Aloha Oe, Kauai

Aloha Oe, Kauai

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Classes are in session

Sun setting on another beautiful day in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Picture does not reveal how truly clean and bright and happy the school is.  Construction here is intelligent; we are only at half capacity at this time.  The entire second floor is unoccupied. 
Natural sauna.  ~ 125 F. Note flag.  What you don't feel is how hot the breeze is.  Missing the Hawaiian trades!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Abu Dhabi Bedaya Forum 13 September, 2010

Friends! Sandy A.
Nadine, Cindy, Melinda
Talk about rolling out the red carpet
Cindy, Melinda
Too bad we can't have second jobs; Ellen could model.

Lee, always smiling. We met during our final interview in San Francisco on June 9th. Went up the elevator to our interviews as strangers, came down as friends with jobs :) Will come to visit you soon in Al Gharbia!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Ramadan Ends, Eid begins

Abu Dhabi Mar Ramadan ends with the sighting of the new moonCelebrate! Eid Mubarek!
view from our beach @ the Fairmontarchitecture...stunning
avian friend-tern?


Friday, September 10, 2010

"We're all lost, we're all found, we're all the same." ~ Vertical Horizon ("Inside" from GO!)









































































































Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi














 Leaving the Fairmont to tour the Grand Mosque















 view from a Souk, or market
















Same view the next morning

















First night view from my hotel room at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr






















John F. Kennedy Airport information board;my flight #100 left for Abu Dhabi at 10:50PM














Thursday, September 2, 2010

Goodbye USA, Hello UAE


Flying out of JFK tonight at 10:50 ahead of Hurricane Earl, predicted to come to New England on Friday; Dad is driving me to the airport and Ellen Evans Lessard is on my flight:) Will be back in August but in the meantime stay tuned here for pictures and updates. Maybe Earl will follow us instead of heading toward the east coast of the US...? But if not, I pray for all of your safety. Love you all. Here, Earl! Catch me if you can!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Praying and waiting..

Still finding good reasons to be here, and not there. Last night's Cetacean Society International meeting was one of those excellent reasons. Special thanks to Barbara Kilpatrick for her generous and artful hosting this agglomeration of unusually talented whale lovers from all over the country; Paul in Hawaii, Paul in Florida, Dan in Pennsylvania...

And thanks to our beloved whale-saving icon Director Emeritus Dr. Robbins Barstow and his wife Meg (whom I have mentioned elsewhere in this blog) and co-founder with Don Sineti for joining hearts and tasks in 1974 to give birth to the Connecticut Cetacean Society. Robbins and Meg, our meetings will never be the same without you; we miss your heart and energy and expertise.

As of last night, I've been given the green light to work together with others to create CSI's Facebook page. So excited.

Finally, and still, I wait for my eticket to travel on September 1 which is tomorrow. Judging by the postings of hundreds of other future teachers, and by the fact that I did not receive a ticket today, even thought I received an email confirming tomorrow's travel date, I will not be traveling tomorrow. I've twice given goodbye hugs, cleaned and repacked the basement of our home, overextended my welcome at Eileen's, moved in with Dad and Peg, re-weighed my suitcases, enjoyed another Westerly sunset (is there any place on earth where the sun drops out of the sky as quickly? By the time you open your camera case, it's gone) and played in the famous Misquamicut waves one last time.

Two words: Mercury retrograde.

Thursday, August 19, 2010