It's a Small World After All!...and There's No Place Like Home!

     That is one long title, but I can't help it, it all applies to this post!! So, by Saturday I was pretty well spent. I had already been out every day since my arrival and I was operating on very little sleep. (And, if you read my previous post, then you know that my Friday was a fun, but long day.) Back to Saturday. After loafing around and sleeping away a good chunk of the day, I was pleasantly surprised to receive my first official call on my UAE cell phone! (i.e. One that I did not know was coming, from someone I was not expecting to call.)
     It was Ramona, who I had just met the day before, and she wanted to know if I needed some hangover food like she did. I did, so Maureen and Irma trekked with me to the Al Wahda mall so we could meet Ramona at Fuddruckers. Yes, people, Fuddruckers. This is where the 'no place like home' part comes in. Abu Dhabi has all the creature comforts of home and then some, complete with the vat of cheese at Fuddruckers. I had a yummy chicken sandwich and enjoyed the company of some great people. We also stopped at Cinnabon on the way out to get some to go treats. Not to mention the fact that Starbucks is everywhere and makes me think of my bux buddies back in Binghamton. Just like home I tell ya!

At Lulu!

     Onto the small world part. On Friday, Ramona had mentioned offhand that she knew someone named Sergio. I told her that I also knew someone here named Sergio. (Melissa D's brother Rob, grew up with Sergio in Brooklyn, so Melissa passed his name along to me. We wrote a few times on FB so I could get some info on life in UAE.) As it turns out?....Same Sergio! So, I thought it was odd enough that she knew this one random person that I sort of know, but this is where it gets strange. We are leaving Fuddruckers and someone calls Ramona's name. I look down at the booth and there is Sergio! Can you believe it? I couldn't, and still think it's kind of crazy even days later. I am clear on the other side of the world and I run into someone from Brooklyn who I met on Facebook....NUTS!!

They closed the one in Oakdale, so it's nice to have one here

    While my mind was still reeling from that serendipitous incident, I have another small world/just like home experience a few days later. Ben, Maureen and I are walking through Lulu to pick up some groceries, (Seriously, this chain is as addictive as Target and I have been in a Lulu 6 out of the 8 days I've been here.), and we run into Ramona! Out of all the Lulu locations, we pick the one where someone we happen to know is shopping. It is just like running into someone from high school at Wegmans, except it's happening across the world! There is something about running into people I know out in public that just makes me feel at home. I actually think that is what has made me feel the most comfortable here. (That and the great people I get to hang out with every day.)

Not mentioned in the post, but these pictures
remind me of home in two ways. 1)They are
located on the wall of a Cosi, which is a place
I love to go in the city. 2)The same pictures
hang on my bedroom wall at home.

  The last thing that makes me feel like home is the fact that my hotel is located a few buildings away from a tent rental store. If you don't know me, I'll fill you in...my parents own a rental store and I've worked there on and off for the last 14 years. It looks like I just can't get away from tents. It's strange, but oddly comforting. I definitely feel very lucky to be adapting so easily to this new life I'm carving out for myself. It helps to know that I can get anything I could get at home right here in the UAE. That, combined with the fact that I am making friends that will soon become my support system as well, makes me very confident about the next two years. Now, if only I would get my school assignment....=)

Right next door!