December 2010
34 posts
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A Very Gubbi Christmas
Since we’re flying out to California in a few hours for the second - and very different - installment of The Great American Expat Holiday Roadshow 2010 (TM) - I figured now was the time to catch up on a very Gubbi Christmas!
Christmas Eve! Our family Christmas tree is still decorated primarily with hand-made atrocities ornaments we crafted in school as kids, even though my youngest babby...
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Happy Christmas Eve!
Because nothing says “OMG one day until Christmas”…
… like a dachshund in a festive argyle sweater.
Am I right or amiright?
Enjoy your Christmas Eve, y’all!
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Conversations about Dubai with Hairdressers in...
One of my annual expat Christmas traditions is a frantic eleventh-hour visit to my favorite salon in Nashville to get my highlights done before everything shuts down for the holidays. I’ve yet to find anyone in Dubai who can do my hair as well as they do it in the Land of the Free and Home of the Blonde (though not for lack of searching), so it’s always a mad rush to squeeze in an...
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Notes from New York
This is what it sounds like when you take your boyfriend from Dubai home to the US to meet your best friends in New York… uh, if you are me.
Alex, Boyfriend: [on me] Oh, she’s the most annoying person ever. I’ve never met someone this annoying in my life.
Nate, College BFF: We know. We’re really thankful you’ve taken her on.
Me: I CAN HEAR YOU!!!!!
In all...
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“Empire State of Mind,” Jay-Z feat....
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Christmas Comes to the Desert
Is it just me, Dubai folks, or has there been a drastic increase recently in the amount of, uh, well, Christmas that’s tolerated by our beloved Muslim host country?
I could swear that when I moved here in 2007, you weren’t supposed to say “Christmas” in official contexts… you know, the same way that restaurants run advertisements for boozy brunches using awkward...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Less than 48 hours until I’m en route from this…
… to this!
Desert bunny winterization powers, ACTIVATE!
As is evidenced by, uh, this post, I am pretty much worthless once I get within a 2-day window of flying home to the US. I develop a constant, high-pitched squeal of excitement that echoes in the back of my head at all times (“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”), and I...
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Notes from an Indian Wedding: A Colourful...
Batten down the hatches, kids: there’s a lot more Indian wedding blogging that we have to get through before I can shift my focus to “A Very Tennessee Christmas” with a clear conscience, and believe me when I tell you grandma got run over by a reindeer that shift is comin’ soon.
I already blogged about the mehndi ceremony - billed on the English invitation as “A...
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New York Times, "For a Women's Soccer Team,... →
As a reprieve from my usual blogging about women’s sports in Saudi Arabia, I bring you… women’s sports in Afghanistan!
“This is how I fight. We want to send a message over the world to show that women can play football, study, and work.”
Let’s be real, though - there won’t be true gender equality in Afghanistan until women can play that game where...
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GPOYTW*: “Back in the (Former) USSR” Edition.
I heart Ukraine! (No, really…)
A couple weeks ago, I GPOYTW’ed about my bizarre spring break of 2006, when I traveled to the totally normal party-holiday destination triumverate of South Korea, Japan, and Ukraine. So I figured, as a break from Indian-wedding-blogging (of which there is much more to come), I’d post...
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An Open Letter to the Asics Gel Nimbus
Hey Nimbuses (Nimbi? Nimbae?),
So maybe you’re wondering where I’ve been lately.
Don’t worry, I haven’t stopped running - not until recently, at least.
It’s worse than that.
For a while, you see… I found someone else.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’ve been my go-to running shoe for a decade. I have countless pairs of you cluttering...
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Pimp My Phone
There comes a time in every Dubai expat’s life when you must do as the locals do, and… pimp your phone.
Blinging out your phone (along with your car, and at times your abaya) is practically a national pastime here in the UAE, and I’m shocked by how long I’ve resisted and clung to my plain ol’ “consultant black” Blackberry given my overwhelming love of OOH...
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“All I Do is Win,” DJ Khaled
Over the...
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Happy UAE National Day!
Here’s wishing a very happy 39th birthday to a country that, for all its foibles and frustrations, has undoubtedly become home to me at some point in the past 3.5 years.
As Alexander over at Fake Plastic Souks says in his post on the holiday (a great read if you fancy a little UAE history), “Here’s a National Day toast: good luck to them, warts and all. We’re all here because it’s better...
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GPOYTW*: “The White Girl’s Guide to Henna” Edition.
We interrupt this week’s coverage of My Boyfriend’s Best Friend’s Big Fat Indian Wedding to bring you… a GPOYTW featuring My Boyfriend’s Best Friend’s Big Fat Indian Wedding!
Specifically, let’s discuss my white-girl failures at the proper application and wearing of henna, which is...
November 2010
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Notes from an Indian Wedding: The Groomsmen
This is the most compelling argument you can make in favor of globalization.
It’s a dozen guys, of more than a dozen nationalities, having grown up in several dozen countries, traveling thousands of miles to celebrate a friend (center, turban with the pearls) in the ways that are important to him, his family, and his culture.
It’s a Briton, a Swiss-Indonesian, an English-Indian, a...
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