Visa time in Mexico City

On the way back from Abu Dhabi to Carmen I had another quick detour in Mexico City to renew my work visa. I ended up having 4 days there because the office was closed. The first day I pretty much stayed in the hotel because I was exhausted from all the traveling. Me staying in the hotel ended up being quite the adventure!! That night all of a sudden I my room started shaking a little bit. At first I did not think much of it but then it started to get a lot stronger and lasted for a while. I was thinking to myself what should I do. The only thing that came to mind was to hop into the bathtub like it was a tornado coming!! Come to find out it was a 3.6 earthquake!! I was on the 9th floor so come to find out I would not have been able to do much more then hop into a bathtub!!

 The next day I decided to wander around the center of  town. It was the weekend so everybody was out. Plus, the main square had a huge winter wonderland that everyone was going to. While wandering I realized that Mexico City is a very large place with lots of people, and I definitely felt like I was the only white person there which was actually nice!! I did not feel like a tourist, even though I stood out, because I was just immersing myself in the culture and life. I walked around some of the small museums and a street market that was going on. Then I had lunch at one of the street vendors and it was soooo good though probably not the most sanitary but that is part of the experience . . . go where the locals go!

After that I took a tour of the Presidential Palace of Mexico (pretty much the White House of Mexico). It was sooo beautiful and interesting. The President does not live there but has an office and does most important meetings there.

The next day I spent the day with Estef (my roommate from Carmen) and her family. She is from Mexico City and happened to be home for days off so it worked out perfectly! She and her parents took me on a boat ride in the city's canal system. You could rent a boat that could fit about 20 people, bring food and drinks, and have a good ole time! Along the way you can buy flowers or rent Mariachis!! It was great being with her and her family and being on the water. I just love water and being outside!

After a couple of fun days I went and got my visa which only ended up taking 20 minutes to get! It was great because the year before it took 3 hours!! I then headed to the airport and had to start thinking about reality again . . . work!!

Oh just hanging out in Abu Dhabi . . . part 2

After Thanksgiving instead of heading straight back to Mexico to start work I had a little detour! I ended up being chosen to go to another course for work and again it was in Abu Dhabi! Again I never thought I would be going to Abu Dhabi period and now I was going for my 2nd time in 3 months! I went straight from Raleigh to London and then London to Abu Dhabi. It was nice just having a few less hours of traveling!

This time around I was only there for one week. Yes, I had to travel halfway around the world for just one week of class but it was still fun and a good excuse not to be in the office! The course was really interesting and all but 1 person in the class was from my location. We ended up changing MLC (Middle East and Asia Learning Center) to Mexico Learning Center because a lot of Spanish was being spoken and we pretty much all worked there. So many people from my location were there because it was training on how to operate a new unit which we are about to get a bunch of in our base. I was excited to be chosen for this new adventure! Besides being outside in the yard learning how to work the unit, we went out to eat almost every night which was a lot of fun. Eating was the point of my trip this time more than site seeing!!

 Site from working above on the injector head

 Part of the gang

 Having some fun in the CT cabin (all of us but 1)

 

 John picking up his engagement ring at Tiffany's

For a class dinner we went to one of the famous hotels in Abu Dhabi for a really nice buffet. Just our luck there was a theme that night . . . guess what it was?! The theme was Mexican, hahahaha!!! We were all walking down the stairs to the restaurant and heard a familiar sound . . . there were mariachis and traditional mexican dance going on!! There was even traditional Mexican food! Our whole class just laughed since we all pretty much live in Mexico!

Fuad from Indonesia (only person from a non-Mexico base) being converted to a true Mexican!

After a fun week it was time to head back to Mexico :( This time the flight was from Abu Dhabi to London to Mexico City to Carmen. When I was getting on my flight from London to Mexico (the longest part of my trip), I got to the counter to board the plane it took a little longer than usual. Next thing I know the flight attendant said the magic words of "you have been upgraded to business class"!! It was the first time that I ever was placed in business/first class and what a time for that to happen . . . transatlantic! What a great end to a great trip!!

There's no place like home . . . part 3!!

Unfortunately my favorite holiday had to come to a close too soon, and I had to leave one of my favorite places, Wilmington, to go to the next location. What made it easier to go to that next location, however, was being able to see the man of my life, Jake!! I can never get to much of him!! We had some bonding moments, and he is definitely going to be stylin'!! Plus I am THAT aunt that brings back random stuff which you will see further below!

Below you see the process of being happy to about to cry to happy again because of his awesome sombrero!!

