I have had some "firsts" since we have been here, and some of them occurred this week!

I have enjoy tremendously a group of ladies who "craft" on Tuesdays! I have brought out my antique cross-stitch, and am sure I will finish it in due time! Some ladies are working on crocheting, knitting, quilting, and even beading. The neat thing about the group is how they have taken me in, and been so welcoming. They are from New Zealand, Australia, Portugal, Hawaii...very sweet ladies! Even though they speak English, I must listen very closely to understand what they are saying! Last week, we rode the Metro and then a Taxi for an hour-and-a-half just to get to "craft," because we meet in members' homes, and we live all over. Then, we turned around after and did the same ride again! At home, I would NEVER have done that...but life is different here!

This Tuesday, "craft" was just down the road, I walked, and made it in thirty minutes! However, I twisted by ankle outside of my destination! They were so sweet to help me, wrap my ankle, give me an ice pack, and bring me home! One of my best adventures!

Another first happened Monday! I rode the Metro by myself! I walked over (about a twenty-minute walk), and scanned my card, and got on the RIGHT train! There is a gold card section, which is a bit nicer...the chairs face forward, and they are larger. I did not pay for THAT card, and there is a women and children section where I can sit, or sit in the general section. I managed to listen for my stop which is announced in Arabic and English. I rode over to the Mall of the Emirates. It is the mall that has skiing! I stood for a good while and just watched those enjoying the snow....with it 106 degrees outside! I have included pictures of the ski slope! On the way back, I stood as there were no seats. Three men attempted to give me their seats, and then I sat when a seat was available. I did it...I am so proud of me! Ha!

It does seem to be getting hotter and hotter, and Ramadan begins next week. From what we can understand, at that time for the month of August, Muslims fast all day...from sun up to sun down. During that time, restaurants and cafes are closed during the day, and it is not acceptable to eat or drink in public. It will be interesting to see how it all works out. I have become accustomed to walking most places, but having an iced coffee when I get there! Experiencing Ramadan this year will be a FIRST for us...God continues to guide One Step at a Time!



Look closely for the Metro!




Entrance to Metro Station




From where we live, I can catch the Metro to most anywhere I want to go. I did not think they would be comfortable with me taking pictures inside of the station.




Ski slope in the Mall of the Emirates! You rent winter clothes along with skiis or sleds!



Ibn Battuta Mall and the BEAUTIFUL Dubai Fountains

What a great weekend we had last weekend! I had previously gone to the Ibn Battuta Mall on one of my outings with a friend. I wanted Larry to see it, and there is a very nice restaurant there, The Lime Tree Cafe! So, on Friday after church, we went! The mall is named after an Emirati explorer. It is a museum of sorts to his explorations, as each section of the mall resembles the countries where he traveled. It is beautiful! My mom is a real museum buff, and she would love to read all of the plaques. Me...not so much! Then on Saturday, we went back to the Dubai Mall in the evening. We ate dinner....we DO enjoy eating, then watched the "show" provided by the fountains. I wish you could have heard the music that went with the movement of the water. It was sharp, Arabic music, and the water seemed to dance to the beat of the music. It was amazing! It was also very neat to "people watch" as well! In the mall, they had an exhibit of Muslim dress, basket-weaving, and traditions, to go along with Ramadan coming very soon. It was very interesting!

We went to the Atlantis today (Friday) after church. It is the resort hotel that has been built on the Palm...the man-made peninsula. I have pictures to share very soon! God continues to bless us, and help us through...One Step at a Time!




Ibn Battuta's Travels





Waterfall with Beautiful Diver Statues in the Fall




We thought things were big in Texas! :)




Fountain Show...Amazing!



A Birthday and an Amazing Mall!

This was a good week! I do have two significant things that happened that let me know I'm not just here on vacation: I finally received my residence visa! It is good for four years, and lets me leave the country and come back! Larry and I went with a representative from Exxon to the immigration office. We took my passport and my application for a Residence Visa. Then, after bloodwork and a chest x-ray, our part was done. Then, Bahaa (Exxon Rep) had to take the paperwork to the American Embassy. About five days later, I have my visa! You must get your Residence Visa to stay longer than 30 days. The other event was a sad one: my allergies caught up with me! I have not had a stuffy nose for the last five weeks! After a beautiful morning at the beach...so calm and clear, the "sand" blew in, and my allergies were back!

