Mr. Whitt arrived on November 3rd and I took a little time to see this new little member of our family.
Bob stayed home and "missionaried", and I went off for a week. The best part of the trip was seeing our cute little family that lives there. It had been a long time since we had seen them (summer of 2012) when they came on their yearly excursion to the home land.
They were all great and have a busy little life in the Arabian Desert.
Bode has own style walking around in soccer clothes and is African Drum made out of Elephant hide. He has lots to say about everything,
Tessa is still a ballerina, rides her bike and has grown up. She goes to an English School so she wears her uniform and she looks dang cute. Bode goes off to pre-school
and his gymnastics class. I got to watch him right before I left to come back to SA.
Christmas trees were decorated, Hibibi(sp) the Arab elf arrived from the North Pole and we were all excited. It was fun for me to see baby Whitt. He looks great after his scary entry into the world.
Dubai was so much more than I expected. It is an oasis out in the middle of a very arid desert. As you drive from one place to another it is sand everywhere. Then you come in to these little areas that are amazing. The city has three different business areas. Each is amazing, you drive into the area and the landscaping is beautiful. The architecture is unbelievable. It is like you are going into a city of the future. The look is ultra modern and then sprinkled with a few amazing building with traditional architecture. The two hotels below are examples.
Everything is very new, while I was there they were celebrating "National Day", the beginning of United Arab Emirates. The country is officially 49 years old. Forty Nine years ago the Sheiks of Abu Dhabi and Dubai realized they had a dying area. The source of income was pearls! They decided to develop this international financial mecca. Pretty wise. The current Sheiks are still committed to being at the very edge of all new tech stuff. It is a very international community. Some of the best Tech minds from all over the world live there.
The crime rate is extremely low, almost non existent and it is immaculate. In one week I saw one item on the ground. A cigarette but tossed in a bush and that was it. The standard of living is high, it is expensive and it is very pleasant. I worry that the wanderers will never come home. The seem happy, like the job, like the ward, like the friends....Echhhhh.
The ward building is a restored villa. The church had it redone so they could have a place to meet. There are two wards in Dubai. There are no signs on the building. However, I was impressed that I saw a number of references to Christmas, decorations etc in the malls. Generally, that is a no go! But, it is a very progressive culture and society.
The malls are something else. There are something like 7 in Dubai. They are a shopping women's wonder. They have all of the big name boutiques from around the world. I did see a Bloomingdales.
The two largest are 1) where the Burj Khaif is (Burj means tower and Khalif is the name of one of Sheiks). 2) The other is where ski Dubai is located.
Burj Khalif is the tallest building in the world I think I was told it is once and a half taller than the Empire State Building. I kept looking up at the windows to see if I could see Tom Cruze crawling around outside, no such luck. This mall was four stories, surrounded by a lake, dancing fountains, apartments, and really pleasant places to eat dinner. You sit outside on veranda and watch the dancing water as you eat. The shops were stunning. There is an aquarium in this mall. Wade told me the large piece of Plexiglas below was the largest single piece ever constructed, it was broken as they were trying to install it. They just had another one made.
Mall 2 is the home of Ski Dubai and a Cheese Cake Factory! It is also the home of an artificial eco system that allow the Arabs to ski. They do it. It was strange to see them in their big robes with heavy quilted Jackets. There was a bakery similar to the Magnolia Bakery in NY, NY. I tried to take a picture to two young girls in their garb (Women there are beautiful. They look like they have their make professionally done before they leave the house), I wanted a picture to show you all how beautiful they are. Suddenly, they rushed over to tell me that I had to erase their pictures, it is not allowed. They wanted to see the pictures in the my camera and they stood there while I deleted the 3 pictures of them. They said their family does not allow it. I did not argue, because I did not want to end up in a jail in the middle east with my name plastered all over the world as the dumb broad that took pictures of the Sheiks princesses or something. They really were very nice and we chatted for 15 minutes. They asked how I liked Dubai, I said it was wonderful. They said yes, just like the United States. I told them that I love the United States, but most places are not as clean and beautiful as Dubai. They liked that and did not call the military police on me!
I really think Little Mr Hollywood thinks he lives in Hollywood (but, it beats Hollywood all to heck).
Below are pictures of the most fantastic aquarium I have ever seen. It is located in Hotel / Resort In the pictures talking about architecture. This place is on the beach and huge. It is on Palm Island, This is a man made island extending out into the ocean. It is in the shape of a Palm Tree. How they ever made it is beyond me. And, how do they keep the land eroding from the water? The aquarium is designed after the lost city of Atlantis that sunk into the sea. It is pretty realistic. You walk through chambers with fish and artifacts all around you. The fish were awesome and the designed artifacts seemed that they could be authentic. It was pretty neat! The little princess and prince are residing in a huge oyster shell.
I liked it a lot. I definitely want to go back there sometime when I can spend more time and go to the camel races and visit the attraction more in depth. I just need to keep reminding my kiddos....There is no place like home!
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