Happenings

A few things have kept me busy since my return to the fabulous state of MI last week. 

Surprise!  Dad is turning 70 this year and we (Mom and the kids) gave him a surprise party on 7/20.  There was lots of work to be done prior to the party and I am so thankful that the rest of my family did the majority of the work (since I was still in the UAE).  But I did get to help with the decorating, which wasn't all that much so it was kind of fun!  Dad knew that he was having a family dinner at Ann's to celebrate his birthday, but he was totally surprised when he arrived and there were more people than the immediate family members that he was expecting.  It was a good day to see a lot of my family that I haven't seen in a year, or more: Aunt Margaret, Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Emma, Uncle Gordie and Aunt Mary, Linda, and Alan.  We (the kids) got Dad $70 worth of instant lottery tickets and Nancy arranged them on a tree.  I guess money does grow on trees because he won $33.  Not much, but hey it was something!  It was a fun party filled with great family times!  A great plus of the day was that Mason-Man said my name for the first time!!!  He said "Aira".  Hey that's close enough for me:)

Happy 70th Birthday Dad!!

On Tuesday I got up early, what was I thinking, and went to work with Amy.  Amy works at Tutor Time (a daycare) and I went last year and some of her kids were asking if I was going to come again this year.  She is a pre-K teacher and she is wonderful with those 4 and 5 year olds!!  The learning that is taking place in her classroom is impressive.  She is really preparing her students for kindergarten.  Personally I don't know how she does it, dealing with 22 4 and 5 year olds.  There was crying and temper tantrums.  I think they're cute, but I just can't deal with the crying.  Thank God for pre-K teachers!!

Amy works with a couple of Arabic teachers and I spent time with Rimon working on my Arabic.  She tried talking to me in Arabic and having me answer, but turns out I still don't know enough.  My Arabic really sucks.  I can do the few pleasantries (hi, how are you, where do you live, what do you do, what's your name...) but really not much beyond that.  I think it all goes back to verbs and really having to learn them myself.  I know speaking more would definitely help.  We'll see what happens this year.  After work Rimon and Lamia took us to Sahara (desert) for a delicous Arabic meal.  It was good, but the fatoush was not like The Golden Sheep in Al Ain and the hommous wasn't as good as Al Noor's.  It was a good Arabic meal, but when you've had authentic nothing really compares!!!  The company was great though:)

I am getting ready to spend my last weekend in the USA at my favorite place, Ludington!!!  Mom, Dad, Amy, and I went last year before I left for the UAE and we'll be returning this year.  I love being on Lake MI and walking the Ludington Pier.  I have many, many wonderful family memories of this place and I am glad to be making more.

On the subject of going back: I'm not really ready (other than partially packed) or excited.  I don't want to go.  I know I have to and I also know that once I get back and into the routine and seeing friends I will be glad to be back, but I don't want to leave my family.  It's been a great month and I don't want it to end.  One more year and then hopefully I'll be able to find a job in MI.

72 degrees with 68% humidity at 4:30

نورث كارولينا - North Carolina

ذهبت الى نورث كارولينا يوم الاثنين ان يوم الخميس

I went to North Carolina Monday to Thursday. 

I needed to throw in some Arabic lest I forget!  I'll try to add more, but who knows!!

I had an awesome week in NC.  It was great to go back and spend time with friends.  Although I did not have enough time to see everyone, it was still a good week.  After working 8 years in NC this was the first year that I was actually excited to go back!  Going back for a vacation instead of having to work helps add to the excitement.  I was able to spend the week at Badin Lake with Dee and Dave.  It was a nice week at the lake.

Monday was a relaxing day just catching up with Dee.  After traveling via car and plane I decided that I didn't need to go out on the boat.  We had a fabulous dinner of homemade pulled pork!  It was extemely tender and juicy. 

Tuesday was the day for the get together at the lake.  I had invited several friends from Balfour to come out to the lake and I was able to see Kristen, Lesley, Rosemary, and Lesha.  It was a great reunion from last year when the third grade teachers gave me a farewell party at Dee's house.  I have missed my friends and it was great to see them.  We spent some time on dry land catching up and then Dave took us out on the boat.  It was a gorgeous day on the lake; sunny and warm.  We continued to chat on the boat as Dave took us around the lake.  After our boat ride Dave made his famous brats!  I hadn't had brats since I've been home so it was a nice treat.  Dave cooks the brats in beer and then grills them; they are delicious:)  I had a wonderful day, but it ended all too soon and I found myself saying goodbye to many good friends.  It will be another year until I see them.  Saying goodbye to several friends that I have missed was very hard.  Although I had to say goodbye, it was wonderful to be able to have the oportunity to see them and spend the day with them.

Balfour friends and Riley!

Oh Burrito Brothers, I have missed you!  It's been too long.  On Wed. I was able to go back to Burrito Brothers and have the best Mexican  food in the state of NC.  Amy, Beth, and Meredith met me and Dee at Burrito Brothers in Asheboro for a spicy Mexican dinner.  The best part of the dinner was the salsa.  OK maybe the actual best part was spending time with friends, but the salsa would be a close second! 

Burrito Brothers dinner get together

In addition to a fabulous dinner and another great night with friends, I was able to go out on the boat again.  Dave took me and Dee out in the afternoon and I enjoyed the lake and tubing.  It had been quite some time since I had been tubing and let me tell you, these tubes are very different.  No hole in the middle and really big!  I was reminded of the awesome times I had at my Uncle Jimmy's during the summer.  I would go tubing every year, and this was just as fun.  Granted, I didn't as wet without the hole in the middle, but it was fun nonetheless! 

No hands required!

Unfortunately the week was coming to an end.  After a great day on Wed. I went to bed exhausted and woke ready for another quick trip on the boat.  Lake living has its benefits!  The weather was gorgeous the entire 4 days; Dee joked that I had brought the cooler weather from MI!  The weather may have been cooler, but the sun was out the entire time and I am not used to spending time in the sun. Yes, I live in the desert, but I spend a lot of time indoors due to the exteme heat.  It was nice to be outside, but I got sunburned!!  I survived 11 months of living in the desert without getting sunburned (I am totally covered when I am outdoors) and I only had to spend 4 days at the lake in NC to get sunburn!  I guess that's just the price I have to pay for being able to spend the time at the lake.  I'm willing!  I am so blessed to have awesome friends that were willing and able to spend the time with me and listen to my stories about the previous year.  I would have liked to have stayed longer and seen more people, but all good things must come to an end.

The 1 1/2hour flight back to MI was an extremely long.  I'm not sure how I'm going to survive the 14 hour flight from Chicago to Abu Dhabi.  The actual flight was about 2 hours, but all the taxing and waiting was ridiculous.  I think it was about 6 hours from the time I left Dee's to the time I got home to a homemade pot roast dinner:)

صديقاتي ممتازة و احبكم

My friends are excellent and I love them!! 

Weather update: 83 degrees with 42% humidity at 7:30.









Relaxing Week

I've had another great week in MI with my family and friends.  It's been a relatively relaxing week, which has been good. 

I was able to get to Lansing on Monday to enjoy dinner with Angie.  It's always great to see her and spend time catching up.  I wish we could do it more often.

I finished my travel scrapbook last Sunday so I began my school scrapbook.  It was fun looking at the pictures of the girls!  They really were some great girls and I wonder who will be in my grade 4 class in September.  I just hope Moza isn't, other than that it should be fine.  Hopefully!

Wednesday was a fabulous day.  I picked the kids up from daycare and took them to a park.  It was a great day to go to the park, temps in the 70s and sunny!  I am so blessed to be able to spend quality time with my niece and nephew and my entire family!  We had a wonderful time at the park and then we met Mom at McDonalds for dinner. 











Thursday was a quiet day.  I got my hair cut and went to get my taxes done.  It wasn't as complicated as I thought since I had to claim my foreign income.  But I was able to deduct it due to not making at least $90,000 or being in the States for more than 35 days.  I will be getting a nice refund which will go towards another college loan.  I will get it paid off!!

Friday I picked the kids up from daycare again and brought them over to Grandma and Poppy's so we could go to the African Safari Adeventure in Ohio on Saturday.  The safari was interesting.  It definitely wasn't worth the $17.50 admission price, but Mom got tickets for $6, and I guess it was worth that.  There were a ton of llamas, alpacas, and deer.  There were elk and buffalo roaming around as well.  They would come right up to the car, stick their head in the car and eat out of your hand.  Alexa loved feeding them the carrots.  There were also a few, 3 to be exact, giraffes and zebras but they were behind fences so it was hard to feed them.  It was neat to be able to see them up close and personal though.  Although I hear you can do that at zoos now, so it's not all that special.  There were camel and pony rides as well, and they were actually free!  Amazing!  They should be since you're paying $17.50 for admission.  The kids were really good and I'm quite sure Alexa had a blast!  Mason enjoyed sitting on someone's lap or walking around in the car while we were driving through the safari (no car seats necessary, we were going very slow).  All in all it was a good day, and it didn't rain like they had forecasted.

