I’m the worst blogger ever! Quick updates since last time:
· Kate and Sarah are the best!
· I love UAE camping!
· I surprised my family for Christmas, and the looks on their faces were amazing!
· I punched another hole in my head while I was in Redding.
· The amount of concerts I go to in this country is ridiculous.
· I don’t actually hate Heroes as much as I thought I did. (Dive bar.)
On to the real stuff:
When I went home to the States in December, it was really weird being back. I didn't ever feel like I ever got a culture shock moving to the UAE, but talk about reverse culture shock! It was so normal being around my family and friends, but everything else seemed weird. It felt weird (but good) to be driving again. It felt weird to be cold (although, it’s been cold here since I’ve been back, so I guess it was just preparing me). It was weird to not hear Arabic all around me, to not see my students, to not hear the Azans five times a day, etc. It was all so familiar, but it took a little bit of getting used to again. I was so glad to be home!
Here’s the strange part though: I also couldn’t help but be a little homesick for my other home, Abu Dhabi. I missed my routine, I missed my AD friends, my general independence, and I really missed my students. I was starting to get anxious to come back the last few days there; I won’t lie. But I’m so glad I was home when I found out about Chad passing away. I was with Brittany and Cody when we got the news, and I went straight home and sobbed in my mom’s lap until I lost all sense of time. Sometimes a girl just needs her mommy, no matter how old she is. Then I didn’t really want to leave anymore, and when I got here, I didn’t particularly want to be back. I’ve been back three weeks, and to be honest, I probably wasn’t much of a joy to be around for the first two. I’m still having a hard time with it, and I’m sure it’ll be that way for a long time, but it’s easy for me to keep myself busy in AD so I’m glad I had that to come back to.
On a brighter note, last weekend I went to my very first Emirati wedding. I contemplated not going because I don’t really know the family and I was going by myself, but decided in the end that I would be disappointed in myself if I had missed such an inside look into Emirati culture. I knew it would be this big, lavish event, but it was nothing like I imagined! It was unbelievable! The men and women are completely separated and there were probably 400 women in the banquet hall I was in, dressed TO THE NINES in custom Arab couture dresses. Hair done, makeup done, jewels glued on skin, henna, everything. I didn't even know either of the people getting married! The bride was the aunt of one of my students, whose mother invited me all of like 2 days before (and I barely even know HER). I did my own hair and wore a nice dress (by MY standard) and felt soooo underdressed. I may as well have been in a burlap sack compared to these women! But they were all so beautiful! The food was to DIE for, the wedding dress was the most incredible thing I've ever seen, and they were so nice! I sat with cousins and sisters of the bride, right up by the stage. It was nuts for being a complete stranger... I figured I'd end up somewhere in the back of the room. And my student was over the moon that I was there. And when it was time to go, I was going to catch a cab (no big deal, it's my daily mode of transportation anyways) and Entisar (my student's mom) insisted on driving me home. They really know how to make a girl feel welcome. I just LOVE that little girl though, and they probably know that. Haha. I think my head exploded from pure awesomeness about halfway through the wedding. The only disappointing thing for me was that I couldn’t really take pictures, so I can’t really show you what I experienced. L
Coming up: I’m going to Thailand for 2 weeks at the end of March when we have spring break. It’s going to be awesome.
PS. I’ll start blogging again. I promise.
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