Well I suppose it was inevitable that I get caught in the
posting lull that plagues so many other blogs.
The posts start to come less and less frequent until the point where you
are wondering if that person will ever post again. Well, in my case you don’t have to wonder I
am still posting though true enough it has been a while and for that I
apologize. Life kind of distracts you
and the next thing you know it has been 3 months without a post. I hope to finish out my last four months out
here strong and put up some good material, starting with this one.
I suppose I could backtrack chronologically to catch
everyone up. We’ll start at the end of
last year. December was good but unfortunately, as most of you that read this
already know, we didn’t make the trip back to the US like we wanted to. There were some complications with our
airline credit that delayed us from getting our ticket at a time where the cost
was reasonable. By the time everything
was straightened out it just would have set us back too much money for the two
weeks were going to be there so we decide we would just stick it out and catch
up with everyone in the summer. We thought that instead we might catch a
flight to some nearby places of interest instead to distract us from the
disappointment of not being able to make it home (this is "husband in the doghouse code" for: I
had to find a way to make my wife happy again so I can stop
getting the stank eye). So there were
quite a few places on the list like Istanbul, Oman, China, etc. We tried to stay away from Thailand since we
had already been but it was tough because there is always a good deal headed
that way for cheap. Long story short
though, we didn’t do any of it. We just
became satisfied with saving the money the money keeping in mind that we are in the homestretch of our time here. So I just stayed focused on my rehab, and if you were wondering, rehab sucks by the way.
If you can avoid it
try not to break your ankle and your leg within six months of each other, just
a heads up. Most of December was me
learning how to walk again…again (second time around, first time after ankle
break) and I made some good progress I thought.
Luckily there is a gym in our building, so I hit the treadmill and did a
bunch of exercises to strengthen my leg and improve my balance. Most of my problems came with my foot. It hurt like hell, the entire time, mostly
swelling, and I didn’t even break my foot.
It was just adjusting back to me walking again. Didn’t think it would be such a big
deal. I mean, so I don’t use my foot for
a measly year and now it acts like it doesn’t know how to hold my weight (that’s
sarcasm by the way for those that didn’t catch it, but I did stay off my foot
for a total of about 10 or 11 months). Turns out I needed to get an insert in my shoe
and the swelling gradually went away.
The beginning of January was fairly uneventful, just getting
back to the grind of teaching for me. I
think Natova tried to get back into her Christian women’s group, but ended up
taking a break from them later. In late January,
as most of you know Natova had to go back home for the funeral of her
grandmother and I spent most of February here in Abu Dhabi by myself. This stretch wasn’t as bad as the two months
I was alone when I first got out here because she wasn't gone as long. One month is just long enough to enjoy the
house to myself and then start missing my wife, and then get her back again
when I really start missing her. And
that is basically what happened. Natova
probably needed the time back around family, I could tell she was really
missing everyone (And me too, by the way. Just FYI, I know I don’t call home much but I
do think about my mother and my sister and all of my friends and I always look
forward to making it back. So don’t
mistake not hearing from me as “I don’t care about you”). It was
good to hear her tell me about goings on back home first hand.
Most of our focus right
now as we begin March, is pretty much getting ready to go back home. We are four months away from hopping a plane to
the States, and I must say I am ready.
But first we want to try to get in some travel time in the area before
we go because chances are, unless I come back here to work again (which is something like "Plan G") we
won’t be making our way over to this part of the world again anytime soon. So now that I’m able to walk normal again, we
want to hit up Dubai for a night out on the town. We also want to see Al Ain, the second
largest city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, also by far the most green and
beautiful city in the Emirate (an Emirate is comparable to a state in the US,
and by the way Abu Dhabi is both a city and the Emirate- like New York City and
the state of New York). We don’t see a need
to visit what they call the Western Region, which is what most might think of
when they think Middle Eastern desert: old school shanty villages with miles and
miles of sand surrounding them.
And you are now officially caught up. The next post should come sooner than later,
hopefully, or as they say here, Insha’Allah (God willing).
Update please! I am just now finding this blog, as my husband and I are interested in moving our family
ReplyDelete(4 daughters 6 and under!) to Abu Dhabi so that I can teach for 2 years. I have thoroghly enjoyed reading this blog and would love to know how the last few months of living in Abu Dhabi went, and how the transition back to the states was. Also I would like to know how you'd rate your overall experience and if you'd do it again....or if you'd recommend it with a large family. Thanks!