The other side....

I haven't written in a while on here.  So what have we been up to:


1) This past weekend Trey needed to go to another city in the UAE for work called Fujairah or Fujayrah (it is spelled a few different ways since it's really spelled in arabic and we make it english) and I decided to go along.  It was a pretty good weekend.  We got to meet the staff at a maternity hospital there and then meet with a man we met in Al Ain when we first came to visit.   We got to drink coffee on the beach and enjoy the sound of the waves...love that sound! 



Usually we head to the Westish Coast (where Dubai and Abu Dhabi are) but we went to the other side this weekend. The Indian Ocean side.

Fujairah and towards the north of the city are all beach essentially.  There isn't much around except beach towns and resorts but it has potential to be a nice weekend away.  I read about some snorkeling and diving places so maybe we'll try to do that next time.

It was the first time for me to put my feet in the Indian Ocean!  I plan on doing that a lot more in other parts of the world. 

2) I'm really excited to travel and I keep mapping out the places I want to go from here.  We're halfway around the world from our home, so really anything is an option.....New Zealand would be far but definitely on my list as it is much farther from the States.  Where else you ask?! Thailand, Sri Lanka, Italy, Australia...ahhh, I have the travel bug! 

3) We still didn't move into our house yet.  Yeah...we're still in the guest house but it's okay.  We looked at another house last week because the original house we thought we were moving into was occupied by a doctor who thought he wanted to stay there instead of move off campus.....but then decided later he wanted to move on campus (thank goodness!!!).  Seriously, the 2nd house we were thinking of moving into was soooo BAD and would need a TON of work.  Tons of work. This house we plan to move into needs lots of work, too but it's doable and I can handle it.  I'm actually pretty excited to fix it up, paint, get a new bathroom, etc.  It will be nice to see the stuff we shipped and get settled.   We keep telling people that we'll have them over when we move into our new house--ha ha, now it's like a joke because we never get there!

4) I think we're going to Syria in June for work which has potential to be cool but good for work stuff, too.  We'll see.

5) It's getting warm.  We're concentrating on not saying "It's hot here".  It does nothing but make you feel sad and think that July and August will be so depressing.  I'm already sick of living inside air conditioning and it's only starting.

6) I finally bought a bathing suit this past weekend since mine is in storage (I couldn't even think about the fact that we would need a bathing suit when we were packing our shipment in Massachusetts in January-get the idea--it's hard to imagine that it can actually get warm!).  I can now use the pool where we became members to the gym.   I'm pretty excited.

7) And I made some really good chocolate chip oatmeal muffins this past weekend for the new church that is coming about. I'm so excited on many levels.  But back to the chocolate chip muffins..usually I think they are bland and dry so I never bother to make them...but these were moist and so great. You soak the oatmeal in milk for 15 minutes before mixing it into the flour, etc.  I think that is the trick that makes them taste so good.  Trey just asked me if I could make them again.  I'll post the recipe in my next post.

8)  The BIG T (also know as Terry in the Middle East) turns 3-0 this Friday!  I'm trying to figure out what to do for him. I'm horrible at birthdays.  But I need to do something.  Ideas?