I am looking forward to heading to NC for 4 days to visit friends. 

We just had a brief thunderstorm which brought the temp to 63 with 90% humidity.

Family Time

I've been soaking up all the family time I can get!  I have also been trying to set the record for greatest amount of pork eaten in one month!  OK maybe not, but I am consuming a lot of it.  I have to make up for a year of not having a lot of pork and get ready for another year.

Monday was a trip to Slow's in Downtown Detroit with Mom, Dad, Aunt Diane, and Uncle Bill (not really my aunt and uncle just really close family friends).  Slow's has awesome barbecue ribs and that's what I had.  I had a 1/2 rack of baby back ribs, they were so tender that they fell right off the bone; just the way ribs should.  Mom had a 1/2 rack of St. Louis style ribs and we shared.  Delicious pork!

Tuesday I began my scrapbooking adventure.  I had a lot to do in order to finish before Aug. 31.  It was an intense project, but I finally finished on Sunday.  Now I can work on adding pictures of what has been happening since I've been home and I can start my Ammoryiah scrapbook.  Lots of memories to record!  After a day of scrapbooking I was ready for a break, so I met Mom at Red Lobster for dinner.  I didn't have pork, but I had a great tilapia and shrimp dinnner.  Yes, they have seafood in Abu Dhabi and Dubai but not Red Lobster and for some reason I really like Red Lobster.  Maybe it's their biscuits?!  Red Lobster with Mom is always a nice time.

Wednesday I drove to Portland, MI to visit the Seaveys.  It was great to see my old college roommate, her husband, and their 5 children.  We had BLTs, hamburgers, and hotdogs.  More pork!  It was a good time playing games, talking, picking blueberries, and eating S'mores.  It was slim pickin's at the blueberry farm; Andrew and I worked together and got 1/2 a pound which we quickly reduced to 1/4 a pound.  I think Michelle was only able to get 1 pound. 

Thursday I continued my scrapbook and had lunch with Dad.  I had a bacon cheeseburger.  Another meal with pork!!

Friday I picked Alexa and Mason up from day care and had a good afternoon playing at their house.  Mason actually let me hold him!  Well, he fell and was crying so I guess when that happens he doesn't care who is there to cuddle and tell him everything will be fine.  After that he warmed up to me.  We played in the sprinkler, on their swingset, and read books.  Mark came home and made dinner.  There was no pork involved, but I did have an awesome steak and grilled vegetables.  Mark should be a chef!  I took Alexa back to Mom and Dad's (Grandma and Poppy's) for a sleepover.  Amy and I took Alexa putt-putting.  Alexa made it through about 8 holes before she lost interest.  She was the only one who got a hole in one though!

Saturday Amy and I took Alexa to Dominos Farms.  There were tons of goats and you could feed them.  The goats knew!  They would climb on the gate and stick their heads through the bars.  They were begging like dogs.  Alexa had fun feeding them and she even rode a pony.  I'm pretty sure she had a good time.  For dinner we went to Leo's for a coney dog.  A coney dog for me is just a hot dog with chili.  Another meal with pork! 

The weather here has been very humid.  I don't like the humidity at all; I've gotten used to the dry heat.  The temperatures haven't been all that hot, but the humidity is making it very sticky and unpleasant. 

A great week!

81 degrees with 65% humidity at 1:00pm.

First Weekend Home

What a great weekend!  It's so good to be home and to spend time with family.  I have missed them!

