Volleyball in Dubai

We apologize for the long delay in between posting pictures. We've been busy with lesson planning and enforcing school discipline. One of the highlights of the past few weeks (for Wade at least) was the JV girls' volleyball trip to Dubai.

That's right, Wade was in charge of eight 14-15 year old girls traveling across the Middle East to compete in a Volleyball tournament. Here are the four main things that Wade learned on the trip:

1. He knows very little about volleyball.
2. Teenage girls like to put on make-up before games and that's okay.
3. The Lebanese, generally speaking, don't care that much about sports, and that's also okay.
4. He is much happier living in Beirut instead of Dubai.

Dubai is a city / city-state that is part of the United Arab Emirates, situated on the Persian Gulf. The city seemed to combine the sprawl of Los Angeles, the plasticity of Disneyworld, and the surrealness of the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz. After four nights Wade was homesick for the dirty, crowded streets of Beirut.

Dubai got hit hard by the economic meltdown last year. The city doesn't have much oil money. Instead, its economy is built on tourism, banking, and a real estate bubble that you could actually see popping before your eyes. Apparently, neighboring Emirate, Abu Dhabi - which does have oil money - spent billions over the past year bailing Dubai out.

For all of its glitz, there actually isn't much to do in Dubai except visit their shopping malls. We did that a lot. Over the course of four days, we went to several Dubai malls on three separate occasions.

Here is the famous ski slope within the Mall of Dubai. Yes, the snow is real, and from what another coach told Wade, "the powder is not bad." Wade decided not to fork up the $200 dollars to see for himself.

This is a shot of the aquarium inside the Mall of the Emirates. At least the fish are real.

Joking aside, it was a great trip. The girls behaved well, we won a game (we also lost five), and Wade got to meet some interesting teachers and coaches from other Middle Eastern international schools. He also got to visit a place that he'll never see again.