What had happened was...

Of some of the many things to do here, I had heard some pretty good things about paintball.  I personally had never done it before, but again had always wanted to give it a go.  It has all the elements of a good time: we get to play on teams, we get to run around an obstacle course, we get to shoot at people with real flying projectiles, what’s not to love.  It’s like a Marine’s dream.  

My colleague and buddy Mike had organized a paintball session afterschool.  There were about 10 guys onboard, most which I had never met before.  First of all when we got there I was pretty impressed by the facility.  It was called Al Forsans sport resort, and they had a bunch of other things besides just paintball, like archery (something else I really want to do), go carts, gun range, etc.  Really classy looking place to when you walk in, shiny marble floors with a real upscale hotel feel. 

So we pay and suit up.  We had to wait for the other guys to get there, but we didn’t have to wait too long.  They pretty much had everything as far as gear that we needed: jumpsuit, helmet, marker (gun).   They go over the rules with you and walk you down to the course.  It’s a pretty cool set.  The ground is all sand, there are metal barrels, bamboo fences, bamboo huts, tires, and so on.  Tons of things to hide behind. 

We played about a three games.   The first two was basic elimination, try to pick of all the other teams guys.  We first started out if you hit a guy at all and he has a paint mark on him you are out.  The next few games we played you had to hit the guy in the chest or back for him to be out. 

We only had so much ammunition left (you have to buy your paint balls) enough for maybe one game.  The referees, and yes there were refs there that worked for the resort, took us to another course, one that had less cover to hide behind.  This one seemed to have a Wild West theme. 

As soon as we got going you could feel the pressure and lack of cover.   The other team immediately had a better position on us and had like three of us pinned down behind a wall.  That’s not good.  I looked up a saw someone from the other team moving in on our left flank (side).  If he were to  get completely around there we are surrounded  and its easy pickings from there.  The only alternative was for me to move in that direction to stop his advance.   I ran over to a wall, evading fire down range, and slid into cover behind a wall.   I slid feet first with all of my momentum but my foot got caught in the sand.  My body kept going, my foot didn’t, my ankle gave and snapped. 

Funny thing when I think back about this, I just remember rolling over because of my momentum and looking up to see my foot facing in a direction it’s not supposed to.  I didn’t think but reacted immediately.  I remember before I had stopped rolling from my slide, while my feet were in the air, I reached up and turned my foot back facing forward.  When I had stopped rolling, I was on my stomach with my legs bent and the soles of my feet facing the ceiling.  I looked over my shoulder and my right foot seemed to be hanging pretty loosely but it was in its correct position.  I called over the ref and told him I think I broke my ankle.  He asked if I was sure, I said I was pretty sure.  He actually went to my foot and held it a little.  I started to move my toes, I was able to push back against his hand.  I felt no pain.  I thought maybe I just sprained it really bad (don’t think I thought that one all the way through, but I also think I wanted it to be just a bad sprain).  By now some of the guys from both teams had come over to help.  I got to my feet, or foot, not putting any weight on the other foot.  I thought I could kind of limp to the sidelines on my own, again not sure what I was thinking.  I didn’t plan on actually putting my full weight on my foot, just enough to test it.  Not a good idea.  Almost immediately my foot whipped back out almost facing the other way while my knee and the rest of my body is facing forward.  That was the only time I cried out in pain.  Once again without thinking I immediately reached down and snapped my foot back forward into place.  The pain went away instantly. 

The fellas helped my over to a bench and put my leg up.  One of the guys seemed to have some type of medical experience.  He thought I might have dislocated my ankle.  He also told me that I tore some tendons on the inside of my ankles, whose job it once was keep my foot from turning 180 degrees around.  Even as I sat there with my leg still propped straight out on the bench, my foot began to fall over.  I asked for them to grab it to stop it from sliding, but I think they were in the “leave it alone so not to make it worse” frame of mind.  I assured him that this is worse as the pain intensified the more my foot slid to the right, almost touching the bench.  Once again (notice a trend) I reached down and straightened my foot back upright.  The guy seemed fascinated saying my foot was back in joint, something I could already tell because it hurt a lot less. 

The medic came in, apparently the resort has its own medical staff, and stabilized my foot with foam/plastic boards and wrap.  I waited in their facility for a while them Mike and Big John, another one of the guys we played with, took me to the hospital.  I had called Natova and she was already there when I got there.  I went in for x-rays and saw that my first instincts were correct.  I had indeed fractured my ankle. I also did tear those tendons the one paintball guy suggested.  According to the doctor this is a fairly common injury, particularly with athletes.  His suggestion is surgery to put in a screw and plate that I could take out later, after a year or so.  After the surgery I would need to be in a cast for about 6 weeks.  He suggested we get a couple of opinions, but that was his.  More than likely others he believes will say the same.  So we will look around and see what happens.  They did put me in a temporary cast until the surgery.  

So right now, I expect to have surgery in the coming days.  I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.  Till next time.  

