Emirati Wedding

The wedding I went to last weekend, though a great cultural experience, was kind of a let down as far as weddings go. I was dismayed to discover that Emiratis are among the only arab nationalities who do not dance at their weddings! Even the so called "uptight Saudis" bust a move at their weddings.

The setting of the wedding itself was lovely, in a huge sparkling ballroom. The wedding parties are gender segregated. The women usually have a bigger more extravagant party then the men do. But like I said, this wedding felt more like a formal dinner, with some entertainment. 

We arrived at about 10:30 pm and took our seats at one of the hundred or so dinner tables. Since 8:30 the 500 or so guests have been arriving. In the middle of the ballroom was a huge catwalk with a fountain in the middle. All the tables were surrounding this. Around 11:00 a troupe of ballerinas began to dance along the catwalk. See the videos at the bottom of this post! After the ballerinas came the lovely bride! Of course I could not take photos of her, because this is against the cultural norms. But she had a unique designer dress that was absolutely gorgeous. A sparkling, glittering ball gown. She had her hair done in a very old-fashioned, classic style. Now the use of the catwalk became clear as she slowly walked around for almost 30 minutes modeling herself and her dress. The way they walk is literally: one step. feet together. pause. and repeat. For 30 minutes... She then goes and sits on a love seat and throughout the night and meal people go to sit with her to talk with her and congratulate her. I have a picture below of the area she sat in.

After that, we finally got to get up and get our food! Which was a large buffet (see photos below!) All the dishes where Eastern/Middle Eastern dishes! Very yummy! Ladies walked around serving Arabic Coffee and juices. Basically then we just waited around chatting and eating food. Then around Midnight the groom and the bride's brothers and father came into the wedding hall for photos and to cut the cake. The actual official marriage ceremony had taken place before which is not public. This night was basically just a giant reception to make it all public and official. After that the party kind of dies down. So we left around 1am to go home. A very interesting experience overall, check out the photos I took below!

Front of the invitation. The picture doesn't quite capture how big it was.

The Arabic side of the invitation

English side. Ali and Shatha's wedding.

This was at the entrance of the wedding hall. Large jars of perfumes for the guests to
use before they walked it. There will be no B.O. at THIS wedding!

Buffet area. This was just the desserts and the starters, outside was the main dishes. I couldn't get a picture of it because it
was so crowded with people and you aren't supposed to take pictures anyway :P

The bathrooms! Random picture... but I couldn't take pictures of much else, so I took pictures of what I could! 

This is where the bride would sit, on that couch, during the dinner and where her and her
husband would sit at the end of the night.

A picture of some of the kids and the flower girls. That large white thing with the fountain is the giant catwalk that the
bride walked down. This is also the reason I believe there was no dancing, because she needed a huge catwalk...

I tried to get a little bit of everything, it was all so delicious! I forgot to get a picture of all
my appetizers before I ate them! Sorry! But they were very cool and delicious!

Desserts!!! Sorry again... I started eating before I got a picture...

Sorry for the horrible picture quality, but it was a quick shot from my iPhone. That is the cake.
Six tiers (you can't see the last one cause its hidden by the ladies head). This cake was
literally just for show. Everyone had already eaten desserts. They just had it for the
bride and groom to cut a piece of it then leave. On top is the letters A and S intertwined
and the cake was decorated in gold icing. Very beautiful.... but kind of a waste.

Layal and I right before leaving for the wedding!
this is my only picture of me that uploaded! For some reason the pictures I took on my camera
won't upload onto here. :(

Lastly, Here are a few videos of the ballerinas that danced before the bride came out!

Dead Sea Photos

I can't believe I forgot to post the remaining Dead Sea photos. I finally got them from my friend, so here they are! Enjoy!

Floating weightlessly on the surface of the Dead Sea

Can just barely see Israel on the other side

A huge rock of pure salt. Dare you to lick it.
Rubbing it on your hands made your hand nice and smooth and soft.

Trying very hard not to tip over.  In the Dead Sea you don't have to fight to stay afloat, you have to fight to stay balanced. It's always pushing you up cause its so dense.

Look at that form.

The sale caked on to Redwan's back

Fresh water spout to since the salt off. It became quite painful after awhile to have the
salt rubbing on your skin!

 That's all the dead sea photos! I am working on my post for the wedding I went to over the weekend and will post that tomorrow most likely! 

Less than a month until I return to the US!

Traditional Emirati Dancing

These two videos were taken during the Global Day on campus at the Emirati booth. These are bunch of students and boys dancing in the traditional Emirati dance and singing. The men stand in a line in the back and hold canes that they use to wave around as they sing. Then the men in the front dance with their canes to the music. Very cute! I like the part where they bob their heads. Was very cool to watch, so I wanted to share these videos with all of you!

I am very excited because I was invited to go to an Emirati wedding next weekend. Emirati weddings are HUGE and this one sounds like it will be no less than that. I am very excited and will post a blog about it afterwards. Should be a really amazing cultural experience!

Love you all! I have one other random post in the makings, so I will try to get that up tomorrow!

