Happy New Year from Dubai!!

Ahh.... the end of something a new year the start of the new year. I am just like everyone else when I say, "boy, where has the time flown by?. haha.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

And here's a nice youtube video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxueEPFA5B0&feature=share

Also, as with most people, around the end of the year, I think back and reflect on the year at hand... and think about what the next year would bring. If 2012 is anything like 2011, I am in for a treat. I CANNOT believe sometimes how much my life has changed in this little year alone. This time last year I was traveling in Sri Lanka, about to spend New Years with this lovely local family (that was affected by the tsunami that I had met 3 years prior during my travels), some friends from that previous trip with some new ones, and it was just an intimate lovely New Years by the beach. At the time, I was thinking I would travel a bit more, make my way back to Chicago.... and start a new job and kinda continue my Chicago life where I left off. Flashforward 12 months, and here I am living and working in Dubai. What the? I left my comfy life... good job, good friends, wonderful family, great living environment, to start a new life where I hardly know anyone and pretty much every aspect of life has changed.

Life can be quite the adventure, right?

So I bring in this New Years quite different than the rest.... most of my life I've spent it in the mountains with my family or traveling somewhere (Sri Lanka, India, Argrentina, Serbia) to name a few and have been with friends or family. This year, I'm continuing my independence and self-growth by celebrating with me, myself and I. And I'm actually okay with it! I forgot what I last updated with my living situation, but looong story short, one of the doctors at the hospital was going back home for a month and he offered to sublet me his PHATTY apartment in the heart of the city, literally, around the corner from the world's tallest building, the Burj Kalifa and the Dubai Mall, one of the biggest malls in the world. It is lively and action-packed and I would be silly to not take him up on his offer. The Burj Kalifa puts on a spectacular fireworks show. So I figured when in my life will I have his opportunity to roll out my apartment, literally and figuratively, haha (I'm slowly starting to develop the "Dubai stone," i.e. newbees gaining weight) and be right in front of the heart of the action? Where people from all over the Dubai will be stuck in traffic or the metro for hours at a time to get there? I was lucky in that a co-worker who lives very close to me joined me to bring in the new year. I have to admit, it was a fabulous show, one of the best fireworks displays I've ever seen!! What a way to bring in 2012!!

LN's reso's for 2012:
-Find my own place to live
-Travel to my 7th continent (already planned!) hehe
-Be involved more in athletics here, which will help me personally and professionally
-Save $$
-Keep in contact with friends and family from back home
-Have ze fun and enjoy life in Dubai!


HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!

Health and happiness always!!! :-)