This airspace is restricted...

Ok, so I’ve been sufficiently scolded for not keeping up on my blog. I don’t really have any good excuses, especially since I’ve only worked 5 days this month. Living halfway around the world, I see so many things each day that are worth writing home about… I guess I don’t even know where to begin. So, I’ll start with my flight to Dubai and work my way back from there….

We are currently sitting in Kuwait. We had no plans to stop in Kuwait, but here we are, refueling. Funny, that’s the second time that’s happened to me – ever – and both times within the last week. It’s been a crazy 10 days. Here’s a quick recap of my travels back to the states:

Dec 18, 12:30am: Board plane to DC. 6:30am: After 15 hours, arrive at Dulles, only to begin a 12 hour layover. Take a 5o cent bus ride to the mall to buy a SIM card for my phone and a sweater (it’s a tad colder in DC). 6:30 pm: Board plane to Portland. 10:30 pm: arrive in Portland to see the winter wonderland that would soon become my nemesis.

Dec 20, 9:00am: Begin the coldest run ever in Forest Park. Turn around after 45 minutes. 12:00pm: Learn that my 10pm flight to Ohio is cancelled due to the snow. Rebook for Monday.

Dec 21, 3:00pm: Run 60 long minutes on the treadmill, being stared at by a massive elk.


Dec 22, 3:00am: Wake up to check flight status. Cancelled. Proceed to spend the next 2 hours on the phone with Expedia trying to rebook. No luck. End up booking with Travelocity for 3x the original cost. 6:00am: arrive at the airport for a 9:45 departure. 10am: Port of Portland closes runway to all air traffic for snow removal. 11:00am: Board plane. 2:00pm: Plane finally lifts off ground, but only with enough fuel to get to Reno, NV. Stop in Reno, refuel, continue on to Dallas. 8:30pm: arrive in Dallas, TX, miss connection to Columbus by 20 minutes. Spend night at hotel in Dallas.

Dec 23, 10:00am: Board plane bound to Columbus. 2:00pm: arrive in Columbus, finally! 6:00pm: Gafford Family Christmas – great to see and be with my family. White Elephant exchange is priceless as always.

Dec 25: Merry Christmas! 5:00pm: Wright Family Christmas. Yummy cookies and good times. Lots of funny little dogs.

Dec 26: I pretend to be a Commonwealth citizen as I celebrate Boxing Day by shopping!!!!

Dec 27, 11:00am: Return to Portland, via Chicago O’Hare. 1:30pm: With no delays, make it to Portland on time! Woo hoo!

Dec 29, 7:30am: Board plane to Washington DC. 3pm: Flight arrives early – they kindly remind us to keep that in mind for future flights that might be delayed. Foreshadowing??? 10:00pm: Depart to Dubai. 12 hour flight. Almost home.

Dec 30: 9 hours into the flight I awake to witness our plane make a sharp u-turn over Syria (see #1 on the map - Garren took the picture during our flight)

Plane continues out into the Mediterranean where it circles in a holding pattern off the coast of Lebanon for over an hour (see #2). Finally we receive information from the pilot: the Lebanese and Syrians won’t allow us in their airspace. They claim our plane’s certificate had expired although the pilot claims it was still valid for another 48 hours. So, which way to go? Divert south passing by Israel and then through Egypt and Saudi Arabia or north, around Syria and then through Iraq? Hmmm…tough decision, kindof like asking - would you rather get a hot poker in the eyeball or would you prefer to soak in bathwater full of blood-sucking leeches? Regardless, the Iraqi’s granted us access to their airspace so we circumvented Syria (see #3) and crossed the length of Iraq, flying over Baghdad. Of course, the holding pattern in the Mediterranean took up most of our fuel reserves, so we made an unscheduled stop in Kuwait to refuel. Which brings us back to Kuwait, and the beginning of this post. We are now scheduled to land in Dubai just after midnight, 4+ hours after our scheduled arrival time.

Summary: 13 days, 8 planes, 2 unexpected stopovers en route, 60 hours on a plane, 35 hours at the airport, 1 night at a hotel.

The verdict: While it was worth it to see friends and family, it definitely wasn’t the trip I originally signed up for.

P.S. If you can help it, don’t fly United internationally.

My New Year's Resolution: to not suck at blogging

So, it appears as though I haven't written in about two months. Well, I don't really remember what happened two months ago, but it must not have been worth writing home about. Garren, Rebecca, Matt and I took the Prado off roading. That was fun. We only had to get out and push once thanks to the mad driving skills of Garren. If I was driving we would've gotten stuck at least 10 times. Maybe even permanently.

December has come and gone so quickly. Probably because I only worked 5 days this month. Yep, you read it right. 5 days. Pretty sweet, eh? The first two weeks of the month were off for National Day and a Muslim holiday. National Day festivities were pretty funny. More so the days leading up to National Day and the people getting their cars ready to parade around town. Garren and I watched the fireworks in Abu Dhabi. Pretty cool, but no Red, White and Boom. I was actually surprised at how many red, white and blue fireworks there were. The UAE colors are red, green and black. I don't suppose they make black fireworks. Maybe the blue was meant to replace the black, or maybe they just don't come in many other colors...

The following week, Garren, Kara, Rebecca, Asha, Tracey, Dave and I loaded up Asha's and my matching white Prado's and took off to the northern tip of the peninsula - Musandam, Oman. Our intent was to find a nice secluded beach to camp on for a few nights. Beach we found. Secluded it was not.

Anyways, we ended up camping at this remote beach, only accessible by 4WD, called Khor Najd. The view from the top was amazing, and camping was fun too, but it was a bit spoiled by some locals. They weren't Omani, perhaps Emirati, we don't know. But completely ignorant and ridiculous. It was a full moon out, plenty of light. It was getting late and most of the camp had their tents set up and were settled in for the night. Around 9pm, this group of 10 or so pulled up steps away from our site and started to set up camp. And camping to them meant getting out the generator and using it to power four massive lights. Think of the long fluorescent bulbs that are used in businesses and schools. Attach one of those bulbs vertically to a long stick and turn it on. Four of them. We swear you could see their campsite from outerspace. Ridiculous. We even asked them to turn them off at one point, at least hoping they would turn off one or two. Nope. They insisted that is their way of camping and we needed to be tolerant of how they liked to camp. I ask myself, where is the tolerance in return??? Doesn't exist. Ignorant.


Our days were fun, we drove up to what seemed like the top of the world. My car couldn't go any further up, and we were lucky we made it back down (again, Garren's doing).


