We're moving!

Finally, after being here six weeks, we can check out of our hotel and move into our apartment tomorrow!

We had our sofa and chairs delivered today. Dark brown in a comfy faux suede fabric. Our dining room table and chairs arrived Wednesday. Michael bought a bed, television and DVD player from a coworker which they put in Thursday. I've also got enough in the kitchen (appliances, dishes, cookware) to be able to actually cook and serve meals at home as well. So the major things are taken care of, and the smaller things will come after we're settled. What a relief!

Yesterday we decided to have a "last day of luxury" before we check out of the Beach Rotana. Now that we have some money we can actually enjoy some of the things available at the hotel. So we ordered breakfast from room service, had hour-long Swedish massages, spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel beach and ate dinner at Prego's, an Italian restaurant downstairs. The food was excellent, and even the wine was good--a rarity as far as we can see for this area.

Now all we need are our residence visas.....

We are taking lots of pictures, and as soon as I unpack my USB cable and have enough time with a computer to sit down and upload them to the web, I will post them. Promise!

In other news, I did go try out for that theatre production and it went well. The part is small enough that even if I did not manage the age or the accent 100%, it still would not have much impact, and it looks like fun. However, the director told me today there's another director in the group looking for actors for his play (the show will be a series of different one-acts), and that he may call me too. So I may end up doing another show after all, or possibly both if it can be managed. We'll see what happens in the next week.

TGIW!!

It's Wednesday afternoon and the end of another work week. The UAE decided to alter the work week to go from Sunday through Thursday to be more in step with the West. This is to start Sept. 1. Anyway I finally got the housing/furniture allowance cheque! It came yesterday so we have some spending money. So we dashed off to the 2XL furniture store and bought a 10 seat dining room table and pots and pans. Then we took a taxi to another furniture store, Homes R Us and bought a couch. It has a 3 and 1 seater so we'll need to buy another chair down the road. All items will be delivered by Saturday. We will check out of the hotel on July 16 after an extended six week stay. The hotel has been comfortable but we've been anxious to move.

I also got my 50% July salary advance so we actually have more than enough cash. But we needed to pay the 5% commission for our real estate agent for finding our apartment. Since we still don't have our residence visas we can't make cash withdraws from our bank account. I discovered that after the bank teller inadvertently deposited my salary cheque and I couldn't make a withdrawal from the ATM! After waiting an hour the branch manager gave me some money. I set up direct deposit for my paycheques so I hope that I get my visa by the end of the month. I'm not sure what will happen if we don't get our residence visas before our 60 day tourist visas expire on August 2.

I'm suffering from another cold although it may also be allergies. It's been very windy with smog, sand and grit in the air. Apparently this has blown in from Saudi Arabia. Last night we went out with friends for dinner and afterwards saw a live band. It was comprised of a keyboarder and two young lady singers. They were Polish and performed Western pop songs. The sound was quite good although the keyboarder played to loudly and drowned out the vocals. The singers were a bit cheesy with dance moves but it was fun to watch and listen. We have a bunch of photos to finally post. Also took some video using our digital camera. But the latter's 30 second clip seems to be too large to email or post anywhere. We'll see what we can do. I Better go soon and catch the shuttle back to the hotel...

so close

Well, Michael finally got his first paycheque. So, we have a little breathing room until our furniture allowance gets in. Our apartment has been safety inspected and cleaned, and the contractor who does the modifications like water filters and shower curtains should be in the apartment as I type to finish up. Today I sunk 6500 Dirhams--about 2000 US dollars--into a stove, fridge, washer and dryer which should be delived tomorrow night. We have a friend who will sell us a bed, some kitchen necessities like knives, cutlery and a coffee maker, and a deposit on some dining room furniture. Our hotel room reservation runs out on Sunday morning, and god willing we should be set to move in with the basics by then!

Finally having an apartment again, no matter how spartan, will be a big relief. We have been homeless for over three months now!

The other news is that I am auditioning for a play on Saturday. The character is 60 years old with a thick english accent, so I really don't think I am suited, but the wife of a teacher at the PI gave my name to the directors in her dramatic group and so I will go to this one, even if I don't get it, so they know I'm interested when other roles come up. She also invited me to the Wednesday morning coffee meetings of the Abu Dhabi Ladies group, so I will check out one of those as soon as I get a Wednesday morning with no household shopping and other duties to take care of.

My new job

Sorry for the delay in posting but my excuse has been that I've been too busy. My typical work week runs from Saturday through Wednesday (that's based on the Islamic calendar). So it's been an adjustment with having having Thursdays and Fridays for weekends. My work day runs 7:30 to 3:30 so I wake up at 5:30 and catch the college's shuttle at 6:45. I arrive at work at 7:20 am and the days fly by. the work shuttle leaves at 3:30 and 5:00 so I tend to take the latter one. I just can't get into the habit of spending only eight hours at work. I need some time to unwind at my desk before I leave for home everyday.

I've been busy with unpacking the books and journals and re-shelving them. Much time seems to be spent figuring out policies and learning the ropes that goes with starting any new job. This is my third job helping to open three brand new libraries in six years so I'm used to being in a bit of a chaotic situation. The library currently has four professional positions and four support staff. There are openings for more in both categories including my counterpart that is to start at the end of July. I will share the office with my new colleague plus we'll help staff the brand new women's college library when it opens in a few months. My primary duties for the fall semester will be developing an information literacy program and teaching library instruction classes to first year students. Collection development will be important too and also helping develop various policies. It's exciting to be opening another new library although this one will be unique. It will be challenging teaching students whose first language is not Arabic and who have not read much. Islam has been a predominantly oral society so history and culture has been passed down verbally so reading and doing research in the Western style is a fairly new concept here.

It's been interesting talking with expats here and the social circles that have developed. Society here is stratefied and the many different cultures work together but remain separate socially. The Arabs, Westerners and Asians from the subcontinent have formed their own social networks. I can see why based upon language, religion and customs but there also is some loss of community. Darcy and I moved here in large part to learn more about the Middle Eastern culture and interact more and not less with them. But I expect that there will be opportunities for us once we settle into our apartment.

Darcy and I are still at the hotel as there have been some delays with getting my paperwork done. But I got my first paycheque today so we can buy a washer and dryer and a fridge! We should also take possession of our apartment (they're called flats here) tomorrow and my furniture allowance will follow in a day or so. The climate is very hot but it's not as humid (yet) as I had expected. There have been a few mornings with heavy fog though! We've gone to the hotel's beach later in the afternoon and it's tolerable sitting in the shade. It's breezy here because Abu Dhabi City is on an island. But the Arabian Gulf water is very warm (29 ceclius or about 85 farenheit). I thought that the ocean water in South Florida was warm! Speaking of which I'm currently listening to WLRN's Saturday Edition. I do miss NPR and can at least catch some of the news online when I'm at work. I better go catch the work shuttle. Later....

hurry up and wait

Well, we still have no apartment, no paycheque or furniture money, and (for me) nothing to do, so in lieu of any real news, I give you the following observations of daily life in the UAE so far:

I'm seeing lots of pretty henna in flowery arabic styles on the women here--both veiled and modern. I'm not sure where they get it done, but I'm sure a few questions at salons (or, as they call them here, ladies' saloons) and nail places would find it out. Once we're a bit more settled I'd like to get some done...and find a place to get new henna supplies. I thought about bringing some here, but somehow trying to carry a plastic ziplock bag filled with powder over multiple international borders didn't seem like a good idea ;)

Grocery shopping, at least at the Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society attached to the mall beside our hotel, is an interesting trip through Western and native foods. Their deli counter has no hummous, unfortunately, though it has quince jam and a million different kinds of labneh (yoghurt cheese). Going to the meat counters, you will find the usual lamb and beef and chicken, but also intenstines, kidneys, brains and tongues, neatly shrink wrapped and waiting. Oddly, given my usual reaction to such things, I can examine all the vicera with no problem but have problems with the skinned and smoked (or otherwise preserved) lamb's feet. At the fish counter, you find all the fish, whole and ungutted, packed in ice. You won't smell it before you get there, but once you do the odor will follow you into the next departments. You find the usual fish but also whole shark, octopus, and other interesting things. I assume they will clean it for you when you buy the fish but I don't know for sure as I haven't had the courage (or the cooking facilities) to try it yet!

The roads are congested but little to no gridlock. Taxis are everywhere--you flag them down like you would in New York, or you go to a hotel or taxi stand near a mall or other major landmark. Taxis are incredibly cheap--you can cross town for the equivalent of about 3.50 USD. Driving styles are aggressive--lots of speed, tailgating, and cutting people off.

Weather here remains at about 45 degrees celsius (that's about 113 for you fahrenheit folk) but so far less humid than in Florida. Get out on the beach in the afternoon, in the shade with a breeze, and it can actually be comfortable.

That's about it for now. HOPEFULLY next time we post we will be able to say we are in our new apartment!

only in the UAE

So we went to watch soccer at the Emirates Palace last night. The palace is a huge seven-star hotel--so large that you need to travel to and from your room by golf cart! They have a grass amphitheatre cut into the grounds behind the hotel, and they put up a huge projection screen in the centre for the World Cup. Then they arranged red and yellow couches all around the amphitheatre for seating, and raised a big air-conditioned tent on top of it all. 150 Dirhams--about 40 US dollars--gets you in for the night, plus four drink tickets and all you can eat at the outdoor barbeque buffet, all with attentive service from the many available hotel staff (who really lucked out by being able to watch the Cup on work time!). Only here would something like this happen....just a little surreal!

