The Wondrous World of Weddings in the U.A.E.

As I find myself preparing to attend my third wedding since moving to my new home, I can't help but to draw a few comparisons to the weddings I'm more familiar with back in the U.S. - including our own beautifully simple ceremony.

Jeremy and I planned on a budget, but were extremely happy with our results.  My dress was perfect - as was his fantastic tuxedo, we served a light meal that everyone seemed to enjoy, and we even found a way around the alcohol ban at our chosen location with a makeshift open bar set up in the parking lot out of the backs of trucks and my uncle's camper (but shhhhh....that part is supposed to be a secret!).  Our wedding was everything we hoped it would be, and allowed us to spend a little more on a honeymoon we equally enjoyed.

Our beautiful wedding at the Shelton Wedding Chapel
in Iona, Idaho

Weddings here offer a glimpse into a whole new world (yes - I mean for you to think of Jasmine and Aladdin with that line - it is the Middle East, after all).  This world is one where money is NO object and opulence is an absolute necessity.  In a country where citizens are treated to jaw-dropping monetary rewards by their government just to get married, one would expect no less than a wedding to end all weddings.  Even with the generous amounts of dirhams the U.A.E. bequeaths to its citizens with pending nuptials, it's evident that some families deem the donations too small.  Thus, they throw some of their own savings at the bride and groom to ensure that the wedding is one to remember.

Let's start with the setting.  Muslim weddings are far different from the Christian ones many of us are more familiar with.  The men and women must be separated.  Often, and indeed, this is true for all three weddings I've attended so far, women are allowed to view the festivities that the male guests attend on screens positioned throughout the wedding hall.  Speaking of the wedding hall, picture the most lavish wedding decor you have ever seen.  Now add about $30,000 of extra glitz and glam to that picture and you might be close to the usual decor displayed at a U.A.E. wedding.  Here is a picture I found that looks very much like one of the weddings I attended:

While the women are allowed to view the men, the male party is NOT allowed to view the women's party.  Why?  Good gracious - you should SEE what the women wear to these things!!!  It might as well be a red carpet party or a royal ball for all the effort the women put into dressing up for all their lady friends.  And ladies, we know we dress for other women - so you can imagine the undercurrents of envy that float through the wedding hall when a best-dressed lady walks by.  Women here are used to being covered, and a wedding is a time for them to celebrate being beautiful, fancy, and fashionable divas - which many of them take to heart!  The following photo is of a dress that would be for a bride back home in the states, but I saw a guest dressed in almost the same style - and her dress was of modest price compared to many of the others!

The bride is the centerpiece of the whole affair, as should be the custom.  Usually, she arrives about two hours after the party begins.  Her entrance is a dramatic affair, with loud, climactic music penetrating the hall and the ears of all guests and a twenty minute slow parade down the catwalk to center stage as photographers snap shot after shot.  This part seemed odd to me at first, but I find myself staring as the bride makes her way down the raised platform - awestruck by her amazing dress.  Here is a photo I found from the site http://khaleejia.blogspot.com/2009/10/wedding-dresses-gulf-style-3.html - where you can see many other styles typically chosen by brides here.  I can't (and don't want to) imagine the cost of these dresses state-side.

The bride sits on the stage for a little while after her arrival and the women continue to party.  Often, friends of the bride - or any guests brave enough - venture to the platform to dance and show off their dresses.  After a warning announcement for all faithful women to cover themselves, the new husband and other important males in the family are allowed to come into the party - but only for a very brief time.  Then, they are ushered out again, and the women-only festivities continue.


And how could I describe these lavish affairs without mentioning the food.  Wow.  There are trays upon trays upon trays of food.  Servers start by bringing out traditional appetizers of bread, hummous, vegetables, salads and various finger foods.  Most of the time, the main course is an extraordinary plate of half of a roast goat and pounds of rice placed at each table for the guests to serve themselves.  I know - I like goats too and think they're the cutest part at the petting zoo....but MAN is this dish delicious!

I'm sure I've just barely scratched the surface in my description of the opulence that is the U.A.E. wedding - and I'm certain I've forgotten some of the important parts.  But hopefully this provides at least a glimpse of life in a completely different world.


Also, it's important to note that while the reception that I've described screams of lavishness, the actual wedding ceremony is very small and has already taken place before all of these events even begin.  This ceremony is for close family only and I honestly can't say exactly what happens there - though I know they are very traditional and humble.

