Travel Log #1: Dubai

I realize I've done a pretty terrible job of posting about my travels. It's been a more than interesting 3 years and I've been to places in the world I never thought I'd go. So, mainly to maintain my memories, I'll start at the beginning and post occasionally about where we've gone and what my experience was like.

We had just moved to Singapore and had literally been in the country for 3 days before my hubby had to take a business trip. I can't even remember where he was going but he was gone for at least 10 days. We lived in a 4-story, 100 year old house that had been remodeled and was gorgeous. However, it was old. It was impossible to keep cool, there were lots of lizards IN the house and it rattled every time a car drove by. Even though I had lived alone for at least 3 years, being in this house alone at night scared me to death. I tried my best to do everything to stay in bed but by midnight I found myself on the couch with the tv and all the lights in the house on.

One night during my husband's trip, around 2am, I was on the phone with a friend from the US. Suddenly I heard a huge CRASH and the noise continued for a few seconds. Immediately my heart started pounding out of my chest. I got weak in the knees as I thought someone was breaking into the house. Here I am in a new country all alone. I don't even know how to call the police. I tried to maintain my composure and continued talking to my friend as I started to roam the house. I was completely terrified! Turns out, the wind had blown one of the windows open and it was banging open and closed. Phew. It took my heart at least 15 minutes to return to a normal beat and I spent the whole night awake.

The view from the hotel lounge

My husband came home to a scared insomniac and I told him he better take me on his next trip or I was going home (My husbands' version of this story is that he suggested I go with him on his next trip). Thankfully, he did take me and that's how I ended up visiting Dubai.

Dubai is an amazing and very different city. There is the Dubai Creek that runs through the middle of the city and then there is the Persian Gulf. When our plane landed, I was blown away at how close we were in proximity to Iran, Iraq and Pakistan. All these places you hear about in the news. I was in the Middle East. I was excited and a little scared too.

Since my hubby was working, I had to entertain myself. Dubai really isn't a place where a woman can walk down the street on her own. So, I asked my hubby to book me a site seeing tour. I was thinking I'd be on a double decker bus with the rest of the tourists. The morning of the tour, the hotel lobby called to say my ride had arrived. I walked down to find a beautiful Mercedes with tinted windows and a man in a suit who was going to drive me around the city for the next 5 hours!!! I am laughing as I write this because at first it was so awkward. The man was very nice and it all ended up fine. Here are just a few highlights:

The world's only 7 star hotel

The world's tallest building

                                                                      

When I wasn't touring the city, I was mostly laying by the hotel pool. It was March and the weather was beautiful! My hubby took some time out of work to take me to the Gold souk (market) where there were soooooo many jewelry stores and stands, all gold. I was in heaven. Then we had a wonderful traditional Middle Eastern dinner with belly dancing included (not us dancing).

Dubai was the first place in the world I really stepped out on my own. Although my hubby was with me, he was there to work so I was truly my own travel companion. I remember feeling lonely, missing my friends and wondering if I could really handle what I had gotten myself into. But there was also a part of me that started to grow. A little spark was lit inside that said "what else is out there in this great big world?" My interest was piqued and Dubai was just the beginning...

SNOW!

It's snowing outside!! OK, not tons of snow. It's more like slush but it's white and pretty and I'm ok with it melting as soon as it hits the ground. Since I'm recovering from my cold/flu from hell, I dropped my bubby off at daycare and have spent the day inside getting things done around the house. I paid bills, washed and folded many loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, made spaghetti sauce and started my homemade chicken stock for the chicken noodle soup we will enjoy later for dinner. Yum. Then I sat down to take a break and was so happy to see the white, fluffy, cold stuff falling from the sky.

Basel has a nice, mild climate. It gets cold and snows but snow doesn't stay on the ground long. Last year, it started snowing almost immediately after my son was born in November. Living in Singapore for 2 years where the only cold breeze came from air conditioning, it really felt like winter to me. We had a white Thanksgiving and a white Christmas. A first for me being a California girl. I loved it!

But what I loved most was the snuggly, new baby I had in my arms. Since we were fairly new in town and didn't have much to do or places to go, I spent most of my days holding my newborn, watching tv and watching the snow fall. It was the coziest winter of my life (so far). I look back on our first winter here in Basel with such fondness. Now, I couldn't get my son to sit and watch a 10 minute video if I tried. He's too busy exploring his new legs and trying to get in, on or under everything! How fast he's grown from a bundle of snuggles to a strong, busy little boy (who still enjoys the occasional snuggle).

I've purchased his snow suit for this year and am looking forward to the new memories that will be made with this new snow. Hopefully tomorrow it will stay on the ground just long enough to make a snow angel or two.

A Day in Bed

Today is a kind of day I haven't had in what feels like forever: A whole day in bed...sick. It's unfortunate that I feel lousy, but having my husband home to watch the little one while I try to rest feels like a luxury. I even slept in until 9:30am, which is AMAZING because I am an early riser and have trouble sleeping in (on the rare days my son allows a few more minutes of zzz's, and those are very rare).

