Leaving Al Ain
I'm leaving Al Ain in an hour and heading for Dubai before going to the airport. This has been such an eye opening experience for me and spending the last day with Mr. Ali and the staff at the Zayed library was so nice. I got to say goodbye to the people I have met and meet some new ones. I sat with their Collection Development Librarian at the Reference desk and he
showed me the mapping that he was doing, mapping the curricula to the collections. I met the man who is their binder and he smiled when I said, "look at all that buckram." They have a binding machine in the library and the bound volumes look beautiful.
The ladies decided that I would eat traditional food with them at lunch (women and men do not eat together) and yet once again, I enjoyed everything and once again, they fed me generously. I learned about the different bread, this really yummy mixture that looks like refried beans but is really made from wheat and has meat in it. And then came the desserts. I'm astounded that every one isn't obese here. It must be the heat!
In the morning Hadat, my driver who delivers me promptly right where I need to be, took me to the Al Ain Museum and then we went to the Al Ain Mall. When I first walked in, I saw the skating rink with a group of what looked to be about 3rd grade girls happily skating away. We did a tiny bit of shopping...most of the stores in the mall are stores that we have in our malls and the food court looked totally American....KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Baskin and Robbins, Dunkin Donut. We buy oil, they buy fast food.
It is mind boggling to think that 40 years ago, this country didn't exist. Seven emirates came together as a federation because one man saw what the future could bring.
I'm very ready to come home and I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience. I'm a wiser person for it.
showed me the mapping that he was doing, mapping the curricula to the collections. I met the man who is their binder and he smiled when I said, "look at all that buckram." They have a binding machine in the library and the bound volumes look beautiful.
The ladies decided that I would eat traditional food with them at lunch (women and men do not eat together) and yet once again, I enjoyed everything and once again, they fed me generously. I learned about the different bread, this really yummy mixture that looks like refried beans but is really made from wheat and has meat in it. And then came the desserts. I'm astounded that every one isn't obese here. It must be the heat!
In the morning Hadat, my driver who delivers me promptly right where I need to be, took me to the Al Ain Museum and then we went to the Al Ain Mall. When I first walked in, I saw the skating rink with a group of what looked to be about 3rd grade girls happily skating away. We did a tiny bit of shopping...most of the stores in the mall are stores that we have in our malls and the food court looked totally American....KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Baskin and Robbins, Dunkin Donut. We buy oil, they buy fast food.
It is mind boggling to think that 40 years ago, this country didn't exist. Seven emirates came together as a federation because one man saw what the future could bring.
I'm very ready to come home and I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience. I'm a wiser person for it.
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