I Have Not Forgotten You!!!

Hello Readers!

    I have not forgotten you! I will post this week about my three week winter vacation, the best brunch ever and what is next for Miss Haneefa. Please stay tuned! 

Xoxo

Haneefa

Color Run Dubai

Yesterday I did my first Color Run in Dubai, I had a fantastic time. The vibe was electric. There were over 8,500 participants from all over the world. 

My friend and I had booked a hotel for the night, so we got up nice and early to get to the race site around 8 am (the race was starting at 9).

As you can see I wrapped my head in a white tank top to prevent it from getting powder in it. I know I look like a chef.

 Before I continue let me tell you what the Color Run is.  The Color Run is a 5 km race that touts itself as 'the happiest 5k on earth'. Every kilometer there is colored power that is thrown at the participants. 

So many people at the start line. They were playing music to get us all hyped. 

The first color was yellow. I must admit they were being a little stingy at this station. But the next station made up for it. 

Red was great and dossed us in powder. 

The next color was blue.  We all looked like smurfs after that station.

Pink was the second to last station and at this point people were rolling around in the powder. I loved that this was a family event and people brought their kids and babies.

The best part of the whole race was the end. There was a huge party and they handed out extra powder packets and there was a dj and everyone was dancing and having an all around great time.

Our before and after! 

If the Color Run is coming to your city I would highly recommend you participate.

Definitely want to do it again next year! 

Fog Days

     This morning on the way to school there was so much fog that people had to pull over and wait for it to subside. I usually do 130 km/hr going to work (trust me that is normal) but today because of the fog I had to slow down to 80.  I made it to work safe and sound.

     In other news I got my first speeding ticket.  I guess I am lucky because I have some friends that have had 4 or 5 so far and I only have one.  It was for 330 dhs which is the equivalent of about 95$.  I was caught speeding on camera one day on my was home from Au Dhabi *shrugs*.

     Only 7 more teaching days until our trip to South East Asia!  Woot woot!

Happy Three Month Anniversary!

On November 30th I celebrated three months living in the UAE! Time is flying! I was lucky to head to Abu Dhabi for an American Thanksgiving dinner at my friends place. The dinner was delicious, my friend ordered a turkey with fixings from the Hilton hotel. We all brought a few dishes and I made an apple crisp that turned out really well. 

We then headed to Dubai for a few nights, we stayed at the Majestic hotel  in the Bur Dubai area, we had a stunning view of the city. I tried to post a picture, but it doesn't even do the view justice. 

We had dinner at Elia a Greek restaurant in the hotel, it was absolutely delicious. I had the moussaka which is like a lasagna with no pasta, just meat (lamb), cheese and eggplant.

We then headed out to Barasti (which is it's Arab backwards) a club on the beach by the Meridien hotel. 

Saturday morning we headed to Dubai mall, there is an iHop there and I had never been.

Breakfast was delicious. 

I have been to Dubai Mall two or three times already and every time I go I am in awe.  

The view from iHop. The large building in the middle is the Burj Khalifah the tallest man made building in the world. 

This is a waterfall located in the mall. The silver men are statues that look like the are diving down the waterfall.

As we approach December the weather here is still holding strong at AMAZING! The morning and evenings are cool, but the days are still super hot.  I do not miss Montreal weather at all. I do not miss snow, cleaning off the car, wearing boot. Some of my friends say they miss the snow and the cooler weather. I on the other hand do not. 

Saturday night we headed to 360, a club that is near the Burj Al Arab, the tallest hotel on the world.

The club is out on the marina and has a 360 view of it. Stunning. 

Burj Al Arab

More pics of the view.

Today we are heading to Global Village and then back to Abu Dhabi for a National Day festivities.

 

Going, Going, Back, Back To...

Thailand!

Last night I booked my Christmas vacation.  My friend and I heading to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia for three weeks.  I am so excited!  I have already been to Thailand,but it is honestly my favourite place in the world and I am so blessed to be able to go back.  I am hoping to head to some areas that I have not been to before (Chang Mei). I am so blessed to have to much time off to travel during the break. Most of the other teachers here are heading home, but Montreal is too cold for that, so I am heading to the beaches of South east Asia.  We are leaving on Dec. 15th out of Dubai, cannot wait.

In the meantime, school is pretty much over for the term.  The older girls at the school (Grade 12) are in exams and the rest of the school doesn't come during that time.  That is fine with me because then I can enter my grades and relax. 

