Well yesterday I took my first belly dancing lesson and as uncoordinated and ridiculous as I looked-I had a great time! I went with Lani, one of the other wives (I think I've convinced her to try the Spinning class tomorrow). The instructor is from Egypt and she is SO nice! Most of the girls don't go regularly so everyone was pretty shy at first and we all must have looked hilarious trying to shake our hips without shaking our bottoms-thank God they blocked out the windows!!! But the instructor was so fun that pretty soon coins and bells from our scarves were flying!
Lani told me that in some traditional Arab weddings a woman must learn to belly dance before a man will marry her because there is a traditional bellydance she must do for him at the reception. It was interesting because the girls I met in the class were from Singapore, Japan and Mexico. It is funny because the class was filled with women of ALL ages, but as soon as we tied those scarves around our hips we were all twisting like little girls playing dress up to make them jingle! After the class Lani told me I had a natural since of coordination for bellydancing-I think she just wanted my 60 Dhs a week!
The class is twice a week and I think I'm going to start going regularly-so this weekend I'm going to go buy some booty scarves of my own. I don't see myself becoming a professional bellydancer any time soon but it was a ton of fun!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
To Our Dads
Just wanted to send our Dads love from overseas on Father's Day! Here are some of our favorite memories with our Dads...they'll know which ones are from whom. 
-Fishing in Pahsemeroi
-Dinner at Elephant & Castle, followed by second row seats at the Sonics' game
-Making our own fishing poles
-A good coach
-Carving our names in the Cottonwood at Darling “Crick”
-Having times table races (and beating you)
-Seeing who could shoot the horseshoe out of an OLY can first
-Staining the backyard fence (and not because you paid me)
-Teaching me how to slow dance in the kitchen before my sixth grade formal
-Feeding the camp robbers at lunch time
-Staying up all night to pull out a tooth that was barely loose
-The cherry chip cakes you make me for my birthday
-Teaching me to drive your truck and not yelling that I ended up on the curb
-Thanksgiving rides to check in on the big bucks
-Learning that sometimes it’s all about the right curse words to get that stubborn bolt to come loose
-The beauty of a well filed and gapped set of points
-A full stringer next to a “No Fishing” sign
-Having a beer in my hotel room when getting ready to be married
-What a wonderful wedding toast!
-A full bed of wood and a wall hanger
-The computer cards you sent me that always smelled like the ship
-That old rickety rope swing at the river
-Catching fireflies at Grandma’s
-Teaching me that a track in the snow is hard to chew
-Making the turkey dance while stuffing it
-Dropping off that KICK ASS ALAN JACKSON CD….. Only a 4 hour drive…….
-The way you think hello is pronounced “yello”
-”I can’t tell you what to do, but…”
-Sleeping in cots in the backyard because the stars were beautiful that night
-Making our initials out of wood in the garage
-Taking the old International on a cruise to the Rod and Gun Club
-For God sakes, they sell short pants without strings now!
-When you made me believe I could hear Rudolph on the roof
-Playing four-square on those long weekends
-How you are always up for watching a Disney movie
-How the first CD you played on the new surround sound system was Ace of Base, because you thought it cool
-”diggin up bones…”
-All you can hear in my football videos is you yelling for me
-The value of silence and watching the sunset
-3 feet of snow in the morning of a good hunt
-Being the black sheep “BAAAAAH”
-Letting me raid your closet for flannel shirts because it was cool in the ninety’s
-Passing up a perfect 4 point to make our time together at The Kilns last longer
-Letting me grow up but knowing I’ll always be Daddy’s little girl
-Teaching me the things a man needs to know and the pride of a hard day’s work
-Fishing in Pahsemeroi-Dinner at Elephant & Castle, followed by second row seats at the Sonics' game
-Making our own fishing poles
-A good coach
-Carving our names in the Cottonwood at Darling “Crick”
-Having times table races (and beating you)
-Seeing who could shoot the horseshoe out of an OLY can first
-Staining the backyard fence (and not because you paid me)
-Teaching me how to slow dance in the kitchen before my sixth grade formal
-Feeding the camp robbers at lunch time
-Staying up all night to pull out a tooth that was barely loose
-The cherry chip cakes you make me for my birthday
-Teaching me to drive your truck and not yelling that I ended up on the curb
-Thanksgiving rides to check in on the big bucks
-Learning that sometimes it’s all about the right curse words to get that stubborn bolt to come loose
-The beauty of a well filed and gapped set of points
-A full stringer next to a “No Fishing” sign
-Having a beer in my hotel room when getting ready to be married
-What a wonderful wedding toast!
-A full bed of wood and a wall hanger
-The computer cards you sent me that always smelled like the ship
-That old rickety rope swing at the river
-Catching fireflies at Grandma’s
-Teaching me that a track in the snow is hard to chew
-Making the turkey dance while stuffing it
-Dropping off that KICK ASS ALAN JACKSON CD….. Only a 4 hour drive…….
