The Real Reason I Have a Truck

As Joni Mitchell said, "You don't know what you've got til it's gone" and then something about parking lots and museums. In my case, it wasn't until after I left Philly that I really appreciated what it was like to be a mere two hours away from ski slopes, New York City, or the Jersey Shore. In Atlanta, we lived right on the Chattahoochee River and we were only a short drive away from famous leisure meccas like Savananah, Charlotte, Asheville and Hilton Head. I wonder what I will regret when I eventually leave Abu Dhabi?

Being minutes away from a boat launch and then only a short ride to a private sandy island? I may miss that. Forced to chose between water skiing and scuba diving from one weekend to the next? That could make me nostalgic. Traveling to places I'd only ever read about or seen in movies? Definitely will feel that loss. How about being only an hour and a half away from the swirling sand dunes of the deepest desert? Now there's something you'll not find anywhere else!




We spent our Valentine's weekend on a romantic expedition in the lonely windswept dunes of Al Ain - in the company of about 75 boy scouts! Robert's troop held a Scout Camporee with troops coming from Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. We went along to provide assistance and to dust off our camping gear which has been lying neglected in the storage room.

Gas? Kidney stones? To the other side? Who knows? Just shut the gate.


We picked a good weekend to do it. While the temps in the desert are still a bit cool at night and it was a bit windy, the landscape was breathtaking. Desert camping is a bit different from pitching a tent in the woods. It's very sandy for one! This makes the ground nice and soft but the grit does tend to get into everything. You need special stakes to keep your tent lines in the ground. And you pretty much need to bring your own wood if you want a fire. But it's beautiful and quiet and there's nothing quite like it.




The boys had a great time competing for prizes in a sort of "Scout Olympics" which included orienteering, fire building against the clock, and building (using lashings and knots!) your own chariot and racing it. Connie observed Robert splitting wood for the fire without burying the hatchet into his head or anyone else. After watching his patrol make "breakfast" the next morning by ladling hot water directly into instant oatmeal packets thereby eliminating clean-up, I decided perhaps I should volunteer to teach the cooking merit badge.




It was all good fun. We only have until April before it gets too warm to go anymore so I think we'll make one or two more similar excursions. Don't want to leave with any regrets.


Yes, this is a real sign. Must Have!



Extra photo!
When I put the space heater on my night stand, my bed instantly turns into "Kitty Beach". Apparently it also bestows super powers on Kirby.

love, Jaimie

blah, blah, blah

I know I've been neglecting you but now that all the holiday hubub is over and done with there isn't much to report. But maybe you want to hear about all my holiday adventures?

We had a nice big Thanksgiving here at the house and then I spent the next few days running around like crazy, getting things ready for Robert and I to go to the States for a whole month. Naturally I had to also ensure that everything here would run smoothly while I was gone for hubby, home and kitties.

I have a recurring nightmare in which I keep trying to fit an ever growing pile of stuff into a rapidly shrinking suitcase, sort of a modern take on Alice in Wonderland. And at last I got to live that dream! At first I had a ton of Christmas presents I had to transport but every time I would off -load any of them, a slew of must -have items from a last minute shopping spree would take their place. After shelling out for the privilege of even taking bags to Vegas then paying over- weight fees on mine, I spent the rest of the trip obsessed with taking things out, giving things away, shifting things to Robert's bag, mailing packages ahead. I'll try to control myself better next time but America is still the land of plenty and filled with so many temptations.


One of my special purchases. Stephanie has agreed to babysit it until my return.


Two weeks we spent in Houston, seeing friends and family and for me, eating everything I haven't tasted since I left Houston five years ago. So I was doubly happy about stuffing clothes into my suitcase that I couldn't even stuff myself into. Ah mexican food: can't live with it, can't live without it. Did I tell you that it snowed while we were there?...


And then I brought the snow to Vegas!

What's terribly wrong with this picture????


I spent a lovely, snowy, rainy, chilly week in Las Vegas with my sister Beth, her kids Hannah and Kerry, and their new dog, a yorkie named Sammy. I did most of the cooking for a week to atone for my overindulgences in Houston. We even did a couple of nights of Hannukah and I managed to get rid of a few more presents that way.
I made a grand Hanukah dinner, complete with latkes and brisket. Um, too bad we put the candles in backwards and we're reading the prayer off the side of the box...

We also took in the "Fremont Street Experience" while we were in Vegas. It was a very Christmassy type thing to do. Really it was.



After the bright lights of Vegas we headed for the rural charms of Covington, TN, but here my snow fairy charms let me down. That was okay, I was starting to feel a bit wintered-out. Connie finally met up with us here and we spent a few great evenings visiting with friends. Apparently, my previous post about Twilight stirred up a bit of a storm so four lucky gentlemen got dragged to the cinema by their spouses and friends and were forced to watch hot vampire love for a couple of hours. We were without a doubt the oldest AND the loudest people in the theater that night. We agreed afterwards that this would become a holiday tradition but the boys want to pick the movie next time. As long as they're paying....
Well, after reading the book, of course he wanted to see the movie!


Hon, I think I just saw a....MENEHUNE!!!!!


After an arduous trip back home and a very damp but festive New Year's Eve, I am finally over my jet lag and life is slowly returning to normal, whatever that is. A little yoga, a little jogging, a lot of starving, and at last I can wear my blue jeans without cutting off circulation to my lower body. And isn't new beginnings what it's all about?


If you can read the sign you will see that my generous and thoughtful neighbors purchased a special gift for a certain soul singer who just happens to be married to a german Victoria's Secret super-model.

News Bites

Well, I have a couple of things to discuss today. One of them is kind of embarrassing so I might as well come right out with it: I have been "bitten" by the Twilight bug. (Ha! See what I did there?) I really can't believe it either.

I've been seeing these books in the stores for a while now and I would pick them up and read the back covers and then put them back down again. I love a good vampire tale as much as the next morbid person (Anne Rice anybody?) but these seemed a little silly and youthful and gossip girly to me.

Then came the movie buzz. Photos of Robert Pattinson kept turning up on some of the websites I go to and I'm here to tell you that he is seriously good looking. People are saying the series is the next Harry Potter. I overhear grown women like me requesting the books at the library. Then I inadvertently click on the trailer - and I decide I'm going to have to see the movie. But first I need to read the book.


What????


So off to the local booksellers to buy the first one, Twilight. It's over 400 pages long and 24 hours later I'm finished with it. I return the very next day to the same store and purchase the rest of the series. I don't know what to tell you. It's not Pulitzer Prize winning or Oprah's Bookclub either (thank God for that) but Stephanie Meyers knows how to tell a tale. The pages just keep turning. It's at heart a romance but a very intense, stirring one, with supernatural creatures, breath taking action, and an all-permeating sense of ill foreboding. I want to know what happens next and more than that, what will Edward do? For better or worse, I feel like an overwrought 14 year old.


I get it next!


I also read the next one in a day, 500 + pages. This is getting ridiculous. It's all I think about. I make some decisions: don't bring it in the car for one or I'll read at stop lights, at the dentist's office, in line at the grocery. Judging from the depression I felt when I finished the final Harry Potter, or the Return of the King, I know I'll be miserable when I finish the last book. So I decide to ration myself. Only a hundred pages a day. Also, the way I feel is just too intense! I don't even allow myself to start the third one until I've calmed down a bit, which in the end takes several days.


I guess everyone is reading it.



The movie opens on Friday in the US but not here until Dec. 4th. But good news! I'll be in Houston then and I can see it as soon as my jet lag clears! Who's in??

Yes, I am coming home for the holidays. Since Robert is out of school for most of December, he and I are headed to the States for the entire month. I will be in Houston from the 1st until the 14th when I fly to Vegas for a week. After that, it's Christmas in Covington, TN and then back through Houston for a day before jetting back to beautiful Abu Dhabi. I feel like a rock star on tour. So if you live in or near any of those places you can come see me and I will sign your copy of Twilight for you!

love,
Jaimie

Life is a Cabaret!

Well, not a terribly original title but I had some trouble coming up with a clever saying apropos Berlin. I could have used Kennedy's quote, "Ich bin ein Berliner" but I don't think two visits qualifies me for citizenship. Also, during the course of the week, a kind gentleman said I reminded him of a younger Liza Minelli (thank goodness not the current one) so I thought, why not run with it?

The Kulturforum in Berlin. Funky.


But I am getting ahead of myself. Connie had a conference in Berlin last week so we flew into Amsterdam a day early and flew back out of there as well. Many people (including the Dutch) ask us what makes us like Amsterdam so much. We go there as often as possible and never seem to get tired of it but it's hard to describe why. For one thing, we love to walk and we seem to go for miles there. It's just so beautiful; every street is lined with unbelievable houses and mesmerizing shops and murky cafes. People putter along the canals in their boats, others swish by on their bicycles. We used to make sure we always did something cultural like visiting my favorite museum, the Van Gogh, but now we are happy to simply wander up and down, looking at people and things and stopping now and then for a beer. All the buzz and activity is so energizing to me. I even love the bad weather because we just don't have things like rain here in Abu Dhabi. It's literally refreshing.


Awesome houses.


People in boats. What's not to love?



The day we were there was absolutely gorgeous. It was Saturday and everyone and their dog and grandparents was out on the streets and in the open air cafes enjoying what was probably the last day of autumn. When we left the next day, the clouds and rain had moved in and the cafe tables had moved back inside.

Just hangin' out at Dam Square with ol' Darth here.


On to Berlin.

I personally had a great time. Connie, unfortunately had to work, and didn't get to see any of the cool things in Berlin. Since the hotel we were at is in a residential area that straddles east and west Berlin, I became pretty adept at taking the train. If you want to see what the local residents are like, take mass transit. I dragged a couple of the other wives with me on the first day and some psycho dude hearing us speak English launched into a tirade about monkeys and mixed marriages and jewish people and finally that the US was a crazy place. I agreed with him and he drifted off. Then when we got to the museum area it turned out they were closed on Mondays. I did manage to find us a good place for lunch and then the KaDeWe, the big department store there. We felt that was enough for one day and returned home. Mass transit also consumes a lot of time.


The old with the new and a hot air balloon. It's Potsdamer Platz.

The next day most of the guests and spouses went on one of the tours I had already been on (with a different guide, thank goodness) so I went back to the museum which was all European masters. Excellent representation of many major artists like Vermeer, Rubens, Holbein, Van Dyke, Van Eyk, Lorraine, La Tour, Caravaggio, even some Botticelli and a Velasquez, but nothing particularly famous by any of them. I happen to love Dutch still lifes and floral paintings and there were plenty of those. But the important discovery came in the gift shop. I picked up a book about museums in Berlin, and there was Nefertiti! I had totally forgotten she was in Berlin. So of course, the next day I had to go see her at the Egyptian Antiquities Museum and she was as wonderful as I had hoped. Perhaps even more so. That was the highlight of my trip. My only regret is that I forgot to bring the menehune to see her.



Yes she did! She's usually photographed from the side because she's missing an eye. I think she's pretty anyway.


Berlin Cathedral with an eastern Berlin radio tower next to it. I'm kinda into that whole juxtaposition of old and new thing here.


The next day I had neither the heart nor the energy to take the train again so I simply trudged around town in the rain, checking out old neighborhoods, funky shops and beautiful buildings, both run-down and restored. The cost of living is really low there right now so currently it's a favored place for arts and artists. I didn't see too much evidence of that where I was but it certainly is a historically interesting and visually appealing place to hang out for a while.


Someone told me they didn't really like modern art. That's why I love this neon sign in front of the ancient history museum: All Art Has Been Contemporary.

Ciao for now,
Jaimie

Where in the world is...me?

I must have let slip to the universe that I was bored because in the last few weeks I have become uncomfortably busy. My regular naps have been the first casualty so I'm feeling a bit punchy and this blog may a bit more rambling and not as artfully crafted as usual but please bear with. me.

