This is How Things Happen on Planes

    I have done my share of travelling.  In the last 8 months alone I have been to 8 countries plus the UAE. I have been to many airports and on many planes. I am usually good bout following the rules about what is allowed in the plane. 

     Over Christmas I was in the Cambodian airport and the woman viewing the security TVs tells me I have a liquid in my bag that is more than 100 ml. I tell her politely that that is impossible I have been through TWO airports and no one said anything and I haven't bought anything since. She opens my bag and pulls out my BRAND NEW big bottle of sunscreen. She of course took it away.

???????

How did I go through not one but two airports with a huge bottle of sunscreen undetected...

Fast forward to last weekend when I am flying to Qatar from Dubai. My bag goes through the security check and I am asked to step aside. I worry a little, running the contents of my bag in my head. In my makeup back I had a medium sized pair of scissors. Yes, this is my fault and I should not have placed the scissors in my make up bag to carry on the plane and I apologized for that. The reason I am angry is because two weeks prior, I went to Bahrain WITH THE SAME MAKEUP BAG! I haven't moved anything from the bag in the two weeks I was home. In other words, I went on the plane with a pair of scissors.

This just proves to me that not everyone at the airport is always 100% alert and THIS is how shit happens on planes.

P.s anything specific you would like me to blog about? I will try my best within reason! 

Hello Qatar!

    This weekend we had a three day weekend (have I mentioned that I love Islamic holidays?). This time I decided to jet set to Qatar.  Qatar is a small peninsula that borders Saudi Arabia, it is surrounded by the Arabian gulf.

     Doha is the capital of Qatar and the flight from Dubai is only an hour. My friend and I caught the 7 pm flight Thursday night  and since Qatar is an hour behind the UAE we landed at 7 pm local time.  

We were staying at the stunning W hotel. The hotel was definitely the best part of the trip.

This was the centerpiece in the hotel lobby. These centrepieces are changed daily. There was an Arabic wedding going on when we checked in, the drumbs were blaring, the men were singing and everyone was having a fabulous time. 

This was the lobby heading to our room.

The inside of the elevator.

Ballin... Just joking, sort of...

    That night we headed to the clubs in the hotel and they were packed but the music was not my cup of tea. They were spinning house and techno the whole night. I don't mind house for an hour or so but not a fan of it the whole night.

The next day we headed to the Museum of Islamic art. They had an exhibit on Chess, backgammon, parcheesi and snakes&ladders. I found it extremely interesting, I did not know that cheese has its origins in India . I played chess in elementary school and find the game fascinating #nerddontcare.

     We then headed to Villagio Mall which has an indoor gondola that you can ride. This mall looked exactly like the Venetian in Vegas.

The ceiling is paired like the sky.

I find this picture so funny. I look so happy and the gondola driver is too cool for school, it is probably his 15,263,738 ride of the day. 

I snuck in some pool time in the 43C weather. 

     That night we headed to the Waqif Souk. 

     

     Saturday night we headed out for one last dinner. We had the Taste of Thailand set menu at the Spice Market restaurant in the hotel. While we were waiting for our seats we met a man from Boston who is hired by the hotel to create new drinks for the menu (must be nice). He treated us to these shots with dry ice on the bottom.

Looks like a science experiment #thereigoagainwiththenerdtalk

I love to get dressed up every now and then.

All in all a great weekend. I still think Bahrain is my favorite, music and people are a little more my style. Nevertheless, Qatar is worth a visit.

Take care and the school year is almost done! Hamdullah!

P.S. Thank you much for reading, I have had so much positive feedback in this blog. I will keep writing, so please keep reading!

P.p.s ummmm how is this my life? So blessed! Thank you God! You have been so good to me! #livingthedream #pinchme #sorryaboutthehashtags #ihaveaproblem.

Lamborghini Mercy

     Just another day in Al Ain when you are leaving the gym and an orange Lamborghini is parked in the front of the hotel. Had to take a pic. I swear this is the same lambo from a few months ago at the gas station, honestly, how many orange lamborghinis can there be in Al Ain? 

