Better late than never, right!?! On December 2nd, the U.A.E. celebrated their 40th National Day....and MAN can these guys party!! Work on the beautification process of the city streets (lights on almost every palm tree, huge displays in the middle of each roundabout) began weeks before the holiday. Seeing the lights blazing away in November and December was nice for those of us missing home, though, as they are similar to Christmas displays we're all used to....if those Christmas displays decided to take some insane doses of steroids before showing off to the admiring public =) Seriously - we could learn a thing or two about how to REALLY celebrate a holiday from the Emirati folk. Other highlights about the city included nightly car races down major highways with huge flags flapping in the breeze and one guy making his car backfire every few seconds to show just how much he loves his country, drifting contests around heavily occupied roundabouts, periodic dousing of glitter, confetti, silly string, or foam depending on what corner you happen to turn...Oh! And a beautiful laser and firework show each night at the fort in the middle of town - just to name a few.
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| Lights on every palm tree and bush lining the street in front of our building. And this is just a small sampling of the amazing displays we saw all through town. |
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| I don't know how we didn't catch more pictures of the decorated cars. Picture this ALL over the car - EVERY window. |
The week leading up to national day at school was utter insanity. The girls were in and out of class - practicing for various dances and shows they were going to perform for the big assembly on the Tuesday before the holiday weekend (lucky us - the Sheikh declared the 1st of December a day off of school for everyone!!). At any given time, I had 5-15 of my girls missing from the room....we called it a "review week."
When the time for the assembly finally arrived, attendance at school was quite low. Mostly just the girls who were performing came to see the show - but almost ALL of them brought their mothers, sisters, aunties, and little brothers along - so the audience was definitely not small. The show included mostly different versions of the girls either waving their hair back and forth or waving a flag or balloon to a ten minute song. Some of the English teachers taught their students poetry and a song - my favorite part of the assembly. The most amazing part was seeing the girls in all their gorgeous dresses. These things probably cost a small fortune, yet SO many of the girls donned their most luxurious gowns all to dress up for the country they love so much. I joke a lot about how crazy the atmosphere here was for the 40th National Day...but I have to admit I'm a little awestruck by the obvious love the Emirati people feel for their country. ....though I think I will try to avoid the 50th...just to be on the safe side =)
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