Sweet Summertime - Part 2: Keokuk Dam

Chilling on the troley

Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to cross the dam in Keokuk via boat.  Well, my wish has not yet come true but I got a lot closer to it!  This summer the Keokuk Dam celebrated it 100th anniversary and had fun festivities down by the river.  We were able to cross the dam via trolley and tour the plant.  There were different junk food vendors in the river park that offered everything from fried frog legs to gourmet pasta.  We Iowan's like to keep it classy.  I indulged in a pulled pork sandwich (I have missed quality pork for the past year!) and a funnel cake!!  I also got to see Shane and Clif for the first time since my arrival.  My darling husband stayed up in Iowa City to continue a bit of packing and mingling with friends.

(I don't know why I can't get these pictures to be larger and more focused.  Sorry!!  Will try to fix later!)

After touring the plant we DID get to see a boat go into the lock!  I took a video of the bridge we had crossed rising and lowering because I thought it was pretty fantastic.  :)

Lowering

Rising

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

On June 7th, Ben, Sharon and I traveled to Abu Dhabi to check out the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.  In case you were wondering, it is pretty friggin' grand. . . 

82 domes. Marble columns, flooring and exterior. A hand-knotted carpet that took 1,200 artisans two years to complete. Multiple chandeliers made from gilded stainless steel and gilded brass (approximately 40 kg of 24 carat galvanized gold was used), with each chandelier weighing between 2-12 tons each.

The Menbar (pulpit) 'features floral and shell designs which are made of carved cedar wood inlaid with mother of pearl, glass mosaic and white gold.  It has a small dome shaped 'roof' and crescent finial at the top of the stairs.' (You can read more here.)

Love Sharon :)

We really enjoyed getting to see a bit of Abu Dhabi and to see the exquisite mosque.  Construction on the mosque began in the late nineties and was finished and open to worshippers in 2007.  It can fit up to 40,000 worshippers - 10,000 inside and 30,000 outside. 

Proper dress is necessary.  As you can see from the photo below, I was provided an abaya to wear and Sharon was given the ok.  Skinny jeans and short sleeves are a no-no.

Sharon - good.  Lyndsey - not good.

Once we were given the ok to go inside, we had to separate from Ben to go down the ladies side during prayer.  We were able to get some pretty awesome pictures in!

No shoe-zys allowed.

Pretty sweet photo I captured.

I love this picture of Sharon!

AMAZING photo of the hallway leading to the ladies prayer room.  This is an outdoor hallway with marble pillars, marble floor, and I wouldn't doubt that there is some gold in there.  Absolutely stunning!

Purdy marble flower and purdy lady feet.

The Menbar (pulpit) I mentioned earlier. 

One of the huge chandeliers.
This one weighs about 8 tons, I believe.

An excellent shot of the chandeliers by Ben

This is where/how we found Ben.

He was so pleased to have his picture taken.
Quote while typing caption, 'I actually was enjoying myself there.  It was very pretty and fun to people watch.  Except the effin' kids running around playing tag.' 

Leaving the mosque.

If you're ever in the area, this is a must see! Completely lovely.  The pictures do not do it justice!

'Tis the Season

Date season, that is. The fruit - not the activity. 

 

Many, many date palms!

I don't recall ever having a date prior to moving to Dubai.  My first taste of the sweet, delicious fruit was when I went to the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding not long after our arrival to Dubai.  They are so tasty!! Ben isn't too keen on them, but I can eat a bajillion in one sitting. I prefer the ones that are soft and covered in a sweet syrup. I have had ones that are dry and were pitted, but I was not a fan.  You can also get dates that are pitted and have other yummies shoved in the center such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios, candied orange, marzipan, cream cheese, etc. 

 

 

Anyway, what led me to write this post was the date palms!!  They are currently overflowing with their delicious fruit and are everywhere you look! The pictures I have captured were taken at the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, but they are everywhere in Dubai, too.  As you can see, under the palm branches are green blobbies. Those blobbies are the dates covered with mesh that will catch the dates when they fall. The mesh will then be collected and TA DA! You have got your self a butt-ton of dates!

