It's all about the camels.

Yes, it's Christmas Eve here in Al Ain and what am I doing? Visiting camels. We walked from our apt. to the little camel farm down the road. Some of them were very sweet and came to be petted. The baby camel was only a few days old and still had its umbilical cord. It was a fun experience. As for Christmas, we may go out to lunch, but that's the extent of our plans. Enjoy the camel pictures and after we go to the camel races, I promise, no more camels!

Like mother, like baby

Camel kiss.....not.

Feeding time

Not quite steady on its legs yet.

That's the spot, right there.

Shopping in Dubai

I was very surprised to see this in the mall.

 They moved all my desks out and put in these tables so the high school teachers could use our rooms to grade exams.

Then the next day I came in and the desks were back. They had moved the tables to the Arabic teachers rooms. No one ever said why.

Beautiful buildings.

 

Possibly the reason why the allergies are so bad now.

Public bathroom. Yes you had to squat. Arabic people use a sprayer to clean off. I don't know how they dry, but I was glad I had tissues in my purse. Elaine I know you remember seeing this in Europe.

 Heidi and Tandy browsing the market.

Tired but happy. Eating Shawarma, which is like a chicken pita. Really yummy.

She's smiling here but was not loving the driving in the city.

We drove to Dubai for a day of shopping. It turned into a long, long drive and we never found the artisan market we were hoping for, but we did find the spice market and finally we were able to spend some dirhams.

National Day UAE

This is our morning assembly area. They are twirling and throwing wooden rifles.

Me in all my UAE glory

We had a lot of fun during National Day-week at school. All around town there are beautiful lights. It's almost like Christmas because the UAE colors are red, white, and green. The palm trees sort of take away from the holiday spirit though. The students practice singing and twirling and throwing fake guns. I know, but what can I say, it's their culture. Anyway, there was a lot of celebrating and fireworks.

Bawadi Mall Field Trip

We had a great time. I went down the tube run a couple of times and on one ride. Then I went to Starbucks for a coffee and muffin. Very nice day all in all.

This is one of my classes in their "normal" clothes

this is the other class

My Arabic collegue

this was a blast. Not real ice, it was like little plastic fronds, but it went fast.

This was tame enough for me

I skipped this one 

Desert Safari

We had so much fun on the desert safari, but the name is a little misleading. It wasn't really a safari and we only rode the camel for one minute, but after that I realized, it would have been way too painful to ride it longer than that. The first pictures are our entry into Dubai to meet our ride. The tallest building in the world (now) is in the background. We met our ride at IKEA and he took us to the meeting point. We got in a big SUV with roll bars in the ceiling, which should have been my first clue to what was about to come. I had other clues because on the way to the meeting site we saw four wheelers and off roaders driving around the dunes. Anyway, what came next was like being trapped on a roller coaster.  Straight up, sideways, down, slinging right and left, nearly tipping over, and claw prints on the seat and on Tandy who was riding beside me. It was a nightmare, but at least the wheels were on the ground......some of the time. All I could think was....I want to get out, I want to get out.
When we got to the camp site I wanted to kiss the ground, but I didn't want sand in my mouth. From then on it was much calmer. We rode the camel, had our hands hennaed, ate, danced and watched the bellydancer. It was a perfect night and the weather was gorgeous. The ride back to the car was much better thank heavens.

does not show the real dunes we went up and down. Seriously, they were straight up and down.

yes, he's driving with one hand, and yes, everytime I screamed, he smiled. There may have even been some profanity, but I promise when it was over I was thanking Jesus.

so glad to be out of that car

                                 

sand painting. I bought a beautiful one

dad's waving, look close

random bed in the desert

stick shack with serious satellites

Tandy and I dancing

dad enjoying the bbq

tallest building in the world I think

belly dancer