DUBAI :]

Hi readerss!
I am currently in DUBAI with my cuzin Mohamed and Nancy and their kids! I love it. The weather is so perfectly amazing, and there is soo much to see. Ahmed dropped me off at the airport and I boarded onto the plane very shortly after. We stayed up all night, so as soon as I was allowed to, I put the food tray down, put my head down, and passssed out. I woke up when we had 27 min to landing. It was a perfect flight alhamdulilah =]

So right when i got to the airport it was like a shock to me. All the people working there were wearing like the long white stereotypical arab outfits with the black thing on their head. I was like woaah this shit is true! So i took a pic of them from far away, and sneakily because I wasnt allowed to take pics. But nancy was like its not religion they wear it for its all a culture thing. And she explained to me that the rich people like in government and stuff wear those too but they have theirs lined with real gold, thats how you can tell their class.


Then I went to meet up with Nancy and the kids and we went straight to the mall, which is the biggest mall in the middle east. I took a lot of pics in it. The place has a freaking aquarium in it which was sooo freaking cool! They have like every store you can think of plus much more andd they have like restaurants there too. I kind of want to go back at some pt to go shopping maybe? So then we went to eat at rainforest cafe where i never ate before, and it was really good. Every so often the place has like a "thunderstorm" and all the animals start moving and making sounds it was pretty sick. Selma and Zane loved it.

So we went back home and I was so exhausted cuz i hadnt slept except for the 3 hours on the plane. So i read a bit of my book and then i passed out around 10pm. Then i woke up at 8 AM and talked to sami for a bit, and then i went back to sleep cuz i was still tired until like 12pm. so i slept for like...14 or 15 hours it was nuts.
So when I woke up Nancy and I went to get Zane from school and she showed me the beach, and then we eventually went to a different mall where they have indoor skiing! I didnt do the skiing though because it was like super amounts of money, but Zane and I went into the snow park, which was a nice change of weather for an hour. It was so cool you could go snow tubing and like play in the snow...it was pretty amazing.

Then we went back home and chilled, and then Nancy and I went back to the first mall to meet Mohamed who just came back from Qatar, and we ate at a really nice restaurant. It is right by the largest fountain in the world (Dubai has a lot of largest things) and every 20 minutes it has a fountain show. I cant explain how cool the fountain show was. They play a different song each time and the water moves with the rhythm of the song playing. I took a lot of pictures and a video, but its on my internal memory and I sadly dont have the wire to be able to put it on =[ im so upset about that. I also took a picture of the tallest building in the world, i think its called the Khalifa, and it was such a pretty picture i was proud of my photography skills. But thats also on the internal memory. im so mad

So TOMORROW we are going to the creek early morning, i think at like 8 or something, and we are going to see where the boats ship out stuff i guess? Nancy told me that people get all these items like cigarettes and DVDs and CDs and like allll this stuff and they load it onto a bunch of different ships, and then they all charge for Iran, and the police attempt to arrest them because they arent allowed to ship stuff to Iran, its banned. But a lot of people get through because they cant catch all the boats at once! Its such a smart idea. And then after the creek, we are finally going to the beach in this wonderful 100 degree weather. I will probably burn to a crisp because i dont have sunblock, and my nose will continue to peel, but it is worth it. Nancy is going to try and take us to the beach where people go kite surfing..?? Ive never seen it so thatll be something new. Hopefully i wont forget to bring my memory card this time.

Wednesday and Thursday I'm not sure what we are doing... I know we are going Dune Bashing on Friday; you can look that up if you dont know what it is the video is pretty awesome. And....then I leave sat at 3:45pm or something like that inshallah =]

Some interesting facts about Dubai: There arent police cars and all that like they have in America, but they have video cameras hidden EVERYWHERE so the govt is like watching your every move. Nancy said at the end of the year when you go to renew your license they show you all the pictures they took of you speeding or doing something wrong. Additionally, since Dubai is a dictatorship, they dont want outside brands or anything like that for people to use. So when I use their vonage phone, or my magic jack through the internet, it cuts off after every 7 or 8 minutes. The movies have random parts cut out of them for censorship, and you are not allowed to call the Gulf the "Persian Gulf" you have to call it the "Arabian Gulf" or else you could get arrested if someone hears you! Gotta love the dictators.

I love Dubai but Egypt is my homeeetowwnn im so comfy there so i feel like when i go back im like...going home even tho my home is in America. Its super confusing. And by the way, in case you are curious, the time difference is 8 hours ahead of America here, and 2 ahead of Egypt. I can see into your futureee :]
K heres some more pics