The Things You Never Considered...And Some You Probably Did

At midnight on New Years 2014, The Gentleman told me that I make him very happy, and then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said a lot of things then, like "Are you seriously doing this right now?" and "Is this happening?" and "Oh my God" and "Is this for real?" and then at some point I think I said yes, because we were hugging and there was this ridiculously awesome ring on my finger and everyone was clapping and - strangely - Iconapop's "I Love It" was playing and we got engaged. There's a video on Facebook. It's mostly of me looking shocked and The Gentleman looking handsome as always.


And then there was champagne. And tequila, but mostly champagne. I think I went to bed somewhere around 4am after making a lot of really expensive, really long-distance phone calls from the Middle East to friends and family in the States. The Gentleman fell asleep on the couch somewhere around 3am when I started Snapchatting pictures of my ring.


It was absolutely perfect. The Gentleman chose an evening where I had on a nice dress and had gotten my hair done and when I was (actually) completely not expecting it.


So now, I am packing up my life and about to end 7 years in Baltimore to move to the Middle East to be with my husband-to-be after a year and a half of long-distance. I have 25 days left in this country before expatriating and a lot of shit to do. Including wrapping up the job where I've been for the last three and a half years, filling out endless forms for visa paperwork, and interviewing for new jobs overseas. And we're engaged! And we're moving into a new flat!


When it rains...


SOME THINGS YOU PROBABLY NEVER CONSIDERED ABOUT MOVING OVERSEAS:


1. If you are taking your cats with you (which I, OF COURSE, am) this is going to be an incredibly expensive and traumatic endeavor for all parties involved. The cats will hate you because they will have to get a million shots and international microchips and have to make multiple trips to the vet. You will hate the vet because they failed to sign all of the requisite paperwork in WET, BLUE INK. (That's literally what it says - WET, BLUE INK) and you will have to make subsequent trips to get the paperwork signed appropriately. Also, the carriers that you will have to buy to transport said animals will be $50 apiece and the cats will shun them.


2. You are a ridiculous hoarder. I don't care how non-hoardy you think you are: move internationally and weep at what a disgusting person you are. WHY DID YOU KEEP _____________ (insert ridiculous memento here)?! You will throw away bags upon bags upon bags of earthly possessions that you now look at with new eyes and define as "trash." The sheer amount of stuff that you own will begin to haunt your sleep and often leave you lying wide awake at 3 in the morning, full of self-hatred and anxiety. You will need a friend to come over, drink wine with you, and exhibit tough love to force you to throw things out. Unless your friend is Bookclubjess in which case she will waiver and say unhelpful things like, "But what if you have to go to a costume party? Won't you need that dress?"


3. If you get engaged and then promptly move overseas less than a month later, you will have approximately 4 hours to enjoy your engagement bliss. I am hoping that I can pick up where I left off at 4am on January 1, 2014 once I am actually on the plane heading to my new home in the Middle East. I did rally enough to create a Pinterest board, which I'm told is the first step in wedding planning. Cross that one off the list.


4. Your passport photo is going to be seen by a bajillion people a bajillion times. Don't like the photo? Get over that shit right now. It's going to be front and center in your life for awhile.


5. Not many people know what Abu Dhabi is. It's the capital city in the country of the United Arab Emirates. Dubai is another major city in that country. It is a beautiful, welcoming country with electricity and high speed internet and running water that you can drink RIGHT FROM THE TAP and no, you will not have to wear traditional Muslim attire if you are not, in fact, a Muslim. They do not allow camels on major thoroughfares and - as a matter of fact - I've been there three times in the last year and I have yet to see a camel anywhere. I have, however, seen gold-vending ATMs and the world's largest Persian rug.


In all seriousness, despite the fact that I cry into my wine glass over what a hoarder I am and hope that someday the cats will forgive me for what I'm about to put them through, I can't help but feel like I somehow won the lottery here. I get to marry The Gentleman and move to a foreign country and have adventures. And hopefully write a book in the process. Probably about cats and hoarding.

Packing Up Again

These are the little guys I got us when my boyfriend moved overseas. We always bring them with us when traveling.  There will be a whole post of their adventures at some point. This is them posing in The Gentleman's living room window. He has a terrible view. 

