance at the finish line of the triathlon, making it a unique Abu Dhabi experience.

Beach Days in the Arabian Gulf

Beautiful spring like temperatures combined with the fact that we live a block from what is here called the Arabian Gulf, have meant we've been able to enjoy a lot of beach days lately! This is the same gulf that we can see people para sailing while we eat supper sometimes.

Talia really loves the water.

Right now, Elias' favorite part is the sand.

These guys have the job of raking the beach. It's hard to be excited about a job that seems to be pretty futile.

Round and Round the Zabeel Park...

About once a month we visit the neighboring city of Dubai. It's about a 2 hour drive with lots of desert to look at, 120-140 kilometer per hour speed limits, on a 4 lane road with constantly weaving traffic. I do not envy Ben's preference to drive! Dubai, once we get there is in a tumultuous state of road construction, but will be very nice when finished.

Parks in the Emirates are a wonderful thing to experience this time of year, as the average temperatures have been in the  range of the beautiful early spring temperatures of the States. Parks are also ranging in size from small ungated swing sets to humongous landscaped areas with multiple entrances with a fee. We were invited to visit a park in Dubai that had at least 6 separate entrances. Another couple who lives in Dubai went with us, and we had a map, so we felt prepared. We were supposed to find the 5th gate and meet our friends close to the entrance. So we drove there with a map, and found the gate... but there was no obvious way to get the car to the gate! We looped around twice, and finally had to ask a park maintenance truck guy how to get there. He tried to explain in limited English, then gave up and told us to follow him. Then, the guy who works at the park, also went the obvious way and couldn't enter either... so we followed him around again and finally, finally found the entrance. Then we got a call: they had moved to gate 1.  Mercifully,  instead of looping around for another hour, our friend just drove over and guided us there.

Once inside, though, it was a huge place full of families picnicking, kids riding 4 wheeled bicycles and lots of other things. Supposedly this park has a ton of things, according to this website with information about it:

"The main features include a 45-metre high Panoramic Tower, Technology Zone that comprises technological interactive displays, Space Maze, which is an electronic maze, Sports Area including sports courts and clubhouse, Barcode Garden, which includes hi-tech displays and water features, and Alternative Energy Zone featuring interactive displays on alternative energy such as solar, wind, geo-thermal tidal, etc. The park also consists of a lake provided with water cascades, wave machine, geyser, boat hiring, laser projection on water screen in the lake, and a lakeside restaurant, and skate park." Other features include the Mega Bowl amphitheatre with a seating capacity of 2,000, for group wedding parties, and services required for different types of performances; Imax Theatre with a seating capacity of 450, associated with retail and food and beverages facilities; BMX trail, adventure play area, and adventure golf; function plaza for special occasions such as launching a new product, small special markets and parties; as well as road train, water gardens and water features, retail and food and beverages outlets, exhibition building, coffee shop and other amenity buildings."

I think my favorite part, though, was the time spent in the car with friends as we were trying to find the place and then with the friends we met at the park. Ben's quote from Spain was echoed several times through this trip as well: "At least we're all together!"

Seen in Abu Dhabi 6

An interesting spice:

Kids Unscripted; Chapter 13

Talia: "Guess what, I learned how to clean my mouth with just a napkin! A dry one!"
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Talia: "Mommy, I took a bite and it made my back hurt!"
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Talia: "I'm going to throw the Kleenex in the fire... I wonder what color it will turn!?"
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 Talia: (after getting licked by the puppy) "Now I'm just sitting here with a licked nose!"
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Talia: "I picked up that rock and the ants growled at me so I ran away!"
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Talia: "I'm like a line (shape) now, so I'm more like a grasshopper. Elias is like a ball, so he's more like a ladybug."
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Talia: "You can't make a present for yourself, you have to make it for someone else!"
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Talia: "Sometimes tangles are like two snakes fighting!"
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Talia: "Does your brain hold your hairs in?"
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Talia: "When you stop growing, it's like when an elevator gets to the top, you can't go up anymore."
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Ben: (to Talia) "What are you digging in your nose for? Are you looking for gold?"
Talia: "No, I'm looking for raisins!"
Ben: *GAG*
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Talia: (to me) "Are you concentrating the whole house?"
Me: "Do you mean 'cleaning?'"
Talia: "Yes!"
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 Talia: (holding two sticks and pretending they are a violin/fiddle... and then giving one to Elias)
"Here Elias, you play a little music-tar"
Me: "What's a music-tar?"
Talia: "A type of gui-tar that hasn't been invented yet."
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Talia: "Mommy... my spring roll is slowly turning into a salad on my plate. I think I need a fork...

