I snapped this photo on my way to work today.

This is the view from right down the street from my work. (wow, I worded that terribly.)

The weather is finally BEAUTIFUL again. 

My 1 1/2 hour commute to (and from) work is now much more pleasant.

This is the building in which I coach.

 I then turned around and took this photo.

 

Yesterday marked one year since I left the US.
Odd as it may seem, I spent the day thinking about Ecuador and how much I miss it.
The reality of next month is starting to hit me.
In  a month I will be leaving Dubai, my family, and my fiance.
The thought of not seeing my boy every day is really freaking me out.
I'm not really sure how we will handle the months apart, or what it will mean for our future.
I emailed my grandpa today about spending Christmas with family up-north.
That would be so great!!!
I'm not really sure what I will do in the time between Christmas and Julia's wedding.
I'm kind of interested to see where life takes me.
There are a lot of things I feel like blogging about, but I am not sure how to say them.
They are more words that I will probably want to look back on and read more than words I wish for everyone to read. Maybe I should write it in a journal.
Anyway, good night!

Wow Carino! Has it really been one year?

I Just found this saved in my drafts from June. Let me warn you, it is a bit sappy. 

It is for my Boy. I think I didn't post it because it was so sappy.

Wow Carino! Has it really been one year?

One year together. 

Lets take a second and remember one year ago. 

That day at the beach. Remember?

There was even a fabulous rainbow that we saw on the ride home.

Remember how it felt to hold hands for the first time?

I remember going to bed that night and thinking "I am so afraid I am going to wake up tomorrow and this will all have been a dream".

I awoke the next morning and Jen said "Hanna, I have great news for you. There is a purple dress hanging up in the closet. It was not a dream.".

The reality set in when I had to leave Ecuador and you.

The reality sank in when I went back to the States and back to everything that was familiar. 

It all became too real.

Then we were together again. 

I  hopped on a plane to Ecuador with only my 2 suitcases worth of possessions and was back in Ecuador less than 5 months later. 

Remember when you first told me you loved me?

I do!

Remember when we went to the store with your Mom and looked at rings and she about had a heart attack when she realized what this meant?

Remember when we told my parents we were thinking about marriage as a future goal?

Remember when we arrived in Dubai with so much uncertainty?

How my family talked so fast and all at once and it made your head spin.

Remember the first date we went on alone?

We saw Sherlock Holmes 2. Such a great movie!

What an effortless relationship we have.

I am constantly overwhelmed by how lucky I am. 

I think of all the girls that want nothing more than to find just an okay guy to be with and I found the perfect guy when I wasn't even looking.

I love how perfect you are for me. 

I love that food is one of our favorite things.

I love that we get addicted to the same tv shows.

I love that we are completely happy to stay in and do nothing special. 

I love that we both love to sleep.

I ADORE that you love Lord of the Rings. 

I love what you bring to my life. 

I love how gentle you are with me,

that you watch girly movies with me,

and that you shop with me even thought you know it will not be much fun for you.

I love the way you pronounce vanilla.

I love the way that you take care of me

I love that Jesus brought us together!

Happy one year anniversary!!!

ERES EL AMOR DE MI VIDA!

Te amo mas cada dia!

HOMBRE!

Things have been moving very quickly since julia and Kyle arrived here. I feel that we have barely had much time to breath. The week before They arrived my boss had to make a last minute trip to Turkey to take care of some family things. This found me at the gym every hour that it was open. I coached every class. It made for a crazy week even though I only worked an extra 3 hours. Those hours add up quick. Thursday night was my last night of work before the Holiday Eid started. Friday I occupied myself with cleaning and cooking.
 When Julia and Kyle arrived we wasted no time.
Let me give you a sort of time line of the last few days.
     Sat. 2am-6am (Just hours after Julia and Kyle arrive); Andres, Julia and I are all walking around Ibn Batutta mall. Sipping coffee, eating McDonalds and wandering in and out of stores.
     Sat 10am or so; Julia and I are now awake and siting outside on the porch with Mom and Dad.
     Sat afternoon; we are all at the Souk Medinat shopping around and eating a lunch at the Noodle House. We then rush back to the community to get Andres to work.
      Sat- Late afternoon; we all nap. Sat night- Andres is now off work and Julia, Kyle, Andres and I are back at Ibn Battuta. Walking the mall, and playing pool.
     Sun 7:30 am; we are all up and getting ready to leave for the Atlantis water park.
     Sun around 10 am ; we (all but my Mom
     Sun 7:30 am; we are all up and getting ready to leave for the Atlantis water park. ) arrive at Atlantis water park.
     Sun around 4pm; we all leave the water Park and head for home for quick showers.
     Sun 6pm; we are back in the car heading for the Dubai Mall. We have dinner at an amazing Lebanese restaurant while watching the Dubai fountain show.
    Sun late-night; Julia, Andres and I sit in the living room while Andres tells stories about random things.
     Mon 11am; us young ones were all just waking up.  
     Mon 11:55; Andres goes to work.
     Mon 1:30; Julia, Kyle and I drive my Mom to work. We then park the car and walk to the Marina Mall.
    Mon 3:05pm; I call the house and a slightly out of breath Andres answers the phone after just returning from work. I ask him to take the bus and Metro and come meet us.
    Mon 5pm; Andres arrives at the Marina Mall after waiting at the bus stop through a sand storm. We then walk to a near by Pizza place for dinner.
    Mon 7pm; I drive through the terrible rush hour traffic. The boys get dropped off at the Noor Islamic Bank metro station to go to a music store. Julia and I drive on a bit to my favorite shopping center, The Oasis Center.
    Mon 8pm; The boy leave the music store to meet us. We then all walk through more stores.
 I buy my wedding shoes.
   Mon 10pm;  We leave the shopping Center and head home.
   Mon late night; We heat some bread and sit around eating hot Arabic bread with Labneh and hummus.
    Tues 7:30 am; We are all up preparing to leave for Al Karama. My Dad decides that he wants to go so we have a bit more time.
   Tues 8:15 am;  I find the worlds nastiest spider in the kitchen. Thankfully he is dead. I ask Andres to get rid of him because even it's corpse was too scary for me.
   Tues around 9:30am; We all leave for Al Karama (all but my Mom again).
   We spend hours shopping for treasures.
   Tues around 1pm; We stop for lunch at The Golden Fork.
Best Fried Prawns in garlic and Chili sauce.

