Abu Dhabi at Last!

Lindsay here again!  Matt is still sleeping... It's 6:30, and I don't know if I should wake him up or just give him some ZzzQuil to sleep through the night...

The day our tickets arrived, I flew back to Albuquerque from Salt Lake, and Matt and I packed our bags and prepared everything to leave the next morning.  We got a good night's sleep and left for the airport earlier than planned.

Matt's dad, Ron, took the day off so he could take us to the airport with Darlene.  We stopped at Jimmy John's for some subs to take with us so we wouldn't have to spend a ton on airport food (best idea ever).  After more tearful goodbyes and thank yous, we were off on the next part of our adventure together!

When we checked our bags, we found out that we would have to pay $120 in baggage fees, because our tickets were booked as separate trips (one domestic flight from Albuquerque to Chicago and one international flight from Chicago to Abu Dhabi).  After calling the travel agency and e-mailing them asking whether we would pay for their mistake or they would pay for it, we paid in hopes that we could be reimbursed later.  At any rate, we were not going to let $120 ruin the experience of a lifetime.

On the flight from Albuquerque to Chicago, I slept for about an hour.  Then, we had a couple of hours' layover in Chicago.  We were taking a homeopathic pill called "No Jet Lag" every 2 hours of our flight time.  I fell asleep for 6 of the 13 hour flight to Abu Dhabi.  Matt didn't sleep very long.  

Matt's entertainment center while I slept on him

We arrived Thursday evening around 7 PM Abu Dhabi time.  We were fast tracked through security and driven to our new temporary home at the Grand Millennium Hotel next to the Al Wahda Mall.  Matt and I were so excited to meet friends we had become acquainted with through Facebook groups, and met them with hugs and smiles.

Eye Scan at the airport

Before we went to bed, we unpacked ALL of our bags for the first time in over a month.  Our hotel room looks pretty funny with all of our stuff on shelves and clothes in the closet, but it feels so nice to not have to go through bags to find things.  We each took a ZzzQuil and slept through the night.

Friday is the Sabbath here, so we woke up and got ready for church.  We had an amazing breakfast with others who are here with ADEC (Abu Dhabi Education Council) and then took a taxi with our friend Alecia to the newly dedicated LDS Stake Center in Mussafah.  Church was awesome.  We felt so much like we belong, were warmly welcomed by all of the members, and felt uplifted and even more excited about being here in Abu Dhabi.

First day of church!

After church, we oriented ourselves to the area by wandering around the Al Wahda Mall and seeing that there is everything we could ever need there (including Pocari Sweat, Tim Tams, Digestive Biscuits, and other things that I have missed since leaving Hong Kong!)  We made it 2/3 of the way through the mall and could walk no further, so we went back to the hotel to rest.  That evening, an awesome veteran teacher came to get the Butterfingers we brought her and then took us on more of a tour of the city and to dinner!  We walked around the Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre and saw hundreds of abayas.  I found one I love and decided to wait until Saturday to do any shopping (no shopping on the Sabbath for us).

Saturday, we took a taxi back to Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre and bought my abaya (they even added pockets for me, since I will be using it for teaching and NEED my pockets).  A sweet girl showed me how to wrap the sheyla (scarf) around my head.  She was so patient and told me that I would get better with more practice.  We also bought Matt the traditional men's outfit (a long white kandora and a red keffiyeh), and the shop owner showed him how to wear it appropriately.  When they asked us if we were Muslim, we said, "We respect Islam," and they were so happy.  For more on traditional Emirati clothing, see this website.

My attempt at putting my sheyla (scarf) on.

My first abaya!

We bought a cheap Nokia cell phone and SIM card so we can make local calls, and felt so productive before it was even 1:00!

After a successful shopping trip, we went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.  I wore my abaya and sheyla, and even though I felt much more comfortable being there dressed appropriately, it was so hot!  I was pretty jealous that the men get to wear all white.  The best way I can even attempt to do this place justice is with some photos!

