Here in Abu Dhabi most of the teachers communicate through Facebook. Upcoming events and opportunities are posted among multiple groups to keep people aware and/or active within their respective areas of Abu Dhabi. One group in particular that I took interest in was Al Ain Weekends. This group organizes short weekend or day trips around the UAE. The trips can be a hike, a day cruise, a weekend in another emirate, etc. Because I don't frequent Facebook to often, every time I did check it out I would have just missed an Al Ain Weekend event. I told myself, before I leave I had to do at least one event with them. Finally I checked Facebook at the right time and I was able to sign up for a hike in Oman. Al Ain neighbors Oman, so it was only a short drive across the border to the location of our hike. On our hike we had about fifteen people in attendance and we had no problem getting across the Omani border. The problem was getting up some of the rocky slopes we had to cross over to reach the wadi area. Good thing we had experienced adventure seekers who came prepared for such a situation. For some of the challenging slippery slopes, the larger truck had to pull the smaller trucks that were getting stuck up the to the top of the slope while the rest of us walked to the top (that was not supposed to be where we started hiking). Once we safely made it to our destination, we were able to hike, climb, and wade through small wadis while exploring beautiful oasis. It was pretty awesome that these really do exist in the desert. This wasn't a mirage. I have proof. Take a look at my video and see for yourself. **If you are currently living in the Abu Dhabi area, check out Al Ain Weekends on Facebook. It's a great way to meet new people from all over the world and explore The UAE or Oman at the same time!
Before I moved to Abu Dhabi I had a list of places I wanted to visit. When I arrived, I made a few adjustments to my list. When I heard how close the Maldives were to the UAE I told myself I had to make that trip happen. So I did! I told my boyfriend, Jason I was planning a trip to the Maldives for the both of us. He didn't really know what I was talking about, but once he arrived he was so happy he went along with the plan.
The Maldives (aka paradise) wasn't a place where I could just get up and go. I had to save a few coins in my piggy bank and do some research to make it all happen. During the time it took me to plan my trip I picked up a few tips to share with the general public.
For those of you who would like to experience paradise here are some suggestions:
Plan a trip within in a trip: If you are coming from the states, make the Maldives the second stop of your trip. Jason flew from America to Dubai. Then we spent the weekend in the Maldives (round trip Dubai - Maldives). A flight to the Maldives from Dubai is a lot cheaper then what he would've paid flying from America.
Do your hotel research: I had no idea where we would stay. I used hotels.com and researched hotels for a few months to see what the best options were within our budget. I eventually found a great deal with the Sheraton property. I booked the hotel during the weekend and when I went back to show a friend during the week the price had gone up. My suggestion is to set up alerts for certain hotels you are interested in and when the price drops you can be notified.
When looking for hotels try to find all inclusive deals: I didn't come across deals that included everything but I did find a deal that included all of our meals. I'm happy we went along with this deal because it was one less thing we had to think about while relaxing on the beach. Each property is it's own island, so you have limited options in where and what you will eat. So make sure you book a resort that has plenty to choose from. Once you get to your island, you stay on that island unless you book a tour.
Sign up for rewards plans: Anytime I book a flight or hotel, I sign up for the rewards plan. I don't know if I will ever get enough points through these programs but you never know what the future holds. With Hotels.com, once you have booked ten nights through their site you earn a free night on them. The free night is based on the average amount you have spent on the ten previous nights you have booked through them. So it might not necessarily be a "free night" based off of where you staying for your trip, but you will get a discount either way. I was able to get a discount for one of our nights during our stay at the Sheraton.
All in all, I was so happy that I was able to make this trip happen. Through my research I was able to book the trip I wanted without any compromises. Take a look at my video from the Maldives. Warning: The pictures are going to make you want to start planning your trip right now.
Things you will see in this video:
Our bungalow on the Sheraton Resort.
Our awesome view from our deck of the ocean.
Bats! Yes, I said bats! Fruit bats! But still, they were bats!
Fish in the water. Unfortunately, it's not an underwater shot of all the awesome fish we saw while snorkeling. I'm currently looking on Amazon for a waterproof GoPro camera.
Fish we could choose to eat for dinner.
The beautiful sunsets.