-The way you think hello is pronounced “yello”
-”I can’t tell you what to do, but…”
-Sleeping in cots in the backyard because the stars were beautiful that night
-Making our initials out of wood in the garage
-Taking the old International on a cruise to the Rod and Gun Club
-For God sakes, they sell short pants without strings now!
-When you made me believe I could hear Rudolph on the roof
-Playing four-square on those long weekends
-How you are always up for watching a Disney movie
-How the first CD you played on the new surround sound system was Ace of Base, because you thought it cool
-”diggin up bones…”
-All you can hear in my football videos is you yelling for me
-The value of silence and watching the sunset
-3 feet of snow in the morning of a good hunt
-Being the black sheep “BAAAAAH”
-Letting me raid your closet for flannel shirts because it was cool in the ninety’s
-Passing up a perfect 4 point to make our time together at The Kilns last longer
-Letting me grow up but knowing I’ll always be Daddy’s little girl
-Teaching me the things a man needs to know and the pride of a hard day’s work
We love you guys so much! Have a wonderful Father's Day!!!
Love and Miss You,
Stef & Tony
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Long Story Short
So I had some difficulties with the blog but I think I'm back on track and should be better about posting! To sum up the past couple months:
Mom and I visited New York, England, France, Monaco, and Italy before meeting Tony in Abu Dhabi. We had such a great time but were glad to get a vacation from vactioning! Dad met us in Abu Dhabi for a few days and we had a great time showing him around the city! Unfortunately they eventually had to go home and Tony I were left alone in the UAE!
One of the most exciting things we've done so far is go to the Aerosmith concert in Dubai! It was their first show on their 2007 World Tour. Since it was their first show getting in was a mess! They told us to be there at 5:30 sharp (which we were) just to find out Aerosmith didnt take the stage until 10:00 and there was no opening band...so what was there to do but sit in the grass and drink beer...not a bad way to pass an evening!
Except that the beer line was hot (It was 110 degrees that day) and long! Oh well we made the best of it!
We met some wonderful people from Austria so I got to practice my German which has gone way down hill since high school!
Aerosmith was AWESOME of course and well worth the hassle!
We spent the next day hanging out at our hotel's rooftop pool. After a fabulous dinner we went to a Lebanese restraunt for champagne and shisha pipes. We met an amazing man from Saudi Arabia who let us sit at his table in the front row so we could see the belly dancers better-those women were unbelieveable! After insisting that we eat the huge spread of food he ordered (the lamb was to die for!) he even picked up our bill and insisted we call him next time we're in Dubai so we can go out to lunch!
What Tony and I love most about the UAE so far is definitly the people. Very few of them are actually natives-our friends are from India, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabi, Pakistan, Iran...the list goes on and on. But they are all very generous and genuine people who have made us feel so welcome! They laugh that America calls itself the "melting pot" when there is so much cultural seperation. They say that the UAE is the true "melting pot" and I think they have a point. We have made so many wonderful friends here that we hope to keep after we return to the states!
Well I think that's the past couple months in a nutshell! I'll try to do better about keeping this up to date! Tschuss for now!
Mom and I visited New York, England, France, Monaco, and Italy before meeting Tony in Abu Dhabi. We had such a great time but were glad to get a vacation from vactioning! Dad met us in Abu Dhabi for a few days and we had a great time showing him around the city! Unfortunately they eventually had to go home and Tony I were left alone in the UAE!
One of the most exciting things we've done so far is go to the Aerosmith concert in Dubai! It was their first show on their 2007 World Tour. Since it was their first show getting in was a mess! They told us to be there at 5:30 sharp (which we were) just to find out Aerosmith didnt take the stage until 10:00 and there was no opening band...so what was there to do but sit in the grass and drink beer...not a bad way to pass an evening!
Except that the beer line was hot (It was 110 degrees that day) and long! Oh well we made the best of it!
We met some wonderful people from Austria so I got to practice my German which has gone way down hill since high school!
Aerosmith was AWESOME of course and well worth the hassle!
We spent the next day hanging out at our hotel's rooftop pool. After a fabulous dinner we went to a Lebanese restraunt for champagne and shisha pipes. We met an amazing man from Saudi Arabia who let us sit at his table in the front row so we could see the belly dancers better-those women were unbelieveable! After insisting that we eat the huge spread of food he ordered (the lamb was to die for!) he even picked up our bill and insisted we call him next time we're in Dubai so we can go out to lunch!
What Tony and I love most about the UAE so far is definitly the people. Very few of them are actually natives-our friends are from India, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabi, Pakistan, Iran...the list goes on and on. But they are all very generous and genuine people who have made us feel so welcome! They laugh that America calls itself the "melting pot" when there is so much cultural seperation. They say that the UAE is the true "melting pot" and I think they have a point. We have made so many wonderful friends here that we hope to keep after we return to the states!
Well I think that's the past couple months in a nutshell! I'll try to do better about keeping this up to date! Tschuss for now!
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