One Year Ago...

Yep, yesterday marked my "One Year Anniversary" of living in the UAE.  For the most part it has flown by, but I do remember times when it felt like I'd never make it.  Ironically enough, we spent most of yesterday looking for a new apartment and trying to set up a new bank account.  I started to say to Paul that I was right back where I started one year ago--but stopped myself.  So much has changed since then.  A key part of that being that Paul is out here with me now. Plus I know the area, where to look, who to talk to, and the questions to ask.  But I think that the biggest thing that has changed are my expectations.

I don't think that I had any more "unrealistic" expectations than any other western expat who has never lived in the middle east before--honestly I was probably a bit more prepared than the average American moving out here.  And even though I was warned by a few people, life in this part of the world is really just not anything that you can fully comprehend until you've lived it.  Especially those first few months.  Looking back on it, those first 6 months were hard.  Paul and I would turn to each other almost every week and just ask ourselves what we were doing here.  I was reading another US expat blog about Abu Dhabi and she described the first two months better than I could:

For the new expat, everything that used to seem simple is suddenly an ordeal--opening a checking account, getting connected to the internet, giving directions to a taxi driver (who in most cases also just arrived in the country), or just sifting through the advice that everyone you meet bestows upon you (solicited or not). You are prodded to make important life-altering decisions while feeling disoriented and jet lagged. And all of this is peripheral to learning the actual responsibilities of the job you've been hired to do. It's an enormous load to handle all at once, and it seems you'll never get it all straightened out.

After three months of disorientation and another three months of telling people almost every week "I think we're finally feeling settled-in and doing better" we did eventually fall into a rhythm.  I am sure the cooler temperatures helped too :)   I honestly do not think that that much has changed since those first few months other than that we're not making our twice-weekly trips to IKEA to furnish our place, but what has changed are our expectations.  It is amazing how the human mind/soul/body can adapt.  Sometimes I wonder if it is really a good thing that we are adapting, but I don't really think that we have a choice if we stay here--we would probably just self-implode if we didn't.  I would say that we are probably more cynical but also much wiser.  We have learned a handful of things through mistakes we've made that we will never make again--but that's just part of life no matter where you live.  I think our learning and growing has just swerved into the fast lane--almost like it's trying to keep up with the bullet-proof, metallic window tinted Bentleys that fly by at 130mph on the road to Dubai.

We have also had some awesome experiences that we would have never been able to even come close to back home.  In addition to the new things that we get to see, learn, and experience here in the UAE, we've also been able to do a lot of traveling.  My boss asked me last week if I felt like this past year had been "a success"; and I told him that I think I would have to call it success since the main reason we moved here was to travel and experience the rest of the world.  We have been to 3 continents including 6 countries in 1 year!  First we came to the UAE in July/August.  Then Oman in September.  We went to Nepal in November.  And three months later we visited Thailand.  Then within a span of two weeks in mid-May we traveled to both Italy and Greece.  If that isn't a success, I am not sure what is :)

I think I'll leave you with photos of a few of our odd experiences / things we've become accustomed to that didn't get their own post…

This isn't a local souk or some special spice store; nope this is just the local "Carrefour" (ie french version of Walmart/Target) where we did our weekly grocery shopping the first 6 months we were here

Yummm!  What would a butcher section be without camel meat?  This is at just another common grocery store chain called Lulu's where we do our grocery shopping now

Yes, that's Paul's arm from when he went to the hospital/doctors office--no need for paper or wrist bands, they're going green :)