Loss: Coping With Death From Abroad

One of the hard parts of living so far from family is never knowing when will be the last time you see someone alive. Health and youth are not immune to accidents. Age and infirmity do not necessarily rush death. But what if you do have an idea that it's the last time?

We've just experienced both the expected and the unexpected within a week.

When we  visited this winter break, one of the challenges was knowing how to balance the hope for recovery from a very grave illness with the reality of what normally happens: death.We accepted reality and still held on to hope... which produces another challenge: When someone has made a monumental impact on your life, it's hard to balance wanting to squeeze all of the time with them possible and just letting things flow naturally so that the last bit of normalcy can create memories to savor.

But then, we lost another family member first, unexpectedly. And we were sad. And we were thankful we had visited just a month or so ago. And we were thankful we DID have so many great memories of both people.

Living an international life makes room for many different memories and relationships. We're glad that we have the base of strong family relationships in the States of people who genuinely want the best for us and, though they miss us, are also happy that we are able to experience so many things.  We are also glad that we are living our dreams now instead of waiting for everyone to be gone and then be left with less experience and energy to go abroad... but it is a two-edged decision. Being abroad helps you appreciate family more, which means you miss them more, pack more into the tangible moments you get and that the distance softens any would-be irritating qualities. It's not as easy to take people for granted this way. We're grateful for such a strong family bond. We're grateful for all of the new people we've been able to meet. We hate to be away when the family is coping with death. There is always this tenuous relationship between loving and letting go for both sides.

While Ben was discussing if he would go back for the funeral, he weighed the expense with the experience and ended with the thought: "what's money, anyways, if you can't use it as a tribute to the relationships in life." Because really, that's the point. The formative relationships we had with family enrich every experience we have now.

Life abroad highlights the ups and downs: You have to love hard when you get the chance and appreciate the chances you get. 

Jet Lag and Waffles

Jet lag is serious business when you're flying 10 hours into the future with a baby deeply rooted into a routine sleeping schedule. What this means for us is that Elias wakes up at 2 in the morning yelling "Bite! Bite!" and wanting to run around and play.

So what do you do when it's 2 AM and you can't sleep and everyone's hungry?

Make waffles!

Talia seems to be the one least affected by jet lag at the moment... perhaps it comes from tapping into her night owl tendencies and going to bed at supper rather than earlier:

If nothing else, I've learned how spoiled I was with a baby on a routine. Supposedly it takes a day for every hour you are off schedule to adjust back to routine, so we've got a good week left to try out this theory. I've also learned how much I love this recipe for waffles:

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup wheat germ OR wheat bran OR quick oats OR fruit OR whatever (I used quick oats.)

Mix up and can be used for pancakes or waffles.  Double recipe for more than 4 people.

*Disclaimer* Waffles, though delicious, do not aid in remedying jet lag. They do produce symptoms of slight "swelling" of the midsection if consumed often enough. Especially slathered in real butter and local honey. You should try them anyway.

Kids Unscripted: Chapter 12

Talia: "What happens if the road curves and you keep going straight?"
Me: "I think you should ask Papi, he did that one time..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: "One way to make a baby have fun is to skip while holding her!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: "That burp just grabbed some gas from my tummy and threw it out!
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Talia: "Do you know of a vacuum cleaner that flies when you hold the handle?"
Me: "Hmmm, nooo, not yet..."
Talia: "It's probably in a tornado..."
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Aunt Chel: "Talia, do you want to help make peach cobbler?"
Talia: "Yes, I want to make peach toddler!"
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Talia: "What would happen if you were in Abu Dhabi and you got the juice from a pear and you put it in a plate and you took it outside?"
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 Talia: "What would happen if you took something too tiny to see, stretched it out and stuffed something small inside it and closed it up and then smashed it?"
Temaw:(what she calls her grandma) "Maybe nuclear fusion!?!?"
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 Talia: "(Aunt Chel) has (stuffed) lions and tigers and zebras in her room, so I shut the door really fast so they wouldn't get out!"
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Talia: " Babies need two seatbelts, but big kids only need one.... but really big people probably need three."
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Elias: "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!"
Talia: "Elias, when you don't get your way you're supposed to say 'Oh, well!'"
Me: LOL!

NOT Seen in Abu Dhabi...

Visiting the States for winter break has allowed us some memories that we wouldn't have had in Abu Dhabi... like: wearing mouse ear muffs in cold weather!

