Giving Thanks

When you are an expat, being away from your family, friends, and church is always hard.  No matter how hard you try, you can't help but miss out on family celebrations; you hear about exciting news after everyone else, and you feel a bit of jealousy when you see pictures of our loved ones actually having fun without us.

Now that is not to say that us expats are sitting in a corner, pining away and wiping our tears.  We make it work. We look for the positives in our new situation.  (Sometimes the positive is difficult to find, but we always do!)  But most importantly, we make new friends and they make up our expat family.  Our expat family is pretty big.  The people who are a part of that family come from all over the world.   Having this new family is pretty much what sustains us so far from 'home'.   

This year our Thanksgiving was spent with 65 expats.  There were people everywhere!  There were four turkeys, one ham (yes, ham!), five huge bowls of stuffing, four massive bowls of potatoes, rolls, squash, green beans, cranberries....oh...so much!  I am full again just thinking about it!!    Our dinnertime stories shared were of  the places we have lived, the vacations we have taken, and the tales of our real families so far away.   It was a wonderful cool evening (around 80) spent dining in a beautiful yard.  We are so thankful to have this family.

The day after Thanksgiving is typically when Sarah and I would head out at 3AM for black Friday shopping.  There were several years where this adventure was shared with Jim's sister, Janet.  We loved this day.  This year as black Friday approached Sarah and I did lots of reminiscing and dreaming of the day we'll get to do it again!  Then we were invited to another Thanksgiving dinner.  We have now found a better way to spend the day after Thanksgiving.


The USS Whidbey was coming into port on the day after Thanksgiving.  The school was contacted and asked if any ASD (American School of Dubai) parents would consider having around 20 marines and sailors over for dinner.  A wonderful friend of mine, Stephanie Buck, didn't hesitate to offer up her house.  She then contacted a few other friends, and dinner number two was created.  We went through the usual planning as the expat dinner.  Stephanie coordinated who would bring the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, etc., etc.   My mind pictured another Thanksgiving dinner.

Around 2 PM a small bus pulled in front of Stephanine's house and a group of young men and women unloaded.  Aside from looking very young (which is really just a reflection of my age), they just looked so happy.  Here were these kids in their early 20's who were just thrilled to be, as one young man put it, "on solid ground for a while".   They went out Stephanie's back door onto the beach.  Some quickly picked up the volleyball, some jumped into the water, and others sat on her wonderful deck and just enjoyed the breeze.  When the food was ready to be served we all shared in Grace.  The Chaplains words made my heart full.   When the guests stepped into the kitchen and saw the remarkable buffet, there were little shouts of "yes!!    Smiles everywhere.

As the day continued we watched these dedicated young people enjoying their downtime.  We talked about their families and their home towns.  He learned they had been on the Whidbey for seven months already and still had another four to go.   When the Dubai hour grew late enough, Stephanie informed everyone that the US was now waking up.  Time to Skype!   Each taking their turn, these young men and women had a chance to call home.  What a valuable gift. 

Towards the end of the evening the Chaplain presented Stephanie and her husband, Mike, with a plaque.  They thanked the Bucks and everyone else who provided food.  Then he asked the guests if they had anything to say.  As I think about it my eyes still fill with tears.  These young kids were so thankful to be welcomed into a home.  They were so thankful for their Thanksgiving dinner, and they were thankful to be apart of our expat family, if only for a few hours.

Today they are gone.  They are out somewhere in their "grey box" floating around.  They are a presence in the waters.   They are there for us.  They are there to keep us safe.    They are giving us something for which we are sincerely thankful.   Sarah and I still do miss the chance to wake up at 3AM and go shopping, but the gift we are receiving from these dedicated men and women is something more valuable than anything we'd find in any store.

HGTV

Being an expat has given us some amazing experiences.  Over the past three years the kids have learned how to ski in the Alps, floated in the Dead Sea in Jordan, and rode segways through the streets of Prague.  They have visited 16+ countries (the number varies because of school and sport trips).  It has all been just amazing.  But I now have another adventure to add to the list.  We are all going to be on TV!

HGTV has begun filming for a new show, Living Abroad.  It is a show that features American expats living in many different parts of the world.  One show will feature Amsterdam, another Paris, yet another Australia.  There are 11 cities in all.  And...Dubai is one of them.

In August, shortly after we returned from our summer vacation, the school newsletter had a short note announcing that HGTV was looking for expat families for their new show.  I filled out the brief application and sent it out along with a few pictures of the kids and the villa.  Towards the end of September I received a note from the HGTV casting director asking me to complete a questionnaire.  It was 8 pages long!!  I e-mailed that back in (all to Colorado) .  A week later on a Thursday night (10 PM), I received an e-mail telling me they wanted to "pitch my family to the network - tomorrow".  They asked for a short video introducing the family.   Because of the time, we were all sitting around in our PJ's watching TV.  I told everyone to get dressed - quick!  We had to make a movie.   Kevin took out his video camera and away we went!  By 11PM we were done, Kevin had sent off the video, and we were back in our PJ's!   The following week we received notice that we had been selected to be on the show!!

So, time to prepare!  Jim and I took some of our pictures we had purchased on our travels to be framed,  I went shopping for a few arab decorations and, of course, a new outfit!  Jim arrived home the day before the shoot and we hung pictures, dusted high places, and tried on clothes.  We were ready!