Kara, Garren and I took a Dhow cruise to explore the fjords of the Musandam peninsula. The highlight of the trip for sure. We ended up snorkelling and just hanging out on the dhow all day, soaking up the sun and the scenery, and occaisonally getting a dolphin to come and play in the wake of the dhow.

We returned from Musandam only to work for 4 days, then Garren and I were off to the US. Another adventure for a different post.

Fun in the Sun

So the last few weeks have been a little hectic and chaotic, but that's a good thing in my book. It's pretty normal for me. I got my car about two weeks ago now... and is a symbol of freedom. It is amazing how much a car makes a difference in your life, well... especially here. Having a car means that I can create my own schedule - for work, training, personal, etc. I no longer have to rely on the school transportation or taxis or Garren to get where I want/need to be. Although I will still use each of the above from time to time ;)

My weekdays have been busy with both school and training. Rebecca and I are still running early everyday, but we have added in a few night rides as well. We have been driving to Al Ain on Wednesday nights to ride up Jebel Hafeet, and lately have been running there too. I love riding that mountain - but the drive I can do without. It takes about 1 hr 45 min to get from school to the top of the mountain, then we workout for a couple of hours and then make the trek back to Dubai. It's a great evening, but come Thursday I am definitely a little worn out. Luckily, Thursday is the last day of our work week, so I can go home and relax after school.

I feel like I've done a lot since I last posted... new car, rides up Jebel Hafeet, cycled through the Hatta Mountains, we had a Desert Safari with school last week - that was fun. I rode a camel. It was kindof like riding the ponies at the zoo. Not super exciting, but hey, I rode a camel.

I've been to two concerts in the last week. We saw Arrested Development at the Irish Village last weekend. It was amazing. Great music, great energy, great people. A night that won't be beat for some time to come. We saw Christina Aguilara last night at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. That was pretty good too, but we weren't as close and it was a bigger venue, so it wasn't the same energy level as last week.

This morning we went to the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It was beautiful and I have posted some pictures that Garren took while we were there. We had to dress up in abayas because women must be covered head to toe. That was a fun and interesting experience by itself.


Oh yeah... and some guy hit my car... already! Ridiculous! I parked it at the Ace Hardware in Abu Dhabi and ran in to get a mat for the back (bicycle chain grease does not come out of carpet) and less than 5 minutes later I came back out and this guy tried to park next to me with his BMW 530i and scraped the rear driver's side fender with his car. Second time he's ever driven his car (and we suspect the 2nd time he's ever driven, period). So we had to call the police and the guy came on his motorcycle and wrote up a traffic report. He spoke NO english (at least he claims he doesn't) so I now fully understand that if I'm ever in an accident with someone that speaks Arabic I am screwed - because regardless of who's at fault - if you don't speak Arabic, you can be blamed for anything. Luckily, the guy who hit me was really nice and felt really bad. I think he was pretty upset about his car (he scraped the whole passenger side up). He didn't speak Arabic either, but clearly explained that it was his fault. I think the officer initially thought it was mine... white female driver... big car... most people would assume that regardless of where you might live, unfortunately.

So, I guess that's about it for now. More to come...

Top 10 reasons why I am buying an SUV

Yep, the Environmental Science teacher from Oregon is buying an SUV. Call me a hypocrite if you'd like, but it's the truth. I've composed a Top Ten list to explain to you (and perhaps convince myself) why it's a good idea.

10. I need to transport my bike. Two bikes and two people don't fit in a Yaris.....comfortably.

9. Camping in the desert is THE thing to do - again, can't fit camping gear and people into a small-ish car.

8. Can you say off-road? Sand dunes and wadis here I come!

7. So when you all come and visit, I don't have to rent a bigger car for your luggage.

6. I'm going to purchase carbon credits to offset my carbon footprint from this car and my world travels.... not really.

5. The resale value on Prados is high - I could potentially make money off of this deal.

4. Gas is only $1.50 a gallon.

3. Garren bought the little car - blame him.

2. People here drive like madmen - I want to be seen in my big car and not run off the road. This car says don't mess with me.

1. When in Rome....

The guy at the dealership says it should be here sometime by the end of next week... that could mean by the end of the month. I will be so happy when it arrives and will post pictures, probably a whole gallery of pictures. Stay tuned. For those of you that are curious, it is a Toyota Landcruiser Prado - you won't find them in the US but can look it up on the web. Oh - and it's going to be Pearl White. Cheers!

But he's a professional athlete

As you are all well aware, it is Ramadan here in the Muslim world, which means no eating or drinking from sun-up to sun-down. That does make it tricky when you spend a good deal of time outside exercising. We've learned to be a little creative and sneaky when it comes to snagging a quick drink or a bite to eat while out on long rides and runs. Apparently we are pretty good at it, because we haven't been stopped by the authorities.

Rebecca and I were out running early last Friday morning when we came across a scene along our normal route. There were four UAE police officers, an Emirati, and two white people (one woman in street clothes and a man in running gear). The man looked the part - spandex shorts, tight tank top, scarf on the head, and a camelback slung across his shoulders. As we passed the meeting, we overheard the woman say to the officers, "But he's a professional athlete!"

We can only assume that the man was stopped because he was caught taking a sip from his camelback. The woman's statement just made me realize how ignorant some people can be... so what if he is a professional athlete? Does that transcend law? Religion? Regardless of who you are... you are in a Muslim country...

For the past week I have been trying to think of an analogy to compare this incident to a situation in the US, originally thinking it would be like someone getting caught speeding or drunk driving, and then claiming "but he's a professional athlete!" But the more I think about it, the more I realize that that line would probably work in the US... ridiculous! I guess even professional athletes can get away with murder in the US. What does that mean?

Al Mamzar Beach

Follow this link to some pictures of the beach area where Rebecca and I have been running and cycling almost everyday. It is only about 2km from our apartment. I feel a little spoiled, but I do miss the trails and the mud of Portland.

http://picasaweb.google.com/gaffordjen/AlMamzarBeach

First Race in Dubai

Garren, Kara, Rebecca and I competed in our first race on Saturday night. It was an 800m swim followed by a 5k run. The swim was in the ocean, sighting off of the Burj Al Arab - pretty sweet. The run was hot. My heart rate was out of control, but it was super fun all around. Everyone did great and we stuck around after to have dinner at Barasti (a popular beachfront restaurant at the hotel) and a pitcher of Mojitos. A great start to the race season.

Transition Area

The swim course, with the Burj in the background

Seriously...

This was in the owner's manual to the water cooler we just bought for our apartment...

Holiday!