Magnificent!

We were very kindly asked to not do any more "hugging" pictures after that... Matt had his arm around me!

We got back a few hours ago and Matt fell asleep.  I feel really lucky to not have gotten jet lag.  The heat makes me tired, but using "No Jet Lag" pills and ZzzQuil have helped me adjust my sleeping schedule.  Tomorrow I have an orientation for work at "10:45 am sharp."  I am looking forward to learning and getting set up with my new job!

The view from our room on the 23rd floor!  The white tent looking thing is the Al Wahda Mall.

Golden Tickets!

Lindsay here!  Matt is fast asleep... I think the jet lag is catching up to him.  I'm taking this opportunity to update the blog... last time we posted, we were waiting for our golden tickets.  Last Saturday, they still hadn't come, and I made the decision to take a quick "business" trip up to Salt Lake to help one little autistic boy in his new kindergarten classroom.  As soon as I booked my ticket, I knew my ticket to Abu Dhabi would be coming.

I woke up the next morning to two of my friends messaging me that their tickets had come and I frantically checked my e-mail.  Nothing.  Spam folder?  Nope.  So, we went to church and I distractedly checked my e-mail over and over again.  After church, we ate a quick lunch of Olive Garden left overs and Matt, Darlene, and I headed to Albuquerque.  I continued to check my e-mail every 10 minutes, but no e-mail.

I checked and checked as I awaited the first leg of my trip to Las Vegas.  Nothing.

At the Vegas Airport... nothing.

Salt Lake Airport... nothing.  

In spite of being preoccupied with the prospect of receiving my tickets at any moment, I was still able to enjoy my time in Salt Lake.  My parents couldn't have me be that close to them (4.5 hours away) and not come see me, so they were there to pick me up at the airport (I love them)!  We enjoyed sushi and Chinese food at Red Ginger Bistro and then they took me to stay with the family of the little boy I was there to work with.  My parents stayed in a hotel close by so that they could spend as much time with me as possible.

Monday was as wonderful as could be, and I managed to truly enjoy my unexpected time in Salt Lake with some friends and family and doing some very rewarding work with this little autistic boy I have come to love so much.  That afternoon, I received a phone call from Footprints Recruiting letting me know that my visa had been processed.  What a relief!  At least I didn't have to wonder about that anymore.  By the end of the day, I was feeling pretty confident that my tickets were not going to end the trip early, but I still had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I needed to be back in Albuquerque by Tuesday evening.  Exhausted from a long, eventful day and feeling a cold coming on, I managed to book the flight before my head hit the pillow.

Tuesday morning, I awoke to the long-awaited e-mail from Nirvana Travel Agency with my visa and tickets!  I needed to add tickets for Matt and change the departure city from Salt Lake to Albuquerque, but I was still so excited to finally be making progress in this journey.  Nirvana had the problem fixed before noon, and everything was set.  Matt and I were to depart the NEXT day at 12:53 PM!  Things were working out perfectly.  I couldn't have planned it better myself!  I said more tearful goodbyes to my sweet friend who brought me up to Salt Lake and to my wonderful parents, who were able to take me to the airport and truly send me off to Abu Dhabi... the last time was so anticlimactic, since we were just going to New Mexico to wait for our tickets.  What a blessing for my parents and for me, although I cried a lot more than the last time.

Hurry up and wait! A lesson in patience.

We have been here in Santa Fe for 2 weeks now, and don't know whether we will be here for a few more days or a few more weeks.  It has been really nice to be here.  We've done things we don't normally have time to do.  Matt helped his dad repair a leaky pipe buried in a corner of a bathroom.  He also repaired a washed out driveway.  Lindsay has been indexing names for family history, going to a class on world religions with Matt's mom, playing the piano, learning Arabic, running, baking, and just enjoying getting to know Matt's parents better.  She tried getting a job subbing in the local schools, but found out it would be at least a 2 week process, and an expensive one (it included getting a New Mexico teaching license)!  We have weeded, played with our kitties, gone to two movies, and read a lot of Facebook, e-mails, and blog posts about Abu Dhabi.  We even celebrated our 2nd Anniversary on 13 August 2013!