In between the games (there were 3 played last night), they had a raffle to pick people to come up and compete in a playstation soccer game competition. I was picked to do this last night, and ended up playing against an Emerati man. Even more amazing, given my lack of experience with video games, I actually won! For my pains, I got to go home with a small gym bag filled with goodies: a World Cup water bottle, an Emirates Palace soccer uniform (shorts and shirt), an inflatable soccer ball, referee foul cards and whistle, and...a copy of the playstation soccer game. Too bad we don't have a playstation! I will have to find someone to give that to.

So, an interesting night overall.

We are otherwise still waiting for our apartment to be ready. I've been to a couple of places looking for furniture, but haven't found much yet. Not that I have a place to put anything yet anyway--or any money from our furniture allowance, which will only be released after the PI finishes with our lease. It will be nice to have a place of our own again after 3 months of living out of a suitcase, though, no matter how bare it is.

things start to move

Well, Michael's security clearance is finally done, so he's at work now. He called the PI's Human Resources department on Monday for an update and was told it was finished. Kind of makes you wonder how long they would have waited to tell anyone it was done if he hadn't called! I guess HR is the same the world over...

So he's been busy mainly helping the library get ready for the move to the new building, which is coming in a matter of days. Mapping out shelves and book locations, helping with the physical moving, and so forth. The work day starts a little earlier here--7 to 7:30 am--and without a car he is depending on the shuttle bus, so he has to get a very early start to his day. But, it means that he is out early too, and while in the short term he's getting home too tired to do much but relax at the beach after he adjusts to it I'm sure he'll appreciate the extra afternoon time. It also means that once we start shopping for furniture etc., we can do some of it together.

The other big news is that we have found an apartment! The one that we looked at earlier that was the best within our price range was still available, so we sent the information on to the people at the college and got the ball rolling for them to inspect and sign the lease. I am still not crazy about the pink and blue bathroom tiles...but...the place seems to be very well located. There is a supermarket, bakery, and fruit/vegetable market right across the street. We are close to the Cultural Foundation, some Heritage sites and gardens, and three souks, according to the map. Plus we are only a little more than a block away from Corniche road--a major thoroughfare on the water. So I think for that I can live with the tiles!

So, once the formalities are done we can move in. Likely another couple of weeks. And, once the PI hands over our furnishing allowance, I can start shopping for furniture and appliances. I hadn't realized that apartments here don't come with appliances, so I will have to go look for a washer, dryer, refrigerator, stove, etc. Fortunately everywhere here has free delivery, so I won't have to worry about getting things home. We are hoping to be set up enough by Michael's birthday to have a joint birthday-housewarming party.

I have been concentrating lately on learning the Arabic alphabet, because not being able to read any of the Arabic signs has been driving me crazy. I want to learn Arabic anyway, and learning the script can only help that I would think. so I can slowly spell out arabic words now, even if I can't understand them. One of Michael's co-workers drove him home yesterday, and offered to help us learn (Arabic is his first language), so that should be good!

For now I'm just enjoying the downtime while I have it, going to Starbucks, going to the beach...hard life, eh? :)

We're here!

Just time for a short post here as I am at an internet cafe and my time is almost up!

We are FINALLY in the UAE...left Edmonton the afternoon of June 1 and got here late the night of June 2. Michael cannot start work yet; the Petroleum Institute forgot to get his security clearance done when he was here for interview and so we must wait until that is done. Then we can look for an apartment and settle in. In the meantime we are in a very nice hotel--a suite in the Beach Rotana, which has gorgeous rooms, good restaurants, a well-equipped health club and a lovely beach. Not too much of a hardship to stay here, that's for sure! After 3 days jet lag is finally subsiding and we are starting to feel a little more normal or adjusted.

Of course, even with the PI paying some of our expenses in the interim, money is a bit of a worry until Michael finally starts work and gets paid again, so we haven't felt we can really get out and do too much exploring or touristy-type stuff. We have been out with some of Michael's new coworkers, expats who seem very nice and have been very welcoming and willing to answer questions and help us acclimatize.

I've been invited to audition for a dramatic group and a choral society. There are also class listings in the paper and Time out Abu Dhabi for Arabic language and bellydance classes. Lots to explore...I hear from some expat wives that it's VERY easy not to work here, and I can see how that would be the case even as I assume I will still end up with some kind of job--librarian or not--somewhere down the line.

One of the strangest things is seeing all the familiar stores, fast food places, etc., so far away. I guess wherever you go you can't get away from Chili's, Pizza Hut, McDonald's and Starbucks. I'm sure a time will come when we are glad to retreat into the familiar now and then, but for now it's almost disappointing.

The streets are a colourful mixture of Gulf arabs in dishdashas, abayahs and veils, Indians in turbans and saris, and western clothing of various degrees. Most people speaking Arabic amongst themselves, of course, but in the hotels, restaurants and stores everyone speaks english. It's true that you don't really need to know any Arabic to live here, though I'd still like to learn it nonetheless!

Five minutes left to go in my time. Better stop here! We'll post again when we can.

Greetings from Abu Dhabi!

Hi every one! This is our first post from Abu Dhabi. We're in an Internet Cafe at the Abu Dhabi Mall. We were at Starbucks earlier and Darcy had her first Starbucks coffee since leaving home. Anyway Darcy and I departed from Edmonton at 2:00 pm MST on June 1 and arrived in Abu Dhabi at 11:30 pm on June 2. I spent May 30 with my Dad doing errands that included returning the rental car and sending off one box to be shipped to Abu Dhabi. I used a shipper (Can-Tran) after being told by Northwest and KLM that they don't ship household goods as freight. They have a strict policy of only allowing two checked bags per person. I got a call today saying that our box arrived at the Abu Dhabi Airport so we'll go tomorrow to claim it at Customs. We'll have an Arab representative from the Petroleum Institute to insure that everything goes smoothly.

It was a long but fairly uneventful journey that took us from Edmonton to Minneapolis to Amsterdam, Bahrain and finally Abu Dhabi. I was here briefly just over three months ago so I recognize some of the surroundings. We are staying at the five star Beach Rotana Hotel and we have a spacious suite. It consists of a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom - all courtesy of my new employer.

Darcy and I have gone out a few times with people from my new workplace. We've gone to Western style restaurants which most expats tend to frequent. I worked out this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks and it felt good. Temp is hot (40 celcius or 104 farenheit). Humidity isn't a factor - yet. Our hotel is connected to the Abu Dhabi Mall so we can window shop and get some ideas on what to buy once I start work. I'm awaiting my security clearance to pass so we have about another week before we can start apartment hunting. We did go looking one day with an agent and we liked one apartment. But I doubt that it will still be available once we start officially looking. The apartment was near the water and close to a park. The building was a highrise and the apartment was a three bedroom with two and a half baths. Lots of room for guests - hint, hint...Anyway the city has much hustle and bustle with many different cultures and languages spoken and various clothes worn. The UAE attracts people from all over Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. It's a wealthy country with lots to offer. I bought my first cell phone, oops I mean mobile, yesterday. It's a Motorola V360 with Bluetooth. Very nice and cost me 800 Dirhams or about $250 USD. This will be the first of many items that Darcy and I will be purchasing over the next few months. We can't wait for the housing allowance to come!

Darcy has been nursing a cold so she is resting much of the time. She will likely post the next entry. My hour limit is almost up so I better sign off.

Departure date!!

Well, it's official. We are departing Edmonton on Thursday June 1 at 1:50 pm. Even though we have stayed here longer than we anticipated we didn't seem to have enough time to visit with friends and relatives. We were forunate to have visited Jasper and some of my friends in Calgary over the weekend. I extended our rental car by two days as we have to do some last minute running around. Latest issue is limiting the number of items to take overseas with us. Northwest/KLM airlines has strict baggage policies and don't allow more than two bags to be checked through. Their cargo departments don't allow household items to be shipped as freight. So I called a couple of shippers and was given a couple of quotes. A 75 pound box would cost about $219.00 Canadian. So we'll need to repack our stuff yet again - I have more items than Darcy.

My Dad found a buyer for my Chevelle while Darcy and I were in Jasper. I sold it for a lot less than it was worth but at least we don't have to worry about it anymore. Ironically the buyer lives near my Dad and the man restores old cars. So my Dad was invited to check on the progress of the car's restoration. Maybe I could buy back the car once we return home! I'm happy that the car has a new home and will be given lots of TLC.

Last bit of news is that the Oilers beat the Anaheim Might Ducks in five games to win the Western Conference Championship. It's unbelievable that my team is now in the Stanley Cup Finals after a 16 year drought! Unfortunately I will not be able to watch the game in Abu Dhabi (unless there is a sports bar that has a satellite). But I can check scores online. It's dinner time so I must go. We'll try and post one more entry before we leave Edmonton....

no departure date from Edmonton yet...

On Tuesday night I decided to call the director of the Petroleum Institute to enquire about a departure date from Edmonton. He told me that the college's Human Resources Department had forgotten to have me fill out a form. So staff are determining what can be done before I can start work. Darcy and I will wait for an email towards the end of May about when to depart Edmonton.

Many difficulties that we encountered in late April have been resolved. My claim with Atlas Van Lines is finally being investigated, Darcy has her Alberta driver's licence and our deposited U.S. cheques were finally cleared by our banks. As well, I'm clear to invest our savings in bank sponsored GICs and I decided to rollover my American Automobile Association sponsored CD for two years. The interest rate was an impressive 4.8%.

Darcy's car passed Federal and Provincial car inspections which means that she can now sell it. She will sell the car to a friend on May 23 which is within the two week deadline for selling the car and getting it registered within Alberta. Darcy and I will rent a car from that date to when we depart for Abu Dhabi.

My Chevelle is still for sale and I'm having to reduce the price. I've had several people call about it but there have been no takers. Sadly, last week someone vandalized old Bessie by shooting out the driver's side door window. The window is intact but is shattered. Repair cost is about $400 because of the car's age and difficulty in finding parts. I'd rather not repair it and sell the car at a reduced cost. I'll call an auctioneer and consider reposting a classified ad at a reduced price. But this means that I can't move the car for fear of having the shattered glass spray the car's interior.

Darcy and I need to locate a few boxes that contain items that we want to take with us overseas. Yesterday I went on an invigorating bike ride with my mother through Edmonton's beautiful river vally. We biked about 8 miles along trails that I had never taken. I think that Edmonton has one of the most beautiful walking and biking trails of any city in North America. It is roughtly 21 times larger that New York City’s Central Park and is the largest stretch of urban parkland in North America. It cost me almost $200 CDN to get my bike fixed due to my lack of using it in Florida. Inactivity for a bike is not a good thing and bike repair staff told me that they can disassemble and pack in a box bikes for long term storage.

Weather in the City of Champions has been hot the last few days with today reaching almost 30 celcius (86 farenheit). However, the humidity was only 25%! Today in Ft. Lauderdale it was 80 farenheit but the humidity was 62%. To top it off the temp in Abu Dhabi today was 100 farenheit (close to 40 celcius) with 82% humidity!

Some exciting news is that the Edmonton Oilers defeated the San Jose Sharks 2-0 tonight. The mighty Oil advance to the Conference finals for the first time since 1992. The teams is playing fantastic but will have a tough time playing their next opponent (Anaheim Mighty Ducks). So I've enjoyed watching the hockey and cheering on my team. I must admit that I'd be pretty disappointed being in Florida and not being able to watch my team play right now. The last bit of news is that Darcy got her hair cut tonight. It looks cute and she looks great! We continue to rotate with visiting parents, stepparents and inlaws and friends and enjoying the wonderful spring weather. That's all for now....

one month anniversary

We've now been in Edmonton for one month - how time flies! I've been happy watching the NHL playoffs and seeing Edmonton advance into the second round of playoffs. In hindsight I don't know how I coped with not watching hockey on the CBC and TSN for almost six years with living in Florida. Anyway Darcy and I were anticipating leaving Edmonton about this time but some things have delayed our departure. But we've made some progress in the last couple of weeks. Darcy and I met with an account from KPMG and we were told some important things. Since I am classified as a dual national (American and Canadian citizen) I wanted to know how I would be taxed.

First is that all U.S. citizens, regardless of the country they are living, must submit annual income tax forms. One must do this even if no income is earned. The 1040 form can be used in conjunction with a foreign earned income form (2555 I think). One loophole is that gross annual income (wages, interest from investments, etc.) under $80,000 USD will not be taxed by Uncle Sam. So I should be safe from paying U.S. taxes while working in the U.A.E.

The Canadian Government handles things a bit differently for non resident Canadian citizens. The Federal Government has tax treaties with nations so our accountant printed off the lengthy treaty between Canada and the UAE. It stipulates that the Canadian Government retain 10% from all income earned in Canada. This includes interest from savings accounts, GICs (Guaranteed Investment Certificates), CDs (Certificates of Deposit), etc. Darcy and I are planning to invest our meagre savings in Bank of Montreal GICs. We're thinking of staggering our money in a couple of GICs: a one year and another for three or five years. I also opened a U.S. dollar savings account at my bank. This will allow me to easily wire money from my new bank in Abu Dhabi (National Bank of Abu Dhabi). I will be paid in U.S. dollars. My mother has power of attorney for my Bank of Montreal accounts so this allows her to deposit, withdraw and invest money for me back in Canada. I will have to change my bank account address to my new address in Abu Dhabi. Then the bank will know to automatically give the government 10% of my investment interest. Luckily I won't have to file paperwork for the Canadian Government annually like I will have to for the American Government.

To make a long story short, Darcy is on track to receive her full Alberta Driver's Licence. She was able to get documentation from DMV in Florida that stated her five year driving record. So she will be able to get the International Driver's Permit in Abu Dhabi. Darcy also received her vacation and sick time payout from Broward County Libraries. We'd like to take that money with us overseas to help get us settled for the first month. However, all banks here now hold foreign cheques for up to one month. This is a fairly new policy and indicative of 9/11. However, Darcy has enough money in her account to cover cashing in the USD cheque so we'll have to be firm with the bank teller.

I booked log cabin for May 24 and 25 at Beckers Chalets. It's just outside Jasper and a bit south of Alpine Village where we spent our honeymoon. The latter was already booked for those dates so I called Beckers next. Beckers is a bit cheaper but it has no outdoor hot tub like Alpine village. So we'll visit Miette Hot Springs that is about 40 miles outside Jasper.

On Friday, May 26 we'll drive the scenic Banff Jasper Highway 93. It's about 180 miles and it connects Jasper National Park and Banff National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. There are many sites to visit along the way before entering the town of Banff. Then we'll head east on the Trans-Canada Highway (longest highway in North America at almost 4,900 miles). Our destination that day will be the bustling city of Calgary where we'll visit friends. We'll depart for Edmonton on Sunday, May 28 and then fly out from Edmonton to Abu Dhabi a few days after that. That's assuming that my new employer can purchase plane tickets for us fairly quickly. More to come later....

Sunny, cool Edmonton

At the moment Darcy and I are staying at my Mom's and Stepdad's condo. The weather has been very cool with snow showers one morning. Today got up to about 8 celcius or 48 farenheit. But it's sunny and I love it! Last weekend Darcy and I drove to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It's a five hour drive (330 miles) southeast from Edmonton on the Yellowhead Highway. Darcy wanted to visit her cousins, aunt and uncle there. We had great weather and Saturday was a balmy 26 celcius or 77 farenheit. It's a picturesque little city that is reminescent of Edmonton in the 1960s and 70s. It's one of about three cities that we'd consider moving to when we decide to leave Abu Dhabi. The other two cities are Calgary and Denver.

I think I forgot to mention that the total number of miles that we drove from Florida to Edmonton was about 3,800. On the topic of transportation, Darcy will take her car to a mechanic next Monday to have modifications done to meet Canadian auto standards. Then it needs to be inspected before she can register and insure it in Alberta. Luckily there are still a couple of people who are interested in buying the car. I have posted a classified ad for my 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle in the local paper. It's currently parked in front of my Dad's house with a *For Sale* sign. You can also view the car's ad at Freecartrader.com . I hope to sell old Bessie by the end of May before we leave Edmonton. More to come later...

It's here!

Well, the rest of our stuff finally arrived from Florida today. An early day as we had to drive out of town to the international airport to clear our shipment with customs, then all the way back to unload. So our things are now in storage, although how safely I can't really say. We didn't have time to unpack and check each box--I'd still be there repacking if we'd tried it--so I'm pretty much trusting things are okay on the fact that none of the boxes were physically open/ripped/etc. and none of the fragile ones made tinkly broken-glass-or-crockery noises when we shook them. I am in the middle of sorting and repacking the things I left in my parents' basement after the last move--I will be moving those things into storage when I'm done. Getting the stuff here finally was a big relief.

So now that our things have arrived and Michael has his drivers licence and our authenticated marriage certificate, he is essentally finished everything he has to do before leaving. Which means that I am in the unenviable position of Holding Everything Up. I haven't got my bank statement in the mail, which means I can't show proof of residence to get my licence. I haven't got the list of modifcations for my car from the Registrar of Imported Vehicles, so I can't get the modifications done, which means I can't get it inspected , registered and insured in Alberta, which means I can't sell it. Everything is down to sitting on my hands waiting for pieces of paper to arrive in the mail, essentially so I can do the few short things necessary to wait for other things to come in the mail. I'm getting to the point where I feel like it will never come and I will never get out of here...

In less stressful news, we are going to be leaving town to visit my cousins, aunt and uncle in Saskatoon this weekend. I haven't been there in about 3 or 4 years, and before that short visit (for an ill-fated job interview) I hadn't been for probably about 10 years. Strange when we used to go all the time! So that should be fun. We still have trips to Calgary and Jasper to plan as well.

Darcy finally posts

Well, I seem to have left most of the updating of this blog up to Michael for quite some time. Figured it was about time I posted a new entry, too!

As Michael mentions below, we are indeed in Edmonton after our road-trip odyssey. It was an interesting trip, even if we didn't have time to stop as much as we'd have liked to. I'm glad we decided to break up the trip by going through Denver. By the time we got there a rest was more than welcome. Plus, I haven't really had the chance to get to know Michael's brother and his wife very well until this point (they had moved from Edmonton by the time Michael and I got involved), and it was really nice to spend some time with them at last.. Malini teaches grade one, and she took me to her class one afternoon, which was really fun. We also had a chance to do some shopping and go out for dinner a few times. All told a great visit.

