Monday Morning Likes List

I've hit a rather rough patch in my Abu Dhabi acculturation. It's mostly due to missing the people I love at home. Y'all make it tough to be away, with your smarts and your sassiness and your all-around awesomeness.

So, on my run this morning I decided to make a mental list of all the things I like about Abu Dhabi. I was pleased with the results:

• Watching Al Jazira football games in the VIP lounge with coaches and former players
• The week-long Abu Dhabi Film Festival, during which Adam and I saw both inspiring movies (for me Kings of Pastry, for Adam El Ambulante) and not-so-great ones (the very pretty but anti-climatic Alamar, the very one-sided Children of the Stones), but it was leagues better than the disappointing movie selection on our TV
• How most public bathroom stalls are like little rooms unto themselves with big thick doors so you actually have some privacy
• The shawarma place right around the corner from my apartment, where Adam and I can both eat dinner for about $5USD total
• Running on the Corniche alongside the Persian Gulf (and frequently being the fastest person down there)
• The religious, ethnic, cultural and racial diversity, e.g. in 5 minutes of walking around the Abu Dhabi Mall, you'll hear at least 3 different languages, if not more
• Feeling all scandalous when I walk out of the nearby spirits store with my thick black plastic bag full o' wine and Carlsberg
• There are more than 3 taxis in the entire city and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to take 'em (unlike San Francisco)
• It's still bordering on uncomfortably hot and humid, but soon the weather will be absolutely beautiful for about 4 months, sunshiney & warm
• Camel spottings and camel milk and (soon) camel riding, oh my!

I'm sure I'll get over this little bump in the Abu Dhabi road. Overall, I am very grateful and excited for this experience. I think I'd just like to have a steady stream of my favorite people visiting over here (hint, hint). But Adam is the best P.I.C. a girl could ask for, and between exploring Abu Dhabi together and teaching me how to be a poker shark/CIV master, he's made this new and foreign land feel a lot more like home.