We don't know yet what the future brings, but we are at peace and know that we are where we need to be right now.  We are patiently waiting for tickets to arrive and the next chapter to begin.

Road Trip!

On 2 August 2013, we had a potluck at the same park and even the same pavilion that we had our wedding reception at.  It was so good to see so many of our friends, and so hard to say goodbye!  Lindsay shed quite a few tears.

On 3 August 2013, we said our tearful goodbyes to the Anderson family and went to Seven Peaks Water Park in Provo with our friends the Hunts.  It was really fun to spend time in the sun.  We felt like our summer vacation was finally beginning!  That night we drove to St. George, where we had dinner with Brent and Kathleen Kap, Lindsay's friends from her mission.  After a wonderful chat, we got on the road again and finished our trek to Las Vegas.

We were in Vegas for a week with Lindsay's whole family.  It was so much fun.  Lindsay's dad was working at the ASD trade show, and we helped a bit with that.  It was so crazy how much stuff was there.  Visual overload.

Some highlights of our time in Vegas include: The Las Vegas temple, Hoover Dam, Lake Meade, family photos, the Strip, the Stratosphere and its crazy ride, Insanity, a light show, deep fried oreos and shrimp cocktail on Freemont Street, Capo's Itallian restaurant, Los Tacos, L&L Hawaiian, Komex (Korean-Mexican fusion restaurant), swimming at the condo, Jordan riding a wheelchair at Smith's (his femur is still healing) and chasing us around in it, and just being with our family.

On 10 August 2013 we resumed our road trip and saw the Grand Canyon at the South Rim.  Matt hadn't been since he was super young, and Lindsay was only there for 30 minutes when she was 12.  We took a few pictures, but mostly just soaked the beauty in.  There was a man who started singing "How Great Thou Art" and some others joined in.  It was really special.  It was fun to hear how many different languages were represented.  Lindsay was really excited to find some people speaking Cantonese and asked them (in English at first) if they were together, because they were trying to take a group photo.  When she broke out in Cantonese, they were all in shock and amazement.  It made everyone smile.  They thanked us for our help, and then we went on our way.  We ended up at Four Corners at about 11:30, only to find the gate was locked and the hours were from 8 AM-8 PM.  Since no place within 100 miles had any vacancy, we parked right in front of the gate and slept (not so soundly) in the car.

11 August 2013 we awoke to find quite the line of cars behind us.  We were the first ones into the monument, and enjoyed standing in 4 states at once, eating cereal in 4 states at once, and kissing in 4 states at once!  We then drove to Ship Rock in New Mexico, had lunch in Farmington, and arrived in Santa Fe in the late afternoon.

Downsizing

Since that official offer came in on 18 June 2013, we spent nearly every waking moment selling, loaning, storing, or packing ALL of our possessions.  Two people in their upper-20's and early-30's can acquire a LOT of stuff!  We hope to keep it simple in the future.  Our deadline was 31 July 2013, and it was barely enough time.  We posted many items on KSL Classifieds.  We held 3 yard sales. We found homes to store our children's library, heirloom furniture, sentimental items, and some of our other possessions we want again some day.  We packed what we were taking to Abu Dhabi (only the essentials) in two 50 lb. checked luggage, one 15 lb. carry-on bag, and one personal item (purse for Lindsay, laptop bag for Matt) each.  Pictures, old school work, letters, souvenirs, pots and pans, some kitchen utensils, tools, sports equipment, and things we just couldn't part with (mainly because they were irreplaceable or we didn't want to have to buy them when we come back) went into plastic storage bins.  We are so grateful that Lindsay's parents came down from Idaho with a trailer and are storing those things for us.  That saves us a storage unit rental of $50/month at least!

