Spring Break Dubai Style

Well, we now have officially entered into the realm of having less than 40 school days left in the year. I am kind of shocked as to how quickly this year has gone, and before I know it, I will be back in Minnesota. Hopefully by July when I arrive there will be no more snow!

We had our Spring break the first week of April, and I opted for having a Stay-cation. I really wanted to do some travelling, but decided to try to save a little money by sticking around. That kind of backfired because Dubai has a lot to do! I did some fun tourist type things that I wouldn't have time to do on a normal weekend. It was nice because there were a few of us here to hang out with.

We started off the break going on my first deep sea fishing extravaganza! It wasn't as deep sea as I would have liked it to be, but everyone caught a big barracuda and a few people caught some yellow spotted jack fish. We had an awesome barbeque later that day with our fresh catch. The barracuda isn't as good to eat, but the jack fish were delicious!

What's a little deep sea fishing without champagne? Katie and Peter having a glass. 

Katie's barracuda 

A few days later we decided to have our next animal encounter and headed to SkiDubai (indoor winter park at Mall of Emirates) to meet the penguins. This was fun and the penguins are such cute animals. Their feathers are very slick with the oil that  keeps them water proof and their wings are super hard, and basically are solid bone. They seemed playful, but a lot of them were molting, and so we didn't get to see and play with as many as usual, which was disappointing.

My coworker Deb (also my Math mentor) got married to her now husband Jason over the break. Deb has taught in Mexico, Japan, and the UAE, but is from Canada. Jason is from England, and met Deb shortly after moving to Dubai four years ago. Their wedding was truly an international affair with more than 50 people coming from all over the world. They had a beautiful ceremony and seaside blessing/reception on the Palm complete with ceremonial camels, of which I took my first camel ride that evening! 

Camel riding on the Palm! I felt like a rock star, especially in my high heels! 

Deb and Jason getting into their 'Groupon' limo after the ceremony!