Happy Birthday UAE

flag in the historic district

Yesterday, December 2, was National Day. Think 4th of July in the US, and then think about how the celebrations would feel if the US was just 42 years old. There are parades and fireworks and wearing
of the national colors and decorating cars and buildings with flags, bunting, the national symbol/crest (a stylized gold falcon), and pictures of Sheiks like the founding president, the current president and vice president and other guys I can't ID yet. I thought National Day would be a perfect time to go check out the Dubai Museum. While it's only celebrating the accomplishments of a single emirate, not the nation, it's still pretty representative of the crazy growth and progress of the whole country. And there's a shuttle that goes there from my apartment hotel.

The museum was pretty cool. I knew a bit about the history from my reading but they did a nice job displaying the shift the area has made from a small but busy center for pearl diving and a stopover for nomadic Bedouin people and tradesman to the fantastical global showcase it's become. And they had a camel bladder bagpipe on display and I learned that gerbils are part of the indigenous fauna.

tea house lunch

I had lunch in the leafy courtyard of a tea house- a salad with local greens and herbs and pomegranate seeds and a little plate of pastries and dates. Now I have had excellent dates before in CA, fresh off the tree but these dates were like candy. Insanely soft and sweet. Just wow.

Wandered around the recreated historic district with old style courtyarded places that were once homes but now are galleries and cafes and weird little government houses like the tiny stamp museum I wandered into. Then followed the "creek" (now it's dredged and is a major waterway through the city) to the textile souk, and on to the abra (small

an abra on the creek

on the abra

wooden boat used as a kind of taxi/bus) dock where I caught a ride over to Deria (the opposite side of the creek) and the spice souk which was closing up early for the holiday. Grabbed a taxi home because despite waking up each morning convinced I'm over the jet lag, I find myself seriously in need of a nap each late afternoon.

spice souk

Post nap I did a little skyping with family. I'm 12 hours ahead of Vegas, 11 ahead of Salt Lake, 10 ahead of Chicago and 9 ahead of Michigan until daylight savings ends there, then it's one hour less difference. Also, the weekends here are Friday and Saturday. Sunday is the first day of the work week. 

Back to National Day! wrapped things up watching some fireworks from my balcony and tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour since today was my first day of work! But that's going to have to be another post because I'm too pooped to process any more right now.

fireworks from the balcony