For one thing, I have been forcing myself to go to exercise classes. My favorite so far is Body Combat because the music is better but I definitely feel a bit old and silly in there. Quite the opposite from my nice, soothing, stretching (though still challenging!) yoga classes. In addition, after signing Robert up for guitar lessons over the summer and his deciding he didn't like them, I've been taking them. I mean, they're my guitars after all. My teacher, a very talented Filipino boy named Jonathan, has been coaching me in scales and finger exercises and barre chords and is determined to train me up to be a lead guitarist. So be on the lookout for Estelle Wax and the Wildebeests at a club near you. (Weddings, parties and bar mitzvahs, blah blah blah...).

Your daily moment of baby elephant.


But none of this should keep me from telling you all about our swell trip to Thailand. After sticking it out here in Abu Dhabi for most of the summer and almost all of Ramadan we figured we deserved a nice getaway. The resort we visited last year made us a very tempting offer if we would return to them so we did. When we find a nice place we tend to go back there as it makes the rest of the trip so much easier when you know what the bar singers are like and what is the best time to hit the breakfast buffet.

A view of the resort. It's pretty.


I found it even more beautiful this time though I couldn't say why. I swore this trip I would get off the reservation but as the beach was so peaceful and inviting it was very difficult.


Statue guarding the hot tub. Someone guarding the statue.


Our first day there Robert showed up next to my beach lounger with a full body rash from some sun oil I had sprayed on him. He appeared better by that night but the next day it came back with a vengeance the moment the sun hit him. I felt like the worst mother of all time. So I left the beach and took him to a doctor on the property. They had to give him a cortisone shot and some antihistimines and some lotion. Also, we were told, don't let him go in the sun. On day 2 of our beach holiday. Yay. When we came out of the clinic I had Robert make an offering of a mento on the large shrine that was there. Just some extra insurance.


Look closely; you will see the tropical fruit flavored mento .


Well Robert didn't mind too much playing on the computer in the room. But fortunately for him as it was the end of the monsoon season we had some pretty iffy weather for the rest of the trip. For example, the next day it was raining which was also the day we chose to go diving. So it worked out well for Robert. He got over his skin issues and was able to go out again and I threw out the offending sun product. I won't be specific but it is named after our 50th state and smells like coconuts.


There's that menehune soaking up Thai culture.

Another view of the pretty resort. Why would you leave?


It was just a nice, mostly relaxing time in an awesomely beautiful setting. What more can you ask? Care for a mento?


Traditional Thai dancer. And manicurist.


I must go now but I promise to write more soon. I'm saving up some really good stuff for you.
love,
Jaimie

p.s. That first photo was taken in the arrivals hall of Abu Dhabi International Airport. We call it the "Magic Mushroom".

Random Ramadan

Hi. It's that time of year again: the holy month of Ramadan. I know I've explained it for you all before. Truth is, sometimes the specifics regarding infidels can change. When we first came to the Middle East in the beginning of the nineties you could have lunch at a hotel and they just hung curtains in the window so nobody would see you. But there was no booze. When we came to Abu Dhabi a few years later there was nothing for the entire month. No food in the daytime, no drinks at night. The bars and nightclubs and liquor stores just shuttered their windows and sent everyone home. But the Hijari calendar is lunar and Ramadan makes its way through the year, arriving a few days earlier each time. We hit a period where for a few years running this special time of fasting, praying, atonement and introspection coincided with Valentine's Day, then Christmas and New Year's Eve. The hotels must have lost an unbelievable amount of money. So now, in an effort to position the UAE as a genuine tourist destination, some compromises have been made. You can get food during the day around the pool at the hotels and beach clubs. The restaurants and bars can serve alcohol after 7pm. The liquor store is open for a limited time during the day. All in all, it is a much improved situation.

