Chicago Life to Dubai Life!

Sooo... I received some good (although late!) advice, and I wish I had heard it earlier, but then again, I think I needed all that time for "adjustment." The advice was to try and incorporate as much of your "old" life into your "new" one, i.e. doing things that you did at home.... here! Sounds simple enough, right? Why did it take me so long to do that? :-)

Hmm.....

So during months 2-4, it was eating... a lot. Then I realized that in my "old" life, I really didn't eat that much and then came my CLEAN detox as I wrote about. A BIG part of my "old" life is... exercise and activity! I had started exercising, yes, but boring gym workouts. To combat that back at home, I joined a lot of groups. Soooo..... why not incorporate that into my "new" life?

Here is what has made my life here 3-fold better:

• I joined a running group! Dubai Creek Striders. So as my "old" life, I ran with the Oak Park Runners Club, I did early morning Saturday runs with a good bunch of people that kept me motivated, and it's just fun to run with a group. This new group, we do about the same distance (although because our weekends are on a Friday, it is Friday early morning), about 10 - 13 miles. The people of course aren't nearly as cool as OPRC, BUT I have met some nice people. :-)
• I joined a Masters Swim Group! In grad school, I was more consistent swimming with the UIC Masters Swim Group because it was really close, then it became more around the times when I was training for triathlons... and I guess more or less in the summers. Here, summer is almost year around and although I don't have any triathlons planned, it's great to get back into a sport I grew up with. Again, it's not as social as my previous group, but I'm happy to get back into swimming and it beats my dawdling around in the pool at my complex.
• Yoga! I go through phases as well with yoga, but before I left OP there was a great NEW yoga studio called Core Yoga that opened up... it was more of a aerobic type of yoga with some classes in a warm studio. NOW what I'm doing is Bikram yoga, aka HOT HOT HOT yoga. 26 poses in a room that is over 100 degrees. It sounds.... not fun, but I actually enjoy it and feel great afterwards. I've been doing it after running and it feels great to stretch thoroughly after running, and/or just to relax.
• American TV! After almost 9 months and some people mentioning it to me, I thought it was too complicated, and although it was, slightly, I FINALLY (literally, just today), got a VPN! Virtual Private Network, aka I live in the Middle East and many websites are blocked, such as hulu.com, and this is a way to surpass that - the computer thinks its in the States. So NOW I can have a little taste of American TV! And it's especially fun because I actually DON'T have a TV (gasp) and this is a good outlet on those days you just want to veg out.
• Hmm... what else... similar social things - going out to eat, watching movies, meeting for coffee/tea, etc.  

And of course a goal of mine here is to try NEW and different things. So far... umm... it hasn't been that much. Oops! I was apart of a Spanish/English/French intercambio - basically an exchange to learn languages. When I went, it was a mixed group of people trying to brush up on their French and/or Spanish, and it was pretty good! I feel I've lost a lot from not hearing Spanish here practically at all, so it has been good to practice - and has made me more confident to speak with the few Spanish patients that I see at work. Unfortunately, because so many people leave for the summer, it is on a bit of a hiatus. 

I also want to try Standing Paddle Boarding! It is what it sounds like, you stand on a surf-board type board in the sea, have paddles, and board away! I have had a few friends that have done it, and they say it is a great core and balance exercise - and fun! And again, here it is good to take advantage of sea/water activities... that's something I definitely can't do year around in Chicago! 

There it is! Bringing Chicago life to Dubai life!! :-)