Enjoying God's Goodness: An amazing journey!

It took a lot of planning and work over the past few months, but on Thursday, May 15 we left Milwaukee and flew through Atlanta to Dubai, one of the seven Emirates in the UAE on the Persian Gulf. It was a 13+ hour flight direct from Atlanta. I read Rain Dance by Joy DeKok and then watched 42 and The Book Thief, so the time passed pretty quickly for me. The meals were decent, the many kids were well behaved, and I wasn't in a draft....life is good.

The Dubai Airport is large and modern. It took a little while to get our luggage and the lines were long at customs, but we were greeted by smiling and welcoming friends waiting for us. We are told that another airport is being built at the other end of the city in preparation for 2020 when a huge world expo will be hosted in Dubai. (Modern version of the old World's Fair.)

Fortunately it was bedtime by the time we got to their house and settled in. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep too well. Our friends were busy that first afternoon, so they dropped us off at the metro station and told us to take a long ride, get used to the train system, see some of the sights from the train, and find our way home. Nice idea!

The trains are sleek and modern, fast and clean (no eating, drinking, or chewing gum in the train). The city is large and sprawling...mainly along the coast line. There is still a lot of construction going on in the city. The people were friendly and helpful. Nearly everyone seems to speak English. Lots of people use the train...business people, students, shoppers, tourists. The weather was in the 80s and quite pleasant...tho we already know it will be very hot soon.

The buildings are also sleek and modern with unusual curves, twists and turns, lots of shiny metals and windows - many quite unique. We saw very few high rise apartment buildings, but that may have been misleading. We passed one or two golf courses, too.

We got off near the end of the line at the Ibn Battuta Mall. The world's largest themed shopping mall.

(You will hear that a lot - largest, biggest, tallest.) This mall celebrates the travels of the famous Arabic explorer, adventurer, historical hero, Ibn Battuta. It was fun to see the elaborate designs, statues, tile ceilings, engravings, inside and out - Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian. Amazing!

Many of the stores and and restaurants were From the US, everything from Claire's to Columbia to Victoria Secret; Wendy's to Baskin Robbins, to Krispy Kreme. The mall rambled on and on.

We made our way back across town and caught a cab back to the house. A fun adventure with a little glimpse of what's to come - a snapshot of the lay of the land.