This weekend was fun! We celebrated Larry's birthday! We are somewhat limitted on cooking utensils, so we decided to make "mix" sugar cookies instead of a cake. We made icing with the vanilla that we bought at the spice souk! What fun! We opened the pod. Inside, it was like a black paste. I scraped it into the icing and it separated and became all of these tiny black seeds! It was similar to the look of "vanilla bean" ice cream. Anyway, the cookies were good! 


Saturday, we went to the biggest mall in Dubai! Now, I am not a shopper, so usually do not get too excited about a mall...if you've seen one mall, you've seen them all in my opinion. :) HOWEVER, this mall was very different! I wanted to go because they have an aquarium inside the mall. They hold the record in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest one "sheet" of plexiglass for the aquarium. It was beautiful, and had a tunnel you could walk through to see the fish all around. They also had a small aquatic zoo. Each day, and mostly in the evening, they have huge fountains very similar to the Ballagio in Las Vegas. They were beautiful as well, with music included! The mall sits next to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. We plan to visit that another day, and eat dinner to watch the fountains...that is another day though! Back to the mall...the mall was very upscale! We rode the Metro Rail and entered on the lowest floor. It was full of shop-after-shop of beautiful Muslim dress. There were black burqas with all kinds of trim, and dresses that looked similar, but were gorgeous colors. There were also shops for men's Muslim wear. The rest of the mall contained all kinds of stores...they were on floors according to the type of store they were. It was very interesting to "people-watch" there. We saw many different nationalities taking pictures just like we were. Then, we saw people that looked like this was the mall they used to do their regular shopping. We noticed the clothing worn by customers was more upscale as well! :) 


I continue to appreciate and enjoy living in Dubai! When we arrived, I knew that we would be "ex-pats", but really had no idea what that would mean except that we were coming to another country to work. I assumed all "ex-pats" were working for oil companies, and that there were a handfull of us. I was so wrong! There are "ex-pats" from all countries, in all walks of work. Some come in to work for companies doing construction, some to work in nail salons, restaurants, maintenance, housekeeping, taking care of children...everything! I have heard that only about 20% of the people living here are Emaratis. 


So, as we enjoy the country, and learn more and more...we continue to take One Step at a Time, thanking God for the opportunity and adventure!

Old Dubai...What Fun!

Well...I took Larry on another adventure this weekend! We went to Old Dubai! It is TOTALLY different to me than anything I had seen in Dubai previously. You will see from the pictures that it is not new or modern, but much older looking, and more run-down. This is the area where there are the Gold, Spice, and Old Souks! We arrived by taxi, and I immediately felt like we stuck out like a sore thumb! This was the first place I felt like I should have worn more modest clothing! I did not see ANYONE except Larry and myself in shorts! 

As we reached the Gold Souk area, we were immediately bombarded by men wanting to sell us watches, bags, and t-shirts! I think our appearance definitely screamed "tourist"! It reminded me of a time I was in Juarez many years ago...The Gold Souk was a huge area with small shops for buying all types of gold jewelry. There was shop, after shop, after shop! It was AMAZING! 

We followed the narrow streets with tiny shop openings (doors were plastic "curtains) into the Spice Souk! This area was amazing as well! Each little shop had huge containers of all kinds of spices. Oh my goodness! Outside the shops going in were also huge supplies of spices. Some of the spices were: cumin, lavender, garlic, rosemary, myrrh, frankincense, pepper, coriander, curry, sulphur, cinnamon, coffee beans, ginger root...and SO MANY MORE! The vanilla was really interesting! It was in a special box, and was very expensive. We bought three "strands" and it was about $30. It smelled so good, and came from Madagascar! We met Aqeel, who bargained to trade Larry five camels for me! The "deal" was off when he would not include a goat! Oh my, what fun! 

