Future Posting

It is late evening on a Saturday (much like Sunday evening back home because tomorrow is work) and I'm hanging outside on the covered balcony.  It is a unique sight in the desert-it's thunder-n-lightening with a bit of rain.  I've got Dire Straits and the Trio on and my laptop out.  Peaceful is all I can say.  

No one's life is idylic, certainly not all the time, but this is a moment of pleasure and contentment.  I now know where I will be heading off to next-Brussels, Belgium.  I know it will be a nice posting and I'm sure I will have visitors which makes me happy (knowing I won't be lonesome because many will want to visit) and knowing it is less than a full day of travel to get home.  At the same time, as I look to the future, all the constants that I cling to in my daily life will be changing regardless if I want them to or not.  Other dear friends are departing post just like I am, some heading for adventures I wish I could share.

I have been moved within the Embassy to another position.  If you don't already know Embassies are generally understaffed, some more than others. This one is certainly in need of a little "depth of bench."  So the position I currently hold is up for immediate filling, but I'm not scheduled to leave before Sept.  My new post wants me by August and there is supposed to be time in between for training and home leave in the US.  I don't know when, what will happen. 

Uncertainty is a constant for all of life I suppose. 

Hatta Pools

One of my goals is to experience wherever I am, you know, be where you are.  I'm lucky enough to have friends who enjoy offroading and exploring, which is good because we regularly get lost together, LOL.

Got a call in the morning asking if I wanted to go to Hatta Pools, leaving in 15 minutes.  First I said no, then changed my mind and off we go!!  The town of Hatta is in the Hajjar Mountains, just over the border from UAE into Oman.  It's one of the highest elevations on the Arabian Pennisula and has water year round.  We drove for a few hours seeing new, but similar countryside which I still enjoy.  We laughed as we played our ipods on speakers that it was funny to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd as our background music, when the landscape does not match!

We passed thru an area that seemed like a tourist area filled with campers and all terrain vehicles playing wildly in the dunes-we must return for fun there!  After finding the tiny town of Hatta, winding thru unmarked streets and following the strangest of directions we finally found "where the pavement ends."  There we turned onto a well worn dirt road and slowly made our way to the next land mark.  With each turn the road got more rugged.  Topping a hill we broke out into the most beautiful golden orange vista of rugged mountains ringing a deep valley.  After stopping to take video we proceeded to the bottom of the valley and hiked the rest of the way down to the Hatta Pools.

The water has carved out rock (that looks like concrete) and created a miniature grand canyon. 

There were quite a few other people there, including some young Arab men in their dishdashes and their many four-wheel drive vehicles.  They were having a great time trying to get up and over the rugged terrain, yelling encouragement and challenges to each other (even in a foreign language you still understand).

Dive Two

I finished my last two open water dives this last weekend, completed all the exercises and passed my final exam - I am now a certified diver!!!  I'm positively beaming because I was so frightened, but I did it.

The last two dives were done on the East coast of UAE in Khorfakkan.  We dove to 18 meters/59 feet.  The water was much warmer and I saw and touched soft pink coral at Martini Rock.  On our second dive at Shark Island I saw my first ever real live seahorse and discovered feather starfish, which when resting looks like a beautiful pile of bird feathers.

I'm feeling much more comfortable underwater, comfortable enough that I actually got separated from my party down deep, but there was no panic and we were soon reunited.  I loved it and will definitely do it again, but I will wait until the water is a bit warmer.

Dive One

I have started something I've wanted to do my entire life.  I started SCUBA diving lessons!!!  I had a couple nights of classroom and in the pool training, then we went out in the open gulf this weekend to do our first two required open water dives.  I can only say that I was very scared, but I DID IT!!

I dove into 10 meters/33 feet of water (could not see the bottom from the surface).  Going down, down, down was very scary and we did it very slowly.  A fellow student also doing her first dive was my partner, along with the instructor.  We literally held hands while we swam under for about 35 minutes each dive.  The water was cold (21 degrees Celcius) and I got a little sunburn on my face sitting on the boat in between dives, but I am so proud of myself!

Underwater I saw black sea urchins, large hammour (local white fish), a sting ray and tiger fish.  From the boat we saw dolphins.

If it’s too loud, you’re too old

In my quest to experience different things I have been introduced to a different genre of music than I had previously heard. It’s Irish Punk (I think) and the band I’ve heard is the Dropkick Murphys (from Boston). It’s really fast paced, pounding music with instruments normally used in traditional Irish music.  Punk music is not something I have ever listened to but I discovered that the roots of the genre come from artists who have turned away from the hedonistic excesses of traditional rockers.  The music is hard edged, typically short songs with stripped down (simple) instrumentation.  I am particularly impressed by the "do it yourself" ethic that most groups employ with many self-producing their recordings and distributing them through informal channels.  Anyone who embraces freedom, self reliance and making their own way-I respect.

Considering my own heritage, I am quite happy to have been introduced to it and encourage you to give it a listen.  Just click the title (link) of this post.

Another’s Loss

Each day holds its own events. Early this week, I was stopped by a colleague in the parking lot on the way into work. Seems she was worried about me and wanted to be the one to tell me that her husband passed away the day before. Needless to say an emotional moment ensued, but she needn’t worried about me-she is the one who has suffered this loss. I have made myself available to assist her in any way possible and shared her grief to the extent that anyone can feel another’s pain.

Lots of people have expressed to me their feelings of inadequacy with regard to her loss. I’ve had to reassure them the best you can do is to let her BE whatever she needs to be, and simply express your concern for her.  She dealt with her loss much differently than I did.  She was at work every day until they were ready to fly home.  I admire her steadiness, but I also know the pain is still there, regardless of how she copes.

New Year-2010

It is a new year and time for those New Year’s resolutions, which I generally eschew because they inevitably become empty promises to ourselves. But this year is different. As always I welcome a new start, a fresh start, but this year I am relieved to have the opportunity to cast off lingering anguish and sorrow to embrace a future with the potential for joy and laughter.

I have the foundations of an excellent life-genuine friends, loving family, good health and a steady job. And I have always accepted as truth that our own lives are what we make of them. So with that in hand, my New Year’s Resolution is to live life with less fear, more aggressively, more actively. It is too short and too precious to waste one moment. As one friend said “…til the wheels come off.”