After a quick day in Raleigh, I headed back to High Point for a couple of days! I got to see a lot of old friends like the Cronins that I had not seen since there wedding the year before, Carolyn, and Jordania!! My time was way to short with them but I am also thankfully for every minute with them. It is sooo nice knowing who your friends are and even though you may not talk with them for a long time when you get back together with them it is like time had never passed!

Sarah, Chris and I playing some disc golf

Another fun thing that I did back in High Point was help decorate for Christmas. My mom was very adamant in getting everything up before I left since I most likely would not make it back for Christmas. I went with her and bought a real Christmas tree which was fun!! It was the first time I saw a real Christmas tree in my house in forever (more than 15 years)!! She spent the rest of the day putting all the ornaments on with a little help from me! It was nice getting into the Christmas spirit!

Poor Lily!!

Again the time went way to fast, and I did not get to do everything and see everybody that I wanted to, but I will take any time that I can get to be with my family and friends!! I left again from Raleigh, so I got to say goodbye to the little man as well. We decided it would be appropriate to dress him up in all his Mexican attire for a little photo shoot before I set sail! I have to say that this might be one of my favorite pictures ever!

There's no place like home . . . part 2!!

Home is such a get place. Every time I get to go back I finally feel like I can take a deep breath and be quiet for a time. I don't know about you but the feeling of being in your mom's arms is magical!

The weather throughout my break was great and Wilmington was beautiful like always. One of the main reasons why I love Thanksgiving so much is because usually the weather is good enough to hang out side. Yes, it is really cold sometimes but that is when you just hunker down closer to the fire, and we always seem to have some quality family time out there.

Besides the fire and eating, one of the favorites to do is a good game of cornhole. We can get pretty competitive because of course no one likes losing!! There always seems to be someone that ends up not playing anymore!!

Even though not everyone was around for Thanksgiving and my Papa had to have major heart surgery (thanks be to God all went well) during that time, we seemed to have a very entertaining, relaxing, and loving time together!!

Of course a good round of wrestling brings the family together, too!! Becca, I am sorry to say but I think Jay won that round!!

Great minds think alike . . . Purple, blacks and greys must be the new fall colors!!

Another normal specialty for Thanksgiving is playing a round a golf with Dad and Uncle John. Usually Dan tags along too if he is there but this year Jay came out to play which was fun . . . we ended up stinking together which helped the round go faster!! The round was not all bad since I did out drive my dad one hole!! I ended up getting a birdie on that hole after the best approach shot of my life!! Oh how I miss playing golf . . . especially since I was just starting to get the hang of it before I started with SLB!

Yet another great tradition is having an oyster roast the day after Thanksgiving. We go buy local oysters at the local fish market. We hang out at the fireplace that now as a place that we can steam the oysters. My uncle used a wet burlap sack on a hot iron sheet. The oysters tasted very yummy. I never thought I would say that since I had a very bad experience with my first one I tried when I was younger!! It is a great way of ending Thanksgiving with the fam!!

There's no place like home!

After finally getting back to Carmen after an awesome adventure in Abu Dhabi it was back to the grind! And man did I get back to the grind! I worked for 60 days straight and 32 of those days were offshore!! It was a very good but tiring experience!

So after working 60 days straight and finally getting my visa stuff worked out, vacation finally arrived, and I could not wait to get back to NC! It was so stressful right before I left Mexico because I had not gotten my passport back from the immigration department and of course I had a lot of work stuff . . . however, I survived like always and got my passport back in time. Sometimes it is so easy to forget to trust God that everything will work out how it should, though not always how you want it.

I flew into Raleigh like normal and got to spend some quality time with Lizzie and the ever so changing Jake!! The first day I just hung out with Jake and gave him a lot of kisses to make up for time!! The next night was a very fun night!! I bought some pretty good seats for the Taylor Swift concert and took Lizzie and Becca for a little sister time. Lizzie and I even got to be up close to Scott McCreery!!  We had a blast and the concert ended up being pretty good/entertaining!! I am sooo thankful for the time I got to spend with my sisters and wish I could hang out with them more. That night ended up being one of the highlights of the trip being able to be with them!

The next day I spent some more quality time with Jake and Lizzie. Jake has grown sooo much since the last time I saw him, he was only 3 weeks old !! I can't believe that I did not get to see him until 6 months later :(. However, I was very thankful for every minute I had with him!! Besides hanging out with Jake, I got to go to 2 NC State football games!! I was not expecting wins for either but somehow we won both. We dominated the national ranked Clemson and then somehow came back from a 28 pt deficit against Maryland . . . maybe I was a good luck charm of something!!

