For context, my sister is a teacher in Abu Dhabi and has been there for the past five or so years.
A year ago, my sister was married in Abu Dhabi. In fact, I was the officiant of her wedding. I spent two weeks in Abu Dhabi, helping prep for the wedding, being wheeled around town and introduced to different foods and seeing new things while battling some ferocious jet lag. It was an overwhelming, bewildering, fantastic experience.
The new family was so kind and inviting and generous - I've never felt so welcomed or accommodated. Their only complaint is that we weren't spending an entire month there with them. They asked if they would end up on this blog and if I'd write about them. I told them I certainly would. It was only when I got home that I struggled with the reality the intense photo laws in the UAE and worried about how sharing some photo that may seem innocuous to me may have larger ramifications, especially upon any return visits to see everyone.
It made me freeze. I felt hamstrung and stressed about sharing anything. But I'm over it and these photos are largely of just family anyway. I feel bad for having withheld them for so long.
So, here's a selection of photos from that trip.
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| Jet lag was brutal - and the clocks could be a little confusing. |
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| Qasr Al Hosn, the oldest building in Abu Dhabi, lies in the heart of the city among all the skyscrapers. |
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| Qasr Al Hosn, the oldest building in Abu Dhabi, lies in the heart of the city among all the skyscrapers. |
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| Qasr Al Hosn, the oldest building in Abu Dhabi, lies in the heart of the city among all the skyscrapers. |
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| View from a mall food court in Abu Dhabi. |
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| Choosing a goat for our celebratory meal. |
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| Islamic Law wedding day, outside the courthouse. |
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| Families meeting portrait. |
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| Abu Dhabi, UAE. |
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| Abu Dhabi, UAE. |
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| Street kitty napping in the shade of a car. |
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| Heavy laden makeup removal. |
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| My sister playing with her wedding cape. |
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| Arabian Nights Village, where the western style wedding ceremony was held. |
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| Gold pacifiers in a jewelry store - one for a boy and one for a girl. |
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| Store mannequin with a halloween knife in her head - reason unknown. |
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| Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, memorialized throughout the country and remembered, among other things, for helping unite the tribes to create the UAE. |
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| Afternoon prayers. |
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| The beautiful Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi. |
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| The beautiful Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi. |
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| The Louvre of Abu Dhabi. |
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| Tea, a staple of life. |
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| Another odd mannequin in the old part of Dubai. |
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