Eid, meet Blue Bell. Blue Bell, Eid

Since our last post we've had the privilege to join in on a few cultural celebrations.  The first, Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.  It is a two day celebration where people basically set out food and sweets and open their houses all day to neighbors and friends.  Men visit with the men of the house and women with the women.  Both Gabe and I had the opportunity to meet some very important people in the city, and eat some wonderful and interesting foods.  Everyone is generous and the host never thinks you have had too much to eat. I think we both gained some weight after our visits.   Most Arab homes have a greeting room called the majlis.  It is a large room with couches along the perimeter of the room and small tables in the middle.  Food, coffee, and tea are shared from the tables.  Some homes even have a permanent tent or structure built outside their home to greet people in.

The picture below is of our kids and some friends playing in a Majlis.  We along with a few other families were invited to have lunch at their house.  We had the best goat I have ever eaten.

I also was able celebrate my Arabic teacher getting married and was invited to her wedding.  Weddings here are a bit different.  It is more of a party, one for the bride and groom simultaneously yet gender segregated.  Most women wear fancy ball gowns and have their hair and make-up done. The bride usually appears at the end of the night after all the food has been served.  She walks down an aisle while the other women in the room are cheering or clapping making her way to a stage at front.  It was 10pm by the time this took place and I left shortly after.  Apparently these parties last long into the night.  In some weddings the groom will come into the room and join the bride, and it's at this time that the ladies will cover themselves with their Abayas.

We are finding our way around town and I now have my UAE drivers license.  Thankfully as Americans it was very easy to get a license and, as a woman, the process didn't take long since I was able to use the female-only line.  I am liking the perk of being able to use the shorter line.  : )  

Hopefully this week we will be able to check out the local farmer's market (souq) and get Evelyn ready for school.  She starts September 4th.

Gabe's part:  Hayaak! (Hey there!)  Since our last post I've been working most days.  I've been in the Womens Clinic and staying very busy.  There are lots of complicated Obstetric patients (Diabetes, HTN, etc) for me to see.  We currently use paper charts but will  be moving an EMR in the next 6-12 months and I will be part of the team that implements this.  I am excited about that.

On my off days we have been doing a lot of small home improvement jobs such as making tubs not leak, hanging stuff on the walls ( TV, pictures etc).  There remains much to make the apartment they way we want it.

One of the other staff named Trevor is running in the mornings and so it looks like I have a running partner.  But getting up at 5 to run ain't easy.  We will see how it goes.  The hospital has soccer team that plays on Sunday evenings and I've been enjoying that when I'm not on-call or injured.

We are glad to be making friends within the Oasis Hospital community and getting to know our neighbors here in our apartment complex.  We feel like things are going really well overall.

On a final note, we found grocer who carries Blue Bell Ice Cream.  Not gonna lie, that seems miraculous to us.  It's only $9 for a half gallon.

We love you all!

Stacy and Gabe

The End of the Beginning

We have arrived, our cargo has arrived, our resident visas are complete and vacation is over.  A normal life here in Al Ain is starting to develop.  We have several things to celebrate.

1.) We recently got back from a wonderful week of vacation at Atlantis the Palm in Dubai.  It was a much needed break and the kids enjoyed the water park, aquarium, and the hotel room in general.

The kids loved posing in front of the aquariums.

Part of the the view from our room.

2.) We bought a car!  Or rather a Honda Pilot which is very much like the one we had in the states.  And it just so happens to be MAROON (whoop!).  A little something to remind us of College Station.  Even our oldest was excited about the color.  As soon as she saw it she exclaimed, "It's maroon! Yipee!"  The car buying process is a bit different here but we are very thankful that it only took a few days to get everything legal and in order.  And even more thankful that Gabe took me with him to have it registered.  We were able to go through the Women's line at the inspection station which had 2 other cars in front of us as opposed to going through the general line which was wrapped around a building.  I'm sure my presence saved us a least an hour! : )

So thankful for covered parking!

3.)  One more day until Ramadan is over.  This means stores go back to normal hours and by normal hours I mean open during the day instead of during the night (during Ramadan most stores are open from about 8:30pm until 2am).  More importantly we can eat and drink in public during the day.  This doesn't seem like a big deal but when you have small children and it's crazy hot outside you can't be on a long outing before the kids (and yourself) need food and water.

4.)  We are mostly settled and the last bit of furniture is due to arrive next week, on our wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary to us!

It's still crazy hot.  So hot that even the cold water from the tap it not cold but quite hot.  Keeping water tanks on the roof means you always have warm or hot water during the summer.

We made a quick trip to Abu Dhabi in hopes of some site seeing.  We drove by the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque. It is quite impressive.  At some point we hope to take a tour.

This is from the side.  The front, which we did not get a picture of, is much more impressive.

5.) Gabe has officially started work.  I'll let him insert something now.  (enter Gabe stage right) Hey there folks.  Just got home from my third day of work.   It's good to taking care of patients again.  Just like any new job, it takes some time to figure out the process for doing even basic tasks.  But I'm catching on and that makes for less stress each day.  I'll be working mostly exclusively in the OB dept this month and next, due to an unexpected shortage of OB providers.  

6.) We have started Arabic classes and have learned some common greetings, and are learning the alphabet.  Learning Arabic is one of our primary goals so it's good to be doing that.  

Miss you all and thanks for reading!

Stacy and family