The last few days have been interesting to say the least. I am still trying to figure out what day of the week it is.
haha
I flew out of Boise on May 5th in the afternoon. it was a very vapory day for me. I kept finding myself crying at the most random times. In case you didn't know, I am not a big crier, so the fact that I was crying as much as I was really surprised me. I cried in the Boise terminal at the thought of leaving my beautiful home, Boise.
I cried when I thought about SHekinah and Clayton driving out of my Boise and my weekly life. I cried at the thought of seeing my family, and I cried from exhaustion I guess.
Anyways, so I boarded the plane and slept most of the way to Chicago (lay over #1).
In Chicago I left the terminals and headed down to baggage claim because Amber was on her way to the airport with Noel to see me for a few minutes. They got delayed and we ended up missing each other by just a few minutes.
I then found my gate for my next flight. This is when I realized that the rest of thie trip was going to be LONG!
It was about 10pm when my second flight left Chicago.
Layover #2 was in Frankfurt Germany. Needless to say I was surrounded by German speaking people. I found myself constantly wishing that I had learned just a few key phrases in German. Things as simple as "thank you" and "water" and "yes" would have been great.
Apparently I look alot more European than I thought because everyone seemed to address me in German, and I wanted to play along so badly that I would try and not talk but rather communicate in grunts and hand gestures so they would think I am just a moody German or something. hahaha
It worked at sometimes. I managed to order my meal that way.
The german couple sitting next to me seemed oddly fascinated with my eating habits. When I tore little pieces for bread of the roll they had given me and ate the chunks with little pieces of cheese they literally watched me like they had never seen anything like it. I just enjoy my cheese is all. Eating is a sacred thing to me and I savor it. hhahahahha
The plane landed in Germany at 1 something in the afternoon. So at this point I had left Boise during an afternoon hour, arrived in Chicago in the evening and left late at night, then It is afternoon again in Germany. My body was thinking I had been traveling for 24 hours at this point. Not the case.
So I land in Germany, and navigate through the airport. This included taking a tram to a different terminal, walking a uncanny long way considering I am used to trams actually taking you near a terminal,going through security again, unsuccessfully searching for a bathroom, and finally finding my gate. I didn't have a long wait in terrminal before boarding. I boarded the plane and was once again seated by a German speaking couple.
I was seated by the window and felt bad when I had to make them get up so I could visit the toilet as soon as the seatbelt sign was off (remember my unsuccessful search for an airport bathroom?).
I slept through most of that really long flight to Dubai, Sadly I slept through breakfast. I barely missed it too. I was a bit upset that the flight attendant didn't ask me when I woke up if I wanted breakfast. They do it for other people. :[
When our flight landed and I got off the plane it was late night in Dubai.
So lets recap. I left on the 5th of May.
Boise = afternoon
Chicago= afternoon to evening
Germany=afternoon
Dubai=late night.
Sounds like two days right?
It had been about 24 hours.
I followed along with the crowd like a bunch of hearded sheepies through the Dubai airport.
It took us in little circles and up and down stairs.
Then to the Passport Control area. The lines were terribly long and never seemed to move. Eventually a man working there told me and a few other people to move down to the "first line" so we walked down to where we thought might be the "first line" and kept looking back at the man in the traditional white Dubai outfit that had told us to move lines.
The guy who was behind me in line before was an english speaker from Florida and was just as confused as I was as to where the first line was.
We finally agreed that we may have found it. He made me be the brave one though and go first. What a pansy for a man. He was at least 10 years older than me and afraid to walk down the wrong line. haha
So I go to the counter, they send me a few counters down to a lady. She just scans my passport, asks me where I am staying and my parents villa number and sends me on my way.
My bag was right there at baggage claim and the exit was right there too.
I walked outside and was a bit confused as to how I was going to find a cab and what not.
I saw a bunch of people standing in lines outside and they managed to somehow be paired up with a cab there so I figured "hey why not stand in another line? I am a pro at that by now.".
Shortest line of the day.
I got a cab with a really nice driver and headed out to my parents house.
