End of Phase 2 and Beginning of Phase 3

Phase 2 - first trip to Al Ain- ended on Thursday with a trip to Hili Archeological Park and a visit to Ammoryiah Primary School. 

Hili Archeological Park was very neat, but very small.  We only found 3 old remains of settlements and archological stuff.  They were very old and dated back to the second half of the third millenium BC!!  I have no idea when that was, but hey that sounds like a long long long time ago!  Maybe a looooooooong loooooooooong looooooooooong time ago!!  Anyway we saw 2 old settlements and 1 old tomb.  I thought it was pretty neat, but I also thought there was going to be more to see.  It was pretty much a nice park with archeological sites.  So we walked around for a bit and then we left.  Neat, but small. 

Since Hili Archeological Park was so small we had time to see my school before heading to Dubai.  I gave my parents and Amy the tour of my school and they even got to meet Charity!  They found the school very interesting.  I think "interesting" is a very kind word!!  It is quite different and I guess it would be interesting if you haven't seen anything like that before.  Actually I guess I thought the schools were pretty neat when I first got here, but I'm over that now especially since it's outside and I have to wear long skirts and long sleeves and it gets to be very very very hot.  Interesting is not a word that I would use to describe the school anymore!!

After touring the school we went back to my apartment so we could use the bathroom.  I didn't want to subject them to the issues if there wasn't any water.  I thought I would take the shorter route past the Hili border, but I shouldn't have.  We were stuck in traffic for about 20 minutes.  Oh well, at least they got to experience border traffic!  After our potty break we headed to Dubai to visit with Cindy and Sarah. 

Phase 3

We got to Cindy's and visited for a bit before Aysha and Hamdan came over.  So Mom, Dad, and Amy got to experience all of the excitement of being at Cindy's!  The kids just come over whenever they want and they play.  It's great!  Khulood also came over so that was neat.  She made us cupcakes with ice-cream.  Cindy says she doesn't bake so that's quite special that she made something for my parents.  She is so sweet:)  After we visited for a bit Amy and I took Aysha and Hamdan to the pool.  I went swimming with Aysha and Hamdan while Amy sat by the pool and watched.  The pool was so hot.  I think it was heated or they hadn't turned on the cooler yet.  It was quite unpleasant.  I swam for a while with the kids and then I had to get out to sit in the shade.  It felt good to get out of the water!  I sat there with Amy for a while and watched the kids and then I went back in the hot water for a bit to encourage the kids to come out and head home.   We went back to Cindy's and played for a while before the kids actually went home and we had dinner.  Sarah had made roast turkey and mashed potatoes.  It was delicious.  We had a nice quiet dinner and then enjoyed the cupcakes that Khulood had made!  They were yummy:)  A nice relaxing night visiting with Cindy and Sarah.  I am so glad that my parents and Amy were able to meet them!

Friday was a very busy day!  It started with breakfast at Gulf Pastries where I had an awesome zatar bread thing and Mom and Dad had egg and cheese and Amy had mushroom.  For a quick breakfast in an unfamiliar area it was quite good.  After breakfast we headed to church where they got to meet many of my friends and hear a great message by Pastor Dave!  Cindy, Sarah, and Merle joined us for the day at the Dubai Mall.  We had lunch and then went to the Aquarium while Cindy, Sarah, and Merle walked around and shopped.  The aquarium is pretty neat and I am glad that they got to experience it.  We were kind of rushed so we didn't have time to take the glass bottom boat ride.  The tunnel was so much less crowded this time than it was the first time I went.  I actually enjoyed the tunnel!  There was this cool part of the aquarium where you stood on a large thick plate of glass above the aquarium.  Pretty neat!  The aquarium is filled with 10,000 liters of water!  That's a lot of coke bottles:)  We did a quick tour of the underwater zoo before we had to head to the Burj Khalifa.

