Superficial Joy

About a week-and-a-half ago I went outside the city limits of Tel Aviv! Really I have no idea where we were except near Jerusalem. It felt AMAZING to be outside in the woods, smelling trees and dirt and not dog poop! Our 7 miles in nature replenished my spirit. Israel suddenly seemed way more fun--which is not saying much since I have ventured no more than about 3 miles from my apartment in any direction. Here's a brief view of my outing with Ingrid...

I have a rocky relationship with luggage.  My luggage has not arrived with me at least a dozen times over my lifetime, including 3 times last year alone (Dallas, Nepal, Abu Dhabi). My belongings were no different. At first I wasn't going to ship my stuff...school in Abu Dhabi ended the last week of June and I had to be in Israel August 1 to begin quarantine. I thought I would use my shipping allowance [read: defrayment] to check a bunch of extra suitcases and stay in the UAE during the month. As the lockdown restrictions and the heat increased, however, my longing for home also grew. I met a woman in Abu Dhabi also moving to my new school in Israel and decided to ship my stuff using the same company she had hired. We ended up combining our stuff with that of a 3rd woman moving to the same school from Dubai (who also happens to be from the same place in Dallas I'm from, but that's not really related here).   Off our stuff went to Dubai to wait for transport to Tel Aviv, pr...

I Voted! By mail...  I am registered to vote in Idaho and they allow me to receive ballots by email and return by snail mail. In Abu Dhabi I just paid the post office to ship my ballot back to the U.S., but here someone that works at the Embassy is willing to collect them and mail them for us through the APO system. What a privilege to get to exercise this right even while living overseas. Please everyone, no matter whom you vote for, exercise that right!

A bit late, but here are a few photos from my first days in Tel Aviv during quarantine. On the plane from Newark to Tel Aviv. We all had our own row. Say hi to Lynne, another teacher from the UAE going to my school. The three of us who last worked in the UAE ended up being on the same plan from the US. Here we are collecting our luggage at Ben Gurion airport. The living room looking in. I bought the TV and a bunch of other stuff off of someone leaving the school. All of it was already moved into my apartment and the TV was installed for me when I arrived! The living room looking out. The Welcome spread! The view from the bedroom towards the living room. The bedroom. The desk is another thing I bought from an exiting employee. Our fridges were stocked with more food that usual because of the quarantine. Yes, that is a couch on the balcony. It is a kindness-- the relocation officer thought I would want this couch because it turns in...

For a while I thought I might come back to the United States because I knew I was done with Abu Dhabi. But a few close friends, and some acquaintances, told me they didn't think I was coming back. They were right! I am delighted to announce that I will be moving to Israel next year to join the staff of the  Walworth Balbour American International School ! My mind was mostly much made up when the school year began--it is time to leave Abu Dhabi. I like my job and love my friends and the community I have found here, but I don't love the weather. It is  so  hot! After all, I left Texas in part because of the heat (the other reason was the cockroaches, which we also have here in the UAE). And there is so little to do outside. I was rather spoiled by the weather and activities in Boise--skiing within an hour of finishing the work day, running in the mountains regularly, riding my bike to work. This has been an excellent first overseas job. Thus I attended a job fair ...

I brought all of my Abu Dhabi scrapbook stuff over to my new [temporary] digs and have taken over the coffee table in the living room with it. I am making progress, though. Last weekend I got all of my trip to Zanzibar finished and after work this week I got all the way through to the beginning of Istanbul! Here's a sample (in no particular order).

We all knew it was coming back at the beginning of March. Finally the word came: the UAE moved all spring breaks forward from March 29 to instead begin March 8, with distance learning to begin on Sunday, March 22. As I write this I have completed 2 weeks of distance learning (more on that in later posts). The relocation of spring break of course meant we all had travel plans to cancel. I was first going to go to China, Japan and Hong Kong to visit friends, but that was cancelled ages ago when the virus was just in China. The backup plan was Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. We were eventually able to cancel all the hotels and how have a variety of vouchers for various airlines in the region. The backup backup plan was staying in the UAE. I spent some time at the coast before school resumed. I made it through about 4 days of working from home in my 500 square foot apartment on the 18th floor before I started having panic attacks and feeling like I was in an MRI machine (post is ...

 I finally did it! About 2 months ago I went with my friend Lucy to Ski Dubai . It was shockingly fun! I've been wanting to go since I arrived, but it never seemed the right day and I hadn't found anyone that wanted to go. Going up to Bogus Basin by myself is one thing--I always run into people I know even when I go up by myself. Ski Dubai was something I wanted to share with someone else. After doing so many things alone overseas, I have come to really appreciate companionship when I go on an outing. I lugged the big purple suitcase from the top shelf of my closet that has housed my ski stuff for 1 §/1 years. Just the smell of my ski clothes filled me with joy! For a second I was back in the ski school locker room at Bogus. Off I went to meet Lucy at the Mall of the Emirates where Ski Dubai lives. Maybe because I had very low expectations or maybe because it really is well done and legit, I really enjoyed myself. It fill the need in me for snow and skiing. Here's a ...