We left the States on Friday, January 2nd...and reached our destination early Sunday (read: 12:30 am), January 4th. We completely missed January 3rd altogether! The air travel really was not very bad at all, despite a 13 hour flight. I have just one thing to say about airline travel: Fly Emirates whenever possible. They are definitely my new favorite airline- I'm considering moving to Dubai (where they are based) so I could fly with them more.
Back to the trip. Greeting us at the airport was our lovely Jen and her cousin Alesha, who was also visiting for a few weeks. For those of you who don't know, Jen was my roommate for five years or so. We were roommates in college (along with some other fabulous girls), and she followed me to Missouri after graduation because she loves me that much. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding, apparently instrumental in helping Isaac plan the proposal, and my own personal nurse for as long as I knew her. She is one of my best friends, and I hadn't seen her since my wedding because she moved right after it! Needless to say, it was very nice to get a good-quality Jen hug after all that travel. Wondering why my favorite tall red-headed white girl lives in the Middle East? Well, she's crazy. And she has this obsession with traveling. And she's a nurse. So she can get a job anywhere. So she did. For all you kids out there: become a nurse. Seriously- you can work anywhere in the world and make the rest of us jealous.
Our first few days were pretty low key. On Sunday, we got up pretty late (okay, I admit, I got up late pretty much every day- but hey, it was my vacation!) and went hiking. We had some difficulty finding where the "trail" actually began, so we just guessed. The good thing is that they have these red, yellow, and white markers painted every now and then to keep you heading in the right direction. It definitely made us feel like we were training to go on The Amazing Race. Then the trail ended up in a graveyard. Yes, a graveyard with wild dogs sniffing around everywhere.
Monday, the girls donned their head scarves and attire that covered our wrists and ankles and visited the Grand Mosque. This mosque is immaculate; they began building it in 1996, and it took six years to complete it. The architecture is beautiful, they have about a gazillion chandeliers, and the carpets were hand-woven Persian rugs, which took four years to complete themselves! The building and grounds were beautiful, but heartbreaking at the same time.
We went to the beach Monday afternoon and examined some seashells. The Gulf was beautiful, but Jen kept insisting it wasn't as pretty as normal because the area was still dealing with some red tide issues. But to be at the beach in January! Glorious!
Monday night, we had dinner with some friends of Jen's. The women eat in one room and the men in another. I can't speak for Isaac's experience, but we could hear him laughing throughout the whole meal, and he did come away from dinner with a plateful of amazing meat and a hat as a gift from his host. As for the ladies, we enjoyed amazing food! They serve you sweets before the actual meal, and that tradition is something I would have no problem integrating into my life! It was wonderful to learn random Arabic words, try to pronounce them, and then have everyone laugh at your complete inability to say the words correctly. I ate the best meat of my life at that meal- one word: shooa. Eating with your hands is also always an adventure...
Tuesday we had our first true wadi experience at Wadi Qari. Jen had actually hiked it the week before when her parents had come for a visit. In order to get "into" the wadi, you walk along the falaj, which is basically a thin aqueduct. At one point, you walk along this falaj bridge, and hope you don't fall off and break your neck. While hiking, we saw several locals and quite a few goats. I liked the goats and wanted to pet them, but I thought better of the idea when one shot me a rather nasty look.
That evening, Isaac went out with Todd, an American who lives near Jen and operates a tour guide business. We actually spent a lot of time with him our second week, but more on that later. While Isaac was out on the town and most likely being offered sheesha to smoke, two of Jen's friends came over and visited with us. Alesha and I both got henna- she on her hands and me on my feet. The girl who did it for us did it freehand and it was incredible to watch the process...not so incredible to clean up afterwards. We ate dinner with them, and I was enthralled to learn that one of them was as big a bookworm as I am. We talked about Jane Austen and Charles Dickens and some more Jane Austen and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jane Austen again and Edith Wharton. Did I mention we talked about Jane Austen?
Wednesday, we went to the souk, which is the local market, where we proceeded to take out our shopping list and purchase gifts for family members, coworkers, and friends. Of course, I automatically began scouring the shops for a magnet for my mom. I must say that Jen is an excellent barterer and helped us to get some deals, or rather, not get ripped off. And oh yes, we also went to the actual mall where there is a Carrefour (French version of Wal-Mart, in my opinion), where I bought Kinder Eggs. Oh, lovely...
Wednesday evening was definitely a once in a lifetime experience on top of an already once in a lifetime experience. The Arabian Gulf Cup is held every two years, and is just happened to be going on while we were visiting. Jen lives literally right around the corner from the football stadium. No, not American football. Football to the rest of the world, i.e. soccer to us Americans. We really wanted to go to a game, but finding tickets looked as if it might be a problem. Oh contrare! They were going to be FREE! So, we show up at the stadium a few hours before the match, go through security a few times, find the "Families' Section," sit down, and have a freakin' awesome time! Holy Moses, I love going to football games in other countries! Especially when your team wins 4-0!
Since Wednesday was such a busy day, we took a day off Thursday. Yes, we "took a day off" on our vacation. We sat around and read (more to come on that in a later post), talked about the "good ole days," but eventually made it out to the beach. A different beach, I should say, but the beach nonetheless.
Thursday was actually a rather sad day because it was Alesha's last day before she had to return to the States. For dinner, we ate schwramas, which are good in every country in which I've eaten them. I'm still trying to figure out why everyone puts french fries into them though. I thought the french fry obsession was limited to Belgium, because they are actually the ones who invented french fries, and Romania, because they put french fries on everything, including pizza.
And oh yes, we got to play 'Boxers or Briefs' on Wednesday night, a fact which will make all of my Columbia friends insanely jealous...
Friday morning was especially blissful because we found out that our beloved Gators won the NCAA National Championship! I was really sad that we didn't get to watch the game, namely because we weren't willing to wake up at 3:00 in the morning to do so, but still proud of them. We also went back to the souk on Friday and had dinner at a local restaurant that served some amazing naan and some other interesting items, such as "Fantasy Pizza." Not sure what that was all about...
And so I conclude the first edition of my account of our trip. Still to come: desert, turtles, camels, dune-bashing, and a flood...