What a crazy year.

I have to segue from my posts about Mexico to say that I'm currently in the middle of my about-to-travel routine. I'm headed back out to the Middle East on Thursday, which means that for the fifth time in less than a year I'm leaving the country. At this point, I don't even put my suitcase away anymore - it now has a home on the floor of my room. My passport remains in my carry-on, along with eye drops, ear plugs, and an eye mask. I'm thinking ahead eight time zones and remembering to call my credit cards to tell them I'll be overseas and making sure that my cats are taken care of. (My roommate is awesome and not only feeds and waters the cats while I'm gone, she loves on them with brushings, treats, and trips to sit outside on the balcony. I think they are starting to like her better than me.)

I was talking to one of my besties, Stupid, this morning, and she mentioned that while, at first, The Gentleman's announcement that he was being sent overseas for work was a pretty difficult pill to swallow, it's turned into a year of incredible travel opportunity. And she's right. While I would much rather have The Gentleman by  my side (because he's handsome and funny and cooks really good pad thai), our joint love of travel and adventure has propelled us into some pretty awesome experiences. Our separation is temporary, and while being in an Xtreme Long Distance Relationship has been the hardest thing I have ever. Done. Hands. Down, it's also been the best. 

Travel is one of my most favorite things, and I have had opportunities to do things that I probably never would have had if it weren't for our circumstances. What we are doing is incredibly difficult and a lot of hard work, but we are young and we both have decent amounts of PTO from our jobs and the means to travel, and so he gave me the best parting gift he possibly could by saying "Where do you want to go next?"

I am extraordinarily lucky to have had these experiences, and luckier still to have them with my most favorite person. And so, yes, I prepare for another 15-hour flight and Xtreme Jet Lag (I am SO BAD at jet lag...I mean, no one is particularly GOOD at it, but I am REALLY REALLY TERRIBLE no matter how often I experience it), but I'm also preparing for more adventures with someone I love a whole lot. 

I'm hoping to post the remainder of my Mexico photos before I leave, but seeing as how I am up to my eyeballs in laundry and still have two full work days before my 10pm flight, it may just have to wait until I get back. And there will be more adventures to tell then, too.

Onward!

On a Happier Note....

 

On a (much better) note, my girl over at Charm(ing) City Style put together a sexy little blog post just for me! Since she is ridiculously fashionable and super smart, I demanded that she help me pack for the Middle East.

Thanks, CCS! You are the best (dressed).

United Arab Emirates Part III - Architecture, Dubai

The UAE is, by far, the strangest country I've ever been to.

Now, I realize this is a value-laden statement, because "strange" is clearly from my own Western standpoint. At the risk of being disrespectful, perhaps a different word would be more appropriate here. Like...."crazy." Or...."surreal." No. Damn.

But seriously, the architecture. THE ARCHITECTURE. It's like... Wizard of Oz meets Stanley Kubrick meets Tim Gunn meets the backdrop of futuristic video games. Let's take a look at Dubai's skyline.

Behold....

Crazy, no? It's just incredible. Like a designer's dream job, the buildings seem to have been thrown up in the spirit of: "Let's build a building that's more creative than the building across the street," with each one just upping the ante. And that's just the regular business buildings. That's not even including iconic architecture that is almost universally-recognizable as being "Dubai". Such as the Burj al Arab:

Burj al Arab hotel. AKA "The Sail." There were about fifty tourists standing on this street corner taking pictures, so I had to make do with a quick run-by in the car.

And the also-iconic Atlantis, The Palm Hotel and Resort, a five-star entity modeled after the one in Nassau and sporting the gorgeous central keyhole:

It's a little like Vegas, no?

We were only in Dubai for two days, and we were perfectly content to spend nearly one whole day just driving around the city. Actually, I should say that I was perfectly content because the Gentleman was driving me around and I had plenty of snacks.

Twin Chrysler buildings?

Burj Khalifa peeking up to the right.

IMPORTANT NOTE: See this bridge that says "Toll Gate?"