The Holy month of Ramadan ends with Eid, a celebration of the Muslim holiday, which falls on the sighting of the new moon (I think). We originally had Oct 1st and 2nd scheduled off for Eid, making it a 4 day weekend. However the powers to be here in Dubai called Eid early this year, saying that it now falls on Sept 30th. Like Christmas Eve in the states the day before "Eid" is a holiday so they called Sept 29th - Oct 2 off next week. Then the ministry of Education here in the UAE declared that all educational institutions be closed in honor of the holiday for the ENTIRE week. So I am now in the midst of a 9 day vacation! Yahoo! Most of my friends are taking last minute trips out of town - to Greece, London, Bangladesh, Thailand. But I have chosen to stay. I still want to see this country before I venture out, and don't want to spend the money quite yet - we just got paid this week for the first time. I figure I will do enough travelling this year, and am waiting until I have some money saved to do some serious travelling - so next year I will be all over it...

Plans? Well, I just got my residence visa, so I will be getting my UAE driver's license, getting internet hooked up, purchasing a vehicle and doing lots of training and resting this week, both in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We are planning another trip up Jebel Hafeet this week - I am looking forward to the challenge again.

Travel Plans

So I just spent the last couple of hours online... making plans...

I booked my flight home for the holidays - here's the scoop:

I will be in Portland from Thursday, December 18th to Saturday, December 20th, then again on December 26th until December 29th.

I will be in Columbus on Sunday morning, December 21st and will leave Christmas Day in the evening.

Lots of travelling - so many people to see, so little time. Let's make plans! I can't wait to see everyone!

On another note... I just registered for my first Ironman. June 28th in Nice, France. Not bad, eh? I am super excited. My friend Rebecca signed up with me and Garren will also race, it's going to be hard but fun. We plan to stick around and hang out on the beach for a week and then catch the start of the Tour de France in Monaco on July 4th. After following the Tour for a week or so, we will return to the States to spend time with family and friends. Anyone up for a vacation in France?

Guess I better get some work done... talk to you later!

Hor Al Anz East

I moved into my apartment on August 22nd. Dubai is a construction zone and Hor Al Anz (HAA) is no exception. This place is extremely difficult to get in and out of due to the construction. There are blockades everywhere, only 2 ways to get to my place, and only 2 different ways to get out. My first impressions of HAA were not favorable; coupled with the restrictive movement it is dirty and anything but glamorous. The apartment building itself is nice – it has a glass entryway and plenty of nice security men. I live on the 1st floor (in this country the street level floor is actually called the ground floor, so I am one story up) and overlook a construction site on the neighboring property. The construction hasn’t bothered me yet, and I feel as though I’ve lucked out as far as location. One side of the building faces a mosque, which blares the “Call to Prayer” out of its loudspeaker 5 times a day. Apparently this caused many sleepless nights for those unlucky few last year. The other two sides of the building overlook the street, which can be quite busy, congested and noisy at times. So, I am quite pleased with my placement next to the giant dust bowl outside of my window.

The apartment itself is extremely spacious: two bedrooms, three full baths, a large living/dining area and a nicely equipped kitchen. The school provided most of the kitchenware and all of the linens, although I did make a few trips to Ikea to improve the aesthetics of my room… I have a large closet which is nice and a large bathroom that is directly connected to my room.
My roommate, Asha, is great. She is from Canada and will be teaching high school PE this year at UAS. She cooked dinner for some gals and me last night which was incredible. I am always willing to clean for a roommate who cooks! Speaking of which – today I hired a cleaning lady. I’ve never had a cleaning lady, and hate to clean so it will be a good situation. She charges 25 dirham per hour which is only about $8 USD per hour equivalent. She will clean the place once a week for a couple of hours – sweep, mop, bathrooms, etc, and will also do our ironing!!! I could get used to this…

I was a little leery about my neighborhood at first, but the more I am here the more I am really happy with where I live. First of all, it is home to many of the 1st year staff at UAS, so it is a great social outlet. In addition, it is an older area of town – not the ritzy side of Dubai that you see and hear about on the Discovery Channel. There is a multitude of ethnic food at my doorstep – Iranian, Lebanese, shwarma cafes, etc. all within a minute’s walk. They also deliver, free of charge! For those of you not in the know, shwarma is the Arabian version of fast food. It is shaved chicken or lamb, garlic sauce, pickle and French fries, all wrapped in a warm Arabic pita bread. It is super tasty, minus the garlic sauce. And it’s cheap too – only 4 dirham, which is about $1.10 USD. Anyways… I shouldn’t have a problem feeding myself this year. I’ve eaten a ton of bread and hummous since I’ve been here… it is difficult to get a lot of vegetables in the Arabic diet, but I certainly am trying. Nonetheless, the food is good, cheap and close.
The building has 5 floors – the top floor has a men’s and ladies gym (each on separate sides of the building, equipped with a few old, but fully operational treadmills and nautilus equipment) and a POOL! Yep, that’s right. I have a pool on the top of my building – how many of you can say that?

One big concern I had about my neighborhood was lack of running space. I felt a little trapped and was hesitant to run on the dirty, congested streets. My new running partner, Rebecca and I have been doing quite a bit of exploring and finding that the running here is quite nice, actually. The first morning we ran outside, we climbed over a few construction barriers and found that there were quiet, residential areas just down the street. The next time, we discovered the beach… and the running path. Heaven! Only 2km from our apartment building is an inlet/lagoon - there are three of them actually, shaped like little fingers reaching inland. Neatly outlining the lagoon is a running path, which upon setting foot, we realized it was a synthetic surface – bouncy, like running on a track! Such a relief! It is difficult to find good running surfaces here; the sidewalks are made of brick pavers, which has to be the hardest material possible = bad for the legs, running on the street is nice, but often there is too much traffic. Also, there isn’t much grass or sand to run on, so this bouncy path made my year! It’s marked, too – every 5o meters. Which seems a bit superfluous to mark it every 50m, but whatever. So since our discovery we have been running there just about every day. We have been getting up at 5:30am to get our run in before we leave for school. I know it sounds crazy to get up so early, but it is the coolest time of the day, and often after being at school all day I am exhausted and not motivated to run. So it works for now. This is definitely a hallmark thing for me, getting out of bed on my own will to run… We signed up for the Dubai Marathon the other day – January 16th!!! I am so thankful to have a running partner in Rebecca – it makes a difference, and gives us that extra motivation that we need from time to time.

