getting there...

The cheapest ticket is not the most direct route to get somewhere: it took three days of air travel to get to Uganda. From Albuquerque to NYC to Hamburg to Dubai to Addis Abbaba and finally Entebbe!

While in NYC my friend Jordan came to send me off at the airport. We had spent the last 5 months together in Sang'alo, Kenya together. I know it was hard for her to send me off without joining, and it was hard to imagine being there without her: we both love Africa, and made a good team. Feeling like a parent, she urged me to be safe and prayed fro wisdom for me to maneuver all the potentially dangerous situations. When I gave her a hug goodbye, I started crying. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with how blessed we have been to have had the experiences in Africa that have effected us so. She stayed and we shared McFlurries and more memories of Kenya and plans to return before I had to really go.

I had a 12-hour layover in Dubai. I decided to make the most of it, and got in touch with a French engineer through the couchsurfing network. He took me out to see the city. It was the most modern airport I'd been to, yet the workers were dressed in traditional white, full-length garments. I felt as though I'd entered a movie-set of a futuristic world. The streets of Dubai are 12-lane highways lit up with billboards 6 stories high. Bruno took me past the world's tallest building that is still under construction and then to a beach with a view of the famous 7-star hotel. There were still people everywhere even thought it was midnight. We went to a fabulous shopping center and past an indoor ski slope (constructed in the middle of the desert!) At the shopping center everyone was dressed in designer clothes and elegant jewelery (well, except me). We also go tot see the 'Palm Island' that is a totally man-made construction in the ocean.

The odd thing about the city is that the extravagant wealth and development is not overshadowing a layer of poverty: there is no poverty in the city, no homeless population, no beggars. Furthermore, there is no crime. Bruno told me that we could have very easily left the car unlocked at the beach, even with the engine running, and no one would have touched it. He could only think of one crime he had heard of lately while living there: Russians had attempted to break into a jewelry store, but were caught. I asked him if the low crime rate was a result of strict punishment or high security, and he said, "Stealing is not in their mentality." He thinks that eventually crime will become part of the culture, but for now it is not a problem.

Apparently this unique place is a result of a very high work ethic, no taxes (which draws in foreign business), investments in oil (even though the oil sales are not directly part of their economy), government paying for all citizens to be educated and attend training outside of the country, and the city planners' vision.

I thought it was interesting that with their wealth and relentless construction, there is no interest in environmental protection. Bruno told me that on the beaches he finds coral that has been blasted from the construction offshore. Even though we were in the middle of the desert, fake rivers surrounded the shopping center to carry ornate boats with lights. Where he works he said there is an escalator that runs all day even though only 2 people are there to use it: a reflection of their mentality of unlimited resource.

So in conclusion,
1) Dubai is the oddest place I've ever been. It's ironic that I saw it on the way to Africa because with its exotic affluence and lack of poverty, litter, and crime, it is the antithesis of where I'll be next.
2) Couchsurfing, once again, has treated me well. Check it out: it's the best website in this diverse world.