Yeah, that one. That means there's a sensor in that bridge that automatically charges you a toll. My understanding is that most cars in the UAE have sensors (I think on the windshield, kind of like an EasyPass) and the toll is automatically charged to an account that gets paid. Maybe monthly or something. I'm not sure. But either way, if you have a rental car, MAKE SURE you ask about the toll pass. There's an astronomical fee associated with not having a sensor to pay the toll, and they will take a picture of your license plate, and they will find you, and you will pay it.

Along these lines, I should also point out that they take speeding incredibly seriously. Automobiles are outfitted with a beeper that goes off if you get above 140 kph (about 86 mph). That beeping will not stop until you slow the car down to below 140. And while this speed does seem excessive, keep in mind that you're driving on fairly new, smooth roads THROUGH THE DESERT, where everything is FLAT AS SHIT, so it's pretty easy to suddenly realize that you're cruising at 90mph. Especially when everyone else is too. But the beeper thing will go off, and it's annoying as hell, and the only way to make it stop is to obey the law or turn your music up really, really loud.

The latter was our method of choice for dealing with this annoyingness, but the UAE has figured out this little trick and that's why nearly every road has these brown, bird house-looking thingies that are...you guessed it...speed cameras. They're  paced out every few miles, and they snap a nice little picture of you breaking the law. On your average road trip between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, there's the potential to pick up five or ten speeding tickets from these boxes alone. 

So yeah, don't speed. It's expensive.

Our old friend, the Burj Khalifa.

View from the base of the Burj. There's a fantastic fountain show with lights and fun.

Upon seeing this photo, my buddy Jenn (The Cheap Luxury) said, "DID YOU TAKE A VACATION TO THE FUTURE?!" This thing to the right is actually one of the Dubai metro stops. I shit you not. They're all along the highway.
AKA - The Future.

No Middle Eastern city can be pictured without the requisite feral cats. Skinny and sassy little creatures, but the locals regard them as rats. I regard them as adorable. And gross.

Quiet street in the Deira neighborhood, which is one of Dubai's oldest areas. Wikipedia says "Deira is like the old Dubai in the 1990's." This means that I am older than this historic area. Hooray.

Deira neighborhood

Deira neighborhood

Our last day in Dubai, on a suggestion from a friend, we went on a Dubai creek tour. The Dubai creek is a salty river that twists into and through the city from the Gulf, bisecting it into two main sections: Deira on the east and Bur Dubai to the west. The Creek tours are dirt cheap (I can't recall the exact price, but I want to say it was about $10 per person) and last about an hour or so with a English-language recording of a tour pointing out various spots along the Creek. The creek tours are called "Dhow Cruises" and range from your basic snacks-for-sale to full-scale dining cruises. The cheaper ones run pretty much every couple of  hours, and you don't need to book in advance. At least, we didn't. Hotels usually have pamphlets or can give you information regarding this boat trips. The boats are all docked down by the British Embassy. That's about the most detail I can give in terms of directions. Thank God for Google maps and GPS is all I can say. 

Another note: navigating Middle Eastern countries is confusing as hell because the roads all have about seven different names, or they're named after royalty and thus you might have Sheik Zayed I which is different from Sheik Zayed II but sometimes cab drivers won't understand the difference or someone giving you directions will just tell you to take Sheik Zayed and you're all like, Whaaaaatttt, so basically my advice to you is: get something; a phone, an ipad, a compass, what have you; that has GPS on it and make sure you have someone in the car navigating. You'd think a country that's 40 (almost 41!) years old would have perfected infrastructure but....no. Not even close. DC is better laid out.

I digress.

Ah yes, the dhow:

This is a taxi boat. Futuristic, no?

View from dhow cruise of buildings in Dubai. I forget what these are, but LOOK HOW PRETTY!

This is not a dhow cruise.

There's that damn Burj Khalifa again!

Another thing about the Middle East, which was also prevalent in Jordan which is why I feel I can accurately paint the entire region with the same brush (stupid Americana) is that they have pictures of their royalty EVERYWHERE. It's an homage to those who build and lead the country, but, quite honestly, sometimes it feels a bit Big Brotherish. 

I think this is a bank...I mean, HOW FREAKING AWESOME IS THIS BUILDING?!

So many things are shipped in via boat, such as produce, textiles, and knock-off Marc Jacobs bags.

