I sat reading my kindle in the dining room of the Hotel Grifo, waiting for Gwen and Josh (or Gwosh) to arrive from their flight. Of course, as soon as I hop up to use the restroom, I hear them come in. We went to the same cafe I had visited earlier and got some yummy cappuccino and a little ham croissant to eat before heading to the Vatican. Gwen had booked us a 2pm tour. We made our way to the metro station and boarded our train. You have to always be careful of pickpockets in Rome and especially in crowded areas such as the metro, but it was not too busy on the way. We found our way to the meeting point for the tour, but we were a bit early so we went ... read more

This morning I met Matt, a doctor of geology (or, "Rock Doc" if you will) before heading out to my favorite road cut in Khor Fakkan. I was looking forward to this because I love site visits, and rocks, and I was looking forward to learning about geology in general from a former geology professor. I hadn't been this heavily involved in Geology since college and I miss it. It is starting to come back to me, but it will definitely take lots of practice and research. fortunately, dork that I am, I enjoy reading about geology. We actually missed our freeway exit and since this is the UAE, there was no place to easily turn around so by the time we found the next exit we decided to take the scenic route - back roads. ... read more

I was so excited to try my first brunch that I skipped out on the trip with Jamie and co. to Al Ain. My coworkers had been planning this for weeks and I looked forward to trying it and getting to know them better. If I hadn't gone, it would have been at least another month to experience it... Decisions, decisions. Either way, I'm sure I'd have a great time. Anyway, my "american coworker" and I (let's call him Melvin), went out to McG's again the night before. I got to see his apartment beforehand which is much better than my own amazing place.... Oh well - I still live in my dream apartment for the moment. He lent me a couple of books so I can pursue my NPR Tope 100 Sci Fi / Fantasy ... read more

It was kind of a typical week, though busy as Jamie had returned. I finished my two big reports so the next week or so at work should be relatively easy. yay! I was doing very well with going to the gym every day for at least a half hour - burning some calories, climbing some stairs, and reading my book. The women's gym is pretty lame but it is better than nothing and it's free. Wednesday was the busiest. I FINALLY had gotten my national id, so I was looking forward to getting my license. Yay! So, I decided to go Wednesday after lunch and meet Jamie for a massage afterwards. Little did I know that the licensing place keeps ramadan like hours as they close at 2. Such a pain. I got there at ... read more

Prepare yourself for a boring entry: Nothing much exciting this week. I had my first sick half/day, but honestly I've never felt better since I've been here. It couldn't be the lack of alcohol.... could it? of course, that was the day the client who had been relatively easy picks to flip out and I don't know if he even tried to call me, but he did call my boss a few hours after I'd left work. I really don't get the mentality here. Jamie warned me. Eric warned me. And I am not regretting coming here by any means, but it is still shocking behavior. I go in the next day after being sick AND stressed the day before, and Thursday was a busy but easy day. After work yesterday, my American coworker and I ... read more