Haven't posted since Wednesday. Plus, I've realized I haven't introduced you to the lovely Kadir family. Oops! Gaith and Glenda are the parents, then Jay (8), Zane (7), and Aleaha (3); and Marilyn is their housekeeper/nanny/not sure of her exact job description. They are a great family, very welcoming/hospitable, and the kids are adorable!
So, now we have to backtrack to Thursday. In the morning, Gaith and I took Jay and Zane to school and hung around until the "UN Day" festivities began. It's awesome how much cultural exposure they get: the day began with a parade of flags carried by student reps from all the different countries from whence they come. Over 70 countries, in about the same size elementary school I went to.
Afterwards, Gaith dropped me off at Atlantis on the Palm. It's a huge resort/waterpark/aquarium, but I just wanted to see the aquarium. It's built to resemble the ruins of the lost city of Atlantis, so the whole thing is really cool.
Next stop, the Marina. This is where all the big, fancy yachts are. The man made marina comes into the city and is surrounded by skyscrapers. A nice place to sit and relax, take pictures, etc.
After spending a while here, I went home, changed, and headed off the the beach for a few hours.
And so ended Thursday.
Friday Bible study at 10:30. Then we met up with Gaith to do some shopping at Festival City, which is a huge mall. Spent most of the day here. About 7ish, Glenda took Aleaha home (she was exhausted, poor thing!) and Gaith, Jay, Zane, and I went to Creek Park. This is a huge public park along the Creek, with a beach, bbq pits, etc. We saw a lot of Arabs who come in big groups, but sit separately....women don't socialize with men. Sometimes the groups shared a picnic dinner, but mostly they shared shisha, flavored tobacco. After playing soccer for a while, we headed back home; it was already 10:30.
Yesterday was an awesome day! Glenda had to work on her painting project, but the rest of us went to Hatta, an old style village from Dubai....all desert here. The 4wheelers were so much fun! Stayed there for almost an hour, then onwards. Passing through parts of Oman, we saw rugged mountains much different from the Appalachians. We drove down a bumpy, unpaved trail back to the springs, where we actually saw water. Most everywhere else is all dried up for the winter.
On our way to the village, we stopped at an Iranian bakery for delicious bread.
Gaith joked that the village looked some much like where he grew up, in Jordan, he was getting homesick. So it was really cool to see that. He even said that people still live like that in parts of Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc. today.
When we got home, Gaith whipped up a scrumptious, authentic Arabic meal. He told me the names of everything, but of course, I forget. There were two kinds of hummus, an okra dish, and the meat. Delicious!
After dinner, I played hide-and-seek and school with the kids, then read them a story. And then it was morning!
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