Putting Kids In Their Place

     Sometimes you have to put kids in their place. Kids at school love to touch my face. I hate it. I don't know where their hands have been, after all they are kids. I have dimples and they find that amazing and always want to touch them. They always want to pinch my cheeks, once again I hate it. Today a girl did it and I almost lost it, I told her it is rude to touch someone's face. She asked me what 'rude' meant. So we looked it up in the dictionary. When she saw the Arabic word her face went blank. I could tell that she felt so bad. I tried to aleve the situations by telling her that I am only telling her this because I care about her and she cannot go around touching peoples faces, I didn't want to make her feel bad.  Nevertheless, 10 minutes later ANOTHER child touched my forehead because 'I looked hot'. 

*sigh*

Say Whaaaa!?

    A student just came up to me and said, 'Miss, you do this?' And proceeds to do a motion like she is injecting her lip. 'Miss, this lip very big, very nice! You do Botox?'

Ummmm.... What!?

No, little girl, I do not do Botox. More importantly, how do you even know what Botox is!?

Partying It Up In Bahrain

     Before I get to my weekend trip to Bahrain, I finally caved and  signed up for an annual membership at the Rotana. I went for the free trial for three days last week and I really liked it. The gym is about a 15-20 minute drive from my place which by Al Ain standards is considered 'far'. There is also another Rotana that is about 8 minutes away but it is more expensive. The gym membership includes pool access, sauna, steam room  and hot tub access. I am excited about my membership and hopefully this will help me with my goal of losing 10 pounds (or more) before I go home this summer. 

     Now on to the good stuff. This par weekend I went to Bahrain. Bahrain is a small island country located near the western shore of the Persian gulf next to Saudi Arabia and near Quatar.

    I left Thursday after work and almost missed my flight because the bus I took to Dubai took so long to get to the station because of traffic.  I got to the airport at 6:20 pm, my flight was at 7. When I got to the counter I told the guy my flights was at 7 and he said that I would have to book another flight. He then saw my Canadian passport and commented, ' You are from Canada? I love Canada! One moment please'. He then entered my info in the computer and handed me a bording pass, he didn't even weigh my luggage. He told me that I would have to run. Thank God! 

    I went through security quickly (I swear they are not even looking at those screens because I had items that were more than 100 ml in my carry on suitcase). I ran through that airport like it was the last leg of the Amazing Race. When I got on the plane I was sweating like a mofo. You know when you workout hard and you are still sweating even after you are not moving? That was me.

    Unfortunately, I had the middle seat, but I was on the flight and that is all that mattered. 

   Luckily, the flight was only one hour. I arrived safely and waited for my friends. I bought a little something from Duty Free and got a SIM card with some data for my phone.  By the time my friends arrived and we got to the hotel it was 10pm. Bahrain has a navy base and is known as the Las Vegas of the Middle East. The architecture even looked like Vegas with the bright lights and various hotels along the 'strip'.

   That night we headed out to Club Wrangler located in the Jaffier Hotel. The music was great, 90s hip hop, current stuff and even some reggae.

     We stayed at the Holiday Inn Expres, it wasn't bad for the price and the view was great. 

    Friday morning we headed to the Souq. They had a plethora of jewelry stores and my friend bought a gorgeous gold ring .

After that we had lunch and headed back to the hotel. We tried to go to the beach but the private beach we wanted to go to had sold all their passes for the day, so we just chilled in the hotel room. 

   That night we headed back to Club Wrangler and I got to meet Tanto Metro from the reggae due Tanto Meteo and Devante. They were in town for a reggae beach party (I would have loved to go to that but the entrance fee was a little too steep). Remember the reggae song , 'everyone falls in live sometimes'? That was a huge hit around 2000? That is them.

     I had a fun time and it was great to get away for the weekend. 

We may have a long weekend in two weeks and I am looking to go to Doha in Quatar. 

Lunch With The Arab Teachers

     There are many Arab teachers at my school. They come from many different Middle East countries: Syria, Egypt and Jordan, just name a few. The English department, which consists of both Western and Arab teachers had a lunch for the birthday of one of the western teachers last Thursday. They kindly invited me to come.

   There I am stuffing my face with yummy stuffed eggplant. We also had hummus, baba ganoush (puréed eggplant), veggies and pita. Can you say delicious!? 

    We all contributed about 3$ and we ate until we were full! Not too shabby!