On 15 July 2013 Matt's parents drove off with our 2 cats, Jane and Dot. This was really hard on both of us. We really wanted to take them with us to Abu Dhabi, but after finding out the costs involved and other discouraging variables, we decided it was best to find a new home for them. Thank goodness we get to see them and be with them again.

On 27 July 2013 we had the last of our 3 yard sales. We packed up everything that didn't sell and hauled it off to Deseret Industries. It felt so good to close that chapter of our journey.

On 30 July 2013, Lindsay's parents arrived with their trailer and we loaded up!  Our house was getting so empty.  It felt so good!

On 31 July 2013 the four of us (Matt, Lindsay, Lisa, and Doug) cleaned for about 6 hours straight.  That house never looked so good!  We were pretty nervous about not getting a full refund of our security deposit ($1000), but our landlady was so happy with the work we did.  Actually, we had never seen her that happy!  She even said she wanted to move in there.  She asked us to write to her and let her know how things are.  Unheard of from her!

We moved in with our friends who are more like family, Cory and Robyn Anderson, until 3 August 2013.

Abu Dhabi Bound!

Since we got married, we have discussed trying to move abroad together. We discussed options for each of us working and how we would even start down that road. Lindsay had applied to teach for the US Department of Defense in 2012, but we never heard back from them.

On 4 April 2013 Lindsay got an email on her recently updated profile page of LinkedIn. It was from Footprints Recruiting Agency, a company recruiting teachers for teaching in Abu Dhabi. At first she thought it was a scam and wondered what prompted them to reach out to her. We looked into it a bit and it didn't seem like there was anything to lose by sending in an application. They boasted high tax free salaries, relocation stipend, free housing, great medical insurance, paid annual flight home, and an otherwise attractive compensation package.

She submitted her application on 9 April 2013.

On 7 May 2013 she got an email from Footprints asking for more information about herself.

She responded on 9 May 2013 to those questions, and then on 10 May 2013 she got an email with a list of interview venues, asking her to choose one for an in-person interview. The Denver location was the smartest choice for us.

After replying to Footprints with this choice, they asked to have a phone interview, which got scheduled for 13 May 2013. The interview was really quick and easy. They asked about her classroom and her style of teaching and how she feels about student centered teaching and how she deals with discipline. The phone interviewer said Lindsay passed her interview, which meant she needed to plan on attending an in-person interview in Denver.

We booked her flights that night for 18 May 2013. Out and back in one day, the Interview in Denver went well.

On 22 May 2013 Lindsay got an email indicating that she would be moving forward in the hiring process.

On 25 May 2013 Footprints asked for a criminal background check, 2 professional letters of reference, a copy of the first page of her passport, 4 clear, color passport photos, as well as the attestation of her highest degree, teaching license, and marriage license. At this point we were getting more excited about this opportunity, but Lindsay hadn't officially been offered a position yet. We had only informed a small handful of people about it. The next few weeks were spent gathering and preparing the requested documents. It was expensive, especially for the uncertainty of officially being offered a position.

On 18 June 2013 Lindsay received her letter of offer of employment with Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC). It was finally official (even though Lindsay finally told everyone on the last day of school on 5 June 2013).

Our Love Story

When we are young and dreaming of love and the lives we will lead, we make plans in anticipation of "the perfect love story."  We don't know of anyone whose dreams came out exactly as they had planned.  It is our experience that reality was harder - and better - than we could have ever imagined.

When Matt was 21, a recently returned missionary, he had aspirations of getting married within a year or two and dating his future wife for at least 6 months before getting engaged.  He felt impressed to move from Boise to Salt Lake City and attend the University of Utah as part of this endeavor, thus pursuing a medical degree and broadening his prospects for marriage.  Soon Matt found out that getting married within a year or two was not in his cards.  Matt met several girls, and even dated many of them.  Most never progressed further than a 3rd date.  Pretty soon Matt was 30 and had dated a lot.  He wondered if he would ever find the girl of his dreams; after all, his list was quite extensive.

