Back in the sand pit for year two.... my oh my!

WOW! I cannot believe how much I has happened since last post. My apologies for anyone who actually likes to keep up with this. The summer flew by, and I had two trips packed into one on the way back to the states. Amsterdam and Iceland, and both were fabulous. I was relieved to get home and spend time with my family, meet my niece Annie, go on the water-slide (over and over) with my nephew Owen, and relax in beautiful Minnesota. I was able to take a trip out West to Portland for a conference with some ASD people, and before I knew it, the summer was closing and I was counting down my days until I arrived back in the sand pit. I'll try to give a little overview of Amsterdam and Iceland first, and then some summer pics.

Amsterdam! So awesome. I can totally see myself visiting this city on every trip back to the states. It helps that it is such a major flight hub. It was the perfect way to unwind from the school year and just enjoy the European city on foot and ride the ferries on the canals. I ended up visiting the Anne Frank House, which was completely moving and unbelievably emotional. The Van Gogh museum was also an experience, but not quite as shocking as the infamous Red Light District. The row houses were old and beautiful, and the canals were busy with boats of tourists, fishermen, and private houseboats. I loved every minute of this city, and know that next time I visit, I will have to rent a bicycle and pedal my way around as the locals do. Here are a few snapshots from Amsterdam.

Canals and Church bell towers! Love! 

From Amsterdam I flew to Iceland. The trip started in Reykjavik and went around the main road or "The Ring Road" around the whole island. Iceland was other-worldly in it's landscapes. It has stunning waterfalls, mountains, black sand beaches, active volcanos, natural hot springs, glaciers and iceberg filled lagoons. the villages are small, but the hospitality is charming. The weather is uncooperative, and the sun never sets in the summer months, but I will remember Iceland very fondly. I recommend going there to be in awe of Mother Nature and her power, especially before it is too late. Below are some pics and where they were taken. Enjoy! 

Hot Springs- Blue Lagoon. Yes, it really is that color. I went in... it was HOT. 

Viking Beer deserves some horns! 

Viking man with my coffee- Thief! 

Lava Rocks

Gulfoss - massive massive waterfall.

Behind the Waterfall pictured below....

Taken around 3 am... it's light out. 

Iceberg lagoon at Jokulsarlon.

Gulfoss adventurousness ! 

Iceberg lagoon

Black sand beaches from lava flows over millions of years

Cool village on Eastern coast of Iceland called Seydisfjordur

Mars? Nope. Just crazy Iceland landscapes. This place reeked like sulfur. Nasty.... but cool. 

Exploring a lava tube in the lava fields of Myvatin

Climbing up this GIANT lava crater.

Natural hot springs at Myvatin

Husavik- an awesome seaside village on the North coast of Iceland

Going Whale watching in Husavik... so excited! 

Stunning

We saw this whale breach probably 35 times. Just unbelievable.

Godafoss- the waterfall of the gods.

Of course I had to get a few swings in...!

Reykjavik's famous church.

The Sun Voyager- a seaside statue honoring the Viking's that settled Iceland. 

WOW! That was a ton- hopefully you liked some of the pictures. I know it was a bit much, but I actually took about 1000 pictures while there, so you definitely got the shorter version. 

I wont go too much into my summer, but it was so wonderful to be at home and enjoy the Minnesota outdoors. I was on the lake, up at the cabin, in the cities, and seeing close friends and family. It is crazy how much can change in one year and how much can actually not change. Sitting down with some people felt as though I had not even been living abroad for the last few months. 

I am excited for the year ahead. School has started well and it was my birthday. My advisory students went all out and decorated my classroom. They are amazing and it made my day. We have some exciting trips already planned for this year. In just a few days we have our Fall Eid break. The way it falls on our calendar lets us have a whole week off so some friends of mine and I are heading to Sri Lanka for a few days of fun! I will try to be better about posting now that I am back and traveling around. Until then.... cheers!

Wrapping up the first year

Well, I must apologize for being absent for a while, but to be honest, there has not been that much to report on. Let's see what I can recap for you...

The end of April and beginning of May really flew by, and most likely due to being so busy at work. It has been a long stretch and both students and teacher alike are certainly ready for summer. We have been enjoying unusually mild weather for this time of year, and have been still able to make it to the beach on a few occasions. The water is fantastic and the perfect counter-temperature to the 100 degree heat (yes, that is unusually mild). We have been trying to relax on the weekend, and going to a few brunch affairs to lighten our moods.