Oh my gosh, what an experience!  Going to the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa was amazing!  The elevator ride was only 1 minutes and then we (Mom, Dad, and I) got to walk around the observation deck and see Dubai from 124 storeys up!  Pretty neat.  The views were great even though sand was in the air and it was hazy.  Sorry, picutres aren't uploading today so you'll just have to check my Fb page to see the views from the "top" of the Burj.  I wonder how much more I would have been able to see if it wasn't so sandy.  I know we all enjoyed it even though we couldn't see as much as we probably could have if it wasn't so hazy and sandy. 

The elevator ride down was just as fast as the ride up, although we had to wait longer for an elevator to go down than we did for one going up.  We had been doing a lot of walking so we were all tired and needed to rest so we sat down at a cafe and rested before meeting up with Cindy.  On our way to find Cindy we saw the waterfall and stopped for a few pictures.  Sarah, Merle, and Amy went to see Hunger Games so it was just going to be us.  I ended up walking around with Cindy while Mom and Dad sat and rested by the skating rink.  We met back up around dinner time and went to Madeline's for dinner.  Although Cindy and I left with Sarah and Merle because we weren't hungry and you had to spend at least 70 dirhams per person to sit outside and watch the Dubai Fountain.  We let Mom, Dad, and Amy enjoy the dinner on the balcony while we went outside and walked around.  It was a nice night, not hot like it was during the day, and we enjoyed the fountain from outside.  Our day at the mall ended at 10:00 and then we had to drive back to Cindy's so I could get a blanket because it is freezing in the hotel and we can't figure out how to adjust the air.  Although Cindy doesn't live too far from the Dubai Mall it took us about an hour to get there due to traffic leaving the mall.  Just getting out of the parking garage was awful.  We eventually got to Cindy's and I got my blankets so I could actually sleep and then we headed to the hotel for well deserved rest.  We had spent 9 hours at the mall!  That's a long time:)

Saturday was a slow day.  After spending 9 hours at the mall you can imagine we were tired so we slept in and just had a slow morning.  Dad and I went out to try to find some breakfast food and after driving around looking for a LuLu we ended up back at the hotel where church is held and went to Carrefour.  While I was paying and Dad was getting coffee he was chatting to some people who were visiting their daughter in Abu Dhabi.  It turns out that this daughter works as the hiring person for a private school in Abu Dhabi and she gave me her information.  Something else to try.  I'll give it a shot and see what happens.  On the way back to the hotel we saw a Spinneys that we could have walked to!  Oh well, we got to drive around the city!  More driving around an unfamiliar place. 

Our plan for today was to go see a camel race and then go to the beach.  Well that totally changed!  We started out trying to find the camel race track and ended up finding some camel just roaming along the side of the road.  So we watched them for a bit and took some pictures before heading back to try to find the race track.  We tried to find the camel race and ended up at the Dubai World Cup!  I actually found the place where we were told the camel race was going to be, but it turned out to be the Dubai World Cup.  Who knew?!  That was not on our itinerary or in our price range so we left.  From the Dubai World Cup we headed to Jumeriah Beach.  It was kind of a cloudy day and it wasn't really a beach day, but we made the most of it.  We walked along the beach for a while and got some good pictures of the Burj Al Arab and some sailboats.  The water was kind of chilly when you first stepped in, but we got used to it and it felt nice and cool on our feet.  Amy found several shells and a sponge to take back to school with her.  Walking on the beach made us quite hungry so we had to find somewhere to eat lunch/dinner.

We decided to go to the Mall of the Emirates so we could see Ski Dubai.  Getting to the mall was actually quite easy, other than getting into the parking garage.  I had no idea the Mall of the Emirates was so close to the Burj Al Arab.  Once we had parked we walked around looking for a place to eat and ended up eating at Tribes, an African restaurant.  I'm not sure we had anything too African, but the atmosphere was nice and the food was good.  We did some souvenir shopping before heading to Ski Dubai.  We got the obligatory pictures and then left.  We weren't going to be paying 130 dirhams to go and play in the snow.

We got back to the hotel around 8 and have been chilling, literally since it's so cold in here (at least I think so:)!!  Who knows what tomorrow has in store other than our dhow dinner cruise at 7:30ish.

