Eid Al Adha Mubarak!

Happy Eid Al Adha everyone!!!

Once again I'm a day late - but those who know me aren't so surprised....

Husband and I took off for Dubai Mall yesterday to go watch yet another movie and have a nice lunch together.

As we were wandering around the ginormous mall waiting for our movie to start we heard music... as most would we headed to check out what was going on.

Thats a local (meaning Emirati) dance group doing the tradition dance for everyone. They were dancing because UAE National Day is on December 2nd. They were out celebrating and showing their culture.




It was fun to watch and after about 15 minutes we headed over to the theater to watch Old Dogs with Robin Williams and John Travolta... All I will say is that I haven't laughed so hard during a movie in a LONG LONG time. I will recommend this movie to anyone. ANYONE!

Thanksgiving & Eid Al Adha Eve

Happy Thanksgiving & Eid Mubarak everyone!!!

Yeah I know I'm a little late but what to do? I was busy celebrating of course!

This year was unique in that Eid eve (I would guess it's called) was on the same day as Thanksgiving. I found this ironic in that on the eve of Eid Al Adha many Muslims choose to fast yet Thanksgiving in the states is the day of eating. The entire day revolves around our big turkey dinners - which we start eating (traditionally) around 4 pm up until we pass out from a turkey induced comma.

This year was different from the usual however because I spent the day at work. Harrumph. Because apparently Thanksgiving isn't recognized as a holiday in the UAE - what ever that means. It was also kinda weird that we worked because usually eid eve is a holiday and most companies did take the day off.... but don't feel bad for me yet! We get every day off next week except for Thursday making it a one day working week! woot woot!

Anyhoo back on topic - so after work on Thursday I had some very exciting plans that superseded making a turkey dinner

yup I had tickets to the premier of The Twilight Saga: New Moon! I was so excited! SO EXCITED! I had been waiting for this movie to come out ever since I saw Twilight a year-ish ago and finally the day had come (about 6 days after the US but what to do)

So I got home, ate (Kraft mac & cheese very traditional Thanksgiving food hehe) and got changed and we set out for the World's Largest Open Air Theater... Does Dubai do it any other way?

We found our seats and this was the screen in it's idle position - It's laying down where the bottom of the screen is at the highest position and the top is nearly on the ground


When the show was ready to begin the screen flipped up and we kicked off the movie with a laser show - which was cool but I was a bit anxious to get the movie started already!


and finally, after some introductions, laser shows and movie previews, New Moon started


It was a fantastic movie and I enjoyed it more than Twilight only because it seemed to stay truer to the book than the previous had. But then again it might have just felt that way since I had read the books so long ago they weren't all fresh in my memory. But it was a great way to spend a nice Thanksgiving evening / Al Adha Eve with my husband.

And in true Thanksgiving fashion here are 10 things I am thankful for

1. My Husband - I still like him and intend to keep him a long long time
2. My family - I truly have a great family who is accepting of all my choices in life
3. My health - this is something I forget is so important sometimes
4. My friends - both here and back home I have some great friends that I am so happy to have in my life
5. The next step - Husband and I are about to start an adventure (which I will detail soon enough) and I'm grateful for the opportunity
6. My yarn - It really makes me happy (especially when I have had a hard day) to go through my stash and cuddle my yarn
7. My education - not something I ever thought I would be so grateful for but every day I am reminded how important it is in my life and what a change it has made in the way I work through things
8. Did I say my husband yet? cause he's a pretty great guy
9. Gravy - both literally and metaphorically
10 . Internet - Helps me stay connected with my family while I'm living so far away and helps me blab on and on about what I'm thankful for

Hope you all have a fantastic holiday season what ever holidays you choose to celebrate!

Eid Mubarak Everyone!

I'll be honest and tell you that before I moved to this country I had no idea what Eid was or that there was even such a thing as Eid. I remember sitting with my new friends on campus and them saying that Ramadan started in couple days and we better all get ready.

"Ready?" I asked "I don't even know what Ramadan is!"

"It's the month of fasting and no one can eat or drink out side, in public during daylight hours" my friends replied

Um Sorry? Did I miss understand?
No eating or drinking in public?
Seriously?
No SERIOUSLY!
Oh you are serious
Do "they" (the rule makers) remember that it's like 110 outside?

So I quickly called my new bf to confirm this wasn't some huge joke my new friends were playing on me. He confirmed. I learned once Ramadan started that nearly everyone in this country fasts from water and food (also one would fast from relations, swearing and being short tempered) from sun up to sun downand that it's hard enough with out people drinking and eating in front of them because like I pointed out it's seriously hot here. Although I must add that most people fasting don't really mind if you eat or drink in front of them because, well, no one but their inner resolve is stopping them from going to the fridge and getting their own.

What an experience that first Ramadan and subsequent Eid Al Fitr (celebrating the end of Ramadan) was. We had iftars at friends houses I snuck Cokes in the car as we drove down the streets, and I remember the feeling of charity, celebrations and happiness not at all different from the atmosphere back home in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Now that my fourth Ramadan has come to a close I have realized just what an important month this has become to me. I look forward to the change in lifestyle and I love and respect how a whole religion and country comes together during this Holy month to work towards the same goals. I know now that both Ramadan and Eid will always be apart of my life.

Eid Mubarak everyone and I hope this holiday greets you in good health.

Oh the weekend

This week was quite a stressful one for me. There were deadlines. There were meetings. There were even long distance phone calls to Angola where I spent 5 minutes trying to get the person on the other end to under stand who I was. But nothing compared to Monday.....

I spent nearly the entire working day of Monday at Emirates ID trying to get my card. In case you don't remember from my previous post, the Emirates ID is a new initiative by the UAE in which all citizens and Expats are required to get Identification cards that will in time (in theory) take over as drivers license and e-gate cards.

So back to my day at EID. I have say the experience wasn't as bad as I thought. I did have to wake up at 5:30 just to wait an hour and a half to get into the building. Then I spent another four hours sitting and waiting for my number to be called. Fortunately I went with a friend so we chatted while I knitted. When I finally got called, the Emiratie helping me had heard of Oregon before! I KNOW! He started listing off the starting line up of the Portland Trail Blazers and I just stared back blankly nodding and thinking to my self if only he preferred college football.

The other good thing that came out of spending 6 hours waiting for my 15 minute appointment was that I got a LOT of knitting done. I made great progress on my Noro Striped Scarf II... but I'll post those pics later.

The only feed back I would like to provide to the kind Emirates ID people is perhaps you would like to provide a little bit more adequate parking. I just don't see a sand ditch as being a proper area to have parking. Especially when you have a perfectly good parking lot that is just not accessible from the road yet because seriously why have a parking lot that people can drive up into right? Nope instead you make them park in the sand ditch and walk up the sand hill to get into the building.

But what did they do right when they built the building you ask? Well they put it next door to a McDonald's, And that my friends makes up for all the sand hills and all the ditches I ever had to walk through.

Thanksgiving and Eid Celebration

Today i made a proper turkey dinner with all (well almost all) the trimmings. this was a two for one because we decided to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Eid in one big dinner for two


look at this spread! turkey, mashed potatoes (idaho of course!), stuffing, glazed carrots and gravy. YUM!


and here's a up close of the turkey because i'm just that proud of it! i put a secret rub on it (although it's mostly a secret to me because i cant remember everything i put into it) and it really added great color and flavor.

Also today i have nearly finished the Back to School Vest from Fitted Knits. all i have left to do is the edges around the neck and the arms. i even wove in all the ends! what a productive day!

so now i have to go because i can feel the turkey comma coming on.