3.15-16.12 Update

Salaam and Hello again all! Thursday is the start of the weekend here and I started it off with an egg and khoubz breakfast followed by a much needed workout (courtesty of bodyrock.tv) and long, wonderful shower. I felt sorry for the two young boys because they couldn't come with the gym with me; only the sister (aaw, I hate seeing kids cry!). After, I made the tabouleh while Enaam made her yummy rice..mm....
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=625415023095&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=3&theater
After dinner we left to one of the smaller malls, the MCC which was actually quite large!  Everything about the place was beautiful and grandiose.  I tried on a few abayat that I fell in love with. I haven't bought them yet but I'm definitely going back for one of them.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=625419204715&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=3&theater 
We drove around Jumeirah andI soaked in the eye candy (abayat and cars lol) snapped a few pictures of both ;)  We stopped for some meat shawarma which, again became the best I've ever had lol. Guuh I know I'm going to end up gaining weight this trip :( lol better up my workouts.
Today (Friday) I woke earlier than expected to a yummy breakfast of homemade zataar. We went to a small masjid that was beautiful smalah on the outside, but the inside lacked for the women.  They got a teeny tiny room with no screen to see the lecture, just a blah white wall :(. Made me long for the Islamic House of Wisdome where women and men pray together with no partition, curtain, or wall.  Aaaannyway, I finally got to wear my DAS abaya, yay!  I'm in love with it wallah the style is not my favorite and I can see wearing it all the time for sure, it's so elegant and graceful; not to mention definitely kept me cool in the hot morning sun.  The wind whipped discretely into it's folds and kept me cool.
After we came home to a lunch of okra, ruz, salata, and addas...mmm.... It felt like a lazy Sunday back home bc we relaxed most of the day until the evening when we went to vist Enaam's sister, Sausen at her villa.  And boooooy masha'allah was it beautiful! We drove through the ridiculously packed streets of Sharjah to reach her.  I've never seen cars going at these speeds get so close to each other without touching, wallah it's amazing the way these arabs drive.  Lol I was told Sharjah is more cultural and that's why it has more mosques.  Also, it was swimming with Pakistani and Indian immigrants, they were eeeeeverywhere, I could have been in one of their countries!  I also saw my first bedouin, pretty cool :D.  I took some pics of Sausen's beautiful villa, woow how beautiful masha'allah.  We snacked on shai and sweets, not a bad evening in the lovely UAE :)
-Kiddo

3.14.12 Wednesday update

I'm currently obssessed with Dubai! I couldn't be more in love with a city.  I don't feel like a stranger to this place, it feels very natural even!  That's it, I'm ready to move, lol , probably a fact that will make some of my readers a little queasy.  Anyway, I've had the best falafel and frozen yoghurt of my life here.  If  that's not enough to make me want to stay,then maybe it's the beautiful weather, the bustling city, and the sheer grandeur!  Lol, the beautiful family I'm staying with is so much fun!  When I worked out the other day (something I feel I must do to avoid gaining weight on all the tasty food this trip) the young boys (5,7) imitated me the entire time lol.  The next day they kept asking me to "make sport" so they could join me.  Unfortunately for them, I opted for a nap :P  The other day I had this amazing drink called Paradise....and boy was it! I've never tasted anything like it before, it was spiced and fruity and topped with yummy Arabic ice cream
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624697620775&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=3&theater
I've also seen the largest grapes in my life here; unseeded! They're the size of dates!!  Lol. So far haven't seen the crazy arab guys everyone warned me about, don't know if they're feeling particularly respectful, or because I'm in a group with older women, lol.  Either way it makes me grateful.  I'd say the only thing IN has on Dubai is the corn on the cob..considering IN is basically the corn capital of the world I guess that would make sense.  Anyway, here's a video I took today for your viewing pleasure:

Until next time, maasalama!

-Kiddo

Arrival day/Monday

As'salaamu alaykum and hello to all who stumble here!  I packed for several days for the trip at least a week ahead because I knew I'd be working up until departure.  Alhamdulilah my glasses and abaya (courtesty of Dania) arrived in time! :D It's taking forever to load pictures on this blog so I'm going to post links to them
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624385735795&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=3&permPage=1

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624385830605&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=3&permPage=1

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624385915435&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=3&permPage=1

We boarded the Royal Jordanian on time and alhamdulilah made all our flights.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624385980305&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=3&permPage=1

The flight altogether pretty much lasted all of Sunday :(.  We landed in Dubai at about 2am.  The airport was paaaacked!  I was going to take a picture but it was pure chaos and I neglected my camera.  There were long lines of people waiting to get their eyes scannned.  Alhamdulilah my friend Enaam didn't have to wait because she was with me.  Thankfully the security let us through because as an American citizen I didn't have to wait (nor did I need a visa, surprise to me!) and they let us through alhamdulilah!  We got out at around 3:30 am local time and Enaam's brother Saif found us.
The smell in the air is intoxicating, I loved it immediately, so far no complains :D  We stayed up until fajr and subhan'allah hearing the adhan surrounding me is unlike anything I've experienced before!  I felt like crying; soaking in the beauty!  Since our internal clocks were all turned around we didn't sleep until about 9 am here..guuuuh, woke around 5am for scrumptious meal, yummy addas and grape leaves. Masha'allah I've never lived with anyone who has a maid/nanny before.  Their's is a lovely lady from the Phillipines, masha'allah she's amazing cook!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624386080105&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=1&permPage=1

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624386154955&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=1&permPage=1

Here's a view from their terrace, I'm in love already with this city and haven't even been here a full day!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624386184895&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=1&permPage=1

Masha'allah lovely home!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624386244775&set=a.624384857555.2071021.197400622&type=1&permPage=1

This post took forever to write and I'm exhausted now!  I bid you good night, maasalama!
-Kiddo