From there, we rode a "boat" taxi across the creek to the Old Souk. By this time, we were very hot and tired, and finished up rather quickly. It was mostly various kinds of fabrics and textiles...more scarves! :) Again, I felt like I was back in Juarez. 

It was a very different side of Dubai, and so interesting to see how the people ran their shops! 

Weekend Adventure!

Larry's "pretend" yacht :)

Sammie's "backyard"

Yoosef and us at the Antique Museum

 God continues to bless us in this amazing adventure! Every day I am in awe at all of the neat things we are able to experience, and how much fun we are having!

This weekend, we went to the Antique Museum! It was not antiques, and it was not a museum, but it was WONDERFUL! We thought that I had taken us on a "wild goose chase" when we finally called, the taxi driver got directions and we arrived! It was an old warehouse, with a very small "antique museum" sign. When we went through the walkway, it was crammed with all sorts of dusty, dirty "junk"! I remember seeing a huge wood-carved door with many layers of dirt! The dirt blows here, and it was covered! As we went inside, it was a lovely room, and we were led into the depths of the warehouse! I remember first of all seeing massive amounts of fabric...table cloths, bedding, scarves, and dresses. I explained to Yoosef who was our "guide", and is in the pictures with us, that we did not need any fabric items, but would like to see urns and pottery. We went further and further. Things were crammed on the shelf, covered in dirt, but wonderful!  I am not a shopper, and I was enthralled! There was so much to look at...all from different parts of the world. It was definitely sensory overload! He took us to a section of crafts from Bali. Everything was made from wood, and Larry found an elephant he wanted. I found a wood-carved bowl. Both were covered with a thick layer of dirt. Yoosef left with the items, and said that they would clean them up. Then, we found urns, and more urns! We found ones made of copper, wood, clay...painted, molded, EVERYTHING! All of these items came from Morocco! We chose a large copper urn with tiny red flowers on it, and golden around the top. It had several dents in it, but Yoosef assured us it would be perfect, as he took it and another one that was painted cooper away to be cleaned. Finally, Larry found a beautiful silver and blue pottery urn. We decided our kids can put our ashes in that one! We bought all three! We continued to wander from room-to-room. There were figurines, chess sets, large statues, wood-carved animals, EVERYTHING you can imagine! Yoosef then showed us pottery from Turkey. I fell in love! The plates were beautiful. Some are painted to have an "evil eye" which means there are places with a circle and a center. These "evil eyes" have thick paint that make the plate have a bumpy surface. We bought two plates, and a teacup. When we were all done shopping, and I could have stayed much longer...we went back to the front room. While they were cleaning and packing our purchases, we snacked on delicious coffee, cookies, and dates. We loaded everything in the taxi...one urn was the front-seat passenger because it would not fit in the trunk...shook hands with Yoosef, and promised to return one day soon! What a fun adventure! I have included pictures of these purchases...I love the picture of Katie with the elephant...it looks like she is saying, "Really? Another animal around here?"

We also went to the beach this weekend! There are twenty-eight tall "beige" buildings, that to me...look exactly the same! One of those is our apartment, and you can look back and see it from the beach. Our building is one of the shorter buildings, so it is easy to spot. If you look closely, you will see our beach chairs in one picture of the beach, and Larry coming off of his "pretend" yacht! Ha! The other pictures are of our little pool on our patio. Those are for Nicole M., who wanted to see the pool! There are three-or-four pools in our plaza...I think of these just like our neighborhood pools at home. They are for hotel guests and residents, but are never very busy at all.

Another adventure happens each day right outside our apartment! I was talking to "Kasy" who cut my hair today. He is from Lebanon, and has lived in Dubai for seventeen years. He was telling me that five years ago, there were none of these tall buildings here AT ALL. Maybe "ten villas", he said...or houses. Five years ago, "they" said they were going to begin developing this area, and now there are buildings everywhere! The pictures of construction are taken out of our window. We are twenty stories up, so details are difficult to see. We are wondering when these four buildings will be finished. They are on the "marina" side of our apartment,  and will obstruct our view a little bit! It is a little boys construction paradise though. I stand and watch them work, and am amazed at all I can see. The little green "dots" are construction workers!!!

Life continues to be an adventure...one step at a time!