As amazing as these weddings are, I wouldn't take a do-over if I was offered the same kind of ceremony.  Jeremy and/or I personally knew every single guest at our wedding.  Here, I've only met one of the brides personally from the three weddings I've attended!  The intimate, personal ceremony and reception fit Jeremy and I much better than the lavish U.A.E. style...but they definitely are an experience to watch!

(Note:  taking pictures at these weddings is not exactly allowed, so I had to pull photos from other sites.  Here is a reference for where the other pictures came from:
Decor photo - http://www.invent-uae.com/blog/tag/event-decor/
Party dress - http://www.paklinks.com/gs/wedding/327994
Wedding dress -   http://khaleejia.blogspot.com/2009/10/wedding-dresses-gulf-style-3.html
Food photo - http://www.letseat.at/medina/gallery)

Easter in the Emirates

During our first several years of marriage, Easter was always one of the times that gave us a terrible case of "baby fever."  Sure the traditions have nothing to do with the "true meaning of the holiday" and represent the commercialism virus that plagues our society.  Yet, any way you slice it, Easter's just no fun without a wee one to dote on and hide eggs for!  We tried with the dogs, but the effect was never quite what we wanted.  Enter our darling little girl, and Easter suddenly took on a whole new meaning and wonder that we were so glad to finally be a part of - regardless of the silliness of the traditions surrounding the holiday.

Last year, Easter was easy.  Score an Easter dress, grab a basket, hide some eggs for the kids, done.  Lila was so cute and tiny in her little dress and actually attempted finding some eggs.  We had the cold weather to contend with, as per the usual for any Easter celebration in Idaho.  But a long-sleeved shirt under the darling dress solved that problem, and Easter was pronounced a success.  Here are some photos to show just how great Easter went last year.

This year proved to be a little more difficult.  Luckily, we have found a store here that tends to cater to Westerners and all their silly holiday traditions.  We found plastic eggs and Easter baskets on a cute little display in the back.  Easter for us has always been celebrated with family, and with ours a whole ocean away, we had to adopt a new family.  Dalila was ecstatic to have her Easter egg hunt with some of her favorite boys that we've met since moving here.  And our connection with our close friends provided the much-needed adult interaction and conversation that came with Easter dinner.  A great solution for our home-sickness.  The weather presented a mild problem for our festivities, but in a way we have NEVER experienced for Easter before - it was too HOT!! So hot, in fact, that our poor friends discovered the downside of filling plastic eggs with chocolate only a few short minutes into the Easter egg hunt - only jelly and hard candies for us!!  New to this concept of a warm Easter hunt, we dressed Lila in a sweet, comfortable little sundress and plastered her with sunscreen.  Another problem we've never encountered for this holiday was a complete lack of yard space.  How to have an outdoor egg hunt without a yard!?!  Easy - the Easter bunny was kind enough to hide the eggs at a near-by park and then inform the daddies of their general location.  That Easter bunny thinks of everything.  Throw all this together, and we have one terrific Easter experience.  Some eggs were even hidden in the trunks of palm trees!  I think it's safe to label this latest Easter experience a victory as well - even when we're half a world away from home.

Finding some eggs on the play area first.

My absolute FAVORITE picture of the day.
It's so beautiful and captures her excitement and determination.
Plus, the egg's under a low palm tree branch!!

The hunters, basking in their glory after a successful day.

Dalila's little buddy, Bayne, being a gentleman and carrying her basket for her.

Spring Break

After a very trying second trimester at school, we were desperate for a break.  Fortunately, we were all rewarded with an extra week off this spring - bringing our vacation time to two full weeks.  Our little family made full use of the entire time.

We began our holiday with a little trip to the northern Emirates.  We live in the largest emirate - Abu Dhabi - and have traveled to Dubai on many occasions.  We were pleasantly surprised when we extended our usual drive past Dubai and were able to hit all but one of the emirates on the way.  The drive was very desert-esque, as one would imagine - and we spent the time watching for grazing wild camels and quiet Bedouin villages.  

After a very short 2-3 hour drive, we arrived in Ras Al Khaimah - the northernmost emirate.  It is MUCH smaller than even our little city of Al Ain - but has beautiful buildings and even a number of high-rises with hundreds of flats.  We stayed in one of these through a company called Airbnb.  By choosing this lodging option, we were able to book an entire flat to ourselves for half the cost of a hotel.  It was comfortable, roomy, and featured separate rooms to make sleeping arrangements with the toddler much more convenient.  I HIGHLY recommend using Airbnb rather than booking hotel rooms.  We plan to use them again when we head to London this summer! 