A Maldivian themed dinner on the beach.
Jason and I being extremely happy because we were in paradise.
Unlike last year I didn't have as many visitors this year because there was not a major deal on discounted tickets to Abu Dhabi. But luckily, there were still some pretty good deals out there and my parents were able to make there way to the sandbox. When I first moved to Abu Dhabi, my dad said he was going to come and visit. My mom on the other hand wasn't so eager to visit my new residence and needed a little motivation. As a family we came together and gave her the motivation she needed. After all isn't that what family is for?
I found a great deal for a companion flight on Emirates in November around Thanksgiving. I immediately forwarded the deal to my sister, Asani. I told her to speak with my dad who was in town for the holiday to see what they could work out. That's where the plan was created. Asani would tell my mom to make sure her passport was in order because they would be taking a trip in April. We would then tell my mom closer to April that she would actually be going on a trip with my dad to The UAE. We weren't sure how my mom would take this surprising news, but when we all got together via Google Hangouts to tell her, after her initial shock she was...nervous. But there wasn't much she could do but go along with it, the tickets were already booked!
In April, my parents landed in Dubai and we immediately hit the streets. I took them to all the main attractions - a desert safari, The Grand Mosque, The Burj Khalifa, the beach, Dubai Mall, and the souq. I then brought them to Al Ain so they could get a glimpse of my every day life. They were able to see where I lived, visit my school, meet the people I work with, and meet the friends they had heard so much about. Needless to say my mom and dad had a great visit. My dad was amazed by the unique architecture and my mom actually wished she would have come sooner so she could have visited more than once.
Take a look at some of the moments captured from my parents visit.
The 2015-2016 school year is coming to an end and even though I still have about a month left (you're reading correctly, my summer doesn't begin until July 6th) I'm starting the exit process of my teaching abroad experience. But before I say farewell and close this chapter out, I still have a few post I would like to share with you. So let's get started with this one.
In April for my Spring Break I took a trip to Sri Lanka. Hearing the recent news about the landslides Sri Lanka has been experiencing, I reminisced about the beautiful island nation and people I experienced just last month. My friend Wam Bui and I wanted to see all that we could of the island, so we set up a route that had us in a new city almost everyday of our trip. Along the way, we met great people while experiencing the culture, food, land, and religion.
Day 1: March 25th
We arrived in Colombo and immediately took a very short drive to the next town over - Negomobo. We spent the night at a hotel right on the beach. We didn't have time to enjoy the beach because the next day we were heading to our next destination.
Day 2: March 26th
We drove to Pinnawala to see the elephants at the famous Elephant Orphanage. When we arrived I was a bit disappointed to find out that the orphanage was just another tourist attraction where elephants were being put on display for our enjoyment. I thought I was going to visit an elephant sanctuary where the elephants would be roaming free and where we would have the opportunity to interact with them by bathing or feeding them. Instead I saw elephants chained to post or poked around for the tourist to see up close and personal I told our driver that I wanted visit a place down the street from the orphanage that was recommended by a friend. She was able to interact with the elephants the way I thought I was going to be able to at the orphanage. Our driver took us to a place where we were able to ride an elephant but I soon realized this still was apart of the elephant orphanage. Even though it wasn't what I had in mind, I still enjoyed riding the elephant. Next, we headed to the herbal garden where my legs got destroyed by the mosquitoes (I forgot to reapply my repellent, biggest mistake). As we walked through the garden our guide explained to us all of the different plants we saw and how each of them were used to create natural remedies. Once we left the garden (with me purchasing mosquito ointment to put on my very itchy legs), we headed to our last stop of the day - Kandy. When we arrived in Kandy we went to see a the Kandy Dance performance which included cultural dancing pieces and men walking on fire! I must say I didn't care for the dancing (and if you know me, you know I love dancing) but the men walking on fire was pretty cool to see. We ended our night back at our hotel, enjoyed a local beer while eating dinner, and met our house pet, Lanka. He was the small lizard in our bathroom. When we asked the Bell Boy to get Lanka he refused (I'm assuming it's a cultural thing because no one seemed to mess with the lizards). Fortunately Lanka kept to himself, so we didn't have any problems.
