23 hours and 7 minutes

Arrived in Abu Dhabi, after 23 hours and 7 minutes in airports and on airplanes. It was an interesting trip. I met some interesting people who immigrated to the US and some other US citizens who wanted to discuss politics.

But I was on a vacation and escaping reality. Best of all I am here and I made it alive. I have my first stamp in my visa! Woo hoo! I am very excited. The trip was interesting, especially the landing in Frankfurt, Germany. There was only 500 meters of visibility, but on the plane you could barely see the end of the wing. We actually landed before anyone knew it. The flight attendant ran back to her seat after we had landed. :-)

Leaving Frankfurt was also an adventure. It was the first time I boarded a plane from the tarmat, which doesn't seem odd if it would be in the middle of the summer and the weather is nice, but it was 1 degree above freezing so that was weird. I was freezing coming from Phoenix. It was a good thing I bought a tourist sweathshirt in DC.

The flight to Abu Dhabi wasn't so bad I actually watched 3 movies on my way here. It was nice because the flight went fast, except that I couldn't keep my eyes open for "Get Smart." Maybe because it wasn't that good. Anyway, I got here, got my bag, my first stamp and headed out with my sister. A good day overall, because at the end a hug from my sister was wroth the 23 hours on planes and in airports.

Depressing

Yesterday I received an email titled "Voted the best email of the year." Well, it was a depressing email. It shows how thankful we should be for all the things we have in our privileged lives living in an "advanced" nation. Things like running water, enough food, cars, clothes, shoes, etc. There were depressing pictures of emaciated children in the streets and plastic 2L bottles tied with bits of cloth for shoes.

Well, I know I have it easy. I know I have it better than most, and I am thankful for that. But, I think it is okay for us to be sad at times too and feel like life sucks at times. Just because we have a lot too, doesn't mean we are happy all the time. In fact, I think it increases the overall likelihood that "Americans" will be dissatisfied because we do so much social comparison and our society is focused on who has more instead of having enough.

Well, I am just sad this week. I think it is okay that I am feeling depressed, just for a little while because you can try to be a good person, give back, be nice, respectful, etc and bad things will still happen. Now "bad" depends on perspective, but everyone gets tired of dealing with life sometimes and bad can be breaking a nail or getting in a car accident.

So, I feel bad about those individuals in life who's plight is worse than mine... but I should be able to feel bad sometimes too just because I need to.

Dog sitting the nephew, Buddy

Buddy came to visit me today. He is going to stay for most of the week, so now I have a reason to hurry home in the evenings. I bought him a couple of new toys and he was super happy. However, unknown to me, one of the toys had a squeaker in it. When there are squeakers in toys, Buddy makes it his personal mission to take it out within 5 minutes of getting the toy. Well, I think this one lasted 10 minutes because I took it away for a little while.

I think he still enjoys it though, you be the judge. Isn't he cute! I think he misses Tricia though.