Sad Mountain

We went to Jebel Haffet in Al Ain, it is very beautiful and very large (compared to me at least ). It's elevation is 4,068 feet, and you can drive up to near the top. Sadly though this beautiful mountain is marked with a lot of graffiti. This one wall I saw was all most completly covered with it. There is also tons of garbage littered all over the place (their public toilets could use a good cleaning too.)
Jebel means Mountain and Hafeet is just the name, it sits right next to Oman.

The graffiti was horrible and should be fixed, they should get cleaning crews up there to clean it. It is a beautiful place but is messed up by the trash and graffiti. I wish it were better, people just don't understand that one piece of garbage turns into many and soon the most beautiful places on earth turn horrible and ugly. That is the sad truth.

Picnic at the US Embassy

On March 4th my family and I went to the U.S. Embassy with the scouts (Cub, and Boy Scouts). We had a blast! When we got inside, we went into a "multi-purpose room". We had a long discussion about citizenship in the states, passports, ex pats, etc. After that, we went to different places in 3 groups. First, our group went into a room where a soldier discussed life as a marine. In the next room, we got to try out their $80,000 "Wii". We were put in scenarios on it where we had to go in and shoot the bad dude before he got away, or we died. I used the shot gun and killed him as soon as he came out - in one shot! In the third room, we saw what they put on in an emergency, all the equipment and stuff, it was cool. We went outside and had a BBQ with burgers, hot dogs, and drinks. We saw their living space and it is sweet! They have 2 dart boards, a bar, a pool table, foosball, and a vast kitchen. It was a great trip and I enjoyed it. I had most fun in the second room shooting on the "Wii". I hope there is another trip there in the future.

Heritage Village

On Wednesday we got our new car! A Grand Cherokee Laredo is perfect for us and we can even go DUNE BASHING in it. I laugh at all you Georgians, you can go muddin' but we can go dune bashing in the desert, hahahaha. We took it for a drive down to the Heritage Village and that was awesome! We went through all these different mini museums and saw the best model boats I have ever seen.



We also got to ride a camel, it was very cool. They are a lot taller than horses, they don't smell worse than horses, they do have an attitude, but they are so BEAST. We have some pics of us riding it including........ Mom getting off, the camel refusing to give Dad a ride at first, and me being amazingly awesome. These epic pics will be at the bottom of my post.














After that, we left because they close at 5. We plan to go back for all the things that we missed because they were closed before we left. We went over near this giant flag that is out over the water in the same place as Heritage Village, it was so big! Near that are these rocks that line the edge of the water and it was nice.

The other day we went to the Emirates Palace and Hotel to watch the orchestra practice. When we got there, it was cool. The emirates palace is very large and beautiful, it is full of decorations that are simply amazing. Stuff that looks almost gold, amazing tile floors with great designs, and more, and the ceiling in the main lobby is wonderful. After getting down stairs we went into one of the auditoriums and sat down to watch. Mostly they were tuning and doing other things, occasionally they would do part of a piece but nothing more than that. It wasn't that fun after the first ten minutes. Actually, my friends and I spent most of it playing games on our phones, chatting, and counting down the minutes until it was over. It was OK, once they we were done we exited. Then the adults debated whether to stay for the questions we could ask or to bring us to the park, like we usually do on Mondays. Thank goodness we went to the park. I got to hang with my friends.

We had gone to the Palace months before for a children's concert. When we went the first time it was good, the orchestra had interacted with the crowd to make it more fun for children. For example, the conductor would turn around and have the kids clap and talk to the crowd. They played very good music and it was fun. I liked it more than the practice because I actually got to hear good, whole movements of music. I liked it much more than the practice.

The concert we saw was The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra , founded in 1888. We listened to Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner. Named after their son, it was written for his wife on her birthday and played by 15 musicians on the stairs of thier swiss country villa. It was a wonderful piece and was enjoyed. I liked it as well as many others that were there. It was a good trip.

The U.S.S Harry Truman

The U.S.S. Harry Truman

Not too long ago, I went on a field trip with my boy scout troop to the U.S.S. Harry Truman. Here is what I learned.

The Truman was commisioned on July 25, 1998. It is a U.S Aircraft Carrier. It carries many kinds of aircraft, including hornets, greyhounds, prowlers hawkeyes, and seahawks, and a bunch of helicopters. When our scout troop went, we were lucky to be able to see all of the planes actually on it. When it docks in America all of the planes go off to their seperate bases. There are no US bases in the UAE, so they all stay on board. It's height is 2 stories from waterline to mast, it is as long as the Empire State building is tall, and the width of the flight deck is 251ft at widest. It's propulsion comes from two nuclear reactors.

The planes are stored below deck.  To move the planes around there are 4 plane elevators, and 4 catapults to launch the planes. It can launch the planes extreamly fast at a short distance. We also got to go see the weegie board (I think that's how you spell it :-). A little metal board where the keep track of all the planes below the flight deck. They put different color and shape planes for different squadrons and types of plane. They use tacks of different colors, jacks and other items to show what that plane is doing - if it is being moved, is broken, is being repaired, etc. They move the planes on the weegie board and then move the real ones.





