National Day was December 2nd here in the UAE. Unfortunately I missed the actual National Day because I was in Egypt (that post is coming soon)! I was however, able to catch a little glimpse of what National Day may have looked liked if I had stayed in Al Ain. Here's some footage from my school's celebration:
My class before we went to the gym for the celebration:
Lights around town:
It reminded us of Christmas, so we got into the Christmas spirit!
National Day decorations around town:
A lot of the cars around town got into the spirit
House decorations:
This is just one house!
Like I said before, I went to Egypt for the break. That post will be up next week!
I hope everyone had a great and safe Thanksgiving yesterday! Some friends and I got together and cooked and to celebrate the holiday. One of our Egyptian friends joined us and was tired after we ate. We told him getting sleepy after you eat is also a part of the Thanksgiving tradition! Here are a few pictures from last night's feast.
My beautiful turkey! I had to fold the sides of the pans and turn the way I would usually put a turkey in the oven to make it fit in my oven. It was a 13 pound turkey by the way. For those of you who know me, yes, I did make rolls as well.
Ashley, Islam (our friend from Egypt), and myself
In other news, last weekend was the Formula One Race in Abu Dhabi. The race weekend was filled with activities around the city. Most of the events took place where the race was being held on Yas Island which is about 20 minutes from downtown. I made my way to Abu Dhabi, but did not make it to Yas Island. I was going to check it out to see what was going on but didn't feel like dealing with the traffic. Based on the radio these were some of the activities taking place: the grand opening of Yas Mall (yes, another mall), the Ferrai club was having a race and showcasing cars (I'm sure that was cool), Pharrell was having a concert (heard it was crazy expensive), and of course the actual race was going on (no NASCAR here...a guy from the BMW team won). I decided to attend a free concert on the beach with some of friends that lived in the city. The two performers I recognized were Miguel and Jason Derulo. Most of the people I was with, including myself, wanted to see Miguel. Everyone else who was at the concert came to see Jason Derulo. We found that rather funny. At the beach they had a lot of vendors set up with fun activities and showcases for all ages. We walked around for a bit and then checked out the concert. Here is some footage from the event.
The weekend before last (yes, I'm late with this post) I took yet another trip down the highway to Dubai to visit Ski Dubai. This time my trip was a success! My first attempt was during Eid weekend and it was a failure due to the sea of people. We couldn't even walk through the crowd to get to the counter. This time we walked right up to the counter. We paid 200 Dirham ($54.45) for two hours of skiing, pants, a coat, boots, snowboard or skis, and a helmet if you choose to wear one. Once you get inside the actual snow arena you can ski or snowboard, go snow tubing, have a penguin experience, or roll in a huge snowball. For some reason I didn't think it would be as cold inside this snow arena as it is when you are outside skiing, but it was. My fingertips actually got a little cold. Thank goodness I brought my Green Bay Packers hat to keep my head warm (Go Pack Go! I actually ran into another Packers fan while boarding). Due to all of these activities there were only two slopes to ski down. There were two lifts and no line, so I would say that the runs were good for practice. If you are an advanced boarder or skier then you might not find this place too exciting. For me, it was a fun experience and another item checked off my list.
Here's Ashley about to take her ski lesson.
Part of the slopes.
Snowball! People get inside of these and roll down a small hill.
