Our campsite

My adorable husband

a mama and a babyFriends (from left to right): Tanya and Ali, Nic, me, Hasina, and Lydia.

Friends Nic and Hasina

Hi! Hello! Salut!

We've been camping a few times. The last go was fantastic. We went to a new place out by the camel racetrack. It's amazing that trees grow in the desert, but they manage to. People went dune bashing, A few weekends ago, we went to hear Frank McCourt speak. His writing, though a bit depressive, always reflected the theme of perseverence and humor. He spoke through an interview and answered various questions, but the book he talked about the most was Teacher Man, his new book. It's about his life after he came to the States and about teaching English in NYC public schools for 30 years...

Frank

We've had our first relaxing, three-day weekend. Chris and I have settled into a routine with work, friends, alone time, etc., but we certainly welcome change. The Prophet Mohammad's birthday was last week; however, instead of having a weekend and then a day of school and then a day off, the Ministry of Education finally decided to do something logical--move the holiday up a day! Therefore, we received our first three-day weekend.

The Ministry of Education or MOE has been a bit of a thorn in our sides. They have still not decided when we will start school next year. This has been particularly frustrating because we cannot make definite summer plans. We are planning to visit the States, the UK, and take some sort of a trip...depending on funds. So far the choices are Europe (the lesser traveled countries: Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and maybe Spain and Portugal), US road trip (out to AZ, CA, etc.), or even South Africa...Any ideas or votes? Until they decide our school dates, we won't know our plans...

Last weekend we and our friends Cindy and Justin went to Dubai Mall. It's right next to the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world, and it is impressive. This mall is stunning. It has the world's largest aquarium viewing panel. It's about two stories tall. It's amazing. The malls are designed, have installations, fountains, and gardens inside. It makes shopping enjoyable and an adventure!

Cindy and Justin

While the trip was enjoyable, on the way home we ran into a traffic jam. A helicopter flew in, and we still had no idea what was going on. We have mentioned the horrific drivers, and when it comes to accidents, there are no exceptions. While we were stopped, drivers began driving on the shoulder, the Land Cruisers went into the dunes around the accident, and several cars attempted to follow getting badly stuck... The helicopter left, the police let us slowly pass, and we saw what happened. A car--about the size of ours--hit a camel. The camel was still on the side of the road, and the car was smashed...It might look similar to a car that just hit a few moose. Now, the interesting thing is that we aren't sure if the helicopter was flown in for the people or for the camel. Camels in the UAE are worth about 200,000Dhs or about $55,000 or 40,000GBP. They are an asset...

We have made a lot of great friends here. This week, we have been to our first Braai--a South African barbeque. Our same friends, Cindy and Justin, hosted it. We were not sure what to expect. They had meats such as biltong and droewors. It's amazing having friends from all over the world and trying out their cooking.

I guess that's about all for now. Love you!