National Day at SMC

Wow! What a day! The National Day celebrations at SMC were a lot of fun for faculty and students. I went over to the sports complex and saw lots of students - some were eating, some were playing football, and the others were cheering them on. I really enjoyed the afternoon. I saw camels and horses, and Ali bought me a delicious pancake (thanks Ali!).

Did you see these cool Mini Coopers, decorated for National Day?




Do I look like a professional camel jockey?

A Description of Emirates Palace

A few weeks ago, my two sections and I visited Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. I would like to describe it for you. Emirates Palace is really luxurious. The building is giant. There are many towers and windows. There are several fountains in front of the hotel. There are two swimming pools - there is a quiet pool for adults, and a noisy adventure pool for children. There are a lot of luxurious rooms. There is beautiful furniture in each room. There are also lovely paintings on almost every wall. There is actually gold on the ceiling! There are many employees from all over the world and there are also several Emiratis who work at the hotel.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so I don't have a photo to post. I hope that one of my students will send me a photo from our trip and then I will post it to my blog.

Our Trip to Al Rawabi Dairy

Last week I had the unique opportunity to visit Al Rawabi Dairy with Section 1. We traveled together by bus to the dairy, which is located in Al Khwaneej in Dubai. We spent about two hours at the dairy, seeing the animals, the machines, the employees and the processes which keep the company going. We saw the cows being milked, as well as the production area where the workers put the milk into bottles. We saw the area where they keep the cows when they are not being milked. We also saw all of the calves, which were only 20 days old. We all really enjoyed the laban and fruit juice that our guide gave to us. It was a great day out!

I forgot to tell you something. I think the most interesting thing that I learned was that it takes less than 24 hours for the milk to go from the cow to the shelf at your store. That is fast!

My Fabulous Eid Break

This picture was taken at my brother's farm. It is his neighbour's barn.

This is a picture of my parents' house in Wisconsin, USA. The leaves are gorgeous, aren't they?

This is part of my family: Jen, mom, Katie, me, dad. We baked those apple pies with fresh local apples.

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to the USA over the Eid break. It was a short holiday, but I am very glad that I went. I saw five of my sisters and one of my brothers. It was wonderful to see everybody! The weather was also fantastic - some days it was sunny, some days it was cloudy, and one day it even snowed! The temperatures were very pleasant, but a bit chilly - the low was probably about 5 degrees!

My sisters and I drove up to my parents house. Because it is the autumn in America, the leaves on the trees were not green - they were brown and red and yellow. I took a walk with my parents out in the woods and the air was crisp and clean. Afterwards, my mom cooked me my favorite food, and my dad made a fire in the fireplace. It was a great way to spend my week off.