Although the weather in Dubai was hot and humid during the day while we were all AT WORK (see previous blog entry), in the evenings it was hot and humid but we were not working. Occasionally it proves difficult to get us to NOT work so it took some persuasion to cause these two gentlemen to give up the air-conditioned room and ready themselves for the grand fete that our hosts had prepared. But they thanked us eventually ... as we recall, anyway, .... OK, well, 'thank' could be too strong a word...
We continue ... Our UAE standards hosts put together an amazing gala dinner for everyone at a national heritage center in Dubai where the meal was served on tables close to the ground and guests sat on pillows that were on the ground atop carpets. We, for one, found the whole thing quite story-bookish and charming. The food was absolutely WONDERFUL! All of this was, of course .... oh come on and guess... outside. But we have never had eversomuch fun whilst melting so we tried to capture only a few highlights to share here.
ISO Secretary General, Alan Bryden and other dignitaries including Dr. George Arnold and his eversolovely wife Susan were greeted by Dubai hosts and dignitaries. We entered the heritage center on red carpets and greeted by gorgeous young children with rose water and wonderful scents in their hands to make us welcome.
We of the ANSI-ite delegation found seats (aka pillows, as you will recall) near the stage and from where one could see the vastness of the gathering ... of course, it could have been the heat, too, doncha know.
Judy and Gary Kushnier look comfy while being refreshed with cool juice.
Bob and Sue Noth, Punita and Joe Bhatia graced one side of out table.
While Greg Saunders and Belinda Collins graced the other. The red-head is 'we' and we are simply graced by the presence of others. Later on Belinda decided to grace another table and we were joined by Jim and Barb Thomas. (See cast-of-thousands picture above)
And then our dignified host welcomed us all and the festivities began!
Young girls dressed in sparkling costumes danced and sang for us.
Young men were part of yet another dancing treat that included synchronized twirling of special equipment ... which we tried to capture digitally but the movement was so fast that we finally decided to return to our pillows.
The Police department playing bag-pipes. We are not making this up.
This demonstration was impressive, seriously impressive, by very impressive and serious military men. We got as close as we dared and then hid behind our pillows.
After dinner we wandered around and talked with camels.
Greg chose to take the "I'll look completely at ease petting a camel" approach as described in the "HOW TO LOOSE A SHIRT TO A CAMEL" chapter of the tourism guide. WE were just frighteningly glad to have been there to capture the moment.
Jim and Barb Thomas stand at a more respectable distance while the camel gives its best "I'm going to just sit here at not snicker outloud at these folks" look. WE, for one, thinks it was PERfectly achieved. Don't you?
BE SURE TO SEE THE
FOLLOWING POST FOR
INTERPRETATION OF
THE CAMEL TALK!
Greg falls for the "Say, buddy, can you hold my bird for a second while I get this call" trick.
We ended the evening with a shot of a building in the back of the center that caught some of the evening's yellow-orange spot lights. We may also have been looking for more pillows but that's secondary, we assure you.