My parents live on the opposite of Dubai from the airport so I got to take a late night drive through Dubai.
When we got to my parents community we got quite lost. The security did a terrible job about giving us directions and we ended up driving around for a good 20 minutes before finding the Villa.
We did get there though. It was after mid-night by this time.
In this time zone that made it my birthday!
it was about 3 pm May 6th back home, but here it was my birthday!
that is my cross the globe travel story.
I'll maybe blog later.
I'll tell you more about my parents Villa, and my trip to the mall.
maybe I will get ambitious and post pictures before I get home.
I am planning to upload pictures onto a photobucket of my upcoming adventures as well as some older ones.
I will share the link here once I have more of the albums finished.
:]
That will be better than posting on facebook or a few here and there.
haha
I flew out of Boise on May 5th in the afternoon. it was a very vapory day for me. I kept finding myself crying at the most random times. In case you didn't know, I am not a big crier, so the fact that I was crying as much as I was really surprised me. I cried in the Boise terminal at the thought of leaving my beautiful home, Boise.
I cried when I thought about SHekinah and Clayton driving out of my Boise and my weekly life. I cried at the thought of seeing my family, and I cried from exhaustion I guess.
Anyways, so I boarded the plane and slept most of the way to Chicago (lay over #1).
In Chicago I left the terminals and headed down to baggage claim because Amber was on her way to the airport with Noel to see me for a few minutes. They got delayed and we ended up missing each other by just a few minutes.
I then found my gate for my next flight. This is when I realized that the rest of thie trip was going to be LONG!
It was about 10pm when my second flight left Chicago.
Layover #2 was in Frankfurt Germany. Needless to say I was surrounded by German speaking people. I found myself constantly wishing that I had learned just a few key phrases in German. Things as simple as "thank you" and "water" and "yes" would have been great.
Apparently I look alot more European than I thought because everyone seemed to address me in German, and I wanted to play along so badly that I would try and not talk but rather communicate in grunts and hand gestures so they would think I am just a moody German or something. hahaha
It worked at sometimes. I managed to order my meal that way.
The german couple sitting next to me seemed oddly fascinated with my eating habits. When I tore little pieces for bread of the roll they had given me and ate the chunks with little pieces of cheese they literally watched me like they had never seen anything like it. I just enjoy my cheese is all. Eating is a sacred thing to me and I savor it. hhahahahha
The plane landed in Germany at 1 something in the afternoon. So at this point I had left Boise during an afternoon hour, arrived in Chicago in the evening and left late at night, then It is afternoon again in Germany. My body was thinking I had been traveling for 24 hours at this point. Not the case.
So I land in Germany, and navigate through the airport. This included taking a tram to a different terminal, walking a uncanny long way considering I am used to trams actually taking you near a terminal,going through security again, unsuccessfully searching for a bathroom, and finally finding my gate. I didn't have a long wait in terrminal before boarding. I boarded the plane and was once again seated by a German speaking couple.
I was seated by the window and felt bad when I had to make them get up so I could visit the toilet as soon as the seatbelt sign was off (remember my unsuccessful search for an airport bathroom?).
I slept through most of that really long flight to Dubai, Sadly I slept through breakfast. I barely missed it too. I was a bit upset that the flight attendant didn't ask me when I woke up if I wanted breakfast. They do it for other people. :[
When our flight landed and I got off the plane it was late night in Dubai.
So lets recap. I left on the 5th of May.
Boise = afternoon
Chicago= afternoon to evening
Germany=afternoon
Dubai=late night.
Sounds like two days right?
It had been about 24 hours.
I followed along with the crowd like a bunch of hearded sheepies through the Dubai airport.
It took us in little circles and up and down stairs.
Then to the Passport Control area. The lines were terribly long and never seemed to move. Eventually a man working there told me and a few other people to move down to the "first line" so we walked down to where we thought might be the "first line" and kept looking back at the man in the traditional white Dubai outfit that had told us to move lines.
The guy who was behind me in line before was an english speaker from Florida and was just as confused as I was as to where the first line was.
