My 37 Hours in the Middle East

In my travels back to Jakarta I was scheduled to have a short layover in The Middle East, United Arab Emirates. which almost instantly awoke thoughts of "The Alchemist", one of my favorite books, and evoked visions of riding a camel across a starry desert sky. In order that this vision may come to be Travis was sweet enough to extend my stay there so I could Explore Abu Dhabi and see what I could find! Full of excitement and unsure of how welcoming to westerners they would be I set off on my latest adventure. During the 13 hour flight I saw some spectacular sights...from my plane I was able to witness the oil fires burning in Iraq and large reflections from the ground in Saudia Arabia which are a type of aeriel / ground communication. We were also told by our captain as we flew over Saudia Arabia that they had just launched an air strike on Yemen. WOW...A little too close for comfort. At 8PM the plane landed and I went in search of a money exchange & help to the immigration counter. To my great surprise after being asked to show my American passport I was welcomed with open arms. Everyone I came into contact with was extremely helpful and beyond friendly. I'm sorry to say I was shocked as I heard over and over..."we love Americans ...you are welcome here with us". I quickly made friends with my cab driver Muhammat who I learned from our conversation fled to Abu Dhabi from his home in Yemen due to invasion of the Taliban. Speaking extremely broken english he offered to escort me to the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque, or otherwise known as The Grand Mosque on the way to my hotel. After pondering if it was a great idea to allow a complete stranger take me around I decided he was no longer a stranger. The mosque was a sight straight out of Aladdin. In their words in the spirit of Islam (which is peace, education and tolerance) visitors of all nationalities and religions are welcome to visit the mosque as long as you respect the religion and its rules ie. arms and legs covered to the wrists and ankles, no public displays of affection, no shoes , women MUST wear a headscarf and are taken to a seperate area to worship and no non-Muslim may touch the holy Quran. Coming from the airport and being unable to abide by all the rules I was only allowed inside the front of the Mosque. They did allow me to take a few photos.



The next Day was filled with activities of all sorts. In the morning I went off to shop at the Marina mall which was basically a giant mall but it did provide some beautiful views of the turquoise waters of the Persian Gulf. I went for a walk around town & lunch and then I was picked up for my desert tour. We started with some seriously wicked dune bashing during which we came across a camel farm where we found the camels nearly as friendly as the people:) After stopping for some sand surfing we mounted our camels and headed for camp. Once we arrived we found a traditional Bedouin camp. Everyone was wearing traditional garments and our tents filled with beautiful carpets and pillows to sit on. They dressed me in a burkah and treated us to a very interesting and fragrant meal which was made on the fire pit. After dinner it was "lights out" A time for us to connect with the dessert. We smoked apple tobacco out of very beautiful hookahs while staring at the starry desert sky. Oh What A Night! All the people in my group were very friendly and from all over the place (Amsterdam, Brazil, Pakistan, Lebanon, Cancun, Sri Lanka and Iran. a I enjoyed the opportunity to smoke and chat with my new friends.

On my way back to the airport with pants full of sand I still had 1 more stop. I had to see for myself the famous Emirates Palace. At 3 billion..yes billion, USD it is the most expensive hotel ever build. It is located and somewhat attached I think to the Sheiks actual palace. It was beautiful beyond description and everything in and out is made of marble and gold. Even though I was seriously under dressed they were very welcoming of me and allowed me to walk around and take photos. Once again surprised at their genuine affection towards Americans specifically I finally had to ask...why? I was told that we have always had great ties to UAE but in the 1990's when the U.S. led coalition campaigns to end the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait they have been eternally grateful for the protection of their resources and continue to depend on the US for protection. An interesting piece of the puzzle I would not have put in place had I not asked. Then it was off to the airport again for another 10 hour flight.


I arrived back in Jakarta 3 days after I started out full of stories, a little smelly, and a lot tired...but very glad to lay on the couch and watch a movie with Travis again:)

An eventful 3 months in Indonesia

Earthquake:

Although earthquakes are apparently common in Indonesia we both experienced our first on Sept.2nd...just 3 days after moving into our new apartment. Sept. 2nd is usually a day of reflection for me and this year it marked 5 years since I lost my Pappy. We were planning to take it easy and celebrate the new apartment by having friends over for dinner. Travis was working at the clinic and I had just left for grocery shopping when the earthquake began. The funny thing was we had just been talking about earthquakes the previous evening. Travis knew exactly what was happening however I was alone and I had no idea what was going on. I lost my balance & my equilibrium and I thought maybe I was becoming ill...then I looked up and saw everyone running from the building. At first I was relieved that it wasn't me ...then I was scared because...well, everyone was running from the building. Finally a nice man could see that I was confused and he grabbed me and shoved me out of the building. It took a few more min before someone said the words earthquake in English. It was quite strong (a 7.3 on the Richter scale) but thankfully in Jakarta there were no buildings down around us or major destruction. There was a lot of minor damage like large cracks in the buildings and small rubble piles. Our apartment suffered only minor damage and we were able to still have our first dinner in the new place with friends. We later saw on the news that in cities just south of Jakarta there was a major landslide that buried homes and an arcade. Some 21 children and 29 adults were buried. With no equipment to dig with but their hands they did their best to recover the injured and dead.

My first Ramadan:

The beginning of Sept was also the start of the Holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until sunset. They are not allowed to eat or drink ANYTHING from 4AM - 6PM for any reason and understandably it is considered very rude to eat in front of them as well. It is more difficult to obtain any kind of alcohol during this month however Jakarta is so big and is affected by this on a much smaller scale than other cities due to the number of expats working here. There are many bright decorations which are mainly green and they have large drums everywhere. During the main two days of the holiday they are singing songs and prayers from the mosques and beating the drums day and night.




The clinic:


The clinic has been doing wonderfully. We have such amazing staff to work with. They all have had such a tremendous response to all our new systems and training and we just couldn't be prouder of them...specially the last several weeks when they have been working very hard and on empty bellies :) We have been busy with new patients, spinal screening events and Travis has started to give some "Hour to Health" presentations that would rival those of any purpose driven subluxation based chiro. The first was last month and we had another one this Saturday. There has been such a positive response to these talks that Travis will be creating a series of talks for them to attend. They are amazed with the powerful information and very appreciative that the doctor is willing to take the time to share the information with them. You can literally see their light bulbs turn on when you know they get it. What a wonderful thing to be a part of!


Visions of Brats dancing in our heads:

Well I am very happy to say that my first 3 months living in Indonesia were truly remarkable. Aside from the city life of Jakarta and scenic trips to Bandung I have had the privilege of riding the worlds largest Ferris wheel in Singapore, eating street food and clubbing with Iranians in Malaysia and enjoying the most beautiful sunsets in the world from Bali. I have fallen absolutely in love with Ginger (Ginger tea, ginger cookies, ginger candy)and fear I will go into withdrawals once back in WI. I have also experienced some things I never thought I would such as a terrorist attack and an earthquake. I have learned to speak some Bahasa Indonisian and truly enjoy Indonesian food (still not a sambal fan) As my 3 months comes to a close I am looking forward to seeing friends and family back in WI. Being so far away only makes you appreciate who and what you have that much more. We can not wait to attend the weddings of our friends and family and I think we both have visions of bratwurst dancing in our heads :) Even though I miss all these things I also look forward to returning to Jakarta this October with Travis and seeing what excitement the next year brings us ;)