Sight Seeing in Al Ain

So here I am updating my blog again!  I know some of you are about ready to have a heart attack, but I have the time so why not?!

We had a pretty relaxing morning at the apartment and didn't leave until around noon.  Mom likes to sleep in when she's on vacation!  No problem.  It's nice not having to rush around in the morning.  I like hanging out in my pjs and having a cup of coffee:) 

Our activities for the day included the camel market, Bawadi Mall, Jebel Hafeet, and a trip to the post office (I know not all that exciting, but necessary:).

Oh the joys of the camel market!  I tried to forewarn Mom and Amy about the men there, but I'm not sure they really knew what to expect. I told Dad I was going to stay by him and let him protect me.  Poor Amy.  She truly experienced the joys of the camel market:(  She did get some good pictures though!!  Since I had been to the camel market 2 times before I didn't see the need for any more pictures, but Mom and Amy got some nice ones.

After the camel market we headed to Bawadi Mall.  The camel market is located right behind the mall so we didn't have far to go.  I needed to get contacts and Amy needed a book as well as some souvenirs.  So we walked around the mall for a bit and everyone commented on how nice and big and clean it is.  They do a good job of keeping it clean.  I will not be taking them to Jimi Mall, as it isn't as clean and always super crowded.  I don't like that mall so that's why I drive the 1/2 hour to Bawadi instead of the 10 minutes to Jimi. 

View from Jebel Hafeet

From the mall we headed to Jebel Hafeet.  I had warned them of the mountain road and the way the locals drive on the mountain road so they would be prepared to see some crazy driving, but no one was on the road.  I am quite thankful for that, but I kind of wanted them to see the way the locals drive. It's something you just have to experience:)  The drive up the mountain was very nice and we got to see some nice views even though it was a sandy, hazy day today.  We got to the top and had juice at the Top of Jebel Mountain cafeteria and restaurant.  We had our juice outside, which may not have been the smartest thing due to the blowing sand, but it was not too hot so we thought we would enjoy it.  We're pretty sure we got a ton of sand in our mouths.  It's just unavoidable, even if you keep your mouth shut.  So now they have experienced rain in Abu Dhabi and a sand storm (pretty mild one) in Al Ain.  What other weather will they experience?!

The last stop for the day was the Al Ain post office.  Mom needed to mail some postcards and I had received a call telling me I had a package.  The highlight of going to the post office was that they got to see the clock tower roundabout that isn't a clock tower or a roundabout.  Amy took a picture and I will have to get that one from her. 

Dinner tonight will be a truly American meal of hamburgers and macaroni salad, along with leftovers from Al Noor.  OK that isn't all that American, but the burgers are:)

Tomorrow we are headed to Dubai to visit with Cindy and Sarah and get some laundry done since she has a dryer.

End of Term 2 and Beginning of My Parents and Amy's visit

Well, it has been quite some time since I have updated this blog.  But, honestly not much has been happening.  It's just been school during the week and Dubai for church on the weekends. 

The last few weeks of school have been quite boring.  All I've been allowed to do is teach/review for EMSA.  Nothing too exciting there.  The girls were bored and I was bored, but we pushed through.  We played a game to help review and try to motivate them, but that only worked when I offered candy.  Which of course I did!!  Hey, whatever works to get them motivated instead of just sitting there.  There was a point when I thought that I was teaching to about 5 girls in 3rd grade and 8 girls in 4th grade.  It was just too much for them.  Anyway the test is over and according to the girls "Easy, Miss!"  Yeah right!  That probably means they thought it was easy, but got it wrong.  Although I did hear the English part was easy.  That's according to the Arabic teachers who were adminstering the test.  They seemed quite angry that it was easy.  I tried to point out to them that English is their 2nd language so it should be easy, but they didn't like that reasoning.  Oh well.  I was asked to help the 3rd graders on the exam and the 4th graders told me that the teacher administering the math portion gave them some answers.  No surprise there, but I wish it would stop.  So two weeks off is going to be a nice break for all of us!

