Dubai

After an all-night-last-night with my roommates, 5:30am came very very early. Taylor very graciously and groggily dropped me off at the business school at 6am in a torrential downpour, at which point I was feelin pretty grateful for the rain cover I sprung for when I purchased my new fancy backpack. We met in the accounting suite to cram t-shirts and supplies into bags under 50lbs., then loaded up the bus, scarfed down some breakfast tacos, and set off for DFW (still pouring down rain) by 7:30. We arrived a little after 9, and were finally checked in with all 38 of our bags by 10:15. 

We boarded the enormous, double-decker plane around 12 and we were off! I didn't realize how beneficial my night of no sleep would be. I was able to turn on some Motzart and slip on my Beats and sleep for 12 of the 14 hour plane ride, in spite of the 1, 2, 3 screaming crying babies behind us who exercised their sweet precious lungs for all 14 hours. 

We landed at 12pm Dubai time, which was 3am at home, and heard the news of a huge shooting in Waco. Scary stuff. We made our way through customs (new passport stamp, sic em) then to a coffee stand for those who hadn't gotten 12 hours of sleep. Our hotel bus squeezed all 19 of us in and drove us the short distance to the hotel, where we checked in and rinsed off before meeting back up for some quick prayer and fellowship then set out on our desert adventure. 

I've done some pretty incredible things around the world, but I'd put this desert experience towards the top of the list. Our drivers picked us up in 3 Toyota Land Cruisers and drove us about an hour outside the city into the desert. Once we got off the highway, the drivers pulled off to deflate the tires before driving into the sand. Our first stop was the falcon show (who knew falcons are the fastest animals in the world?) then we loaded back into the SUVs for the dune driving. I can't even describe how cool that was! The sun was setting, so the dunes were even prettier, and it felt like a mild rollercoaster as the car bumped over each dune.

We stopped off to take pictures just as the sun was setting--so surreal! 

Our last stop for the evening was the campsite. This was true, authentic Arabian culture and I loved it. We sat around beautiful tents and relaxed with our toes in the cool sand. We rode camels (what even) before delicious appetizers of falafel and cheese pita and an incredible chicken wrap. Dinner was next, with 3 kinds of "barbecue," lamb, chicken, and beef. We had unlimited free soda (moment of praise that Coca Cola is a global company) and followed it all up with "Arabian Sweets" which tasted like donuts with syrup on them. A belly dancer performed to end the evening then we piled back into the cars for the drive back to the hotel. 

What an incredible way to start the trip! Today was great for getting to know the team and having a little time to breathe between the craziness of graduation weekend/packing and the beginning of a very busy 2 weeks in Uganda. Dubai is unlike any city I've ever been to, but our trip leadership did a great job of fitting some really remarkable experiences into our short time here.