Egypt – The Pyramids of Giza

One of the great things about being in Abu Dhabi is the ability to quickly travel to other countries traditionally involving a 10+ hour flight. This past week we had our first taste of this advantage as we took a short vacation to Cairo, Egypt. Due to the sheer volume of pictures and videos we…

World Cup Action!

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…

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…

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…

The Apartment Revisited

Slowly but surely we have been able to add some odds-n-ends to the apartment to make it feel more and more like a home. Probably my favorite upgrade is adding 16 small picture frames along one of the living room walls. I can’t describe how nice it is so see so many friendly faces every…