Winter in Abu Dhabi

The last few months have brought quite a few changes into our lives.  I gave up my life of leisure in November.  I accepted a position as AECOM's middle east real estate manager.  I am enjoying my work life and getting a great education on doing business in this region.  We also recently found out that I am pregnant and we are expecting a little boy in late June.  My belly seems to grow daily and I have already outgrown most of my clothes!

Two pregnant ladies.  This is me and Sharmini, her baby is due in April.  She has been a great help in telling me what to expect at the next step.

Below was my last day at the beach with my girlfriends before I started working.
This is Andy, Doug, Carlos, Michael, Meghan and Jamie on National Day.  December 2nd was the 37th anniversary of the UAE.  There is a huge celebration on the Abu Dhabi corniche with singing and fireworks.
Here are some of the locals singing to celebrate national day...
Here is Andy with some colleagues at his holiday party... Oh Yeah!!...
We had a week off in the middle of December and we went to Dubai and Khor Fakkan with our friends Dan and Catalina.  This is Dan in front of the new Atlantis hotel in Dubai.  This hotel in on the Palm.
This is the Burj Dubai.  It is the tallest building in the world.  It measures over 800 meters tall.  It dwarfs the rest of the Dubai skyline.
Here we are at a hotel in Dubai.
This is a hand made sanda.  The hotel we stayed at in Khor Fakkan over Christmas hired someone to make the santa in the sand.
I guess Darth Vader uses the toiler on the right.
This is Dan and Cata near Khor Fakkan.  There are mountains in the UAE!!
From the 1st through the 3rd of January, Abu Dhabi had its first professional tennis tournament.  This year's tourney featured Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, James Blake, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Nicolay Davidenko.  Instead of the typical royal box, the Sheikhs have couches at the tennis center.
Here is Federer in action...
Here is current world # 1, Rafa...
Andy Murray won the tournament...
Shakira was in town to play New Year's at the Emirates Palace.  She stopped by to catch some tennis too...

Here I am at 10 weeks pregnant...
Here I am with Rex Charles at 15 weeks...

September & October - UAE & Nepal

It has been a busy two months for us.  September was the holy month of Ramadan; the locals were fasting.  We were not fasting, we were not allowed to eat or drink during the day in public places.  This was no big deal for me as I am eating most meals at home.  It was a little tricky for Andy because there is only one office without windows in his building.  At the end of Ramadan comes the Eid celebration and most people take a holiday at that time.  We booked a last minute trip to Nepal with my friend Meghan and had a great time!

Below is a picture of the small grocery store by our house..

During Ramadan, the meal to break the fast each evening is called Iftar.  Andy set up a wonderful Iftar for all of the folks in his office.....
Parking in the city can be very tough and I thought a picture would do well to explain.  There do not seem to be any requirements for buildings to have parking allocated to them, so people just park wherever they can.
Here is a picture of one of the massive construction project underway in Abu Dhabi..
Our friends Suzy and Dave have a grill, so we went to our first UAE BBQ a few weeks ago...

Andy and I managed to sneak away to Nepal.  We took a turbo prop plane and flew through the Himalayas.  It was really amazing.  We basically flew through all of the peaks for an hour, did a u-turn around Everest and came back.  Below is Everest and Lohtse...

This shows how close our crazy pilot got us to the mountains..
I am not sure which 8,000 meter peak this is, but it was beautiful.
This is a local goat herder..
This is a picture of busy life in Kathmandu.  Most of the streets downtown are very crowded!
We were in Nepal during a festival week and so there were lots of celebrations in the public squares.  These folks are watching dancing from one of the temples..

This is a picture of the Kathmandu Valley taken from a hillside..

I took a bunch of pictures of monkeys before later hearing that many of them are rabid..
This is the hotel we stayed at in Kathmandu.  It is called Dwarikas and all of the buildings have original wood carved windows, pillars, doors etc from the 13th & 14th century.  The entire hotel has been restored and is really amazing..
Here is Andy inside one of the temples.  He is admiring some of the artwork while the monks and some locals prepare an offering..
Here we are at one of the shrines.  There are hundreds of Buddhist monks living around this shrine..
This is a local woman with her kids and animals in Kathmandu..
Here is a picture of one of the super high peaks at sunset..
We stayed at a really cool mountain resort in the Himalayan foothills for a couple of nights.  There were lots of local staying there and so Andy joined them for some singing and dancing..
This is also at the hotel in the mountains.  This is my friend Meghan who joined us for the trip.