I desperately want a car… it is difficult to get around the city without one. Taxis don’t get to this part of town frequently, and public transportation is dirty and unreliable. We have a minibus that picks us up every morning and takes us to school, then brings us back in the evening. That works for school and all, but getting to the mall or any other part of Dubai is not an easy task without a personal vehicle. It will also be nice to have a car so I can drive to Abu Dhabi on the weekend. Garren has been making the trip about twice a week since I moved in. It takes him about 1 ½ hours to get from apartment to apartment on a normal day. Not bad – definitely reasonable – but I won’t tell you how fast he’s driving.
The more I am here in Dubai, the more I recognize and appreciate the differences between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. I like AD a little more – the city itself is quieter, less busy, less congested and much greener. I am looking into renting a car for the next month. I can’t purchase a vehicle until I get my residence visa, which could be next week or next month or next year. I will hope it is not the latter of the three, but I am not going to stress about it any longer. It is out of my hands, nothing I can do about it.

Fujairah

Ater our adventures in Al Ain and Oman, Garren and I headed to the east coast of the UAE to Fujairah. Fujairah is an emirate that sits on the Gulf of Oman (Indian Ocean), and is growing in popularity due to its proximity nestled in between the Hajar Mountains and the Gulf of Oman. We drove through the Hajar Mountains, through a crazy highway tunnel built into the mountain - it was crazy long, and you couldn't see the end - it drops before you exit the tunnel. The unnerving part was the "Goodbye" sign we saw before we entered the tunnel...

We got to the coast and followed the highway north about 60km (36 miles) to the hotel/resort we called home for 3 days - the Rotana. We spent two days relaxing on the beach, getting some sun.

We went snorkelling on the second day. Having spent quite a bit of time in the Carribbean snorkelling and diving, it was really cool to see all of the different types of fish living in this part of the world. The staples were the same - parrotfish, wrasse, grouper, triggerfish, eels, etc. but were so different in colors and patterns that you wouldn't see in the Carribbean or Pacific Ocean (Hawaii). I was given a big picture book in high school or college, that had gorgeous pictures of diving in the Maldives - an island chain in the Indian Ocean. There were several fish that fascinated me in that book, ones that I have always wanted to see, and finally saw them in the short 30 minutes that we were out snorkelling. The Picasso Triggerfish being one of them. We didn't take an underwater camera with us, the water was a little murky anyways...

Here's a picture looking back at the resort from the beach... the Hajar Mountains towering over us

View from our balcony

We ate at this restaurant called Waves one night. We went inside, and picked a fish from their fresh fish selection and they grilled it up for us. Brought it to the table whole - head, eyes, tail and all (ok, no guts). It was really quite good and another great experience. The food at the resort had its moments of brilliance. We had a buffet breakfast every morning which was part of the room cost. It was so nice to eat a real breakfast - waffles, eggs, bacon (beef), pretty much anything you would want. Room service food, on the other hand, was a little disappointing - I have come to realize that what you read and see on the menu is not always what you get. This hotel was not the first, and I'm sure, not the last time this will happen. Oh well, live and learn!

We drove back on Wednesday, and drove through this village called Musafi. It could be my favorite little village that I have seen. I can't explain why, but it gave me a real serene feeling driving through, and really made me appreciate the peacefullness of the small villages of the UAE. Just outside of town was this massive market - fresh fruit stands, pottery, plants, rugs - booths stretched for a 1/4 mile on both sides of the street. Even had big inflatable cows - the plastic kind you win at the fair. We didn't get a picture, but we did buy some fresh mango and a couple of house plants.

Driving through Masafi

This is the highway in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, driving back into Al Ain. Every major road in Abu Dhabi has green space surrounding it. Even in the middle of the desert! You look either way, and it's nothing but sand, but surrounding the highway are beautiful green leafy trees, palm trees, shrubs. 1000's of miles of irrigated highway - can you imagine the water bill? It kills me, but I do enjoy the view. Only in Abu Dhabi though. The emirate of Dubai isn't as green. The great Sheik of Abu Dhabi - Sheik Zayed bin Sultan (now deceased) - wanted his land to be green! And so it is...

Al Ain and Oman

Garren and I packed up the car and drove 140km directly east to Al Ain, the second largest city in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, sitting on the border of Oman. Garren has a friend he met though training whom we stayed with on both Friday and Saturday night. We had some other friends come into town, Tonya and Janelle, and they met up with us on Saturday morning for a day of hard work and adventure…

We got up early (5 am) Saturday morning and prepared to climb Jebel Hafeet on our bikes. I knew it was going to be a tough challenge, I have never climbed anything like it on my bike before, but I was excited nonetheless. We met up with Janelle and Tonya and rode about 45 minutes to the base. Then we started to climb… and climb… and climb. The road was a seven mile stretch that gained about 3000ft in elevation. It took me about 1 hour and ten minutes to get to the parking lot at the top. I kept a close watch on my heart rate and just kept a steady pace the whole way up. It was a bit hazy out once we got to the top, so the views weren’t spectacular, but it was still nice. Once everyone was at the top, we turned around and headed back down. That was definitely the scariest part for me. I haven’t put many hours in on my bike and don’t have great descending skills, so the ride down was a bit of a hair-raiser. We stopped and took this picture on our way down… this is about 2/3 of the way to the top, you can see the road winding below, and a car that apparently didn’t feel the need to brake…

Once we returned from our 3 hour ride, we showered up and ate and then reconvened with our friends for a much anticipated trip into Oman. Garren and I were originally going to spend several days in Oman, but we ended up only taking a day trip in to see this beautiful wadi we had read about in Off-Road Oman. It was about a 2 hour drive, and we spent about 1 hour crossing the border (you wouldn't believe the amount of paperwork involved). We were getting a little worried because it looked like it could rain at any minute... Janelle is a meteorologist and she was giving us up to the minute forecasts based on the cloud cover. But, we had driven all that way and we weren't going to let the clouds spoil our trip. So we decided to go for it, and stuck high on the walls around the wadi to avoid staying in the wadi itself - just in case. The wadi was already pretty flooded and the locals were all driving their trucks and SUVs up the wadi to the dam. We figured if there was a threat of flash flood, the locals wouldn't be messing around in the wadi. The hike was a bit longer and tougher than expected. Lots of bouldering and scrambling across slick rock. There wasn't really a trail like we expected, it must have been lower in the wadi, luckily there were a couple of locals that led the way for us. They didn't speak english at all, but were kind enough to show us the way. Our goal was to get to this rock in the wadi covered in moss that is constantly dripping fresh spring water into a big blue pool... sounds idyllic, right? Well, here is the rock in its current state...



