We are still really jet lagged, but I wanted to check in and say that we really miss everybody! It is a strange feeling to be so far away for such a long period of time. I told Meg in an email that I am a little homesick, but I guess that is normal. I am so glad I have Sam with me! I could not do this alone.
Okay, here is the scoop. First of all, everything we are experiencing is first class. The resort is beautiful, right on the water, and the apartment is lovely, with a big balcony and marble counters. My apartment is the envy of the single people living on the resort. Families have opted to live in RAK where the accomodations are roomier. But Sam and I have the only 1 bedroom, so our place is 3 times bigger than anyone else's. So last night Sam and I hosted the first get-together on our balcony. We served drinks and nuts and cheese and crackers, and 6 teachers came. Two (female) teachers ended up spending the night. One had a broken toilet, and the other one has a front door that won't lock (corrected today). Because we are the first occupants in these apartments, and they've only just been built, there are some kinks to fix. I gave Sam a bath a couple of days ago but couldn't get the plug out, so we had a bathtub full of water for a day and a half. Things like that...
The school will also be brand new, and they are behind on construction. There are very few children enrolled yet (two!) because of the delays. We are all assured our jobs, but it is not like coming to a school that has been established for years. Everything is for the first time, so I bet we will be open by the first week of September, and I will have several children. In the meantime, the owner of the company is buying us all phones and sim cards, and 32 inch plasma televisions. It is a bit like being on vacation in a very hot place in the middle of nowhere, with the most luxurious accomodations. We meet every day at the resort "fort" and have a big lunch, then swim in the pool! Work will start tomorrow, and there are so many things to become familiar with: technology, culture, community.
I like the other teachers, and Sam is one of the few kids, so he is receiving a ton of attention from all the female teachers. He likes how "fancy" everything is. He is mostly being a good boy. I am so, so glad to have him here with me. It is grounding. I can't think what else to tell for the moment. I will know more after work starts. I also think it will be helpful to go to Dubai a few times, as we are scheduled to do, because this place is beautiful, but totally in the sticks. There is a ton of construction, and Pakistani workers everywhere, but a lot of the places are uninhabited. It is sort of like this town is poised, waiting, ready for a big boom that hasn't quite started yet, but is coming. I will not have regular computer access for a month, at least. I will check email when I can, but for some reason, this computer internet piece of the puzzle takes longer to put in place. I don't know why, but I will write when I can.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
More on RAK
Hi everybody:
I have a phone now. Sam is also extremely proud to have his own cell phone. He wears it in a holster on his shorts. I would like to tell you my address, but I still have no clue. All will come in time! At the moment, our only mode of transportation is taxi, walking, and Sam's scooter, but this too, will be fixed. I will get a car here for sure. I should have internet at home in the next week, and that will make communicating so much easier. I would like to write on my blog about my Italian washer/dryer. It is all one machine, and it is brand new, and highly dysfunctional. It hums and whirrs for four hours per load, clicking, gently swishing, blowing, and then spitting out wet, warm, still soiled clothes, but I will have to wait until I have regular internet access to fully describe it in all its inneffectual glory.
We have made two trips into Dubai. The first visit was to a cultural center for cultural sensitivity training. The second visit was to the Mall of the Emirates, where Ski Dubai resides, sitting ensconced grandly in its enormous metal casing. Sam and I skied for two hours. We were provided with outter garments, boots, skis and poles and a ticket. There is one lift and one poma, and three little ski school moving ramps. There is also a tiny ski chalet mid-slope, where Sam insisted we stop to get hot chocolate. It was a completely surreal experience, with the ceiling painted a calming blue, chilly air, real snow, fake trees and boulders, and diners and shoppers outside the glass windows peering in to see the skiers in our winter wonderland fishbowl.
Sam is pacing around the fort, having already had his chocolate cake and tea, and he is ready for a swim. Tomorrow, it is back to work, for the workweek is Sunday through Thursday. It looks as if the school will open the last week of September, or possibly a week later than that. I have yet to see the school, because it is still under construction, but it is supposed to be a real showpiece, the first international school in this emirate.
