New Years Day we had off which I think we all needed it. We slept in, took it easy and I went down to the conference room to “work on stuff”, did that happen? Of course not. Pamela, Jamie and I all ended up talking and watched the PBS special our professor sent out called, “The accent of money”. It’s actually really interesting and all about the history of money and how currency first started, it explained how money was the cause for some wars as well as the end of them. I highly recommend it. Just the first two parts are interesting, though it’s a 6-hour series, so the first two parts are a little less than two hours I think.
** Here's the link:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/page/2/
After that, we just chilled until we became hungry. We headed to this “Chicken Tikka” place near our hotel. It was very busy and took forever to order food, but our waiter was busy and very friendly. I sat with Jessica, Pamela and Jamie. We had some great discussions about our families which were lovely, but the guys a table over were smoking which was really annoying. Everyone smokes here. I am looking forward to going back to place where it’s banned in public places. I really did not like the food, but it was cheap because we all bought the kids meal for 1 dinar ($3.5 USD). Then the boys (Jaris and John) walked with me to get more corn (the kind we had at the University) at the Scientific Center. It was an awesome walk. I really miss walking. We played on the playground for a good hour or so, while we walked back to the hotel, it was so much fun. It made me feel like a little kid again, but maybe that was just my kids’ meal talking. Later that evening, we watch The Office in the conference room with everyone and just chilled. Jaris, John and I went to grab something to eat later that night because we did not eat much at the Chicken Tikka place. We went to a restaurant and talked for a bit but waited fifteen minutes for a menu and at that point all of us were hungry. Jaris really wanted a baked potato (I had bought one at the Great Steak and Potato Company the other day, he had never been there) and John wanted McDonalds.
So off we went, I realized that the last time I had been to McDonalds was in Beijing. I bought a chocolate dipped cone. I did so mostly because it sounded delicious and reminded me of many runs to Dairy Queen with my dad. Oh and it was REALLY cheap. It was only 200 fils, there are 1,000 fils in one dinar, so since its $3.5 USD to 1 dinar, that is cheap (you do the math). It was fun hanging out with them; we always have a good time together. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and called it a night after our evening of junk food.
The next day (January 2nd) was something I was really looking forward to this entire trip. We went out with all the Saleem’s; they brought four of their grandchildren who sat in the back with the girls and me. They were adorable. We visited Chevron’s “desert camp” and we just walked around, it was nice to not be in the city for a change. I think it was a place for people to come and stay for a weekend or a night in the desert. This because there were little tents everywhere. But I do not think they were planning on us to be there till later, so we just walked around a bit and sat in their large diwaniya for awhile. Eventually, we decided to leave and visit a different desert camp. This one was a little different, as all the tents were not as spread out and surround a central area with a stage and they formed a square like area. There were a few little tents in the middle selling snacks (there was an empty tent with a “Krispy Kreme” sign on it) along with a “Hardee’s” tent (this is known as Carl’s Jr in the United States) which I found hilarious. It seemed like they brought stuff in to sell, but nothing was open. There was a bunch of tables and a larger tent with pillows and blankets on the ground. We sat while being served tea and talked for awhile. They sure do drink a lot tea here; I am going to miss that. It was a lovely trip and nice to be outside, walking around instead of being in a board room.
Sibling battle in the van between Jessica and John over seats in the van. Normal.Afterwards we were all pretty hungry so we stopped at the only place on the way home…wait for it…McDonalds! I will have been to McDonalds more in two weeks than probably my entire life. Incredible. This is SO against what I would normally eat in Boulder, but oh well. Jaris and I decided to be SUPER classy and splurge on a McFlurry and I had the best happy meal my little dinar could buy. After drenching my two large buns with ketchup along with my cheese-slice sized mystery meat patty, then dumping salt and pepper on my fries, I was a happy camper. I could not resist and bought yet ANOTHER chocolate dipped ice cream cone (two in two days). Now I really will be rolling my way back to Boulder from Denver’s International Airport.
After returning to the hotel, we took it easy and decided to do a laid back dinner from the grocery store. We bought chicken, pita, hummus, vegetables and drinks. We all went to the conference room and made sandwiches while we watched YouTube videos online and a few episodes of “The Office”. It was such a fun night just chilling with everyone. This experience really made me appreciate traveling in a small group, plus each person I feel I could talk to for hours on end. I feel so lucky to have this experience to look back to for the rest of my life. Thanks mom for letting me go!
The boys having fun with their scarves on the bus. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment