I had a visitor!

I love having visitors! I was lucky to have my good friend Julie from high school visit me for 6 days. She is also a teacher and living and working in Barcelona, Spain. It's always fun to show people where I live. We enjoyed a desert safari, seeing a few of the glamorous hotels, Global Village ( similar to a start fair, but not as good), a day at the beach and going to a Santana concert. Unfortunately I was sick the entire time Julie was in town so we took it fairly easy. Only 25 days until my Spring Break! I just booked my ticket to visit Julie in Barcelona in March. It will be my first trip to Spain and I'm a little nervous since my Spanish is very rusty. I am also hoping to run into Sandi, a colleague from my first year living in Dubai. I'll be sure to write about my Spanish experience.

The construction pit I call home...

You might be looking at this picture wondering what it is and how it relates to my life.Well, it is the view from my not so lovely second floor apartment. I am so blessed to be able to hear and see this construction sight everyday. IF you can't tell I am being sarcastic. They have been working on this enormous hole for 9 months now. Most of Dubai looks like this. It is hard to find any area of town where there isn't a ridiculous amount of construction going on. Now don't get me wrong it isn't all bad. After all, It definitely gives us something to look at and the cats sit on the back of the couch for hours watching the Pakistani and Indian laborers at work. My problem is they seem to work 24 hours. Yes there are labor laws that are supposed to protect human rights for these poor workers but unfortunately they are ignored. Construction usually begins around 5:45AM (luckily I am already getting ready for work and poor Chas is still trying to sleep). In the evenings they work until 8:00 or 9:00pm if we are lucky. Most nights they work until 10:00 or 11:00PM. If we are really lucky (again being sarcastic) they will pour concrete and stop any where between 1:00-3:00 AM. Supposedly these contractors get special permits to pour concrete late at night when it is cool enough to do so. I signed a contract to work at least one more year in Dubai. It will be interesting to see how much progress will be made on this building in a year. It is going to have an enormous base with at least two gigantic towers over 40+ floors which will dwarf our 15 floor building and obstruct our view from every window. I'll be sure to document the progress and vent to all of you through my Blog. So, here is to sleepless nights and early mornings that I am slowly training myself to sleep through and at least another year and a half of entertainment for our cats.

living life in reverse...

My birthday is just around corner and it is hard to believe I'm closer to 30 than 20. It is amazing how fast the years seem to go once college is over and the "real world" begins. I have been living abroad for 4 years now (1 in Belgium, 3 in Dubai) and the time seems to tick faster each school year. I am glad to still be in my twenty somethings but the thirty somethings are sneaking up on me. The talk of a 10 year high school reunion is in the air and most of my friends are getting married and having/have children. I guess that is where I don't seem to have the same plans as most of my friends back home. When you aren't living in the US there isn't pressure to get married and have children as early. Most of my friends in Dubai are dating but on the slow train to marriage and children. My focus is on traveling and seeing the world. I feel as if I'm living life in reverse. Most people get married in their early to mid twenties, have a family, retire (at 60+) begin to travel/vacation and see the world. My curiosity for the world around me is now and I feel like I need to take advantage of my travels while my body is young. At some point I do want to have children but right now the selfish little person that lives inside my conscience is telling me that children and settling down, would only slow me down. I guess I'll travel, worry about children and marriage somewhere in the middle and enjoy retirement in my favorite travel destination (yet to be determined). I'm not really sure where this blog came from... I guess an afternoon of sitting on the couch with a cold makes your mind wander.