Check out this site for a video of a real launch:

http://blogs.govexec.com/executivecoach/2010/03/truman_thursdays_how_to_launch1.php

Bahrain by plane costs less than a car to Al Ain

It's my first official blog entry!  Woohoo!  OK, celebration over, let's move on.

I recently took a day trip to Bahrain.  Where the heck is Bahrain, you ask?  It's here:

The next logical question is WHY?  Perfectly rational - if you live here.  If you look down the page, you will see our adventure to Oman.  This is the continuation of the story.  Since then, it has been debated back and forth the immediate neccesity of the attestation of my marriage license.  This is validation of authenticity which is neither proved by the raised seal, nor by a notary public.  Basically, you have to stand on your head, jump through hoops, pay a fee, and get the President himself to declare your marriage legal - without it, I am a wanton trollop illegally living with my lover.  I think all they need to do is spend a few hours in my home to figure out my status here, because it ain't THAT.  While all this is going on, we accrue fines.  I am beginning to understand why they do not have taxes here.  The alternative is a "visa run" - a quick over the border trip for the purpose of obtaining a visa stamp, buying you another month of trying to prove you were invited.  We tried it with Oman, failed, and figured an airport would be more adept.

As it turns out, it was a brilliant idea. Not only do I have a shiny new stamp in my passport, but I spent several hours reading uninterrupted, had a lovely lunch no one begged me to share, did some unharried duty free shopping, and got in a nap.  That's a good day for me!! LOL

There were quite a few interresting things along the way that I found to share.

This is the Abu Dhabi Airport.  It is quite beautiful.  In the center hub is this enormous scupture which runs through both levels and encompasses the floor and ceilings.  It is made of blue and green tile and is very striking.  I happened to be sitting in an area with a large group of Indian or Pakistani women who were all dressed in traditional style.  There are many women of this culture here, and they are very striking, especially in numbers like this.  The fabrics they wear are full of rich color and silky textures.  Many have metallic thread or jewels woven into the design - even at the mall, they make one feel very under dressed! The Pashmina that they wear is a sort of all purpose garment.  If Muslim, they drape it over their head for a covering.  In the Catholic church, too, they bring it up over the head during Mass much like we would wear a veil or mantilla.  Some do so just out of cultural habit, or come use it as a scarf or a shawl.  However they drape it, this style of dressing totally appeals to me.  It just looks so comfortable and much better looking than sweatpants!

Off we go!  Good-bye Abu Dhabi!!  Hard to see here, but I was able to find several of my favorite spots by air - like my park by the beach, and my favorite mall!

This is pretty much all I got to see of Bahrain.  I got off the plane, went through immigration, wandered past baggage to the car rentals,

and walked back upstairs to the airline desks and checked back in.  Then I went out to take this picture.  Maybe someday I will come back to visit for real.

Duty Free shopping anyone?  This airport has quite a little Duty Free mall going on - separate stores for toys, jewelery, gifts, clothing, and some very expensive designer handbags.  This area was completely decked out for Christmas with several trees and this strange little display.

My luxury meal.  Prawn salad and lemonade with fresh mint.  Yummy.  I had a nice view of the planes taking off and no one spilled anything on me, threw up on my table, or interrupted me to take them to the bathroom.  We even had a special guest!

This is the old Air Force One that took off during my lunch.  Hillary Clinton was, evidently, on board.  Yeah, I wasn't that impressed either.

I took a nap on the way back, so I didn't get any pictures.  :)

This is the cab that brought me home, though, and if I had to mention Hillary, this definitely deserves a mention.  Here in Abu Dhabi there are approximately 10 "Ladies Only" taxis.  There are many cultures here, including the locals, where women traveling alone would possibly be uncomfortable being driven around by a strange man.  Also, women looking for employment may be  put off by the idea of picking up strange men off the side of the road.  This is their answer.  They are driven by women, and used by only women alone or with their small children.  They are distinguishable by the pink and purple flowers and butterflies on them, and that their roof signs are pink instead of yellow.

So that was my trip.  By 7:00, I was at home in a comfy chair with a glass of wine and I even made it home before the kids did!

In Abu Dhabi there are many different malls. Some that I have been to are Marina, Khalideha, Abu Dhabi, Center Point, and Meena.

My personal favorite is Marina mall. It has an ice rink. The ice rink is not very big, but you rent skates and get to have some fun with your family. I went with Rory and Cooper, it was fun. They kept grabbing my arms and we would both go down on the ice (cold, cold ice). It also has an arcade, shops, food, and other stuff.

Most of them are within taxi distance - about 5 American dollars away. They all have different types of stores, internet cafes, furniture, ugly furniture, groceries, other cool things. They are a lot of fun to go to.