Monday: 2nd Day of EID and we plan to celebrate tonight! Today, I was heading back to Tips and Toes with the ladies but then decided to pass and do some laundry as this would cost double! Martha and I took one bag of clothes each to the Co-Op downstairs in the Mall. I wrote down everything in the laundry bag so the man wouldn't expose all of my clothes to the store:) He had a hard time with my descriptive words that I used to describe my black and purple yoga pants and just gave up and called them slacks. I'm sure I paid much more than I should have but my attitude is STAY POSITIVE so I just let it go:) The prices for laundry and dry-cleaning are the same so we'll see when I get it back what they dry cleaned. So, my total for 29 pieces was a whopping $177 Dhm or $48.20. I can't wait to get my washer/dryer combo and do it myself to save a little as this could of been a night out...still staying positive as I LOVE my 5 star home right now:) We exchanged some money and shopped for some strong conditioner. If anyone at all has any recommendations on a great conditioner or mask for your hair, please comment! The dryness and water here are hurting my hair just a little.
Went back to the hotel and got some stuff done and just relaxed.
Tonight, we celebrated Eid Night 2 with The Lebanese Flower. I have heard most people talk about it on Facebook before I got here so I was thrilled to try it. Besides my love of Mexican food, Lebanese comes real close in second place. I could eat hommos (yes, this is how it is spelled here - side note: some words definitely different spelling) and tabouleh all night! We had a large group tonight and the restaurant is extremely small. We had a little room to the side. Martha, Stephanie, Tracy, Maria, Krista, Julie, Jen, Justine, LaRue, Cheri and Symunek joined me! We had so much fun trying out the food - hommos, tabouleh, shawarma, fresh pita, gross olives, rocket lettuce (similar to argula), and topped it off with a Lebanese Flower cocktail (No alcohol, just fresh juice). See pictures and video from our night ordering and asking questions. Side note - the men in here were beautiful, while it is forbidden to "date", looking sure was fun:)
Our room for dinner
Gross olives, pita bread, rocket lettuce with tomatoes, cucumbers, lemon, and onions underneath
Lebanese Flower cocktail complete with a splash of yogurt
Incredibly yummy hommos
Gross olives (why are they gross you ask...I think it must be a preservative that they use to keep them fresh but it takes all the taste away or maybe this is the lebanese olive taste that some people may like) and delish tabouleh.
After dinner, we went next door to the bakery part and had a teeny tiny baklava. They made plates of delicious treats for you to try!
The sweet baker that helped us
I've been reading up on the culture from the Ask Ali book I bought when I got here. Ali says that is common to see pictures of government on the walls to show their love and respect for the people who built their country (this is a part of Arabic heritage). There is a specific order on how they are to be placed in Abu Dhabi. In the middle is the most important, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founder of the UAE. On the left is the next most important person, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President and Ruler of the UAE. On the right is Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
Checking out the Bakery
Video of our table ordering drinks:)
Next, we went out for Ladies Night at The Warehouse at the Marina. We got two free drinks which included only Absolut. They had a live band playing on stage and they were very entertaining. They had four different singers and played a variety of music from Oasis to Michael Jackson to Eminem. I took a video on my camera of it but it turned out blurry (still trying to figure out my fancy Nikon camera so again, if you have any advice, please comment) but you can hear the Eminem song. They surprised us with this one. Again, wide range of music. We had a great time and were so tempted to dance but playing it safe until we feel out the country. We left around 1 and went back to the hotel.
I went wild in trying out my different settings so this was the band with night vision
Another pic of the band - Sadly, we didn't get the actual name of the band
Maria, Symunek, and Justine
Julie, me and Jen
Another pic with guys dancing (you would've thought that being Ladies night, there would be ladies on the dance floor). I can assure you that it was interesting as we were the only Americans and the rest of the women were from the Philippines. You can make your assumption there.
Video of band breaking out with Eminem and Rhianna - Love the Way You Lie
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