American Thanksgiving is one Thursday and the friend that I am  travelling with to Thailand is having a little get together so I am excited for that. She is ordering a turkey and everything so I am so psyched for that.  since I have to travel (she is in Abu Dhabi), I am bringing a dessert.  I think that I am going to make an apple crisp because the ingredients are easy to find and it will be easy enough to transport on the bus. This weekend is also National Days, the Sheik made the announcement (he actually tweeted it!) that we are going to have the Sunday and Monday off so we have a four day weekend.  I am going to spend Thursday and Friday in Abu Dhabi and then we are going to head to Dubai Friday and Saturday and then back to Abu Dhabi for the festivities.  There are going to be concerts, performances on the Corniche and fireworks!  I will be sure to post pictures.

I went and got my hair rebraided last night.  I go to a salon that is owned by an Ethiopian woman that is married to an Emirati and the women that work there are Ethiopian.  They do braids, weaves, wash and set and more.  I am really impressed with the prices and also the braid so quickly.  Since it was a week night the salon really wasn't busy and I was out of there in 3 hours.  When there were no other customers there were three woman working on my hair at the same time.

I still find it so weird that we are almost in December and the weather is still 25C (77F) in the day! LOVE IT!  I must admit that it is a bit cool in the morning and you do need a sweater, but besides that the weather is marvellous.

Have a great week!

Science Festival and More National Day Festivities

     Last Tuesday 30 of my grade 6 students and I went to Abu Dhabi for the Science Festival.  The bus ride was a bit long (2 hours) because the bus can only go 80 km/ hr on the highway. I was extremely impressed with the Science Festival.  It was like the had constructed a Science Museum on Yas Island.  

The first station that we went to was all about marine animals and what was inside them.  The animators dissected a crab, squid and a fish to show the girls their anatomy. 

At the next station students got to build their own wind turbines. They even let the girls solder the pieces together. They attached an LED light and had the girls test their wind turbine when they were done.

All in all I think the young ladies had a fantastic time. If you are in Abu Dhabi and have kids, I would highly recommend you take then to the Science Festival I think it is on until Saturday. 

Yesterday we had a huge National Day celebration at school, they handed out chocolates and we had a talent show where different grades performed songs and dances. 

Parents and relatives came to watch the girls. There was even a fashion show at the end where different country were represented by that countries music and dance.  I got to see some trational dress from Egypt, Syria and even Sudan. 

Many girls also came to school blinged out in their finest jewellery. Many students wore gold necklaces, rings and earrings.  I especially loved these gold headdresses that many students were sporting. 

Absolutely. Stunning.

My Trip To Jail

     Don't worry this isn't what you think.  I didn't do anything bad.  I promise.  I went to jail with my students. Wait, that doesn't sound much better. Sometimes I wish I could put some of them in jail...But that is a whole other story.  Let me start at the beginning.

     As I mentioned previously, National Day is around the corner (December 2 and 3).  National Day is a BIG deal here.  I always thought that Trinidadians (where my parents are from) were patriotic.  We have soca songs that praise our country, we always wear T-Shirts and sport red, white and black whenever we get a chance. I have a few pairs of earrings that are in the shape of Trinidad, I love Trinidad.  I also thought that Canada was super patriotic.  I do have more than a handful of friends with maple leaf tattoos, we are always proud to say that we are Canadian.  Then I came to the UAE. National Day, oh I am sorry days (yes 2 days) is a huge deal here.  We have been getting ready at school for a month.  Everyday a class at school gives a presentation at the morning assemble talking about the country and the girls come to school decked out in red, green and black, the colors of the UAE.  They dance, sing and feed us chocolates and tea. There are pins, cell phone charms, flags, hats, dresses, chocolates, cakes, decals for your nails, the list goes on and on.  This year they are celebrating the 42nd year and there are 42's everywhere.  I have been given a few pins that I sport every day at school. Sorry, I am getting of track.  I was informed that today all the grade 6's would be going around the town that our school is in and we would be giving out chocolates and singing songs at the Polics Station, Bank, Phone Company Office and Family Center dressed in our UAE best. We headed out on the bus around 9 am and did just that, we sang patriotic songs and gave out chocolates.  At the police station we even got to visit the jail.  Some of the girls were scared and did not want to see it.  I took a look and there was one prisoner in the jail cell.  I was told that he was arrested for driving without a licence (or stealing, depending which student you believe) and that he was going to be in jail for 3 weeks and then be sent to Al Ain, the big city, to be processed I guess.  They gave him chocolates, which he accepted. I felt bad for him, he was kind of like a caged animal with all of us gawking at him.

Tomorrow we are having a big party for National Day!  Parents will be coming in and we will be eating and dancing our little hearts out!

Just another day in the UAE!