We finally agreed that we may have found it. He made me be the brave one though and go first. What a pansy for a man. He was at least 10 years older than me and afraid to walk down the wrong line. haha
So I go to the counter, they send me a few counters down to a lady. She just scans my passport, asks me where I am staying and my parents villa number and sends me on my way.
My bag was right there at baggage claim and the exit was right there too.
I walked outside and was a bit confused as to how I was going to find a cab and what not.
I saw a bunch of people standing in lines outside and they managed to somehow be paired up with a cab there so I figured "hey why not stand in another line? I am a pro at that by now.".
Shortest line of the day.
I got a cab with a really nice driver and headed out to my parents house.
My parents live on the opposite of Dubai from the airport so I got to take a late night drive through Dubai.
When we got to my parents community we got quite lost. The security did a terrible job about giving us directions and we ended up driving around for a good 20 minutes before finding the Villa.
We did get there though. It was after mid-night by this time.
In this time zone that made it my birthday!
it was about 3 pm May 6th back home, but here it was my birthday!
that is my cross the globe travel story.
I'll maybe blog later.
I'll tell you more about my parents Villa, and my trip to the mall.
maybe I will get ambitious and post pictures before I get home.
I am planning to upload pictures onto a photobucket of my upcoming adventures as well as some older ones.
I will share the link here once I have more of the albums finished.
:]
That will be better than posting on facebook or a few here and there.
----------------------------------
Welcome to the Villa
This is my family's villa.
view from my window and into the front yard.
our grass is coming up in a few places
this is the back of the house
My dad took me out for my birthday on my first night here.
We went to a place called Shakespeare and Company.
It took me a good two days to eat this. :]
Notice the yummy leafy greens. LOVELY!
Now I am going to throw out a bunch of random photos that don't need much of an explanation, and won't get one anyway. :]
--------------------------
Dubai - Al Karama
I was going to try and pace myself as far as blogging is concerned. It feels strange to blog while I am here. I blog more regularly to keep up with my family and now that I am with them it feels strange. I have realized though, that if I don't just hurry up and do things already then I will never do them, instead I will lounge around drinking water and eating chocolate while I read. SO here I am blogging.
I am soooo excited about this.
Yesterday my mom, sister in law, and I all took the train into Al Karama.
Al Karama is one of those areas where real people live, and all the splendour and grandour has not yet over taken the area.
There are street after street of shops, there are little cracker box apartments with clothes hanging out the windows to dry.
We went to so some shopping.
To do my favorite kind of shopping, the kind where you barter for your purchase, and leave spending a third of the price you would have at a mall.
I wanted to buy color. The more vibrant the better.
As we walked down the streets and through the walkways between shops the shop owners and those working in them would come right up to you and try to entice you into their stores.
You would hear 5 or 6 of them at a time, all of them offering you hand bags, watches, polos, shoes, sunglasses; and "designer" ones at that.
I would try to list all the ones but I know I would mispell the labels an have the fashion police knocking down my door.
When you finally did decide on the store you would go into, the people working within are so attentive. They see you looking at something and immediately pull it off the shelf and start showing it to you, then they ask you if you want other colors, sizes, brands, and maybe some for your friends.
The shops are so colorful and full of sooooo much treasure.
You ask them the price and they give you some really high price. "380 durham but I can make a bargain for you".
If you tell them that you aren't looking to pay that much then they slowly start bringing down the price. They will say "we usually charge this much, but I will give you the Arab price."
It is my favorite thing ever!!!!!!!!!
I bought some bed spreads.
(I know it sounds granny like, but I already know that I have alot of granny like tendencies)
The original price for them is about 360 durham.
I paid 200 for one, and the second about 250.
I know it sounds like alot, but really it was about 60-70 US dollars.
I also bought some harem pants and have officially fallen in love. I thought they were the dumbest things before, but now that I am here, and I have some, I LOVE THEM!
They are so comfy and pretty, and perfect for this climate.
I think I would like to go back one last time before returning home.
I just got distracted by a stringed Egyptian instrument. I will post more later!
------------------------------------------------
Dubai- Henna
Today was my first attempt at using henna.
