Dubai, UAE

So I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Dubai. It's weird to think that we are in the Middle East currently. What really surprised me was that we flew over Iraq, and specifically Baghdad (spelling). The internet is really slow here but I am still managing. I mean I guess you guys are managing because I really don't have to blog.

Anyway, Our flight on Emirates was a wild experience. I've never seen nor been on a plane so big. I've also never had a meal on a plane before. Well we got 2 of them. It was weird because we departed NY at 11:00 PM and arrived in Dubai at about 7:30 PM. We lost a whole day basically because it was night when we got here. We ate a dinner on the plane shortly after getting on, and then ate a brunch sometime later. I really have no sense of time since I don't have a watch or, like I usually have, my cell phone. The plane was pretty cool though because there was a TV screen on every seat so you could be occupied for all 12 hours of the flight. They had games, TV shows, movies, music, or you could watch the plane on the outside from 3 different cameras. Needless to say, I was hooked right away. Played a lot of battleship vs. other people on the plane, and watched some TV shows. They had a lot of recent movies on there too but I never found anything that tickled my fancy. Once off the plane we had a quick security check. The only 2 people from our group to get stopped were me and our campus minister. Obviously the 2 most rugged looking of the bunch. We then took a taxi to our hotel where I am right now. Street lines mean nothing to the drivers here. I was gonna go straight to bed after a shower but ended up wandering the streets with Tanner and Remy. We were trying to find a bar but were way underdressed for the occasion so we decided just to walk around. We didn't get to see the crazy part of Dubai, but definitely had quite an experience and got lots of stares (which I will soon become accustomed to). I did notice that there's a ton of trash in the streets and people were spitting everywhere.

I should probably run because we have a wake up call coming in about 5 hours. I know it's only 3:30 there but it's half past 12 in the morning here. 1 more flight tomorrow touching down in Ethiopia and picking up a few more people, and then off to Uganda!!! I'm about to be in Africa and I feel like I'm just at a hotel in the US right now. What a crazy experience this has been so far but it's about to get real. Hopefully I can put up some pictures soon, but i've been saving all of them for the real reason I came on this trip, the people of Uganda. Goodnight....but it's going to be a short one.