Gettin' Outta Dodge!

That's "Kansas-speak" meaning we've just got to get out of here! After being cooped up in my apartment for over a month (recuperating from surgery, ugh!), I just needed a fresh respective and space to look at. So Don and I notified the car rental company, paid our 50 Omani Reals, loaded up the car and headed for the Emirates.

First stop, Abu Dhabi. We spent the night in a wonderfully luxurious hotel close to the beach--the Beach Rotana. We ate in their German restaurant (there were at least 5 restaurants in this hotel). Can I say delicious? I should have taken a picture of my food! The hotel is connected to a really nice mall--so of course we were able to do a little shopping there!

View towards the beach

Don enjoying the ambiance 

The main purpose of visiting Abu Dhabi was to attend the Evangelical Community Church service on Friday morning. (Yes, in an Arabic country the weekends are typically Friday/Saturday, with all main religious services on Friday.) We really enjoyed the worship service that morning at ECC. Since the Emirates is a Muslim country, it is a privilege to be granted the ability to worship in other ways. As we walked to the ECC building from our car, we passed another church--see the photo below. Their church's service had already begun. How long has it been since you stood outside a building just to hear the Good News preached? We felt very humbled.

After church, Don headed to a mall where he knew I would like the restaurant. How do you say "the diet will start tomorrow?" in Arabic?

They made the guacamole fresh at our table--and it was really good. So were the enchiladas. Of course, it's been a few months since we had any "real" Mexican food other than what I cook at home. This was a real treat!

After lunch we headed to Dubai, where the real shopping experience began. On the list: some sewing/craft supplies, Christmas lights (we're celebrating in Oman this year with all our kids but one :) and :( at the same time!), a camera tripod, some computer supplies, and whatever else we saw that struck our fancy--and I had no trouble filling up the trunk! Didn't get pictures every where we went, but thought you would enjoy seeing the biggest Christmas shopping display in a store that I've seen over here in the Middle East. Of course, what else could you expect in Dubai?

Happy to find Christmas lights!

A creative window display

Everyone stopped to pose in front of this window to get their pictures made in front of the
Christmas trees. Kinda like me wanting to get my picture taken with camels all the time!

My final picture is of a craft shop in a small shopping center in the Jumeirah Beach area of Dubai--away from the big malls. It was one of two fabric stores that I visited while there. When I found this store's website online, I had images of Hobby Lobby, which is not quite what I found--but I was grateful for what they did have. I found some much needed supplies for Christmas projects I'm working on for my granddaughter!

You can see the entire store in this picture, wall to wall...nice quality for the selections!