December 23, 2019
Took a flight from Baku to Dubai, got settled into our hotel and rested for a couple hours. In the afternoon we set out to find some good “American” food. We found a restaurant within a 5-star resort and had burgers, fries and shakes. The stomach ache that followed proved it probably wasn’t the best choice but at the time it was worth it! I now know when I return to the US I will need to ease into the greasy food and maybe not order a massive shake with a piece of cheesecake on top… After eating we wandered along the beach and watched the sunset. It was beautiful and peaceful. For a massive 5-star resort complex we were the only ones on the beach.
December 24, 2019
Christmas Eve. Although it definitely doesn’t feel like it. Today we took the hotel shuttle to the Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world, and yes, we did get lost in it a couple times. Inside the mall there is the world’s largest single tank aquarium. One thing about our time spent in the UAE, I can’t even count the number of times I heard “world’s largest”. The UAE is known for breaking world records and most of it has been done in the past 20 years. Just outside of the massive mall is the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. We spent the morning just wandering the mall, amazed at how fancy some stores were and just how massive the mall was in general. Inside the mall there were many Christmas decorations, trees and the world’s largest Christmas ornament. At 1:30 we went outside to watch the fountain show just outside the mall in front of the Burj Khalifa. In the evening we took a dinner cruise down the Dubai Canal where we could see the city from the water. It was a nice way to spend Christmas Eve, even if it still didn’t feel like Christmas.
December 25, 2019
Christmas Day. Still it didn’t feel like Christmas. I guess it’s hard to have Christmas when you aren’t surrounded by family, a decorated pine tree and snow on the ground. It was weird going down for breakfast at the hotel to find a skinny man dressed up in a cheap Santa suit seating people for breakfast. Well they tried. After breakfast we went to the Souk (market) we wandered through the gold souk, which had beautiful gold jewelry in every shop, the spice souk, which had so many spices that smelled so good, and a few other souks. It was fun to explore and smell all the different spices. In the afternoon we took a sand desert tour where we got the chance to go ATVing through sand dunes, dune bashing with our guide in a Toyota Land Cruiser and sand boarding (like snowboarding but in sand). It was so fun. The ATVing reminded me of home and I had a blast. For dune bashing the guide let some air out of the tires and would whip around in the sand which was cool. Having never been snowboarding (only skiing) I was unsure about sand boarding but I loved it! I only got to go once though because other people were waiting and there was only one board. Being this was a tour there were other cars also making the same stops we did. We all stopped at a camp in the middle of the desert for dinner and other activities. At the camp we could do camel riding, henna painting, and/or a photo shoot in traditional Arab clothing. There were also three shows, one before dinner and two after. Before dinner there was a traditional dancer and after dinner there was a belly dancer and then a man spinning fire. The guy spinning fire also reminded me of home and when my brother, Brett, used to spin fire. Dinner was a buffet of traditional foods. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and evening. When we got back to the hotel we opened some champagne to cheers to Christmas 2019! All in all, Christmas 2019 seemed to come and go. There were some Christmas decorations and Christmas music playing, but being on the other side of the world made Christmas seem like just another day. I was happy to spend the day with Steve and Devon, we had a great time but instead of Christmas, it was just another day or our awesome vacation.
December 26, 2019
We took a day-trip small group tour to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. As part of the trip we visited the mosque, the presidential palace, the Etihad towers and had a Lebanese lunch. The mosque was massive and beautiful! It is in the top 5 for world’s largest. To tour the mosque we had to be fully covered and women had to wrap their heads. As part of the tour we were given a gown and headscarf to wear. One thing I found interesting was that any time my hair would peak out from the scarf a security guard would motion for me to fix it, whereas Devon’s hair would fall out and she was never told anything. I think it may have something to do with me having blonde hair. The mosque was massive and gorgeous, it was cool to see such a beautiful building. The same was true for the presidential palace. It was massive and gorgeous as well. There are no tours allowed inside the palace so after entering we were allowed to wander ourselves to see the different rooms and admire the beauty of the architecture. After the palace we had a nice Lebanese lunch and then went to the Etihad towers. We got to go inside the tallest tower and go to the top where there is a 360 degree lookout. From there we could see the presidential palace and the islands surrounding Abu Dhabi. All in all it was a nice day trip seeing another part of the country.
December 27, 2019
After an exhausting couple days we spent the morning sleeping in, packing our bags and then spend the early afternoon at the rooftop pool. Later in the afternoon we got ready and went to the Global Village. Devon described it like Disney world. Having never been to Disney world I don’t know if that comparison is accurate but it was a massive park in which you could go into different “countries” where there would be shops, food and performances to represent that country. We walked in and out of different countries for many hours just looking around and trying different foods. It was cool to see but definitely not a place to visit often. There were just so many people.. I would rather travel to those countries and experience the authentic foods and shops.
December 28, 2019
We had early morning flights leaving Dubai so Steve had the great idea of staying up all night being we had to leave for the airport at 3:30. Steve and I made it all night but Devon went to sleep for about 2 hours. I ended up having a different flight than Steve and Devon. I had a layover in Ethiopia on the way to Zanzibar. Once we all arrived in Zanzibar we went to the guest house (similar to a hotel) where we all napped for a couple hours. When we woke up from napping we went for dinner, gelato and then went back for an early night in.
December 29, 2019
Unfortunately it rained off and on all day. We had been planning on spending the day at the beach but ended up hanging out and playing cards at a balcony bar overlooking the ocean. In the afternoon we met up with some other volunteers from the Education 2018 cohort and joined them for happy hour, street food and then went out with them in the evening. It was nice catching up with them because most of them had been Resource PCVs during our pre-service training.
December 30, 2019
Another relaxing day. After a week and a half of travels and being tourists we were all happy with just hanging out at the beach, catching up with Vern (another Resource PCV), getting Indian food for dinner and then returning to the guesti for another early night in.
December 31, 2019
New Years Eve! in the morning we flew from Zanzibar to Tanga city and had a car take us to our guesti. We were about 10 km from where most of the other volunteers were staying so after getting settled we went down to join them for the celebration. There were around 25 volunteers from all cohorts staying at beachside resorts for New Years. It was a great time just hanging out with everyone, swimming in the ocean and celebrating the New Year.
January 1, 2020
New Years Day! Steve, Devon and I spent the day relaxing and hanging out at our beachside resort. It was relaxing to just do nothing all day after our crazy adventure.
January 2, 2020
Took a bus back to Lushoto and the next day back to site.
Overall this trip was amazing. I was able to explore two new countries and spend quality time with two of my best friends I made through this Peace Corps experience. And surprisingly, none of us got sick of each other over the trip (as far as I know). I am so glad that Steve invited both of us to accompany him to his friend’s wedding and then Devon had the idea of stopping in Dubai for Christmas. It was such a great way to spend my first holiday season away from home. Now, I am back to the grind teaching and getting projects started at site (I will discuss all that in a future post).
