Sand and Slopes!
Mall Culture Meets Outdoor Recreation!
Heat.
It's true, out here amongst the sanddunes you can't escape it. I'm generally one who avoids winter at all costs- heading for warmer climes, picking work locations depending on their temperature in mid-January, living in a sweater when most people are in boxer shorts and singlets. Hell, I've vacationed in Egypt in July... Twice! But nothing I have ever experienced has ever been as hot as the desert in the UAE.
Dreaming of ice cream. No, a land of ice cream. Of building giant ice cream snowmen, me eating ice cream snowballs in the midst of a cool frostie blizzard. Laying on a strawberry milkshake ice rink wearing nothing but an ice sculpted bikini. Ahhhhh. Cool heaven.
I ran a bath on the cold water yesterday and still had to wait for the water to cool down. The temperature outside hit fifty degrees yesterday, unusually hot for June, I was told. It's this type of weather that can mummify you, even when you are still living. We travel from air conditioner to air conditioner- air conditioned home to airconditioned bus, to airconditioned work, to airconditioned taxi, to air conditioned mall. Its understandable now why malls are so popular here in the blazing Emirates.
Sometimes after spending so long in the air conditioning, it is a welcomed relief for a few minutes of heat, between that big ball of fire in the sky and the scorching sand. But after a few minutes, we are overheated, tired, and cranky and in desperate need of living a horizontal life. This much sun can do weird things to your skin.
So imagine how fun it was to take advantage of Dubai's first (but apparently not only for long) Ski hill. For all of you who ski, the fact that it was the size of a bunny hill made little difference to us, we just wanted so badly to have some fun and enjoy the cool "weather."
Out of the heat and waiting in line for passes and ski equipment.My Ski pals for the day- Laura, Rene and Australian Daniel, all teachers at our university. When asked by one of the employees if I knew how to ski, I answered, "I'm Canadian!" No further questions asked. I got my equipment and headed up the escalator to the "mountain."
Laura booting up with Nae in the background.
Daniel, Rene and Laura heading up the chair lift with a Friday's Restaurant in the background. We mused that there's nothing like being able to ski an entire mountain with a Starbucks in sight at all times!
Charged up and ready to hit the slopes! We wondered what the snow was made of, and decided to try not to let it touch our skin. It had the strange feel of skiing on icing sugar. And no Dad, none of it was yellow.
Where the slopes end and the Food Court of the mall begins. Imagine taking the slopes too fast, sailing over the barrier and splatting yourself on the window in front of some fearful dinner goers. At least you'd know what you wanted to eat at the after-the-slopes meal!
Action photo! I whizzed past all the newbies sliding down the hill on their butts. This would be the perfect place to learn how to ski or snowboard. It's not like there are any major cliffs to fall off of, or avalanches to avoid!
After twenty minutes of practice we were ready for the quadruple black diamond run. (still a bunny hill back in Canada.) We were impressed at how well Australian Daniel did on the slopes! We made plenty of jokes about what to do if we got stuck in a blizzard, or if we got our arm caught somewhere if we would be able to cut it off in order to save the rest of our bodies, or whether or not the resue helicopters could find us lost somewhere up on the mall slope. We finished our conversation with a pact that if one of us were to get lost on the ski hill the rest of us would stay to rescue them, even if it cost us our lives!
Daniel and Laura at the end of the two hours. Some brilliant star told us that gloves weren't necessary. So at this point we were sure we were suffering from frostbite. No worries though! After our passes were up we went to the Starbucks and wrapped our blue digits around nice streamy Starbuck's lattes! Next time, gloves are a must.
Ahhh, Royal Mirage, I still love you. I've never been so grateful to be back in the heat!
Thank you Rene, Laura and Daniel for a brilliantly fun day!