In the meantime, we visit with new friends in our apartment buildings, or go to the pool, which is just a block away. Grocery shopping at Spinneys provides real entertainment, with its international clientele and foreign brands. Sam watches our huge TV, with its Showtime channels, and cartoons in arabic (he doesn't seem to notice or particularly care). We are having fun. Sam is remarkably unsentimental about our old life, old pets, old town, old state. Maybe homesickness comes later for him, or not at all, depending on how regularly he gets fancy cake at the hotel, I suspect.
I hope all is well, and thanks for keeping the news from home coming my way. It is grounding!
Love,
Lucy and Sam
I have a phone now. Sam is also extremely proud to have his own cell phone. He wears it in a holster on his shorts. I would like to tell you my address, but I still have no clue. All will come in time! At the moment, our only mode of transportation is taxi, walking, and Sam's scooter, but this too, will be fixed. I will get a car here for sure. I should have internet at home in the next week, and that will make communicating so much easier. I would like to write on my blog about my Italian washer/dryer. It is all one machine, and it is brand new, and highly dysfunctional. It hums and whirrs for four hours per load, clicking, gently swishing, blowing, and then spitting out wet, warm, still soiled clothes, but I will have to wait until I have regular internet access to fully describe it in all its inneffectual glory.
We have made two trips into Dubai. The first visit was to a cultural center for cultural sensitivity training. The second visit was to the Mall of the Emirates, where Ski Dubai resides, sitting ensconced grandly in its enormous metal casing. Sam and I skied for two hours. We were provided with outter garments, boots, skis and poles and a ticket. There is one lift and one poma, and three little ski school moving ramps. There is also a tiny ski chalet mid-slope, where Sam insisted we stop to get hot chocolate. It was a completely surreal experience, with the ceiling painted a calming blue, chilly air, real snow, fake trees and boulders, and diners and shoppers outside the glass windows peering in to see the skiers in our winter wonderland fishbowl.
Sam is pacing around the fort, having already had his chocolate cake and tea, and he is ready for a swim. Tomorrow, it is back to work, for the workweek is Sunday through Thursday. It looks as if the school will open the last week of September, or possibly a week later than that. I have yet to see the school, because it is still under construction, but it is supposed to be a real showpiece, the first international school in this emirate.
In the meantime, we visit with new friends in our apartment buildings, or go to the pool, which is just a block away. Grocery shopping at Spinneys provides real entertainment, with its international clientele and foreign brands. Sam watches our huge TV, with its Showtime channels, and cartoons in arabic (he doesn't seem to notice or particularly care). We are having fun. Sam is remarkably unsentimental about our old life, old pets, old town, old state. Maybe homesickness comes later for him, or not at all, depending on how regularly he gets fancy cake at the hotel, I suspect.
I hope all is well, and thanks for keeping the news from home coming my way. It is grounding!
Love,
Lucy and Sam
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Wrapping It Up In The U.S.
Sam is upstairs sleeping, and I've just finished some last minute packing. The past few days were a bit of a ride. Sam and I had to move out of Ryer's house for three days (Thurs., Fri. and Sat.) during the Leadville 100 bike race. We've had the last two nights back here, which was lucky, because I needed to get suitcases, paperwork, and cats ready for our departure. The cats now have enormous self-feeding water and food dishes, so Ryer doesn't have to hassle with them as much.
We spent the first rainy night away (it rained all three days, continuously, and it is freezing up here at 10,000 feet) on my lot of land down in Twin Lakes. I blew up two kid's rafts to keep me off the tent floor, which was wet. I spent a restless night, with both rafts twisting and skidding out from under me. In the morning, Sam declared in no uncertain terms that he would NOT spend another night in the tent, I could do what I wanted, etc., etc. So, the second night we slept in Leadville on our friend Brian's couch.
