It seems like just yesterday but so long ago too! Two Wednesdays ago I left work in the early afternoon for a much needed weekend away from KAUST. And I was finally going to visit friends in Dubai who have been asking me to visit virtually since I landed in the region. I think because so many people want to leave Saudi Arabia for the weekend it is not so cheap to fly around the region. Dubai is only a 3 hour flight from Jeddah but airline tickets are priced like you are flying from NY to LA. I had bought a ticket on one of the regional discount airlines, SAMA. I also saved by flying to Sharjah, one of the 'other' emirates. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is made up of 7 emirates or states. It was formed in 1971 so is a relatively new country. Dubai is definitely the most famous of the emirates but Abu Dhabi is the capital. Before 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a 19th-century truce between the United Kingdom and several Arab Sheikhs. The name Pirate Coast was also used in reference to the area's emirates in the 18th to early 20th century. Sharjah is only about a 30-40 minute taxi ride to Dubai so well worth the discount on the ticket. I stayed with my friend Jen Melton who is a college counselor at the American School in Dubai. She has lived there for 4 years and is moving to Shanghai next year. Thursday was a complete day of beauty- hair color and cut, manicure and pedicure. Then it was off to tennis. It was the men's quarter finals so we watched last year's defending champion Djokovic defeat Ljubicic, Youzhny defeat Tipsarevic, and Baghdatis defeat Berrer. So many eastern europeans!! I was slightly disappointed Federer was not in the tournament but had a great time. Several of Jen's friends from the American School were there including my friend Chip who I worked with when I lived in Bogota. We have stayed in touch and see each other ocassionally. He is a huge tennis fan and had box seats but slummed with us in the grandstands so we could catch up. We hung out between matches at the Irish Village where I had a BLT- yeah for bacon! and a few Stella Artois- hooray for beer! You really don't realize what you miss until you can't get it. The ironic thing for me was that Friday was the Prophet's birthday. So, in the UAE that meant they stopped serving alcohol at 6 pm on Thursday until 7 pm on Friday. Friday was a complete day of rest. We went to a resort hotel in the desert for the day- Bab Al Shams: http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Jumeirah-Bab-Al-Shams/ It was amazing! The decor has inspired me to add a bit more to my home here- lots of antiques- camel sadels, lanterns, beautiful colors. The pool was incredible- lots of layers and jacuzzi features with an infinity edge that dropped to the desert dunes. They have camel rides, falcon shows, archery. It was VERY windy- we had sandstorms on our way there- but we made the most of it. It was like a free sand scrub for your skin. There was one section of the pool particularly close to the dunes that I swear was filling with sand faster than the life guard could shovel it out. The buffet lunch was also amazing- lots of arabic food- hummus and grilled meats and fish but also sushi and all kinds of salads and desserts. I also spent significant time shopping. The Dubai Mall is just at the base of the Burj Al Khalifa- the tallest building in the world (2,717 feet) just opened on January 4th. It took over five years to build and cost about US$1.5 billion. It was known as the Burj Dubai and then renamed after UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The mall has an aquarium and underwater zoo, an ice skating rink and LOTS of shops. The aquarium can hold up to 10 million liters of water and some of you may have read recently that there was a leak and they had to close the mall. Luckily that was the day before I went. I really could have spent several days just in the mall. There are lots of great restaurants as well and a fountain show that rivals those in Las Vegas. And last but certainly not least on my schedule of activitites was visiting with my Boston University alumni friends. Bilal is from Turkey and picked a great Lebanese fish restaurant for us all to meet. He just moved to Dubai from the US in September last year and is working with a friend's company. He was the president of the International Student Consortium at BU and did great things there. Jessica is from the US and has been living in the UAE for two years teaching at an international school in Sharjah. Her mom was visiting and also joined us. And Anoosha is actually Emirate! (only about 15% of the people living in Dubai are Emirate) She hosted a wonderful reception for newly admitted BU students last year at her home. She is working for the government now on policy planning but is thinking of going back to the US for her MBA next year. Once I landed back in Dubai very early Sunday morning I felt like I never caught up on sleep... I stayed up and out watching the big US v. Canada hockey game (the Canadien fans outnumbered the US fans!) This weekend was for catching up on sleep and laundry and grocery shopping etc. I did spend some time at the new KAUST beach! and am sure I will be writing more about that in the near future. Happy weekend to you all!!
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