by Deborah Quinn | Feb 14, 2019 | Abu Dhabi, family, Kids, marriage, Travel
It’s Valentine’s Day and a friend just asked for advice about planning a safari, so it seems appropriate to re-post this meditation on love, marriage, shit, and rainbows. You know, just your basic extended metaphor but with hippos. One of the gifts, for...
by Deborah Quinn | Nov 21, 2018 | Abu Dhabi, NaBloPoMo, shopping
As someone who has now lived outside the United States for almost eight years, I’ve (almost) gotten used to living with a different holiday calendar. The UAE just celebrated the Prophet’s Birthday, for instance, but Veteran’s Day, Columbus Day, and...
by Deborah Quinn | Aug 6, 2016 | Abu Dhabi, Children, expat, family, Politics
In July 2004, when I was about five thousand weeks pregnant, I told my midwife that I was about to fly to Northern Michigan for summer vacation. She looked at me and shook her head at my delusional self. Slowly, as if to a not-too-bright-child, she explained that...
by Deborah Quinn | Jul 16, 2016 | Abu Dhabi, Politics, religion, The National, UAE
Last week I wrote an article for The National about the newly ironic question of “where do you feel safe?” That’s the second question people ask when I tell them where I live, as if Abu Dhabi is some terrifying city “over there.” But...
by Deborah Quinn | Jul 6, 2016 | Abu Dhabi, Children, Education, growing up, Kids, World Moms Blog
“Global citizen” is a phrase I’m hearing a lot lately. That’s what we’re all supposed to be aiming towards–at least, those of us who didn’t vote for “Brexit” or aren’t in favor of the Trumpian wall. ...
by Deborah Quinn | Jul 6, 2016 | Abu Dhabi, religion
Eid mubarak! The long days of Ramadan have passed, and now it’s the time for celebration. We’re in New York already, and still in the hazy fugue-like state of jet lag (compounded by having been in Bangkok ten days ago); I wake up in the middle of the night...