Summer 2010

It has certainly been awhile since I blogged. Depressing. Because there is something about writing to an unknown audience that is inspiring and brings a warm feeling.

Leaving Dubai
What can I say? I did it. I managed to teach four different subjects in Dubai for an entire year. I won't dwell on all the mishaps and difficulties that I encountered in Dubai. I'll file those in my life lessons category but I will truly cherish my time spent with my amazing students. I really have no idea if my students or "girls" have any idea how much I adored them. They were all such third culture kids meaning they went to school in Dubai but travelled all over the globe and knew so many different cultures. Some of them were so smart, entertaining, funny, honest and I will miss them the most along with the wonderful people in Dubai: friends, and colleagues. I mustn't forget how much that I'll miss Cliff-the coffee guy.

I packed up, got everything arranged for departing and left on June 30th. My flights took me from Dubai-Amsterdam. Wish I could have visited Amsterdam during the cool weather with sunny skies but to be honest I had to switch flights so fast that the only thing I had time to do was get questioned by this nice, tall Dutchman.

Next, from Amsterdam I was off to Minneapolis. Right away, I missed the clean food courts of Dubai because Minneapolis, MN, your airport needs a face lift. I went through US customs and the jerk threw away my Dubai snow globe I had bought for my mother. Thanks to sleep deprivation, I started getting all teary eyed when he threw a few of my items. Luckily a kind woman following me through the customs line talked to me, sympathized while comforting me. I felt better thanks to her. Arriving in the states is overwhelming folks. Its similar to arriving on a different planet. With the huge suitcase scanning machines, the men in uniformed suits, etc. And the funny thing is, I am American citizen. Lord only knows how the Spanish exchange students behind me felt like who could not even speak English. Then I was onto Seattle. I was so excited to see my family that I don't even remember the flight.

Home
I had a lot of fun in Seattle. I really love waking up and having coffee with my Mom while watching Good Morning America. I missed Monroe, the adorable Pomeranian my parents have who has more personality than any animal I've ever met. In Seattle, or more specifically the Eastside, I spent each day pounding through to-do lists for the wedding. Just when I would finish one to-do list, a new one would be made and I was off the next day.

The day before my fiance flew into Seattle, I had a COFFEE day. Yep, that's right, I had THREE COFFEE dates. Can you imagine me, three coffees? No! Some where in between I managed to eat but it was a fun last single lady day. I began by going to Cafe Ladro in Bothell with my old pal Roman that I met when I was twenty while working at Trader Joe's. We caught up, discussed his troubled relationship that I think he should give another try, and laughed. He was proud of me and grateful that I was doing something that would bring happiness to my life. As I said good bye to Roman I started to get that rush of emotions. The wave that creeps up when you are least expecting it to. Roman reminds me of my college days and my twenties. Not that I'll never see him again but probably not as much now that I'm a married girl. So that was emotional. I don't know how it crept up on me but as soon as I left my coffee date with Roman the tears started flowing. I realized that my crazy twenties are behind me now and that I might actually consider calling myself a grown up? Roman signified my hip hop concert going, Russian language and literature studying, Trader Joe working, carefree days when I did not owe anything to anyone. Those days are gone I realized. And not that I would ever want to return to them but it still fills you with sadness when an era of your life is slowly passing you like a speeding car on an old country road. I called a few girlfriends who helped me grow through the moment. I realized that by fulfilling all those to do list for my wedding that I had actually forgotten to stop and think about the fact that I was getting married. Yikes.

I also caught up with Sarah, a really wonderful friend from back in the day. I mean junior high folks. We met while playing basketball at Rose Hill Jr. High. Ha! We met up in the University District or U-District. That also brought back memories. O how I love going to the UW. What a beautiful campus. We spent the entire afternoon together and it was so nice. I really hope we will stay in touch. O yeah, we had coffee at Louisa's on Eastlake. They make an amazing vegan cookie!

Last but certainly not least, I met John and Georgie at the U-Village. If anything exemplifies my college days it is having coffee with John and Georgie at Starbuck in the U-Vill. Good times, good times.

Adnan, Awais (his father), James, Kee and Tonja arrived the next day in Seattle and that pretty much started off the chain of events of my wedding. They were relieved to have escaped the Houston humidity and heat wave. They loved the cool Seattle 70 degree weather and the huge trees. More guests started to arrive. The rehearsal dinner was at my parents. We had a huge barbecue. My Dad made sure and stuffed everyone until the women questioned whether they would fit into their dresses.

The Big Day
I was completely calm on my wedding day. I was happy! People kept asking me if I was nervous and I'd respond by saying no, not really. My sister and I started the morning by getting our hair done. Then we headed to the hotel to get ready. Julie pulled out the application on her Google phone that had lines from the movie The Hangover and had me laughing til' tears were pouring out of my eyes. One of my favorites, "is this really Caesar's palace, does Caesar really live here?", "um no sir" the hotel receptionist replies, "I didn't think so". Gotta love The Hangover. Julie and Maddy, my bridesmaids, really actually made my entire wedding memorable. I love them eternally for making me laugh and smile all through out the day!

The wedding was great! Adnan and I sort of became our own wedding planners. After the wonderful ceremony, thanks to Pat, he would turn to me and ask, "okay so should we do our first dance", etc. The only downer was that I did not really have time to talk to my Aunt and cousin who drove all the way from California. That is usually how weddings are though. The bride and groom are moving left and right, front and backwards to complete the list of traditions such as cake cutting (in my case cupcakes) and first dance, etc. It was amazing and when we left and were driving to our amazing hotel we both agreed that it could not have been any better.