Peter's family came into town for the first time in his three years of being here and so I was able to tag along to the Burj Al Arab (the hotel that looking like a sailboat) with them for High Tea in the afternoon. I felt very much like a royal. The hotel is beyond opulent, and it certainly is architecturally impressive on both the inside and out. The food was top notch, with various amuse-bouche and tiny decadent pastries to fill you up. Top that all off with delicious tea of your choice and bubbly too! It was expensive, but I would say that if you come to Dubai, you must do this. It is the epitome of luxury, and everyone deserves that every once in a while. And just in case you forgot to wear your best diamonds to Tea, there are plenty of high end diamond merchants inside the building (Harry Winston or Cartier, anyone?) I definitely had a "Oh my gosh, I live in Dubai" moment. Click the link above.

Looking up inside the Burj Al Arab. It's supposed to look like the Arabian sky? I think it is beautiful no matter what it is supposed to look like. 

Just a sampling...

I also managed to make my directorial debut with the Middle School One Act plays this spring. There are 5 to 6 plays every spring that are around 30 minutes long. The kids did amazing in pulling a play together and memorizing their lines in just over one month! I am so proud of them. They also got to perform on the main theater stage, which is a very big deal. It was so fun to see some of them really get into their characters. It was also fun to cast and direct and learn how to use the light and sound equipment. I really had to step outside of my comfort zone, and it was awesome!

The cast of "Employees Must Wash Hands..... Before Murder." Just a bunch of divas, obviously.

All on stage after! Great Job! 

So now, we have officially reached under 15 days of school left. I am just as, if not more excited than the kids! I will be sticking around Dubai for a few days to close up my apartment (and wait for Peter to get done working) and then it is off to Amsterdam for 3 days and Iceland for 8 days! I'll be back in sunny MN by July 2nd and cannot wait to just relax at the cabin, play some golf, meet my niece Annie for the first time, hang out with my nephew Owen, and see family and friends.

Spring Break Dubai Style

Well, we now have officially entered into the realm of having less than 40 school days left in the year. I am kind of shocked as to how quickly this year has gone, and before I know it, I will be back in Minnesota. Hopefully by July when I arrive there will be no more snow!

We had our Spring break the first week of April, and I opted for having a Stay-cation. I really wanted to do some travelling, but decided to try to save a little money by sticking around. That kind of backfired because Dubai has a lot to do! I did some fun tourist type things that I wouldn't have time to do on a normal weekend. It was nice because there were a few of us here to hang out with.

We started off the break going on my first deep sea fishing extravaganza! It wasn't as deep sea as I would have liked it to be, but everyone caught a big barracuda and a few people caught some yellow spotted jack fish. We had an awesome barbeque later that day with our fresh catch. The barracuda isn't as good to eat, but the jack fish were delicious!

What's a little deep sea fishing without champagne? Katie and Peter having a glass. 

Katie's barracuda 

A few days later we decided to have our next animal encounter and headed to SkiDubai (indoor winter park at Mall of Emirates) to meet the penguins. This was fun and the penguins are such cute animals. Their feathers are very slick with the oil that  keeps them water proof and their wings are super hard, and basically are solid bone. They seemed playful, but a lot of them were molting, and so we didn't get to see and play with as many as usual, which was disappointing.

My coworker Deb (also my Math mentor) got married to her now husband Jason over the break. Deb has taught in Mexico, Japan, and the UAE, but is from Canada. Jason is from England, and met Deb shortly after moving to Dubai four years ago. Their wedding was truly an international affair with more than 50 people coming from all over the world. They had a beautiful ceremony and seaside blessing/reception on the Palm complete with ceremonial camels, of which I took my first camel ride that evening! 

Camel riding on the Palm! I felt like a rock star, especially in my high heels! 

Deb and Jason getting into their 'Groupon' limo after the ceremony!

Liwa Camping

This weekend we did a short one night camping excursion out to Liwa, UAE. It is down at the very border of UAE and it is desert for miles and miles. The dunes are huge and we packed up the Jeep and headed out for a night under the stars.

The Liwa dunes are a camper oasis as well as the fun driving and dune bashing. We saw plenty of dune buggies zipping around. What is crazy about the dunes is that they are huge but are surrounding salt flats. You can see from the satellite photo below what I mean. 

If you go directly south from point A about an inch, you'll see a large round salt flat. We camped about on this one. The white border line you see is the Saudi Arabian border.

The scenery was amazing, we saw a bunch of wild camels and met a few bedouin herders. It was nice to just camp and get out of the city and enjoy the beautiful weather. I couldn't get over how huge the dunes were, some of them were over 500 feet tall. Enjoy some of the pics.

Beautiful red sand dunes, going as far as you can see. 

Sunset in Liwa Dunes

Peter looks so small.

Climbing  up to the top of our dune. You can see the giant round salt flat below (where one of our cars was parked).

Shalene and the Liwa dunes

Starting to see the stars

Katie and Shalene getting a ride from a friendly bedouin camel herder. 

Shalene and the dune 

Peter at sunset