But I must sheepishly admit that I find it all most inconvenient. No starbucks when I'm shopping! No popcorn at the movies! No lunch at the food court when I'm bored! The absolutely most annoying thing is the shop timings. When we try to go somewhere it is either already closed (sorry, we close at 1, 1:30, 2:00, whenever we want, we're not actually ever open!) or not open yet (6, 6:30, 7:00, 8:00, who knows?). It is hit and miss and the times are rarely posted. Very frustrating I tell you!

And then there are the traffic incidents. I'm pretty sure the prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) could have had no inkling of the effects that lack of food, water, sleep or cigarettes would have on the already questionable driving skills of the local population. I see several major screw ups nearly every time I venture out. Two days ago I narrowly avoided clipping a taxi who decided to brake and turn sharply at the very last possible second. I only just stopped in time but the poor fellow behind me who was following too close and going too fast was not so lucky. I drive a Ford Explorer with a trailer hitch which his little Peugot got right up its nose. Not a scratch on me, but the driver wanted me to admit that it was partly my fault because I braked suddenly. Sorry, honey, I've been on the short end of that stick too many times. Everyone has to take their turn. Anyway, if you have an accident here you have to wait for the police to come and write it up. If you have body damage you can't get it fixed without an accident report and you're not allowed to drive around with damage to your car. So we sat in traffic and waited and when the officer finally arrived he was very polite and apologized for inconveniencing me. I didn't actually see him laugh or roll his eyes at the other guy but he must have done.

So, I will be glad when life such as it is goes back to normal whatever that is. In the meantime, we've joined the Abu Dhabi Sub Aqua Club and will be diving off the east coast of the UAE this weekend. Should be nice, and I could really use the break.



This explains a great deal.



I'm sorry I don't have many snaps for you this time but do know that I'm always on the lookout for more photo ops for your entertainment pleasure.



Well I'm not sure what paya is so I'll just have pound of booty please.


Oh, by the way, short pants for girls are okay. Preferably with sandals or flats. No socks. Much to my dismay, clam diggers for guys seems to be a trend that's arrived from Europe. So much for the chic continental. Ha!!

Let me know you're out there, would you please?

Love,
Jaimie

Where have I been?

Sorry, sorry, sorry for taking such a long time to get back to you. First I felt fatigued from my trip which turned out to really be symptomatic of some kind of "itis" I managed to pick up on the airplane. I don't seem to be able to fly anywhere without somebody flicking their contagious germs on me. It doesn't help that all flights from here leave at 1 or 2 in the morning ensuring you will arrive weak and exhausted wherever you go. I know, travel is wonderful, blah blah, I love it, blah blah, but could it possibly be any more of a hassle? I'm only 5'2" and I feel like I've been belted into a baby's car seat; I can't imagine what it must be like for a normal sized person. I won't even get into the "food". If you travel at all, you already know all this. Let's just say I try to make dam sure I'm gonna like it wherever I'm going. (Secondly, my internet hasn't been behaving as well as I'd like.)

Europe to me is always worth the effort. We arrived early morning in Milan, picked up our rental car, and took off towards Switzerland. In the old days we used maps, remember them? Then it was mapquest. Well now it's gps and thank goodness for that. Instead of "follow the yellowbrick road" it's "Please drive the highlighted route". I don't think we would have made it out of the tiny village the Milan airport is in without it.

I felt a bit sorry for Connie who was driving a strange stickshift in a foreign country through mountains in the rain with little or no sleep or coffee but I quite enjoyed the drive. It was indescribably beautiful and a drop of rain is always welcome when you've been living in the desert.

We made good time and only had to backtrack once or twice ("recalculating...." the lady says in a slightly exasperated tone) but we did have an appointment to meet Robert's scout troop at the camp and I wasn't sure we'd make it. We were getting higher into the mountains and driving through all these really long tunnels and winding through these tiny little towns. All of a sudden the gps lady says "in 500 yrds. board ferry". Board the ferry? What is this? Sure enough we immediately pass through a toll gate. 35 francs and we drive staight ahead onto what seems like a narrow bridge. There are cars in front and soon enough, cars behind. What in the world?... Five minutes later, the "bridge" slowly begins to move. We are on a train ferry and as it picks up speed it carries us into a tunnel and straight into the mountains. Twenty minutes later, we drive off the ferry and lo and behold, we are in Kandersteg, our precise destination! It was like magic.