Valentines Day meets Aquatic Adventures

You may be interested to know that Valentine’s Day is also celebrated in the Middle East.  I’m not sure why that would be a surprise to me, but it was.  Like Christmas I only expected expats to have anything to do with the holiday.  I suppose it is comforting to know that with all of our differences we can all still agree that love should be celebrated. 

With that said, Valentine’s Day in the states and Valentine’s Day in Abu Dhabi have a totally different vibe.  Back home I remember constantly getting bombarded with advertisements about it, Valentine’s Day sales, commercials, etc.  In Abu Dhabi it is much more low- key.  In fact, I didn’t even know that it was celebrated here until one of my students started talking about what he was going to get his girlfriend (which, if anyone asks, he does not have because it is against their culture. I find that there are a lot of students that “do not have girlfriends” at the other female schools).  Then I did start to notice that the florist and gas stations stocked up on flowers around the big day.  

So this year I thought I might do something creative for Valentine’s Day.  I can’t bring myself to write another letter or poem, not that there’s anything wrong with it (the poems always turn out very expressionate) but I just want to do something different.  So I went into deep thought and meditation, and then it miraculously came to me like a divine light (though my idea may or may not have been loosely inspired by the articles from the Google search: “Creative Valentine Day Ideas” which I read moments before my epiphany).  Instead of a Valentine’s Day, I decided to do a Valentine’s week.  Every day, I gave a small gift (i.e. flowers, massage, cooked dinner, etc) until the last couple of days where I gave her the big gift, which in this case was a weekend in Dubai. 

We had been talking about going to Dubai for weekend trip for quite a while ever since the day visit we did with our friends.  We were interested to see the Global Village, which is a something like a combination of a carnival and a huge souq.  Different parts of the Village is split into different countries, like China, India, Egypt, etc., and for each part their décor, food, and goods reflect the part of the world represented.  She was excited about the weekend, as I knew she would be.  I made the reservations, found a good hotel near the Mall of the Emirates (we had previously been to the Dubai Mall in our last trip).  According to the map, the Global Village was also nearby, maybe a ten minute taxi.  So we were all ready, but apparently Mother Nature wasn’t.

If you recall our first trip to Dubai, the day we went ended up being one of the 4 or 5 days a year that Dubai sees rain, so the place was kind of gloomy most of the day.  This trip was even worse as far as weather, but at least there was no rain.  However, we ended up going the weekend of a sand storm.  Nothing dramatic like you see on Mission Impossible or anything like that.  But it was hazy the whole weekend and the wind was blowing in incredible gusts, carrying the sand with it.  As we caught our taxis to and fro we saw people walking on the streets covering their mouths and face as they walked.  Arab men wore a covering that wrapped their heads and covered their nose and mouth.  The sand here is different from the sand back home.  It is not heavy and gritty like the crystalize stuff you may have in your back yard.  This sand is as fine as powder, like dust, so it’s very easy for it to stay in the air and travel with the wind.  Natova and I would debate on whether it was fog or sand in the air, because you couldn’t tell.   At any rate, whatever it was, it prevented us from seeing the city the way we wanted to.  The buildings, one of the main draws of Dubai, were blanketed so we couldn’t get a good view of them.

So we decided not to do the Global Village but we did do the Dubai Aquarium in the Dubai Mall.   The Dubai Aquarium boasts having the largest indoor tank of water in the world (don’t ask me how many tons of water it is, I forgot).  I thought it was interesting that they called it a water zoo, and once you get in you kind of see why.  Even before you even make it into the Aquarium, there is this huge glass tank with an obscene amount of fish.  The variety of fish is ridiculous, but the most impressive thing was the size of some of them.  Fish, not even a special type of sea animal like a shark or swordfish, just “regular” fish like what you see at the fish market, literally the size of me and probably weighing just as much.  There were sharks and a lot of Sting Rays as well, one particular Sting Ray that was even longer than me. 

When we got inside, there is an instant shock because the tunnel you walk through is completely glass with the tank surrounding you, and what do you see directly next to your head upon entrance?  How about sharks, not just a shark but multiple sharks all swimming around that particular part of the tank.  I don’t know if they have them roped off so they don’t go anywhere else, but they like 5 feet away on the other side of some glass.  It even kind of freaked me out a bit, maybe because I wasn’t expecting it.  We got some pretty good pictures though. 

After the water tunnel, there were smaller tank habitats on either side of this path we follow to move through the place.  It was really nice, seeing all the different types of fish and other animals.  There were a few crowd favorites.  Everyone seemed enthralled by the otters.   I personally like otters, they are one of the coolest animals I know, though this was my first time actually seeing one up close.  I like that they are smart and have a personality on them. 

 The other very personable animal, also a crowd favorite, was the penguin: who knew?  They were all the way in the back towards the end of the walk through.  Lots of people lined up to see them, and for good reason.  I didn’t know they were so… active.  When I walked up to the tank the first thing I saw was one penguin getting into it with another penguin.  They kind of yelled at each other, maybe a few bumps, but no major rumble.  The next thing I saw was the penguins swimming around in the water, and when they get in that water they can move pretty fast.  Some guy figured out that the penguins are highly attracted to cell phone light and started moving it around on the outside of the tank.  Where ever he shined the light a pack of penguins bolted trying to catch it.  It was kinda interesting to watch.