Enough with the business plug - back to Ras Al Khaimah. The beach there was beautifully natural, very rugged, and lined with fantastic sea shells.  We were even able to experience some real waves - Dalila's least favorite part of the trip.  She squealed at us to move her toys further and further each time a wave rolled in.  Collecting sea shells with Daddy finally distracted our little princess well enough to allow her to enjoy herself.  Our favorite part was the unexpected appearances of random sea creatures.  The first day, we were certain we had seen some kind of water animal  in the shallow waves of the beach - something very octopus-like, but not so much like a jelly fish. The excitement of the second day came when Jeremy spotted a stingray flitting away before he nearly stepped on it.  He was lucky enough to spot it again and point it out to me before it swam for safer waters.  VERY cool experience.

The grumpy beach babe, feeling irritated by the waves.
The beautiful buildings in the background are where we stayed!

Mommy and Lila - when she was a teeny, tiny bit happy.

Daddy and Lila finding sea shells - her favorite part!

Grass angels with friends!

Some of Dalila's favorite friends were able to meet us the last day of our trip to enjoy some time at the pool and make grass angels on the lawn in front of their accommodations (it's the little things in life, like nice cool grass when it's usually so rare, that matter the most).  We found an amazing pizzeria and a liquor store that is about half the cost of the one we frequent now!  A perfect end to a fantastic trip!!

Almost the entire remainder of spring break was spent attempting to acquire our new vehicle - which was finally successful!  We chose to stay in Dubai for an overnight, allowing us time to see and drive a number of cars.  Jeremy had broadened his search earlier that morning to include a Mitsubishi Outlander as a long shot.  Of course, this is the one we ended up purchasing for SO many reasons, many of which having to do with the former owner of the car.  We went for our test drive late that evening, hoping to catch some dinner after a short meeting.  The man whose father had owned the car was the most endearing, welcoming, and generous person we have had the pleasure to meet here so far.  He comes from Jordan and possesses the most positive outlook on Americans I have heard in a long time.  He insisted that Jeremy and I join him and his wife for Turkish coffee (AMAZING!!) and attempted to send half of his children's toy room home with Dalila - who also adored him.  We were so lucky to experience Arabic hospitality at its finest in a place where we never would have expected it.  We are fortunate to count our salesman as a friend now - plus, he lives in an incredible part of Dubai along the marina and insists that we visit as often as possible.  The car, at this point, was icing on the cake of our successful Dubai trip!

Dalila enjoying our comfy hotel bed...instead of her own.

School has since resumed, leaving me with the arduous countdown that all teachers employ around this time of year.  This time, however, my countdown will lead to another amazing adventure with our first trip to London booked the day after school releases!  As excited as we are for our London trip - spring break has also brought us closer to our summer trip home - the part I look forward to every day that stars in each one of my daydreams.  Not long now, everybody!

Dalila Turns Two!!

After much denial from her Mommy, Dalila's big day finally arrived.  She is officially a two-year-old (though she is fairly advanced, in that she welcomed the terrible-two mentality months ago)! Jeremy and I were able to find a fantastic, toddler-friendly venue for our little darling's party.  Ordinarily, this would just be an at-home affair, but the size of our flat would require a sardine theme, which I'm sure Dalila and her guests would not particularly enjoy.  Instead, we were able to book our local Golf Club restaurant.  Their beautiful lawn boasts a fun - and safe - toddler play area with a view of the practice tracks for the Sheikh's Arabian race horses.  The on-staff baker made a Mickey Mouse(esque) cake for Dalila, who squealed about "Mickey! Mickey!" as soon as she saw it.  Good friends came out to enjoy the party and shower Dalila with gifts - or tinsel, as you'll see in one of the following pictures.  We were extremely pleased with the success of our little missy's second birthday party. Enjoy the full story in pictures:

Dalila's big birthday gift!  This has been one of the best purchases we have ever made.  Her room is a great place to be for a toddler now, thanks to her fun swing and "whee!"

Dalila and I are getting ready to enjoy the celebration - but what is a birthday without a beautiful bunch of balloons just for the birthday girl!?  Her favorite thing all day was probably that Minnie Mouse balloon - a last minute gift that her Auntie Kari HAD to get for her.  Thanks, Auntie Kari!  Lila toted that balloon around with her everywhere she went for most of the party and a few days after, too.

This is a terrific shot of the view from the patio we reserved.  The jungle gym was the perfect size for Dalila and her toddler buddies, and the older kids loved the trampoline.  In the background is the racetrack where some of the Sheikh's prized horses practice.

