One Long Hot Summer

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Summer 2013

I wish I could say I did a lot this summer.....but I didn't. For the second year in a row, the Holy Month of Ramadan took place during the hottest months of the year. For those you who don't know, the dates of Ramadan will change in the Gregorian calendar most of us are use to because the Hijra year (the Arabic calendar) is shorter. Ramadan and summer don't mix very well. It is the hottest time of the year and Muslims fast during the daylight hours. For the non-Muslims in Riyadh, we are required to follow the rules or risk arrest or deportation. No that doesn't mean we have to fast, it just means we are not allowed to eat or drink in public.....not even water.....which really sucks when the temperature hovers around 50C.

The other thing you run into is that many expats leave for Ramadan. Many companies close for 4 to 5 weeks during Ramadan so most people go travelling or go home. That equates to not much happening on the Riyadh Social Calendar. I volunteered to work Ramadan......in particular the last couple of weeks, so that Mohammad (the guy who covers my on call and job when I'm on leave) could enjoy Ramadan and Eid with his family. In exchange I get Christmas and New Year's and he never hesitates to cover for me when I need a night off for an embassy party or whatever.

The biggest event of the summer was my move. With my new job I was able to upgrade my apartment. I was a little sad to be leaving Catherine but she will be leaving the Kingdom soon and thought it was best to move while I wasn't as busy. My new job entitled me to a one bedroom unit in the new apartments on the other side of the hospital. It is a little bit closer to walk which is nice considering the extra hours and my on call status. Plus it allows me to sleep in a couple extra minutes everyday. There will be some decorating etc. to do (I get to head to Ikea......YEAH!!!!!!) and then it will become my new home. The move made it pretty obvious how much stuff you can accumulate in such a small period of time.

My stuff on the truck. I've only been here a year and a half but there is a lot of stuff. I had to pack it all up myself but the movers then come to carry it down the stairs, load it onto the truck, unload it at the other end and get it into my apartment.

My last few moments outside MCV 46E. A little sad to be leaving but always exciting to get to move into a new place.

Mohammad, one of the nice guys that helped me move. That's my little kitchen behind him. Funny, every girl I know who has moved in the last few months has a picture of Mohammad. He likes to pose for the girls.

My living room. I'll have some furniture rearranging to do but there is a lot of space.

Shoe rack!!!!! Looks like I have a bit more space so could probably use some new shoes.

My new view. West Compound is behind me and I don't see them tearing it down anytime soon so my view should remain unobstructed. It's a little dusty on this day but that is Kingdom Tower on the left and Faisalia Tower on the right.

My new Tupperware cupboard. Let's hope I can keep it looking this organised.

The rest of the summer was spent mostly relaxing and celebrating a few birthdays. Here are some pictures. 

Me with Manguay and Lindsey. This was Lindsey's 27th birthday party at a friend's compound. Not a lot of other people around so we had the pool to ourselves.

I tried to help out but Jeff was taking Laura into the pool. At least the water was warm.

This is at like 3am. Not many of us left but Lindsay, Kelly, Myself, Laura, Jeff and Jos (taking the picture) were still up playing some music. Once again the compound was pretty empty so no one seemed to mind. 

The end of Ramadan. The start of the Eid celebrations.I get a pretty good view of the fireworks from my balcony.

A few more fireworks.

I love seeing the reflection of nearby buildings in Kingdom Tower.

The big party we threw this summer was Yin's 40th. Now Yin is usually the one organising things and she has been here forever so knows a ton of people but we managed to pull off a full on 70's/80's themed surprise party for her. Now it wasn't a total surprise....she knew something was going on but she didn't expect all this.

Walking in the door to find about 50 people waiting to surprise her. Not sure how her girlfriend Jackie manged to get her into some 80's inspired clothing and then to Sumit's house, but she did it. And Yin was so surprised she shed a few tears.

Watching the slide slow a few of the  girls put together.

