Rocket Man and Rickshaws

One of the highlights of January was my trip to Abu Dhabi to see Elton John perform at the Emirates Palace! We have had a few very popular performers come through Dubai and Abu Dhabi over the past year, but I have abstained from buying any concert tickets so as to save up to see any legends or performers that I would regret not seeing when I had the chance. I went with a few of my best friends in Dubai and we had pretty decent seats- but he was still pretty far away. Although, we took cheap binoculars and were able to see his facial expressions clearly. It takes about 1 hour to get to Abu Dhabi from Dubai (where Garfield always shipped Nermal). It was quite expensive, but he played for 2.5 hours to pack everything he could in, and I appreciated that. Our expectations weren't terribly high- Ty and Gemma recounted paying quite a bit to see Shakira in Dubai, and she arrived late and performed for just under an hour.



Another great place I got to go this month was Global Village, which is basically a 3 month Florence county fair and international flea market. I decided to go with Clint and my friends Ty and Neddie, and at first it doesn't sound like much (I thought the same), until we got there.



You arrive, and there are lines of asian men with rickshaws waiting for you to jump on as they pedal you down the walk to the entrance. Once inside, you walk down a promenade bordered by different building facades themed towards each country represented from the region (Saudi, Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, Palestine, Egypt, Thailand, China, Sri Lanka, India, Laos, and more... of course, no Israel). Each country hosts several stands where they sell food or knick knacks or clothes. Lots of junk, but lots of authentic junk. China was by far the biggest, and they had an enormous chinese shrine built in and held a fireworks display. We bought silk chinese clothes and I bought a wooden model frigate from Vietnam / Laos. I am really eager to go back because I got a little burnt out from shopping. I really wanted to get a wall hanging or carving in Arabic, but I'd rather it not be scripture from the Koran. I did get to try honey and pomegranates seeds from Iran, though. Ty tried to subtly announce that it was a good thing we were from Canada...



Occassionally I host a men's accountability group through my church at my apartment. One of the guys in our group is from Amsterdam, and he shared the irony of life in dubai. In a list of things he learned in the middle east, he said he learned English and Christianity.