off and running....

Well, contrary to the first bit of the year, the past few weeks have been quite eventful here in Dubai!

This part of year - December through March - is my favorite part of the year in Dubai, because there's always something going on!

First on my mind is that this past past friday I ran a half-marathon - that’s 21.1 kilometers, or about 13.1 miles! It was a great course down along the Dubai Creek, past the boats unloading their cargo, through the covered souks, and across bridges and under tunnels…. I finished in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 20 seconds – right at my goal of 2 hours, and was finisher 273 out of 499! It was hard, but fun, and it made all the training I’ve been doing totally worth it!!

Two weekends ago there was a Red Bull FlugTag here - basically, people flying crazy things off of a platform, into the Creek... it ended up being more falling than flying, but it was fun to see a darth vader head, a giant pterodactyl, and other assorted flying machines go falling gracefully (or not) into the water! Plus, it was a great reason to get outside in Creekside Park and enjoy the sunshine and the great weekend vibe...

The Dubai International Film Festival is going on right now, with films from all around the world, and I’m seeing about 8 movies that will take me from Antarctica to the Taj Mahal, to the steppes of Mongolia to the slums of Manila.

School has been busy, but we’ve had a lot of fun things happening. We had a school-wide International Day, and everyone dressed up in their national dress and all the 57 countries we have at ASD had booths set up for the kids to learn cultural information and sample foods. In the Middle School we also just had a “Spirit Day” – we took a whole afternoon to get to help the kids build team-work skills and get to know each other better, and it went really well. My kids are pretty fabulous! (Have I said this before? Because it’s true!)

Last weekend, 13 of us teachers took a 4-day trip to Jordan over a long weekend! It was simply amazing....

We started out in the capital city, Amman, and spent a few hours in the morning wandering around an old Roman Ampitheater and an old citadel ruin. It was a weekend morning, and it was very quiet, and the weather was cold and windy – a bit dreary, but it was actually a nice change from Dubai, as it felt a bit like a Minnesota autumn day! Amman is built into large hills, and it makes for a really interesting cityscape - beige buildings off in all directions.....

We spent the afternoon driving to Wadi Musa, which is the city located at the entrance to the ancient city of Petra. Along the way, we stopped at Mount Nebo, which is thought to be the place that Moses died, and where he was shown the promised land that he would never reach. There’s a small monastery there, and a great view – unfortunately, it was a bit hazy – but from that spot one can see the Dead Sea, the Jordan river, and the Promised Land – what is now Israel/Palestine.

We spent the whole next day exploring Petra. It’s amazing what structures were carved out of rocks! We saw the Treasury, one of Petra’s most famous buildings, climbed up to the High Place of Sacrifice, and then made another climb up to the Monastery, another huge building carved out of stone. Above the Monastery there was a fabulous view of the surrounding mountains, and we spend awhile just sitting in the sun , taking it all in. All day we saw homes, temples, monuments, altars, and idols – all carved out of rock. Some were still intact, some not, but nomadic goat-herders still live in the caves, riding donkeys and selling trinkets to tourists. The pictures I took just don't do justice to the incredibly beauty of this place...

The next day we drove to the Dead Sea! Our hotel was beautiful, and we spent an evening and morning relaxing by the pool, at the spa and on our balcony, which had a great view of the sea. Unfortunately, it was too windy and wavy to go in the water, so we didn’t get to experience the famous Dead Sea floating. At night, we could see the lights of Jerusalem across the Sea, up on a hill. On the way out to the airport we stopped at the place where they think Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist! The Jordan River is really pretty small and muddy now, but apparently it used to be pretty impressive!
All in all it was a great trip, and it was quite amazing to be in a place that is at the center of so much faith and history...

I"ll get some pictures up sometime (hopefully) soon!

only 10 days from now I will be on a Santiago-bound plane, en-route to Antarctica! It's just finally starting to sink in that i'm going, as i sort through my sweaters and winter gear (I so wish I had brought more stuff over here with me!), read my Chile travel book, and contemplate the packing challenge of being in both summer and winter weather in the same trip....

Merry (quite early!) Christmas and Happy New Year!

Oh, and to all you cookie-bakers: your efforts were enjoyed immensely on this side of the world - way to keep the mochos alive!