A few eventful things my husband and I did this Thanksgiving weekend. They just reminded of us how thankful we should be for our new beginnings despite how much we can miss our family and friends back home…
Josh with his friend Aziz! Aziz had his honeymoon in Dubai, so we were able to meet him, his wife, and entire family a few days ago.
I am with Aziz’s mom, two sisters, and wife (your left to right). It’s rare for expatriates like us to interact with nationals, emiratis, or natives of the GCC. But we had randomly met Aziz at the Diamond Bar Starbucks when he was studying English at Cal Poly Pomona in Spring 2012. A few months ago, Aziz moved back to Saudi to meet his beautiful wife Arwa. Sadly, Josh and I were unable to attend his wedding in Saudi Arabia, but we hope to visit them when we get the chance since we are only 1 hour away. I will probably wear an abaya then!
Aziz and his wife Arwa at Magic Planet, which has a bowling alley and a lot of attractive games. It’s a little bit like Round 1, but with more rides. It was Arwa’s first time bowling… but she beat all of us!
I am with my New Zealand/Taiwanese friend Michelle, who was a flight attendant for the Emirates, had a going away party at a nice Thai restaurant. I haven’t had Thai food for so long, and this was some really good Thai food. I would say quite comparable to Coconut Bay!
I am with a Purdue alumni Heather Dale who lives in Abu Dhabi with her family. She invited Josh and I over for Thanksgiving dinner, so we rented a car for the first time to drive to the next emirate. We were stuffed by the end of the night and had a wonderful time meeting Americans, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, Germans who work out in Abu Dhabi. Good times. But I was left with numerous mosquito bites =(
Josh is at a Dunkin Donuts in Abu Dhabi. We had stayed the night in Abu Dhabi and grabbed some coffee and donuts to-go around noon, so that we could get back for Thanksgiving dinner #2 at 3 PM…
(Unfortunately, no picture for Thanksgiving #2. But it was a wonderful time to reminisce on the historical purpose behind Thanksgiving with Redeemer church friends.)
Last but not least, I am with our friend Theo who had just come back from Turkey. He invited us over for some Turkish tea and treats. We saw some awesome pictures and videos of his 10-day adventure… I sure hope we can travel and see the rest of the middle eastern world someday. But we’ll see. =)