Thankfully we had a relatively easy border crossing at Sweetgrass/Coutts. I always worry that something will go wrong every time I have to cross, so it's always stressful for me. Fortunately we ended up well prepared. the only thing we hadn't done was assign a value to all the things on our moving inventory, and as it turned out we only had to spend about an hour on that. The agent that helped us said that many times people come to the border without any preparation beforehand, and spend about 7-8 hours there doing all the paperwork they need to hand in, so I think we got off pretty lightly! Even importing my car went off without a hitch.

We spent our last night on the road in Lethbridge, and took our last day of travel a little slower. I drove the last day, even though it was Michael's turn, because I've never been through Alberta as a driver rather than a passenger and I wanted to do the last leg myself. We slept in a little later than usual, and stopped at the Penny Coffee house before leaving town. I used to love that place, but going there just proved that there's truth in the idea that You Can Never Go Back. The independent bookstore that used to open into the shop was gone. All the funky posters and pictures on the walls were gone. All the feminist posters and quotes were gone from the womens' washroom. The place had been completely stripped and sanitized and it's fun-hangout character was gone. On top of that, the cappuccino I ordered was watered down to a latte with a little bit of foam on the top...something that always irritates me. Oh well. I still have the good memories from when it was a good place, I guess.

We stopped in Claresholm around lunch time, so I could show Michael where I lived and worked there. The place does not really look good in some respects. Lots of empty storefronts and empty houses. Even some of the churches have closed! The town does have a very nice brand-new public library, however, and the greenhouse I worked in looks really good, so at least that business is thriving!

We also stopped in Red Deer, not far from Edmonton, so that Michael could show me where he lived and went to school the years he was there. The house they were in was almost exactly the same as he had left it!

We stopped at Michael's dad's place when we got into Edmonton, and his mother and stepfather happened to be visiting, so we got to see them all at once! We spent the first few days at my parents' house, then moved to Michael's dad's, and have just set up again today at his mom's place. A little bit different this time around, as we are moving together and have to balance three different families.

Unfortunately not much to report as far as progress goes since we arrived in Edmonton. Our moving truck is late, and we can't really do any out-of-town visiting until it gets here. Whenever that will be. We have to get Alberta drivers licences before we move, which is harder than it used to be--we have to show proof of residence and then wait 2 weeks while everything gets vetted in Ottawa. Thank goodness we both kept bank accounts open here--bank statements are the only thing we would have on the list of acceptable proof! But I have to wait for my statement, then wait for my licence, and what with that and the things to get done with my car before I sell it it's going to be a longer time than anticipated before we will be ready to move overseas.

Not that I've really been able to wrap my head around the reality of our actually moving to Abu Dhabi yet! But, one step at a time I guess!

What with everything that's going on I think this blog needs a facelift/makeover. I'll try to get to that soon....

Back in Canada

We left sunny Denver at 10:30 MST on Monday, April 10. We were running a bit behind schedule as we had anticipated entering Canada on that date. But we wanted to visit with my brother and sister-in-law for a few days and rest up for the next leg of our journey. Darcy's car was ready for pick-up that morning as it needed a new starter and front brake pads. Day five of our roadtrip took us to Billings, Montana. I drove that day and covered about 585 miles. It was a very blustery day once we entered Wyoming. I had never seen that state but the desolation of the landscape was breathtaking. I believe that it is the least populated state and I think it has the second highest elevated state capital. While Denver touts itself as the mile high city at 5,200 feet, Cheyenne (capital of Wyoming) is over 800 feet higher. New Mexico's capital of Santa Fe is nearly 7,000 feet. Sadly we didn't have time to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield. We didn't time it right as we drove past it at 6:00 pm. We stayed overnight at the Cherry Tree Inn in Billings, Montana. It had a George Washington theme and the decor dated from the 1970s. The price was very cheap at $55.00. That night we had dinner at a surprisingly good dinner at the Enzo Mediterranean Bistro restaurant. We didn't expect to find a good Mediterranean restaurant in Billings. The city was picturesque and the Yellowstone River flowed through it. There were impressive bluffs Darcy drove on Day 6 and covered about 575 miles. The weather continued to cool off as we approached the continental divide. We passed the divide twice - first heading west on I-90 approaching Butte and second heading north on I-15. The city of Butte, Montana is situated almost on the divide and junction of the two interstates. We drove through a localized snow storm since the elevation was 6,300 feet. It was nice to see snow again! By this time we were on the final leg of our roadtrip in the U.S. The last city we passed through before reaching the U.S. Canada border was Great Falls which I had visited as a child. My parents went to school at the University of Montana in Missoula and we made a few trips to northern Montana in the early 1970s. Unfortunately we also didn't have time to visit the Lewis & Clark Museum in Great Falls. It was late in the day (4:00 pm) and we needed to give ourselved time to pass through customs and arrive in Lethbridge, Alberta by nightfall. That's all for now - more to come later....

On the road again...

I couldn't help but think of the Willie Nelson song *On the Road Again* for the title of this entry. Darcy and I have had a wonderful time with my brother and sister-in-law over the past five days. I had a headache our first day here likely due to the 5,000 foot elevation. After spending some time relaxing I decided to buy some clothes (something that I don't do very often!). My brother is a store manager for an upscale men's clothing store called Jos A Bank. So I bought a suit, four dress shirts, one belt, one pair of wool pants and one pair of Johnston & Murphy shoes. Everthing was close to 50% off so I only paid $750.00. I know, it's still a lot of money but it's a bargain. My brother is probably correct in that my new employer will likely not tolerate staff wearing cotton pants with their mandatory shirt and tie policy. I also own a nice Hugo Boss suit and three dress shirts and some nice ties and one pair of Florsheim shoes. So my new workplace wardrobe is complete.

I've had two good work outs with my brother this past Friday and Sunday. I can always count on my brother to have a good anaerobic workout! He is studying to become a certified personal athletic trainer. Sunday afternoon I shot some hoop (played basketball) with my brother for an aerobic workout. I can't emphasize enough how refreshing it is to be outside in a cool, dry climate! My stamina is so higher and I feel better. Plus the spectacular mountain view is breath taking! The shorter, brown colored front range mountains provide a start contrast to the white capped Rocky Mountains. Maybe one day my wife and I will settle in Denver.

Other somewhat boring news to report is that I went to my bank and made a withdrawal from my checking account. I will keep my Washington Mutual account open but will take most of my money up to Canada to invest. We also need to take about $2,500 with us overseas to sustain us until my first paycheck. The college will pay for our hotel and some food but we'll need to rent a car until I pass probation. The other news is that Darcy's Sentra is in the shop because it needs a new starter and front brakes. Unfortunately the starter was rebuilt only a year and a half ago so this shouldn't have happened. But this wasn't the first time that one of our cars needed a part replaced that had only been repaired the previous year. It happened to my Volvo last month (new alternator) and I was forced to sell it at a terrible loss.

Anyway the car will be ready Monday morning so we should be on the road around 10:30 am. The distance from Denver to Edmonton is about 1,100 miles and it will take two days of driving. We'll likely stay in Butte or Billings Montana Monday night. Time permitting I'd like to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana. We'll drive right by it so it's possible we'll have time to visit. The other landmark that I'd like to see is the Lewis & Clark Intrepative Center in Great Falls, Montana. It's not too far south of our home province of Alberta so we'll likely visit it this coming Tuesday.

I guess that's all for now. I need to refill my drink and visit more with my brother and sister-in-law. The next blog entry will likely be later in the week from Edmonton, Alberta!

Relaxing in Denver

I guess this is our first post-Florida blog entry. It was an emotionally draining week for Darcy and I during the last week of March with saying good-bye to friends and colleagues. We had established roots in South Florida after almost six years of living there. My friend Dante was a godsend with flying down from Toronto in part to help us clear out our apartment. During his week's stay the three of us spent almost every night relaxing in our apartment complex's hot tub.

We were forced to place many of our belongings by our apartment complex dumpster since we couldn't get Goodwill or the Salvation Army to pick up our unwanted items. But we were pleasantly surprised to observe that fellow tenants took almost all our former belongings! It took us longer than expected to clear out several small items in our kitchen and empty the refrigerator.

We filled Darcy's 1999 Nissan Sentra with valuables and fragile items that we didn't want packed on the moving truck. Darcy and I didn't leave Broward County until 3:30 pm on Friday March 31. Our destination of Edmonton, Alberta was over 3,400 miles away. But we had decided to break up the long trip by stopping in Denver and visiting my brother and sister-in-law.

We didn't have an itinerary for our trip despite getting a detailed travel planner from the AAA. Orlando ended up being our destination that first day of driving 224 miles (Darcy drove). We stayed at the Days Inn and our first restful night in about a month. On day two I drove and it was one of traffic congestion in Georgia. Despite being on the road for almost nine hours we only covered about 440 miles that day. We stayed overnight at the Quality Inn in Morrow, Georgia (just off I-75 in south Atlanta). If we had more time I would have liked to visit the Carter Center there. But it turned out that we were able to visit another Presidential Library later on our trip.

