This morning I managed to sleep in until 6:30! Yeah! The problem with getting up so early is that there is nothing to do until 9 or 10am ish! That is the issue! I should probably be hard-core studying during that morning bit…but I’ve only managed to review a bit of Econ… I went to the grocery store and bought some lunch before going to get a pedicure this morning. The lady that was doing my feet was from the Philippines. There are a lot of Filipinos her
e! It is amazing. Her name was something like Diz and we talked for a good two hours! It was probably the best part of getting my toes done! She explained to me about her payment system for her family: She moved here 5 years ago and sends over half of every pay cheque home to support her dad and 2 sisters that are still in school. When her eldest sister finishes university they will send her here to work, and then she will support the youngest and Diz will be off the hook! It is an impressive cycle, actually (don’t get any ideas, Kendra!). It was also interesting to learn, in terms of her ‘payment’ schedule to her family, that as a female she tries to give as much back to her family as possible before she gets married because once she is married, she’ll have to support her husband’s family! I guess that is why the replacement circle of payments is important! And, on top of paying for her sisters and dad, she has bought a piece of land at home in the country where her family is currently living. She’s managed to pay off the mortgage on the land and the house on it last year, and soon, she will start saving again for another house to be built. All of this not for her, but for her sisters and dad! Kind of makes me feel completely nauseous when I think how selfish that makes me – and pretty much all of us Westerner’s! Uggg… She also explained about her marriage and everything. She is Catholic, as are most Filipinos, apparently. Her grandma died a while ago, when she was on holidays at home (which she gets to do every 2 years), so she couldn’t get married when she was at home because they believe that you have to wait 40 days for the spirit to leave Earth and you have to wear black and honor that – ie no celebrations! So, she is getting married here in two weeks, with no family, in a civil ceremony. She says that when she gets back home in another 2 years, however, she will have a big wedding/party! After my “cultural pedicure”, I walked over to the park that is closest to the apartment. It was nice to have a lawn to sit on, actually! I totally just veg’d there for a couple of hours – napped and read and listened to the birds! It was really nice.
There isn’t ever any shade on the beach, so this was a great equivalent – but with grass instead of the beach! When Megan and Brandon were done, we all headed to the Dubai Mall (much nicer than the one near us, I think) and went to the aquarium that is there. It was neat to see the sharks and rays swimming all over us as we walked through the tunnel. There were also penguins and crazy weird fish that ate monkeys and spat water and stuff! Then we got to go up the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world! Megan was smart enough to book tickets in advance, which meant they were only just over 25$ each! It was a really cloudy day, however, so the visibility from the top wasn’t nearly as nice as it would have been yesterday. It was too bad, but better than not going at all!! Once it got dark, the view was pretty amazing as you could see all of the buildings all lit up below! That was probably my favorite part. The weird thing was that you couldn’t really tell that you were up that high at all! I think that even mom could have handled it, to be honest! I t
hink the Eiffel tower was scarier than this was and the heights don’t even compare! Probably because up here was more like being in an airplane than being in an actual building! So, the tower is the tallest in the world. It has 140 flight elevator that moves at 10m per second. The concrete used to construct the building is the equivalent to 100 000 elephants and the rebar could cover ¼ way around the world. The building produces 15 metric tonnes of condensation annually that is collected and used to water plants! And, it can be seen from 95km away! Pretty cool stuff! We went for dinner at a place beside the tower so we could watch the water fountains go off every ½ hour. The man that designed the fountains in Vegas at the Bellagio also made these ones here too! It was nice to eat dinner outside! (I had a rootbeer float for my beverage! ) Later -Allison
e! It is amazing. Her name was something like Diz and we talked for a good two hours! It was probably the best part of getting my toes done! She explained to me about her payment system for her family: She moved here 5 years ago and sends over half of every pay cheque home to support her dad and 2 sisters that are still in school. When her eldest sister finishes university they will send her here to work, and then she will support the youngest and Diz will be off the hook! It is an impressive cycle, actually (don’t get any ideas, Kendra!). It was also interesting to learn, in terms of her ‘payment’ schedule to her family, that as a female she tries to give as much back to her family as possible before she gets married because once she is married, she’ll have to support her husband’s family! I guess that is why the replacement circle of payments is important! And, on top of paying for her sisters and dad, she has bought a piece of land at home in the country where her family is currently living. She’s managed to pay off the mortgage on the land and the house on it last year, and soon, she will start saving again for another house to be built. All of this not for her, but for her sisters and dad! Kind of makes me feel completely nauseous when I think how selfish that makes me – and pretty much all of us Westerner’s! Uggg… She also explained about her marriage and everything. She is Catholic, as are most Filipinos, apparently. Her grandma died a while ago, when she was on holidays at home (which she gets to do every 2 years), so she couldn’t get married when she was at home because they believe that you have to wait 40 days for the spirit to leave Earth and you have to wear black and honor that – ie no celebrations! So, she is getting married here in two weeks, with no family, in a civil ceremony. She says that when she gets back home in another 2 years, however, she will have a big wedding/party! After my “cultural pedicure”, I walked over to the park that is closest to the apartment. It was nice to have a lawn to sit on, actually! I totally just veg’d there for a couple of hours – napped and read and listened to the birds! It was really nice.
There isn’t ever any shade on the beach, so this was a great equivalent – but with grass instead of the beach! When Megan and Brandon were done, we all headed to the Dubai Mall (much nicer than the one near us, I think) and went to the aquarium that is there. It was neat to see the sharks and rays swimming all over us as we walked through the tunnel. There were also penguins and crazy weird fish that ate monkeys and spat water and stuff! Then we got to go up the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world! Megan was smart enough to book tickets in advance, which meant they were only just over 25$ each! It was a really cloudy day, however, so the visibility from the top wasn’t nearly as nice as it would have been yesterday. It was too bad, but better than not going at all!! Once it got dark, the view was pretty amazing as you could see all of the buildings all lit up below! That was probably my favorite part. The weird thing was that you couldn’t really tell that you were up that high at all! I think that even mom could have handled it, to be honest! I t
hink the Eiffel tower was scarier than this was and the heights don’t even compare! Probably because up here was more like being in an airplane than being in an actual building! So, the tower is the tallest in the world. It has 140 flight elevator that moves at 10m per second. The concrete used to construct the building is the equivalent to 100 000 elephants and the rebar could cover ¼ way around the world. The building produces 15 metric tonnes of condensation annually that is collected and used to water plants! And, it can be seen from 95km away! Pretty cool stuff! We went for dinner at a place beside the tower so we could watch the water fountains go off every ½ hour. The man that designed the fountains in Vegas at the Bellagio also made these ones here too! It was nice to eat dinner outside! (I had a rootbeer float for my beverage! ) Later -Allison 
No comments:
Post a Comment