The third night I rented a small cabin in Twin Lakes, and my friend Sheryl and her two boys came from Durango to stay with us and say goodbye. We got up in the morning and hiked into the old ghost town/turn-of-the-century resort called Interlaken on the Colorado Trail. The USFS is restoring these buildings, and the boys loved touring the site and speculating about ghosts.
Back to the 100 race. Sam and I were like storm chasers on Saturday, racing around the race course in the Suzuki with my friends Emily and Brett leading the way in their van. We saw Lance Armstrong four different times out on the course, where he was duking it out with Dave Wiens, the five time winner of the 100. It was amazing to be on the side of the course, peering right into Lance's sweating face from four feet away. Dave Wiens won a sixth time, beating Lance by about three minutes. At the last aid station, Lance Armstong's crew member reached out to hand him his water and food and promptly fell down, scattering Lance's supplies all over the ground. Dave Wiens waited on his bike until they'd picked it all up. That was an amazing display of good sportsmanship to witness.
Last night Ryer, Sam and I had dinner (a last bite of pork!) at Sally Lien and Jeff Dick's house. Sam played with their two year old, Hector. Ted, Sally was the one who got all the way through the foreign service process, test, oral, background check, only to be rejected because they'd honeymooned in Cuba. It was a nice way to spend a final evening (for a while) in the U.S.
We leave for my doctor's appointment in about an hour. I am getting an echocardiogram in Vail, on the day of departure, due to the just noted presence of a class 3 heart murmur. The cardiologist thought it would be good for me to go overseas knowing just what is causing it and whether or not it is reason for worry.
Well, we'll say goodbye for now, and promise to post from RAK, as soon as we are settled in and I can get online.
We spent the first rainy night away (it rained all three days, continuously, and it is freezing up here at 10,000 feet) on my lot of land down in Twin Lakes. I blew up two kid's rafts to keep me off the tent floor, which was wet. I spent a restless night, with both rafts twisting and skidding out from under me. In the morning, Sam declared in no uncertain terms that he would NOT spend another night in the tent, I could do what I wanted, etc., etc. So, the second night we slept in Leadville on our friend Brian's couch.
The third night I rented a small cabin in Twin Lakes, and my friend Sheryl and her two boys came from Durango to stay with us and say goodbye. We got up in the morning and hiked into the old ghost town/turn-of-the-century resort called Interlaken on the Colorado Trail. The USFS is restoring these buildings, and the boys loved touring the site and speculating about ghosts.
Back to the 100 race. Sam and I were like storm chasers on Saturday, racing around the race course in the Suzuki with my friends Emily and Brett leading the way in their van. We saw Lance Armstrong four different times out on the course, where he was duking it out with Dave Wiens, the five time winner of the 100. It was amazing to be on the side of the course, peering right into Lance's sweating face from four feet away. Dave Wiens won a sixth time, beating Lance by about three minutes. At the last aid station, Lance Armstong's crew member reached out to hand him his water and food and promptly fell down, scattering Lance's supplies all over the ground. Dave Wiens waited on his bike until they'd picked it all up. That was an amazing display of good sportsmanship to witness.
Last night Ryer, Sam and I had dinner (a last bite of pork!) at Sally Lien and Jeff Dick's house. Sam played with their two year old, Hector. Ted, Sally was the one who got all the way through the foreign service process, test, oral, background check, only to be rejected because they'd honeymooned in Cuba. It was a nice way to spend a final evening (for a while) in the U.S.
We leave for my doctor's appointment in about an hour. I am getting an echocardiogram in Vail, on the day of departure, due to the just noted presence of a class 3 heart murmur. The cardiologist thought it would be good for me to go overseas knowing just what is causing it and whether or not it is reason for worry.