Heading back to Abu Dhabi. Bye, Dubai. Shukran.

It was incredibly strange to be in an entire city where there isn't a single brick. Not a one. 

Dubai is constantly in a state of construction, and it seems as though one out of every three buildings is only halfway complete. You look up at monstrous skyscrapers only to see that the glass windows end and it's steel frame from there on up. It's still, for all intents and purposes, a brand new city (and country, for that matter) and yet still suffers from the same issues of urban sprawl, infrastructure, and dealing with an extreme climate (desert, shifting sand, incredible winds) that so many other Middle Eastern cities face. 

Despite this, Dubai is breathtaking. The architecture is unique and compelling, the skyline infinitely interesting. This is a city built to impress, and it does. 

Thank Coffee.

The Lebanese/Canadian brought us back some Turkish coffee. And told me the method for preparing it. In secret. So, I'm essentially freebasing coffee. Whatever. I'll take it.

Istanbul

Written Monday, Jan 2: I am finally home after two weeks of travel. We got back last night around midnight from our fantastic weekend in New York after ringing in the New Year in style, and spending all of New Years' Day drinking mimosas and playing Skee Ball at Ace. It was a perfect way to begin 2012, and the perfect end to the last two weeks of adventure.

In a fit of productivity today, I did four loads of laundry, cleaned my room, unpacked my suitcase(s), went grocery shopping, uploaded 400 photos, and will now begin the epic task of blogging our trip. Also, it's 7:15 and I'm ready for bed.

The Blue Mosque

We arrived in Istanbul around 10:30am, Eastern European Time (3:30am to our body clocks), and lucked into a near-empty airport. Both BWI and JFK had been nightmarish the day prior - we'd thought we were so clever to book flights out on that Tuesday afternoon, nearly a week before Christmas. Not so. It seems to me that nobody went to work at all that week. Instead, everyone else had the genius idea to get a jump start on holiday travel. We waited in a lot of lines.

But the primarily Muslim city of Istanbul was abuzz in its regular weekday flow, which left the airport pretty vacant. We paid our $20 apiece for 90-day visiting visas, and were rewarded with a comedian border patrolman who looked at my passport, looked gravely at me, shook his head and said, "WANTED," and then winked cheekily. But not before I felt a tightening in my chest that indicated the onset of a minor heart attack. Hilarious.

Welcome aboard Turkish airlines!

Deceptively empty metro car at one of the early stops.

We had already changed money at JFK, and so followed signs to the metro. Purchasing tokens was slightly complicated given that nothing was in English, and we couldn't figure out if purchasing double the amount meant tokens enough for two people. A kind man, fluent in both Turkish and English, came to the rescue, inserted our money for us, and handed us the tokens that came out the bottom of the machine. 

The metro was a cozy little ride; something akin to this. 


Halfway to downtown, we got caught in some nasty traffic due to an intense, albeit entirely peaceful, demonstration that involved hundreds upon hundreds of marchers with signs lining the streets, and an equal number of Turkish police in full riot gear. Having only been in Istanbul for approximately an hour and a half, my Arabic was not quite yet fluent and so I was unable to decipher the cries and signs. I'm pretty sure the demonstration was labor-related, although it could just as easily been a show of despair at the sanctity of marriage pissed upon by the Kardashian family. Either one of those seem to garner intense opinions.

After peeling ourselves from the metro car windows disembarking at Sirkeci, the last stop before the Galata Bridge, we heard the first of many, many muezzin that would form a soundtrack to our stay in the Middle East. The calls to prayer sound discordant at first, and even jarring. But after a careful listen, you can begin to hear the melodic flow and appreciate the precision of vocal control and the beauty of a faith that calls for reflection five times a day. Not all muezzins are created equal, however, and some are more aurally aesthetic than others. But the experience is the same, and it never failed to cause me to stop and listen in the week that we were abroad.

We lucked into an absolutely beautiful day in Istanbul that day - the weather had called for upper forties, rain, possibly thunder showers. Instead, we got mid- to upper-50s and completely clear skies. The weather beckoned us to the Galata Bridge where we wandered to find a spot outdoors for lunch.