Friday 7/29

Oh my gosh!  What a long long long day!  My flight left Dublin at 10:00 am.  I left the hotel at 7:00.  The weird thing about leaving Dublin and heading to the States is that I went through immigration and customs in Dublin.  I was very confused.  I even had to ask in Chicago to make sure I really didn't have to go through immigration.  It was a long process in Dublin, but I'm glad it was done in Dublin instead of in Chicago.  It was weird hearing the immigration lady say "Welcome Home" when I was in Dublin. I wasn't quite sure how to answer that, since I wasn't home.  I couldn't say it's good to be back, because I wasn't back.  Oh well.  I got the hardest part of the trip done at the beginning.  The flight was long, but no problems at all.  I was able to get bulkhead seating; it wasn't as good as exit row seating but it had more room than regular seating.  I didn't have to pay any excess baggage fees this time around, so that's good.  The 8 hour flight lasted FOREVER!  I think I may have slept for 1/2 an hour.  I arrived in Chicago at 12:40 pm (6:40 pm Dublin time), and headed to my gate since I didn't have to go through immigration.  I got bulkhead seating again for the little commuter flight to Detroit.  The flight left at 2:30 Chicago time (3:30 Detroit time) and I arrived in Detroit early, a little before 4:30. 

Lugging my carryon duffel bag and my laptop I made my way to baggage claim.  My checked baggage was supposed to be checked directly to Detroit from Dublin.  I get to the baggage claim area and I see my Mom.  It was soooooo good to see her!  She was reading and I just watched her.  I couldn't believe she was there.  I mean I knew she was coming to get me, but still seeing her was unbelieveable.  It's been a long time since I've seen her and it was a great site!  She looked up and I said "right in front of you" and she looked around and saw me.  She started crying.  I was surprised that I didn't cry.  It was great to be enveloped in her hug.  Just comforting and welcoming.  We hugged and talked for a while and then I went to collect my luggage.  Unfortuantely it wasn't there.  I had to go the AA office and find out where my luggage was.  My luggage was put on the later flight to Detroit; the flight was scheduled to arrive at 5:40.  I could either wait for the luggage or they would deliver it my parents' house between 9 and midnight.  I didn't want to wait so I told them to deliver it.  My mom and I grabbed my carryon luggage and headed outside to meet my Dad and get in the car.  When I saw my Dad I grabbed him and hugged him, with my bag in hand.  It was great to see my Dad smiling and waiting for me.  We loaded the car and headed to Wendy's so I could get a Frosty (one of the things on my list that I have to have when I'm home).  After Wendy's we went to Mark and Nancy's for dinner.

When we got to Mark and Nancy's I saw Mason-man in the window.  Man is he getting big!  I walked up the porch and saw Alexa and Mark.  Alexa very politely said HI to me, but she didn't know who I was.  It was a little depressing.  It didn't take her that long to figure it out though.  Mason, on the other hand, truly has no idea who I am.  Although he will loudly talk to me on the computer, but seeing me in person was just totally different.  As soon as Alexa figured out who I was, she gave me a hug and told me that she loved me and missed me.  I began feeling better.  She just warmed my heart.  When I walked in the house I saw that Nancy had made a sign for me in Arabic.  She wrote some pretty good Arabic, the only thing is I had no idea what it said!!  She wrote "we missed you" but I couldn't read that.  It didn't look like what I know as "missed."  I'm glad she was able to translate for me.  Now that Alexa knew who I was, she couldn't stay away.  I had to sit by her for dinner (pizza with real ham; a real Hawaiian pizza, fruit salad, and a green salad).  Amy arrived part way through dinner.  It was great to see her and celebrate her birthday with her!  The first family dinner and birthday celebration I have been part of for almost a year.  It was great!  After dinner Alexa and I played for a bit in her room.  She kept telling me that she loved me and that she missed me!  What a sweetheart.   I was able to break away for a bit and give out souveniors and then we looked at pictures of my trip to Dublin.

Sign Nancy made for me

 After pictures I was exhausted so we headed home so I could sleep.  We got home around 8:30 and I saw my cats!  They remembered me!  Chloe greeted me at the door and didn't run away.  She's the shy one.  She sniffed my hand and then let me pick her up.  Tigger figured it out quickly and kept rubbing on me.  She stayed near me all night prior to my early bedtime.  Mom and Amy volunteered to stay up for the luggage, so I could go to bed at 9:00.  Tigger slept with me all night.  She has never done that before.  I guess she missed me.

Saturday 7/30

I was up at 5:00 am (10:00 am Dublin time).  Way too early, but I was still adjusting to the different time zone.  Although I was up at 5:00 I didn't really get up until 7:00.  I kept trying to go back to sleep.  When I finally made it upstairs I was surprised to see that I didn't have any luggage.  My luggage didn't end up arriving until 11:00 am.  Very frustrating, I needed my luggage so I could shower and put on clean clothes.  Dad made breakfast this morning; blueberry pancakes and BACON!  Breakfast was delicious!  The bacon was amazingly crisp and real pork.  Dad did a great job making breakfast.

