We don't have very exciting pictures to post from our Eid break because there aren't many photo opportunities when you are laying around being lazy=). We spent our time relaxing, going to the beach and hanging out with friends. What a nice 5 days!
Isaac at Bar Zar in the Madinat, with Ashley and Jen. The Madinat is a massive, sprawling hotel and shopping center. It is designed to look like a traditional souk, but is filled with modern-day shops, like Starbucks and Cinn-a-bon. There are lots of beautiful outdoor eateries and walkways as well. Apparently there is even a sea-turtle rehabilitation center somewhere in this expansive place, so we will try and check that out soon!
Jen and Tarique
Cheese!!!
We have started working on our tans since this picture was taken=)
The Burj al Arab behind the Madinat... beautiful!
The Barsha... For some reason I felt compelled to take some photos as we were driving home from Spinney's, a local grocery store. You can tell we are getting close to our neighborhood by all the cranes.
Jebel Ali Racecourse round-about
Our hood... Greens apartments on the left, our place, Art Gold IV, is on the right
Public beach... very busy today! There were Pakistani and Indian workers everywhere. They had been bussed in, and it was nice to see that they were getting some time to relax and enjoy themselves, because their working/living conditions here are tough!
Jumeirah Beach Hotel (twisty shaped building on left) and the Burj Al Arab (it sits on its own little island out in the water).
Some workers having a grand ol' time burying each other in the sand. I got a great laugh out of watching and had interesting revelation... it doesn't matter the culture, when burying your friend in the sand, you still get the biggest kick out of giving him big sand boobs! So funny!
Staring, even bug-eyed gawking, is culturally acceptable and normal practice in Middle Eastern countries, which can be quite unnerving to women. Especially when you are wearing a bathing suit! We went down to one of the public beaches with some of our ASD friends. We were out in the water (with the gals taking great care to duck down so only our heads were exposed) and all of the workers kept swimming by and gawking at us. One worker was even so bold to swim circles around us, about 8 feet away! Every time we'd turn around, there he was... just staring and circling! It was annoying, but after a while became quite amusing. Someone remarked that it felt like we were being stalked by a shark. Finally, after a good 30 minutes of circling and staring, Isaac turned around and asked the guy if he was a shark. It was clear he didn't speak any English, so Isaac decided to use some of the ESOL skills he learned in grad school and provided the man with a visual. He held his hand up on his head, like a shark fin, and enthusiastically asks again, "Are you a shark?" Well, the direct contact apparently embarrassed the man, so he distanced himself from us, but not before making a final lap and peeping a bit more. 
This is not the creepy peeper, I just thought it was cute=).
1 comments:
At least you're getting to practice some of those ESOL skillz Issac :)
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