September 24, 2014

This night… what a wonderful, wonderful night. It seems so long ago as I write this post now, on the 21st of November)… but it really wasn’t that long ago!

This night, and this whole weekend actually, will go down in the books as one of the greatest weekends of my life. Octoberfest brunch at Uncle Sam’s house (the US embassy) and a Gatsby-themed dinner party at a beautiful resort… meeting absolutely wonderful new people and re-connecting with other absolutely wonderful people…

Octoberfest brunch at the US embassy was a lot of fun!!! Good food… some foods I haven’t had in ages 😉 and some beverages that were particularly refreshing out in the hot sun. It was really really warm in the sun but that definitely didn’t stop people from dancing and having fun! I met a bunch of really great warm and friendly people who I can’t wait to hang out with again! Unfortunately, the brunch ended early in the afternoon… wasn’t nearly ready to stop yet… oh well…

Next event of the day…

So, somehow, I managed to get myself invited to yet another themed party… with minimal time to prepare! Fortunately, a Gatsby themed party doesn’t require crazy outfits… just a lot of sequins and feathers and gold and such. Not hard to acquire in this country!!

I went to the dinner party with a bunch of girls from my orientation group as somehow, despite being invited by different people, we all were ending up at the same party! And parties are always more fun and exciting when you get to experience them with your girls!!

The drive out to the resort took a while… but when we got there, it was absolutely gorgeous!! Long palm tree lined driveways… beautiful fountains…

And a golden horse that rotated slowly, near the entrance to the party!!

There were tables set up outside on the patio for dinner with beautiful, colorful flower balls overhead and stunning flower arrangements on the tables… beautiful lights…

We arrived around 930, thinking we’d be late for dinner as we were told it started at 9pm. Totally forgot that we’re in Saudi, and things run on Saudi time… which is generally behind! Dinner wasn’t served until nearly midnight… so we got to sit around and enjoy lovely drinks and met a whole bunch of wonderful new people… and reconnected with the girls from the orientation group as well as from the radiation clinic.

After dinner the music started and we danced a bit… but mostly we just chilled on the patio in the beautiful night air just talking with all the great new people we got to meet…

It was such a beautiful evening… I feel like the luckiest girl ever sometimes!!! Who throws just a simple dinner party that looks like this??!!!

I really loved these brilliant flower balls! They were huge!! Like a good 2 feet in diameter!!!

And the pretty white/blue lights with long glowy strands you could wrap around yourself…

Even the bathrooms were pretty!!!

And finally… shortly before sunrise… the shwarma came out and we stuffed our faces with shwarma before we left to go back home…

It was an absolutely wonderful weekend… full of friendship and laughter and relaxation and just really good times building memories and connections with beautiful people!!! Really enjoying this life out here!!

More to come… stay tuned…

xo

Annemarie