A Visitor from Home

Oh goody. More construction out our bedroom window. 

All I can say is I'm glad Colleen did not stay another night.  The day after my dear friend got on the plane back to Jordan, the construction barricades went up in front of our building and out came the bulldozer and the back hoe!  That night, from 12 to 5 am the pounding and banging began. And today is Day 4.  Since the building out my window was finished it has been so nice..but here we go again!!

Tea at Emirates's palace

Al Ain Palace Museum

Sallie, Sophia and Joey walking thru the Oasis in Al Ain

But Colleen's visit was fun!  We went to tea at Emirate's Palace with three other friends. She saw the gold ATM machine(put in money, out comes gold) and walked thru the exhibition of all the museums coming to Abu Dhabi. Didn't get to the Grand Mosque but she took pictures as we drove by on our way to Al Ain.  There she saw Sheikh Zayed's  palace where he received visitors in the early years as ruler of Al Ain-from 1937-1966. We also went to the Oasis, walked thru all the palm trees and then had lunch at a park near by.  



Fortunately, the rain held off.( That was frustrating. We get rain maybe twice a year and it comes when we have a guest! ugh.)   Colleen also got to go to a birthday party with Sallie and me while she was here.  My friend Huda, Egyptian but lived here all her life, has a daughter who turned 10. We had a party for her and Colleen joined us. It was so fun. Ingie is darling and she loved having all of us there to celebrate. When we came out it was raining but Mike picked us up.  I managed to slip and nearly break my back FIRST, but he showed up before I could fall a second time. Granite sidewalks are not the best for walking on in the rain.  Colleen's visit was fun. It's nice to have someone come from home and it's nice that she lives close. No jet lag. :) Our countries share some similar things..like crazy driving and circular reasoning but  they have fun differences, too.
I'm pretty sure when we drove up to the airport in Amman last summer I didn't say, "Wow. Even the airport looks like a mall."
Hope she comes back soon. Or maybe we will take Sallie and Robert to Jordan. The rest of the family is anxious to see Petra, so maybe that will be next.