Monday, December 19, 2005

da Bears and Christmas in the Desert

Hi again.

All is well here in Dubai. Keith and Kristin are busy getting ready for their conference so I spent part of the day flipping through the television to see what I might find on TV.

One channel here shows ESPN’s Sunday night football game. I was quite excited to find out this week’s game was Chicago versus Atlanta. Kristin was very excited. She is a big Bears fan. Here you can see me watching the game (sorry Aunt Lynn).

I enjoyed watching even if it was a Bears game. I hope Green Bay wins tonight! It looked very cold in Chicago during the football game. I suppose it is the same in Iowa. It is still nice and warm here. I’m not sure I am looking forward to the cold weather when I return home.

But, the cold weather reminded me that Christmas is less than a week away. It is hard for me to believe that Santa is coming soon. It doesn’t feel like Christmas here in Dubai but it certainly LOOKS like Christmas everywhere I go. Do you see me in the tree?

If you didn’t see me, Keith took a picture of Kristin and me by the same tree here in the hotel.

I have seen signs of winter and Christmas in both Doha and Dubai. Our hotels have multiple Christmas trees, gingerbread houses, reindeer, and other holiday reminders. The store windows in the mall have holiday sale posters and many, many places have pictures of snowflakes. Kristin told me she even saw a place to visit Santa in one of the Dubai malls.

I was surprised to see the snowflakes and other winter-like items such as heavy coats, sweaters, and snow boots since it is so warm here and it doesn’t snow in the desert. I also wasn’t surprised to see Christmas trees because that’s what I see at home this time of year. But, Keith and Kristin told me they were very surprised to see so many signs of Christmas because Christmas isn’t celebrated in the religion here. I had no idea.

Keith and Kristin have learned that the rulers of both Qatar and Dubai want to respect the holidays of other parts of the world and that’s why we are seeing so many signs of Christmas.

That’s all for now. Go Packers!