Would not be a birthday without a cake.....with a lot of candles.

Wendy and I. Wendy went totally 70's glam. Most of the rest of us totally hit up as much florescent 80's inspired stuff as we could.

Amy, Camara and I.

Natalie, Sarah and Me enjoying some of the amazing refreshments.

Corrie, Me and Sish.

This picture is a little blurry but one of the best pictures of the group having a good time.

Yin making another speech. We made her cry.....more than once. We also collected a few thousand SAR (Saudi Riyals) as a gift. She had just bought a drum set and I think we more than helped pay for it. She's awesome so totally deserves it.

And that about sums up my summer. It was good fun, but looking forward to Ramadan moving in the calender next year.

Julie

Talking About Leaving.......Again

I have officially left Australia, and I can't lie.....it was a whole lot harder to leave than I thought it would be. I guess after spending a year (minus 7 days) in one place, it should be expected. Of course there will be adventures ahead but it's hard not to look back on my time in Australia and reflect on it......just a little bit.

So looking back,what did I like about Australia:? Well, there really were a lot of things. I liked the animals (the cute fluffy ones anyway), and the weather (looking back, The Wet Season was not that bad....although I did spend a lot of time with my air conditioning), and The People (well some a lot more than others). And I liked Tim Tams, and cheap mangoes (part of the year anyway) and always knowing what the weather was going to be like (as long as I was in Darwin), and parties on the rooftop and being able to go grocery shopping in my bare feet and never having to leave a tip and not having to show ID to buy alcohol (well that changed July 1st but whatever) and paying the advertised price because they include the tax and never having to see a penny... I just loathe pennies (Please Canada, get rid of pennies). And I liked Rugby (and rugby players) and Aussie Rules Football (and Aussie rules football players) and lawn bowling. And I really enjoyed being able to spend the year with Debi and Scott.

What didn't I like about Australia? You have to know there are a few things. The animals (well the slithery and scaly ones at least), the totally lack of a service industry (seriously, tipping culture makes all the difference), Darwin public transit, the lack of central heating (well not in Darwin but certainly in Tasmania and Western Australia), super weak clothes dryers (they just assume you can hang everything up outside), stores closing at 1730 (5:30pm....seriously when do you shop?), and the fact that there is no safe place for pedestrians (even on the sidewalks, people on bicycles tried to run me over). And Vegemite.....I really, REALLY disliked Vegemite. I don't know who thought eating yeast extract was a good idea but I assure you......it's gross.

What will I miss about Australia? Honestly I haven't been out of the country long enough to have much on my list but you have to know it does not include Vegemite. There certainly are a lot of people I will miss.....and not just Debi and Scott. It seems more than a few Australians rubbed off on me and I like to think in a positive way. Hopefully we will meet again.....sometime soon.

And while I saw a whole lot of the country, I guess there area few things I did miss. I never saw a platypus (a wild on anyway) and I never saw a crocodile (well not in the Northern Territory where there are soooo many of them). I also never made it Kakadu National Park which is so famous but I did make it to Litchfield and I'm told it's a pretty good trade off. Looking back overall I think I did pretty good. Pretty sure I can say I've seen more of Australia than a whole lot of the Australians I met along the way and I'll take great pride in that. Of course any Australian who reads this may have a few things to add and I say add away. If you want me to come back......I need things to see.

Could I have used more time in Australia? Of course I could have. There are so many other places I could have visited and there are certainly some possibilities that will get filed under "well I guess we'll never know". But the future looks bright and I have some great and exciting plans ahead......the very first being New Zealand. I'll tell you about the rest another day.

Julie

And it All Ends at the Bottom of A Bottle of Bubbles and a Horse Race

Darwin, NT, Australia
Monday, August 1st, 2011

Well that day finally arrived. My final day in Australia. Seems like it came out of no where although I have been preparing for it for weeks. It just came upon us far too quickly. But now that it was here it seemed totally appropriate that I would be spending my final hours here drinking......and starting relatively early.

