Quick Trip to Oman

Masooma's Birthday Breakfast at Shakespeare & Co.

I thought it would be cool to go have a quick look at Oman after breakfast before heading out 

for winter break next weekend…

Welcome to Oman!

just after the Hili border crossing in Al Ain

the landscape changes quickly here, both manmade...

and natural

the rock looks like packed sand and nothing seems to be growing on the hills

an oasis with mountains in the background

a Roxaboxen bush!

(this will probably only make sense to my kids)

a shopping strip - hard to see in the photo, but one of the differences here is that almost nothing 

is written in English, like it is in the UAE

I thought the mosques looked a little different here - just the shape of the dome

I tried to capture the Oman flag, but I didn't quite get it

OK, time to go back, but where is the border crossing? Hey look! There's Hili Apartment complex where Elise lives…if only the razor fence weren't there.

After finding the border guards, we were rejected. We found out that we would have to go to another town 50 kilometers away to get an Oman stamp before the UAE would let us back in. Would have been nice to tell us that upon entry, 

but that just would make too much sense wouldn't it?

So, off we go into the sunset to find this elusive little place with a magic stamp.

 It did make for some nice sunset scenery...

 …and there goes the sun.

nightfall happens quickly in the desert

We stupidly followed the map that the UAE border people gave us and landed in a town 50 km away where nothing is written in English and ONE person spoke English (thank goodness we found him at the police station). This officer, very eager to practice his English, drew us an excellently accurate map which took us directly to the magic stamping place another 30 km away, at Wadi al Jizzi. Three hours after originally attempting, we finally crossed back into UAE and headed back to Abu Dhabi.

National Day Craziness!

A little lesson in UAE Sheikhs

* "bin" means "son of"

* "al" basically means "of the clan or tribe or family" (I think)

center: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan - the guy who united the Emirates & became the first President of the UAE in 1971

left: Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan - current President of the UAE 

right: Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan - Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces

Lulu's even made a flag out of produce!

Tomatoes - Green Peppers - Onions - Eggplant

Etihad Airways got in the mix down at the Corniche by doing some low fly-by's

Masooma and her son Nayle grabbed us a nice spot right on the water at Le Boulanger 

to have dinner and enjoy the fireworks!

Me waving the colors - Etihad Towers in the background, also lit for the occasion 

Alight show from the Emirates Palace Hotel

The parade of decorated cars, silly string fights, and general craziness was a sight to see!

Masooma, Nayle, and I decided to walk down the road to see if Heritage Village had any artisans selling their goods. When we arrived, there was a convoy of fully decked-out Hummers streaming out of the village.

 That's Masooma and Nayle on the right, taking a photo 

When the convoy finally ended, we entered and asked one of the girls who looked "official" what that was about and she said it was "no big deal" just something about a flag. The guy in the photo below overheard and was indignant! He then explained that it each Hummer had carried a Sheikh from each of the Emirates and the one with the flag he is holding had gone around to all of the Emirates during the  past week and had been passed from Sheikh to Sheikh until arriving here, in the capital city, for the celebration of National Day. Then after obliging us in a few photos, he put it back on it's post on the last Hummer, climbed in, and rode off into the craziness.

After finding that we had missed all of the fanfare at Heritage Village 

(except for getting a private photo shoot with an apparently very important flag)

we walked back to join Kim and watch the firework show.

Remnants of the previous day…driving to work in the morning

School entrance all dressed up, but no boys to teach

only about a fourth of the boys showed up to school, so after two periods

the principal sent them all home

Pre-National Day

People spend a couple weeks preparing before National Day by decorating cars, roadsides, buildings…pretty much anything they can think of to decorate with the UAE flag, national colors (red, green, black & white) and various arrangements of Sheikhs' pictures.

Unrelated - my beautiful drive to work

 Well, not always beautiful… Hey! Maybe we'll get rain again!

Morning Assembly at school has more elements (and more decoration) these days

A little stop-off to watch the boys doing Jiu Jitsu

Hall decorating - first successful group effort I've witnessed with these kids

(except for small groups escaping over the compound walls)

Down near the Heritage Village across from the Corniche - even the lights are decorated

I was hoping to find some local artisans selling their goods at Heritage Village this weekend, but found the place quiet and almost empty, except for preparations for an upcoming marina sporting event.

Panorama of Abu Dhabi City

A contrast of old & new: old boat at Heritage Village with cityscape in background

 model of a traditional well

A bit of pool time brought a private little air show

With the private air strip right besides our complex, we got to watch eight planes practice formations for the upcoming air show at the Corniche

I even got to watch from my balcony as they took off in formation

house decoration below me

Hospital decorations too

Pretty sunset

 I just thought the Coke bottle in Arabic looked cool

If you can imagine it in UAE colors, this guy has it!

Can you guess how old the UAE is this year?

A few days later…the hospital added lights to the huge flags covering the end of each wing

This way it's patriotic, both night and day!