Day 3: March 27th - Nuwara Eliya
The next morning, we headed to the Temple of the Tooth Relic. This temple holds one of Buddha's teeth. Yes...his tooth! We went during the weekend, so it was very crowded with buddhist who were coming to pray. On our way to our next town, Nuwara Eliya, we stopped and tried on saris and visited a tea factory. You can't go to Sri Lanka and not try a sari or tea, it's what you do!
Day 4: March 28th
The next morning we got up to catch the train to our next destination - Ella. When planning our trip we heard so much about traveling by train so this was a must do on our list and ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. We met so many people on our ride:
Sean the cyclist who had been in Sri Lank for two months cycling around the island.
The elderly firecracker of a woman from the Czech Republic who was with her friend backpacking through Sri Lanka.
Sinto the tour guide who spoke seven languages. He was with a large group of tourist from Germany who we happened to run in to at our hotel at the end of our trip.
A man originally from Canada, but had been living in Germany for about 30 years traveling with his family.
Two friends from Spain who meet and travel every three months in a different place because one lives in Germany and the other lives in Qatar for work.
Not only did I meet some interesting people, but I was also able to see the beautiful farm land and people of Sri Lanka. Once we arrived in Ella, we had lunch at this very cool restaurant called Chill. Good food and drinks, can't go wrong with that. Following lunch on our way to our hotel we stopped on the side of the road and checked out a beautiful waterfall. Bui was a bit hesitant to venture over the rocks to get a closer look, but when she heard my reaction to the natural beauty she couldn't resist. Bui was later almost attacked by wild monkeys that came to join us in our waterfall photo shoot. The monkeys pretty much ended our time at the waterfall and we then headed to my favorite hotel of the trip. The Jetwing Hotel was my favorite hotel for so many reasons: a cute little bungalow with an outdoor bathroom and shower, peacocks roaming the hotel grounds, bicycles for us to use to get around the hotel grounds, and the service was excellent. I didn't want to leave, but we had to move on the next day to our next stop.
Day 4: March 29th
Our next destination was Yala, where we enjoyed the day on an animal safari. I really wanted to see a bear, but they didn't want to come out and play while we were around. We did get to see a leopard (which was very exciting), wild boar, a variety of birds, a crocodile, and many other animals.
Day 5: March 30th & 31st
Bui and I wanted to make sure we had some time to relax on our trip, especially with all the moving around we had been doing. So we made sure we ended our trip at the beach in Unawatuna. For the next two days I was a beach bum. That pretty much sums up my time at the beach.
Day 6:
April 1st
Because we had a later flight Bui and I were able to squeeze in one more activity in Colombo before we left. My friend who had visited in December recommended a cooking class that she found on a site called With Locals. On this site you can find people you can hire to be your tour guide when you visit their city or you can sign up for different activities people are offering to give you a real "local" experience. If you plan on going to Sri Lanka any time soon, I highly recommend taking the cooking class with Duneeshya. She demonstrated how to make steamed rice, dhal curry, bean curry, gotukola sambal, coconut sambal, ambultiyal fish, and wattalapam pudding. I didn't think I was going to eat most of this food because I don't really eat curry and I'm not a fan of coconut (which was used a lot), but I loved it. The food was excellent and I was so mad that I couldn't take any of it with me because before we knew it, our driver was back and it was time to head to the airport.
Here's a picture of Duneeshya our cooking instructor.
I would definitely recommend Sri Lanka as a place to visit. The people are nice, the country is beautiful, and it's an affordable trip (icing on the cake). Oh the places I'll go! Check out my Sri Lanka video!
Last month Dubai showcased artist from around the globe during their annual art festival - Dubai Canvas. This year they featured 3D street art. The canvas pieces were showcased on the sidewalks and walls of Jumeriah Beach Residence also known as The Walk. When looking at these pieces they may look flat, but once you add yourself to the master piece the 3D work came to life. Here's a glimpse of some of the unique pieces and artist.
Kurt Wenner was a featured artist at the festival best known for inventing 3D street painting and pavement illusion.
