Desert updates

I just realized it has been 5 days since my last post..shocking! Irresponsible! Don't worry..you won't miss a thing, since I will tell you about it now.

I went to see my apartment again and to check out some of the area of Al Ain. I think I will really like the city, as it is smaller, less hot and has a lot of character. Instead of shining high rises, it has small shops that line the downtown with everything from traditional abaya tailors, to electronic stores, to McDonald's. I don't think there is anything I won't be able to find there.

I am very happy with my apartment and have bought a ton of stuff from IKEA to make it my own. I am very excited about my SUPER KING SIZED bed too! There was a huge sleigh bed frame already in my apartment which I love, and I also probably couldn't take out even if I wanted to. I think they must have built it in the room. So I measured it, thinking it was a queen or king and went to the mattress store. A store here was offering 50% off to teachers, so I got a super sweet pillow top mattress for under $500, and when I was trying to buy sheets I discovered that is was a super king. I will certainly sleep well in my new place!

As I may have mentioned about my apartment before, there is a cockroach issue. At first I thought this was good reason to refuse to live there, but after doing some research and talking to others..I have found out that it is extremely common to have them in the Middle East and they are pretty unavoidable. I have asked my building to spray for them and I am hoping they will, as they seriously freak me out! I went to my apartment one day and I left the fridge open cause it smelled funky from being closed and unplugged for 2 months. I guess one of the roaches smelled this and thought it was time for a party, because when I came back, one was sitting in my fridge. Now, I have dealt with roaches before and I'm usually brave. This however was the Mother...no, really, the Godfather of all roaches. HUGE. Like about the length of the palm of my hand. My brave, amazing friend Krystyn was there, and she volunteered to kill it for me. Not sure what I will do without her! I am going to go and get roach spray, roach traps, boric acid, bay leaves and every other type of roach remedy there is. These little bastards will not make me miserable!

The day I went to visit my apartment, we also visited Al Ain mall. I bought a few things at the supermarket and when I went up to the cash, a very strange set of occurrences began. This man popped out of nowhere and loaded my groceries on the conveyor for me. Then he bagged them, put them in my cart and started to walk away, into the mall. Confused, I followed him, asking him where we were going. Of course he did not speak a word of English. He tried to take me to the parking lot, while I tried to point and gesture and basically dance to show him that I had no car, and was going upstairs to the food court. He never did get it and I think just assumed I was nuts, but I tipped him so he went away. Also, when I was done eating in the food court, I got up to take my tray to the trash and up popped another little guy, waiting to take my tray for me and clean my table off. Right now this kind of treatment is just confusing and feels very awkward. I figure I will get used it, learn how to say no, or become the laziest person in the world. Only time will tell.

My birthday has just passed and my friends and I set up a lovely day to celebrate it. I got up early to go order my awesome bed (woo!) which I'll have on Saturday. After that, I met my friends at Emirates Palace (the 7 star hotel) for a buffet lunch. The buffet included all sorts of fancy meat, salads and sides, but what I most enjoyed was the amazing dessert spread. Yum! My friend were great and split on my hefty bill of $80 for lunch. They rock :) One of my friends decided to order a really cute sounding cappuccino...the "Camelcino". What a cute play on words right? Wrong! It was actually a cappuccino made out of camel's milk. After a few sips and her saying it tasted weird, we asked the waiter and he confirmed the camel milk. She said it tasted "hairy" like drinking farm animals. I tried it, but since I don't drink coffee I couldn't tell the difference, I just knew it tasted gross to me. None of us will make that mistake again!

After lunch we were supposed to go on a desert safari. It turns out the hotel booked the wrong day, so we booked it for the day after my birthday and went to IKEA instead. I do love IKEA afterall...

Thursday we went on the desert safari and I can honestly say it was the best money I have ever spent. The safari guy picked us up from our hotel in a luxury SUV (that had been equipped with a roller bar and lots of "oh shit" handles on the roof). We drove out about 45 minutes into the desert. When we got there we went to a camel farm and watched them eating and hanging out. After that, we started the dune bashing. Sand dunes are giant natural sand hills that are out in the desert. Some of them are small and some of them are hundreds of feet in the air, the height of some small apartment buildings..couldn't even tell you how high! They let the air out of their tires so that they won't burst and then drive full speed ahead (like 140 km/hour) up the sand dunes and zigzag over the side and top of them. All the while the driver is gear shifting and madly spinning the steering wheel back and forth so the SUV won't flip. There were many terrifying moments when I truly thought we were going to tip sideways and roll down the hill, but he always saved it at the last moment. It was myself and 3 other ladies who went. Needless to say there was a lot of screaming! It was like a 40 minute roller coaster, so by the end of it we were a little queasy to say the least! Beware..the video is mostly a lot of screaming and shaky camera work.

After dune bashing we stopped at the desert camp. Here we did camel rides, some people did sand/dune boarding and then we had an iftar dinner. The camel riding was hillarious. I had no idea camels were so tall! I was the first one to get on the camel and it was grunting and making noises before I even got on...poor thing! Though I have heard camels can carry 990lbs so I didn't feel too bad that he had to carry me! I got on and then the guy said "HOLD ON!" so I did..and the camel lurched me forward as he got up. They have to get up two legs at a time, first front, then back and you really do have to hold on. Actually riding on the camel was a fairly smooth ride and they were well controlled. Once again, when the camel sat down I had another terrifying moment of almost being lurched off the camel. I watched my friends do their camel rides, and them do some dune boarding which I skipped for fear of injuring myself terribly.

We headed into the camp after that for our iftar dinner. It was a mix of lots of meat and rice, but really anything tasted great after the tense workout that was dune bashing! We were able to relax, try on some traditional outfits and watch the stars come out in the desert. It was honestly so beautiful and I cannot wait for a time when I can stay overnight in the desert.

That was the end of our adventure for the day. Today I am going to get a few more things at IKEA and then have one last dinner with all the girls before I leave for my apartment tomorrow. I feel like I am about to start a new adventure all over again...the one called real life! The hotel life has been amazing, but I think I am ready to cook my own food and hopefully wash my clothes in an actual washer dryer soon!