Now that school is done for the summer, it's time to catch up on the BLOG! I'll head back in September for one more year and then finish up in June, definitely enjoying it and managing to still get pretty good grades (yes I'm still being pretty anal with those just like always!) We've been busy the past couple months and are preparing now to head back to the US. Nick's still enjoying school, he did some extra classes this spring in the evenings which kept him very busy!

Here are a few posts of what we've been doing in the UAE lately, of course a lot more SUP'ing adventures, some rock climbing, we took a weekend trip to Fujairah which was great, helped out with the AD International Triathlon (next year maybe we'll enter instead), saw Harry Connick Jr. for free (thanks to all of our FB friends), played ocean water polo in Dubai, finally got out on our friend Mac's boat and got to enjoy the AD islands and do some SUP wake surfing, have done some desert trail riding and been working on the golf game (Nick's been working while I play golf, oh well some one has to, it's work too!)...

Here's to more summer fun ahead!

We spent two weeks in Sydney catching up with friends and family....it's been a long time since we were back. It was well into summer, mostly sunny a few rainy days, but coming from AD we don't mind a little rain every once a while. Nick remembered how to drive on the wrong side of the road, we had our favorites like Paul's Hamburgers, did a massive walk from Maroubra to Bondi when the waves were incredible to watch (most of the beaches were closed), SUP'd at Cronulla Beach and in the Harbour where we picked out our multi million dollar home for the future, went surfing down the coast, saw old colleagues, met up with friends and ate a lot of food! It went by way to fast, but enjoyed every bit of it.

Nick had to work during Christmas and New Years, but thankfully they fell on the weekend so he didn't have to go to class on those days, future years will be different :( The middle of January was his semester break and we headed back to Sydney, first time in over 3 years!

What better way to travel back there, then in an upgraded business class seat! Thanks to Nick and of course the ticket agent at Emirates, we enjoyed the long trip with extra comfort and class. Originally, we had booked emergency exit seats and they were confirmed until we got to check in and we had been put way at the back in the middle. After a bit of complaining just wanting our original seats back, the lady had told us that coach was full, but to come back in an hour and we might be able to get business. Well, we didn't hold our breath, but we did hope for the best and she came through for us on this one!

Everything was great, on the big A380, yes this is the one with the bar on board. It's hard to go back once you've spent a long haul flight this way, but unfortunately unless we find a full proof way to get upgraded each time, I think this was a once off...at least for now!

Our friend Tara won a competition in the National newspaper to play tennis with Rafael Nadal, lucky her. Well not so lucky for her actually, she HAD to work :( Instead, she ever so graciously gave me the opportunity to spend the morning on the court playing with Nadal. I suppose there were a few other people there as well. This was all part of the Capitala Tennis Tournament in Abu Dhabi with Federer and Nadal battling it out for the Championship. It was an hour clinic, where we did a few drills, got a few points past him and had a little q and a after. Very cool! Definitely a highlight of the year and it appeared at the very last minute of 2009! In the video I'm off to a rocky start, but manage to get one by him at the end, it wasn't so hard!

Nick's parents, sister and her boyfriend, Andrew came to spend the holidays with us in Abu Dhabi. Not only did we have Christmas and the New Years to celebrate, but also many birthdays! Nick, Howard and Andrew all turned a year older here in AD and we celebrated each of them in style with Nick's request a bangers and mash night, Howard got a dinner cruise on the Corniche and we ate at The Meat and Co. at the Shangri La for Andrew's big day.

For Christmas we opened presents in the morning, of course the Mosque alarm clocks were a hit and in the afternoon went to a Christmas Day buffet at the Sheraton. Everyone was in the festive spirit and for a Muslim country, I think there were more decorations up and around AD, not just in the hotels, then other places around the world.

Being together with family and friends during the holiday, it definitely felt like Christmas, just a much warmer version then I am used to...for Nick and his family, obviously they've been used to hot Christmas' for many many years. The rest of the week was spent exploring Abu Dhabi, we even managed to get Pete, Tash and Andrew out on the SUP's one morning during some pretty windy conditions, but they all did great :)

Here are a few pics from their visit:

For those wondering what it's like during the Christmas season in a Muslim country, you'll be happy to find that the holiday spirit is in the air. I've heard Christmas tunes being played in the stores already, trees and decorations have been easily found, lights are up in the hotels (and the remaining lights from National Day, which are white, green and red, one can at least think they are for Christmas), although I still haven't found Santa yet. I am sure he will make an appearance in the coming weeks.

