One Month. Four Countries. Countless Memories.

Well, my trip has completely come to a close. I have been home for a week today. Both my flights went well. Nothing significant happened on either of them. I am just trying to settle back into life at home, after college. And work through the jet lag of course. It seems to be much worse this time around, although, I do not have Diane here to drug me and help me through it either...unfortunately. Hopefully it will finish it's course through me sooner than later. I am at the coffee shop today. Trying to complete my resume and cover letter as well as close out this blog and edit and upload pics. Reflecting on this trip is bittersweet. I miss being there, I really do. I also miss Diane, she always kept me laughing. God was so good to me, I mean really, it was only a small piece of the world, but I saw it and just deepened my passion for seeing the world and serving God's people. This trip is over, and I cannot wait to see what God has in store next. Thanks all for following my adventures. Keep an eye out for pics as I am editing and will be putting online soon. But for now I am still amazed at the fact that I spent one month out of the USA, saw four countries and have countless memories to remember it by.

Last Day Reflections: What an awesome Creator we have!

Well, today is my last day here in the UAE. I fly out tonight at 10:35 pm, have a layover in Atlanta and arrive in Louisville tomorrow at 9:45 in the morning. I can't believe it has already been a month and that I have to leave. Seems like just yesterday I was nervous about getting on a plane for 14 hours, and now I am about to do it again, only difference, I am far less nervous. Last night Diane, Drew and I went to eat at the Mugg and Bean one last time and I bought for them this time, I hope it showed a little bit of thanks and appreciation for them having me for the month. I am so thankful, more than they know. This has been more than anything I could have ever thought up. I didn't want to go to bed last night because it was my last one here, and I really didn't sleep well, but I had an awesome view of the full moon on the ocean from my room so that was wonderful. As I write this, I am sitting on the balcony, just enjoying the sun, the heat and the beautiful view from our flat one more time. Diane should be home soon, I have finished up laundry and packed. I went down and enjoyed the pool one last time today, that was sad. Diane and I will head to the airport around 7 tonight and I will get there around 8 or so. I am not really looking forward to going through passport control and all the stuff the airport involves, but oh well. I have been to 4 countries this past month, The United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel, and Oman. And on the day after the anniversary of the birth of The United States of America, I will be back there. I am blessed! Each country I visited was unique and beautiful in its own way. I still can't believe saw Jerusalem either. Wow. Diane has been so good to me, and very generous, without her, I wouldn't have been able to be here or see all that I did, I am very thankful the Lord provided this opportunity and blessed me with Diane as a wonderful host and friend. This world has so many beautiful places, countries and people. I have experienced just a little of that on this trip. What a wonderful, beautiful and amazing creator we have. There are so many people different from me and it has been somewhat challenging but very fulfilling to experience another's culture and ways of life. God created it all and all of us. He is so awesome people, so awesome! I will post one more time after I arrive home, to tell about the 17 hours worth of flights and to close out my experiences with this amazing trip. I am not really ready to leave, but I know I need to get back home and continue on with being a college grad. Thanks for the wonderful graduation trip Diane! I had always dreamed of seeing the world and traveling internationally. This is only the beginning and you helped make that possible! I am blessed. Thank you God!

Dubai, Dancing Fountains and Oman.

Last week was a very, very great week. Friday and Saturday is the weekend here and the work week is Sunday through Thursday. Sunday through Wednesday I stayed home alone while Diane went to work and Drew went to class. It was nice. I went down to the pool everyday and swam a mile as well as tanned. Diane was off work on Thursday so the two of us had a great day out and met Drew for dinner in Dubai after he got out of class. We first went to a place called Nails and got manicures, pedicures and shoulder massages. I thought my eyes were going to roll into the back of my head it felt so amazing. I had on closed toed shoes so they made me wear little slippers out. It was quite humorous. Diane and I then headed to Dubai. This was so much fun. She took me downtown and showed me the oceanfront apartments where she used to live as well as other sights in downtown Dubai. We went to a resort called Atlantis right on the Indian Ocean. I took some pictures and awed at the beauty. Next we went the Jumierah mall and resort and I held a falcon. This was too cool. I got to pet it and buy some souvenir pictures with it. We walked around the mall a bit and i bought a few other souvenirs. Then it was time to meet Drew for dinner. We ate at one of Diane's favorite restaurants called Toscana. It was Italian and very delicious. We had three courses and ate way too much, but i enjoyed every minute of it. After we finished dinner Drew headed home because he was very tired from him class and Diane and I headed to the Dubai mall to watch the dancing fountains. This was a sight to be seen. It you ever get to Dubai, please go watch the dancing fountains, you will not regret it. They dance to a different song every twenty minutes. I loved it so much the first time we stayed a watched a second time. We were going to go up into the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world, but it was booked until 10:30 and we didn't feel like staying out that late, but Diane said I would get up there before I left, so I was cool with that. As it gets closer to time for the fountains to dance, the Burj Khalifa starts to twinke with lights, way cool! So it is official, I have been to four countries in under a month! Diane and I headed to Oman on Friday. She wanted me to see how beautiful the country is, so we headed out early Friday and made the 5 hour drive to Oman. The landscape change is crazy! As you make your way towards to border of Oman the UAE becomes filled with reddish sand dunes, but once you pass the border of Oman it turns into rocky mountains, that look like they used to be either the ocean floor, or from the moon. It was amazing, and they just get taller and taller the farther into the country that you go. We crossed the border with no problems, got the stamp in our passports and kept going until we found our hotel, which was somewhat hard to find, but an Omani man that we stopped told us to follow him and took us all the way there. He was very nice! So we went up to our hotel, unpacked a little and got a taxi driver, Mr. Harub, to take us to the old souks to go shopping and to look around at night. I bought a few souvenirs for a very good price and just got to take it all in. Shops like this tend to make me a little nervous because there are so many people and they are all trying to get you to come into their shop, but Mr. Harub stayed with us the entire time and helped us to not get lost. He was very nice and I enjoyed seeing everything so, so much! He then took us to get dinner. We had chicken schawarma and it was wonderful! Then he took us back to our hotel and we headed to bed. We were worn out. The next morning we went down to breakfast at the hotel and headed out for an adventure of our own. We got directions down to the Corniche (boardwalk) and looked at the ocean front. Tried to see some dolphins, but didn't. We just drove around the city for a while. It was most certainly an adventure, most of the time we had no idea where we were, but we knew the vicinity and enjoyed every minute of it. Diane has been there before so she wanted to take me to see this 1000 dollar a night resort on the ocean. It was a sight in itself and the view was amazing. God sure is an awesome creator! I took some pictures and we were on our way. In Oman there are literally roundabouts everywhere, almost all of them have some sort of statue or sight in them as well. So we had fun "weeeee"-ing around them and looking at the sight in the middle of them. I have never seen so many roundabouts in my life! Then we hit up a store, got some sandwich stuff as well as fruit and drinks and had a healthy lunch on the way back. It was such a fun little overnight border trip! I loved seeing Oman so much! We got back to Abu Dhabi last night after coming back across the border! Today I went swimming again and I am just waiting for them to get home. Tomorrow I have a hot stone massage and who knows what else it will bring, but I am excited to find out! :)