The Musings of My Girls

Some days during English class I just want to have conversation with my girls to assess their speaking and listening skills.  Today the topic was "What is Haram?"  All year long my girls would tell me, "Don't do that Miss Mary, it is Haram".  So today I made a list.  Here, in their exact words, is a list of what is haram:
1. Showing your leg to a man you do not marry is haram.
2. Using food for math is haram. ( I think only when we do not eat it)
3. Wearing a necklace with a T is haram. (here they refer to my cross necklace)
4. Showing your hair to a boy is haram.
5. Eat pigs is haram.
6. Short hair like boy is haram.
7. You wear a short dress is short is haram.
8. If you call girl animal like dog or goat it is haram.
9. If you hit girl it is haram but not if the mom says yes.
10. Drink _________ (insert Arabic word for alcohol) is haram.
11. Steal is haram.
12. You make joke of Allah, Mohammed, or Islam is haram.
13. Tattoo is haram.
14. To kill a person is haram.
15. To kiss boy you are not married to is haram.
16. You draw picture of Mohammed is haram.
17. If you pray to the sun it is haram.
I could hardly help but laugh!  My girls really try hard to convert me.  Hate to tell them, but it will never happen!  I will add more as I hear them (which is often!).

Staycation day 6 - Dubai

Pat in Dubai Mall- See the water fountain behind him?

Amy, Jacob and I outside of the Hotel

Imagine waking up in a luxury apartment on the Palm in Dubai after sleeping in the most comfortable bed in the world, looking out the window and seeing the Arabian (Persian) Gulf and a beautiful pool with palm trees.  That was me on Saturday morning!  Amy is such a wonderful hostess and she kept us hopping all day.  First Pat and I took Jacob for a swim in the pool - he really wanted to swim for a while.  Then we loaded into the car and headed to Dubai Mall.  I let each person pick one thing to do over Spring break and Jacob wanted to go to Kidzania in the mall.  He is writing a blog post about his adventure, but I wanted to mention it here as well.  We simply dropped him off and then we were free to shop and do other things at the mall.  We saw so many fun things including the Dancing fountain, The Address and The Burj Khalifa. We saw so many stores, as Dubai Mall is the largest mall in the world (of course it is - it's in Dubai where everything is the biggest, tallest, most expensive or most innovative).  We picked up Jacob 4 hours later and he had had the time of his life!  On our way home we stopped by the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray hotel.  This hotel was in Mission Impossible 3 - the part where you thought you were in India.  Click here to view the hotel if you want to see grand luxury!  

Jacob

After a long day we went back to the hotel and played cards with Amy till 2 am!  She made the most wonderful lemonade drink from Southern Living Magazine.

Staycation day 5

Amy Anderson invited us to come to Dubai for a nice long weekend.  How could we refuse? Pat, Jacob and I  drove to Dubai which took only an hour and stopped by the Dubai Outlet Mall to shop for some good deals.  Apparently in Dubai paying $55 for a T-shirt is a good deal so we left empty handed.

Here in Africa I barter with the woman for something small I thought my sister would like.

Pat tries juice outside the Syrian area - he thought it was coffee

We drove a bit farther and met Amy at the Global Village.  This was my third visit and each time I go it is different.  We started at the African area and then moved to see China, Syria, Morocco and then saw India, Qatar, and the UAE.  Even after three times I know that it is a place I could go again and again.  Global village is open from November till March.  They have cultural experiences, foods and booths with items made in their country.  The cost of admission is only 10 AED or about 3 dollars!

Looking at quilts in one section of the Indian area.