Alex's Visit

Alex and I in Al Ain at Sheikh Zayed's palace. A historical site now, Sheikh Zayed was the founder of the UAE and is held in great esteem - as we would with George Washington. As this picture was being taken, the call to prayer was being broadcast around the city,

At the palace, this urn caught my attention - beautiful workmanship and the lashed holder is very interesting as well.

Outside the palace.

Alex and his not so happy to be having his picture taken look.

This is the invitation to the wedding reception- sorry it's not more clear - I'll try in the next blog to get a better closeup of it.

Hi All,

Sat. 9 Jan. 2010

It's been a while since I've blogged as I was waiting for Alex to come over and to share those experiences with you.

Alex arrived on Dec.28 in Dubai which is about 1 1/2 hrs away travel time. The first few days Alex spent getting his head out of the jet lag and relaxing as I worked. On Dec. 30 we attended the wedding of an Emirati co-worker. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures as I was advised not to bring a camera.

We arrived at the reception hall at the designated time - 8p and waited around outside as it appeared that it was one of those come fashionably late Emirati style timings. Humaid ( who works for me) and is the brother of the goom came outside and ushered us in. As we entered, we see sofas lined up against the wall in a long line and here is Abdullah (the groom) with all the relatives which greet us down the line. As we near the end of the line, Humaid insists we sit on the sofa's -We've officially joined the wedding party. Porters with fruit juices - strawberry, mango, guava etc come up and offer us a glass as other porters appear with Arabian coffee - which is drunk from small handle-less cups and straight - it's bitter but it grows on you and the caffene buzz is strong - if you want more you hold it out and the porter fills it again - if done you hold it out and shake it where by the porter will take your cup. This is a very traditional welcome custom here.

Next about 20 men got up and performed Emirati songs and dances forming 2 lines at right angles to each other , they sang to prerecorded songs - An Emirati Karaoke. All the while men (in their "man-dresses") are "dancing" and spinning their small canes. This whole scene is being recorded by a video camera on a boom stand which flowed around the room. Alex and I are featured prominently in the videos. While all this is occurring , porters are bringing trays of sweets and chocolates, more juices coffee etc.

After about 45 min( or more) we decided to move over to where some of the other hospital crowd was gathering and we sat and talked with them until we moved into the banquet hall.

The banquet was overwhelming. each of the 8 person round tables was covered in food - so much so it was a challenge to find space to set your glass down. - I am not exaggerating - two large meat /rice platters - one roasted lamb the other roasted goat anchored the table. ( The goat was marvelous) There was humus, babaganush, stuffed grape leaves, a chicken dish that is like pureed chicken, a stew with lamb and okra, fresh fruit, olive platter, another chicken dish more like roasted chicken, lamb and chicken kabobs, then all the sweets, the traditional bread pudding that has pistachios in it plus doughnut hole type things, brownies, petie fors?(sp) , and other dishes I know I sampled but forgot to list. - A massive amount of food. After we finally admitted defeat, we returned to the main hall where there was a live band playing - couple of guys on keyboards and the rest with hand drums and one singer. As it was after 10p and the next day was a work day , we and most of the guests were filtering out. Got our photos taken with the groom and out we went. and home by 11p. Since I was off the next day - Alex and I were traveling to Al Ain - we weren't too concerned with the time however Bassam - a friend who was born in Lebanon - but is naturalized US citizen from San Diego who is the Medical Records Director went along with us ( he also lives here in the compound) had to work so we dropped him off and came home.

Now let me tell you about who wasn't there - the bride. The women hold a separate party in the next room. Our party was men only just as theirs is women only. The invitation to the wedding does not have the brides name on it - it refers to her as "The daughter of Zayed Eisa Murbarak Al Mansouri". Humaid was showing us how they decorated Abdullah's car ( flowers on hood, cloth streamers etc) and I asked him about the name of the bride and he visibly blushed. Woman's privacy is closely guarded here and to tell me her name would have violated this custom. In fact when meeting another Emirati man, you can ask about his family - but not his wife -it's just not done to inquire after her.

We had a great time and the experience was memorable.

Well this is all for this post next one Al Ain.

Love to all

Scott