Lively London!

I just got back from a very quick trip to London, England. Rachelle and I took our two allotted personal days, tacked them on to our weekend, and flew to England for a nice little break! It takes about 10 hours to fly there one way, with the lay-over in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Lots of time flying, but definitely worth it! :)

Rachelle and I on the plane leaving Kuwait! YAY!! :)

I had never been to London before, besides hanging out at the Heathrow Airport. Rachelle lived and worked there last year, so she was my personal tour guide of the city! :)

It rained for the first two days and the rain was lovely, to say the least! :) After living in a desert for 6 months, real, refreshing and non-muddy rain was a treat to experience! :) The only thing about the constant humidity that wasn't so great was that my hair got HUGE. Here's a pic to prove my point. Ridiculous. LOL Finding a hat was first priority the first day! LOL

Before we left, we wrote up a very detailed and jammed packed itinerary of where we were going to go and what we were going to see, but alas, our best laid plans went awry! We truly had good intentions, but ended up only getting to see and go to maybe half of the places on our list. LOL There is just sooooo much to do in that city! :)

We went to Kensington Palace, but it turned out to be closed for renovations until March 25th. Here's the gate outside........

Even though the Palace was closed, The Orangery was still open, so we went and had afternoon tea! That was fun and very delicious! :)

PS: This pigeon was HUGE!!!!

The BEST Earl Grey tea I have ever had! :)

Then we got all the way to Westminster Abbey, but discovered it was the one day of the week they closed 3 hours early. LOL Again, got some pics outside it.......wouldn't have been able to take the camera inside anyways.

We even managed to miss Buckingham Palace due to time constraints!!! LOL We did however, much to my students' delight, get to walk down and "window-shop" Oxford Street and we did go in and do a little shopping at Harrod's. So that was neat to experience. :)

My favorite site was definitely St. Paul's Cathedral. Ever since I watched Mary Poppin's when I was 5, I have always wanted to go there and 'feed the birds'. There weren't really any birds to feed, but we did climb the 530 steps to the very top of the dome (The Golden Gallery) and looked out over the city. The view was fantastic! :) As I stood there looking out over London, I wondered what it would have been like during WWII when the bombs were dropping and the men on the Cathedral Fire Watch crew were guarding and anxiously watching the Cathedral. Winston Churchill had stated that "the cathedral must be preserved at all costs" and there were people on watch to do just that! You definitely would have been able to see the bombs dropping and the smoke billowing from the destruction all over London from where I was standing.

The interior of St. Paul's was breath-taking! We weren't allowed to take pictures, so I can't show you, but take my word for it - AMAZING! The gold guilding, bright mosaics and beautiful paintings were stunning. While we were walking around, someone began playing the organ and the sound gave me goosebumps! I could only imagine how fantastic a choir would sound with the voices rising and filling the church. :)

This would be us at the very top of the cathedral! :) It was really cold, wet and windy!

We took a few hours and toured the Tower of London. The grounds for that were a lot larger than I thought they would be, yet stocked full of incredible history and stories. I would love to go back and take a guided tour through it to really hear the stories and all about the crazy and mysterious happenings there.

Inside the wall - the Bloody Tower is to the right and if you look off to the left, you can see Tower Bridge in the distance. :)

This is where the Crown Jewels are kept......some pretty impressive ceremonial crowns and scepters for sure!

This is outside the wall - the grass is where the old moat used to be.

Here's a pic of Tower Bridge, just before we hopped on a boat and went cruising down the River Thames........another dorky tourist pic!

I finally got to see 'Big Ben' and hear him chime! :)

We took a lovely stroll through Hyde Park.....

We ate dinner along the Thames and once the sun went down, went on the London Eye. This thing was huge!

The city looked beautiful from up there. We tried to take some pictures, but because it was raining and we were inside a plexi-glass capsule, the focus didn't work right. Here's the best one we could salvage.

Yup, that's Big Ben and the British parliament buildings!

This is from the ground and obviously outside of the capsule. Much clearer! :)

Walked by the Royal Albert Concert Hall......

And of course always having to capture the moment as I enjoyed my first Starbucks latte in London! :)

All in all, regardless of missed sites, big hair and lots of rain.......it was a fantastic trip and I can't wait to go back again. London is a city full of soooooo many things to do and see and if you ever have the chance to go, just do it! :)

My next adventure begins in......T-14 days and counting.........;)

Camels!

A few weeks ago, I finally got to ride my first camel! It was awesome!!! :) Sadly, most of my pics didn't turn out. These are the few I managed to salvage.

This is Carmen the camel........she was very cranky this day!

This is the other camel we could ride......much less cranky, but much smaller.

I took my chances with Carmen and went for the bigger ride. LOL Besides, I gave Carmen her 5 seconds of fame, and she in turn gave me a smooth ride. Here's a camel print.....

Carmen was very vocal during her break......Here's a funny video clip of her before I took a ride. LOL It makes me laugh, so I thought I would post it.

Riding a camel was honestly a blast - apparently you can do a 3 day camel trek in Jordan......I think that would be so much fun! :)

PS: The Middle East has a legend about camels......at least that's what my students have told me. They say that camels never forget a person, especially if they have been wronged or mistreated by one. There once was a man who beat his camel. He ended up leaving his village, crossed an entire desert and years later was attacked and killed by a camel. Turns out, it was the very same camel that he had beaten years before. Apparently, the camel hunted him down until it finally found him and sought revenge. LOL

Many of the girls' families own farms down in Wafra (a bit south, near the Saudi border) and have told similar stories about their family's camels having incredible memories and returning mistreatment onto those who mistreat them. Perhaps they're the desert region's version of the elephant? All I know is that though they are smelly, they are super cute. :)

Sandstorm!!!

Fouz and I by the window watching as it started to blow in!! :)

FINALLY, I have experienced my first real sandstorm here! This morning seemed like a pretty average morning for this time of the year. The air was a bit hazy and dusty, but the sun was shining. Around 9am, we got word of a big sandstorm coming, so had to go around and make sure all the school windows and vents were shut. I looked out the window and the sky seemed normal! No kidding.......15 minutes later, the sky had turned orange and within 20 minutes of shutting windows and vents it was a pretty dark orange, as you can see from the pictures!

This was what it looked like right when we got word the sandstorm was coming...


This was only 15 minutes later......


And a total of 20 minutes after we first heard about the coming storm.....


The storm blew through and was done in about an hour. But here is another shot of the sand coming in....


I now understand why everyone who lives here gives me such a ridiculous look when I tell them how much I want to see a sandstorm! The dust that comes with it is gross! It coats everything!! Not to mention it really burns the lungs. It has been 6 hours since it blew through and my lungs are still heavy and burning. :P Apparently, it can take up to 2 days for your lungs to clear out and feel normal again. Inshallah, it will not take that long!

I have been told the month of April here is known as "sandstorm month", so hopefully I may be able to eventually post more pics like these! The girls assured me today that the sky can get a much darker orange and you can see at most, only 2 feet in front of you during the real big ones that come. Even though they make you dust 10 times more than normal and reek havoc with your respiratory system, I still hope to see a really big one at least once while I am here! :)