Free Day

Today was my free day.  I was not one of the "chosen" ones to have my medical exam and fingerprints done, so when I went to breakfast, there were only a few people that I knew down there.  I decided to go to Marina Mall with Casey.  We hopped on the bus, which only cost of 2 Dirham which is about $0.45!  The bus is very nice, air conditioned and separated.  The ladies sit in the front and the men sit in the back.  At first I thought this was strange, but after being on the bus, it was fine.  The Marina Mall has a Space Needle like thing that is part of the mall, the top portion of it is a restaurant much like the Space Needle, however not as expensive.  We walked around the whole upper part looking at the magnificent views of Abu Dhabi and the water.  As we took the elevator up and down, we were able to see Shaikh Zayed's home as well as the Emairates Palace Hotel.  Both of these places appear larger than life and we were a good distance away from them, I cannot imagine what they look like up close.  After venturing around the mall some, we decided to sit down and have some coffee.  Sitting down for coffee appears to be the thing to do here, there are always lots of people sitting and conversing in coffee shops, just like home.  
Casey and I sat and talked for almost 2 hours about almost everything.  She is from Mississippi (her accent is awesome!) and will be going back at Christmas time to attend her sister's wedding.  We hopped back on the bus and went back to the hotel.  I had a note under my door that afternoon telling me I needed to contact someone from Nirvana if I had not had my medical check.  When I spoke with Omar, he told me that it would happen sometime next week.  
I called all that wanted to come do meet in the lobby for a Cronut (little piece of heaven).  We sat in the tent again and just chatted, there were quite a few of us (Rebecca, Casey, Lindsay and Matt and Audra joined us as well.  Lindsay and I decided to go into the jacuzzi afterwards and chatted.  
I called my dad to check and see how my mom was doing (she was having shoulder surgery) and he told me she was just about finished with surgery and after she recovers, they would be heading back to my brother's house where they are staying.  
I was starving for some sort of dinner, so I ventured to Rebecca's room where we ordered Chinese food.  I was feeling super light headed and also had a headache because I hadn't had much water during the day.  The food was actually really good, I got mushroom rice, spring rolls, and veggie chow mein.  We had to wait about 45 mins for some silverware before we called them again and asked for some.  I ended up eating just the spring roll and a few spoonfuls of rice before I went to bed.  I had no more water in my room, so I called down to the front desk for some more water.  They showed up with 1.5 liter bottles!  It was like heaven at my door, I was so thirsty!  I retired to bed after taking 2 NyQuil to help me get more than 4.5 hrs of sleep.  I woke up in the morning RESTED!