Happy Diwali!

RBS celebrated in style Thursday with a Diwali event andcelebration in our canteen. We had rangoli (see pic) and dance/singing competitions, chaat/samosa counters, best dressed contests, a Red Crescent charity raffle and then a jam-packed dance floor for about 500 staff in the Dubai Outsource Zone. The atmosphere felt like the last day of school, with women showing off their beautiful saris/salwars (including me and Tori) and people handing out ladoos like candy.

Happy festival of lights and wishing all a prosperous new year :)

Lebanon

We spent the first Eid holiday, which celebrates the end of Ramadan, in Lebanon. It was a great week, complete with fantastic food, beautiful scenery, beaches, wineries, and ruins. And oh yes, police checkpoints and Hezbollah posters.

We started with a few days in Beirut's Al Hamra neighborhood with its great eats and bars; Nadine and Jeanine, two of Jon's colleagues at PwC, first took us out for a great mezze meal overlooking the Mediterranean and then for sushi and drinks in a trendy Ashrafieh district. Even though it was still Ramadan, we had no trouble enjoying eating and drinking outside during the day. Beirut has a great buzz about it, and you can see why the NYT recommended it as a top destination for 2009.

We then braved driving (if you can call it that) to the north to stay in our coast-side chalet near Byblos in Lebanon's only campsite run by a group of bohemian students (?). A few highlights of what we saw: the Jeita Grotto, the cedar reserve, beaches in Batroun, Baalbeck (on the way to the Syrian border; once known as Heliopolis and the site of the largest temple to Jupiter) and the Ksara winery. For the most part, we went sightseeing in the mornings and then to a beach in the afternoon.

For those looking for their next trip, highly recommend Lebanon! It's a small country, but with lots to offer :) Here's a link to our pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/simigambhir/SeptemberLebanon?authkey=Gv1sRgCOPZ8u2Y07zsugE&feat=email

Celebrations

For our 9th anniversary on August 18, we spent a long weekend at the Park Hyatt Dubai, my absolute favorite hotel in the whole world. They really spoiled us (the summer downtime and start of Ramadan probably helped), from the champagne & strawberries to the suite upgrade!

And for the second year in a row, Jon was going to miss my birthday. He made it up to me by letting me make a wish before he left for Brussels and our rendezvous in Beirut. I celebrated the actual day by bringing in oatmeal raisin cookies into the office (a first for many) and doing dinner with friends across the street in the Marina. Sure beat the Pizza Hut meal of 2008.

Summer Holidays!

Here are some photos from last month, when we had a 3 week holiday, not from work necessarily (we both spent about 10 days in our offices in Europe), but from Dubai. Our trip included London and staying with my favorite Twin Peaker, Nick....

....going up to Manchester to watch Nikki graduate from medical school (she's now in London doing her residency).....

....driving up to the Lake District with the Gambhirs.....

....and spending a week in southwest France with the 'dammers (Larae and Maurits) and a fellow Longhorn from Dubai (John). Had a great time....unfortunately, we didn't practice too much of our French, but we enjoyed the French way of life nonetheless, i.e. cheese, wine, bbq, canoeing on the Dordogne, seeing medieval churches, going to the hypermarket every morning and a country music festival in Gramat! Definitely ready to head back there again....and fantasize about owning our own place there!

Mum-bom-bai-bay Visit

We went to Bombay to visit the family and see Nikki over Father's Day weekend. It's a real treat to be able to go back and forth from Dubai to India; flights are only about 2.5 hours long and tickets are reasonably priced. We missed the start of the monsoon by about 24 hours, but at least felt a few drops on our way to airport -- my first taste of rain in almost three months!

Nous aimons etudier francais

We took French classes for 7 weeks May-June at the Alliance Francaise in Dubai (photo is from our last day). Although class was Saturday mornings from 9-12, it was a great way to begin learning the language. Our teacher, Stephanie (far right) was fantastic, she really made the classes enjoyable and made fun of us for being americains sans health insurance. To practice our broken sentences, we'll be renting a place in France in July and will probably sign up for the classes again in August. Since the beach is now off-limits because of the heat, conjugating verbs is great way to spend the summer months....right?

Trip to Cairo

We went to see President Obama's speech in Cairo and found our way to the pyramids over a long weekend...

Herman came to visit!

The Womacks came to visit!

Nikki came to visit!

Desert Caravan

Pictures from a trip to the desert with friends, and Maurits and Sicco were in town for it as well...

Dubai Tennis Tournament

Pictures from the Dubai Tennis Tournament in February 2009 - Novak Djokovic (Serbia) vs Flavio Cipolla (Italy)

a new chapter!

We watched the Obama inauguration on Tuesday with Democrats Abroad at the Dubai Marina Yacht Club -- an event that attracted more than 200 (including Jack Carter, Jimmy Carter's son, who shared stories of walking down Pennsylvania Avenue) and lasted past midnight. It was an evening of history, excitement and a renewed sense of hope and one we won't soon forget.

Read more about it in the Gulf News. Chris Hansen, who is the president of DA and quoted in the article, is pictured above with Jon.

kayaking

Jon's Christmas present was promptly put to use in the Dubai Marina and then on our first trip to Fujairah - 1.5 hour drive to the other side of UAE on the Indian Ocean side. There is a marked difference in the terrain; instead of sandy dunes, you see sharp and uninviting mountains. But, of course, there is still a beach!

congratulations!

Congratulations to...


Lisa, John, and Cole Riggs - Looking forward to seeing Carter (born Dec 30) next time. If only he could have popped out a day earlier!


Nikki - Residency placement in London! (free place to stay!)

Herman - Landing a leading role in A Midsummer Night's Dream, a LIPA (Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts) production! For those of you in Liverpool May 6-8, the performance is open to the public.

kerala

We still owe a bit of an update from our India trip last month. We first went to Bombay for 3 days to visit Simi's parents (who relocated there from Bangalore in late November) and then met up with two other couples for a 8-day tour of the southern Indian state of Kerala. It was a great trip, albeit not terribly relaxing. Had forgotten how long it takes to travel from one city to another in India; 100km can mean 5-6 hours in the car and our itinerary was designed so we went from one place to another every other day. Ugh.

Nevertheless, it's a beautiful part of the country, with a unique cuisine (lots of seafood and coconut), countless tea plantations, beaches, wildlife reserves, Ayurvedic massages, and houseboats that cruise the backwaters. Definitely something for everyone.

After getting back, we were ready to take another vacation...which we promptly did, heading to the US one week after coming back :) December was a great month; because of UAE National Day, Eid al-Adha, our xmas holiday and New Year's, we spent less than 5 days in the office!

happy new year!

Here's wishing everyone a safe and healthy 2009! New Year's Eve was the day after we arrived back from the US, so we planned for a small get-together of friends who were also in town. Menu was hamburgers, peanut butter cookies and champagne.

Good thing we didn't make arrangements at a bar/restaurant in town; as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza conflict, the Dubai government cancelled all NYE events, which included live/background music and fireworks.

Our trip back to home was really relaxing and much needed after a frenetic few months in NL and UAE. We spent 3 days in Houston visiting with Chacha & Chachi, Herman (who turned 21!!), Roma Auntie and Natausha. It's also where we finally understood the Wii phenomena; Nat and Cam indulged us one night with a Rock Band marathon til 3am. We then headed to Edmond for Xmas with the Womacks, which was great. Did A LOT of eating, drinking Dr Pepper, shopping, seeing family, watching movies and general lazing around. It was exactly what we needed.