The magical mystery train ferry.




We found some coffee and some lunch and then united Robert with the rest of his gang. There is a large international scout center there with scouts from all over the world. My main worry was that the temperatures were going to be uncomfortably low and it was raining as we spoke with more in the forecast. MInd you, this is the kind of camp where everyone pitches a tent on the ground and sleeps in it. I made sure Robert had long underwear and warm socks and a hat, but I was still paranoid that he would spend the week cold and wet and would never agree to go camping again. When he seemed well settled in we left him in the capable hands of his leaders and pointed the car towards Lausanne.


The Cathedral of Lausanne. It's really old.


Our little friend gets a closer look at the carvings on the cathedral door.

We spent the next two days in Lausanne which is a beautiful old city on Lake Geneva. We spent our time like we usually do, walking around and looking at things and hanging out at cafes. There is a museum there built on the ruins of an old roman house. After we bought our tickets, the woman at the reception desk handed us each a flashlight and motioned us through a doorway. To our great surprise, we entered a totally dark hall with what seemed to be layers of broken glass on the floor. As we switched on our lights and crunched our way along the walls, we realized that the lower level of the house had been made into an exhibit of examples of ancient roman graffitti! Kids practicing their letters, writing their names, drawing stick figures of animals and their favorite gladiators, men writing love poems, calling each other rude names, scratching familiar naughty drawings; these marks had lasted thousands of years. You needed the flashlight to see them properly but we never figured out the purpose of the broken glass. I was happy I didn't wear flip flops that day.


Down at the lake.

From Lausanne it is only a beautiful hour's drive along the lake to Montreux which was to be our final destination. Along the way I made Connie stop to let me look in at the house that Le Corbusier built for his parents just outside of Vevey. Even though it wasn't the one day a week that the house is open to visitors, seeing the gate was open (well, unlocked) I popped in anyway and had a look around the garden and a peep through the doors and windows. As it happens, Corbusier's grandson was there to meet with some architects about restoring the place and he kindly allowed me a moment or two to satisfy my curiosity. It was very plain and simple with an amazing view of the lake and lots of Eames furniture. It was really cool.






The Chateau of Chillon, an erstwhile prison made famous in a poem by Lord Byron. Pretty nice.


And so, to Montreux. I must say we didn't see much of the actual town. We stayed in an old Victorian hotel by the lake which is where most of the action takes place anyway. There is a boat that takes people to towns all up and down the lake but most of the time we just walked it. The Montreux Jazz Festival has a carnival like atmosphere with souvenir and craft stalls, food and drink booths, bungee jumping and of course outdoor stages. For four days we strolled around the lake, looked at things, sat in cafes and listened to music. During the day there were live performances at outdoor stages and at night after the main big ticket shows at the auditorium there were free shows in all the clubs. The last night we had tickets for Return to Forever with Chick Corea, Al DiMeola, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White. Afterwards I rushed Connie next door to this club to see a band called the Ting Tings who I'd heard of and who are very popular. Alas, we arrived too late; while we certainly heard them and they sounded great, the club was too crowded to get more than a glimpse of the band. Too hip for my own good, eh?


The International Scout Center in Kandersteg. There's a really nice kitty who sleeps on a bench outside.



The next day we awoke early to fetch Robert from his mountaintop. They had been a little cold and quite a bit wet but everything had turned out fine and Robert had an excellent time. He was especially pleased with the huge new swiss army knife he had purchased. When we got back to the hotel in Milan a few hours later we spread out all his stuff on the fire escape to let it dry out. I had wanted to go into town to see the Last Supper but you need reservations now and I hadn't been able to secure one for that day so I contented myself with room service, a nap, and the assurance that we would come back for a proper visit to Italy in the near future. The vacation has to end somewhere.





Yes, those are Smurfs. Playing soccer. On a billboard made of plants.