My plans for the day included going to see Harry Potter, out to dinner with the entire family to celebrate Amy's birthday, and then back to my parents' house for cake.  Amy and Mom went to Harry Potter with me and Dad went to see Cowboy's and Aliens.  Harry Potter was great.  Kinda sad that it's over.

Family dinner; What a great bunch of people

Dinner was at On the Border, a Mexican restaurant in Novi.  It was delicious Mexican food; ok not Burrito Brothers, but good nonetheless.  It was spicy and the melty cheese was wonderful, but the best part of the dinner was being with my family.  Everyone was there: Mom, Dad, Amy, Mark, Nancy, Alexa, Mason, Ann, and Harry.  My whole family!  I have missed this.  Alexa spent a good portion of the night on my lap and I loved it.  I've missed too much.  We cleaned our plates and paid the bills.  I read the bill wrong, forgot about the tax that they have here and didn't read that part so I underpaid.  Quite embarrassing.  Once the bill was straightened out we headed back to Mom and Dad's for cake.  It was a wonderful chaotic time, although I was exhausted.  I really wasn't into the visiting.  As soon as everyone left, 8:30pm, I went to bed.

Sunday 7/31

I slept a bit longer this morning, I didn't wake up until 6:00.  I hope to get back on EST soon.  Breakfast was coffee, cereal with cold milk, and a blueberry muffin.  Another good breakfast.  I know cereal doesn't sound that good, but when you haven't had cereal or milk in 11 1/2 months it's a good breakfast! 

Plans for today included going over to Ann's so we could go shopping at Long Tall Sally, and then back to Mom and Dad's as Mark, Nancy, and the kids were coming over to go swimming. 

Driving to Ann's was different.  Lights and left turns.  No honking, no swerving, no flashing of lights; it was quite a pleasant drive!  Although, I must admit I was a bit nervous.   Driving for 6 months in a country that doesn't have a lot of lights and only allows left turns at lights, it was a bit nerve wracking.  I made it safely though, and I had a very successful shopping trip.  I bought few long skirts and a couple of tops to go with them.  Everything was on clearance as well, so that's good.  I also got to take a nice walk with Ann through the woods at a park near her house.  It was nice to be outside walking with my sister! 

The evening was fun.  Swimming and playing with Alexa is always fun.  Amy and Nancy came too.  I am loving the family time!!

The little fish jumping in the pool

Reading with Alexa after swimming

79 degrees at 9:54 pm.  What a difference!  And I'm lovin' it!!

Mason-Man is a goofball!

دبلن - Dublin

Tuesday 7/26

 My trip to Dublin began at 5:30am.  I had a taxi come and pick me up at Hili and take me to the Abu Dhabi airport.  I arrived at the airport at 7:00 and began the check in process.  This was a bit more difficult than usual.  I had booked my ticket with American Airlines since Etihad doesn’t fly from Dublin to the States.  American Airlines and Etihad are now partners, but I’m not really sure that means anything since all American Airlines rules applied.  American only allows 1 checked bag (Etihad 2), and you’re only allowed 23kg vs. 27 on Etihad.  I had planned on checking both of my bags since I was taking my laptop and purse on the plane and that’s all that’s allowed (1 bag and one personal item either a laptop or purse, for a total of 2 carry on items).  I had to do some creative re-packing and I still had to pay for 2kg over the limit.  The one good point was that I was able to get an exit row seat!  Hopefully I will be able to pack better on Thursday so I don’t have to pay an excess baggage fee.  The flight was long and boring, but uneventful and smooth.  8 hours is just a long time to do nothing. 

I arrived in Dublin at 2:30pm and had an easy exit through customs.  Susan had booked business class and had a car waiting to pick her up at the airport and I was able to join her for the ride to the hotel.  The walk to the car was incredible; just nice to be outside and walking and not sweating; very cool and refreshing.  We got to the hotel, which is really a bed and breakfast, around 4:00.  We got refreshed and headed out to do some exploring and find something to eat.  We walked up and down Grafton Street before we had dinner.  Grafton Street was very crowded and busy.  There were street performers all over.  Some playing instruments, some drawing, some just dressed in costumes, and some doing acrobatic stuff.  Dinner was at a nice little local pub and I had fish and chips and they were delicious!  Nice and crispy batter, fresh, clean tasting.  Good dinner.  Susan had a Guinness, but I didn’t.  I wanted my first taste of Guinness to be at the Guinness Factory where it is free.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel and I was in bed by 9:00.  It was a long day and I was finally getting tired.  I will say that it was quite weird to be going to bed when it was still quite light out.  I’m not used to that; it gets dark around 8:00 in the UAE.

