 Tricia and I joined clergy and spouses from other chaplaincies in the Gulf for our annual get-together, though sadly several of the spouses didn’t make it this year, which was disappointing. We had a varied programme which included a morning with askAli who is well known for his columns in newspapers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and for his guides to both countries. He would describe himself as a cultural ambassador and as well as being good on paper he was a very engaging speaker and open to all sorts of questions. This followed by a ‘business meeting’ and then in the afternoon we went to Ferrari World, which boasts the fastest roller coaster in the world. It is housed in a spectacular building – the photo to the right is a reflection of the roof in some water ….We took a very sedate ride around an Italian Alps landscape as our ride and watched some impressive gymnasts/ acrobats go through their paces with a Ferrari theme. In the evening the clergy went off to dinner with the British Ambassador and discussion and conversation on various regional geopolitical/religious themes while the spouses had a meal and DVD. |
Tricia and I joined clergy and spouses from other chaplaincies in the Gulf for our annual get-together, though sadly several of the spouses didn’t make it this year, which was disappointing.
We had a varied programme which included a morning with askAli who is well known for his columns in newspapers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and for his guides to both countries. He would describe himself as a cultural ambassador and as well as being good on paper he was a very engaging speaker and open to all sorts of questions. This followed by a ‘business meeting’ and then in the afternoon we went to Ferrari World, which boasts the fastest roller coaster in the world. It is housed in a spectacular building – the photo to the right is a reflection of the roof in some water ….We took a very sedate ride around an Italian Alps landscape as our ride and watched some impressive gymnasts/ acrobats go through their paces with a Ferrari theme. In the evening the clergy went off to dinner with the British Ambassador and discussion and conversation on various regional geopolitical/religious themes while the spouses had a meal and DVD.