As I said, the wadi was pretty flooded. Water was high and brown due to the silt/sand that the rainwaters picked up upstream. Guess that means we will just have to go back again someday when there hasn't been a lot of rain. Garren got lots of good pictures but I can't post them all here. When I get around to it, I will start a photojournal on some website so you can see slideshows of our trips.... I am moving into my apartment here soon and won't have the internet for a bit, so it could be awhile before that happens. Anyways, here are some of the pictures from our hike.

Fort in a village as we entered the wadi

Dam at the base of the wadi...overflowing from recent rainfall

Looking up into the wadi

Just to give some perspective as to the magnitude of this canyon... the guy in the picture ended up being our "tour guide."

As I said... we had to do some bouldering, and the rock was super slick, especially with wet shoes.

This is where we stopped to eat and soak our feet. It is a natural spring in the middle of the wadi. The spring comes from under the rocks on the left and flows into the wadi.

Hiking out of the wadi - they are walking on a "falaj" - you see these all over the UAE and Oman. It is how the locals irrigate their villages with water from the wadi.

Parting shot as we leave the wadi at dusk. I think this section is usually dry as the parking area is further upstream. We chose not to drive across and opted to walk (it was well over knee deep in some areas).

Lessons for "whitey"

In addition to cycling, Garren and I made it a point to get out of town this weekend and do a little exploring. We decided to go to Hatta. Afterall, it is described by many guide books as being one of the “classic trips in the Emirates.” We booked a room at the Hatta Fort Hotel, and after a short 2 hr drive we arrived in Hatta. First order of business? Pool! We were both exhausted and wanted to sleep and get some sun. So we slept and got some sun until about 5 when we checked into our room. The pictures on their website pretty much tell it all, so I will avoid copyright infringement and just have you check out their site. The only issue I have with the pool picture is that the water wasn’t quite that blue (photoshop does some wonderful things). Nonetheless, it was nice. The picture of the room is exactly what our room looked like, pretty cool décor. Spacious room and stocked mini bar – what else can you ask for? Here’s the view from our balcony….

We woke up Saturday morning and proceeded to head to the Hatta Pools. It was about a 25 minute drive from the hotel, mostly off-road (graded track) through the Hajar mountains.

Dried up riverbeds are common here in the UAE, and are called wadis -you’ll hear me talk about these a lot as most of the trips in the UAE involve some type of wadi hike or visit. Flash floods are common when it rains, and the wadis fill up quickly, resulting in potentially dangerous conditions if you are hiking or driving through one… but no worries, you won’t find me near a wadi when rain is imminent. The Hatta Pools are never dry, although the wadis that flow in and out of the pools are. It is a series of deep pools carved into the rock where you can swim and relax in the heat.

While it was a beautiful place, our experience there was tainted. First off, there is litter everywhere… starting in the parking lot, and continuing down to the pools. The far end of the pool was a floating pile of debris so we only swam ½ way across. It was quite disgusting and highly unfortunate that natural places such as this have succumbed to the ignorance of mankind. Apparently any highly visited place in the UAE has problems with trash and graffiti… different culture, I suppose. Anyways, the Hatta Pools were recently discovered to have high levels of e coli bacteria, mostly due to roaming goats and donkeys, but I’m sure the trash isn’t helping the cause. Garren and I did swim a little, but were sure to keep our mouths closed tightly and not take in any foul water. The water was cool and refreshing in the heat of the day.

Second, we had brought our lunch to eat at the pools, and upon opening it, a giant hornet came out of nowhere wanting some of the action. We captured and buried it. Then its friends came along to join us for lunch. They were huge, and we didn’t know what they were, nor did we want to risk getting stung - for all we knew it could have been the most poisonous hornet in the Middle East. It turns out that it was an Oriental Hornet, and it wasn’t going to kill us… But at one point, it looked like the hornet was humping a piece of our roast beef, only to find out it was just cutting off a piece to take with him. Needless to say, we packed up and left the effervescent pools. Next time we’ll come prepared.

I was expecting the land between Dubai and Hatta to be rolling sand dunes everywhere, but I was wrong. It is mostly dry gravel plains with some scattered shrubbery. Halfway between Dubai and Hatta is a set of giant sand dunes. Big, beautiful mountains of reddish-orange sand, aptly named “Big Red.” On our way back through we stopped and rented a 4-wheeler and went cruising through the dunes. That was super fun, but another learning experience – unless you want to find sand in random places for weeks on end, wear long sleeves and pants, and wrap something around your head. Of course the guys renting us the 4-wheeler where aptly dressed… maybe we should have taken a hint. They must get a good laugh when we come back covered in sand.

Also - on our way back we passed a camel caravan on the side of the highway. Almost 30 camels lined up single file cruising through the desert.... could have been my favorite sight of the weekend. Picture is on the right navigation bar.

Well, that’s all for now! More adventures await. Keep posting comments, I love to hear from you!

The importance of athletics

I have always felt that this mainly applied to college bound students - going from a high school where you know everyone to college where you don't know a soul can be extremely intimidating. Athletics, whether it be intercollegiate, club or intramural help to bridge that gap and provide an instant social group. It is the absolute best (and healthiest) way to ease into your new life and surroundings.

Today, however, I realized the importance of athletics to all, young and old. Moving to a new city, state or country is just the same as arriving at your dorm on the first day at school. You are thrust into new and unfamiliar surroundings. There are thousands of people around you, but you feel so isolated, and don't know how to start the process of meeting acquaintances. After being here for one week, I was starting to crave socialization... and talking to a waiter who speaks broken English does not count. There’s a group of 20 or so cyclists, from all over the world that meet at a mosque in Abu Dhabi on Friday mornings, so we made plans to meet up and ride with them. The ride was great, truly refreshing on several accounts. First, it was so nice to be outside exercising - early morning (4:30) = cool temperatures (95 F). We were out for 3 hours and the temperature and pace were perfect. Second, and most importantly, I was able to meet and talk with some of the cyclists during the ride. Two of the women I met were from Michigan and Canada, both being here for different lengths of time and both offering their opinions and advice on settling in in the UAE. And so, after feeling isolated all week, I was finally able to meet some great, English-speaking, helpful and interesting people, all thanks to athletics. We even exchanged numbers and will probably meet up early next week to ride again. So, whether you are starting over in a new place, or are just tired of the social scene wherever you may be – pick a sport, join a club, and you’ll find that healthy camaraderie is just around the corner.

Jet lag

Hello all… It’s 9:30am here, and I’ve been up for almost 7 hours. Yep, woke up at 2:30 this morning and haven’t been able to sleep since then. Other than that, I am happy to report that all is well! My flight here was easy. Surprisingly easy. I highly recommend noise cancelling headphones for any flight, especially 12 hour flights. I was able to sleep without any distractions, and although it was 12 hours, it felt much shorter than some flights I have taken in the US (like the Portland to Atlanta flight I recently took). My arrival in Dubai was also surprisingly easy – minus the mile walk from the gate to passport control. The only thing I had to wait for was my luggage (which all arrived in one piece) – there were no lines at passport control or customs.

I am now realizing how difficult it is to put such a new and exciting experience into words. So many things to talk about, so much I don’t understand, even more I want to learn. It is almost overwhelming, but it is good too, I like my brain to be happy and busy. Where to start? I guess the most obvious thing is to talk about the insane climate. I first felt the heat while getting off the plane in Qatar and boarding a tram to the terminal. As soon as you step outside, it’s like hitting a wall. A stagnant, thick, wall of heat. It really does take your breath away. Since being here, I have learned the sheer necessity of air conditioning. The crazy thing is that it doesn’t really feel like it cools down outside as evening sets in. The temperature does, but the humidity continues to rise, which makes it feel warmer well into the night. The coolest part of the day, no doubt, is early morning. I actually drug Garren out of bed this morning to run at 6am (I was getting ansy – I’d already been up for 3+ hours). The heat and humidity didn’t bother me too much – it felt much like running in Ohio on a hot, humid afternoon. However, I do have to say that we ran for about 30 minutes, and that was probably about as much as my body would allow right now. Baby steps…

What else? I think the Arabs are beautiful in their abayas (women) and their dishdashes (men). I am so intrigued by their culture and am excited to learn more - I bought a book on Islam yesterday and am looking forward to reading about the faith of my new home. I’ve eaten Iranian food and shwarma, both were excellent. The hummous here is amazing, and the flatbread is even better. I think I could eat it for every meal and be happy. I tried smoking shisha yesterday, which is basically a flavored tobacco. Smoking anything is new to me, but I do like the premise behind it. It’s definitely a social thing, very relaxing - and supposedly during Ramadan, there are shisha tents everywhere.

English is widely spoken, and although it may be limited, you can communicate fairly easily with just about anyone. Arabic is a whole different story. It appears to be such a challenging language – I also bought a book on basic Arabic yesterday. I’ll let you know how that reading goes….

Driving here is a bit scary. It is the absolutely perfect place for Garren and his R32. There are basically no rules and great, open stretches of well manicured pavement. Each man for himself. Lane lines? Ha! Speed limit? Stop signs? Let’s just say those are all merely “guidelines.” Garren says the best defense is a good offense. I have to agree. I think I will wait awhile to start driving…

Apparently the social thing to do here is go to the mall. There are malls everywhere, and with this heat, I can understand why the mall is the place to be. There really isn’t much else to do, and everything you need (including the grocery store) is at the mall. There is even an Ikea, movie theaters and cute little restaurants in the mall, in addition to the food court. I’ve been to 3 malls already, in less than 48 hours. Luckily for Garren, I’m all shopped out – I did some damage in Ohio and don’t feel the need for more things right now. Especially since all my stuff is still sitting in suitcases….

I guess that’s about it for now. It is great to be with Garren again. I love his apartment and his car. We are starting to plan some trips for the next couple of weeks, so I will have much more to write about, and hopefully some pictures for you to see. Ma is-salaama (goodbye)!

Visa woes

No, not the plastic kind - although if you read my previous blog you would be inclined to think so. More like a green card, actually. In order to work and live in the UAE, you must have a residence visa. In order to have a residence visa you must be sponsored by an employer or a spouse. I guess it is much the same here in the US, but for obvious reasons, I’ve never needed to obtain one. I bet some countries hand them out like lollipops at the doctor’s office, but the UAE is not so generous. It seemed to me that Garren only had to send in a scanned copy of his degree and passport for his employer to start the visa process. It was not quite so simple for me… and I’m a teacher!! And I make like one-third (slight exaggeration) of the salary that Garren will make! It always amazes me the hoops that we must jump though in the world of education. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy my job, and I know they are trusting me to work with the future of the world, but you’d think they would at least compensate us teachers for the bureaucratic red tape b.s.(and no – summer vacation does not count as compensation). So this is what I needed to do to simply get the visa process started:

1) Copy of my passport
2) 20 passport photos (I hope these are for other things besides my visa)
3) Copy of all college transcripts
4) Letter of experience from my previous employer
5) Copy of bachelor’s and master’s degree
6) Copy of teaching certificate
7) Master’s degree must be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UAE Embassy (see below…)

I had to scan each of these documents into my computer and send them to the school. They will then forward them to the proper authorities in the UAE and will secure a temporary residence visa. Once it is ready (which takes several weeks to several months), I must then go to a health clinic for a blood test and a chest x-ray (you can’t have diseases like AIDS, hepatitis or tuberculosis if you want to live in the UAE). Then I pay the government some money and I can get my permanent residence visa. Simple right? Ha! It has been one hurdle after another…. let me start with #7 above.

Document attestation. I didn’t even know the true meaning of the word attestation until this whole process started. I thought it was something that I did once I entered the UAE. Boy, was I wrong. Attestation, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is a: to affirm to be true or genuine; specifically : to authenticate by signing as a witness b: to authenticate officially. Ok, good to know. This is how you get a document attested to proper standards:

1) Make a photocopy of your master’s degree
2) Have that copy notarized, stating that it is indeed a copy of the original
3) Send that copy to Washington DC where it must be
a. Authenticated by the state department (I have a piece of paper signed by the one and only Condi Rice. Ok, it might be a stamp, but I bet you don’t have one)
b. Notarized by the notary public of the District of Columbia
c. Stamped by the UAE embassy, giving the official seal of approval
4) Give each of the above entities some money (I don’t remember how much, but ink must be expensive these days)

And for only $140, you can have a document service in DC take care of #3 so you don’t have to go office to office. What a deal!

OK, so that is only how to get the visa process started. I sent these documents to UAS(the school) on June 12th. When they say several weeks to several months, they really mean several months. I think the several weeks part is to get your hopes up that it might actually get done promptly. I leave for Dubai in 2 days and my visa still isn’t ready, and I’m kindof freaking out a little bit. It appears as though I will have to enter the UAE on a visitor visa. Then, once the residence visa is ready, I must leave the country and return on the residence visa, or pay a fee of 500AED.

I’m a little upset that my visa will not be ready upon arrival as I have told the school from day 1 that I will be arriving early (we are not supposed to report to UAS until August 20). But what can I do? I need to start taking things in stride and realizing that many things are simply out of my control (this will be very hard for me). It will be a good lesson, and I’m sure there will be many more to come.