Grafton Street

Wednesday 7/27

I had a great night’s sleep!  It helps to be extremely exhausted.  It was nice to be able to sleep with the windows open as well.  Today started with breakfast at the hotel and then we headed out.  Our plan was to go to Guinness and then see what happens.  We decided to walk to Guinness since it was so nice outside (22 instead of the 45ish that we’re used to).  Our walk to Guinness took us past Christchurch Cathedral.  The church was huge and beautiful. My favorite part was the area where an artist had painted personal aspects of Christ’s life and the people in His life.  The pictures were moving.   It was ancient and I would have loved to go to a service there, but I’m not going to be here on Sunday. 

Christchurch Cathedral

It is nice to be in a country where there are churches on just about every corner instead of mosques.  Churches and pubs.  It’s weird.  One on side of the street there may be a church and then directly across from it there is a pub lined with kegs.  A common site while we were walking was trucks filled with kegs, not camels like in the UAE.  Weird. 

After the Cathedral we made it to Guinness.  The factory had been turned into a storehouse and it was made in the shape of pint; the largest pint in the world.  I am not a beer drinker at all, but I decided to go anyway.  It is a huge part of Dublin so I just had to go.  The tour was pretty interesting, for a tour of beer making.  It showed the ingredients and gave a lot of facts about Guinness.  At the end of the tour we went to the Gravity Bar on the 7^th floor.  The Gravity Bar had awesome views of the city.  The Gravity Bar is also where I was able to get my free pint.  Like I mentioned, I’m not a beer drinker, but I tried.  I think I had 1/3 of it.  I just couldn’t drink anymore, (Ann wasn’t there to make me drink the entire thing).  Sorry to all the Guinness fans who are reading this, but it’s not good at all.  Very pretty looking, but not good tasting.  We got our souvenirs and then had lunch.  I had a very good beef and Guinness stew.  I guess I can handle the Guinness when you cook with it instead of just drink it.  The gravy was awesome.

 

After Guinness we headed to the other side of the Liffey River to see the crypt at St. Michan’s Church.  It was creepy, yet fascinating.  To get to the crypt you had to go under the church through a very old entrance that looked like the storm door in The Wizard of Oz.  The only thing is that only ½ of it opened and it was quite difficult to get down there, the ceiling was very low making it quite a difficult descent for someone of my height.  But it was worth it.  There were 3 uncovered mummies and plenty of graves.  The guy giving the tour was quite funny and animated.  He even acted out how a couple of the rebels died (hung but not to the death, their insides removed and burned in front of them, beheaded, and then cut into 1/4s).  Quite disgusting.  I guess the whole point was to make sure no one else rebelled against England.  Seeing the mummies was not the creepiest part though.  I actually touched one!  Some sort of legend about it bringing good luck.  It was disgusting!  It felt very leathery and you could see the skin.   

Organ at St. Michan's Church

 We left the crypt and headed back to the hotel for some rest; I was feeling queasy and needed to go to the bathroom.  I took some Panadol (UAE Tylenol) and a short nap and then we went out for dinner.  We went to this nice little restaurant and I had a chicken ceaser salad with BACON and gelato for dessert.  YummyJ 

There is quite a difference in temperature during the day and at night.  It was quite nice this afternoon when we were walking.  The sun was out and I even thought it would be weird if I got sunburn in Ireland and not the UAE.  I was not cold at all; that is until we left for dinner.  I brought my sweater just in case and I am glad that I did.  Although with the rain and the sun being gone it was quite chilly.  Yes, it rained but nothing much at all.  Nothing more than what we get in the UAE.  Even though it was chilly it was nice walking in the rain.

Thursday 7/28

Today’s sites included Trinity College, Dublin Castle, and St. Stephen’s Green.  It was quite cold, damp, and windy this morning.  I guess typical Ireland weather, but I wasn’t really prepared for it.  I had to buy a sweatshirt!

