I'm talking about National Day here in the UAE. For those of you who don't know, the UAE is only a sprightly 42 years old. Yes...it was formed in 1971 and is essentially a baby of a country. I've never seen a country more excited about it's birthday than the UAE. This is a country that knows how to party...soberly. (it's a dry country - remember?) Despite this, the UAE pulls out all the stops to celebrate. I had students bringing in decorations for the classroom for weeks beforehand. My classroom looked like a party store when it was all said and done and I didn't even get a chance to put up all the decorations they brought! Our school organized National Day activities and then on the day we were supposed to have it, Dubai won the bid for the 2021 world expo and he Sheikh cancelled school for THE ENTIRE COUNTRY in celebration. Yes - I said FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. I'm sorry - THAT would never happen in the US. So - our National Day activities were postponed until the following Tuesday, because we already had Sunday and Monday OFF from school for National Day celebrations beforehand...so when the sheikh gave us off Thursday as well? Hello 5 day weekend! I did feel sorry for the horses and camels at our school and for the security guy locked in the artifacts room in our elementary building guarding millions of AED worth of national treasures. (My school has some pull with the palace...we'll just leave it at that, mmmmmk? ;) The day we returned to school was only a 1/2 day for the students and they could arrive in traditional outfits (no school uniforms) and we participated in different activities throughout the day, such as listening to the drummers and bands, looking at falcons, the camels and horses, getting henna done, playing in bouncy houses, watching the arrival of the sheikh (red carpet included), eating traditional food, playing games and etc. I even had a student whose family bought me a traditional dress called a jalabiya and a gorgeous shayla (scarf). I was so touched and honored by their generosity. What a wonderful surprise!
As for the celebrations...they lasted for days. The daytime celebrations went on for a couple of weeks...the night time celebrations were two straight nights of craziness. (PS some of the decorations are still up and National Day was December 2nd.)
looking down the artifacts room...that's real sand and native animals (don't worry - the animals weren't alive)
female and male traditional attire
one of halls in the elementary building decorated with traditional decorations and student National Day projects
decorations lining the streets
more decorations
and still more
fireworks from the corniche, night #1
National Day cruising the corniche
silly string and foam anyone?
here come the "string bandits"...lol
yea - Rachel got ambushed...
so did I
traffic jam
this was a video display on the side of a building
the UAE aerobatic jets
Yes...cars were shrink-wrapped in National Day decor
the policeman took our silly string...
so we reloaded...
night #2 of fireworks...these I could see from my bedroom window
a room at our school which was turned into the "artifact" room...millions of AED of artifacts
oud, knives, swords, gold, paintings, animals...etc...
momma and baby camel that were brought in to our school...
Truly - isn't he the cutest 3 month old camel you've ever seen?
momma and baby horse at our school as well
