Santorini

Ha ha ha! I wrote this then never posted it! I'm such a slacker! Facebook has really minimized my blogging. Anyway here is Santorini!

After we left Mykonos we went to Santorini which was a very lovely place. I really liked the town we stayed in which was Oia. Isn't it beautiful!

Oia, Greece

This was the view of the town across the street from our hotel. If you walked out to the point then went right there was a fort where people went to see the sunset. We watched the people watching the sunset from a restaurant...

Sunset in Oia

Sammy and I did take a walk out to the point we just never made it out there at sunset. There were a lot of people who did, just not us!

Me and Sammy hanging and walking around - taking photos - being tourists!

There were a lot of dogs in Oia - apparently they are communal and everyone feeds and takes care of them. It was really nice to see.

Athens & Mykonos Greece

Sammy and I went to Greece in May - and we had a great time! We started off in Athens where we stayed at the Hotel Grande Bretangene http://www.grandebretagne.gr/index-eng.htm.

When we arrived the manager upgraded our room to a suite and it was VERY nice! We even had a butler.

Our room

We relaxed in the hotel's rooftop pool and celebrated our 6th anniversery with 50yr MacCallen Whiskey. Very nice. The next day we had a wander around Athens and visited the Partheon.

Me and Sammy in a park in Athens

The Parthenon was nice and they were doing restoration work, we went with some friends, Karen and Alex and had a look around. I guess you can tell by the lack of enthusiasm and photos on my part that I'm at a point now where one ruin pretty much looks like another. I guess travel can make you jaded. Sammy really enjoyed it though, but it was more because it was his second time there and he was looking forward to seeing it again thru an adult's eyes. The last time he was there was when he was about 10 years old.

Me, Karen, and Alex

After Athens we took a early morning (a 7am departure) ferry to Mykonos. Yes, I actually got up early on vacation!

Me waiting to get on the EARLY morning ferry!

I really like Mykonos and the hotel we stayed at, the Rhenia Bungalows http://www.rhenia-bungalows.com/ was beautiful.

Our room was straight up the stairs and to the left.

Our room was small and we had 2 twin beds, but you couldn't beat the view and the breakfast was incredible. It was a full breakfast with excellent coffee, not a stale muffin and instant coffee. And yes, the Greek youghurt tastes better in Greece!

Wherever you go - a taste of home is just around the corner!

I highly reccommend staying there if you ever go to Mykonos. AND there is a Starbucks right up the road about a 10min drive away.

Mykonos Self Portrait

Mykonos was really nice there were flowers everywhere. The food was really good, especially the gyros. We did a bit of site seeing, stopped at a coffee cafe (which served mostly alcohol) they have windmills on the island, but they're not in use anymore.

Me and Sammy in the "Coffee Cafe"

View of the windmills from the cafe

After Mykonos we took the ferry to Santorini. I'll write more about Santorini in the next posting.

February....now it's May in Dubai!

I haven't written much in the past few months. Sammy and I haven't gone anywhere but we did have a visitor in February. My friend Samara visted from London and we had a great time. We didn't get out as much as we could have because we both were suffering from Jet Lag. It was the first time I took the direct between Houston and Dubai and it's a 17 hour flight and it took me a solid week to get over the jet lag. I felt like I was drugged I was so tired.

I started looking for a job in February and I finally found one that I'll be starting tomorrow. I'm really excited about it because it's a small women owned consulting firm. I'll be doing financial compliance which I'm excited about since I've been interested in doing anti-money laundering work and I'll be meeting and working with professional women.

It's really interesting here because most of the women you meet are housewives. The working women have even given them a nickname - Jumeriah Janes. These are women who don't work, have kids but have house staff to take care of everything including the kids. The only thing they seem to do is shop, lunch, and shop some more. It's funny because you see them in the mall, and then about 20ft behind them will be their kids with the maids.

I joined the Internation Women in Business Group which is how I found my job. Networking here is vitally important. If you aren't sent here from outside the country to work it's the only way you'll find a decent job. Online job hiring and the recruiting system isn't as sophisticated here as it is in the UK and the US. I also joined the American Women's Group but I haven't done much with them yet.

Anyway - we just returned from Greece and my next posting will be of that trip...

Ciao

My Favorite Place in my Favorite Country

Yes I'm sitting in Starbucks, here at home in Houston. And I'm loving every minute of it. I've been in the States for 2 weeks now and will be here for another week. I can't wait to move back home. Dubai is nice, I really like the sun and our house, but home is home, most of my friends are here and I just love being here.

I went to visit my friend Sandi in Atlanta. She had another little bundle of joy - Sean Patrick. He is a very cute and calm baby. I don't have my photos downloaded yet but when I do I'll post one. He was a very big baby - 10lbs! Shannon has grown exponentially since I saw her back in September. She's running now and on the verge of talking a blue streak. It was a lot of fun hanging out and playing with the kids.

I've also been visiting other friends, shopping and hanging out with Chrissy. AND I've been eyeballing houses here because Sammy and I are going to start looking at them in the summer to buy. I can't wait! We're going to rent it out until we come home but want to buy now because it's a buyers market.

I'm going back to Dubai on Monday and we have company coming on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to it!