A Very U.A.E. Anniversary

How amazing life is that the man I wrote in my journal about years ago has now been my husband for more than one year!  God has certainly blessed this marriage.  Not only has God given me a husband who provides more for me than I ever imagined I would have (I am not just saying this), but he looks forward to coming home to me EVERY evening.  My husband is actually excited to eat my experimental dinners and he even clears the plates and sometimes washes the dishes all on his own!  My amazingly handsome husband is usually the first to bring out the vacuum and he doesn't mind helping me clean.  On top of all of this, he rarely comes home from work in a bad mood (and never complains to me about waking up at 5am every work day).  I am forever grateful that God has blessed me with such an exceptional husband!

Dubai!!!!!!!!!!  Oh how I love the U.A.E.  I have been begging Mohammad to find a way to transfer to U.A.E.  Unfortunately, he does not understand the logic behind building a house and then moving out of the country...

We arrived Saturday night and headed directly to our hotel in the Rigga district so we could catch some z's.  Sunday was our official first anniversary and we spent the day at Dubai Mall celebrating.  If you are wondering how we could possibly spend all day at a mall (especially since neither of us are big shoppers), trust me Dubai Mall is no ordinary mall!  Dubai Mall has over 1,400 stores, is connected to the largest tower in the world (Burj Khalifa), contains a giant indoor aquarium where you can dive with sharks, contains a gold souk, and has the largest dancing fountain in the world (bigger than the Bellagio fountain) just outside it's doors!

First glimpse of Burj Khalifa

Mohammad forgot to open his eyes

Us in front of the dancing fountain with Burj Khalifa

Us in front of the aquarium inside Dubai Mall

Sharks!

There is a souk inside the mall

And there are Camels inside the souk...

Mohammad at the Dubai mall waterfall

The mall is sooo large!  So large that taxis operate inside the mall...

Of course, I had to find a Starbucks

This is a view from the opposite side of the water way from the mall.
There is another souk, restaurants, and fancy hotels.

Inside the souk

Most of the buildings surround the water way.  It's an architect's dream.

Closer up to the Burj Khalifa

Waiting for the dancing fountains

Us on the bridge in front of the dancing fountain

You can even take a little boat ride around the dancing fountain and watch from the water

Yay!  The dancing fountain!

Even closer to Burj Khalifa

Directly opposite the water from our bridge picture

The dancing fountain takes up the entire water way.

It is the largest dancing fountain in the world.

The water shoots up about 3 stories high.

Burj Khalifa at night with the moon.

I had no idea as I was sitting here that an Asian tourist (left)
was about to attack me, but an old man  (right) scared him off!

The dancing fountain goes off every 30mins from 6pm to 10pm.  It gets REALLY crowded!

Me and the Burj at night

Mohammad, the Burj, and the Mall

For those of you who have not been to U.A.E. (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, etc) some advice, BUY A TICKET AND GO!  It is an amazing country.  The people are extremely hospitable, everyone speaks English, most things are just a bit cheaper in U.A.E. than they are in the U.S. and the cities are a tourists' dream.  U.A.E. gets a bad rep. (has anyone seen Sex in the City 2?) and I have no idea why!  It is an extremely safe city for travelers.  Travelers have many excursion choices like desert safaris, dune bashing/sand surfing, beaches, luxury hotels, the biggest malls in the world, zoos, aquariums, amazing concerts, indoor skiing, the fastest roller coaster in the world, the tallest tower in the world, man made islands to explore, several large water parks, I could go on for a while...  The population of Dubai is less than 7% Emirati (locals) which means this is an extremely diverse, progressive, and accepting atmosphere.  Be sure to stop by the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding where local Emirati will be very open to Q&A sessions over some tea and Emirati donuts (Ligamats).