I have wanted to try it out for years, but was limited by the fact that henna is so hard to come by in the states.
I finally did find some in Boise but couldn't bring myself to pay 13 some dollars for it.
Lucky for me I wound up in a place where henna is an everyday part of life.
I went to the Carrefour a while back with Andy, Tehra and some of the babies to just do a simple shopping.
I went down one of the beauty aisles in the store and found a bunch of henna. Some pre-mixed and in tubes, some in powder form, hair henna, nail henna, you name it and it was probably there and at a great price. (some of the tubes were less than 1 US dollar)
I grabbed a bunch of different packages of it and threw it in the cart.
Today I finally got brave enough to test it out.
I went on-line and looked up a bunch of henna designs and printed off a few just for inspiration.
I sat out on the pack patio in the heat of the day, decked out in my harem pants while sitting on a braided rug.
I started at the tip of my middle toe and slowly wound my way up the side of my calf letting the henna kind of form its own design.
That may be a strange concept but I have noticed that some colors and designs kind of make themselves and the artist has no idea what is happening until after it is done.
I used to try to get some of my friends to paint with me, and they would tell me all about how they don't know how or what to paint. I would just tell them to find a color that they love and then use it, and the piece would pull itself together. It worked everytime! :]
I used the pattern I printed at first to make sure I stuck with a central theme, but didn't actually follow it all the way through. I mostly squeezed the henna directly from a tube but had to use a skewer at times to get thinner lines.
All in all I am happy with how it turned out.
I feel it is the perfect feminine touch. It is subtle and natural but beautiful!
After the henna all happened My mom, Josiah and I went out for coffee with the neighbor lady and her little girl.
We had a nice time sipping our iced coffee and chatting while seated outside by the pond. We didn't sit outside long because it was terribly hot.
We ate some sandwiches from the cafe and then headed home after.
I feel like some very important things happened after, but aside from an evening swim with Josiah, I cannot think of anything.
--------------------------------------------
Abu-Dhabi- Al Ain
Today we drove out to to see a man about a camel.
Yes I am being serious,
We left Dubai for the Emirate Abu Dhabi.
We heard about a camel market there in Al Ain.
We had a slight detour which found us at palace museum.
It was lovely to walk around the old palace and see the rooms and wander through the hall ways.
Can I have a room like this please???
I absolutely love the detail in the buildings here.
The designs take my breath away.
The place really was lovely.
It was a bit hot though which kept us for enjoying it for too long.
It was about 45 out today.
That is Celsius, making it about 113 Fahrenheit.
We stopped off at a mall for lunch, and never before have I felt so under-dressed.
The women were covered in all sorts of different dress.
Many of them wore the black abaya's, some were embroidered with beautiful designs and colors, while others were more simple.
Many of the women had hands that were beautifully decorated with henna designs and it was so hard for me not to stare at how lovely it was.
Like I said before I felt terribly under-dressed in my skirt that went almost to my ankles and a white tee-shirt.
If you ever find yourself in emirates a woman would be wise to carry a shawl with her where-ever she goes, just in case.
After lunch we found our way to the livestock market.
A man there was very friendly to us and took us around to let us pet different camels and take pictures.
He was kind of like a tour guide and photographer for a while.
He kept talking about me coming back with a nice husband.
Ha!!! Imagine that. I guess I won't be going back for quite some time then.
What really cracks me up is that Honey lays like this sometimes.
Until a later time.
:]
This is kind of random, but funny.
The sad thing is that I went to college with people like this in Illinois.
---------------------------------------
Dubai- Hijab wrapping
When I finally did wake up today I did so feeling so terrible.
My nose was running, my ears hurt and my head swam when I tried walking.
At one point I had to wick my nose because I couldn't breath either way.
I spend my morning laying around reading until even that became too much for me.
I want back to my room and drifted in and out of sleep for a few hours.
I had some of the craziest dreams.
I have been having weird dreams since getting here, but today was especially weird.
Later this afternoon I took an Advil Cold and Sinus and started to feel better.
Tehra and I put on our abayas and practices wrapping the hijab.
I think they are beautiful and am looking forward to wearing scarves like this alot in the future.
