Omani Wadis

Dear friends and family,

I’m so sorry that I haven’t written in such a long time (one month to be exact)! I know that most of you will not be reading this because.. well you have probably lost interest in this blog by now. However, if you happen to stop by this is what is happening in my life currently!

The last time I wrote I had just arrived back in Dubai from Bahrain from a visa run. We (Jenna, Heather, and I) are now currently in Oman staying with some friends for a week.

It is amazing how quickly time goes. Already we have been here almost half of our time and I have not gotten done with near as much homework as I would have liked to. However, instead of doing that we have been hiking up to some nearby wadis, sleeping, eating, and relaxing.. this is after all, our Spring Break!

The picture attached is the base of one of the wadis we visited. We hiked up into it for about an hour which included walking most of the time on their mad-made irrigation systems that you can see that go from up the mountain down to the villages and date farms. It is very impressive to see and know that this is what they live on and yet we walk on these systems to go up to a place where we can go swimming. It was SO BEAUTIFUL there… big rocky mountains, with date palms and these irrigation channels… then you have these little inlets of water that just spring up in the bottom of the wadis. It’s so amazing!
The Arab life in Oman is much more traditional, and a life that I like much more! They go back to their roots more and local Omanis are not as coddled by their government as Emiratis are in the UAE.. so you have more interaction with them as an expatriate. If I lived here I would speak Arabic much more and I would feel like I was actually living in an Arab nation instead of an Arab-ruled nation.

Life in Dubai has sped up. I am hanging out with more university-aged people and work as picked up a bit also. School is becoming more and more demanding as the semester ends, but while we are on this side of the world it seems less and less important in comparison to the experiences, relationships, and personal growth that is happening here. This is a lethal combination for grades and proves to be a struggle on learning, however, we will complete it sometime!

I know that this is short… but maybe it can suffice as a snapshot into my life.
Blessings to all of you!
Katrina Louise

When the Desert Rains

Tonight was the first rain in Dubai.

It is said that when the first rain comes to Dubai... all of the workers go out into the streets and off of the buildings that they are building and shower.
However, it was night when this rain came, and I had just showered… so I did not go try to join them. :)

Rain was the last thing on my mind when I lglanced at my window because I saw flashes of light outside, thinking that it was only a spastic street light I decided to leave it alone. However, it continued. I opened the window and the rushing sound of rain welcomed my ears.

I love rain…but rain in the desert now that is a magnificent thing. You know that the streets are going to be flooded tomorrow because they don’t have a drainage system here, and that if you were to go out into the desert it would be covered with little white flowers and green fuzz because of the short-lived growth and nourishment that the rain would bring. Dubai as a city will save tons of water tomorrow because they will not be watering their endless supply of man-sustained grass.

I just got back from a visit to Bahrain, a surrounding country. It was so wonderful. The hospitality we received made me wish that we lived there, and the people that we met were so encouraging. We (the team and I) lived with one girl who was a little older than us and worked there as a teacher. Hanging out with her and her friends from church was just great! They treated us like they had known us forever… which was exactly what we needed! and although we didn’t really see any ‘sights’ of Bahrain… I feel like I know Bahrain pretty well!

Blessings to all of you!

ktb*

Love is in the air...

Hey guys!

Sorry, it's been a while since I wrote! :)

Love was in the air on Valentines day! Heather, Jenna and I went to the Dubai Tennis Open! (haha! I love cory puns like that.) It was a completely wonderful day. When we got tickets the only ones available were for the first day of the woman's section, so we took them. We found out later that they must have been holding some back b/c now the semi-finals are on sale... I think. It was really just wonderful though. We got there around 11:30 and shopped in the Duty Free store there... and then watched tennis for about two hours, got sufficiently burnt, and then sat outside on big red bean bags by a man-made fountain. Blissful. We ended the time by eating at Costa (a coffee-shop chain, much like Starbucks) and then heading back home.