There was a section upstairs devoted to the creepy crawlies we all love to hate.  There were beetles and bugs and snakes and lizards and so on.  I particularly intrigued by the giant hissing cockroach exhibit.  It was both disgusting and fascinating at the same time; I couldn’t look away.  There was some lady that worked there trying really hard to get Natova to take a picture with a huge Boa Constrictor around her neck.  It was like a hundred and something dirhams.  Their pitch was “conquer you fear.”  Didn’t work.  

All in all a pretty cool experience.  One of our more adventurous Valentine’s Days. They also have packages where you can snorkel or scuba dive around the tank with the fish.  Never know maybe one day, I do want to learn to scuba.  Till next time.

Foodie (Natova)

If you really know me, you would know I love seafood. I could literally survive off garlic crabs for an entire week and be just fine. I believe I actually did that leading up to my last days in Jacksonville and Melbourne. Ray believes if we had a past life I lived in the ocean. With that said I really miss the lovely creatures luring at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Although, I miss family and friends, I truly miss the food. I guess I have to bring a taste of home here to Abu Dhabi.

I remember my first trip to the grocery store with Ray. He rolled me the shopping cart and told me to start practicing, and practice is exactly what I needed.  All the wheels on the shopping cart swivel unlike in the US just the front two wheels swivel allowing for sharp turns and easy navigating throughout the store. It’s very hard to keep the basket straight and the turns require you to sway with the cart and make very wide turns. I know I looked like a complete idiot trying to maneuver the basket up and down the aisle while trying to avoid the many unsupervised children running throughout the store or the huge crowds that seem to think it’s a great time to shop in the supermarket after 8 at night. As of late, I have gotten much better with the shopping cart itself but still adjusting myself to the brands and products available. For the most part, I can find what I need but have requested in a care package the infamous Season Salt, Old Bay seasoning (LOL got to have my seafood) and Vanilla Wafers (Banana Pudding for the holidays).

 There’s one frustrating part about the grocery stores here. They never seem to keep the same products or brands available on a consist basis. I can go into the store to buy say Cheerios and the next week it won’t be there for another two weeks or so. I’m not sure what they’re doing in their transportation department or at least their buying office, but I would like to have my Cheerios or whatever the item available every week. Maybe, they need me working in their logistics department to make sure product is flowing and the customer is satisfied because you know, that is what I do. Also, these same Cheerios could cost say $3 this week and next week $7. Why? I don’t even ask anymore sometimes. I just keep a close eye on the prices because the cereal next to it maybe $5. Who knows? Consistency is not one of their stronger qualities here in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi has a grocery store on just about every street. There’s either a hypermarket, our version of supermarket,  (LULU, Carrefour or Spinney’s chain stores), neighborhood store (locally owned) or Cooperative Society (Co-Ops), bigger than the local places but not as large usually not as large as the hypermarkets. I typically shop at Lulu‘s because it’s the closest to my apartment with the most options. It’s located at the Mushrif Mall. There at least 6 malls on the island of Abu Dhabi and they all have either a Lulu’s or Carrefour inside, which is convenient because Abu Dhabi is built around their numerous malls. On occasions I will shop at Spinneys’ to get the safe guarded, sealed off pork. Yes, they sell pork in Abu Dhabi, but it’s located in the back of the grocery store behind sliding glass doors labeled for “non-Muslims only”. I knew I smelled bacon in the hallways of my apartment building. Now, back to Lulu’s…

I now understand why on the cooking channels they mention to always know where your meat comes from. The simple task of picking up ground beef requires a bit of decision making. Will it be New Zealand, Austrian or Saudi beef today, Natova? The same goes for chicken and lamb. I also have to double check the labels to make sure I’m picking up what I intend as most of the meats are surrounded with every part of the animal including brain, feet, tongue so on and so on.  I wasn’t much of a lamb person in the US, but since it’s a popular meal here I have tried it several times, which Ray has mentioned in a previous post. Currently, I’m not a big fan of the local cuisines. I guess I need to get use to the favors and all the spices. My stomach is not strong enough for the Indian curry on most days and the Arabic dishes are just so foreign to me right now, but I’m sure I’ll warm up to it since we’ll be here for two years. However, there is a popular dish called Shawarma in which a lot of expats seem to enjoy. It a wrap consisting of shaved chicken or beef stuffed with pickled veggies, mayo or a special sauce and fries. Sounds delicious, right? LOL. In order, to get some real good quality food we tend to good to the many hotels where the restaurant are either 4 or 5 star. We come with an empty belly and a coupon in hand. The coupon books are sold here and they are of great value and use. We would prefer not to spend thirty plus dollars per entrée so the coupons which offers “buy one, get on” works out perfectly. The book is a hot commodity amongst the expats.

I’ll be posting again real soon. Hoped you enjoyed my take on Abu Dhabi so far.