 

You can see where some of the dates have fallen in this picture.

Call me immature, but I find the bunches of dates to be kinda funny. . . They are like tree boobies. Some even have bras (aka green mesh coverings).  Whatever. I don't care. They make me giggle. :)

 

Fact: Dates are a good source of potassium.

 

Fact:  I will be bringing some of these delicious fruits home with me as gifts! So cross your fingers that you are going to be one of the lucky recipients!

 

Also, I lied.  I have had dates prior to coming to Dubai.  They were wrapped in bacon and UH-MAY-ZING.

 

Dove Mini Rant

MY definition of real beauty!

MY definition of real beauty!

MY definition of real beauty!
 

I have read many articles/blogs lately that are coming down hard on the viral Dove Real Beauty Sketches video.  I understand that Dove is ultimately trying to sell their product, but I also believe that there ARE amazing people working at Dove who truly care about women and their self-esteem.  

 

There are many women in this world who are perfectly confident in themselves in terms of beauty, brains and everything else.  There are also many, such as myself, who are not always so sure.  This video was an emotional reminder that how we perceive our appearance is often skewed to what the world truly sees. That being said, I believe there are much more important things in life than appearances and what the world thinks of you.  But I also believe that feeling good in your own skin builds your confidence allowing you to achieve more. (Through confidence - not appearance. Duh, people.) 

 

Dove is a company trying to sell a product.  Their mother-ship company also owns Axe, which of course is degrading to women AND men.  So is Dove perfect?  Definitely not, but I still appreciate the message they are trying to send.

 

On a side note, I read a comment from a woman who disliked that they used a male sketch artist.  What? Are you serious?  He is/was a FBI forensic sketch artist.  Who cares if he has a penis or vagina? He obviously has mad skills, yo.  Are you really that hardened to the opposite sex?

 

From the Heart

So this may be a long shot, but I thought I would throw it out there anyway. . . 

At the end of this school year Ben and I plan to go through all of our belongings in Dubai to make the decision as to what we do or do not want to take with us back to the States.  An idea came to me to offer anything we did not want to take to the amazing Filipino women who work at our school.  In this country, Filipinos are close to the bottom of the food chain.  They are paid very minimally and expected to work incredibly hard for it.  Most of them are here because they are earning money to send home to support their families and do not get to enjoy the excitement of Dubai.  They just can't afford it. 

Back to my idea - I plan to wash any clothing Ben and I do not wish to keep and put together any household items that we are not taking home and offer them to the wonderful women we work with.  That being said, if you feel moved to donate anything, please feel free to package it up and send it to us!  It takes about a month or a little over to receive packages, so it would need to be done fairly soon.  I realize that this may not be something many people respond to, but I wanted to throw out the invitation out there anyway.

Our address:

Collegiate American School

Attn: Benjamin Jackson & Lyndsey Jackson

P.O. Box 121306

Umm Suqeim

Dubai, U.A.E.

Love to you all and see you soon!  

Better keep the bird under control. . .

Offensive Neighbor Loses Fight

Court Upholds Finger-Flick Verdict

 

A man who was jailed for a month for raising his middle finger at his victim has lost his final appeal after taking his case to the UAE Supreme Court.  The accused spent 23 days in Al Watba prison in Abu Dhabi before he was released and began his campaign to clear his name.

 

However, the UAE's highest court said that he was guilty of a crime, which was intended to "cause scandal to the eyes" of the victim.  It said the original sentence would remain.

 

The defendant who committed the crime in Sharjah, is believed to have had a dispute with a neighbor, who complained that the man lifted his middle finger as they were arguing, a claim the defendant strong denied.

 

The crime occurred on January 22, 2012, when the accused "openly and flagrantly breached modest and morals" by raising the middle finger.  He was originally convicted in Sharjah Court of First Instance and the sentence was upheld by Sharjah Appeal Court.

 

The defendant appealed again tot he Supreme Court, arguing that he was convicted solely on the word of the victim and without the evidence of other witnesses as was required by law. 

 

However, the court found that there were other factors in the case and said the police and courts were entitled to look at all the circumstances.