Well, we'll say goodbye for now, and promise to post from RAK, as soon as we are settled in and I can get online.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Suzuki Road Trip
All’s well that ends well. That’s what I can say today, after a good night’s sleep, a leisurely breakfast, and an afternoon tourist train ride in Leadville with Sammy. Yesterday was a different story. I woke up at 7:01 a.m. in Paonia, in a panic. My landlord was to do her inspection of the rental house at 9 a.m., and I had floors to mop, two beds to drag down the street to a neighbor, who had lent them to me, and the Suzuki Samuri to pack with more stuff than I could possibly put in it. Two nights before, I had a bon voyage party, with 50 plus people, a surprising turnout, plenty of fun, and a last minute mess of a house to deal with...
After two hours of frantic moving, packing and cleaning, I showed the house and it passed inspection, so I got back my full security deposit. I made a final trip to the storage locker, to shove a last item in (wall-to-wall packed), stuffed the back of the open Suzuki to the roof, tied down the load, put the cats in their carrying cases in the front seat, and went to pick up Sam at the park, where he was playing with our neighbors, mother Mary and son Calen. He arrived at the car for our 4 hour roadtrip soaking wet and fussy. I’d been dreading the drive for weeks, because the Suzuki is a wreck of a car, with bent bumpers, flapping soft top, and a maximum speed of 50 mph. Ryer wants the car back when I am in Dubai, and I’ve sold my “real”car to my sister Alison. The Suzuki was all I had to get myself, Sam, two cats, and all of our belongings going to the UAE over two mountain passes in the screaming midday heat. And then there’s the Latin crooner Hector Lavoe tape stuck in the tape deck, looping continuously at full blast. Nothing to be done about that.
We were having an inauspicious beginning. A rock cracked the windshield in the first 5 minutes, and then Sam started complaining that he was cold. He also didn’t like the two meowing cats on his lap. In one hour’s time over McClure Pass, he told me he wanted to stay in Paonia, he hated me, and he wanted a new family. He also asked me to pull over so he could let the cats out by the side of the road. Never mind that the Suzuki was shaking as it neared the dreaded 50 mph, the roof was flapping and cracking like a jib, and the cats were yowling in their cases. As we reached the top and coasted down the other side of the first pass, the temperatures began to soar with the mid day sun. By the time we reached Carbondale, it was ninety, I was drenched with sweat, Sam was dry, and both cats were panting in a scary way.
We met Als in a parking lot across from her work to say a final goodbye. “You look like the Beverly Hillbillies!” she exclaimed when she saw us. She helped us retie the load. Sam “peaked” here in the baking sun. He ran around the car, unplugging all the tire plugs. Then he asked if he could move in with Als. instead of move to Dubai. I reminded him about the camels, and he momentarily reconsidered. Then, another fit, as Alison tried to get him back in the car, seatbelt him in, and place the cats safely on his lap. In a last desperate attempt to break away, as we pulled out of the lot, Sam unlatched the door (no small feat, as the door handles are broken), which swung out into the street. Alison’s last glimpse of us was of me shrieking at Sam and leaning over him to relatch the door.
I’d like to tell you it gets better, and it did, but not before two traffic jams, and Sam crying that he had to go to the bathroom that second (no warning) or he’d pee in his pants. The sun beat down, the roof flapped, the cats panted, and Sam whined as we crawled along in our faulty car.
And then, we were in Aspen! And it got better! Ryer drove over Independence Pass to Aspen to escort us over Independence Pass, which is the highest pass in the state. We met him at Johnny McGuire’s Deli, where Terrence, the owner and a longtime friend, comped our lunch. Ryer took half my bags (which was lucky, because at this point, one bag was hanging over the side, connected to the car by a cat leash tied through the handle. I was wondering why someone in a red car was following a quarter mile behind me in that traffic jam) and my kid, and followed us up and over the cool, breezy pass. The Suzuki cruised like a champ. “I was admiring how zippy the Suzuki was going over the pass!” Ryer commented later. The cats cooled down, I cheered up, as did Sam, now that he was in a cool, air conditioned SUV, and by 4 p.m., we pulled into Leadville. We were in bed by 9 p.m.
