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.