Do people get tired of reading the same things over and over again? I dunno, but I don’t get tired DOING them.
We’ve been sticking to the plan of trying to do something every weekend. Nothing too crazy or expensive. We just like to get out of the house. I located a nice “American style” bowling alley when I went up to Abu Dhabi for the BJJ tournament. So we left one morning a few weekends ago, grabbed a few geocaches and went to the bowlng alley. We got to the place around 11am. I have
never been bowling that early. There was one other family of expats there, otherwise the place was empty. It was nice to just do something normal for a change, something I took for granted in the States. Logan had a great time shoving the bowling balls around on the ball return, though his mother was ever fearful the balls were going to smush his fingers.
In addition to the bowling alley, we visited the Grand Mosque. It is, to me at least, the best piece of architecture in the UAE. It’s what you picture when you think of Muslim/Arab culture. It is also a big tourist attraction and free to enter. We got there early before it got busy. We had to take our shoes off before going inside, and also all women had to wear the traditional black Muslim abaya and also cover their heads. So Alanna was decked out in black and I just had to dress conservatively. Men have it so much easier here.
The mosque sports the largest rug and largest chandelier in the world. So we toured around for awhile, took some pics and videos and then left content to have seen such a sight.
We took another day trip to Dubai last week. We went to a new mall. It had a big Toys-R-Us in it and we were looking for a backpack to carry Logan around while in London. We didn’t find one of course and resorted to Ebay. I hope it gets here in time! The mall was great though. We stepped off an elevator and lo’ and behold, there was an OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE. I love Outback. I mean, LOVE. Who doesn’t though? Anyway, they don’t have any in the UAE. Or at least they didn’t until January when the one In this mall opened. I just didn’t know about it. We ate dinner there, completely alone. Not a single customer around. Someone walked in near the end, but for the most part, no one. Food tastes different here. McDonalds is a little different, Papa Johns is not exactly the same, etc. I am happy to report though that Outback tasted like Outback! The Aussie Cheese Fries were amazing and the Prime Rib was to die for. Now don’t get me wrong. The entire family spent the next few days with stomach problems, but for me it was well worth it. After leaving the mall, I did some quick Geocaching, finding one and DNFing another. Darkness was coming quickly so we headed back to Al Ain.
Speaking of Geocaching, which I seem to do a lot… I went to an “event” last Friday. Events are get togethers where other cachers meet up for coffee, stories, etc. Pretty geeky I know, but fun. Well, Geocaching has been around for 10 years now and the folks in my area scheduled a 10 Year Geocaching Event last week. I’ve only a met a few of the area’s cachers, so I thought it would be fun to meet some more. We headed out Friday morning to Abu Dhabi. I grabbed a few caches along the way, one beside a strange… round… building. Who knows what is was, but that’s the UAE crazy design for ya. The event was held at a nice coffee shop. Alanna
was happy because they had a breakfast burrito. It’s the little things that make her happy. About 15 people showed up. We sat around and chatted, ate some decent food, and swapped geocoins and travel bugs. Those little things are trackable items that can be placed in caches for people to find. You find one, log it online, and then move it on to another cache. The trackable’s owner can follow it all over the world. Pretty cool. Or geeky. Anyway, we swapped trackables around. I left with three and have already placed them in caches around Al Ain. We broke up the event after two hours and the family headed home. They were a nice group of people. We swapped numbers, emails, Facebook info, and hopefully we’ll meet up with some of them now and then. All in all a fun but geeky time was had.
Logan is soooooooo close to walking. He can stand up alone now for half a minute at a time. He can walk around the house “assisted” by his parents – meaning, we hold his hands while he stumbles step by step. I’ve let go of him a lot, but he’s yet to take that first step on his own. He’s close though! Its so much fun to be a part of all his little milestones. I’m so thankful NOT to be working all the time. I would have hated myself if I missed all this.
What else? Alanna and I saw Iron Man 2 this week. We dropped Logan off at the babysitter and went to a 5pm movie. Iron Man 2 came out a week earlier here than in the States. Don’t ask me why, but it was cool to see it before everyone else. So yeah, 5pm movie. NO ONE but us in the theater. Well, no one until right before the movie started. At the last minute, a man came in and sat in our row. Yeah. Like there wasn’t another open spot he could have sat in. No no, he chose to sit in our row while the rest of the theater was empty. Weird. To top it off, he had his choice where to sit before he came in. They do things a little different here. You don’t just go in and sit down at the movies. Like going to see a play or concert, you select which seats you want while you buy the tickets outside. Then you are ushered in to YOUR seats. Crazy country! Iron Man 2 was a good sequel though. There were lots of Captain America references which I laughed at and which Alanna looked at me funny for. Although I am more of a DC fan, Marvel has done a great job with this series.
OK, gotta end it here. Logan WAS napping. Not anymore.
