Christmas in the Sandbox - Part 1 (Abu Dhabi)

My (Josclyn's) family came out for Christmas for just over a week!  It was so great to see them and show them what our life is like out here, even if they only got to stay in Abu Dhabi for one day :)

Abu Dhabi got decked out for Christmas which was awesome--but snow,
in the middle of the desert, really?

 

This was the $11M Christmas tree in the Emirates Palace
hotel which we went and saw together.  It was a pretty big
let down in my opinion.

What made it so expensive was the jewelry that was on the tree.

It just looked gaudy to me.

After checking out a few places in Abu Dhabi (including the Lebanese Flower which has amazing food!), we went to our apartment so the family could see that.  The whole family conked out on our sole couch.  I woke them up wearing my abaya, ready to go see the Grand Mosque :)

Grand Mosque

Probably don't see too many men in suits at the mosque :)

They have abayas and sheilas for all of the women
which you must wear in order to be allowed in.

They had beautiful intricate designs throughout the
mosque...quite a few of them weren't really my
style, but some of it was really cool.

Grand Mosque at sunset

 After the mosque, we got ready for dinner at one of the companies business associate's home.  That was really quite the experience.  It was interesting to see the lifestyle of the people here that have real money and influence.  He was very generous and gave each of gifts and then also gave the three girls designer abayas!  It was totally crazy and I didn't even really know how to respond.

So haute-couture.

 I really had no idea what we would ever do with these!  I mean this isn't exactly our style nor something we could wear anywhere in the States.  But I actually ended up wearing one that next weekend because I was invited to a local Emirati wedding.

Finally, before we left to head to the desert the next morning, we tried "Jack Fruit."  We had gone to the grocery store the day before so that I could show my mom what grocery shopping was like.  I pointed out the entire aisle of oil and the entire aisle of yogurt.  Also all the spices and the produce area.  That's where Rhiena noticed the jack fruit which she had just learned about in one of her college classes.  I really don't know how we let her convince us to buy it especially after how she told us that the question on her test at school was "What fruit smells like a mix between a boy's locker room and trash?"  It was true...it was possibly the worst smelling fruit I have ever been in contact with.  But if you could get over the smell, they actually tasted pretty good.

Jack Fruit