I tried to take some photos but don't feel they do it justice.
I need more practice and more scarves (hehe) but I love it.
I'm sure there are more methods used also and I would like to learn those.
The wide variety of dress here is so fascinating.
You see the traditional Indian dress here along with many variations of it;
you also see the Muslim dress in different variations.
Some women wear the abaya with a niqab which covers everything but their eyes, some wear just the hijab, or just the abaya and no hijab.
It is also really neat to see the women with their designer handbags and adorable shoes, and the heena on some of these women just blows me away with how beautiful it is. No matter the culture it is universal that women LOVE shoes and purses. :]
Tonight Andy, Mom and I went for a night swim.
It was wonderful!!!!!
Want to hear something kind of sad?? I am listening to Salsa music right now because I miss Salsa dancing that much.
----------------------------------------
Dubai- AL Satwa and Dragon Mart
Yesterday was a great day.
I spent the morning lounging around the house reading Jane Eyre.
Early in the afternoon I headed out with Andy, Tehra, Josiah, and Micah.
We had some basic ideas of where we could go but mostly they wanted to have an adventure.
I LOVE ADVENTURES!
We headed out and wanted to find somewhere to eat. Somewhere new maybe.
We found ourselves parked in Al Satwa.
It was terribly hot outside. There was no escaping it.
We walked down a street and looked through a doorway and saw a bunch of people (men) sitting at tables eating.
We figured "hey why not go in here?".
We sat down and they gave us a bottled water that we poured into the little metal cups they provided.
This was one of those places where they are making only a few items and you pick between them.
The menu was;
Chicken curry,
Chicken fried rice,
and bread.
They also served it with a salad.
Andy ordered two orders of rice, one chicken curry and one bread.
We had no idea how much food we would be served.
They just kept bringing plate after plate after plate.
THe bread here is amazing, and the best part is that it is common practice to eat with your hands.
I ate so much bread, and the entire plate of Chicken Curry (which was a bit too spicy for the rest of the table).
We still had so much food left over. We didn't take it though because there were places to go from there and things to see.
What do you think it cost?? The whole meal, which fed the 5 of us, and then some?
32 Durhams!!!
That is about what.........around 10 dollars in the US.
Brilliant!!!
Feeling very well pleased with ourselves we drove on to Dragon Mart.
Dragon Mart is a 1.2 km long building full of shop after shop.
You can find just about anything here.
Food, purses, jewelry, clothing, appliances, rugs, lights, electronics, toys, everything you can imagine.
We walked around Dragon Mart for a few hours.
I bought a kimono, a silk dress (that I figure I can easily Salsa in- I'm turning into Shekinah!)
some adorable sandals, and a beautiful abaya.
We walked through there for hours, and looked at store after store, and so many designer bags and wallets.
I was exhausted and stinky after getting home. I sure do enjoy my shower time here in Dubai, just saying.
I was so excited when I finally got to crawl into bed.
----------------------------------------------------
Dubai- Jumeirah- Wild Water
Today doesn't have much for pictures. I am sorry.
I woke up feeling terrible! My nose was running, my head ached, and my ears hurt terribly.
My Dad leaves for Saudi Arabia tomorrow so he wanted to go out and do something today.
It was 45 degrees outside today so he suggested Wild Wadi Water-park.
After taking some Acetaminophen to relieve my headache we headed out. Just him and I.
I naturally didn't bring my camera because it is a water park.
I need to buy a waterproof camera.
Check out Wild Wadi for yourself.
We went on all the slides, and hung out in the wave pool a bit.
I went on the giant free fall slide, the Jumeirah Sceirah. I was always too afraid to go on those sorts before so I figured I would be brave and go on it this time. I was terribly disappointed. I had to close my eyes through the whole things because of water getting into it, and then I got a dreadful wedgie, and then it was done. Note to self; bring goggles next time.
I wish I had brought my camera because the park was located right by the Burj Al-Arab.
This Hotel is a 7-star hotel.
It is also located right off the beach.
