It's Friday, one o'clock in the afternoon. Friday is the sacred day of worship in the UAE's primary religion, as directed by their holy book. On regular days, we hear the call to prayer go out five times each day, plus the actual prayer about 20 minutes after each call. But on Fridays, the day of congregational prayer, in addition to each call and prayer we also hear the Friday sermon in the afternoon.

Mark was visiting Dubai.  He enjoyed seeing the designs of the new buildings and some of the architectural feats, but he wanted to some of the more traditional side of Dubai.  He went to Karama and wandered into a park. There was a game of cricket happening. Mark had always been intrigued by this game but never understood it. He saw three or four young men on a bench watching the game. He sat down next to the men and ask if any of them spoke English. One of the men spoke up and spoke very good English. 

“I forgot my Bible,” Jewel said to me somewhat out of the blue as she cooked dinner and I fixed myself some tea around 8 p.m. one night. The day had started out so wonderfully – a beautiful sunrise, lots of laughter in language class and a productive afternoon working, studying, getting my weekly COVID test done and even scoring a 20-minute nap after that. But that evening had sent me spiraling into culture stress, as something that should have been simple proved near impossible.

Grace and Pete decided to visit Expo 2020 one last time during its final week.  The grounds were packed with people.  The lines to get into some of the more popular pavilions were extremely long so they decided to visit some of the smaller pavilions.  Pete was on a mission to buy some more coffee beans.  He had bought some from Rwanda on his last visit and they were excellent.  Grace wanted to find t-shirts for her grandchildren and other gifts to take home.  They entered a small gift shop and started chatting with the shopkeeper.  They discovered that she was from Ukraine.  The conversation shifted as they asked questions and showed their concern.  

Expo 2020 has come to an end. The closing ceremony was spectacular. Crowds packed the grounds. There were big screens set up around the park so many could take part. There was a children’s choir singing the national anthem. Dignitaries made speeches thanking all who participated making this Expo stand out.

Trent found a small area of one table to sit the kids so they could begin eating.  Soon the table emptied out except for three girls from Bosnia.  Active, eating children helped break the ice and a conversation began.  Bill and Cary were sitting directly across from the girls.  The conversation flowed from introductions, to what the girls had studied in university, to where everyone was from.  The girls were all 25 and had jobs in design.  The conversation shifted to families and then marriage.  Bill made a comment that he and Cary had been married for almost 40 years.

“So, what is the secret to a long marriage?” Emina asked.