We just can’t seem to truly figure out the layout of this city.  We walked down Grafton Street and headed towards Trinity College, but we couldn’t find it so we stopped at the tourism office and asked.  The kind lady told me to look across the street, and guess what it was there!  No sign or anything so I guess you could understand why we didn’t know where it was, but we had literally walked past it 3 times in our attempt to find it.  We walked across the street and entered Trinity College.  Trinity College was a Protestant college; Catholics were not allowed to go there, until 1956.  Today it is fully integrated.  The main reason for the visit to the college was to see the Book of Kells and the library.  The Book of Kells is an artistically decorated copy of the four gospels in Latin.  It dates back to the early 9^th century.  The writing and the pictures are very intricate and detailed.  It was pretty amazing to see something that old.  The long room of the library contains over 200,000 old books and it is still in use today!  There were tons of old medical books dating back to the 1850s.  There were books in the center that were open for display and the walls were lined with books.  You can actually use the books today and you don’t even have to be a researcher or historian or something special.  You just have to have a reason for needing to use the books.  I think it would be pretty neat to open a book that is 150 years old.

Trinity College

From Trinity College we headed to Dublin Castle.  We really only walked the perimeter of the castle since we couldn’t quite figure out how to enter it.  We did see the grounds; which were amazing!  The grass looked beautiful; I wanted to take my shoes off and walk barefoot in it.  The castle is quite weird because part of it is still the castle and yet there are some relatively new parts attached to it.  Parts of the castle are still being used today.

Dublin Castle

St. Stephen’s Green is a park in the center of Dublin.  It is beautiful; lots of trees, and flowers and even a couple of ponds.  It was very nice and relaxing to walk through and see the greenery and then to sit and relax on a bench overlooking the pond.  The son of the founder of Guinness donated the money for the park. 

St. Stephen's Green

In between our visit to Dublin Castle and St. Stephen’s Green we had lunch at another local Irish pub.  I had bangers and mash!  Oh my gosh, it was delicious!  Funny thing is I don’t like mashed potatoes, but these were so smooth and creamy and the gravy was amazing.  It was wonderful to have real sausage as well!  The best meal I’ve had so far!

My vacation ends tonight.  Dublin is a great city and if I had more time I would love to venture out of the city and see the typical Irish scene of green rolling hills and sheep.  But alas I do not have enough time as tomorrow I head HOME!  My henna is fading; I do not like thatL

الطبيب اسنان و الحناء - The Dentist and Henna (a'tabeeb ahsahn walhenna)

This week has been a week filled with errands and working on getting ready for my return home.  Not much has been going on, but I will fill you in about my trip to the dentist (literally doctor of teeth) and getting henna. 

My dentist appointment was scheduled for Thursday, July 20 I went to Ideal Dental mainly because a many of the LTs went there and they liked it and it was free.  They took my insurance!  I guess that's the real reason I went to this dentist.  The appointment was quick and painless.  Yes, painless.  I know that doesn't sound right, but he used some kind of new dental technology and there was no scraping involved!  That was the best part.  He used some high powered laser that cleans the teeth and gets under the gums.  Sounds painful, right.  Well, before he used the laser he put some pain relieving gel on my gums.  Worked wonders!  The laser thing emitted a cool stream of water so it was actually quite pleasant.  I spent more time waiting for the dentist to show up than I actually did getting my cleaning.  See many places close around here from 1-4 and silly me I made my appointment for 4.  The dentist didn't show up until 4:30; 1/2 an hour waiting and about 20-25 minutes for the actual cleaning, that's just wrong.  Other than that it was a good trip to the dentist and I will go back.  Oh, this is the first dentist to actually tell me that flossing isn't necessary it's just an added bonus!  I like that!!

I went and got henna on Sunday, July 24.  Henna is this dye that they put on your hands and feet in very artistic patterns.  They use something that looks like a frosting tube filled with something that looks like mud and squeeze it onto your skin.  After it dries the stuff that looks like mud is brushed/scraped off and you are left with a reddish, orangish, brownish deisgn on your hands and/or feet.  I wasn't going to get my feet done, but I decided against it.  Now I just have to make sure I don't wash!  Yeah right, how is that possible?!  The more you wash the quicker it will fade and I want it to be there when I get home on Friday.  No showers for me I guess:)!  Just kidding!

My second trip to Dubai last week was successful!  I was able to exchange the picture; no questions asked! 

In other news, I got my hair cut and colored, my apartment cleaned, and laundry done.  I am going to go and take my car back today and then start packing.  I am just about ready to head to Dublin and then home!

109 at 3:00