As you climb the lines to the slides you get to take in a view of the beach, or a view of the Burj Al-Arab, and in the distance you could see building skylines through the sandy haze.
It was truly lovely.
Maybe in the future I will buy a waterproof camera, and take it to Wild Wadi's again.
I got alot of sun though, and thankfully I faithfully put sunblock on. If I had not I would not doubt be re-living my Puerto-Rico lobster ordeal.
---------------------------
Dubai- Recognitions, Miracles and Hubbly Bubbly
I have been feeling very sick still. The last few days have been good though.
Tuesday I went with my mom on a bus tour of Dubai.
The people at the shops there weren't as excited at bartering as I am ALL THE TIME!
We ended at the Batutta mall where we started out.
Wednesday I slept in and then spent the afternoon with Andy and Tehra.
Tuesday I went with my mom on a bus tour of Dubai.
You know, one of those kinds were people sit on a double-decker bus and drive around with their cameras in hand taking pictures of random building that they won't remember the name of by tomorrow.
I was one of those people for a day. We sat on the top of the bus and listened to our little headphone tour guide.
The cool thing about this tour was that they made frequent stops all over Dubai and allowed you to get up and just catch any of the buses coming later. Buses stopped about every 20 minutes.
If it wasn't so hot I am sure we would have stopped more.
We stopped at the Dubai creek and took a free boat tour.
Then we hopped back onto the bus and got off at the next stop, Heritage Village.
Heritage Village was right on the Creek and was the remains of an old Dubai Village. There were many shops selling the goods that most shops here sell, Pretty things.
Heritage Village was right on the Creek and was the remains of an old Dubai Village. There were many shops selling the goods that most shops here sell, Pretty things.
The people at the shops there weren't as excited at bartering as I am ALL THE TIME!
They got annoyed with me when I tried. Oh well.
After Heritage Village, we rode on a while before stopping at the Gold Souk. How do I describe this to you.....hmmmm......ok imagine you are walking through a downtown somewhere. A crowded downtown with narrow streets, but in every shop window is jewelry. SO MUCH JEWELRY!! Huge pieces, small pieces, fancy pieces and a few simpler pieces. Just so much gold and silver. It went on and on and on for ever. And you go into little shopping centers where there are 3 floors of gold stores. It was too overwhelming for me to be honest.
Here comes a pointless rant.
I'm not a gold and jewels girl, but I did think that my future hubby can buy my emerald ring there when he is here asking my dad and brother for their blessing to marry me. I think it sounds perfect. This is me writing my story naturally, but an emerald ring I MUST have!
We then finished the bus tour that took us all over old and new Dubai.
We ended at the Batutta mall where we started out.
Wednesday I slept in and then spent the afternoon with Andy and Tehra.
We first drove to Al Karama for some shopping because I needed more Harem pants and Andy had never been there.
I was very embarrassed when my brother bought a belt from a guy whom I had bartered mercilessly with for sunglasses. He wanted 75 DH for them and I wouldn't pay more than 25. The guy recognized me before I recognized him.
Then we kept looking through stores and at least 3 other men said that they remembered me from before. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. I hope they didn't send out a picture memo of me warning shop owners not to barter with the white girl with bangs.
After Karama, we went to the beach for a little while before the sun set. It was beautiful, and I found some pretty shells.
I try to collect shells from all the places I go, if possible.
I have my huge collection of Ireland shells, and some Puerto Rico shells, and now some Dubai shells, and hopefully I can add Ecuador shells to that list soon! :]
We went to eat at an Italian place called Stephanos after that.
We feasted on bread, and some breaded cheesy rice ball things, and huge helpings of pasta, and passed around the orange-mint hubbly-bubbly pipe. First time ever smoking anything in my life. My poor lungs probably hate me.
Thursday was interesting in its own way.
A week or so ago my fixed retainer on my top front teeth broke.
Yesterday was the day decided that I would go to the ortho to get it taken care of.
I went to the Canadian dentist/ortho.
We got to the office and the receptionist was the sweetest Philippino woman. She started telling us all about how she wanted to name her daughter Hannah because of the story of Hannah in the Bible.