When Lindsay was in her teens, she had her life planned out to a T.  She would graduate from high school, attend Utah State University for two years until she was old enough to serve a mission, then come back and marry the man of her dreams.  After finishing her degree in teaching, she would never actually become a teacher, but use those good skills to be an awesome stay-at-home mom.  However, by the time Lindsay was 25, she had graduated from college and was in her first year of teaching kindergarten.  She had dated a fair amount.  She planned to date her future husband for at least a year before getting engaged.  She had been on 3 dates with 3 different guys in the 3 days prior to the night she met Matt.

On 28 April 2011, the Ensign Ward was having a BBQ as one last chance to get together before the singles wards and stakes were completely reorganized.  Matt found out about the BBQ through the 2nd counselor in the bishopric, Kent Buie, whom he ski patrolled with.  Matt was technically not in the Ensign Ward.  Lindsay was sitting at a table next to the food, excitedly telling her roommate and her roommate's friend about the date she had been on the night before.  When Matt walked in, he gathered a plate full of food, turned around, and decided to sit down at the table full of girls at which Lindsay was sitting.  At first, all of the girls were involved in their own conversations and didn't talk to him.  When Lindsay's friends left, she finally turned to Matt as it dawned on her that he was not talking with the other girls at the table, and said, "Hi!  Sorry, I thought you were with them."  Matt responded that he didn't really know anyone but Kent Buie.  We chatted for a bit, and Lindsay was interested that Matt was outdoorsy and from Boise.  Matt finished his plate and excused himself to talk to Kent.  Lindsay kept her eye on him a bit as he wandered around the room.  Matt asked Kent which of the girls would be good for him to date.  Kent pointed to a number of girls and one of the girls he recommended was Lindsay.  Lindsay went on yet another date with yet another young man that evening.

The next day was the big multi-stake conference for the reorganization of all of the singles wards in the Salt Lake Valley.  Lindsay rode her bike up to the Institute alone and walked into the huge congregation searching for someone to sit by.  She saw a few friends but no empty seats.  She was about to sit down next to a boy she didn't know when she saw Matt on the next row back with an empty chair to his left and two girls to his right.  She asked if the seat was taken and Matt said no.  During the meeting, we shared Matt's phone to sing hymns and got pretty close, but it felt natural.  Later on, Lindsay leaned forward and Matt stretched his arm out on her chair.  When she sat back up, he started to move it out of courtesy, but she told him he didn't have to move it.  Lindsay felt so surprisingly comfortable next to Matt, and a feeling started to form in the pit of her stomach that she needed to invite him over to have dinner.  The more she thought about it, the more worried she became that she would be imposing on her roommate, so she put it out of her mind.

When the meeting was over, Matt asked if Lindsay wanted to go with him to find their maps of their new wards.  She did, and again, felt so natural with him, as if we had been friends for years.  Lindsay asked about the other girls that Matt was sitting with, and he said, "They're my neighbors and we walked up together," but Matt wanted to spend as much time as he could with Lindsay, and said good-bye to his friends.  That was when Lindsay felt almost impulsively, the words coming out, inviting Matt over for dinner.  He readily accepted.

Dinner was leftovers from Sugarhouse BBQ the previous night.  Lindsay was happy that having Matt over didn't impose on her roommate after all because she had gone home to have dinner with her family.  We enjoyed talking and getting to know each other better.  We watched a CES Fireside on Lindsay's laptop, and then continued to talk about many of the things we had in common.  We were both from Idaho; had both been to and loved Germany (Lindsay pulled out her photo albums from her high school graduation trip to Europe); both love the the outdoors; and so Matt asked Lindsay if she would like to go hiking or biking that coming Friday.  She accepted happily.