Jeremy got a chance to hang on to the Minnie balloon - what a lucky daddy!

Dalila is admiring her Mickey Mouse cake.  They were just a tiny bit off on the colors, but she didn't seem to mind too much.

This is one of our favorite pictures of the whole day.  Dalila was SO excited to open this gift just for the tinsel inside.  I love all of her little buddies surrounding her, and the expression is priceless!

...and here's that tinsel shower I promised earlier.  Dalila couldn't get enough of it!

Here, Lila and her bestest buddy Bayne broke open Dalila's baby bottle gift and shared the contents.

I love the look on Bayne's face as he watches Dalila throw back a cold one!

Dalila and her little friend Natalie had loads of fun plucking the leaves from the bushes and throwing them on the ground - a game our little one invented and shared with anyone who cared to give her a moment of their time.  Such a thoughtful little thing, isn't she?







Nothing can truly substitute for the classic birthday party at home with our family, but Dalila's party came as close as possible.  We were so grateful to all of our friends who came to show their love to our little one! 

A VERY Overdue Summary of the Latest Holidays

I don't know how I've waited so long to sum up our Christmas Day and New Year's Eve activities here! We can call it writer's block....but laziness might be a more suitable word =)

Anyway, here's what went down:

Christmas Day
1. Call the grandparents on Skype so they can experience our Christmas morning (their Christmas Eve night) with their precious little grandbaby.  The best part here was that we actually got to wake Lila (something I KNOW not to take for granted when the next 12 or so Christmases come and she will be bouncing on our bed at 5 A.M.).  We ushered Lila out into the living room - wondering aloud, along with Grandma and Grandpa, if Santa chose to overlook those last few tantrums she threw before the big day and decided to pay her a visit anyway.

BEHOLD!! The magic that is Santa!!

2. Show Lila how to tear the paper....and SET HER LOOSE!!  If any of the presents in the way were not actually intended for her....well....they were hers once she finished!

Still a little sleepy, but loving it!!

3. Take stock of the haul....

4.  Delicious dinner with friends.  We were invited to a neighborhood potluck (not our actual neighborhood, mind you, but a very friendly one where all those who didn't make it home for the holidays could gather).  Lila was a terror - hence the lack of photographic evidence for this step of Christmas.

5. Jeremy's AMAZING turkey dinner at home.  We knew we needed something to taste like home....and Jeremy did a wonderful job of making sure that happened.  He made everything and it was all perfect! The lack of photographic evidence here can be attributed to the fact that we were too busy stuffing our faces with deliciousness to stop and grab a camera =)

Boxing Day
The celebrating continued the day after Christmas when we got to take Lila to Atlantis for the day and catch up with some of our good friends.  Sadly, Lila started feeling ill - but was a great sport, trying out the pool, playing with her buddies.  When we got home after she slept for the entire 2 hour return trip, I noticed that she had developed a wicked fever.  The poor little girl was such a trooper, I had no idea how sick she was!!  Three days of runny nose, coughing and fever later, she was back to her old self.

Ready to hit the pools in her precious swim cover-up.  Little did we know she was probably feeling sick and  ready to be done even at this point in the day.  What a trooper!!

Last but not least - New Year's Eve!!
 We stayed in and invited another family over to ring in the new year with us.  Fantastic food, Just Dance, and warm, cheerful spirits of the adult variety all lead up to a failed attempt to watch fireworks (that never came) from our rooftop.  Aside from the fact that our entire reason for going to the roof never materialized, we had a wonderful night with terrific company.  It made a perfect finale of sorts to the holiday season in our new home.

Here is a clip of Dalila showing everyone up on Just Dance.  We've  got nothing on her moves!!

Merry Middle Eastern Christmas!!

This was the first Christmas away from Idaho Falls for both Jeremy and myself - so we were bound and determined to make the best of it and experience all the festive fun that our new home has to offer.  This made for a LONG - but memorable - Christmas season! Check out all the steps we took to assuage our Christmas cheer cravings!!

Step One: Christmas Tree Lighting at the Hilton

First, we wanted to make sure that Dalila would be just as excited as we were for Santa to come visit her on Christmas Eve (both for the warm holiday memories visits from Santa make and because we could hold the whole "be nice or Santa won't bring you anything" concept over her head for the duration of December!).  So, when a local hotel held their Christmas tree lighting and visit from Santa complete with holiday caroling and treats, we made sure to attend!  An unexpected bonus on this trip - after listening to some carols, we walked through the hotel and found a little Mexican restaurant, where we promptly plunked down at a patio setting and dined on a delicious, and hard-to-come-by - plate of quesadillas and enchiladas.  We have SO missed our usual Mexican food, which is REALLY hard to find here in the U.A.E. - so this was a fantastic treat!