To add to my stress of moving halfway around the world, I have been reading about the “new” visa requirements that go into effect on July 29. According to the business manager at UAS, they will not affect me, but I will not be surprised if they do.

More on visas later… I’m sure I will someday complain about the struggles of changing employers when sponsored under a residence visa, but it is simply too much to think about right now. My brain hurts.

I have to pack again????

Ok, so for those of you that know me well, or even if you’ve been reading my posts, you know that I HATE to pack. I was so proud of myself leaving Oregon. I had my bags packed days in advance, and my bike was ready to go almost a week before I left. I had everything covered, wrapped, stuffed and sealed up for the journey to Ohio. Once I got to Ohio, I was so sad that I had to unpack my bags. They were so perfect, so organized, and I knew I couldn’t replicate my handy work. But I had to – afterall, I was in town for 3 weeks. And now it’s time to do it all again. UGH!!! The only thing that’s easy about this packing job is that I don’t have to decide what to take and what to leave, because everything is going with me to the UAE. But that has its own drawbacks, which I am quickly discovering.

When I flew from Oregon to Ohio, I had to check 3 bags; my bike box and two suitcases. One of my suitcases weighed 70 lbs!!!! The other only 45 lbs. I am flying out on United and it costs $150 for an overweight bag (50+ lbs), which wouldn’t be a big deal if I had 1 overweight bag, but you see I have done quite a bit of shopping since I’ve been in Ohio. What else was I to do? Anyways, my stuff just won’t fit into the two bags that I have without having to pay for 2 overweight suitcases, and that’s just too much money. So I need to strategerize and pack and check a 3rd bag. The 3rd bag will cost an extra $150 to check, as well as my bike box (another $150), but it’s better than paying 2x for 2 overweight suitcases and a bike box to boot.
Mom and I just finished the first stage of the packing. My large suitcase is teetering at about 49 lbs. It’s not even full. We actually had to take out some things and repack it to get it under 50 lbs. I took the carry-on and am making it a bag I will check. It is currently full of running and cycling clothes. It weighs less than 40 lbs, so I can stuff some skinny, heavy things in there, if I have any… The third bag is another large suitcase. It will house the laundry I need to do, my surplus of shoes, and any clothes that I wear between now and when I leave. Oh - and my toiletry bag, which I can’t carry-on thanks to those clever terrorists. It will definitely be stuffed full, and I will either run out of room or will reach the 50 lb limit. Whatever else I can’t fit will make it into my duffel bag, which is my new carry-on. And there’s also my bike box… I might be able to stuff a couple of extra things in there too.

As I pack, I can’t help but wonder how my wardrobe has increased by 25% since I’ve been in Ohio. Such a short time… and it’s not like I didn’t have anything to begin with. To top it off, I already sent a 30 lb box to the UAE, full of clothes and shoes that are strictly for work. It appears that I have developed a dangerous addiction. I hope it’s one I can break in the UAE, but that’s highly unlikely. I see two possibilities as I will be dealing with a new monetary unit, the Dirham (AED), at which the exchange rate is pegged at 1 USD: 3.67 AED.

Scenario 1) It’s like monopoly money!!!! It’s not real… is it? I’ll take it! In fact, I’ll take 2, and I’d like to trade in my four houses for a hotel while I’m at it…

Scenario 2) What? A shirt for $100???? That’s ridiculous! Of course 100AED is about 27USD, a respectable price for a shirt, but I could pretend to be ignorant.

So which scenario do you think it will be???

Getting closer...

48 hours left in Oregon... and I've actually opened up a suitcase (three of them)! And put things in them!! This has to be some sort of record for me.


I have narrowed down my stuff into two suitcases, my bike box and a carry on. Believe it or not, most of my clothes are already packed - I just have to add my shoes, which will pretty much take up all available space, especially my 6 pairs of running shoes. Then I need to squeeze in my toiletries.... The picture on the right is my bike box, and all of the packages I have ready to ship via USPS. My bike is nicely secured, every mm of carbon fiber covered. That makes me happy. The bike box weighs in at a whopping 60 lbs, only because I put everything I could think of in there. I just spoke with the people at Delta, and it took them 25 minutes to figure out exactly how much it was going to cost. $230 ($150 for the bike box and $80 because it is my 3rd checked bag). Not bad. It's better than $380, which is what it would cost according to the website. The packages on the ground are headed to Abu Dhabi tomorrow. 5 in all. One is full of work clothes (and shoes), the other three are miscellaneous teaching supplies and stuff for Garren. That shipment will probably cost around $400, but will be worth it because I won't have to haul it from here to Ohio and on to Dubai.


Tahoe was great, once things got settled down. I ended up getting on standby for the last flight out of San Francisco - 10:30pm. I arrived in Reno around 11:45 pm and took the shuttle to the lodge - only to find out that UAS never booked a room for me! They thought they did, but the confirmation notice clearly said: must secure off ground lodging, we are full. Of course, they were booked solid, so I ended up staying the night in a bunk room that was prepared for a kids tennis camp arriving the next day. Luckily, they had a cancellation the following day and I was able to get a room to myself. The people there were great and very helpful. I am a little frustrated with UAS at the moment...lots of communication errors on their part.


Anyways, the conference was good. I now understand the rigors of the IB curriculum and am a little scared, but I met some amazing and intelligent people who will also be teaching it in the fall who I can turn to for support. The best thing was hanging out with them all weekend. We had a lot of fun and I hope to see them again someday.


I have been saying goodbye to different groups of people for the last week or so. The folks at FitRight (holla!), my coaching friends (who gave me beautiful charm bracelet to remember my time at SHHS) and Garren's family (who I will miss spending time with). The goodbyes get a little harder as departure time grows nearer - tomorrow I will run with Tinkle, Bob and the girls for the last time. That makes me tear up just as I write it. I will also say goodbye to my dear friend Courtney, and then to my wonderful second family, Kathy and Scott. I will miss them all, but I know that we will stay in touch and I hope to see everyone when Garren and I come back for Christmas vacation. It really takes leaving to get one to understand how much some people mean to you and how lucky you truly are...

Well, that's all for now, next time I write I will be in Ohio. I am looking forward to spending time with my family, I don't get to see them often enough. And then on to the UAE - and Garren. Lots of good times ahead, I can hardly wait.

