Wandering with Scissors: Hop, Skip, and a Jump

It's official... I'm coming home!!

In June, I will be saying goodbye to Doha and hello to California!

So my new goal is to rack up as many stamps in my passport as possible.

A quick hop over the water to Dubai was in order. We had our longest break in between vacations after Eid and before the Winter Break so we decided to head out right in the middle.
From work we headed to the airport, and 45 minutes later, we landed in Dubai.

We had drinks and snacks by the pool of our hotel before heading to bed.
We had an early morning- we were heading to the water park!
The price of our hotel room included a free trip to the Wild Wadi Water Park. So of course, as a group of 20-somethings, we had to go. Although pictures are frowned upon at the park, Cheryl brought her waterproof camera and we managed to sneak some in!

After a morning of acting like our students, we went back to our rooms for some R&R. After Larisa woke us up like a child on Christmas morning, we got all dressed up to go meet with one of our most missed coworkers from last year- Ava!

We had a really great evening visiting with some friends from last year and their one-year-old daughter Ava before heading out to the Marina.

We walked around for a while before realizing that we were old grandmothers and it was time to go to bed.
We also really wanted to rent a Wii from the concierge.
Almost every time I ask one of my students what they did on their vacations, the answer is "I play wii/ Xbox/ Sony." Now we know why- it is one of the features in the hotel room! I did want to be able to tell my students that I played wii with their other teachers when I traveled to Dubai.

But, instead we ordered room service wine and pulled the mattresses into one room like 12-year-olds at a sleepover (with wine).

The next morning, we headed out early to the Dubai Mall.

I have to say- the Middle East really knows how to do a mall.

I would like to formally request that all the malls I now visit to include a dinosaur model.

But, after only getting lost for a short while, we were soon zipping up in an elevator to head to level 124 of the Burj Khalifa!

For those that don't know, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world.

Though the view might be a bit lacking.

It is pretty awesome to be up there, but I have seen enough buildings surrounded by sand. That's what Doha is all about, I've just never seen it from so high before.