Darcy drove about 550 miles on day three and we travelled through Georgia and Tennessee. After analyzing the AAA planner we decided to visit the Chickamaugua/Chattanooga Civil War Battlefield. Being a history buff I had to stop since I had never seen a Civil War memorial before. I'd forgotten how mountainous the state was by having the Appalachian Mountains. That night we stayed at a motel called the Microtel in Clarksville, Tennessee. That night turned out to be rife with tornadoes and squawly weather hitting the area. A terrific windstorm blew in and brought a dazzling lightning storm. The temperature also dropped and we had to break out our northern climate clothing.

It was my turn to drive on day four and we covered about 500 miles. We drove through Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri. We stayed overnight at the Best Western Truman Inn in Indpendence, Missouri. The next day we spent about three and a half hours visiting the Truman House and Truman Library. The Miniature White House had amazing detail and was on loan. We could have easily spent the entire day there but we wanted to be in Denver that night. Sadly we didn't have time to visit the Eisenhower Library in neighboring Abilene, Kansas. The trek to Denver was about 600 miles straight west and it took nine hours. We arrived at my brother's condo at 11:00 pm on April 4 a bit tired and stiff but ready to relax in the cool, crisp mountain air for a few days!

The countdown continues....

Darcy and I apologize for not posting more entries but it's been kind of busy lately. She worked her last day on March 15 while I only have three work days left over the next twelve days. Yikes! I get the shudders every time I think of how little time remains. Yesterday (March 17 St. Patrick's Day) We celebrated the sixth anniversay of our first date. We went to our favorite British restaurant in Dania Beach for a yummy dinner. Our priority now is to complete an inventory of all our items. We're just about done with the books, my comics and cds are done. We need to work on data entry in excel for Darcy's stuff too so this will take a while. It's late so I better head home - more later....

Happy six month anniversary!

This past Saturday was our six month anniversary. I know that many of you are probably saying that why are you bothering posting about that? Well, being newlyweds is for a finite time and six months is an important celebration. We didn't go out and celebrate it but instead had a nice candlelit dinner. We still have our daytimer count on the eraser board in our closet but the date somehow snuck up on me! Sure doesn't seem like six months has passed by but I remember the day like it was yesterday. It must be sad for many couples who don't remember much, if any of their wedding day. I was fortunate in that, despite being busy, I remember much of that day. I'm sure that Darcy and her mother don't remember as much since they were very busy doing things.

Anyway the anniversary also coincided with our one year anniversary of moving in together. Despite a few rental payment snafus from the office, garbage piles by the trash chute and intermittent noisy neighbors, we have really enjoyed our place. I know that I will miss gazing at the trees, birds and canal from the balcony. The day is also significant in that we only have six more months at most of living in Florida! Time is ticking down to our eventual departure as it could be six months or two months. It depends on my job application process. See my blog for news about that.

Last bit of news is that my friend Ed, who is a talented photographer, emailed me a few wedding photos that he took. They are great and include some b&w ones. Once we get all those then we can start work on our wedding album. We'll also add them to our online wedding album. My stepdad Rick can also begin creating a dvd of the special day with video and still shots. His iMac has great multimedia capabilities and Rick created a nice wedding dvd for a friend's wedding. I guess that's all for now...

What's in a name?

Yesterday we got our first batch of Christmas cards from family and friends. It helped us get into the Christmas spirit more as it doesn't seem very Christmasy living here with no snow! Anyway I was amused by the fact that no one properly addressed our names on the envelopes. People addressed it to either Mr. and Mrs. Michael Shires or Michael and Darcy Shires. Unfortunately people have forgotten that Darcy did not change her name! I don't think that Darcy minded too much about the snafus. But I recall just about everybody asking us at the wedding if Darcy was going to change her name and we said no. We sent Christmas cards to people and addressed ourselves in the sender corner of the envelopes as either Sharman & Shires or Shires & Sharman. Oh well, it's not a big deal in the greater scheme of things....

Housecleaning

This blog has seen a lot of spam comments, so I've changed the setting to require word authentication feature on the comments. If you'd like to leave one, you still can...you'll just need to take the extra step.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming ;)

Our favorite wedding photo

Here is our favorite wedding photograph so far as we don't have all photos from family and friends yet. It was taken by my stepfather, Rick, long after the ceremony had ended. It was terribly hot outside and I put on my shorts and took off my vest. I got a 4X6 reprint of the photo we put it in our new oval glass picture frame. We love the photo as it's not in your traditional formal wedding pose. Without sounding too sentimental I think it represents the intimate and down to earth nature of our wedding day...

101 days of newlywed life!

We have a white erase board in our master bedroom walk-in closet where we are keeping a married day count. We've now been married for 101 days! I suppose it's nothing exciting to mention but I thought it was worth blogging about. We've now entered into triple digits and it will be about three years before we reach the magical 1,000 day mark. In late September I organized our Honeymoon photo album. We bought the album at the Jasper Tramway Chalet on Whistlers Mountain. We are awaiting for a few other wedding photos to be sent from family and friends. Then we'll do up our wedding album.

Life routine is monotonous that has, unfortunately, somewhat dulled our newlywed lives. Last Saturday we renewed our apartment lease for seven months. So D-Day will be August 31, 2006! I need to finish the excel spreadsheet of all the wedding gifts we received. We have just over $1,000 USD to spend. We're thinking of saving it and buying a good bed when we return to Canada. Our Aerobed is nice and suits our purposes here in Florida. But it would be nice to have a real bed at some point. That's all for now.....

newlywed blog

I'm long overdue for posting an entry. Well, we've been married 39 days and it's not been as different as I though it would. I knew that it wouldn't be a radical change of life as I attributed that to us moving in together at the end of January. Our sad return to hot, humid south Florida and resumption of the daily work grind didn't add any zip to our lives. But it does seem different to call Darcy my wife in conversations. We have begun adding our respective names as beneficiaries to life insurance and retirement policies. We've joked with each other that the plans don't have enough money if one of were to die!

But enough of our bland lives in Florida. Our wedding day went off without a hitch! I got a bit teary eyed during the ceremony while strong, resilient Darcy didn't shed a tear the entire day!The weather was excellent (maybe a tad hot but I didn't complain too much). My stepdad is compiling a DVD of the day with still photos and video. We have been receiving photos from friends and family as we obviously took no photos ourselves. The photos show how colorful we are were with our different attires with the lush, green backdrop. We were fortunate to have the great weather as it was literally a window of only a few days of good weather. We cleaned up the backyard the night of the wedding and it started to rain when we finished at 7:00 pm!

Our honeymoon night at the Union Bank Inn felt magical. As people said I tried to take in all that was happening. I remember sitting at our dinner table and seeing other young couples (at least two must have gotten married as there were two wedding receptions there that night) and thinking *we just got married and are now newlyweds*! It felt surreal that I was now in that exact situation but it was a nice feeling. The other couples looked about ten years younger than us but no matter. Our suite was very nice and we enjoyed using the bubble jet tub after the long day.

Despite not following protocol with traditional weddings we did have our honeymoon the day after the wedding which made it seem magical. It's strange how many couples don't do that now. We headed out in our rental car to Jasper National Park and it was a wonder trip! Although the park is only a four hour drive west from Edmonton I had never spent a day there. It was the perfect place for us and to decompress. Weather co-operated for most of the time and we squeezed in much sight-seeing. Places included Mt. Edith Cavell, Maligne Lake, Maligne Canyon, Sunwapta Falls, Athabasca Falls, Athabasca Glacier, and a gondola ride to Whistlers Mountain. Edith Cavell was breathtaking with seeing the glacial lake and hearing the dull *thunk* echo through the air as ice cracked off in the distance. It was the coldest day of our trip as the temperaure hovered around freezing. The scenery, fresh air and our cozy cabin were heavenly. Our snowcoach ride up to the Athabasca Glacier was cool. Mt. Athabasca, Mt. Andromeda, and the Snow Dome are part of the Columbia Icefield that is the largest collection of ice south of the Arctic Circle. The Snow Dome hsa three rivers that flow into three different oceans (Columbia into the Pacific, North Saskatchewan into Hudson's Bay/Atlantic and the Athabasca into the Arctic.) Sort of a tricontinental divide - I forget the scientfic term.

Climbing the 1,200 feet from the Whistlers Mountain chalet to the summit was incredible! Despite the height (8,100 feet) I was not as out of breath as trudging up the three flights of stairs to our apartment on a hot, humid day. I now know that my body shuts down in the south Florida climate. Anyway we spent just about every night in the hot tub and I also got to chop firewood a few times. We had roaring fires everynight too. It was tough to leave Jasper but we know that we'll return again for a wedding anniversary visit!

Shopping up a Storm

Well, we've had a lot of fun in the past couple of weeks spending our wedding money! A lot of our friends and family gave us cash in lieu of difficult-to-transport gifts, so we decided that we would use it to buy many of the things on our Crate and Barrel Registry. So, we've got a pretty decently equipped kitchen now, and we got to replace a lot of our gathered-piecemeal-for-cheap-or-secondhand things.

Actually, I think that this was probably the single biggest shopping trip I have ever participated in. We took a look around the store, decided on the things we were going to get, and then just went up to the counter with our marked-up list and asked for everything. We ended up with five huge stuffed-to-the-brim shopping bags, and one large box of cookware. Needless to say it's been fun unpacking, organizing, and putting away everything. And I've been having a great time using all the supersharp knives, real mixing bowls, copper pots and pans, and nice dishes, flatware serving utensils, and cloth napkins. I'm also glad to have the correct tools to do things that I haven't been able to do in a while, like baking and so forth.

As for how we fared with Hurricane Katrina: we were on the northern edge of the hurricane-force winds and storm. Fortunately, unlike the usual scenario where the wost weather of a hurricane is concentrated in the north, Katrina's main force was on the south side. So while we ended up with lots of downed trees and no power for 55 hours, we had no flooding or structural damage and fared much better than those in Miami and parts south. And of course our experiences here don't begin to match those in Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf. So overall we are feeling pretty lucky right now!

We did it!

Well, as the timer at the top of the page says, we did it! We are officially married. I think things still haven't fully sunk in yet--sometimes I feel different, sometimes I don't.

Overall I don't think we could have asked for things to possibly go better than they did. The day was hot and sunny, and the backyard was lovely. The flowers that Hole's Greenhouses did for us were absolutely gorgeous, and the staff even included a complimentarly copy of Lois' book for me! The extra flowers we bought to decorate the outside tables, and the pots that my mom planted this year, looked great too.

We took photos with our families and attendants before the wedding. Our ceremony went off pretty much without at hitch. A lot of people have asked us about it and complimented us on it, so I'll put a link to it, as well as to photos and other items of interest, on the sidebar as soon as they're available. Our officiant was great, and in a nice stroke of luck a friend offered to lend her green robes and a wreath for her hair which were just perfect. I had been "vibrating", in my mom's words, for the entire day and night before as we made the last minute preparations, and I was very nervous as we walked down the aisle and began the ceremony. But, as Pam began to speak and call the directions, I took a deep breath or two, and everything felt right and fine.

It's interesting the things you don't notice when you are absorbed in the moment. Afterwards, people told me that just as the ceremony was beginning, one of our particularly noisy neighbors came outside just for a moment, shouted something, and then went back inside. I had no idea that it had happened at all--I just didn't hear it! Likewise, my mom mentioned later that Michael's father had been quite choked up during the ceremony, and though I was standing pretty much right in front of him I didn't notice!

Right after the ceremony, Farahnaz, our bellydancer, performed for about half an hour. She was wonderful, and everyone, even people who had been a bit...unsure about what it would be like beforehand enjoyed her dancing immensely. She got just about everyone at the party up to dance with her at some point, and some people (ahem...CRAIG...) performed quite enthusiastically!

Much of the reception after that is a blur for me, as I was busy with last minute food preparation, serving, and so forth. Sounds strange perhaps but it is what I wanted and expected to do, so it was all good for me. We had a variety of appetizers and finger foods, fruit and vegetables, and of course dessert! Mom and I had baked shortbread heart cookies, I made Mocha Layer Cake, and Mom made Cheesecake with Strawberries for Michael. We must have planned all right because we had plenty of leftovers.

All told it was over all too soon, even though the party went a little longer than originally planned. Strange to spend so much time thinking about, planning, and preparing for one day and then have it pass in such a flash. Everyone did seem to have a good time, and a couple of people said that it was the best wedding that they had ever been to, which was nice.

We arrived at the Union Bank Inn about 8 pm. The site doesn't have a picture of the bridal suite we chose, but we went for the one that was "rustic in décor, and offers warm earth tones, pine and slate accents, with a pair of pine rocking chairs to bundle up in." It was nice and cozy, with a gas fireplace, a jetted bathtub with a prop to hold books to read, and Aveda products for bath and body. We ate at the hotel's restaurant, Madison's Grill; I had the Black Cod and Michael had chicken. Breakfast the next morning was included with the room--the citrus french toast and smoked salmon eggs benedict was heavenly!

We left for Jasper about 11 that morning. We loved the cabin we stayed in, and spent our days hiking the trails and seeing the sights, and the evenings in front of our wood burning fireplace. I took a lot of photos with the digital camera Michael's mother and stepfather gave us for our wedding gift; a link to the album is on the sidebar. Naturally, the vacation also felt way too short and it was very hard for us to leave. It's the first chance we've had to have a vacation longer than a day or two to really recharge and pamper ourselves in a long, long time.

So, after a night at my parents' place and a night at Michael's mom's, we're back in Florida and trying to readjust to real life. We actually had a bit of a scare at Immigration--even though the agents I had talked to before we left Florida said that there would be no problems renewing my temporary work visa while being married to a dual national, the agents at the airport said that there was a problem with me applying for a status that did not allow dual intent when I had a claim to permanent residency through Michael's US citizenship. Fortunately, after making us sweat a few minutes, they did decide to grant me the TN status and let us enter. I think the fact that Michael was born and raised in Canada and had only been in the US for a relatively short time was a factor, as well as the fact that while we didn't have hard documentation, we could truly say that we had given notice to work, family and friends that were were planning to leave next year. This has always been my problem with the TN status--the rules and the laws around it are so "fuzzy" that each agent can interpret them differently and still be within bounds. Thankfully this is the last year we will have to do this!

Wedding Day!

Today is the Big Day!! Even though the wedding blog timeline says *Just Married* we still have about five hours until the ceremony. We've been quite busy since arriving in Edmonton July 29. Wedding plans have gone fairly smoothly. Yesterday was the day of setting up the rental equipment and buying refreshments. I was worried that the 20x20 foot tent was not going to fit in the backyard comfortably. But it did! The delivery van came by at 8:45 am and Darcy's brother, her friend/maitron of honor Mike, and Darcy's brother helped me set up the tent. It looks great! We did more cleaning and preparing the yard and had the rehearsal and dinner last night. I've surprisingly not been too nervous until today. I've slept fairly well every night but just haven't got enough sleep. Poor Darcy has not slept well as has her mother. I slept five hours last night and did some yoga stretches this morning and walked just over a mile on the treadmill this morning.

Craig and I need to go to Hole's Greenhouse in St. Albert this morning to pick up flowers. Then we'll do a few errands en route to the Sharman's house and be there by 11 am to help out with things. The weather has been beautiful (25 celcius or 77 farenheit) and a light breeze. So this is our last entry before the wedding. Unfortunately today will go by much too quickly. We'll try to focus on the moment and remember this special day for the rest of our lives....

last minute things...

I'm back at work on my day off doing last minute wedding errands. Am burning tracks for music on the big day. On the weekend Darcy and I went through my Real Player master player list of 400 songs and whittled it down to about 50 tracks. From that I will burn about four cds of tunes - the theme is naturally Middle Eastern with some Delerium, Tea Party and Loreena McKinnett and a few surprises sprinkled in. I'm sure that our selections will surprise people as I've never heard this stuff played at weddings I've attended. We will spend tonight frantically packing and will likely not sleep much. After speaking with my relatives I have a good idea of what my agenda will be for next week. My brother and sister-in-law fly into Edmonton today.

Luckily Darcy and I only have some anxiety about the wedding. I can't imagine the stress couples go through with planning huge weddings! Despite what Darcy has said I am a bit nervous about the Big Day! But I'm not too worried about the preparations for the event. But I won't be surprised if I'm a bit teary eyed during the ceremony. I'm very pleased with how the vows turned out. I'll be happy for us and my emotions may come through a bit. So you'll likely next hear from us in cool and dry Edmonton!

surprise showers

The people at my library threw me a surprise shower yesterday afternoon! There was lots of food, a few nice presents, and people from all over the library. Michael worked here before I did, so most people there know both of us. So here I was assuming that I would have no showers, and now I've had two!

Three more days until we leave for Edmonton, which seems totally unreal. I'm starting to wonder when I'm going to have time to do things like pack. We made up a list of things not to forget...hopefully that will help!

We are just hoping it will not rain...of course the forecast is for rain all this week, according to weather.com...send your petitions up to the weather gods now for nice sunshine next Saturday please!

2 weeks to go!

Ack! We are really into the home stretch now. Michael and I are in his office right now, selecting music to burn onto CDs for the reception--a long overdue task. Tonight, we are going to map out the major things we know we will need to do, and will need others' help with, before and during the big day. We also need to look at the ceremony text again, finalize who will be doing the readings, and block out the processional and so forth. I also keep on having to remind myself to bring henna, so we can do our hands!

Michael has pretty much finalized his outfit...he just needs to decide which of his 2 vests to wear. I finally managed to find shoes, so I won't need to go barefoot, but I haven't totally decided what to do with my hair. I will probably curl it, instead of fighting with its natural texture, and due to its length and weight at least some of it will have to be tied back or up, but that's all I'm certain on for now.

My mom has been busy preparing the house and yard. They have had French doors installed on their patio door (which they were going to do anyway), and the dining room has been rewallpapered. She has also spent a lot of time in the yard, weeding and planting flowers. She is very nervous but I'm sure the place will be lovely. She has also done a few test runs for our cakes, so she and Dad have had a lot of nice desserts lately!

I am starting to get quite nervous. I'm at the stage where everything seems a little unreal. I am naturally anxious about hosting a party, and wanting it to go well, but also anxious about the life transition--getting married, becoming a wife, and figuring out what it all means. Realistically I know that things will be fine if I just take life one day at a time, but it's still a little scary.

Michael, in contrast, doesn't seem to be nervous at all. Lucky him!

Second time around...

The link Michael posted to the picture of the shirt he bought for the wedding no longer works, so here's another copy:

Guess we were lucky to find it when we did...the store site says it's no longer available!

Four weeks to the day, according to our counter. I'm excited but nervous too. Because of the nature of our plan, most things are going to have to be done in the week or so prior to the wedding, so all we can really do now is sit and fret! Hopefully things will come together...hopefully it won't rain...hopefully everything will be fine... and underlying all that is the nervousness at the life transition, about becoming something and someone different, and changing our lives. So part of me is really looking forward to everything, and part of me wishes it was just over and done already! ack!

shower fun

My friend Jamie hosted my Florida bridal shower last weekend. It was a really wonderful party. She and my friend Diana (of Indu-Zari Henna) did a lot of work to make it special. They decorated Jamie's entire house in an exotic Morrocan/Indian style. Diana made a fruit plate and a batch of cookies, all decorated with henna patterns in icing, chocolate and caramel. During the party, my friend Alina did my hair in "tribal goddess" style, and Diana did henna on me and on other shower guests. We also had a selection of videos for the night: Kama Sutra, Devdas, and Bellydance Divas. Thankfully, no silly shower games!

My friends gave me lots of nice gifts, and it was nice to be "princess for a night." No one has really ever thrown me a party before...someone I used to be friendly with tried to give me a 30th birthday party, but the idea unfortunately backfired. Needless to say I'm feeling really fortunate and thankful to have such thoughtful, fun people in my life right now. I don't know how I would have survived living in Florida without them!

You can see an online picture album from the shower by clicking here.

As Michael wrote below, we're more than a little unhappy that the postal system has conspired to ruin some of the invitations we sent out. Strangely, most of Michael's friends and family say their invitations were destroyed, while the people I've asked on my side say theirs are fine! I'm not sure what's going on here, but it's upsetting--especially considering that the post office worker here assured us that they would get special handling. I guess between USPS and good old Canada Post we should have expected it though. Anyway, we will be making more invitations, and if anyone whose mailing was damaged would like one, we'll be more than happy to hand-deliver on on before the day.

My search for a wedding shirt is over!

Well, I finally found a shirt to wear for the wedding! We tried in vain looking for one ten days ago at Broward Mall but had no luck. My trips to the Middle East and Thailand had influenced me to want a light colored banded collar (collarless) shirt with no front buttons. A few days later a work colleague told me to visit an East Indian clothing store. So we went there last weekend. They had a small men's section that contained nice attire with neat trimmings and embroidery. They were all very nice but unfortunately they were all full length gowns. I wouild have bought a shirt if they had had any in stock. See our March 16th entry for a photo of the gown I wore to the Bollywood event.

So we proceeded to the Sawgrass Outlet Mall and looked in a few stores. We entered one store and, in desperation, asked a clerk if they had banded collar shirts. She replied, "if we do then they will be on our discount rack." We finally saw our first banded collar shirt but unfortunately it was black. The clerk told us that they're not in style. I find that strange since I think it looks quite fashionable and it is such a refreshing change from the staid Western styled collared button up shirt. I had bought two banded collar shirts when I lived in Spokane ten years ago and I got many compliments from people. I should have bought more!

By this time I was beginning to get a bit despondent. Then we approached the Banana Republic store so we walked in and went to the men's section. I finally ound a rack with a few white banded collar shirts and my heart immediately leapt! Amidst the small sized ones I found an XL and tried it on. It fit perfectly and was exactly what I wanted. The shirt is called a linen banded-collar pullover shirt. To quote the store's website it's "designed in the lightest linen weave, this cool summer layer is a generous fit with a classic banded collar and buttonless placket for simple, unconstricted style. Pintucked detail adds a refined touch. 100% linen, banded collar, button cuffs and straight hem. It's also imported but I don't know from where. Plus it was on sale for only $38.00! I was relieved and I hadn't spent this much time looking for men's clothing in my life. I tried the shirt on at home with my darker colored vest that I bought in Turkey. Not sure which dark pants to wear but I will likely wear my shiny Florsheim shoes.

Last bit of news is that everyone that I've talked with has mentioned that their wedding invitation has been severly damaged in the mail. We're livid about this and especially with the American Postal service. The post office told us to pay extra for domestic mail so that the cards wouldn't go through the sorting rollers. We had even packed bubble wrap in the envelope. All to no avail. So far nobody I know received their invitation intact. Two people told me that their card had a hole punched completely though the card while others said that the little ball had detached. Only after I described what the invitation was to look like did they realize that their card was missing either the little ball and/or the bow. Another prime example of the horrible mail service. Luckily we bought enough material so Darcy can make extra invitations for guests who want a pristine copy. Anybody want a copy?

Overdue for an entry!

No, I haven't been deliberately avoiding posting an entry! I feel badly about not writing in ages but it's also been the case with my personal blog. Darcy and I agree that it's unfortunate that in many ways the wedding planning has taken a backseat to planning our lives together past next year. I guess it's hard to focus on one day (our wedding) when we aren't sure where we are going to be in a year from now! Plus there's no frame of reference since the wedding won't take place where we're living. We've done some planning and organizing that Darcy has mentioned previously. One thing I need to do now is find something to wear! I sort of have an idea but don't know where to look. I guess I'll try looking online first.

One big thing we still need to do is arrange the music. I have a lot of Middle Eastern tracks on my RealOne player. We have plenty of music at home too and just need to burn a couple of *Best Of...* CDs. It was a little dicey for a while but my brother and his wife were able to get plane tickets for the Big Day. They fly up July 28 and leave August 7. We've appreciated the help from Darcy's parents too so far. So things continue to move along slowly but surely. Which reminds me - I need to add a few expenditures to our wedding spreadsheet....

Flurry of activity

Invitations. are. out! Finally!

I finished decorating them on Sunday night. We mailed them on Monday morning. Hopefully the stitching will hold and they will all arrive intact!

We also finished working on our ceremony, and sent the text to our officiant, Pam. She says she really likes it, so that's a relief! We have tentatively set up the rehearsal for 5pm the day before.

My mom is going to go to Hole's Greenhouses on Wednesday to talk about flowers. We don't really need too many, I don't think, besides a bouquet for me and boutennierres/corsages for our family members. I gave her a picture of the kind of thing that I like--something loose and informal looking in white and green--something like this picture, maybe. Michael used to work at Hole's, so it would be fitting for us to go there. We're also talking about food and decorating.

Who knows, this thing may actually come together after all!

a shower in the forecast

I had not thought that anyone would do this for me, but my friend Jamie has decided to host a bridal shower later this month. Even better, she's arranged for my friend Diana to do henna at the party! Diana is a wonderful artist, and I love henna, so this should be a great evening. I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks Jamie!

Of course, this has necessitated a shorter deadline on populating our wedding registry. So I've had fun picking out things in Crate and Barrel, and the amazon.com one should grow as well. Not that I expect we'll be getting everything on there, but once you get into it picking things out is actually kind of fun.

Invitations have not been finished yet, but they should be soon--I'm hoping to get the decorations done this weekend. I'm pretty sure just about everyone on our guest list knows when and where anyway--one of the advantages of having a small party. Michael has arranged for some really nice wedding favours, too--handmade by someone he knows at work.

Hard to believe it's coming up so soon!

starting to come together

At least, I hope they are! Time is slipping away on us and now we're at less than three months!

As Michael chronicled below, we've had a heck of a time finding a photographer to meet our modest needs. I've emailed my brother today to see if he will be able to take some pictures; Michael's stepdad will take some too and hopefully we can rook in a couple of other friends. I understand that we do not represent "big business" in the wedding industry, but it is kind of depressing when people disappear or won't even lower themselves to answer your initial enquiries! Oh well...we didn't want to go that route anyway and now we're spared from feeling we "have" to.

I've been dress shopping a lot lately, though I still haven't found anything right. On my second expedition, I found a really beautiful dress at Dillard's department store. Very Old Hollywood Glamour. Ivory satin, with a cowl neckline and a skirt that draped down to flare slightly at the hem. Backless, with gathering at the base of the spine. The only problem? The cowl was, well...a little bit too cowl-y. After numerous wardrobe malfunctions in the five minutes I had it on in the dressing room, I had to admit that a dress that so easily slipped off my shoulders to expose me from shoulder to waist à la Tara Reid was not a good wedding day choice.

Yesterday, I tried on a dress at a Susan Rose, created by a local designer. Again, it was beautiful, but.... it was a nude-colour fabric, with blue beading details, fitted to about halfway down the thigh and then with a deep ruffle hem that was shorter in front than in back (slightly lower than mid-shin in front, and draping to a small train in the back). Kind of a 1920s flavour. However....seen from a distance, I looked naked with a uterus drawn on my belly in blue beads! A situation only exacerbated by the blue rosette design on the back, below the base of the spine. Plus it was eight hundred dollars.

Sigh.

However, I did try on a dress afterwards in Caché that I really liked. Imagine, a slim, sheath-type dress actually cut so that it hides any bulges in your stomach and thights, instead of emphasizing them! Without lining! I don't want to describe it too much because I might end up getting it, and I'm not sure if I want Michael to know about my dress beforehand or not. I will say it's very elegant, a little different, and a bright colour.

This week, we'll be working more on our invitations and the ceremony. I want to get our invitations sent out in the next week or so. My mom is coming to visit in early June--I suppose we will talk a lot about party menu, decorations, and such then. Plus, hopefully we'll be putting more things in our registry soon.