We set up our tree, an upgrade from our tree in Japan which was half its size, but still leaves room for more growth in the future, to something bigger, one that's fuller and maybe even one that's real :)


We put some local flair using the red and white check men's head scarf (Keffiyeh) as a tree skirt, probably sacrilegious, oh well!

Despite an awful 3 hours wait at the border crossing and 2 flat tires, we had an extremely relaxing Eid holiday break camping and surfing in Ashkharah, Oman with another couple, Carl and Mari. They run a surf shop in Dubai and we loaded up the surfboards and SUPs on the the new trailer's first big trip. Thankfully, there was only one flat early on. It's about a 3 hour drive south of Muscat, so it's supposed to take only 8 hours, but almost 13 hours later we finally made it.


We soon forgot about the long travel day, found a spot on the beach (at night) to set up camp, went to sleep and waited for the morning sun to wake us.

Waves were at our front door every mornings, it was great. This is probably the first holiday that Nick and I have taken in a long time where we just stayed in one place, didn't do much and simply sat back and relaxed. Oh and surfed quite a bit too. Nick got his first try at driving in the sand with the Jeep, something to get used to, but he managed not to get stuck....that will come eventually. In the evenings we cooked up dinner, made our S'mores (every night) and were in bed early by 8:30 ready for another sunrise.


While Carl and Nick went into town one day to get food, I didn't leave this beach for 5 days. No honking, no city traffic, and except for a few locals...no people, so nice!

Wednesday was National Day here celebrating 38 years and the crazy crowds were out at night. It is customary for Emiratis to decorate their cars with flags, stickers, pictures of the late Sheikh Zayed and some go above and beyond spending lots of money to make theirs unique. This week, it seemed police turned a blind eye (they usually do anyways) and let most things go as far as obstruction of view fines and letting your kids sit on the roof, hang out the window, etc. fines.

While cars were only traveling a few mph, it still was concerning the way these kids were hanging out of the windows to celebrate the occasion. I think next year we'll stay in for the night, way too much honking, revving of car engines and way to many men (mostly laborers) out on the street where we both felt uncomfortable being out.

For our anniversary, Nick got me a new watch and I got him fish! He's been wanting a dog, but has settled for fish...he's wanted a few of these too!


So now let us introduce WaWa (a shoutout to Rachel in Philly and her favorite coffee spot), Anyong (Anyong, that's an Arrested Development reference) and Babu (he even comes with a head nod, just never sure if it means yes or no)...

We ventured across the border to Muscat for the weekend to see Australia play Oman in soccer. The border crossing in Al Ain is just a small trailer next to some buildings that has a piece of paper on the outside that says Visa Office. A bit strange, not sure if they are upgrading this area, but didn't look like it. You go inside and there are about 5 Emirati guys at desks, the TV is on, they are reclining in their comfy chairs, seems pretty unofficial for immigration. We handed over a few dirhams, got our exit stamp and were on our way. The Oman border is about 30km away through a border town, I guess it's no man's land, but seems to be a busy little party of town. We got visas at the Oman border, more stamps and were quickly on our way to Muscat.


It's a nice change of scenery from the UAE as all of a sudden you are no longer driving amongst sand dunes, but through mountains, proper mountains! Once we got closer to town it's about 2 hours driving on the main road with roundabouts every 10 minutes, obviously a bit annoying.

In Muscat we visited the Grand Mosque, I actually liked this one more than the one in AD, shopped at the Mutrah Souq, ate dinner along the water (great sea views) and drove along the coast which was beautiful.


Muscat has a much different feeling than Abu Dhabi, it's more relaxed, they don't have as much money so things aren't over the top. Buildings are mainly white and are only a few stories high. The Omani people are very friendly and are happy to talk to visitors unlike Emiratis, which was a nice change.


The main reason for our visit was to see Oman play Australia in the soccer. With about 150 other Aussie fans we cheered from the stands as they landed a victory for the night 2-1. We had 2 Omani guys who we met as we walked to the stadium join us, both were very nice and even wanted to sit with the Australians and cheer from our side instead. Thankfully after the game even despite the loss, the Omanis were very friendly and good sports congratulating us on the win.

We helped celebrate Christine and Sinead's birthday on a surprise (for them) Dhow Cruise in Abu Dhabi with a lavish and absolutely delicious spread of food! We took the giant Dhow (wooden boat) down the Corniche for a couple hours at night, saw the city ligths, stuffed ourselves silly, drank fruit juice (no alcohol on board) and definitely enjoyed the night!