The HGTV crew along with High Noon Productions and a local crew arrived at our house on Friday, Octobober 25.  They arrived at 8 AM in two vans filled (FILLED) with cameras, lights, sound stuff, make-up, absolutely the works!   We began by showing them around the house.  Every room was shown and talked about.  Then the two producers sat down alone and made the decisions on where and what to film inside of the house.  (editorial:  I don't know if I would have made the same choices, but, hey....I'm not the star yet!)

The took Sarah and I into Brian's room, which by now had been converted into the make-up room.  We both were completely made up and hair done.  For me having eye shadow and liner is a major deal!  I felt like I had on 3" of make-up!   The boys just received a little powder to get rid of their shine!

Next they put the mics on Jim and I.  At this point, we were the only two "wired up".  We then all were asked to be seated on the couch in the TV room and just be casual.  The show host would come in and join us as if just stopping in.  She came in, sat down, and we talked about living in Dubai.  She asked us some very direct questions and then gave the prompt of "let's see the rest of the house!"  We all stood up.  Then we sat down and did it again.  Then we sat down and did it again!  Each time they director would say "looked great, let's do it again!"  They wanted us all in the same places so they could be consistent with the shot while editing.

After the living room scene, they told me they wanted to film my closet and bathroom.  So here is the part where I was pretty surprised.  Having shown them around the whole house, I would not have picked the closet and bathroom as highlights.  The reason they picked the closet was to give me an opportunity to talk about the "red card" I received while shopping in the Dubai Mall last year.  It was a card reminding me to dress conservatively.  The reason they picked the bathroom was to highlight the fact that there are no outlets in the bathroom and that I have an extension cord running from the bedroom, down the hall, and into the bathroom.   (editorial:  they told me to refer to the bathroom as a man's room because of the lack of outlets.  I think this is to add humor to the portion.  In hindsight, I would have preferred just referring to the area as being designed by a man...lack of storage and outlets.  Again....not my show!)

We then went down to the kitchen where they discussed my lack of cooking but my expertise in ordering in!  I had referred to this in my application when I talked about the food delivery options here and how they will deliver one "happy meal" to your house...on a scooter!  This segment was a bit scripted too, but no editorial from me this time!

Now came the hard part (for me).  They sat Jim and I down in the living room on our kitchen stools.  The producer asked us interview questions, told us to look at the camera while answering, and to answer the question with  the question.   I was SO NERVOUS!   The lights, the microphone, the camera, and the people watching just made the butterflies in my stomach go wild!   I kept saying over and over in my head...."sit up, keep your shoulders back, smile, don't giggle, answer nicely,stay positive, keep smiling".   OMG AND OMG!  AND keep your hands in your lap so that you don't touch the microphone tucked down in your shirt!    I so wish I had a do-over for that part.  I don't think my friends and family will be impressed at all with my interview skills!   I am not sure at all what I did say, but have been dwelling on what I did not say.  OK, I'll get over it!

After our interview, we all headed to Ski Dubai.  They wanted to film the kids skiing.  That was a long 2 1/2 hours of standing in the cold and snow for Jim and I, but it was so fun to watch the kids and watch the people watching our kids!  The camera man went down the slopes backwards filming the kids.  Sarah was skiing and the boys snow boarding.  They missed Sarah a few times because she came down so fast.  By the time we spotted her, her run was done!  The boys were not as quick, so they filmed them plenty.  They also filmed them going up in the ski lift.  The camera man sat on the lift in front of the kids and the hostess.  Then they filmed they tubing.   It was SO fun.

From Ski Dubai we headed to a small local grocery store.  None of the grocery stores here would let them take pictures inside except some little market.  I was the only one interviewed inside and was giving the hostess a tour of the Dubai favorites and odds and ends.  We took several shots in there too, all the time smiling and trying to cover it all.

After the grocery store shoot, the hostess and make-up artist left and the rest of us headed back to the house.  The asked Sarah to change into soccer gear and filmed her doing a brief training session with Jim   You will notice she is wearing her Friendswood Mustangs shirt in this segment!  Kind of a plug for our home town and, hopefully, her try-out for the FHS soccer team all in one shot!

They then told us that our kids are the only teenagers filmed in the entire show. I mean from every city.  They then did an interview with the kids like the one that Jim and I had earlier.  They asked them questions and told them to answer the question with the question.  "What food do you miss the most, Kevin?"  Kevin answers "The food I miss the most from the US is baby back ribs.".  See....how clever!  

The filming wrapped up around 6 PM.  It was wild.  It was crazy.  It was so fun!  The show will begin airing in the US in March.  They don't know when the Dubai episode will air, but have told us they'll send us a DVD of the show.

One more editorial:  While the experience was absolutely amazing and I am so glad we did it, there were so many things about living in Dubai that were not covered.   I would have loved to talk about and introduce Maris, our maid.  Tell how much she does, how inexpensive it is for live-in help, and how EVERYONE has a housekeeper.  I would love to talk about driving on Sheik Zayed Road, our 12 lane highway.  How driving here has made me such an aggressive driver.  I would love to talk about what I do at the school .    I am hoping that I was not asked about these things because another family will cover it.  There were 4 families filmed in Dubai. 

We love HGTV.  I now know that they do script many of the comments from people.  I do know they don't always film what you would want, and I do know that they have an amazing group of people working for them.   I can't wait for this to air.  I am so hopeful that everyone will gain a true understanding of life here.  The good, the bad, and the dusty! 

It was such a fun day!  I told the kids it was the best experience EVER!  They asked me if it was "better than the experience of being an expat?"    Another experience I would not change.