Happy Birthday Katie

On a rainy Sunday in Houston, at 5:45 am , you came into our lives and today we celebrate that event. Ten days after your birth, we had you on an airplane bound for New Orleans, your new home. You have had many moves and many airplane trips since and we have loved watching you grow into the beautiful young lady that you are today. You are twenty on the twentieth, so this is your lucky year. We love you Katie-bug....have a very happy day.

Tur-duc-ken

Now that we have bought a house in Dallas, I'm often asked if I like living there better than in Houston. I do like the fact that north Texas is closer to my kids, but I have to admit that I've left my heart in the Bayou City.

I could blog for a month on the things I miss, but since it is the holiday season I will stick with things festive.

Here is my Christmas list of things you can only get in Houston

1. Pancho Claus and his low-rider sleigh

2. cheap bling at Charming Charlie's

3. mosquito bites on Christmas Eve

4. festive green mold on your yard Santa

5. my parents' house

6. Tur-duc-kens

What are Turduckens you may ask. If you are from Dallas you will ask because you have never seen one. In Houston, we know good food because we live closer to New Orleans and we have more Cajuns. It was some of these Cajuns that invented the wonder known as a turducken. These are turkeys stuffed with a duck and a chicken and some dirty rice or crawfish jambalaya. Once you have one, it is hard to go back to the boring butterball turkeys you find in Dallas. Yes, I will be importing one up north to Dallas for the holidays.

Expat excuse syndrome

My tree is not up...my gifts are not wrapped...(actually my gifts are not purchased)...my cards are not signed...but I have a great excuse....I'm an expat. No one expects much of you when you live overseas. I have even been known to use this excuse when I've moved back to the states. I just say I'm behind on things because I used to be an expat. I got behind in 1991 and I really have never caught up. So don't worry if you haven't gotten your Findley Christmas card yet...expat excuse syndrome at work.

On another note...here are some blue-eyesighted observations from the past few days...

- I saw on the news that a guy in Dallas invented a box that wraps itself...I love America.
- If you are shopping for boots in the DFW area...you are too late. I have been told that boots start selling in August and are usually picked over by Sept. I know that the majority of the country's competitive shoppers live in the metroplex, but buying boots when it is 100 degrees??? I stand (in my bare feet) in awe of these women.
- I've only been out of the country for a month, but while I was gone the leaves on the trees have fallen, the Christmas decorations have all been put up and Oprah has taken over the world.
- My new favorite show is Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Chanel. Who knew that growing mushrooms involved so much manure? This is the only channel I can find without Oprah on it.

Watching the sunrise with Scarlett and Rhett

By far the best movie for jet lag


It is 4:00 am....I am up. Having jet lag gives me the rare opportunity to be a "morning person". Did you know that there is nothing on TV before 6:00 am? I get a lot of reading done and watch really long movies during jet lag nights. My circadian rhythms are usually back on track in about a week and I'll be back to my night-owl ways. I think I'm going to enjoy the sunrises while I can.


This is the first post I have written from Texas. The purpose of this blog has always been to write about my observations of a foreign land. Sometimes in the course of being an expat, the tables turn and foreign seems familiar and vice versa. Having jet lag gives me time to ponder these thoughts between infomercials. Now, I need to go order The Amazing $9.99 Tub Scrubber and get back to Scarlett and Rhett.

This genie is not in the bottle

Well I'm packing to go home again.
Flights to Europe usually leave between 11:58pm - 12: 05am. so I'm never quite sure what day it is that I'm leaving. The Saturday 11:58pm and the Sunday 12:05am will both arrive in Dallas on Sunday. Somewhere in there I lose 10 hours and a functioning brain. Yes it is very confusing. It is like when you arrive at the airport you feel you should go to arrivals gate but no....you have arrived to depart and should, therefore, go to the departure gate. It is amazing I don't miss more flights. David assures me I'm the only one confused by all of this.

