Into the Desert!
Hello Everyone,
Firstly, I just want to thank folks for commenting. It is nice to see what people think and that people are enjoying reading the blog.
For the past week I have been working night shift. My body has not been too accommodating to such a change, but tonight is my last one and then I have a couple of days off. Night shift is nothing new to nurses anywhere and is probably a good thing to get some experience with, however, I hope to avoid them in the future. Night time on our unit is a little different since it is an all female unit and after 9pm there are no men of any kind allowed so the patients can walk around the unit knowing there are no men and it is their space.
Yesterday, I went on this desert trip that was organized by the hospital. It was definitely a tourist trap that I usually shy away from, but what the heck. It was a riot! I really did not know what I was getting myself into when at 2pm six 4x4 Toyota land rovers came to pick us up I started to get an idea. We hopped in and were off driving at crazy speeds through the streets of Al Ain for the Dubai sand dunes. It was about an 1.5 hours to get there, for a normal driver probably 2.5+ hours. I was watching our driver shift through the gears like we were really driving a race car. speeds between roundabouts 160km, you can do the conversion. The dunes were awesome. All my environmental wherewithal was cringing as we speed through the sand. It was beautiful being in the desert, red sand rippling into hills and ridges. We met up with probably 30 other cars and then as a long line we drove off into the dunes screaming over ridges, sliding down the sides, feeling like tipping over, it was nuts. The competition between the fraternity drivers was awesome. I got a total kick out of it. While the rest of my car mates were getting a little sick to their stomachs I was really having a great time. We stopped at this camp where we had a huge BBQ and I got to watch a man making the long flat bread, kubusca. That was a highlight. He had split a metal oil drum tank in half and put it round side up on a cement slat where he had a fire going. I thought this was to be his oven, but he surprised me by laying out the long piece of dough right on top of the heated drum and it baked just like that as he kept feeding the fire below. He would flip it over and in 10 mins it was done. Well salted and very tasty!
I also got to ride a camel in the desert. Its quite a hike to get on one and then up you go! I felt like I could see for miles, I must have been 15 ft high at least. Now the getting off the camel is a little more difficult. They can't just bend down for you, I suppose I could have jumped. But I let the camel drop at its front legs and nearly went head over the neck as it lurched down. Very fun.
On our way home we saw fireworks in the distance celebrating UAE independence day. It was an entertaining trip and nice to meet some other travelers. I even ran into one guy who asked to have a picture with me and I asked him where he was from..."Baltimore, MD" here with the Navy. Wonders never cease.
All the best,
Emily