Actually, it's Abu Dhabi, but "surprise, it's Abu Dhabi" doesn't flow off the tongue as easily as "surprise, it's Dubai." Seriously, say them both out loud and hear it for yourself.
So I have come to the land of money and sand to visit my sister Emma, her husband John, my five-year-old niece Evelyn, my two-year-old (almost three-year-old) nephew Hyrum, and my six-month-old niece Rosemary. Their family just moved from New York to Abu Dhabi at the beginning of the year.
Some context on Abu Dhabi: while Dubai is the over-hyped, glitzed-up city in UAE, Abu Dhabi is the seat of all the money and power (that's what happens when you get all the oil). My only exposure to Dubai was what I saw on my 4:00 am taxi ride from the airport to Abu Dhabi, but given some of the ostentatious stuff in Abu Dhabi - e.g., Sheikh Zayed Mosque, which is the size of five football fields and cost $545 million to construct, and the official "world's furthest leaning man-made tower" (suck on that Leaning Tower of Pisa), which is...you guessed it...a hotel - I can only imagine what's in Dubai.
Anyway, I'm still working on gathering pictures and doing awesome stuff here, so more on this next week. Just wanted to let you know that the post is coming early this week because (1) I have internet connection at Emma's house, which is a nice change of pace from only having it at work and (2) since the LDS Church conforms to local customs, the Sabbath here in UAE is on Friday. Writing my weekly blog update to stay in touch with everyone seemed like a good use of time on the Sabbath.
This week I wanted to share the last (I promise) pictures from the weekend of March 15-17. You can blame my buddy Scott for not sharing his pictures until just a couple days ago.
Amandla showing off the dinner menu at the St. Patty's Day Party. Nadia and I in the background.
The winners of the Irish dance competition getting their awards. Amandla took first place.
Scott and Natasha competing in the Ethiopian dance competition.
Our table at dinner. The guys on the right side of the picture are the band that was flown in from Ireland just for the event.
On Sunday, we attempted to walk to a barbecue some of the SPAs were throwing for Sid's car. She's an old VW Beetle, who apparently turned 42 this year. Clearly, we got caught in the rain and had to take shelter under a store's awning.
Scott and I outside Bole Guest House (where he stayed his last couple days) on Thursday morning, just before he took off for the airport.
Given I'm clearly making this particular post a grab bag, I also wanted to share a couple other things I've seen recently. While over in the Old Airport area the other day, I actually saw a street sign. This is crazy rare. Not only are streets not labeled but there are a few names for each street and none of the locals know them. Seriously, nobody reads maps and nobody learns the street names. Everyone navigates by landmarks, as in "it's over by such and such hotel" or "it's over by Meskal Square." Having tried and failed to explain a Google map to housing brokers when I was looking for a place, I was very excited to see an official street sign.
I was also recently in a taxi, when I saw the following sticker on the windshield.
That's right, just in between an upside down South African flag and a "Hang Loose" sticker was a "Don't mess with Texas" sticker. I don't have anything clever to add; it just made me laugh and reminded me of home.
So I have come to the land of money and sand to visit my sister Emma, her husband John, my five-year-old niece Evelyn, my two-year-old (almost three-year-old) nephew Hyrum, and my six-month-old niece Rosemary. Their family just moved from New York to Abu Dhabi at the beginning of the year.
Some context on Abu Dhabi: while Dubai is the over-hyped, glitzed-up city in UAE, Abu Dhabi is the seat of all the money and power (that's what happens when you get all the oil). My only exposure to Dubai was what I saw on my 4:00 am taxi ride from the airport to Abu Dhabi, but given some of the ostentatious stuff in Abu Dhabi - e.g., Sheikh Zayed Mosque, which is the size of five football fields and cost $545 million to construct, and the official "world's furthest leaning man-made tower" (suck on that Leaning Tower of Pisa), which is...you guessed it...a hotel - I can only imagine what's in Dubai.
Anyway, I'm still working on gathering pictures and doing awesome stuff here, so more on this next week. Just wanted to let you know that the post is coming early this week because (1) I have internet connection at Emma's house, which is a nice change of pace from only having it at work and (2) since the LDS Church conforms to local customs, the Sabbath here in UAE is on Friday. Writing my weekly blog update to stay in touch with everyone seemed like a good use of time on the Sabbath.
This week I wanted to share the last (I promise) pictures from the weekend of March 15-17. You can blame my buddy Scott for not sharing his pictures until just a couple days ago.
Amandla showing off the dinner menu at the St. Patty's Day Party. Nadia and I in the background.
The winners of the Irish dance competition getting their awards. Amandla took first place.
Scott and Natasha competing in the Ethiopian dance competition.
Our table at dinner. The guys on the right side of the picture are the band that was flown in from Ireland just for the event.
Scott and I outside Bole Guest House (where he stayed his last couple days) on Thursday morning, just before he took off for the airport.
Given I'm clearly making this particular post a grab bag, I also wanted to share a couple other things I've seen recently. While over in the Old Airport area the other day, I actually saw a street sign. This is crazy rare. Not only are streets not labeled but there are a few names for each street and none of the locals know them. Seriously, nobody reads maps and nobody learns the street names. Everyone navigates by landmarks, as in "it's over by such and such hotel" or "it's over by Meskal Square." Having tried and failed to explain a Google map to housing brokers when I was looking for a place, I was very excited to see an official street sign.
I was also recently in a taxi, when I saw the following sticker on the windshield.
That's right, just in between an upside down South African flag and a "Hang Loose" sticker was a "Don't mess with Texas" sticker. I don't have anything clever to add; it just made me laugh and reminded me of home.
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