Sharjah American International School-Dubai

 As part of my itinerary as a guest of the Sharjah International Children's Book Fair, arrangements were made for me to visit two schools in Dubai.

The first was on Monday morning. Because of traffic, the drive from Sharjah took an hour, instead of 15-20 minutes.  I was assigned a great driver and a young woman named Nada to accompany me.

The Sharjah American International School-Dubai is a private school situated in a large, beautiful building. The children ride yellow school buses, with printing in both English and Arabic.

Our driver waited for us.  Nada talked to the guard at the gate, who was expecting us, and gave us ID guest ribbons to wear. 

We were greeted by the librarian and two high school students who took us in the elevator to the library where several second and third-grade children eagerly waited for us, along with their teachers.

They had prepared pictures of me and my books on their back wall, and some of my book pages were projected on a screen.  I also asked my high school friend to turn pages for me as I read and discussed it with the children.

The children were very well-mannered and responsive, and it was so fun to share my books with them.

I was told that most are local Arabic children, but many moved to Dubai from other countries.  They were all studying an American curriculum. So, even though I have four of my books translated into Arabic, I read the English versions as these children all know English well (and I don't know Arabic!)

It's always a treat to meet with children, 

to share a message of hope and encouragement,

 and to hear their thoughts and wisdom.

The principal of the school then thanked me for my visit.  He presented me with a certificate and a gift that they present to their visitors.

I learned that the glass sculpture I received had a picture of the esteemed 

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, and Prime Minister of the UAE. 

The three fingers represent three letters: W for Winning, V for Victory, and L for Love.   Each of these tenets is an important principle to the people of the UAE.

I felt honored to have been selected to be their guest.

Desert Safari in the UAE

The most exciting excursion offered to authors and guests of the Fair was our trip to the desert on Wednesday.

We all boarded a hired double-decker bus at about 4:00 pm.  

We drove out of town,

and into the desert.

We stopped at an archeological site in Mleiha.  Two thousand years ago there was a fort here, iron-making foundries, and houses in a mile-wide area, with weapons and coins found from the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Unfortunately, there wasn't time to see the museum planned--just a quick stop where we transferred to cars.

We learned that this desert was all underwater at one point, as evidenced by fossils found in the rocks.

We saw one lone beautiful bush, and one lizard when we got out for pictures.

This was not an ordinary car ride through the desert.  The sand was our road, and the drivers wanted to make this a dune-busting adventure.  It was pretty intense!

Then we drove to our camp.

And we rode a camel!  The camel was on its knees for us to get on.  The surprise was the jolt as the camel stood up. :) 

We sat at low tables on cushions on the sand and were treated to a feast.

 

It was a memorable evening to chat and relax with other guests who had come from different parts of the world to share this adventure.

Touring Sharjah and Dubai

 I was honored to receive an invitation to attend the Sharjah Children's Book Fair.  My books were recommended to the selection committee by Annie Oswald, a VP of Books and Audio for FranklinCovey Co.  As we are also cousins, it was exciting that we were both invited to attend the book fair and spent time together there.

My flight was originally to Seattle, where I would meet up with Annie and fly to Dubai.  But, because my connecting flight was delayed, I was fortunately rerouted to San Francisco, and then flew to Dubai, arriving only an hour later than planned.  The business class flight on Emirates Airline was amazing!

I left Friday morning, May 5, and arrived Saturday evening, Dubai time.  Sunday Annie and I took a cab to attend church, held in a hotel.

Afterward, we had dinner with another cousin of Annie's, who lives in Dubai.  Several people from church came over to prepare and eat dinner together.

Annie and I were taken on Monday by our driver to see the exhibit called the Rainroom.  If you enter the large "rain shower" slowly, censors recognize your position, and hypothetically you don't get wet. :)

Then we walked to the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization, which had many interesting, ancient relics.

That evening Annie and I took a cab to see the modern Sharjah Mall.

We took a quick dip in the hotel pool, which looked lovely in the evening. Everything about the hotel was wonderful: my beautiful room and the wonderful Mediterranean buffet meals at the restaurant.

On Tuesday, I sat at lunch with other authors and was invited with a small group to tour the House of Wisdom. The Fair supplied drivers to our hotel to take us to this and other Fair-related excursions. This new building held thousands of books including special editions owned by the Sheikh of Sharjah.

Tuesday evening Annie and I took a cab to Dubai.  We started with the spectacular 4-story mall.

An enormous waterfall in the middle of the mall.  The divers are much larger than life-size.

Inside the mall is also a large ice skating rink and this huge aquarium.

Just outside the mall is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.  It was a beautiful night filled with people enjoying the sights.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the mix of modern and traditional, and the peaceable mix of people who come to live and work in Dubai from all over the world.