Easter in Abu Dhabi

For the past two Easters, I've been on the road taking advantage of the week-long break created by the necessity for my school in BiH to recognize both Catholic/Protestant and Orthodox Easter. In 2009 I was in Scotland, and in 2010 I was visiting my friend Nidzara in Bugojno, Bosnia. So as nice as that was, it was good this year to be settled and celebrate with a church congregation. On Friday, I hosted egg-dying and painting for faculty and their kids as well as students. It's always good to see stressed college kids playing with face paint and Easter baskets, and we're total creepers when it comes to opportunities to actually interact with families and little kids. The event was a huge success, but I ordered WAY too many hard-boiled eggs, so Cassie and I teamed up with our RA, Maria, to make an absolutely epic batch of deviled eggs. Despite a steady stream of people coming in to sample them, we still haven't finished them off.

On Friday night we had a screening of The Passion of the Christ. This was the first time I had seen the film, and I have to say it was even more impactful to me because after studying Arabic, I could understand some of what they were saying. I know there were some artistic liberties taken and deviations from scripture, but the idea that a man lived in this part of the world and died for my sake is still there, and it's still absolutely amazing. So it was good to finally watch the film, and it led to some really cool conversations with classmates after.

Sunday is a weekday here, but I took the day off school and went to the sunrise service at the only evangelical church here with a few other students. We don't see dawn in Abu Dhabi very often (if we do, it's usually coming from the other direction of having stayed up all night), but the city is beautiful! I wish I'd gotten to know it better. Later in the day, the Dean of Residential Life and his wife hosted a lovely Easter dinner in their apartment.

I'm so glad I took the time to reflect, remember, and celebrate Easter. It's such a busy time right now (well, isn't it always?) as we're just a couple of weeks away from the end of the semester and I've been on Struggle Street as far as keeping energy up and staying motivated. On a light note, at our prayer time the other night Erin introduced us to these Korean candies from Al Safa (our neighborhood supermarket). Basically, these things are espresso in hard candy form. Which bodes well for my concentration in class...maybe not so well for my general health and well-being.