Before I get started, I just want to let my mom know that I was careful and safe. Don't call me after reading this and yell at me. Thanks! They say it never rains in Southern California. Lies!! That's what we say for the desert as well. We should say, it almost rarely rains in the desert (I"m sure that could also apply to Southern California as well). Lately here in the desert we have been experiencing some unusual weather. When I say unusual, I mean it's unusual for the dry and hot climate area I live in to get rain more than once in a month and just this week it has rained twice! That's ludicrous! When it rains here, the kids and some adults go crazy because they are so excited to experience this rare occurrence. It's like how people act in Atlanta when it snows. Unfortunately here they don't shut the city down because of the inclement weather but they are just as unprepared as Atlanta for the foreign weather. First issue: they don't have a lot of drains in the first place because it doesn't rain often. Second issue: the drains don't drain due to being full of sand which causes flooding issues. Third issue: the driving is already crazy here and when it rains people don't make any adjustments to their driving. Crazy, right?! You basically don't want to be on the road when it rains because some majority of the people here have not been educated on how the water on the road can effect their car and driving. Unfortunately I had to be on the road today while it was not only raining, but pouring. I would have loved to snap photos and videos to share with you all, but I was so scared. All I could do was say little prayers the entire way home, keep both hands on the wheel (there might be an imprint from my tight grip), and try to avoid getting into an accident. I did get some footage when I arrived home safely and I collected some from my friends. My rainy experience included:
Being escorted to my car by one of the cleaners at work who had an umbrella. By the time I made it to my car, my feet were soaked because the parking lot was flooding.
Driving at a snails pace
Having cars flash their brights at me to move out of the way. If I didn't they were bold enough to venture into the flooded area to go around me.
Fallen trees (Okay, I only saw one but at the time it added to the dramatic experience I was going through)
Flooded and chaotic roundabouts. We have roundabouts literally all over town. (For those of you who aren't familiar: A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic flows almost continually in one direction around a central island.)
Getting home and after being scared for my life, 10 minutes later the rain stops and the sun comes out.
Here's a picture after the rain had stopped. This street was flooding an hour before this picture was taken. The drains started working when the rain slowed down.
Take a closer look at today's weather:
In other news, (actually I'm still talking about weather) I also experienced desert fog. Also not a fan. You could be on one end of the road and by the time you get to the other side you can't see the car in front of you. If the fog gets really bad, some schools will delay the start of their day. By 9 or 10am the fog burns off. Take a look at what I experienced one morning.
My school
So the lesson for today is that you sometimes do have to check the weather, even when you live in the desert!
March 9, 2016
Just and update. Because of the rain that has continued off and on since yesterday, Abu Dhabi Educational Council has cancelled school for the rest of the week. Some of you may not know this, but teachers are usually a bit more excited about days off than the students.
Here's a post I saw online of an area further out in the desert - Liwa. Apparently they had bigger issues with the drains and still people are out on the roads. Craziness!
I’m baaaack!I
haven’t had much to report on during this term now that I’m in my second year and
things aren’t so new to me anymore.But
trust me, I do have some post that I’ve been working on. These things just take time and
research to complete.Look out for new post in 2016. But while we are still in 2015, I
would like to share with you my last trip I took just last week.I went back to The Motherland and visited
Kenya!Kenya was an experience.From our accommodations to the animals…an
experience.
Accommodations:
Masai Mara Camp
We had three places we stayed in throughout our trip.When we first arrived in Kenya we took a
5-hour drive out to The Bush also known as the Masai land.It was a long and bumpy ride.I felt like I was Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura 2
dying this part of the trip. When we arrived we
were in slight shock when we saw where we would be sleeping for the next two
days – tents!We were literally
camping.The bonus was that we had a
cement foundation, a toilet, and shower in our tent.(Notice how I didn’t say bathroom because I
wouldn’t call it that because there was nothing to separate the toilet and
shower from the rest of the tent.)Now
some of you may be wondering why we would be in shock if we have access to the
internet and could look up what this place looked like before arriving in Kenya.Well you know how you look at something
online and it looks like you can manage and everyone else seems to be okay with
it?No? Well, that’s what I
thought.I must say, I think I did pretty
well.One of my friends even said that
it looked like I had done this camping thing before. (I guess that one trip to
Yosemite paid off Dad!)