My parents and Amy arrived in Abu Dhabi on Friday March 23rd at around 9pm.  I was a little concerned that they wouldn't make it past the baggage check area because that's where I told them I would meet them.  Thing is I couldn't go down there.  They had to come up like they were exciting the airport.  Well, they did that!  I was quite surprised and very pleased to see them.  They survived the 16 hour flight, but they don't know how I do it all at once.  They had a 2 1/2 hour layover in Amsterdam and they loved being able to get off the plane and stretch.  After a wonderful greeting we walked out in the heat, although it wasn't all that hot!  It was actually quite pleasant.  A very different greeting than the one I got in August 2010!  We had a nice walk to the car (a great opportunity for them to stretch their legs) and then loaded all the luggage into the little Chevy Caprice that I rented for the trip.  God was good at providing that though because I thought I was going to have to rent an SUV for the 2 weeks which would have cost me a fortune.  This is only going to cost 1/2 a fortune!!  Just kidding!  It was much cheaper and I am thankful that He provided this and all our luggage fit in!  We had to do some manuervering to get the luggage in the trunk and we even had to put some in the back seat and passenger seat, but hey we got it all in.  The car was quite loaded down though.  I think we had 10 bags altogether, only 4 people though.  Try to figure that one out.  So, after we got the luggage  in we navigated the crazy streets of Abu Dhabi to the InterContinental Hotel.  We unloaded, with the help of a couple porters, and then checked in.  Since no one had eaten in a long time we had dinner at the piano lounge at 10pm and then went to bed.  Everyone was exhausted.

Me, Mom, and Dad in the Arabian Gulf

Saturday was supposed to be a scheduled rest day, but the visitors didn't want anything to do with that, so we walked along Corniche, went to Madinat Zayed, the fish market, and then ended the day with a dinner cruise along the Corniche.  The walk along the Corniche was very nice.  It wasn't too hot and it was nice and breezy.  Madinat Zayed is a shopping center with a gold souq next door.  I had to take them to the gold souq just so they could see the hideously large and garrish looking jewelery that they like to wear here.  After we walked around the gold souq for a bit we headed back to the hotel for some time at the pool.  Although it was cloudy and breezy the water was fabulously warm!  Amy and I didn't want to get out of the water for fear of freezing on the way to get our towels!  Relaxing in the pool was a nice way to unwind before our dinner cruise along the Corniche.  I must say that this was not a highlight of the trip, at least for me.  The cruise was nice, but the food wasn't good at all.  I have had so much better Arabic food.  I'm not sure anyone was pleased with that evening, but what can you do?  I thought the dhow was nice, I just would have liked to have more traditional Arabic food.  We had grilled salmon, shrimp, a quail egg, tabouleh, and hommous for appetizers.  The main course was some fish kabob thing along with stuffed lobster tail.  I liked the lobster, but I would have enjoyed it more if it didn't come in the tail.  It was just disgusting to look at!  We then had briyani rice and Arabic kabobs and then Umm Ali (mother for Ali) for desert.  I do not like Umm Ali, but Amy and Mom loved it.  Amy even had some the following night and looked for it on a menu!  I guess she really loved it:)  It's really just a texture issue, but since I can't get past the texture I don't know how to describe it.  Amy says it is a thicker version of rice pudding.  Mom says it was like a custard texture.  It has thick globby stuff in it, which is why I don't like it.  We had an eventful rest day!  After a rest day like that we were all exhausted and fell into bed at 11:30 when we got back to the InterCon.

Amy and Dad on the dhow

Getting ready to start our tour
Amy is on the top

Sunday was the day for our hop on hop off tour of Abu Dhabi.  We saw many sites such as the Sheikh Zayed Mosque (Amy didn't want to tour this and Mom and I lost Dad so it was pretty much just the two of us), Al Itihad Square (roundabout with an Arabic coffee pot), Saayidat Island, Heritage Village, Emirates Palace (although we couldn't get in because Dad was wearing shorts, we did see it from the outside), Marina Mall, and Abu Dhabi Mall.  We had lunch at Abu Dhabi Mall and we went up the sky tower at Marina Mall.  The Sky Tower was a waste.  You could only go up the elevator, and once you got to the top you had to either go in the coffee shop and get something or turn right back around and head down.  We headed down since we were meeting Kisha for dinner.  It was another long day, but I was so glad that I didn't have to do any driving!!!

Mom and Dad at the Emirates Palace

Monday was our scheduled desert safari at 3:30 in the afternoon so we had some time to go to the pool and then see Emirates Palace.  After breakfast we went swimming even though it was another chilly, breezy, overcast day. So un-Abu Dhabi like:( Where was all the heat and sunshine that we have in the desert? Despite the weather the water was nice, at least if you were in the water.  When you came out of the water it was cold.  Mom, Amy, and I enjoyed the pool for a bit and then we showered so we could go to the Emirates Palace.  Luckily the Palace isn't very far from the InterCon; you can actually see it from the hotel.  So I didn't really have any trouble driving there, other than all the construction.  We walked around the Emirates Palace taking in the views of the Gulf and the views inside the hotel.  I almost bought some gold at the gold ATM, but I didn't.  Phew!  I don't have enough money for that:)  After wandering around the hotel for a bit we headed back to ours to get ready for our desert safari.  The desert safari began with dune bashing.  I was a bit nervous about this, after my experience with Craig in Sharjah, but I had no choice.  Our driver, who didn't say much of anything to us, said "no problem, go slow, everything be ok."   So I got in the car and away we went!  Well, it was a problem.  I got sick.  Fortunately I didn't throw up, but I only made it the first 15 minutes to the camel farm.    The dune bashing was intense.  He went up about 5 dunes and for some of them it was like the SUV was on its side.  I thought we were going to tip over as we rode on top and then down a few dunes.  When we got to the camel farm I really thought I was going to throw up.  I mean the smell added to the fact that I was already nauseous, yuck!  I survived and got back in the car with Amy, Mom, and two other ladies who were going to skip the rest of the dune bashing, and we headed straight to the camp.  Even the ride to the camp was a bit nasueating.  I took my first camel ride!  It was nothing like I expected.  There were 3 camels tied together and some guy led them around with me on one of them.  It kind of reminded me of the camel rides Lexi takes at the zoo, only we were in the desert.  Kind of disappointing.  I was expecting a nice ride through the desert not a 2 minute jaunt around a circle.  Oh well.  Mom, Amy, and Dad also rode a camel.  Dinner was traditional Arabic food followed by a belly dancer.  She called some people up to the stage to dance and then all the women.  I went up and did some silly dancing and made a complete fool of myself, but enjoyed it.  Mom, Amy, and I got henna done while Dad put on a kandora and head scarf.  Unfortunately we didn't get to enjoy a desert sunset or dinner under the stars due to the cloudy and hazy conditions.  I must mention that it rained on our ride out to the desert!!  My parents and Amy got to experience rain in Abu Dhabi!!  That is almost a once in a lifetime experience right there:)  All in all a good night!

Dad, Amy, and Mom on camels



Tuesday was our last day in Abu Dhabi and we decided to drive to Yas Island to see what was there.  Nothing much.  There is Ferrari World, but that's an amusement park and we're not into that, and The Yas Marina Circuit, but that is for Formula One Racing and we're not into that either.  I saw a sign for a beach, but after driving around the Island two times we determined that it was still under development.  Not much there, which was disappointing.  I thought that it was supposed to be some sort of wildlife sanctuary, but I couldn't find that.  Maybe that's somewhere else.  Oh well.  We headed back to the hotel and packed our suitcases and then the car (with the help of a few porters) and drove to Al Ain.  Mom got some laundry done while Dad, Amy, and I went to LuLu's for groceries.  We had Al Noor for dinner because that is my all time favorite restaurant and I needed them to experience the food.  Everyone loved it, even the chicken tikka zatar which is something quite different and only available at Al Noor.

So that's been our vacation so far.  Tomorrow we'll do some sight seeing in Al Ain and then Thursday we're headed to Dubai.  Check in later for another update.