Listening to Christmas carols with Daddy...

...and with Mommy, too!

Being a little stinker at dinner....as always =)

After placating Dalila with little pieces of candy for each minute she was able to sit still at dinner, we were ready for her to visit Santa, sugar rush and all!  Luckily, our little dinner trip allowed us to skip virtually all of the waiting in line to see Santa that other people were not able to avoid.  Yay!  Lila saw the big guy right away and was awarded for not screaming at him or pulling off his beard with a little grab bag of goodies, including a very cheap Barbie knock-off and some yummy choking hazards - I mean hard candies.  The Barbie was pulled limb from limb in a matter of minutes (in fact, on the car ride home, her leg some how managed to mysteriously end up protruding from her neck where her head used to be...) - but Barbie fulfilled her purpose and Dalila thought she was "pretty."  All-in-all, a successful start to the season of merriment.

Barbie before she suffered her unfortunate fate...

Step Two: Dubai Festival City, Karama shopping center, and Wadi mall

Living so close to a major city like Dubai has many, many benefits.  We can drive to Dubai in just over an hour and always have something new to try when we visit.  Our first Christmas-themed trip to Dubai was pretty ambitious; we had some fairly lofty plans lined up.  But we knew that crossing off even a couple of the things on our to-do list would make a great trip to the city.  We started at Festival city, a beautiful mall and shopping center on the outside of Dubai with a Las Vegas-esque canal running the outside length of the restaurant area.  After some debate, we chose to enjoy lunch at a seafood restaurant overlooking one of the small ports of Dubai.  Dalila was WONDERFUL - flirting with the waitress the entire time - and the food was amazing!!  Honestly, the best fish and chips I have EVER had!

Yep - we're sitting on an outdoor patio in December!!  And it was hot!

Lila showing us where Santa should be.

Next came shopping at Karama center for my Christmas gift.  We had heard from some friends that this was the place to go to find very affordable "name brand" hand bags.  It definitely did not disappoint!  I browsed through several little shops (including a hidden one in an upstairs apartment with very secretive employees lurking about) and finally selected a deep green Dolce and Gabbana shoulder bag.  PERFECT Christmas gift for this girl =)
Finally we we headed off to another mall that boasted a darling Christmas village and one of the best Santa displays in the U.A.E.  Little did we know, to actually see Santa required a 50 AED ticket and an hour wait in the massive line circling the display.  We decided against purchasing the ticket and instead walked around the display taking pictures and letting Dalila go crazy out of her stroller for once.  She had a blast and we felt like this trip was perfectly fulfilling, even without another picture of Lila with Santa.

Step Three: Dubai again! ...but this time, to two different malls, plus the beach!

Our first stop on this trip was another mall with a huge Christmas tree....but that was about all for festive fun there.  We moved on fairly quickly and chose to stop at the beach and let our rambunctious little one run off some steam.  Dalila had SO much fun playing on the beach - one of the best parts of this day trip - and one that we didn't even plan on!

A view of the beautiful tree from above.

The big plan for this trip was Madinat Christmas Village.  After wandering the labyrinth of a shopping center in this massive beach side hotel, we finally managed to find the Christmas village area (literally five steps to the left of where we first entered the shopping center!!  Dang it!!).  This was easily the most festive part of our holiday planning and we were so glad we didn't give up on finding the place.  The Santa here was the most jolly of all Santas I have ever met.  I'm pretty sure he was from India, so he didn't have the typical mall Santa features, but he clearly loved his job.  Lila was smitten right away.  She watched him dance and kept yelling, "Santa!! Heeheehee!!  Saaaantaaaaa!!!"  Santa loved her too and danced with her for a good five minutes so we could snap some pictures and video.

(Sorry for the sideways video - we couldn't figure out how to flip it!)

Enjoying her cookies she got from Santa.

This trip to Dubai Madinat Christmas Village was absolutely the best way to conclude our search for the festive holiday spirit here in our new home.  Surprisingly, even in a country where Christmas is not openly celebrated by the residents, I have been wished Merry Christmas continuously.  What a pleasant surprise for our first Christmas away from home.  We still miss our Idaho Christmas....but we did a pretty darn good job finding our own holiday cheer thousands of miles from home =)