Here!

Abu Dhabi doesn't feel so far from home when you go to the mall food court around the corner for lunch and your choices are: Pizza Hut, Subway, McDonalds, KFC - all of which I can purchase with my Visa card, in English...

But this city is amazing - it's a series of beautiful homes made of creamy-colored stone behind high walls and palm trees and tall sky scrappers housing banks and corporate oil offices, all surrounded by the ocean. Emirates are fantastically wealthy and the city is a testament of how unlimited money can make a desert bloom.

I think the thing that I find most interesting is the Emirate dress. As I worked in the Justice Ministry today, I found myself watching the hallway as men in crisp white robes and white head scarves held in place with black circlets and women dressed all in black and covered from head to toe passed by. Until last August women working in the Ministry had to cover their face. Our project counterpart in the Ministry is a woman and our project director had worked with her daily for close to 6 months before the rule was lifted. After the rule was lifted, she quit wearing the face scarf and he spent an entire day passing her in the hall before he finally recognized her.

But my favorite image of the day? UAE parking lots. It gets so hot here that they build coverings over all the lots. How great is that?