Monday after work, Lindsay was feeling bold and texted Matt, "I'm going to go for a bike ride, easy pace, I'm tired, but need to get out.  Do you want to join me?"  Matt said he would have to get his bike out of storage, but would love to.  He picked Lindsay up in his vintage sea foam green 1969 F-100.  It smelled like her Grandpa Ernie's farm and she fell in love with it instantly.  We rode the Legacy Parkway bike path for a bit, but because of the large amount of gnats flying in our faces as the evening came on, we didn't go far.  Matt invited Lindsay over for bratwurst and potato salad.

Tuesday we texted.  Wednesday, Matt called to see if Lindsay wanted to go out that night, but she had a date which was planned before she even met Matt.  Thursday, Matt joined Lindsay in a chapter meeting of Fight the New Drug and he did something which was very out of the ordinary for this anti-PDA boy... he held Lindsay's hand!  After the meeting, we watched the sun set on the top of the parking garage at Primary Children's Medical Center.  Lindsay thought that Matt was planning to kiss her there, and he did think about it, but was scared to act on the feeling.  We went to Matt's apartment and watched Burn Notice.  At the end of the evening we had our last first kiss!

Friday, we went to the Drive-In with Matt's good friends Kyle and Tammy Speechly and their new baby Skye.  We saw Rango and Thor.

Saturday, Lindsay attended the UCAP (Utah Coalition Against Pornography) conference with her good friend, Michelle.  Afterward, Lindsay went to Matt's to hang out and share all of the amazing things she learned.   We talked about several deep topics that deepened our relationship and made us both feel more serious and committed to each other.

The next two weeks are pretty much a blur to the both of us, but we know that we spent every moment we could together, learning about each other and looking for any red flags. At some point, we began talking about marriage.  Neither one of us had any doubts, so we continued to move forward.

One night during that two week blur, while talking on Matt's lovesac, he popped the question.  Lindsay's response was, "Yes," over and over again.  Lindsay was all for a summer wedding; Matt wanted a winter wedding.  We both felt like that the upcoming summer would be too soon to plan adequately and for our families to adjust to the news.  Lindsay didn't want to get married in the middle of the school year, and Matt didn't want to wait until the following summer.  Ultimately we decided that if we both knew that we should get married, it didn't matter when it happened, and waiting wasn't going to make us any more sure of our decision.  We both fasted and prayed and attended the Temple individually, and both came to the conclusion that we should get married that summer!  We began making plans to tell our families and find a ring.

We went ring shopping 3 weeks to the day after we met.  Remember, we were the people who were going to wait 6 months to a year at until engagement!  Yet, we were both completely calm and confident in our actions.  Things were just coming together perfectly.

Matt met Lindsay's family over Memorial Day weekend and fit in great with them.  As it turns out, Matt and Lindsay's cousin, Jeremy, were in the MTC together back in 2000.  We even have several pictures to prove it!  Matt also totally scored points with Grandma Arlene when he made a smart remark to Grandpa Ernie.

Lindsay got to meet Matt's mom, Darlene, after Matt and Darlene returned from San Francisco for a cousin's wedding.  Lindsay instantly loved Darlene.  Later that summer Lindsay would get to meet Ron (Matt's dad), Dylan (Matt's brother), Sarah (Dylan's wife) and Claire (Dylan and Sarah's daughter) and love every one of them instantly as well.

Matt proposed officially on 11 June 2011.  We started out with a visit to Kennecott Copper Mine and the Museum there.  We then drove around the Daybreak Community looking for places we could potentially live.  In the late afternoon, we grew hungry, so we stopped to have a nice picnic at the docks on Oquirrh Lake.  When we got back to Matt's car, he opened the door for Lindsay and picked up the ring box.  Lindsay was so surprised!  Matt had picked the perfect ring. 

The next 2 months and 2 days were spent busily preparing for our wedding 13 August 2011 in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  Everything came together perfectly with impeccable timing and with very little stress to culminate in a wedding day better than we ever could have imagined.