She told us about how she went and prayed at 5am every morning that she would have a daughter.
She prayed for years and finally got to the point of giving up and told God on a certain morning that this morning would be the last morning she would pray for it. Then later she was at a church and a prophetic guy was there speaking, and in the middle of what he was saying he stopped and said that a lady there was praying for a baby, and God was going to give her that baby.
Then she told us about other complications during the pregnancy and how every-time one came up she would go back to the place of prayer and talk to God about it, and then it would go away.
She wanted to have a daughter with a January birthday. Her first ultrasound said she was going to have a boy with a December due date. She went back and prayed to God for a January daughter, and the next ultrasound said that she was having a girl. She had also had a number of miscarriages before her daughter was born and it looked like she would miscarry this one too, but she went back to God again and all the complications cleared up.
She did have that baby, and it was a girl, and she was born in January. Total miracle.
I felt blessed after talking to this beautiful woman. It is these wonderful stories and encounters in random places that remind you of how loving and omnipotent and omnipresent God really is.
The ortho then looked at my teeth. Removed the old retainer and took a mold for the new one. I about coughed out a lung when they had to take the mold. I have been so sick that breathing through my nose was not an option, but if you breath at all through your mouth you choke on the huge tray full of goop in your mouth. Think Fluoride treatment times 10. GAG! SO on Monday I go back to the ortho to pick up my new retainer, and Tues night/Wed morning I leave Dubai to go home.
I suppose that is all I will say for now. Check back in later.
-------------------------------
Dubai- Sister is coming
My sister should be here very soon.
Her plane is bound to land within the next hour!
So very excited!!!
I cannot wait to squeeze her face!!!
The days have gotten so very hot.
Today, I slept until about noon and shuffled downstairs right after the rest of the household
(aside from my dad)
had crawl'n up stairs to nap.
Before you think that I am just the laziest person in the world for sleeping in so late I need you to know that I have stayed up late the last few nights. My mom asked my to do some art work for her while here and I am sad to admit that I put it off until late in my trip. I have been working on it late once the babies are in bed because working on things like that is very hard with 4 adorable little ones (all under the age of 6) running around the house.
I also prefer a quiet environment to be creative in.
There must have been a number of nights last year where my parents tried to go to bed upstairs as I squeaked my way through Fiddler on The Roof songs on my violin.
Got to love parents!
Anyway, back to today.
My dad recommend I go on an adventure if I felt up to it seeing as how I have only a few days left here.
I thought about it, but I only see my family so often, and I have adventures by myself all the time.
I sat in the garage with my dad for a while and just talked about.... i don't know...a bit of everything, as he
worked on some wood toys he is making.
worked on some wood toys he is making.
The garage is not air conditioned so it didn't take long for us to get very hot.
We walked to the pool, and my mom followed a bit later.
We spent a good amount of time at the pool. We would stay in the water until our bodies got used to the water temperature, then we would get out until we were hot and then hop back into the water.
Oh the simple pleasures in life.
We had a typical meal here.
Some sort of meat and some rice, served with some sort of Arabic flatbread on the side.
SO YUMMY!
I am going to greatly miss the bread once I leave.
I am so excited for my sister to get here that I can hardly stand it!!!!!!!
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Dubai - Last Two Days
I'm giant....ARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!
Dubai - Last Two Days
My sister finally did arrive at the house. The next two days were so full that it is almost a blur looking back now.
I must have drank less water the last few days because I was so tired and sick.
Once my sister arrived we all squeezed her, chatted a bit, gave her a house tour, then she and I went up to our room to chat until going to bed.
THe next morning we got up early to head to the Orthodontist so I could pick up my retainer.
I have never had a removable retainer before so I walked out of the dental office talking with a lisp and fighting back an unbelievable amount of drool.
DURRR....
We immediately walked to the Caribou coffee next store and sat around drinking coffee and eating little goodies.
After out coffee break we went to the Medinat Souk in Jumeriah.
I had been by there a number of times and had become pretty curious about it.
It was like Karama but indoors and a bit more pricey because of it's strong tourist location.
It was a really neat place though.