I am trying to be a good patient and really stay in bed but it's so tough. I start looking around the room and thinking about all the things that could get done. Right now I am staring at some baby onesies that are drying and telling myself I should fold them and put them away. There is a strange guilt I feel just staying in bed. I should be with my family, I should be organizing this or that, I should..., I should..., I should...the list is never ending. I have to quiet that guilt and know that all those things can wait until tomorrow. The longer I am sick, the longer those things will not get done so rest has to be my #1 priority.

My husband gets the award for #1 Nurse! He's made sure I've stayed fed, hydrated and medicated all day and has been keeping our little guy occupied, which is a big task. He's doing all of this while jet lagged, having just returned home yesterday from Singapore. I'm so thankful for him!

I better get back under the covers before my nurse scolds me. Must. Get. Rest.

Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut!

The title says it all. I've now completed my 13th week of German lessons and am still a horrible German speaker. I had higher hopes for more comprehension and better speaking abilities but at the end of my course (3 weeks to go!), I will just be glad to have completed the class. German is a tough language and I never thought it would be something I would be learning. 5 days a week, 90 minutes a day has been a real challenge. Not having a "leave the house" job in the past 3 years, I forgot what it was like to get up and go somewhere everyday. Getting me and my son out of the house with breakfast eaten, clothes on, snacks, diapers, school materials, homework done and bundled up for the winter all by 7:40am took some getting used to. I am ready to return to the days of staying in my pajamas just a little longer and not gulping down my morning cup of coffee.

However, I am debating whether to take the next course. At first I think I must be crazy. There have been many days I contemplated quitting. A lot of English is spoken here in Basel and you can get by without German. But then I think about how much of the world has opened up for me here because I can understand even just a little bit of what is being said. I can read billboards and signs on the tram and even vaguely understand what some of my mail says (which is a big improvement!). The time spent learning the basics has been worth it, even if I can only get a few sentences into a conversation before switching to English.

I have 3 more weeks to decide what to do. If I stop, I'm afraid I'll lose what I've learned and I don't want that. But if I stop, it might make life a little easier. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions. I'll keep you all posted.

:-)

100 Days

I am putting aside laundry and the housework waiting for me to end my blogging hiatus. I blogged about how busy November was and then December seemed to be even busier. We traveled to the US for the holidays and it has almost taken me and the baby 4 weeks to recover. This week I finally feel like my energy level and sleep patterns are back to normal. Not sure when we'll be doing that again because UGH! That's all I have to say about that.

So...at the end of last year, I was rockin' the gym and healthy eating and weighed in at 127. This was very exciting for me. Getting below 130 was a major victory because it seemed like it took me forever. It basically took me a whole year after my son's birth to get down to that number. Then I went to the US and ate everything I love and miss. January 1 my weight was 131. (Too much InNOut) :-( I've been eating a little better since returning to Switzerland and am happy to say I weighed 127.6 this morning. Yay! However, my goal is 115. So, here is the point of my post:

I watched a few episodes of MTV's "I Used to be Fat." It's where teenagers who have 80-100+ pounds to lose spend their summer exercising and learning how to eat healthy to reach their weight loss goal before they go to college. It was so inspiring. These kids (I can say kids because I'm almost twice their age, right?) worked so hard to achieve their goals and the results at the end of their 100 days were amazing! It was the motivation I needed to get off the couch and back to the gym. I decided to give myself 100 days of really putting in my best effort to reach my weight loss goal. With 1 day down and 99 to go, I am feeling very positive.

I want to share just a little bit about why this is so important to me. About 4 years ago when I was dating my husband, my weight reached the highest it had been before pregnancy. I was inspired to make big changes in my life. So, I started waking up at 4:30am to be at the gym by 5am so I could workout before I had to be at work at 7am. I tracked every calorie I put in my mouth. I worked on the 18th floor of City Hall and started walking the stairs twice a day. The only time I would "cheat" was once a month when my now hubby would visit or when I would visit him in Texas.

The biggest change in all of that for me was FOOD. Food. It can be such a blessing and a curse. Since I had limited calories, I was focused on low calorie everything! My favorite meal was a fat-free hot dog on a whole wheat bun with spicy mustard and 14 fat free pringles. Yum! I had it all down to a science. But now, things are very different. Swiss people have a much different philosophy about food. They believe you should eat the full fat, full calorie food but eat less. I know it might be better for you (you see a lot less processed food) but sometimes I JUST WANT A PRINGLE!!! Low calorie yumminess like snacks and ice cream (and FiberOne and fat free milk) are just not available here. Baked chips don't exist in Switzerland (why??? They are so yummy!). It has taken me some time to come to terms with the food options here. The cold, hard truth is that in order for me to achieve the results I want, I have to give up some things that I really like. Maybe not give up entirely, but give up the frequency with which I like to enjoy them. I have to put the "diet" mentality to rest and adopt a whole foods approach: fruits, veggies, protein with the occasional splurge added.

I could go on and on and on about this. It has been on my mind for weeks now and I am just coming to accept that I have to take a different approach. I am ready to move forward with what options I have available. It just has to be done. So, off I go to the grocery store for my veggies and protein. Day 99 will be a success!