The Abu Dhabi airport is very unique (see above). It is like being inside the genie's lamp...no windows and a lot of smoke. This genie has discovered that for a few dirhams more you can get Golden Class service. Instead of second hand smoke and claustrophobia, you get a private escort to a lovely lounge with food, TV and Internet. Worth every penny!!!

Blue-eyesight gets a little cross-eyed when I get to Texas. Who are all these friendly people in cowboy hats??? Where are the burkas, dishdashes, Ferraris? Oh yeah...I'm back home. This is called culture shock and it works both ways.

If there were mosques on the moon

Oman was a nice change from the flat deserts of the UAE. Much of it looks like the surface of the moon only with mosques.













The country is run by Kenny Roger's long lost twin brother,
the Sultan "Crazy Eyes" Qaboos.
He likes to look at you as you drive under bridges.

The hotel was beautiful...

The beach was beautiful too.

The Portuguese left their forts behind in Muscat and a lot of European charm too.























This is how David likes to shop....driving by the souk going 60 mph

Sinterklaas has left the building

When the girls were very young we lived in Holland. In the 2 1/2 years that we were there, we adopted the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas. There was no way to escape it, their friends were all getting visits from Sinterklaas. The problem was that Sinterklaas comes in Nov. and the annoying man leaves presents in their wooden shoes EVERY DAY for weeks until he leaves on Dec 5. He doesn't leave quietly either...his departure is marked by leaving a really big present.

His actual birthday is Dec. 6, so I'm not sure why Sinterklaas Dag(day) is the 5th. Maybe the fact that he is supposed to be hundreds of years old has led people to believe it is highly likely that he may die any minute. To be sure that they receive the presents anyway, they celebrate his birthday a day in advance.

He doesn't replace Santa, but is just the opening act. He comes with his helpers, the politically incorrect Zwarte Pieten (black Petes). They run around, throw stuff at the kids and cause a lot of trouble.

Fast forward 17 years. There are still certain good "little girls" that get a care package from Sint this time of year. We call it a little Christmas teaser. It looks like Sinterklaas is going to be with us forever and ever and ever.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

When I was growing up, we always waited until after my brother's birthday, on Dec 3, to start decorating for Christmas. Here in Abu Dhabi, they wait until after their country's birthday to start their decorating as well. That's right...they decorate for Christmas here. They have Santa and a lot of the little kids lining up to see him are wearing dishdashes. Lets just hope Santa doesn't give them a teddy named Mohammed.

One of the biggest surprises I had when I got to Abu Dhabi was how much Christmas decorating is done here. This is a place where my Bible was confiscated at customs so I expected there to be a total ban of the holiday.

Boy was I wrong. The malls and hotels are decorated as much or more than they are at home.

If you think about it, there are many things about Christmas that Arabs love....

Shopping

Gaudy gold stuff draped over everything (tinsel)

clashing color schemes (red/green)

Workers that do everything for you (elves)

Things that go fast (reindeer)

Guys with beards (Santa)

Guys with beards and camels (wise men)

Jesus (he is one of their prophets)
You see, Muslims have no problem with Jesus, just with Christians.

Happy Birthday Chuck....may your Ags always win and your girls only date Eagle Scouts.....

love ya...now I've gotta go and put up my tree

Happy 36th Birthday UAE

Today is UAE's National Day.

Here is a short history of a very young country.

The 7 states (or emirates) that make up the UAE were formerly known as the Trucial States, The term trucial refers to the fact that the sheikhs ruling the seven states were bound by truces with Great Britain.

The British were not really interested in colonizing this area because it was basically a desert with some guys on camels. How could they have known that Justin Timerberlake would one day be performing on these shores?

Originally Bahrain and Qatar were to be part of the federation, but after three years of negotiations they decided to be independent.

On Dec 2, 1971, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah decide to form the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi is chosen as the capital and Sheikh "Big Daddy" Zayed the president. The oil money starts pouring in, Ferrari's replace the camels and petunias start sprouting in the desert.

The UAE has accomplished so much in a very short amount of time and serves as a shining example to it's other Arab neighbors. Happy Birthday.