I told mom it was one of my top 20 most harrowing days, due to the age of the car, and its questionable running condition, the yowling cats and miserable kid. But Ryer saved the day, and we are here in Leadville safe and sound, and right in time for Boom Days before leaving the country on the 12th of August. Meanwhile, I peer off Ryer’s porch and look admiringly at the Suzuki, the car that didn’t let me down!
After two hours of frantic moving, packing and cleaning, I showed the house and it passed inspection, so I got back my full security deposit. I made a final trip to the storage locker, to shove a last item in (wall-to-wall packed), stuffed the back of the open Suzuki to the roof, tied down the load, put the cats in their carrying cases in the front seat, and went to pick up Sam at the park, where he was playing with our neighbors, mother Mary and son Calen. He arrived at the car for our 4 hour roadtrip soaking wet and fussy. I’d been dreading the drive for weeks, because the Suzuki is a wreck of a car, with bent bumpers, flapping soft top, and a maximum speed of 50 mph. Ryer wants the car back when I am in Dubai, and I’ve sold my “real”car to my sister Alison. The Suzuki was all I had to get myself, Sam, two cats, and all of our belongings going to the UAE over two mountain passes in the screaming midday heat. And then there’s the Latin crooner Hector Lavoe tape stuck in the tape deck, looping continuously at full blast. Nothing to be done about that.
We were having an inauspicious beginning. A rock cracked the windshield in the first 5 minutes, and then Sam started complaining that he was cold. He also didn’t like the two meowing cats on his lap. In one hour’s time over McClure Pass, he told me he wanted to stay in Paonia, he hated me, and he wanted a new family. He also asked me to pull over so he could let the cats out by the side of the road. Never mind that the Suzuki was shaking as it neared the dreaded 50 mph, the roof was flapping and cracking like a jib, and the cats were yowling in their cases. As we reached the top and coasted down the other side of the first pass, the temperatures began to soar with the mid day sun. By the time we reached Carbondale, it was ninety, I was drenched with sweat, Sam was dry, and both cats were panting in a scary way.
We met Als in a parking lot across from her work to say a final goodbye. “You look like the Beverly Hillbillies!” she exclaimed when she saw us. She helped us retie the load. Sam “peaked” here in the baking sun. He ran around the car, unplugging all the tire plugs. Then he asked if he could move in with Als. instead of move to Dubai. I reminded him about the camels, and he momentarily reconsidered. Then, another fit, as Alison tried to get him back in the car, seatbelt him in, and place the cats safely on his lap. In a last desperate attempt to break away, as we pulled out of the lot, Sam unlatched the door (no small feat, as the door handles are broken), which swung out into the street. Alison’s last glimpse of us was of me shrieking at Sam and leaning over him to relatch the door.
I’d like to tell you it gets better, and it did, but not before two traffic jams, and Sam crying that he had to go to the bathroom that second (no warning) or he’d pee in his pants. The sun beat down, the roof flapped, the cats panted, and Sam whined as we crawled along in our faulty car.
And then, we were in Aspen! And it got better! Ryer drove over Independence Pass to Aspen to escort us over Independence Pass, which is the highest pass in the state. We met him at Johnny McGuire’s Deli, where Terrence, the owner and a longtime friend, comped our lunch. Ryer took half my bags (which was lucky, because at this point, one bag was hanging over the side, connected to the car by a cat leash tied through the handle. I was wondering why someone in a red car was following a quarter mile behind me in that traffic jam) and my kid, and followed us up and over the cool, breezy pass. The Suzuki cruised like a champ. “I was admiring how zippy the Suzuki was going over the pass!” Ryer commented later. The cats cooled down, I cheered up, as did Sam, now that he was in a cool, air conditioned SUV, and by 4 p.m., we pulled into Leadville. We were in bed by 9 p.m.
I told mom it was one of my top 20 most harrowing days, due to the age of the car, and its questionable running condition, the yowling cats and miserable kid. But Ryer saved the day, and we are here in Leadville safe and sound, and right in time for Boom Days before leaving the country on the 12th of August. Meanwhile, I peer off Ryer’s porch and look admiringly at the Suzuki, the car that didn’t let me down!
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