Saying Goodbye

The worst part of leaving is the saying goodbye part. For 4 years Al Ain, UAE has been my home and I have been blessed to make many true friends whom I hope will remain life-long friends. On the bright side, I now know many people from various parts of the world so when I travel internationally I know I will have people to visit and places to stay.

The goodbyes started on Thursday June 26 as I said goodbye to the teachers and admin at ENS and walked out the door. That wasn't the hard part as I have been looking forward to this day for many weeks, if not months. I will say that Una, the principal, was very supportive and encouraging and I enjoyed working for her. I will miss Jenn, Aimee, and Maureen but I know that I will keep in touch with them; at least through Facebook if nothing else. And Maureen is only in Windsor so we have already decided to plan a lunch date.

After leaving ENS, for the last time, on Thursday I headed to Dubai to begin my summer getaway plans with Kristie, Vanny, and Jane.  We had planned on staying in Dubai on Thursday night and then The Palm on Friday night. So I met Vanny at the hotel and then we went to the mall for sinner before Kristie and Jane joined us. They surprised me with wonderful going away gifts - a sand design of the Burj Al Arab with our names and a Longchamp bag - before we popped some popcorn and made coffee and tea for our movie watching night.

Friday morning dawned early with our human alarm (Vanny) waking us up at 6:30 so we would have time for breakfast before church. We got ready and walked over to the JW Marriott for breakfast before church. Now this is where things got emotional. I was not at all ready for Friday and having to say goodbye to my friends who became like family to me. The girls like to sit in the front, but I didn't really want to because I knew it would be hard for me, but they talked me into it so after chatting for a bit we entered the ballroom and walked to the front for service. We started singing and I started getting emotional and couldn't hold the tears back and walked out crying. Thankfully Whimper was a greeter that morning so she was still out by the door handing out bulletins and I walked up to her and just started crying on her shoulder. We walked into the bathroom, where we were joined by Kristie, so I could get myself under control. I just sat there and prayed and cried for a bit before I was ready to go back into the service. Thanks to God for calming me down and focusing my heart and mind on the service so I could worship Him instead of focus on leaving. After church I said many, many (too much as the Arabic people would say) goodbyes to sweet dear friends. It was hard, but I know that I will see them again in our eternal home. After many goodbyes, I just turned to Jane and said that we needed to go now. I didn't want anymore, I just wanted to leave. Maybe that was a bit selfish on my part, as I could have seen more people, but I didn't want to cry anymore so we left and headed to the Mall of the Emirates for lunch and our shuttle to the Rixos on The Palm.

When we arrived at the Rixos it was like we had left Dubai altogether, it was secluded and beautifully landscaped and manicured. We checked in and explored our rooms, fiddling with the electronics controls for the lights and AC, before heading out to the pool. We spent a few hours at the pool where Jane got a free swimming lesson and I ended up shooting some baskets with another guest and his daughters while Kristie and Vanny sunbathed. The pool we were at closed at 6:30, but the other pool was open until 7:00, so we headed over there for the last 1/2 hour. When that pool closed we returned to our rooms to get cleaned up for dinner. We put on our fancy dresses and went down for the buffet dinner that was included in our deal. It turned out that the buffet was having a Turkish night and the chef was from Turkey. Vanny and I got really excited when we found out that we could have Anatolian ravioli, since we both enjoyed it so much on our trip to Turkey. When the chef found out that we had been to Turkey he prepared the ravioli as well as some other Turkish dishes and brought them to our table. We spent a few hours just enjoying each other's company and the delicious Turkish cuisine before heading back to the room for movies and popcorn. We enjoyed the night, but stayed up way too late knowing that our human alarm was waking us up at 6:30 so we could have breakfast and go to the beach before checkout. We spent an hour at the beach before it got too hot so we made our way to the pool where we knew that the water would be chilled and feel refreshing. We enjoyed the pool for another hour before we had to go back to our rooms to get cleaned up and ready to checkout. After checkout we took a cab to the nearest metro station and boarded the train for Karama so I could have lunch with Godly and Merlin before heading back to Al Ain to finish packing.

The train ride to Karama was way too quiet and sobering as I knew we were all dealing with too many emotions to be able to enjoy the time together. I just held Kirstie's hand and couldn't  even look at her without starting to cry and there was no way I was going to do that on the train, so we rode in silence not really looking at each other. We got off the train at Karama and waited in silence for Godly to pick me up. When he arrived I knew it was time to go and the tears flowed freely as I said goodbye to my 3 closest and dearest friends. We hugged for sometime and promised to stay in touch always before I again just had to go. I broke away from Kirstie's embrace and walked away, with tears still flowing, with Godly and I didn't even look back as they headed in the opposite direction to board the train to Deira City Center. And that was it. They were gone. I walked out, in silence, to get a taxi with Godly and head to his place for lunch.  

Merlin, his wife, was supposed to be cooking lunch but she decided not to because she didn't think she could make any Indian food without spice, so we went out instead.  Funny thing is we went out to an Indian restaurant and what they ordered was spicy!  We had something called sizzling chicken and it really was sizzling when they brought it to the table!  I think I would have enjoyed it, but the spice was just too much. After trying a bit, I asked Merlin if what she would have made would have been that spicy and she said it would have been spicier, so I guess it was good that we went out!  Too cool my flaming tongue we had brownies and ice-cream for dessert; I had more of the ice-cream than the brownie.  When lunch was finished we headed to a mall to meet Lucia and her husband so I could pick up my picture that he painted for me and then I had to say more goodbyes.  Although it was difficult to say goodbye to Godly, Merlin, and Lucia, it wasn't nearly as hard as it was earlier in the day.  We said goodbye with promises to keep in touch via What'sapp and Facebook and I got in the taxi for my final ride back to Al Ain.

The rest of the goodbyes that I needed to say took place in Al Ain.  I spent Sunday morning with Alexandra and Sunday afternoon/evening with Fara.  We didn't really do much, just kind of enjoyed each other's company.  Many promises were made to keep in touch always, whether it be through Facebook, What'sapp, or Skype, as we hugged, cried, and said goodbye.  Fara and I are talking about meeting up in Italy sometime soon (although I'm not sure if that will ever happen) and Alexandra and I are talking about a reunion at the Shangri-La in Oman.  If that never happens and I do end up traveling internationally again I know that I will have a place to stay in the UK and in South Africa.

And so my 4 years in the UAE ended.  I made wonderful friends who I will never forget and I had a life changing experience through it all.  For my last night in Al Ain, I went to bed tired and emotional, but found it too difficult to sleep as I was processing too many mixed emotions.  On the one hand I was sad to be leaving all my friends in the UAE and on the other hand I was excited to be returning home to my family in the USA, then there was anxiousness about not having a job and dealing with the inevitable counter culture shock that I have heard will come.  Thankfully I was able to get some sleep as I needed to be up at 3:00am for my 4:15 ride to the airport.  

It's been a great journey and I hope that you've enjoyed reading about it as much as I've enjoyed living it.  Now on to the next chapter in my life :)