Abu Dhabi Life: Friday Brunch

Our friends baptized their new baby this weekend.

In the UAE, it's also a good occasion for going to a big ol' celebratory brunch. And in true WASPy fashion, Steve and I love a good brunch. Before moving here we had fun trying quaint little brunches all over LA, Vegas, and Seattle. And even farther back, I have hilarious memories from the cheap bottomless mimosa brunches my friends and I used to seek out across NYC in the years right after college.

But in the UAE, brunch isn't cute, or quaint, or made for rolling out of bed and stumbling towards. It's an event that requires a little advance planning, usually reservations, time to get presentable (yoga pants not recommended), a round trip taxi ride (zero tolerance alcohol policy in the UAE), and eating and drinking way too much (both are all you can eat). Oh, and it's typically on Friday since that's the primary day off here and people tend to stay for the entire brunch time - 4 hours.

And you guyyyyyyyys, brunch here costs $125 - $180 per person.

Apparently, my reaction means I haven't fully acclimated. None of our friends seems to have the same reaction, or at least not anymore. Even Steven thinks it's fine.

But of course we wanted to support and celebrate with our friends and their new bebe, so we joined in. Steve and I opted for the non-alcoholic option but time crawls when you're drinking water and iced tea.

But 4 hours is a long time when you're stone cold sober and all your friends are several drinks deep.

So when Aimee handed me a mojito 2 1/2 hours later, I happily partook.

And like magic, the rest of the brunch flew by. And so did the drinks we had at our place, and the shawarma we ordered and happily ate with our hands.

The end.

Travel: Not Cyprus

When I initially booked our Cyprus trip, I thought this weekend would be full of good hikes, great views, leaping off waterfalls, and plenty of "Ahhhhhhh" moments.

And being totally honest, I also pictured being less than graceful in some of those pursuits.

But instead, today we woke up past noon and have spent the entire day as couch potatoes...in Abu Dhabi.

Sometimes our travel plans don't work out. It's usually annoyingly benign - like when I didn't realize Bahrain's Ramadan was super strict and we opted for Prague instead, or getting on the wrong train on our way to Medoc last year, or simply that something wasn't as good as I hoped. We don't dwell on it, but still a valuable part of the whole travel experience.

But yesterday, we had to cancel our entire Cyprus trip at 2am just a handful of hours before we were supposed to depart.

First, I got a text at 1:30am from the airline saying our itinerary had changed.

And when I checked the airline website it had been replaced by a press release stating they had gone out of business 90 minutes prior and ceased all flights.

Steve and I did some quick checks to see if the trip could still be salvaged - flying in on different airlines, or even re-routing to an alternate destination.

But in the end, we opted to just cancel the whole thing and use the vacation time for a later trip.

And then we ordered a pizza and ate it in bed with a bottle of Cava, while watching HP 7-1.

Booked: Cyprus in 2 weeks!

One of the best things about living in the UAE is its physical location - there are countless places we've never been within a few short hours (by plane).

I stumbled on some airfare to Cyprus that was just too good to pass up.  So we're going for 5 days! Lately we've really enjoyed keeping our trips more flexible, and road tripping through the picturesque locations.  It worked really really for us in Croatia and France, so we're sticking to that format for Cyprus too.

We've got our plane tickets, a car, and Phoebe is confirmed for boarding. That's pretty much all we need these days.

Image courtesy of PDX International Studies

Happy October 1st

When I was 9 or 10, my parents came home with a tiny block of triangular wood, cut in the shape of Nevada. My mom had written "Happy Oct 1st" on it with a blue ball point pen and triumphantly handed it to me after I had finished practicing piano. It was a simple gesture and the wood was mostly likely a end-scrap from a lumber yard, but I cherished it. For years, it sat on display in my parents' house - first on the piano, then the glass display shelves, and then a hallway table amongst family pictures. I'm not sure if it had the same meaning for my mother, but it always reminded me of her in a moment of genuine and simple happiness, so full of light and mirth. And even though that piece of wood is long lost, the memory is a lighthouse.

Twenty-five (ish) years later, and October 1st is one of the only family traditions I still hold close. I usually call my mom to bring each other a little joy, and then I do one simple and uncomplicated thing to make myself as happy as I remember her being. A few years ago, I treated myself to 2 pieces of pie and a bottomless cup of coffee for dinner. And one year, very early in my career, I left work early to read my book in the park and enjoy the fading sun - both of which were quickly becoming precious commodities.

To this day, being immersed in a book is still one of my greatest pleasures. There are entire parts of my brain/heart/life that only come to life when reading and I've passed months, maybe even years, of my life in this state. When I first moved back here I was so excited about all the books I would inhale, and had so many things lined up to read. I had dozens of ebooks checked out or on hold from the public library, a new and maxed out Kindle Unlimited membership, and about a dozen print books squirreled away in my luggage (because nothing can replace the weight/smell/feel of those pages).

But for months, I had difficulty gripping a story the way I wanted. My head was too crowded, too full of meaningless minutiae, and too accustomed to constantly being busy. The best I could muster were a few short spurts throughout the day - often times while my mind raced across 10, 15, 20 different topics. I can't tell you how many times I had to reread the same pages.

But now, after months of working at it nearly everyday, I am finally able to read and read and read to my heart's content. I've remembered the art of emptying my mind and focusing on just one thing at a time, and enjoying it. It's a long awaited and beautiful thing, and I am oh-so-happy to be here.

So today, on this Happy October 1st, I am going to order takeout and read all night.