Here’s our tent and my roommate (Rosamund) for the trip!We stayed in this tent the first night and on
the second night we had to be moved because Rosamund saw something near the
headboard of my bed with a white tail.Ummm, we quickly vacated the tent and moved to a new tent that had a
real door (the door made us feel a little better).The two other girls, Ebony
and Cidney, joined us in our tent that night because they didn’t want to be too far away from us.Let’s just say you hear some very interesting
noises in the middle of the night when you are camping out in the wild.
My bed that I slept in fully covered with a hoodie and
all.We had to clean up some dead bugs
before tucking ourselves in the first night.
Here’s some of our neighbors.One decided to join us for breakfast our last
morning, uninvited might I add.He jumped
on our table, we ran, he got his breakfast, and we (including the men who
worked at the camp) had a good laugh.
Lake Nakuru
When we arrived we were greeted by the staff and informed
that there was no power.Now in Kenya a
lot of the accommodations in this area turn the generators on during a certain
time for you to have power and warm water.So initially when we heard no power, I thought well what time does the
generator come on?No, there was no
power since yesterday, which meant no hot water, which meant no shower!On top of that, there already wasn't anything
to do as far as entertainment goes once we had gotten there so we got to our
room (we were so happy to be in a room and we were in one room which made us
feel safe) and we were literally sitting in the dark.
The staff was nice enough to provide us with a flashlight
and kerosene lamp.We went out to the
front porch and played some checkers.The board was made out of cork and the checker pieces were bottle caps.
We had a "romantic" dinner with the other guest and the cats
that lived on the property.If you know
me, you know I was not excited about the cats, but the other guest entertained
and fed the cats, which kept them away from me.
When we returned to our room we were a bit bored so I made
some shadow puppets.That didn’t last
long and we weren’t tired so we had girl talk.
Nairobi
Every new accommodation was a step up from the last.We couldn’t wait to make it back to the city
and get to our last accommodation – The Fairmont!This Fairmont is the oldest hotel in
Nairobi.We were so excited to sleep in
a comfortable bed and take a nice shower.
The Trip
Day One:
We traveled.By the
time we made it to the campsite, we felt like we had seen most of Kenya. If you plan on traveling to Kenya anytime soon make sure you factor in the horrible traffic you will encounter. At one point it took us two hours to get somewhere that should've taken us twenty minutes.
Traffic in The Bush
Traffic in Nairobi
Day Two:
We went on our safari and saw four of the Big Five
animals.The Big Five are some of the
biggest and meanest animals in Kenya – the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard,
and rhino.We were lucky enough to see
everything but the rhino in just one day!You’ll see a ton of animal pictures in my video. I was super
excited about seeing all these animals and I had a new camera to play with.
Day Three:
Before we left the Masai land, we stopped to visit a Masai village. We were greeted with a song and dance showcasing the Masai mens' jumping skills. We were then granted access to see how the Masai live. Later that day we visited Lake Nakuru.When my Dad traveled to Kenya years ago, I remember him showing us
pictures of hundreds of flamingos at this lake.I was very eager to get to the lake and see the same.Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what I
remembered from the pictures.The water
levels have risen in the lake and now there aren’t as many flamingos as there
once was (thanks a lot Global Warming).I did still get to see a lot of flamingos and as a bonus we saw a rhino on our way to our lodge! Seeing all the Big Five animals...check!
Day Four:
We visited Crater Lake. We took a guided hike around the park, got pretty close and personal with some zebras and giraffes, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch down by the lake.
Later that day we headed back to the city and were greeted by the Nairobi traffic. Once we finally made it to our hotel and dropped off our bags, we met Beverly, a friend of my Dad who has been living in Kenya for many years. She had some friends over and prepared a wonderful meal for us. It was my favorite meal of the trip.
Day Five:
We walked around town and bought fabric and souvenirs. For dinner we visited a local restaurant and pub where our server became our new Kenyan friend.
Day Six:
It was time to head back to the desert. After getting bumped off my connecting flight from Doha to Dubai, I finally returned at 2:30am in the morning. I still had to get to Al Ain which was another hour away, sleep for about an hour, and then get up and go to work the next morning...Oh the places I'll go!
