Dubai, Dubai

Like New York, New York, the city of Dubai is within the state of Dubai, which is within the country of the United Arab Emirates. There are seven Emirates that make up the nation, with the capital city being Abu Dhabi. My mind is blown everyday, whether it is observing masses of Emerati men and women in national dress filling a huge shopping mall, or the fact that the shopping mall has an ice skating rink, you are guaranteed to see something interesting everyday in Dubai.

My husband, Erik, arrived with me 2 weeks ago and left earlier this week. Aside from helping me get my apartment set up, we acted like complete tourists. We saw the view from the top of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, then ate dinner there. Atmosphere is on the 123rd floor and has excellent food and drinks.

We started with drinks in the lounge and then our table was ready. We watched the sun go down and the city light up below us as we spent an hour and a half eating through the tasting menu.

The next day we toured around the Palm Island and Jumeirah Beach in our fully loaded Yaris hatchback. It wasn't actually "fully loaded" it had a half a tank of gas, and three cylinders, but at least we didn't need to put our feet out of the bottom to make it move, because I would guess the road is 130F.

That evening, after a nap, we had dinner at the Skyview Lounge inside the Burj al Arab. The food was okay and the bill was huge, but the memory will last. Specifically the chocolate lava cake with banana-avocado guacamole and vanilla gelato, one of the coolest desserts ever and I didn't get a pic. The guacamole was green, but the banana dominated, with the avocado flavor making it taste slightly nutty and it went well with chocolate. So now I'm doing orientation with my new employer, Zayed University. It's a really beautiful campus and they've loaded me with a new iPad, a new MacBook Pro, a huge office, and the ambition to live up to expectations and knock their socks off with my library instruction talents. I'm excited to meet the other faculty, staff, and students when school begins on Sunday, September 1.

Seven Days of Celebrating

The short countdown begins today, Erik and I will fly out on Friday 8/8, so we will be having a lot of fun, leading up to a lot of fun. I've had farewell coffee, lunch, dinner, and drinks with an array of people, but of course didn't get to see everyone. The idea of a big party was too daunting, so I plan to have a house party next time I'm home, when I have something interesting to talk about, other than my anticipated trip. Thursday 7/31 was my last day employed with CPCC and Elaine planned a special lunch date at Alexander Michaels, which I almost missed, due to being late. Thanks to Erin, Denise, Elaine and Retha for coming out.

Erik and I carefully chose how we will spend my last weekend in the US for a while. Charleston was the easy answer, it is a special place for us and we love the food. We will stay at a historic bed and breakfast on the battery and eat at least a dozen oysters on the half shell per day, per person.

Monday through Wednesday I will see the folks in Richmond and spend some time at Virginia Beach. My 16 year old niece Jenna, is visiting from Missouri, so we will get to have some quality time together. She is fun and spunky, we always make the most of the ocean and wake board together for hours.

Thursday Erik, Nate, Tammy and I are going to the Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden concert, which should be an awesome last evening in Charlotte. Then there is packing... I invested in these gigantic sexy twins, but have hardly filled them up yet. I guess I have a week left to figure out what else I need to bring.

The Delta flight from Atlanta will take 14 hours to get to Dubai- we are really looking forward to that! I'll check in on 8/10 to let y'all know if the United Arab Emirates customs will let us in.