december in the middle east.

leading up to winter break we had a staff holiday party at a hotel in jbr. a huge spread of food was provided by the school. 

notable difference from school parties in milan? drinks were not on the house! 

but so cool to have a holiday party outside- in december!

lynn and lindsay photographing the scene!

fun times with these amazing ladies...and i found a killer dress!

also in december, a group of us went to this fancy hotel for tea.

i've got to say taking holiday-ish pictures in summer dresses is weird!

blue skies and the burj!

this lounge was an awesome place for a chill afternoon.

fyi, for those of you in dubai, there are some discounts available in various entertainer type apps to save some cash.

and the food was delicious. and cute.

with some classically beautiful christmas decorations.

and right before we headed out for winter break the elementary staff had a potluck afternoon.

there was so much food!

after all this i was off to reunite with my friends in milan!

sporting events in dubai.

one thing i'm enjoying most about dubai is the big city draw it has for sporting events.

in the few short months i've been living here, there's been major golf, tennis and rugby tournaments.

back in november, the dp world championship showed up in dubai, bringing the european tour to town along with several of the world's best golfers, including rory mcelroy and sergio garcia.

then it was time for rugby 7s.

which, mind you, i know nothing about rugby, except that everyone seemed to be going, so i agreed to go as well.

it's like a zillion miles outside of dubai it seems, but nonetheless lots of people dress up in costumes and make it a big party.

it was a fun time and i look forward to going again next year!

and just recently an atp tour stop happened to be in dubai.

i've been a big tennis fan for awhile, and watch a lot of tennis every summer while in the us.

mom and i have even been to a couple tournaments, like atlanta and wimbledon.

but i was yet to see the #goat roger federer in person and he played both an early round match we saw during the week and then made it to the final.

i also was able to see up and coming greek superstar stefanos tsitsipas in action. he cracked the top ten that week, becoming the first greek to do so.

it's awesome to live around the world and get to experience all the different events and such that happen. looking forward to hitting these events again next year and a few more as well! maybe a formula 1 or camel race? hmmmmm....

out and about in dubai.

here's a little smorgasbord of some of the happenings in dubai since i've arrived. 

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having traded the historic sites of milan for the modern buildings of dubai isn't all that bad.

i mean, check out the burj al arab in all it's colorful glory. 

there are also some amazing restaurants in dubai.

this is din tai fung, found at our local mall of the emirates. this world famous restaurant is known for their xiaolongbao, otherwise known as soup dumplings.

there's usually a wait to eat here, so patience is required.

but it's worth it!

noodles with a peanut sauce.

pot stickers. i had never actually seen these served all connected like this.

#asianfoodrookie

nom nom nom.

i also went and met up with some other expats in dubai at this nearby spanish restaurant.

it's quite tasty and on some of the local discount apps.

and, of course, there's the beach.

the water is clear, the temperature is usually pretty awesome, and there are plenty of public beaches to access for free.

this is kite beach.

and since i have several canadians for friends, we celebrated canadian thanksgiving in october.

i made this homemade apple pie, which was marginally successful.

the spices were all wrong.

but we ate it anyways.

oh, canada!

then kelsey and i made the short walk to "cat park."

it's pretty and right behind our apartment building.

but it is, in fact, filled with a zillion cats.

i exaggerate.

i counted the number of kitties on one 1 km lap- 64.

sixty-four.

cat park.

took this picture more recently. still lots o'cats.

but you can catch some nice sunsets in the park.

wandering through the mall one night, we saw a crowd gathering. none other than this uber famous supermodel in town for an event.

and while we don't have a pool worth using in our building, we do try and find other pools to cool off in when the temperatures are hot hot hot!

another day at the beach, and we found that they rolled the sand with dubai designs leading up to the world expo 2020.

brunch is a big thing here in dubai and i've made a point to avoid much of the brunch culture. it's expensive and generally focused on lots of alcohol, but we found this rather chill beach brunch with some pretty nice views.

and my co-workers and i found these amazing sunset views from the jumeirah beach hotel bar that overlooks the burj al arab.

have you seen those crazy milkshakes in your social media feed yet? meet the guilty makers.

unfortunately, now i've been twice and still yet to get one of those crazy milkshakes.

something tells me it might be for the best.

but, even their snacks are on point.

the school superintendent had the entire staff over for drinks.

over three separate weekends because the staff is well, huge.

and this is her view of the marina.

pays to be in charge, literally and figuratively.

for my teammate danielle's birthday, we rented a large yacht and cruised around dubai for a couple hours.

there were a lot of green faces in the beginning, when the ride was quite rough, but in the end, it turned out really nice.

meet kelsey.

and the grade 4 team.

and most of the group on the boat that day.

i've done a lot in dubai this year, but it's just a small portion of all the things that one can do!