Finding snails to feed the chickens:

Playing with the snowman that her grandma put in the freezer when it snowed while we were out of town.

We are really enjoying all of the different-ness of the weather and environment and soaking up memories to take back with us.

Seen in Abu Dhabi; 5

The Corniche part of Abu Dhabi is designed for bikes of all kinds. You can rent four-wheeled bikes, trikes, bicycles with covered carts pulled behind for small children to ride in and I'm sure there's more. However, these are restricted to the path built for them so that the parks are safer for pedestrians and small children.

Winter Break 2013: Distance Heightens Appreciation of Family

Ben's teaching position get's three breaks: summer, spring and winter. For the summer break, since we hadn't been in Abu Dhabi very long, we just took a short trip up to Spain and Portugal. We planned to spend winter in Abu Dhabi, enjoying the 70 degree temperatures and then visit the States in the summer.

If you know anything about plans, then you know that it is best to hold them loosely and be willing to adapt to new circumstances. A phone call from home about a serious family illness changed our plans and had us on a 29 hour traveling spree to the U.S. When it comes to priorities and plans, family is more important. It's nice to be able to make that decision at the last minute and manage to visit so far away. I recognize how much of a blessing that is this time- if it had happened at another time we might not have been able to come. Really, though the sickess is not the best reason to come, it provided an opportunity to show our family how much we love and value them. They are worth a trip home at the last minute if needed.

 While we are here we are soaking up the cold, rainy temperatures to bring back and remember in the desert. Otherwise annoying, drizzly drives are appreciated and filed away for searing, humid days and family is cherished. Homecooking and REAL hugs are savored. Would we appreciate family and drizzly days as much if we didn't live so far away? I wish I could say we would be as grateful, but it's invariable that human nature would have us taking things for granted in the way our tendency for survival drums down the high emotions with mundane normalcy... So perhaps living so far away is helping us to appreciate them more. Right now, we are thankful.

Kids Unscripted; Chapter 11

Talia: (drawing) "I'm going to make more than one ant so that he doesn't get lonesome."
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Talia: "Dates are like God's candy!"
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Talia: (to Elias, who refuses ANYTHING that remotely resembles baby food) "Don't cry if you can't get it when you didn't want it!"
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Talia: (looking at a rare Happy Meal of fries and chicken nuggets.) "Um, mommy, that's only junk food. Can I have a cucumber, please?"
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Talia: "Can you tell me a story about a brown and white rabbit named 'potato?'"
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Talia: "That's not bell pepper, it's the smiley faced kind."
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Talia: (after seeing the silly string on the sidewalk from the 41st anniversary of the U.A.E.) "Thread you use to sew must be called serious string."
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Talia: "Mommy, do they use a really big marker to make the stripes on the road?"
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Talia: "Mommy, you're a really good potato head doctor!"
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Me: (to Elias) "Here's some water."
Elias: (points from the water to his mouth.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Talia: "I was trying to read that book while I was sleeping, but it was hard 'cuz my eyes were closed." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Talia: "When I have just one ear plugged up, I feel like a boat that's going to tip over." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Talia: "Mommy, do you know what ribs are like? They are like a bowl that is cut in half and then turned around!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Doodles

Talia's art always makes me smile... Especially as it has been getting more detailed. Seeing the world from her perspective is always an adventure. Take this car, for example:

And these colorful bubbles with faces that we traced different round things from around the house and then filled in. Her faces made me laugh!

This picture is supposed to be a restaurant for people who have a tummy ache. The menu included oatmeal, fruit smoothies and mint tea.

We colored and cut out shapes and she turned them into this robot with a ball:

This picture is supposed to be a 3 seater bicycle with places for people to climb up. To me it resembles a disproportionate grocery cart.

Vanilla Yogurt Streusel Loaves- (Or, More Fall Baking)

Getting a cinnamon candle would probably save calories if my aim were only to make the house smell autumny. Except, couldn't that backfire? Then, I'd be smelling the cinnamon which would inspire desire for the baked goods, right?

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of Oil
½ cup of rawSugar
1 cup of Yogurt
1 tsp of Vanilla
1 tsp of Baking Powder
½ tsp of Baking soda
¼ tsp of Salt
2 Eggs
2 cups of wheat Flour

 

For the Streusel Topping:

½ cup of Brown Sugar
¼ cup of Raw Sugar
1 1/12 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, melted
½ tsp of Cinnamon
¼ tsp of Salt

I'll get back to you after I finish running...