Today was Darwin Cup which, like Adelaide River Cup (and Melbourne Cup and every other Cup you celebrate in Australia) is a giant booze fest disguised as a horse race. Ok, that's a little unfair.......no one tries to disguise the booze feast, it's just people are more likely to get dressed up if there is a horse race. Most people have to go to work the day after the Cup which probably keeps things kind of tame. Can't imagine what the day would be like if it was held on a Saturday.

Anyway, it was a really fun day and a great way to say goodbye to Darwin. Here are a few pictures from the festivities.

Scott, Paul and Tadg waiting for their cab. Not easy to find one this morning but eventually we all got there. The cooler, not full of booze but food. You can take whatever type of food you want into the grounds with you but no booze. As you can imagine though, people are very creative with the ways they get stuff in. I was pretty impressed.

Mel was all dressed up (and looking very nice), but not very thrilled to be on her way to the Cup. Not sure how we even talked her into it but she came for a little while.

Hanging out with Scott, Paul and Tadg. The boys clean up well.

Lots of kisses going around on this day.

A rare moment when we both put down our champagne glasses.

Not everyone went formal on this day and if you weren't careful.....you'd get smurfed. Getting smurfed with me is Melissa. We met earlier. Turns out she's a nursing student so we had a good conversation about the suckiness of health care in Darwin. Lucky for me I'm leaving. Hopefully for her, her Grad year will be somewhere else.

This is Adrian (he introduced me to Melissa earlier because they're siblings). Have to give him props on the lavender dress shirt.

Here's Sam (remember from my rooftop party) looking quite dapper in the tie and vest. And I think we all loved the new haircut.

Not many more moments like this left....but there were a few today.



Yes, this is dressing up for some people. I'm sure a lot of people took his picture though so he probably accomplished what he wanted to do.

There was lots of head gear as well. Some of it was pretty nice, like this one. Some were not so nice.

Part of the tent area where people were hanging out. There were seriously a lot of people and I assure you a very, very small percentage of them were actually watching horse races. We have Adrian and Sam and few more of the boys to thank for our great table. They showed up nice and early to stake it out for the group.



This is a pretty good indication of how the day went.

See, there was some horse racing going on. I think the only race I watched was the last one, The Darwin Cup. Good race for me to watch because I won money.

Still looking good after a drink or two.

And so are we. I'm super proud of myself for still being in my 4 inch heels at this point. They did last most of the day, but I did carry a pair of flip-flops in my purse for later.

Ahhhh Adrian. Now I have to thank Adrian because his actual knowledge of horse racing, lead to me winning money. Yes, even after my total loss at Adelaide River I was convinced (by Adrian I might add) to place a bet on the big race of the day and he gave me (what he thought) was a mediocre tip on who to bet on ($5 either way on Blackbriar) . Turns out my horse came in third so I won $23. Who did Adrian bet on? Not Blackbriar so he won no money. Next year, I'm thinking he will be keep those tips to himself but on this day I was very, very happy he chose to share them with me.

Hanging out with Sam and Adrian. I'm gonna miss them.

A few of us still hanging out. There was always time for a few more drinks and some snacks (Debi and Scott packed so much food and by the end of the day it was very much appreciated).

Eventually we all made our way away from the racetrack to various locations throughout Darwin. I did have a plane to catch but lucky for me flights from Darwin leave at extremely unreasonable times (in this case 0140). Of course I left the arriving at the airport to the very last minute and was momentarily worried I wasn't making my flight. Lucky for me I wasn't the only one (some girls actually showed up to the airport still in their Darwin Cup outfits. I at least went home to shower). I still allowed myself enough time to say some very long and very difficult goodbyes before packing my bag and heading off.

And with that my year (minus 7 days) in Australia came to an end. Just like that.......it was over.

