Monday, February 4, 2008

Global Village in the House!

Ever have dreams of visiting Afghanistan, Tunisia, Yemen, Laos, Czech Republic, Iran, and Senegal in one day? It can be realized! At Global Village, that is… On Saturday, Matt and I traveled west of Dubai to the Global Village, a festival held on a huge fairgrounds that is owned by Tatweer. Lucky for us, it was family day and since Matt's hospital is owned by Tatweer we were eligible for not only free entry, but one free chicken curry per ticket! Unfortunately for me (I have a now full blown addiction to all food Indian) Matt refused to indulge me with yet another Indian meal, it might have something to do with the fact that I had curry for lunch, and, ahem, breakfast that morning. I can't stop! So whist strolling the fair grounds we noshed on one of my other favorite foods - soft pretzels! I was in heaven! We managed to avoid buying a Krispy Kreme doughnut, although we had about five opportunities to get one at the many stands.
We had a great time popping in and out of all the different countries' tents (with the US conspicuously missing), however, they began to all run together after a while. Each tent was virtually guaranteed to be hawking discount pashminas, fake silk rugs, gaudy gold jewelry, and bizarre spices - come on guys, at least try to distinguish yourselves! Well, there was that guy selling the toy AK 47's - that puts a whole new spin on playing cops and robbers!

I also got a chance to catch up with my good friend,
Um Saloom, she is one of the characters in my new favorite TV show, Freej (it means neighborhood in Arabic). You'll note that she is a Bedouin (she wears a traditional covering on her face), anyway the whole show is like a Bedouin 'Golden Girls', these four ladies get themselves in all kinds of trouble and it is hilarious! It's a really clever show about how these national women deal with the changing Dubai around them. Everyone is going to get the first season DV from me for Christmas!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Alright Katie, I think it's time. Step away from the curry, and no one will get hurt :)

Great photos - 'glad to see that you're finding places that don't look like Tysons Corner - or Zurich.