 

 

7Days - UAE

February 17, 2013



  

Night Brunch Excitingness

I have officially had my first brunch experience in Dubai!  If you ever visit here, it is a MUST DO.  It has been on my Dubai bucket list for a time and the experience was fantastic! 

You may be questioning my intelligence when you read 'Night Brunch'.  Don't.  That is correct.  A 'brunch' at night.  Brunch here doesn't necessarily refer to the meal between breakfast and lunch, but is associated with bottomless booze and huge buffets of all kinds of deliciousness.  Brunches can range anywhere from $30 to $150+.  We had coups for the one we went to, so it ended up being very reasonable.

Going to a brunch is a good excuse to get dolled up.  I didn't go all out and fancy in dress, but I did play around with my hair and ended up with this masterpiece (-->).  NO I did not get the idea off of Pinterest or whatever.  I just started pinning crap everywhere and this is how it turned out.  My mother can attest to the fact that I can somehow churn out pretty hair from nowhere.  I was the girl that for fun on a Saturday morning I would play with my hair.  That started around 4th grade?  I still do it.  Seriously.

(Sorry for the explosion of girliness.)

We set out for a night on the town and were dazzled by the hotel where the brunch was taking place.  It was absolutely beautiful and we weren't expecting it.

Getting ready to go!

BEAUTIFUL!

When we walked in we saw two large camels and I, of course, wanted a picture.  There was a guy there who was dressed up to take pictures with guests and the camel and he got a little excited and took like a bajillion pictures. . . I also pretended to kiss the camel in one of the pictures and he tried to get me to come closer to the camel, wiping its mouth with his sleeve and claiming, "Clean, clean!".  No, sir.  Not clean. 

It's Lurrrve. .. 

Camel, me, Camel Man

Camel Man insisted on taking our photo.

When we escaped Camel Man, we found the restaurant and were greeted with champagne flutes of sparkling wine.  When we were seated they poured us another glass of wine and took our drink order.  We ventured to the food area where we found a cart full of raw meat.  You selected what you wanted and handed it to the chef to cook.  Friggin' awesome deliciousness! They also had a huge chocolate fountain with all sorts of goodness to dip, a wall of cakes and other sweets, a pancake bar, an Arabic food station, and much more. 

Our reason for celebration!
Rachel, Jordan, Karen & Casey

Beautiful friends to celebrate with!
Julie, Jordan, Naomi, me & Jessi

Me & David
(Yes, I know that is not grammatically correct.)

The night progressed with good food, good drinks and great company.  We were celebrating the births of  4 February baby friends so there was plenty of merriment.  I discovered a new drink that I luh - vodka, soda water & lime juice.  REAL lime juice - not concentrate.  It is tart and yummy.  It makes me make this face ----------->

Our night ended with a cab ride home and a sick husband.  We were so tired from the long week that we both passed out as soon as our heads hit the pillows. 

The trouble with kids today. . .

This week while subbing for a 5th grade Spanish class I decided to turn on music the last 15 minutes of class because the kids had been rock stars.  I have a work appropriate play list on my Amazon Cloud, so I turned it on and Spice Girls started playing.  Still love them.  Yes I'm 25.  No I don't care what you think. I also cried when I got to go to the NKOTBSB concert a couple years back.  Just adding some fuel to the fire of your judgment.  

 



 

 

Anyway, I was singing along and dancing around and the kids looked at me like I was crazy.  Then the following conversation took place:

 

 

Kid:  What is this?

 

LJ: SPICE GIRLS! DUH! [while continuing silly dancing and singing]

 

Kid:  What are Spice Girls?

 

LJ:

 

 

 Kid: Why can't we listen to Gangnam Style or Justin Bieber?

 

LJ:  Because Gangnam Style is evil.  I LOVED the Spice Girls when I was your age!

 

Kid:  Yea, which was like 30 years ago. . .

 

LJ:

 

 

  

 

Another girl in the class:

 

Kid 2:  I like the Spice Girls!!  Do you have any Bon Jovi or Journey?

LJ:

 

 

 

Well done, kid.  You are my new favorite.