Julie

Ok so I've Moved Again

New York, New York

Looking down 3rd avenue. I am getting very well acquainted with this street as I live just off it and the Outpatient Centre is also just off it. I may have to alter my walking path some days.

Well I mentioned in my last post that I got a job. I am sure some of you were like.....more info please, so I thought I better post some. Well the job is going to enable me to cross a few more things off my bucket list. The biggest being: Live in New York City. Yes, I have moved and I have moved to New York. I have a job at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. I am actually working in the Breast Cancer Outpatient Clinic so the job will be a little different. No scrubs, no bed side care. Dress pants, a lab coat and mostly teaching and counseling and that kind of thing. I am excited for the experience. One of the real perks........straight days, no weekends.

The top of the Empire State Building. I could see it from my apartment window...if it wasn't for the buildings surrounding me.

The Chrysler Building. Always makes me think of Annie (go watch the musical if you don't know what I'm talking about).

I am of course also very excited about the city. I have loved my previous visits here so am excited to actually get to experience the city for real. The hospital is right in Manhattan which means I also get to live in Manhattan. I am living in what would be considered Midtown East in a neighbourhood called Murray Hill. I am just around the corner from the Empire State Building, just down the street from the Chrysler Building and Grand Central Station and I can walk to Times Square in about 10 minutes. The Outpatient Centre is about a 30 minute walk and the bus takes about 26 minutes to get there so I will probably be walking to and from work most days. I am surrounded by tons of restaurants and markets and of course I really do not have to go far to find some shopping.

This is one of the local Home Depots.....yes that's right....I found Home Depot in Manhattan.

My big adjustment has been the lack of Big Box stores in the area. I am very use to just walking into Target or Walmart and finding everything I need in one stop. Around here....not so much. I did find a couple Home Depots though and they certainly make it easy to get a bunch of things in one stop....for a much cheaper price. I am certainly noticing the increased price of many things. For example, Lean Cuisine meals (which I can normally live off of) run between $4.19 and $4.69 each. I normally buy them for 4 or 5 for $10. Pasta sauce (my other staple) also much more than I am use to but as I hang out a little longer I will find the cheaper stores....plus I plan on experiencing a lot of local restaurants. Pretty much everyone delivers so I will not go hungry. Also I have learned that it is actually cheaper to eat out than buy groceries.....which will suit me just fine since I try not to cook anyways.

My apartment, as expected, is very small but how much space do I really need? Just a little studio but it will do. The kitchen is really small but since I won't use it much I am not too concerned. I am on the 10th floor, on the backside of the building so I look down on a courtyard and there is a lot of space between me and the next buildings. It is also pretty quiet considering how much noise there is in this city. If you are wondering, there is a unit identical to the one I am living in on the second floor that is for sale. Asking price is $449,000.

Looking into my apartment from the door.

My bathroom.

My little kitchen. It has a microwave and that's what is most important.

Looking at the apartment from my bed. The couch pulls out into a double bed. Not much space left when both beds are set-up but whatever.

The view from my window. Not much to look at but it could be worse.

So I have made it through my first week living in Manhattan....and I have only managed to buy 2 pairs of shoes. I will have to head out to buy some more clothes though. After 4 years of working in scrubs I really do not have enough dress clothes anymore. Poor me. I don't know how I will survive.

So I do have some plans over the next 13 weeks. Of course some of those plans involve baseball. Both the Mets and Yankees opened new ball parks this spring so I will have to make a visit to both. Of course ticket prices have gone WAY up in both parks so I may not get to sit as close as I would like......or I may have to buy less shoes. Not sure if I am ready to make that sacrifice just yet. There will be film festivals to check out and some museums I have yet to see. Hopefully there will be a few visits from from family and friends as well.

Some of the flowers on 3rd ave.

After 13 weeks...who knows. I am back in travel nursing mode which means I will be living from contract to contract and have no idea what the future will bring.

Julie