Galata Bridge restaurants

Running along the underside span of the bridge is a row of restaurants, each with menus proudly displayed alongside maître d's who will beg you to sample their wares, look at how fresh their fish is, and bargain with them for a deal on some fish and vegetables. They will run alongside, pushing the menu at you, declaring their feasts to be the best. Eventually, you will tire of shaking your head, and you will select a restaurant not because the menu looks the best or the fish looks the freshest, but because a maître d' has worn you into submission and you're simply too tired and hungry to go on.

When I say that this fish is fresh, I am not kidding you. You will be invited to peruse their wooden crates of whatever was brought in that morning, and you will look at row after row of glassy-eyed fish and select one. You tell the chef how you'd like it prepared (sauteed, fried, filleted, whole, grilled, however you like! We make for you!), and you sit down and allow for a rush of hospitality so detailed, they might as well work your jaw for you to chew your food.

sauteed spinach, tuna mezze

Shepherd's salad

            















The Gentleman and I chose Shepherd's salad 
(fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and radishes in a light-as-air vinegar and oil dressing), fatty tuna with capers, a platter of fresh fruit, and bottled water to start. We selected three exquisite bluefish from a wooden crate filled with ice chips, and asked for them to be grilled and served whole. While eating our salad and appetizers and waiting for our meal, we basked in the warm sunshine and tried to fight off dizzying jet lag. Fishers on the bridge above lined the walkway with lines, cast out into the bright blue, churning Bosphorus River. I half-wondered if a fish drawn right in front of us would end up on our plates.

A young Turkish lad wearing pants like a Newsie and an Armani jacket strolled up with a wheelbarrow packed with shaved ice and fish. I shit you not. The maître d' came outside, and manhandled a few of the fish with a practiced eye, before shouting a stream of words that were either condemning the fish seller to hell or proclaiming these fish to be bigger than Justin Bieber. He motioned towards us.

"You want fish? Fresh? You want try? My chef cook for you, however you like. You pick the fish. We cook it." We looked at the dead fish nestled snugly in the wheelbarrow of ice and politely declined. We'd already done our selecting for the day.

Delectable. And kind of snarly.

And, let me tell you, the fish that was brought to us was a work of art. So simply cooked, without so much as salt and pepper, but delicately buttered and sprinkled with lemon, it fell right off the bone. The papery skin melted like puff pastry around the succulent meat. We shared three of the tiny fish and felt completed sated. 

"Baclava"

We ordered baclava and Turkish coffee for dessert and were presented with a strange, grainy nut composition. My first Turkish coffee in Istanbul still sits in my memory as one of the best things I've ever tasted. We asked for no sugar, as coffee and tea in Turkey and the Middle East tend to come heavily sugared. This coffee needs no sugar, no milk. It is stark, rich, almost buttery, with only the slightest, enjoyable bitterness at the end. My jet lag was at bay after that coffee, and this began an unfortunate wanton lust for Turkish coffee that lasted throughout the trip to fight off fatigue. Coming back, I am now hooked on caffeine again after kicking my triple-latte-a-day habit, but nothing will satisfy this jones.

Coffee now is disappointing and stupid. My hands shake for the real deal.

Must. Have. More.

We walked off our delicious meal and made our way to the Blue Mosque. We were asked if we were German, British, or Californian. All might have been plausible - with our blonde hair and blue eyes, my boyfriend and I were frequently mistaken as various Nordic nationalities throughout the trip. (Also as brother and sister, but thankfully only when his parents and brother were with us, and they assumed the five white people had to be a family.)

The Blue Mosque was incredible, and disappointing only in that we happened to get there at prayer time, and were not allowed inside. But the courtyard was pretty breathtaking:

We made our way across the park area to the Hagia Sophia which was further awe-inducing. The Hagia Sophia is an ancient basilica-turned-mosque, and is a jaw-dropping montage of Islamic and Christian motifs, cradled together in towering domes.

 

We had to leave Istanbul after only a few hours to catch the flight to Amman. My sincerest wish to spend more time there came true - sort of - but I now have an ardent desire to spend a good week there. So much history in this beautiful city, where the Middle East, Europe, and Asia collide and influence and remain.

Next on the docket: A little spiel about Middle Eastern food, aka "Why Even Whole Foods Now Disappoints."