The FIFA Club World Cup tournament is an annual soccer championship that brings together the club champion from each of the continents. This year’s tournament hosted in Abu Dhabi, featured local favorites Al Wahda…plus teams from Mexico (our closest home team), Korea, Brazil, Italy, Congo and Papua New Guinea. Lucky for us, one of the…
Author: Brian
Swimming in December
After 2 months of waiting, the rooftop pool in our apartment building finally opened. Now if they can just finish the cafe and gym…
National Day
On December 2nd, the UAE celebrated its 39th birthday! In observance, the government and businesses closed down and thousands took to the streets to show their pride. It is a big event for the country, as evidenced by the thousands of lights, signs and displays that began appearing in the week leading up to National…
First Week of Work
After a two month vacation of sun and surf, my life of leisure came to a crashing end this week as I started my new job. Despite no longer being able to sleep in, my first week of work went well. The administrative department of NYUAD takes up 2 floors of a brand new building…
Turkey Day – Middle East Style!
Thanksgiving – what a great American holiday! A day dedicated to mountains of delicious, home-cooked food, football games and most importantly, family and friends. A day of thanks. This year, Megan and I found ourselves over 7,000 miles away from family, the NFL and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. However, this didn’t stop us from…
Celebrating Eid!
Pronounced “eed” (like “lead” and “feed”), Eid refers to a Muslim holiday. Eid Al-Adha, which we celebrated the week of November 14th, marked the Feast of the Sacrifice following the Hajj, or the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide. This differs from Eid Al-Fitr, which comes at the end of Ramadan….
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
Where ever your travels may take you today, Meg and I want to wish everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!! Give thanks for the loved ones you are able to spend time with today and have a piece of pumpkin pie for us! (I like mine with Cool-Whip.) Unlike Halloween and Christmas, there really aren’t…
Radio
Radio stations in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are pretty similar to those found back home – fairly obnoxious DJs, cash contests, dumb sound effects and lots of commercials. Many of the stations are strictly in Arabic, while several are in English and Arabic….meaning you could have a commercial in English, followed by a different commercial…
On the Road Again!
So as Megan mentioned in a previous post, we finally took the plunge to rent a car after being in Abu Dhabi for over a month without wheels. Having to rely on taxis 24-7 gets old…fast! And it’s strange, but having a car really is helping us feel more “normal” and not so much like…