Jordan (part3)-Mount Nebo and the Dead Sea

So here we are, at the final installment of my Jordan adventure! Unfortunately I wasn't able to add the photos of me swimming in the dead sea because she still hasn't uploaded them or sent them to me, but I felt like I shouldn't put off posting this post any longer so here are the rest of the photos and hopefully I will be able to upload the swimming photos soon in a separate post!

On the public bus from Petra to Madaba

Our group waiting at a Jordanian bus stop, i.e. the side of the highway...

Two workers restoring a Mozaic at Mount Nebo. 

A quote about Mount Nebo

Mount Nebo is where it is believed that Moses spoke with God. According to Jewish and Christian tradition, Moses was buried on the mountain by God Himself.  The view from the top provides a panoramic view of the Holy Land.
 It wasn't an ideal clear day when we were there, so we just barely saw Israel in the distance.

View from the summit of Nebo

View of Jordan from Nebo

Me in with the Memorial for Moses on Mount Nebo

And now, on to the Dead Sea!!!

A little family of camels on our way to the Dead Sea

Me at the Dead Sea. The water here is so salty that you float across the surface with ease. It feels almost impossible to try to dive under as well since the water is so thick! The salts are good for your skin, but it actually starts to hurt after awhile, especially if you have any cuts on your body. Tip: DO NOT OPEN YOUR EYES IN THE DEAD SEA. My friend made that mistake on accident. Apparently it feels like pouring pure salt into your eye. Hm. Not pleasant. On the other
side of the shore is Israel. The closest I can to get to it if I still want to be allowed back into the UAE ;). Because
of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, many Gulf countries do not allow you into the country if you have a
recent Israeli visa stamp on your passport. It goes both ways. Someone I know was held at the Israeli border for
5 hours because he had a visa stamp from Lebanon. 

Sheep herder driving his sheep down the highway

At a Church in Madaba. Madaba has a high Christian population.

King Abdullah II of Jordan, waving us farewell!

Overall Jordan was a beautiful country and I had a great time. I was glad we stayed out of the big city (Amman) except that we missed out on seeing the ancient Roman Ruins there. There was a night that Kayla and I were followed by to young guys yelling "hey habiitii! Habiibtii nice butt!" (habiibtii means "my sweetheart" in arabic). We were very glad to have Redwan and Gabe with us at that point... but other than that episode I found Jordanians to be very nice, friendly people. I was able to use Arabic more here, where there are less foreigners, or even if they are not Jordanian they are probably Palestinian therefore they speak Arabic!

I will hopefully be able to get those photos from the Dead Sea eventually, until then I have a few miscellaneous posts and such that will be up soon, sorry for the long hiatus but I have been busy with midterm papers and exams! I have just a little over one month left here! I can't believe how the time has flown by and I looking forward to coming back to the States! But I will miss the UAE! 

Jordan (part2)- Petra

On our third day in Jordan we left early from Wadi Rum and took a bus to the ancient city. This city was built by the Nabateans; ancient peoples of Jordan. After the Nabataean Kingdom was annexed into the Roman Empire, their culture melded with the Greco-Roman culture and was eventually lost. What has survived are the ruins of their cities of Petra in Jordan, Bosra in Syria, and Mada'in Saleh in Saudi Arabia.

To start with, this is our buffet in our hotel! Dozens of types of salads, soup, hommos, chicken
potatoes, all local dishes cooked by the inn keeper. On that note, if anyone is looking for a cheap
place to stay in Petra, I recommend the Valentine Inn. It's a backpackers hotel. Food is yummy
and cheap and the rooms are cheap and simple.

As you can see Petra has capitalized on the fact that part of Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade was filmed at the Treasury 

Beginning our trek into Petra. One of the first buildings not he road there. It's a long walk just to get there. You can
take a horse to the entrance, but walking is just as enjoyable!

The long narrow "Siq" gorge that you must walk though to get to Petra. There are many
carvings and statues carved straight into the rock along the passage.

Walking though the passage.

The winding, endless passage goes on forever until it finally opens up onto The Treasury...

Me in front of the Treasury! The buildings here are carved straight into the rock of the mountains. 

Some of the more weathered facades of tombs in Petra

Most of these smaller structures are tombs.

A whole hillside of tombs. But honestly, I would rather just tell myself they are all little houses ;)

Me in one of these tombs (*cough* houses).

The Amphitheater

The Bedouins who still live here give donkey rides up to the top of the mountain where the Monastery is. These two
shouted at me "hey! Want a ride on a Bedouin Ferrari?" i.e. donkeys.... Or you could just take one of their "Air
Conditioned Camels".

The Temple. The columns all toppled in an earthquake unfortunately

A gate with men dressed as Nabatean guards

The first steps of our long hike up to the Monastery

Here is the Monastery, the largest of the carved structures in Petra. The Monastery
probably served as a temple to one of the pre-islamic Arabian gods. Check out the
people in the doorway to get a good idea of its size.

Action Shot! Me inside the Monastery.

Overlooking the Monastery

Last photo! A detail shot of some of the decorations on the Treasury as we were leaving Petra

Next (and last) Installment in my Jordan Adventures will be Nount Nebo and the Dead Sea! Might take a few days as I am waiting for my friend to send me some pictures she took at the Dead Sea (because my camera had died).