heartstrings 9.0: lasting memories

When I first arrived in the UAE, I was amazed and I think a little floored by how much English is plastered all over the place (as in, I'm pretty sure there's more English here than Arabic... no lie.) The longer I've lived here, the more I feel like I'm back at home with a sprinkle of cultural differences here.

One thing I love about being here is how stinkin' friendly people are here. There are some hard workin' peeps here, y'all and it is absolutely their pleasure to serve you or take care of you in the best way possible. Yesterday, Cat, Trina, and I were at the Mushrif Mall at a store and I saw the people who work there going around the store asking people if they needed a trolley or a cart to push their things around with. Not only did they give them the cart, but they proceeded to place all of that person's items inside their cart. They great you at the local Pinkberry with warm smiles and say, "Hi, my name is Ken/Joel (our favorite Pinkberry dudes!) and it will be my pleasure to serve you..." and then your next visit... y'all... they... remember.... your... name! After ONE visit... that's how invested these people are in their service. It's amazing. Puts Texas to shame with how friendly they are.

Speaking of friendly... One of my dear friends, Kahleel, asked (and by asked, I mean ordered us to go upstairs and get ready--lol) Cathy and I if we wanted to go with her and a few friends to Dubai for the day. Dubai is only an hour by car away from Dubai... that's like driving from H-ville to Houston! How sweet is that?!?

We had a super fantastic time together... we were escorted around the town by some awesome ladies from South Africa; Jackie, who has lived here for 12 years; and Fiona, who has lived here for 8 years. Jackie and Fiona took us all over and were so hospitable--they wouldn't let us pay for petrol (which by the way is only 1.64 dir a liter so like $0.40 a liter--ridic!) and Jackie refused to let us give her money for the parking ticket and speeding ticket she received during our adventure.

Here's a picture walk of my second trip to Dubai... (wow. Did I really just write that?!)

the bus that took us to the Atlantis hotel

yep, that's right... gold atm's in the UAE

sand art at the Atlantis... pretty cool to watch

After we left the Atlantis, I had a brilliantly naive idea to go to the beach. So being the fantastic hostess that Jackie is, she obliged and took us. Little did I know that in a few moments I would be standing on the most gorgeous of beaches I have ever seen. The water, the sand, the Burj Al Arab off in the distance. Simply stunning.

the Burj Al Arab at the beach

yep, that's the beach... no photoshopping required

some people swimming

my footsies in the salty warm water... :)

me and my Jamaican, Kahleel

jumping over the crashing waves

me, Cat D, and Kahleel doing what we do best...

After we left the beach all sandy (not a great day to wear sperry's...) and made a massive mess in Jackie's car; we headed to Nando's (Portuguese place that's famous for it's South African spice, Perri Perri) for lunch. It was delish. I had a grilled chicken pita with lemon and herb and some spicy sauce and chips (fries). Ate the mess out of some Arabic bread as well. Our last stop was a souq type place called Karama where you can get any fake designer anything you want... but it looks pretty real. All their stuff is made from real leather so it's good quality stuff. But it was a little weird going behind the walls and such to get to these places. I bought a white ceramic "Chanel" watch that was super cheap... they had Ugg boots, Marc Jacobs, Coach, Loius Vuitton, Mulberry, Jimmy Choo, Hermes, and a bunch of others--none of which I had really heard of before this adventure.

We had some wonderful laughs bargaining with the people in the shops and headed back to Jackie's villa in Al Reef. There we stayed until about midnight eating bbq that Niel and his lovely wife made for us while we were out. Had some amazing chicken... tried some lamb and ate the best pita bread and hummus I've ever had. It was a nice ending to a lovely day.

So that was just another day in the UAE... tomorrow we get back to work! Orientation for the next two days and then rumor has it that people will be shipping out to Al Ain. Still unsure of what the next few weeks look like for us... but! I did buy a couch yesterday. It's probably the most comfortable couch in existence. For realz. It was originally marked at 6500 dir ($1762) and they were selling it for 2500 dir ($640) and then 720 dir for each pillow ($196 each). What a steal... here she is: