Friends, Nomads, Lend me your votes!

Ok, so remember that travel photo contest I mentioned a while ago?
Well I submitted a very silly picture of myself from my traineeship in Egypt...
and I'm a FINALIST!!!

So what do I need now?
YOU to vote for me!

Yeah!
I know there are a lot of cool pictures in there. Some may be cooler than mine... but you are my bretheren, therefore you must vote for me!

Well, I won't make you- but I would appreciate it!

Here's where you can find it.

Thanks guys!

to strip, or not to strip?

Debate of the day: what is the proper way to eat pumpkin seeds?

I bought a little package of pumpkin seeds today to go with my lunch. Being the friendly office-mate that I am, I offered some to my co-workers. They declined, so I started eating them. I thought they were going to cry. "Holly, you have to open them first!!!"
I disagreed- explaining that while you are able to remove the shell, it isn't necessary with pumpkin seeds. The shell is soft, unlike sunflower seeds, for example- besides that where all the flavor is.
I made them try it my way. You would think I asked them to ingest cat claws or something judging by the looks of pain and disgust on their faces.
I, in turn, tried it their way. Fine, but cumbersome and unnecessary, I determined.

I started to think of all the people I had eaten pumpkin seeds socially with. A fair number, suprisingly. I think all of them ate with the shell on. But maybe I just don't remember.

So, I ask, which is the "right" way? To strip, or not to strip?

Movin on up

We finally moved!!!

Now the current resident of a lovely villa in Mirdif (the 'burbs).
So far it is fabulous.
Friday was moving day. A wonderful day- complete with my first Ikea delivery and meeting my new neighbors.
The neighbor directly across the courtyard from us is very friendly. He invited us over, gave us tips on the cleaning and laundry services he uses, what he tips the watchman each month, etc. And- I found out that he designed the Mall of America! My home turf! And the Mall of the Emirates- but I am less emotionally attached to that one. ; )

(If all of this makes me sound fancy, don't be fooled!)

But it is so wonderful to finally have a washing machine. Or to say fun things like "I think that's in the kitchen". Or to have stairs, and a stove. Wow. We even have free satelite that shows the world cup games! Too bad we don't have a TV... : ) can't win them all.

Thursday is our welcome party- house warming/friend's birthday. Fabulous! Perhaps I will be able to post some pictures...? Inshallah.

Travel Photo Contest

Attention all fabulous nomadic females!

TangoDiva.com has a Travel Photo Contest that they are running through June 20th.
They are looking for pics of (solo) women in awesome places around the world.
There is a vacation retreat prize & (the cooler one) the possibility of being published in a book!
FLY SOLO: The 50 Best Places on Earth For a Girl to Travel Alone

Pretty cool, right? For sure within this massive community of nomads, we have a ton of great snaps of the fairer sex doing the sight-seeing thing.

Sorry guys, we don't care about your adventures. ;)

The most dangerous thing I did this weekend:

watched the Germany/Costa Rica match in a room full of Germans
and cheered for Costa Rica.

Well, they couldn't get too mad at me- I brought oatmeal raisin cookies. Yum!

Oman!

Oman this weekend was a fantastic adventure!

A little bit too hot...

Ok- a LOT too hot...

I think at some point we all thought we would die there.

But we didn't.

Despite the heat we managed to see some sites and places. Got to mark off another entry in my 1000 places book- the Bustan Palace Hotel. Nice! (I know, I need a camera) I think people could smell poor on us though. Or maybe it was the sweat. Either way.
We hung out for a bit- I had a Cuba Libre and Sarah tried to teach me chess. A solid effort on her part- but I was a fairly unwilling student.
Forgot to get a postcard again though. Shoot.

Oh well, I'm sure I will go back- although not until fall if I can help it!

The locals in Oman are wonderful. Less like Emirates and more like Egyptians. Warm, friendly, using their hands a lot when they talk, and not too snobby to walk in the streets.

Why do all the places with great people have bad job markets? Maybe the good job markets bring in bad people...? The chicken or the egg?

Anyway- Oman as a destination- two thumbs up. In June- one thumb up. And its a sweaty thumb. I think another excursion is in order.