mini vacation into the desert and Dubai

I had my first UAE visitor this weekend! A friend I had met and traveled with in Italy came here to see their brother who is a Marine stationed here and we met up on the weekends to hang out. It was really nice to actually do the "touristy" things here. Since I've been here I've either been too busy or just not wanting to bother with it since I have the "expat mindset." I thought this would be a good time to update you all on what it is like here.

We spent a lot of time just wandering around Dubai for hours on foot (which was really fun considering every other time I have been there it was a quick trip in and out). Then I finally made it to the top of the  Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world. While it was cool it was not something I would ever do again (unless any of you come to visit hehe). The most intense moment of it was when we went up the elevator. It travels so fast that you must chew gum during it to avoid painful ear aches. 124 floors in under 60 seconds!

Some resort that rivals the Hilton in Hawaii (sorry bridget)

Tallest building in the world

BIGGEST fish EVER!

Shark swimming along in the Dubai Aquarium

Besides the Burj we traveled around the Palm islands and hung out on the rocky jetty, until the cops came out and told us we couldn't be there. . . oops ha. Then we went on a desert safari out in Sharjah (another Emriate close to Oman). This was by far the most exciting thing I have done since I have been here. Our driver picked us up and took us way out of the city and we drove around the dunes for several hours. Stopping along certain points to play in the sand and take photos. I ended up spraining my ankle as you'll see in the photos below trying to race people down the massive dunes. After the drive they took us to a traditional Emirate styled BBQ with free henna, shisha, and an entertainment show. The show included belly dancing, fire spinning, and more. I loved this experience because I really do find the desert beautiful, but it is hard to see the beauty when all I see is it polluted around the cities with garbage, construction, and an attempt to force vegetation on the land. Being out in Sharjah the desert was massive and untouched. The dunes rose so high it was definitely the scariest rollercoaster of my life!

view from the palm

The "off limits" part of the island we climbed over to

getting ready to jump the wall which we were not supposed to and go down to the water

Beautiful dunes. . . 

who knew I had hops ;)

some of the people on our tour

the horrible hike up the dune. I know it doesn't seem steep or like it is big because it is all neutral colors but man these things were HUGE. Easily 3X bigger than Florence dunes in Oregon.

some of the dunes at a better angle to see how big they are.

All of the red sand is the UAE. Those mountains are in Oman our neighboring country.

Spraining my ankle (still hurts to walk on)

Parkour!

just messing around in the sand

you can see all the tire tracks where people drive around

sunset at camp.

belly dancing show

Besides the fun weekend in town this past weekend I went into Abu Dhabi with my co workers after our pay day for a much needed Sushi Buffet and drinks. Speaking with other teachers from other campuses I feel even more fortunate to be at the campus I am where we enjoy spending time together at and outside of work. Everyone said that the 10 weeks after winter vacation until spring break would drag by. But so far I am shocked with how busy I have been staying. With work picking up and the kids being really great I am beginning to fall in love with teaching again and really feeling like I am doing something worthwhile. There was a long period where I felt so despondent about it here in regards to the work, and now it is turning around :) Keep in touch everyone I love getting your letters I have started a collage of all the letters I get here so keep sending them!!