 Tues 4pm;  Kyle, Julia, Andres and I hop on the metro and head to Deira. My Dad drives home. Andres and Kyle go to some music stores while Julia and I have a rest in a nearby Starbucks.
 Tues around 6pm; We get back on the Metro and get off at the Mall of the Emirates.
We visit the Borders, show Kyle the indoor Ski Slope (Ski Dubai) and the Virgin Store.
We then head home.

 Tues around 9:30; We are all relaxing at home.




I am so happy that tomorrow I will get some rest. Well hopefully.
I think I may take Julia and Kyle to the beach while Andres works.
 Well there is a bit of an update on the busy happenings of things thus far.

 ciao!

SO it turns out that people miss reading my blog.
Sorry I have neglected things so much.
I am not sure where my desire and enjoyment in blogging has gone.
I have had an idea for the last few weeks of a blog post I would like to do, but I never seem to remember at the right times.
I will say that never before in my life have I been more anxious for cooler fall weather.
Some days here are still in the high 90s.  When we have a day in the high 80s or so I can be found wearing jeans and maybe a long sleeve shirt.
I will be really happy when it cools off just a bit more so I can at least make my commute to work without sweating a gallon of water.

 Not sure what more to say, so I will leave you with with a few songs.
That is always a good time.


I am really loving this song the last few days. Don't mind the backstreet boy essence to the video. haha





I LOVEEEEEE this! Camila is my favorite Spanish bands, and Colbie Caillat is one of my favorite female artists. I just love everything about this song.


14 years later and I still LOVE Hanson. Their music is probably one of my most listened to on my MP3 player right now.


Oh, one last song. Dejame un beso que me dure hasta el lunes. The title translates to "Give me a kiss that will last me until Monday.". Sweet no?



In other news, I am planning on going to back to the States in December. I am not really sure how long i will stay in the States but I have to get some things sorted. Chances are I will be asking for a few favors from people, but if you help me I am more than wiling to cook you dinner or something of the sort. :]

Since moving here, Andres and I have had a chance to meet so many different and beautiful people from the lower working class. We have truly come to love many of them.
The most shocking thing for me is the social class system here.
A persons rate of pay changes here depending on your Nationality.
Andres is treated like lower class than me just because he is not white.
The inequality is just heart breaking to me. You hear about it happening in parts of the world but it is really something else when you see it firsthand.
(I do not mean this to slight Dubai in any way as a country. I think the government and what they are trying to do is so amazing and I would love to see more countries learn from Dubai's example and follow suit.)

Let me tell you about a new friend of mine.
Her name is Kay (not her real name).
Kay is a Sri Lankan woman who is working here in Dubai as a maid.
I met Kay a few weeks back and thought she was the cutest thing. She is tiny, maybe 5feet tall. She has the cutest little voice and a face that is always smiling.
I knew Kay just by name and face for the first few weeks until a few weeks ago.
Andres and i were going to order some hamburgers from a nearby place and thought we would ask her if she wanted one. She told us no thank you because she was cooking.
Andres and I love Sri Lankan food so naturally we asked her if she would be wiling to cook for us in the future.
She got so excited and said that she would share the food that was just now making.
A few hours later she brings platters of food to us and sets places for Andres and I.
I then ask her if she would eat with us. It took a bit of convincing before she agreed to it.
We sat down at the table together and loaded our plates with the food. Rice, beans, eggs, chilis, tomatoes and who knows what else; all cooked to a spicy  perfection.
She then began to open up to us.
Kay first married when she was 16 and had children right away.
She then moved from Sri Lanka to work so that she could take care of her children, who are living with family back home.
When she was 20 she began working for a family in Lebanon. The family was very tough on her. She spoke no Arabic which made things very hard for the communication between her and the family. She was often times beaten and upon completing her promised 3 years with that family they refused her a ticket home.
She went on a food strike until she fainted from it, even then they would not let her leave. After a month of asking they allowed her to go home.
She got home and was told by a family member that 3 months earlier her husband had died in an accident. In those 3 months no one had thought to tell her.