Something that I have realized is that most of my stress in the Middle East has been from traveling. Anywhere I go I have to allow almost an hour to get there. I'm not sure if that is just because I've never lived in a city before or if it is just Dubai.. but it seems like any activity has to be at least two hours long then to make up for the travel time.

This week has been very relaxing. I'm working from home this week which means that I have a lot of time on my hands, a ton of stuff to do, and no motivation. Always a great combination! :) I go through periods of frantic work because I don't think that I'll get done in time, mixed with very lazy activities where I feel like I have all the time in the world. It's strange, I'm usually a very motivated person, however, when it is warm all sense of reason goes out of my head.
I feel like I'm programmed to play and not work when it is warm... and it's always warm here! :)

well... that's a little window into my life!

Salaam,
ktb*

Red Currents

Hello All!

So.. this is my second type of new fruit I have tried... this one is interesting...

Name: Red Currents

From: Holland

Description: Smooth, small, red berries that grow in a 'cluster' ( kind of like grapes.)

Size: small blueberry-size...

Taste: tart. kinda musty

Texture: Small seed that you can eat. Take a blueberry and put rasberry seeds in it, and you have the texture of the red current!

Preperation: eaten raw= not that great. kinda nasty. On the web it has a lot of recepies for jams, tarts, and pies. sooo... I'm not sure what I'll do with them, maybe put them into a smoothy!

Overall opinion: won't be buying these again unless I have a recepie for them...

hope you enjoyed!

blessings,

Ktb*

p.s. after this I made some great lemon-rosemary chicken w/ olive oil! Turned out really good! I was pleased.

Life in the UAE...

(This is the mosque outside of my house! pretty right?!?!)

Hey guys!

So...life here is pretty good! I went out with a friend yesterday for lunch and then later coffee and carrot cake! It was amazing cake. It had that wonderful frosting (mom- like the one you make) I think that it is just a normal cream-cheese frosting.. but still SO great.

Been kinda homesick recently b/c I've been fighting off a cold... so going out with a friend helped a lot!

With work... I'm doing a lot of little jobs and paper work. They already had people who are 'assistants' to the trainers, and so really I'm Allison's (the boss) assistant. Which is great! She is wonderful. Likes input, and dosen't expect unreasonable amounts of work from me! I also get to use the machines as part of my internship, which means that I am working out a lot here!

Went to Bible study today with a group of other college students here. We are studying the first half of Romans, and it's been really interesting. It was wonderful the first time that we met together we read the whole passage straight through with all of the different accents.. wow it was just such a cool experience!

well... I think that that is all for now!

Hope all of you are doing well! Thanks for looking into my life for a little bit!

This is Dubai... in the morning!!! :)

Sorry for the delay on the news.. but we got our visas renewed! woo hoo!!!

blessings,

ktb*

Visa Run!!!

Hey guys!

Our first visa run is today to the Oman boarder!!! Just wondering if you could pray for this to be a safe and smooth process!

Thanks!
ktb*

New Foods!

Hey guys!





so my computer is on the blink. NOT GOOD.. and I'm using the Families right now... so yeah.. so that is a prayer concern.. BUT the reason for writing is to update you on a new food that I tried called (drum roll....)


MANGOSTEEN fruit


From: Thailand

Eaten: raw

Skin: purple, fairly smooth (like an apple)

Size: tangerine size +/-

Stem: looks like a tomato top, only it has rounded edges

Preperation: rise off outside, cut around middle through the peel, but not the rest of the pulp
You will end up with two halves, one half has no inside and is just the peel, the other will have all of the inside and the other half of the peel. It's really pretty b/c the inside is white and sectioned off like an orange (this is the part that you eat!) and then the peeling is purple.. pretty sweet!

Taste: no pun intended.. but it is sweet on the inside, kind of mushy (but I've only eated one of mine yet), the 'sections' have seeds that you can eat, others do not. The taste quality is like a kiwi, it's mild.