Note to self: double check your departure time

I think I subconsciously thrive on stress, why else would I continually put myself in these situations? I am on my way to Lake Tahoe for a 5 day International Baccalaureate Conference, so I can be properly trained on the diploma program in which I will be teaching next year. My e-ticket was issued as Jeniferms Gaffo, and I was told by United (several times) that I couldn't fly with my surname misspelled. So I have been spending all week talking to United, the Universal American School and Alpha Holidays, the travel company in Dubai that booked my flight to get it changed. I probably don't have to tell you how difficult it is to a)deal with people that don't speak English (the United reservations agents) and b)with people that are operating on a work schedule that is 11 hours ahead of my own (UAS and the travel company). As of Thursday, I thought I had it all figured out and I would be able to fly - the changes had been made. But I couldn't check in online with the correct name, so when I got to the counter to check in I explained my story.
"What time does your plane depart?" she asked
I replied, "8:40"
Looking confused, ''What's your flight number?"
"372"
"That flight leaves at 7:42"
I looked at my watch. It was 7:30. I looked at my itinerary, sure enough, first line on my e-ticket: Flight 372, Departs PDX for SFO at 7:42
Shit.

This was a new one for me. I have had some blond moments in my life, but this one takes the cake for sure. I had been so consumed with my name that I never double checked the flight time. I know you are reading this and are thinking, how does one not check their departing flight time? Unfortunately, I can't really answer that. But as I sit here at the San Francisco airport, where I have been since noon, and will be until midnight, I realize that this move I am about to embark on 1/2 way around the world, is affecting me more than I thought.

I've moved around the country before, and was getting pretty good at it - all I had to do is rent a UHaul and pack all of my stuff in it. If it didn't fit, well, then I'd get a bigger UHaul. This international move is turning out to be a bit more difficult. I can't take it all with me. I have to put my stuff in boxes, and decide which boxes I won't need for the next month and ship those to Garren, and the others I will take with me to Ohio and on to the UAE. And so I have been packing. And I have made calls to the airline to find out how much it will cost me to take all of these bags and my bike ($$$). I sold my car. I have been saying goodbye to friends. I have been talking to Garren - a lot, at least twice a day. I hit and killed a deer and totaled my Oregon mom's car. No joke. That just happened yesterday, on my way to Portland.

So I guess I've been a little preoccupied. This trip to Tahoe (if I ever get there) will be good for me because I can't do much there to prepare for my move, so I will be able to relax, get some sun and exercise and reboot for the final push back in Oregon. Once I return I will have less than 7 days...

The next flight is scheduled to leave at 10:45 tonight, I am on standby, so no guarantees. Wish me luck! And remember, avoid the unneccessary stresses: double check your departure time, even if you are 100% confident. You never know...

Check that off the list...

I sold my car today. It went to a nice family in Battleground, Washington who seem pretty excited about it, as am I. I was really nervous about selling it private party. I am not good at negotiating, and GMAC still has my title because I have one year of payments left. The local dealership offered to buy it at bargain basement price, but I knew I could get more selling it private party, and I promised Garren I would try. So I put it up on craigslist on Tuesday night and had several people call about it on Wednesday. A man came to look at it yesterday, and we closed the deal at his credit union today. I got what I asked for it, and am super happy about that - it was about $1500 more than the local dealership would have given me, money I will need to ship my belongings halfway around the world. So that's that. Now I have to figure a way to get around for the next two weeks; my Oregon parents are kind enough to let me borrow their car, but I will try and make do without it as much as possible.

What's next? Well, I leave for Tahoe in one week to attend an International Baccalaureate conference to prepare for my assignment in Dubai. Until then, I will be spending the next week running, biking (maybe drag myself to the pool) and packing - in that order. I am a terrible packer, and have been known to start my packing less than one hour before I am due to leave. Unfortunately, I can't do that for this giant move, so I will have to lock myself in the house and force myself to get started early. I hope to have my work clothes and school supplies packed up and shipped to Garren before I leave for Tahoe. Will take care of the rest when I get back.

I only have 18 days left before I head to Ohio. I will be sad to leave Oregon - great people and it is so beautiful here right now. More on that later... Until next time, happy running!!!

The meaning of PoMA

A piece of paper under my windshield wiper bearing a simple smiley face and four letters. That's how PoMA began. It was my father's ploy to end the pouting he was seeing on and off the basketball court. You see in my mind, the beginning of my senior year of high school basketball was off to a terrible start. I wasn't playing up to my own personal expectations and was getting frustrated. I moped on the court. I moped on the bench. I even distanced myself from my teammates so everyone would know that I wasn't happy with how I was playing. I was being selfish. Luckily, my father called me out on my behaviors and pointed out how my actions were being interpreted. I was horrified - that was not who I wanted to be. I got over "me" and started to focus on the bigger things around me and ended up having a great season.

Over the last 13+ years, PoMA has been quietly guiding my life and travels. But it wasn't until recently that it evolved to hold a deeper, more powerful meaning. As a high school track and field coach I had the opportunity to interact with student athletes on a daily basis; it was through these interactions that the meaning of PoMA was truly defined.

The four principles of PoMA:
1) Always be positive
2) Surround yourself with PoMA
3) Be selfless
4) Take risks

Always be positive: In all reality, it's nearly impossible to be positive 100% of the time. If you can do it, then there are probably people around you that want to shoot you. All you can do is strive to be positive, and see the good in every situation. In the words of the great Gerry Tinkle, "It could always be worse." Negativity is a disease and it spreads like wildfire. You will accomplish nothing with a negative attitude, you will solve problems and make great gains with a positive attitude.

Surround yourself with PoMA: When you surround yourself with PoMA, you are setting yourself up for success and happiness. This was a valuable lesson I learned this year. I could be having a terrible day (which happens often in the teaching profession), and I would head out to track practice and be immediately surrounded by 10 smiling, enthusiastic runners. How could you continue to have a bad day when you are surrounded with PoMA? You simply can't, and it turned my day around more times than you can imagine.

Be selfless: Life is bigger than you or I. Believe me. That's why having teammates and friends are so important. They give you an opportunity to share in success and glory, even if your race or day is not what you wanted it to be. Be their biggest fan - it is the best cure for a personal disappointment. And who knows, they will probably return the favor someday.

Take risks: Get out and go for it! What have you got to lose? If you are surrounded with PoMA, they will be there for you whether your risk is a success or an abysmal failure. In order to get places in life, you have to step out of that comfort zone once or twice.

So to me, these principles encompass the true meaning of PoMA. I invite you to comment with your interpretation.

PoMA was the motto for the girl's distance squad at SHHS this year, and will serve as my motto and a daily reminder as I face the challenges of a new culture, school, environment and lifestyle. A big thank you to the Love Pod for your inspiration! I will miss you!