Kurdistan....

2 weeks ago, we had the opportunity to go to Kurdistan which is in the northern part of Iraq and it was a fabulous trip.  Last year, a little girl came to the hospital from Kurdistan to have surgery on her club foot.  It was great to follow up with her and to meet her family.  Kurdistan reminded me a lot of Palestine and we really enjoyed our time with the people there. 

A couple doctors from Oasis went along, too.  It was freezing but a nice change.  

The kids loved Trey and appreciated the fact that he was willing to wrestle with them.

Warshin is the girl in the front. Her personality is so different from when we first met her before her surgery.   It's great to see how a change like this can make such a positive impact.

                               

The whole family and a few others.

The mountains in the back were towards Iran and had snow on them. It was so beautiful to see.

They gave us traditional Kurdish clothing. They had them made just for us.

Golfing....

On Saturday night for a hospital social activity, we took the staff to a local driving range. 

Don't I look like I know what I'm doing?! 

 It was so nice and green out there.

 This is probably not a good way to drive golf balls--2 people to a section. 

Probably some serious injuries could happen...not probably...surely.  

I always enjoy going to the driving range at home on summer evenings. 

I think Min and I might start taking lessons.

All had a good time and enjoyed being outside as much as I did!

Min getting ready for the next UAE Women's Golf Pro tour! 

You take the good, you take the bad.....

I feel like I finally have my LIFE back!  The summer sucks every bit of energy, life, happy mood, etc out of you.  But now the weather is back to normal temperatures and the nights are perfect.  We've been outside as much as we can be.  This weekend we spent a lot of time outside (more to come on that in later blog posts) and we've been back at the pool in full force. 

Tonight Min and I went for a walk outside and then headed to the pool for night swimming. It's quiet in the evenings, they have pretty lights on the trees around the pool and the hot tub is always on!   Mmmm..I love it! 

So what have we been up to since being back from the States?

Apparently I've been learning how to put on an abaya. I forgot about this photo and just found it tonight when I was downloaded all the pictures from my camera.  Some women wear this kind where it is one piece and the thingy goes on your head, too.  Sort of like those baby bath towels that have the head part built in.  We went to visit our friend in Oman and her mom just started putting it on me one day before we left.  Always fun to try.

And our grill cover came back home...on its own!  I don't know how or what...but it was a miracle.  It flew off the grill by itself in one of those crazy sandstorms in late August.  We thought that we were going to have to buy another one. Then one day, we walked outside of our gate and there it was!  Ta-daaaa!!  Woop woop!  Trey called it an Eid miracle.   My hair in this pictures sure looks like an Eid miracle, too. I think that "sand storm" was still blowing or something. 

And last weekend, we got invited to one of the UAE teams football (soccer) matches in Abu Dhabi.  It was nice because we got to sit in the VIP section. I don't think that I would go if I couldn't....only because the spectators are ALL men.  No problem. We did it in Palestine.  But no need to do it here.  It was fun, though and again...great to be outside!  There was an air conditioned part with nice chairs and big windows looking out onto the field, but we wanted to be outside.  I tried to wear team colors as you can see....always trying to be the best spectator:)  It was a lot of fun. I hope that we can go again. I think we're going to try to find a way to get ourselves invited to a game here in Al Ain. I don't know how, but I'll try:)

More of Italy.....

Here are a few more pictures for you of our time in Rome and Tuscany. You will see picture of me below at a vineyard with a speaker.  We went to this one vineyard that was sponsored by Bose and had speakers all over playing classical music. He really believes that it helps the grapes and that the wine tastes different. I think he's been on Good Morning America or something like that.   He said that he has talked a lot about it in the US. Pretty interesting. We thought it tasted good....we bought 2 bottles. There are a few wines that only come from that region of Italy so we wanted to be sure to get a couple bottles to have. 

I see trees of green......

We are home and getting back into the swing of life again after vacation.  Isn't is hard to jump back into reality immediately?  Man, I was used to sleeping in and staying up late, taking a nap if I wanted to, drinking espresso twice a day, eating gelato when we felt like it, a good glass of wine with our dinner.....oh the life of vacation!

I wanted to post some of our HDR pictures that Trey took while we were there.  Enjoy the view of the countryside, beautiful hills and churches of Italy. 

I think Italy is a place I could live and a language that I could learn.  Anybody else with me?!  People were fabulous, the food is good, so much history, beautiful scenery, good shopping....oh I could go on and on.  

In a Small Town

As John Mellencamp would say "I can breathe in a small town"! This small town we are staying in is such a breath of fresh air! Here it is, just some people hanging out in town, the pace of life is perfect here! I am still waiting for a grandma to invite me to cook with her... no one in sight yet.

Look at these people out for a stroll in the afternoon! Drinking espresso and eating gelato- I don't think I would ever get sick of this stuff.

We really are having a fun time together, as if there is ever a boring moment with Trey!

And here I am in front of this pretty, old church, taking advantage of the wireless internet. And yes, it's from the Ipad 2 that Trey gave me before we went home in June. You really should get one! They are so much fun. 

"I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller..."

We made it to Trevi Fountain and I threw my coin and made my wish. And, no I didn't actually wish to be taller but, Trey may have wished he was a baller. I don't know, after all you aren't suppose to make your wish out loud or it won't come true!

When in Rome Do as the Romans

We found a bit of wirless internet! While the Colosseum was not on my list of things I wanted to see in Italy, it should have been. Look at how beautiful it is. The construction of the Colosseum began in 72AD and still it stands in the center of Rome.

The structure was capable of seating around 50,000 spectators at one time. While today there are no gladiator shows happening, at it's peak the Colosseum was used for public entertainment hosting plays and even executions!

 According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles; the Roman Hercules, a son of Zeus. 

Now, bare with me for a moment...

I told you I live in a dream world sometimes...

What do you think? Think I could have been in the ancient Roman Olympics?

This guy might have had a better chance than me!