The days seem to be blending into one. I am writing this account on Wednesday night in the small hour of 2:30am, on my balcony mind you. So Tuesday I woke up at one in the afternoon after a much-needed rest. Me, Craig and Diane all ate lunch (right after breakfast!) outside on the patio. Bernadette, the housekeeper, makes the best lunch - rice, salad and beef! Me and Craig are really starting to get along quite well- yay! The sun was brutally hot but it was so nice to be right in the pool all day. Good ol' Shayne (love him) came over for a bit - conversation is always jolly with them. Hours spent lounging around in the pool, talking about...what? We went inside after a bit to look at some guide books then showered and over to Shayne's for a quick movie- Lord of War ! Muhaha. I was wearing only my white skirt and a tank and felt practically naked downtown with all the men (Indian and Arab) staring at me...
So we go to the Meridien hotel for some grape-flavored shisha. So nice. And social. With the pool right before, the shisha goes down sooo smoothly and gives you a nice little buzz :) After shisha, we head over to ChiChi's for some 5 dirham marguaritas!!! We were all so excited; they were nice and strong...at least the first one was. I noticed like 4 men sitting by themselves at the restaurant- weird. Also, guess what? You can smoke in restaurants here! That won't last long... S+C were explaining to me the huge cultural differences that exist around here, like how men hold hands as a sign of friendship or give each other hanoosh! as a joke. Won't go into explaining what that is...You'll have to find out yourself. In in the US, it would considered totally homosexual...Hmmm... Joe joins us later and the drinks kept pouring. We headed right into another cab and over to their favorite pub P.J. O'Reilly's Irish pub for karaoke. Mel was already there her very Italian, Cara-Marzilli-like sister Natalie. Karaoke is always fun, especially when the singers suck! Joe bought me drinks all night, he's so sweet :)
Anyway, I don't remember exact details from PJ's but I do know it was fun and a great atmosphere. I went home to Craig's with Joe afterwards where we talked out by the ocean wall. Bed by 4am, oops! I could tell how late it was because I could hear the call to prayer ringing out throughout the city.
WEDNESDAY, May 26th
Great day. Start the day right, at 11am with a bizarre film "Brick" and Bern's tuna sandwiches and brownies. Mel and Shane came over with Mel's dalmation Coco - how cute! We played out by the pool all afternoon, while Craig tried to kill birds with the hose. Haha hilarious. Splashing and swimming and talking - perfect. We stop quickly at Mel's place downtown before renting JETSKIS!
For real cheap, we rent 2 jet skis for 1 hour. How fun. It was great to have Mel there, another female. We were both shy about taking off our towels, in just our bathing suits, being the only girls around, surrounded by peering men. I adore Mel - she's great and very fun. Man, how I love jet-skiing. Especially holding on tight to Craig ! He went so fast and we hit so many waves- jumping and riding and racing racing racing Mel and Shayne on the other one. We looked great. The water was so so blue! Jet-skiing in the Arabian Sea- does it get any better than that? We kept yelling YEE-HAW! and WOO-HOO! into the air. Craig let me drive near the Corniche in calmer water- I felt so bad-ass!!! I kept speeding up, then turning and racing Mel. Great fun. Also a fantastic way to see the entire skyline of Abu Dhabi. We went up real close to the Emirates Palace- all of sudden, a patrol boat comes speeding over with a massive gun pointed at us! Not allowed to be in that territory- we almost got shot!!!
On the way back, we hit the HUGEST waves and went flying; so so fun. A bunch of big boats were out at sea, so we followed them and went riding off their waves. My bum was so sore from all the bumps. Salty and thirsty after an hour, we head back into the pool. Me, Diane and Craig lounge in the pool for over 2 hours, conversation just flowing like a fountain. Diane is so funny- she tells the longest stories and goes off on such random tangents!! But it keeps conversation good... The sunset was absolutely beautiful. Craig and I went out to sit on the wall, with our legs swinging right over the rocks as the big, fat orange sun sank lower and lower. All the jet-skiiers were heading home after a long day. With the palm trees, the pool and the sinking, flaming sun, it was just picture-perfect.
We had a nice sit-down dinner with Bill, Diane and Bern and I got to talk a little with Bill, but he didn't say much and eye contact?? But I was looking at the pictures in his office- he's met so many powerful political leaders, like Prince Charles and Camilla, and the Sheikh Mohammed...how cool! Then we talked for an hour on Skype with their daughter Michelle. She seems really cool, I'd like to meet her. After dinner, Shayne and Mel picked us up for a movie at joe's. He lives so far away, but in a very lovely villa. We watched Borat (first time for me). Oh my god. I literally laughed my ass off... Its the very meaning of inappropriate but freakin' hilarious. Joe and I didn't really sit together but snuggled a bit at the end of our soiree. Craig and I spent like an hour looking at pictures on Facebook and checking email. He accidentally walked in on me in my bra and got so awkward...haha!
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