Breakfast over Baghdad

When we found our flights to Ghana via Dubai online two months ago, we were excited about the price. I wish we'd thought harder about the amount of time we were going to spend in the air! Thirteen hours nonstop from Toronto to the United Arab Emirates, followed by twelve hours loose in Dubai for the night, followed by eight more hours backwards to Accra...we're wiped!

It's hard to believe the journey's begun. The first moment it really sank in was when I woke from another catnap on the flight to Dubai to eat my breakfast (which they served at night, because of the time difference). I checked the live map on the screen in front of me to see where we were. The nearest city: Mosul.

Oh my goodness. There's Fallujah. And there's Baghdad.

Breakfast in the sky over Iraq. Wasn't expecting that.

Dubai itself is hard to describe. We've come up with various attempts, none of them reflecting how cool it actually is. Jessi says it's a it like Vegas, without the gambling, strippers, or booze. I compared it to a giant Arab South Keys (for those of you who are up on your Ottawa shopping malls). Needless to say, we're speaking of the tourist areas. We had a hard time navigating (due mostly to our total failure to read the guide book), so we spent most of our time at the Deira City Centre mall, which is exactly like every mall in Canada except with Arabic writing. We did make an excursion to the Gold Souk, where we dodged handbag hawkers and ended up wandering down a side street into some decidedly male-only territory. We ended up hanging out at Dubai Duty Free in the airport for several hours, buying gifts for friends in Ghana. I definitely want to go back to Dubai sometime (possibly during the day) and really experience it. Maybe I'll wait for Dubailand to open.

Meanwhile, we've already made it from Accra (the capital of Ghana) to Ho (the regional capital of Volta Region, the easternmost region of the country). Our next stop is the village itself - Nyive, about 25 km outside Ho, hugging the Togolese border. I'm expecting a warm welcome, probably followed by a lot of sleep. Then our work will really start.

Salaam everybody!