Overall opinion: I like them, but I'm not sure that I will buy them again.

haha.. sorry this isn't really about life, but I thought that it would be fun for you all to know about it! :)

tty soon!

ktb*

Hello All!!
Life here is settling into a rhythm… slowly. It still feels a little bit like one of those pieces of music that you only see the base cords but you have no idea what the melody line or accents are going to be!

One really cool thing that happened was that I went to an ARABIC WEDDING!!! Haha… I tell you.. being in a room with around 1,000 other traditionally Arabic women was intense. B/c it was very traditional we were not allowed to take pictures either...sorry! The men and women were in seperate rooms and the bride sat up on this platform on a big couch all ordained in rhinestones and silk like a queen. They had very loud music booming the whole time, and everyone was seated at tables with food. I went with a friend that I met here who was not local herself but knew the sister of the bride! I had to put my outfit together rather quickly…. And most of the dresses there would have shamed the ones that people wear to prom.. but I got my hair done at a salon… and wore more make-up then I have ever worn in my life, wore a black floor-length dress, and rhinestones….. and I was still underdressed!!!! Crazy! Coolest part of the wedding was when the groom got to come collect his bride… he came with a couple of close members of the family and they threw out money while they walked up the stage-like thing and the children and nannies were able to collect it! Most terrifying part: when me and the person I went with were invited to dance with like the only other 15 people, and then went up to see the bride. Overall: I hope I get invited to another wedding!! It was fun!!

I’m really enjoying the church that I’m going to called Redeemer. It’s a church plant that is just starting! So there is a lot of energy and some really solid people in it! Also, I’m participating in a Bible study on the book of Romans with other college students from the area. The first meeting for that went really well and I really enjoyed it! It’s great to be with people who are my age and study the Word with them.

Work is going well! I get to ‘test the machines’ while I’m at work so it has usually consisted of me going to work, working-out, talking to people and then maybe doing a little bit of paper work…then coming home!! Hard stuff... I know!

But…. It will get harder. School is starting, and so that means that I’m going to have to start being motivated and actually work! Well… that’s all for right now! I’ll write more later!
p.s. the picture is of Heather (one of the girl’s that is staying for the semester) and me riding a camel over the J-term trip!! :)

The Details of my Life...

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to my blog!! So.. I don’t know how much all of you know about me yet or what is going on so I thought that I should fill some of you in! I am currently living in Dubai, UAE (that is right between Saudi Arabia and Iraq/Iran) Don’t worry... This is a very religiously tolerant and safe place to be! I'm not super good at writing or staying in touch but I will do my best! :)

On December 28th a team of 14 people left from Cornerstone University at O’Hare airport to go to the UAE for a Business Experience Course. This lasted two weeks and was wonderful but very busy… but I got a lot of photos, made new friends, and got closer to some old ones!!

Heather and Jenna are two girls that stayed on with me in the UAE and are studying here for the semester= great! They are such a blessing!!! They are doing and internship together at another business and live on the other side of the city ( a region called Mirdif) but we still get to see eachother! :)

I am now living at a very large villa, called the Baluch house. Most of the family has already left for the States and are going to school there, except for Mr. Baluch who will be here on and off during business visits. It will be very nice to see him every so often! Out back of the house is another house where another intern lives named Rachelle, and then Mr. Baluch’s daughter Sara (who is currently in the States having a baby but will be back soon), husband, and daughter live there also.

The Baluch’s have tow businesses running out of their basement… one is Kindermusix. This is a children’s music program that should start soon (it was off b/c of the holidays) and is very popular with people. The second is where I am interning at called Hypoxi Therapy. If you want to check out their web site to learn more about this please do so… www.hypoxitherapy.com! sooooo… yeah.

This is just kinda a snap-shot of my life details. Today was my first day of work and it is all very good! I’m excited for what is happening… however, I am feeling a bit homesick. Will write more later!

Blessings,
Ktb*