No photographer

Well, we have stopped looking for a photographer after a few months of on again and off again searching. We had first corresponded briefly with a photography student at NAIT but we gave up after they seemed to disappear from the face of the earth by not returning our emails. So Keith gave me a name of a photographer who had done his sister-in-law's wedding. However, the individual had decided to not do weddings. But he gave me a contact at Studio9 Photographics. Unfortunately, theirlowest priced package was still too expensive for our needs. Next I emailed administration at the University of Alberta's Department of Art & Design and Grant MacEwan College's Visual Communications Design Program. The U of A quickly got back to me with a contact at Living Images Art and Photography. But they have a wedding scheduled the same day and were not available. So we did our best but, I think, it came down to the fact that most professional photographers want to do big weddings. We didn't want dozens of candid photos and tons of official portraits and having to buyan expensive leather bound album. We refuse to be sucked into the wedding industry trap of paying gobs of money for stuff because it's what's expected. So we'll go with plan B and have friends and relatives take photos. We're both comfortable with that. More news later....

Shall we Dance?

There have been a variety of things distracting us from wedding plans lately--the move, difficult negotiations with my band, and my dad's illness, among others. But we finally have some updates!

Firstly, I called the bellydancer our officiant recommended, Farahnaz. She doesn't seem to have a web site, or else I'd post a link to it, but from what I learned talking to her and from references on others' sites she is from Iran, does Persian dancing as well as bellydance, and spends the bulk of her professional time teaching in various studios and performing at middle eastern weddings. All of which adds up to a pretty good-sounding addition to our party! There are pictures of her performing Persian dance in a couple Edmonton dancers' photo galleries, which you can see here and here.

Most recently, I finally went to look at dresses and entered The World of the Bridal Store. Quite an experience. I visited A Bride's Choice, which is close to where I live, because their web site stated that they carried evening dresses as well and I was hoping that would mean a wider variety of simpler, more comfortable selections. Well....maybe not. This was a full-scale, poufy white dress after poufy white dress, salespeople who come into the dressing room with you, mirrored room with pedestals for you to see yourself to full advantage, veils and tiaras coming at you from all sides bridal salon. The kind where they tell you not to consider practicalities while dress shopping because it's your day and if you find the dress you can't deny yourself by rationalizing that it won't work with the type of wedding you're having, the location, and the things you'll be doing that day. Because you're the bride, after all!

So. I tried on three dresses. I liked the first one best. It had a mermaid silouhette and halter neckline with a short train, and flowery, viney, three-dimensional appliques. The saleslady liked this one the least, I think because it flaunted the fact that I have curvy hips. The second one--strapless, corset bodice with lace overlay, sheer lace overlay skirt and train--was beautiful, but it was a Nicole Kidman/fairy princess dress. By which I mean it was matched the image other people have of me more than what I want to express of myself. Then we get to the third dress. I had talked about perhaps going with a colour instead of white or ivory. So I got....PRINCESS BARBIE!! Imagine a bright red, strapless dress, with rhinestones edging the top of the bodice, the waist, and the hem. Make sure the skirt is wide and poofy enough to be twice as big as your average doorway--before the crinoline petticoat is added. That is the picture of this dress! This was the point where the saleswoman (or the "wedding specialist associate") pulled out the tiara to put in my hair. Whew! It was a look that I would have loved when I was fourteen...but...seeing as I'm over twice that....

Anyway, though I knew I probably wouldn't find anything there the minute I stepped in, it was kind of fun to put on all the big dresses and pose on the pedestal. I still plan to find something simpler and off the rack, but playing "bride" for a couple hours won't hurt anyone!

After escaping the bridal store, I went to our local outlet mall. I did find one dress I kind of liked--the one in this picture, only in ivory. You can't see it in the picture, but the same beading pattern continues along the back neckline and down the back seam of the dress. The thing is, I think I like it in theory better than in execution--this is a cheap dress, not really worth even the low price it's selling for, and it shows in the beading detail. Plus, I would need major underwear to smooth, shape, and prevent unsightly bulges. I'd rather wear nice underwear on my wedding day than the modern equivalent of a girdle if I can help it!

We have given up on the photographer we'd been communicating with at NAIT--he hasn't got back to us in over a month and we're worried about reliability given our sporadic correspondence. We are contacting other people and places, and have a couple of referrals.

We are also thinking about our invitations, which may end up being as casual as these because we like the style. We are planning to send them out in May.

Here's a photo of Michael and me that was taken at the NSU Library event, Bollywood comes to Broward. Michael was one of the models in the fashion show of Indian clothing.

photography news

I just emailed a photography student enrolled at NAIT's Photographic Technology and Graphic Communications Program. The name was given to me by my friend Ed, who works at NAIT, who contacted the program's Chair. Apparently our request is a common one so we were pleasantly surprised. Darcy and I don't want to pay an exorbitant fee for a professional photographer. Actually, for the few numbers of photos that we want taken, it is virtually impossible to secure someone. Hopefully this strategy will work out. Other bit of news is that I confirmed our reservation at the Alpine Village in Jasper for our honeymoon. No other news to report besides the fact that we are moving into our new apartment this coming Saturday! I don't think this was *officially* communicated on the wedding blog. The day after we returned home from Edmonton, I called the Atriums of Plantation complex to inquire about vacancies. They said two were available so we took one that overlooked a water canal. That boosted rent an extra $30 a month but the calming view should be worth it. It's also very quiet. So we rushed over a few hours later and signed more paperwork. Our name had been on file since December. We have both been busy packing our respective places and have not discussed wedding plans at great length. Obviously this will change once we move...

post-Edmonton news

We're back in Florida after our trip home to Edmonton...we both miss the cold weather and wish we had had more time there! From -20 C to +25 C in 8 short airborne hours...

We actually didn't get much concrete planning done while we were there, but we did manage to talk a bit and clarify some of the things we want, so it's all good. We visited the Special Event Rentals, where we'll be getting our tent and other party supplies, and got to see the stuff in the catalogue firsthand. We talked with our parents a bit about food, decorating, logistics, etc...Michael's stepfather graciously offered to provide the beer and wine for the party as part of their gift, which was wonderful and unexpected. We also got lots of offers of assistance from friends, which is a relief for me personally. I had felt kind of strange about asking people for help at an event that they will also be attending as guests, so it's nice to know that they don't mind!

We also got to meet with our officiant, whom we liked a lot. She gave us some sample ceremony scripts to deconstruct and play with, and some sample readings etc. She also says she knows an Iranian bellydancer who is really good...so maybe we will have her as the performer at our wedding!

Last bit of news is that we finally registered at a couple of places online. Not much on there yet, but we'll be adding to them as we think of things. If you want to check them out, the links are to the right.

Countdown to Edmonton

Darcy and I are trying to set an agenda for wedding errands we need to do when we're in Edmonton. We will be meeting with our officiant on Dec. 23. Other errands, in no particular order are: picking up my wedding band at Birks; checking out a flower shop that my brother used for his wedding; visiting the special events rental place; driving the Chevelle (currently in storage near Thorsby) into town and getting it checked out at Maaco and Sandy Lane Automotive Service. Ideally I'd like to store Bessie (the car) in Edmonton and get it fixed up for next summer. Also need to try and secure an official photographer. Ed, a friend of mine, said he would take some photos. I'm sure Darcy will want to shop around for a dress! We also want to look for decorations and invitation cards. I'll write myself a cheque from my Washington Mutual account and deposit it in my Bank of Montreal account. This will be for money that Darcy contributed to the wedding fund (just over $2,000 U.S. at this point). I'll match whatever she has as I can tap into my B of M savings account (my grandmother's inheritance is there). My family has been invited to the Sharman's on Boxing Day so that will be a good time for all of us discuss wedding plans. That's all for now...

Long overdue, I suppose, but here's a picture of Michael and me together in Ottawa. Would have posted it earlier but we only just got it scanned!

Wedding night and other things

Yesterday I booked our wedding night lodgings at the Union Bank Inn in Edmonton. I had not heard of it but Darcy had seen it and liked it. We naturally preferred the honeymoon rustic suite over the cream and celadon toned suite. It costs $239.00 Canadian so that is reasonable I guess. We can check in after 3:00 but don't know when we'd arrive there. Ideally it would be nice to get there in the early evening.

Val, one of Darcy's friends from our days at SLIS, mentioned the Bear and Bison Inn as a place to honeymoon. It looks really nice but the rates are damn expensive. Room #3 with the jacuzzi is $350 a night. Their two night Romance Package looks great but is a hefty $900 including the refundable GST for Canadian visitors like us! Andrew, a friend and colleague of mine also mentioned taking a Caribbean cruise. I think the money value for that exceeds what staying in the Canadian Rockies has to offer. But Darcy and I miss the rugged outdoors of the northwest!

So we have decided to go with the Alpine Village at Jasper. Darcy likes their one bedroom cabins and they're moderately priced at $190 per night. Since they're closed now for the winter I need to complete their online form. Apparently I will get an email from them soon after they receive my request. One more thing - I read a book called Promises to Keep: Crafting Your Wedding Ceremony that was very good. It's written by a woman pastor and focuses on vows. It's something that not many couples dwell on much yet is what the wedding day is all about. It's 10:30 pm ET so I better head home....