I just could not get enough of the architecture everywhere in Dubai. SO wonderful.
We wandered through the shops touching all of the different fabrics and admiring all the pretty things. I could hardly contain myself at times at the sight of all the beautiful saturated colors.
Mom and Dad were pretty worn out by then and wanted to go home and nap. Silly.
I believe this was the day that I had a really unconventiional lunch and loved every second of it.
I grabbed some Egyptian bread out of the fridge and there was a wide variety of cheese at the house, so I had a little bread and cheese tasting by myself.
It was wonderful. There were al sorts of cheeses that I had never tasted before. I LOVE CHEESE!!
That night we were planning to eat outside of the Dubai mall and watch the fountain show that goes on right between the restaurants and the Burj Kalifa.
We found a nice place with Sandwiches, soups and salads.
I can't believe it took me until the last night there to order a Mocktail. (They do not drink Alcohol in Dubai, which is brilliant. Especially considering how crazy the driving is already. :p)
The fountain show was beautiful. They happened about every 20 minutes or so.
We watched many of them.
After eating we walked through a souk that was just next door to us and saw what it had to offer. Again it was an indoor one and sold the same things that every shop sold. Just like everything there though, there are different feels to the different places you go. The architecture, and people within, the time of day, all play a role in the feel of a place. The smells are also something else. Everything has a really enticing sandy yet perfumed smell. It was wonderful and a kind of exotic and mysterious scent.
( I identify with scents, thus I couldn't help mentioning it.)
Julia and I went and sat outside on the large steps leading to the souk and just relaxed, talked, people watched, beautiful men watched (hehehe ;) and waited for the next fountain show to start. we watched at least two shows from that very spot. It was really nice. There is just something special about the relationships between sisters.
After the fountain shows and dinner we went home and tried to make it to the pool before it closed. We barely missed it. The guard was walking to the pool just 30 steps ahead of us to close it.
So back to the villa we walked.
I can't remember the rest of the night but I bet it was low key.
The next morning we were up early to go up in the Burj Kalifa.
We had boght our tickets the night before. We got a bit turned around on the way there and were a bit worried that we would be late, but all worked out just fine.
We walked through hallways containing information on the planning and building of the building, then we were squeezed into and elevator that took us up a bit over half way. (You cannot go to the top which is crazy to me.).
There was an observation deck outside as well as windows all around that afforded a view of all Dubai from everyside of the Kalifa.
We walked through alot of the Dubai mall on a quest for Camels milk chocolate. The mall is quite an experience. It is HUGE and has random things all over.
There is a skating rink inside, a giant waterfall with sculpted divers in it, and a huge area of feather butterflies suspended from the ceiling.
There is a skating rink inside, a giant waterfall with sculpted divers in it, and a huge area of feather butterflies suspended from the ceiling.
We had an interesting time finding our way back to our car in the giant parking garage.
Julia and I were dropped off at the Batutta mall after.
I wanted to go back and look at the beautiful colors and what not in the mall and I wanted to make sure Julia saw it.
We also stocked up on a ridiculous amount of henna.
We also stocked up on a ridiculous amount of henna.
We walked through the mall and took in all of it. The wonderful colors, smells, architecture...all of it!!!
The funniest thing though was the music they played in the stores. They played songs from the states about drinking and well everything that the mainstream songs talk about. It was just weird because they aren't allowed to drink there, but they have all these songs playing about getting drunk. They also do an odd job about editing it. They edit out the word "sex" from songs but will leave the F bomb in a song.
interesting??
I thought it was.
interesting??
I thought it was.
We hailed a cab home after. By some miracle we also managed to direct the cab driver through the winding subdivision that was plagued with dead ends. It was quite a feat.
I want to say we swam after that, but I could be wrong.
I did some henna on Julia's hand and she and I ordered some Thai food. Soon after dinner I headed out for the airport. It was a sad ordeal.
The flight back was so long. It took me 28 hours from arrival at the Dubai airport to walking out of the Boise airport. What a long flight.
I was so happy to be back. When you finally find that place that feels like home, you know it. It took me 19 years but I found a home, and it feels great.