She then went to Dubai to work. She spent some time with a very good family until they no longer needed her. She then came to work for the family she is now with.
She was given the job when the previous maid quit. 

She was promised 2,000 AED per month upon starting with this family. The family then started paying her 1,900 or 1,800 AED a month and not telling her why.
She is often time asked to work in the heat for hours on end. (some days are as hot as 120 F).
Because of how hard she works she has been very sick for much of the time she has been with this family.
The family found out a month or so ago that they were going to move. The family did not tell Kay they were moving.  Kay saw the family begin to pack the house and then asked the family if they were moving. They waited to tell her until the time of year when so many families are on holiday, thus making it near impossible for her to find a new job.

The most amazing thing about this is you hear these stories and you see these people and how they live and work and you wonder at how they are so sweet still.
When we offered to help Kay buy ingredients for the food she was sharing with us she refused. She told us that she was just so happy that we wanted her to cook for us and that was enough. A few nights later she invited Andres and I to go out to dinner with her and her boyfriend. We went to one of our favorite local places, where as usual I was the only white person in the building, and at the end of the meal they insisted on paying.

I am just so amazed and blessed by the people here.
So many of them are working so hard and sacrificing so much so they can make money to send home to their families/ children. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for a woman to be in another country while their child is living with a family member back home.

It is just such a good reminder to be grateful for the life you have and the blessing you have.
I know so many people who have really nice lives and they feel that their world is ending if they don't have the nicest or newest things or if someone is even the slightest bit rude to them at one point during their week.
It is always an encouragement to me as well that even though I may not have all of these fancy things and the most up to date things I have better thing; I have spent my time and money on building relationships and memories that will last forever and mean so much to me.

Hey all

Sorry I have not blogged in a while.
I have simply had issues organizing my thoughts on everything going on, not to mention being unsure as to what I should share with the public and what not.

Hopefully you received an email from me (if you are family or a close friend), or seen on my facebook that Andres and I are now officially engaged.
If you are family and did not receive the  email I am so sorry. I had some issues tracking down addresses and many people were unable to open the announcement because of the document format.

I truly hope this is not the way you are finding out, but if so I am happy that you now know. :]

I know a lot of people are curious as to what happens now and what our plans are.
We are still working out plans, but I think we have it all mostly sorted.
This is why it took almost a month for me to write this. 

The plan as of now is this, Andres and I will jump through whatever hoops it takes to be "legally married" here in Dubai.
In Dubai this means we, as Christians, must have a church wedding ad then visit 4 different public official offices here in Dubai to make it official.
God totally blessed us and we started attending a church just weeks ago, and last weekend found out that the Pastor is one of the few Pastors in Dubai that can perform weddings.

We are going to go through some pre-marriage counseling with these pastors before setting the date for the "wedding" here. We will have the smallest ceremony that we possibly can. It will be my parents, Andy's family, maybe Julia and Kyle and probably some random people here in Dubai.


We are legally doing this in Dubai because we are seriously considering living in the States for a few years and going to school. In order to do that I have a ridiculous amount of paperwork I have to file to get Andres into the States.
From the research I have done it seems that it will all go much more smoothly and ultimately be cheaper and faster if he and I are legally married.
We have run into one snag, if you feel like praying for us in this, in order for Andres to get a green-card a person needs to fill out a form saying that they will be financially responsible for him. I was planning on doing this, but on researching it further I did not make enough money last year to qualify for this.
It is just something to pray about.
Also, if you know anything about filling out these papers, or know a person who has done this that I can talk to, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!



Now the fun part.
Andres and I are planning on having our actual ceremony, you know the one with the princess dress and the dancing and all that, in Ecuador.
We are hoping to do it in February or March of 2013.
I know that this will be hard for a lot of my family and friends to make it to this wedding, but I am really hoping that they will keep it in mind and see if it is an option.
Andres and I are trying to put together a budget, and to me it is looking like it will be a lot cheaper for my guests than I had originally thought.
I will be sending out this proposed budget to friends and family in the next few weeks.
If you do not get it and would like to, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!!!!!
You can  comment on here and let me know, or email me, or facebook me, or even get ahold of someone in my family.





Let me think, what else is going on.
As of right now I am not working. The gym I coach at is closed for the summer months. Even though it is frustrating not working, I am not complaining because it is HOT here.
The last few days have been in the 100s, but the heat index says that it feels like 120 or more. I am glad I do not have to walk and public transport in this heat.
So in the meantime I am house-sitting for a neighbor.

I start online University in August.
The school seems really good.
I just got my class schedule and it seems pretty simple.
They put me in Conversational Spanish 1 and I am going to see if I can test out of it. 
Other than that, it should be fun.

SO there is an update.
I am going to get back to work on some wedding stuff.