Thursday, 21 August 2008

Today started off slow, allowing me to sleep in until 10:30 AM. Once I finally did get up, I went to the fitness center in my dorm and went on the bike. Shortly after I got back to my room, I spoke with Kendal who wanted to go to the big sports complex on campus to work out. Since I had not done anyway weight lifting yet, I decided to head to the bigger gym with her. The gym is divided into male and female sections, with a shared pool (separate hours). It has basically every machine one could ever hope for.

As soon as we got back to the dorms, Jeremy called asking if we wanted to head into Sharjah to go shopping at the Blue Souk. Having nothing else to do, we went. Jeremy wanted to get a carpet and ended up buying a beautiful one for around $200 (1/3 less than in a mall). I also bought a statue of three running horses. Afterwards, we were looking for things to do. We almost went to a museum but decided instead to go to the Mall of the Emirates and go skiing.

We got there and Jeremy and Bader decided they did not want to go because the were not experienced enough skiers, so it ended up being just Kendal, Danny, and me. Ski Dubai supplies everything (board, boots, jacket, snowpants, socks) but they did not give us hats or gloves. I bought my own pair of light polar fleece gloves but they did little for my hands. Also, the snowsuit was basically just a shell, not a heavy jacket. Still, it was a lot of fun. There were only really two trails and it was freezing, but I really did feel as if I was in the Poconos. Our pass gave us two hours of ski time, and we stopped half way through for some amazing hot chocolate.

After that incredibly fun time, all of us got dinner, and then Kendal and I went into "The Toy Store" (huge toy store in the mall). Some of the stuffed animals they had were huge (see pictures), and it was basically a kids paradise. We could have stayed longer but Bader was driving home to Abu Dhabi tonight and it was all ready 11:30 P.M. so we had to get back.

Thursday night is the big "going out" night around here and the mall was packed, especially with people in traditional UAE dress. It was nice to see an equal amount of locals and obvious foreigners for once as it is usually mostly foreigners. The mall was packed even though we left with only 1/2 hour left for it to be open. Little kids were still running around and it was a bit of a circus but a lot of fun. Tomorrow, we are going to try to go to a hotel and spend the day on the hotel's beach, which should be less conservative than public beaches. Hopefully it will work out. All is well.

-Lindsay

The Slopes:



More Slopes:



Me and Giant Polar Bear:



Me and Giant Rhino: