Al Ain ~ The Interesting City of Al Ain #4

I shouldn't say that Al Ain is ugly but . . . . . . 😝! I know it’ll grow on me, and by the time we leave I’ll love it—and the land. And honestly, I’m grateful it’s not Oman-level WHITE, where everything shines so brightly, with just a hint of blue tile for balance. So yes, lots to be grateful for already!

Going downtown you have a little more height and variety and I love that there are trees scattered here and there. I think in the lower left corner is a little park but we didn't get out to investigate. All the shops are on the ground level with apartments or office space above. 

As we drove around I tried to notice more green in our city. There are actually groves of date trees and olive trees in different spots.  I definitely loved this. I'm just not sure why they didn't plant more around the neighborhoods. 

Close to our house there is a long, wide strip of grass, on both sides of the street and each evening we see many families having picnics there. It is really sweet and would be nice if there were more of them everywhere. As we explore the city I'm hoping to find more.

This is a fun picture.  In the upper left corner are the car washers! They hang out in the mall, store and strip mall parking lots and when you park they ask if you'd like your car washed.  It cost 15 dirham, which is about $5. They are so charming; their little airplanes have all their supplies inside the hood. ADORABLE! 

The top right corner is the man who came and picked us up and took us to the Disease Prevention and Screening Center where we had a chest X-ray and our blood drawn.  Then we were supposed to go to another place and watch a half hour video but our driver just pulled it up on YouTube and we watched it on our phones, in the backseat, while he drove us home. It was the Incentive Work Video which I think some of the employers need to re-watch again.  

In the left bottom picture are chocolate Labubu dolls.  These dolls seem to be a hit with some of our grandkids back home. Maybe if they are still around when we leave we'll have to pick up a few. They are so funny/creepy/cute! 

In the middle was a visit to the Camel Market; these camels were not super big and they were all over in a zillion cages.  Outside of the market there were about 13 trucks with large cage contraptions on the back, lined up waiting to transport the camels to the camel races or to the farms to process milk, cheese, yogurt, infant formula, leather, wool or to the meat factory. Tourism also gets use out of the camels for nice leisurely rides in the desert. 

Last but not least Billy found a Five Guys hamburger joint that I am pretty sure we will be visiting quite a bit (I have to say the chocolate shakes were very good).  Billy got a cheeseburger with the works, fries and a drink and I got a shake ~ $35 < not actually sure how much time we will be going there after all😂😂🤔!

After we ate at Five Guys we walked around the Mall and came upon the sweet little skaters.  This ice rink is like the one in Pleasant Grove called Evermore. The ice is not really ice and took me by surprise when we went on it some years ago.  But it is great for the youngsters and I especially liked the little holders to help the kids hold onto and not fall down. Did you notice the "Winter" themed elevator? Soooooo, darling.

My new favorite store is Jimi's Gift Market; it has my fake plants and greenery. I know I have spent a few buckaroo's on plants but it has brightened up the house and brightened up my day! 

The water bottles are all sizes at the store and I think they are delightful. We've got a bunch of different sizes in the fridge so I'm not sure how the Ashby's distributed them 🤔. 

The top right corner is the before/after of Billy's office.  He wasn't using it so I told him I'd make it so he would like it and now he does.  I hope you can tell which is the after 😜.

The left bottom is what we ordered on Amazon UE.  The Ant spray (thank you, Carlene) came but they wouldn't send the contact paper and I'm not sure why. It's no big deal, I'm just curious. The wonderful thing about Amazon UE is you can get 'almost' everything, the bad thing is that it is double the cost . . .  sometimes worth it. 

The right bottom pics are just a comparison of the time difference between us and NY and then the 7 countries in the UAE.

We came home and even though there are a lot of echo's and white walls in our home there are these gorgeous, large pictures of Christ and Christ themed pictures. That makes my day bright, too 😇

The bottom pics are the Area Presy and all the Senior Service Volunteers in the North Africa/Middle East Area.  Such good, steadfast and wonderful people. Above is our sweet little Branch on zoom. We absolutely love everyone of these faithful Saints. Billy and I were asked to bear our testimony two Sundays ago and last Sunday I gave a talk (Thank you, Wayne)!

 

Isaiah 35:1–2 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing…

P.S.

This is The Clock of the Grand Mosque.  I forgot to tell you about it in my last email and it is a daily part of our life so I felt it should be included. There are 11 clocks in the inner halls of the Grand Mosque designed in the shape of a six-petaled flower. In the center, the analog hands indicate the hour and minutes while the digital panels indicate the prayer times.  

Muslims are required to pray five times a day at specific times. These prayers are called Salat. The Salat last anywhere between 8-10 minutes

The five daily prayers are: Fajr: Before dawn, Dhuhr: Midday/afternoon,  Asr: Late afternoon, Maghrib: Immediately after sunset, Isha: Nighttime. 

You can pray as an individual or in a group, but the best is in a Mosque (there are over 9,000 registered mosques and musallas-prayer spaces, in the UAE). You pray in specific physical postures and recitations while facing Mecca. The exact times change throughout the year based on the sun's position. 

The Adhan is the Islamic CALL to PRAYER, this is also 5 times a day and is usually 10 to 20 minutes before Salat. Adhan literally means "announcement" or "to inform”. This "call to prayer" lasted about 4 minutes; the first morning we arrived I timed it at 5:40 am and it went until 5:44 am, then 20 minutes later, for another 10 minutes, we listened to the prayer part again over the loudspeaker.  We have a mosque right outside our Villa about 100 feet away.