Back in Dubai....... and Ewoks

So, maybe I was a little hasty in the last post saying that Damascus is boring. Our flight wasn't scheduled to leave till 5:30pm (notice I said "scheduled to"), so since we had some time, Naila, the sister of the recruiting agency's owner said she would take us shopping at the old market. The market reminded me of one in Cairo, but nicer and less chaotic. They were selling everything you could possibly imagine- wedding dresses, paintings, sculptures, sweets, furniture, spices- it was pretty amazing, and good people watching too! Naila is a short little thing, but feisty- she kept Kelly and me on track and made sure nobody messed with us (sometimes this involved dragging us around by the arm!). Kelly and I bought some jewelry and paintings and she negotiated hard to make sure we got the best deal possible. Afterwards, she took us to an old mosque attached to the market- since we were wearing short sleeves, we had to rent robes with hoods, to cover up our hair and arms-- I thought we looked like ewoks (It made me think of Tegan, who still has the Ewok keychain I got her at Tokyo Disney in Gr 9!!). Naila aslo seemed to think I would be an excellent wife for her son Mohamed who is 22. She thinks it's about time that he got married and kept squeezing me and saying that she had been praying for a daughter-in-law like me.. when I told her my age, she looked surprised for a minute but said..."that's okay!!". She even told him, in front of me, that I was single...that wasn't awkward at all!!! Luckily, I managed to escape from her clutches and we were off to the airport. In the way, we stopped for Shawarmas at a little roadside shop (the best shawarma place in Syria according to our host), and they were SO good!!! It's a good thing we stopped, because we needed the energy for the airport, which turned out to be the most chaotic place I've ever been in recent memory (and remember, I live in Cairo!), Thankfully the recruiting agency owner "knew a guy" and we managed to skip the initial security lineup, but there were HUGE delays checking in and in passport control- our flight was delayed over an hour as some people were still stuck in the lines.

Needless to say, we were all very happy to land in Dubai last night and are taking advantage of the opportunity to do laundry, sleep and relax (in a 5 star environment!!!) before we head off to Colombo on Tuesday. Although if it's possible, Dubai seems to be hotter and more humid than last time.... this time my room's on the 27th floor- here's the view...and a pic of Kelly and me having another great dinner @ exchange.

Hope you're all doing well and having a good July so far!

over and out from the ewok! xoxo C