Superficial Joy

A special greeting from one security guy when I retrieved a package recently There are security guards everywhere in the UAE--malls, stores, restaurants. My building is no exception. There is one difference, though. Our security guars are the best ever! Through whatever a drama the security guards in my building are amazing. For example, there was a fire the first night back of last year. At midnight we all walked down the stairs and congregated outside in our pajamas while the security guards, who live in the building, were rushing around in trying to fix things in  their  pajamas! Whenever I arrive in the building, I am greeted with a smile, a wave, or (best one) "Miss Joy! How are you today?" When I leave they all wave. All of them (I think there are 6) know my keys because they hold them at reception while I go on a run around the island. Last week I picked up a packaged that had been delivered to reception and I had a special note on it <3. My favorite s...

I went to Zanzibar with two of the Scuba Squad ladies (Liz moved to China 😞) the weekend before school started, back in August. And we're off! We don't know the girl on the left in the back, but she photo bombed us  On the way to the hotel. It was a two hour drive. Our hotel Shelley and Kelli in what I thought was freezing cold water. The view from our hotel. They swim, I sit. Perfect. General tropical splendor of our hotel. No caption needed. One of our diving guides. One of the many restaurants at which we waited for an hour for a mediocre meal. Kelli's dinner one night. Not mine!  Our dive master (center) and a guy that was with us both days. He was from....Germany, I think. Lounging about in between dives. Dinner after two days of diving. Back in Stone Town the night before we left, so that we could NOT drive 2 hours the morning of departure. We went on a small boat ride to a small island off the co...

One fine weekend in October I met my friend Zena for an amazing weekend in Istanbul! I took two days off work to make it a 4-day weekend. Not only did I get to spend time in a new country in a fabulous city, but I got to do it with a friend of 10 years who is dear to me and knows me very well. It was a welcome break to a very stressful first two months of school, even though I did have to do a few hours of work on Saturday night. There was fabulous conversation, lots of sleep, delicious food and relaxation. We both arrive at the new Istanbul airport within a half hour of each other, easily found our driver and about an hour later were in our hotel room. We went out to wander and discovered that we our hotel was about a 3 minute walk to the main square in Sultanahmet where the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia sit opposite each other. We discovered that we have similar travelling patterns- we both like to go out the the overview walk and enjoy wandering. We took a walking tour, a b...

My birthday is at the end of August which means it is usually the first or second day of school. This year it was the weekend before school started. Both of the last two years I was also in Abu Dhabi for my birthday. And both of those years I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday then got upset when nobody remembered or gave my any presents (yes, I realize this is like a 5 year old), thus I walked around feeling resentful and angry and hurt on my birthday. This year I vowed to do differently. Instead of expecting people to "just know" that is was my birthday, I created a WhatsApp group and invited people to do something fun with me for my big day: Paintball. I've never done it before but have always wanted to try it. The plan was to meet at Marriott Al Forsan Sports Complex for paintball then to the Marriott Hotel for dinner at Appaloosa , a bar that has yummy food (including sweet potato fries). On the big day, only two of us showed for paintball so we quickly ...

One of my favorite parts of every summer is doing a Ragnar Trail Race with this bunch of other crazy people that invited me along one year and now can't get rid of me. The Ragnar trail races are 24 leg relays. There are 3 legs: red, yellow and green, red being the hardest and green the "easiest". Each team generally has 8 members + a volunteer. Each runner runs all three legs which gets us to 24. This is the basic set up for all the trail races. Here's the map for this one near the Tetons. Last year we did the race in Lake Tahoe and I just about died. I had a "Scarlett O'Hara moment" in which I vowed to never get that out of shape again. So I made sure to keep up running this year. I've done 4 half marathons this year. I was ready for this year's  Ragnar in the Tetons at Grand Targhee Resort. Look our, Grand Targhee, here we come! Me, Lauri, Sara, Wendy, Andrea, Brian. On our way to St. Anthony to pick up more members. Beautiful ...