Once the Clemson football game I went home for a couple of days and then headed down to Wilmington for my favorite holiday Thanksgiving. This year it was kind of different because Lizzie and Dan and my grandma were not there. My Papa also had to undergo heart surgery that week. Thankfully everything worked out fine and he is now doing get!! The first full day I was in charge of making dinner so I decided to bring a little Mexico back home to NC!! I cooked Arrachera (marinated flank steak), grilled onion and nopale cactus, queso fundido, roasted salsa picante, frijoles charros (mexican version of baked beans), and guacamole!! I think it turned out really well, and I think everyone liked it!!

Thanksgiving finally came around and it was great like always. We were a smaller group and not as much food as usually but the quality was still there!! We had one of the biggest turkeys I have ever seen and the pork shoulder was AMAZING!! I the deserts we had was a plus too!! Our family just spent the whole day outside, playing cornhole and of course eating.

 

Since this post is getting pretty long and I have so much more to tell about my great 2 weeks at home, I think I will just to start a new one. Lookout for the continuation is just a little bit!!

... to be continued

Oh just hanging out in Abu Dhabi!

A continuation of my trip to Abu Dhabi in the summer of 2011 . . .

Throughout my time in Abu Dhabi my class and I went out for dinner or did other entertaining things on the weekends since we pretty much lived in a compound and ate in a cafeteria throughout the week. We also had a couple of class dinners that we unbelievable. I think our class liked food a lot!! Many of the restaurants here are top notch and have high quality food. The 2 class dinners we had were buffets that were heaven. As a starter I would always get a plate of sushi that was soooo good (and dearly missed since I do not always trust the sushi in Mexico). After the sushi, I would then get a plate of main course and a plate of desert . . . by far the best buffets I have ever had in the world!! Thankfully I did not gain any weight but that was mainly due to playing basketball with a couple of instructors twice a week for 2 hrs at a time!

The pictures below are from the 2 class dinners . . . as you can see we are always serious and professional!!

Another place that we ended up going to a lot (of course a place to eat) was a restaurant in the Intercontinental Hotel called Belguin Cafe. It was the first place I went with a group of people and it was also the last! I even had my birthday dinner there!! The service was great (one because we became friends with all the waitresses) but I kept going back for the french fries and homemade mayo!! I know it does not sound that sophisticated or appetizing but it was soooo good. Again the picture below shows us being veeerrry serious!

Besides eating we did do other things while we were in Abu Dhabi. One of the things Abu Dhabi is known for is its formula one race track in Yaz Island. Yaz Island is a man made island that has the race track, hotels, Ferrari world, and IKEA! Well when there are no races going on they use part of the track for go-karting. A group of us decided why no give it a whirl. Well, the whirl was awesome. These karts can go up to 35 mph which is not that fast put when you are in an open environment racing around these sharp turns it feels sooo much faster. It took a couple of laps for me to get my groove but I ended up getting 4th, beating all the guys in my class but 1!! Not such a bad night of racing if you don't ask me!!

Another non-food activity that I did was play golf one weekend. I looked online at a couple of courses and ended up finding a really good deal at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club which is home to one of the PGA events. I ended up paying for the green fees and getting the rented clubs free! It was a very beautiful though hot day, and I actually played really well which it made it even better!! The course was really interesting since most of the "rough" was actually desert!! You definitely do not see that very much in North Carolina!!

 

I know I will not be able to do these kind of things forever, but I am very thankful for all the experiences, good and bad. God is good all the time!

Kayaking in the Mangroves of Abu Dhabi!

So I am still really behind on my posts so here is one that I meant to post 2 months ago!!

So one of the last weekends I was looking for things to do on the internet that we have not already done that we could do in Abu Dhabi. Well I started searching things that I like to do in normal places and have not done in a while and came across a website via Google. I knew right away I wanted to do this but I was not sure that I would be able to get any of the guys to go with me! Well after some begging and organizing I got all the Latinos and Paolo to go with me kayaking in the Mangroves in Abu Dhabi. We ended up going at 10 am on a Saturday since the tour that we wanted to go on at night (full moon tour) was booked. The guys complained for a bit but then started to like it a little more once they got in the kayaks!

We were definitely a mismatched group that for sure did not look like we knew what we were doing but we still had fun doing it. Also, thinking back on it know I think I had less clothes on that day then any other . . . out of respect of their culture I really did not feel comfortable wearing shorts or tank tops outside in public though there are enough internationals there that do! For this I thought it was an exception and of course had pants and a t-shirt waiting for me back onshore!!

 

In all we paddled around for 2 hours which was the perfect amount of time since it was pretty hot out and we were all out of shape!! It was sooo refreshing being on the water and being around God's creation. It was sooo interesting because we were in shallow water within trees but yet surrounded by huge modern buildings! I was thankful for a time to just be quiet and look and listen and smell the freshness of my surroundings. Sometimes you just need to be reminded of the little things!