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Sharjah's famous Canal, Qanat Al Qasba

The Eye of the Emirates is the name of the 60-meter high observatory wheel with 42 air-conditioned cabins. But... did you know that George Washington Gale Ferris was born in Galesburg, Illinois in 1859! And ... he designed and built the first 264 foot (80 meter) wheel for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. And ... our house in Galesburg was a stone's throw from Ferris Street, named for the inventor!!

Dolphins in the Fiords of the Musandam Peninsula

Watch carefully and see the dolphins racing between the two dhows. You also get to see a little scenery of the waterway near the famous Straits of Hormuz. These waters are famous for pirates and smugglers but even more for the extremely small and remote fishing villages nestled into the rocks. Today, the children from these villages travel by boat to Khasab where they stay for for a few days of school each week.

"Invisible Guestworkers"

Office boys. Or office girls if you're in a girl's school like Danica's. These are low paid expats (Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Filipino) Many have at least a working vocabulary of 3-4 languages. Many go to work cleaning houses after they pull their day job. At my school Gooti is Indian and Abdulhalam is from Bangladesh. They are invisible to people unless they are needed to perform a service. When I arrived, I noticed there was no daily greeting to them as is the case for everyone else and the daily greeting is mandatory! I pretend I just don't know any better and greet them the same way I do the rest. A Filipino girl at Danica's school is about 28, both parents dead, lives in a small, one-room with seven others, a light bulb and water faucet. That's it. She sends money home for her younger siblings. 25,000 people each month come to the country ... that's Libertyville's population. If this life is better what are they leaving at home?

We did NOT sleep here!

The Abu Dhabi Palace Hotel! An absolutely incredible place sitting right on the Arabian Gulf! Adam recognized a to be unnamed government celebrity sitting in the lobby working on his computer. Elton John will be here January 21. Boy George will be here this week. What an embarrassment! If you have to ask how much you shouldn't stay here! A suite goes for $2,450 a night. Built at a cost of $3 billion, the hotel is a kilometer long from end to end and has a 1.3 kilometer white sand beach — every grain of it imported from Algeria!

Happy New Year 2008 from RAK, UAE!!!