UAE 41st National Day

Sunday was UAE National Day. I guess even the non-Islamic holidays are unpredictable, because at the last minute the government gave us Monday off as well as Sunday. (This is quite a reversal from our first year here, when, if I recall correctly, we didn't get any holiday at all.) The university had to scramble to accommodate the unanticipated day off and so now there is a Saturday at the end of December that has been declared to be a Monday, for teaching purposes. And I thought only the BYU did stuff like that.

On the Thursday before the holiday, both girls dressed up for school. Miriam wore a green t-shirt because they asked her to (I think they made some kind of human flag design) and Magdalena dressed up because UAE National Day is inexplicably her most favorite holiday. She asks about it all year long. I think it's because National Day is the most visible holiday around here, as far as decorated public spaces go - you can't go outside without seeing fancy flags and car decals everywhere. Every other vehicle on the road looks like this (image from last year, at the Dubai Mall parking garage):

We had a great four-day weekend and I'm sure Magdalena is already looking forward to National Day next year.