I landed in Dubai a few hours ago, and I'll be here until Monday. I feel like I stepped off the plane and into a sauna. It is HOT here... and apparently these temperatures are cool for this time of year. It's 35 degrees celsius! My flight was really nice. It was 8 1/2 hours overnight, and the plane was more than half empty. I had an entire row to myself, and actually got a bit of rest! I brough in three bottles of wine from South Africa, and was worried that I'd have trouble at Dubai customs. But they scanned my luggage, and didn't question it at all! I landed at five in the morning, and jumped into a cab to get to Nicole and Ruth's place. There was a line up to get into a taxi, and all single female travellers are ushered into a seperate line for "ladies taxis." The cars are pink, and the women drivers wear a matching pink burka that has "Ladies Taxi" embroidered onto it. I wasn't expecting that, but I can't say I'm surprised. There are some crazy laws here. If you show your middle finger to anyone, you could end up spending some time in jail. Holding hands in public is forbidden, even for married couples. The taxi driver some time being "lost." She actually called Ruth three times to ask for directions, even though I had a clearly marked map for her. We spend some time driving around in circles, I felt like I knew the way better than she did. But of course, she was just trying to squeeze some extra money from me. It was a bit frustrating, but I'm not too upset about it, because it only cost about $12. Ruth and Nicole were so kind to wake up so early to greet me, and drink some tea. We all went back to bed after. Their apartment is really nice. I have my own room, with a luxurious queen sized bed. I'm really going to need some rest after South Africa and before stampede!
I was really sad to leave Cape Town. I'm glad we spent as long as we did there, because we actually got to know the city. It's so beautiful and charming there. I really need to go back someday, because there's still so much to see. We also had a false impression, because of FIFA. I really wanted to go shark cage diving, but it was all booked. So I'll have to go back and do that some day! I think I'm hooked on the world cup. I really got into it toward the end, and was upset to leave before the final. Germany won't be playing in it, and I'm really disappointed about that, but if they were I would have hated not being there. I normally despise tourists that do nothing but go to bars while they travel, but that's kind of what we did in Cape Town. We coulnd't help ourselves. It was too much fun. Bars on Long Street were packed every single night of the week, even if there was no game that day. It was really cool to see everyone decked out in their soccer paraphernalia. Word cup is the only time you'll go out to see people in face paint, crazy head gear, and blowing vuvuzelas on a nightly basis. We were at an Irish pub one night, and the Argentinian fans were so loud that the band actually walked off stage, because they couldn't compete with the noise the fans were making. I've never seen anything like it before. Soccer truly is the international sport. I love that you don't need to be rich to play it, and I love the passion it evokes in people. I'm definitely going to Brazil in 2014. I can't wait.
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