God Bless America!

Monday Jan. 4th I landed in the good old U.S. of A. and almost shed a tear when they said "Welcome to the United States of America." It was just a really nice feeling to be home. 25 hours of flying and I landed in Sioux Falls 20 minutes early. My parents scooped me up and by the time we reached the farm I was in bed at 7:30 pm. Since Monday we had about 8-10 inches of snow, blowing winds, and now -22 F weather. Welcome to the tundra! We didn't leave the farm for four days as we were snowed in, but content. I helped dad chop ice for the cattle, put straw bales in the pens, and scoop snow. I had about four layers of clothes on as it is 100 degree temperature swing from India to here. Yesterday we finally bust out and went for a quick shopping trip to Aberdeen, SD. Today we are celebrating Schroeder Christmas as there was a bad snow storm over Christmas in South Dakota. We still have the decorations up, the music playing, and the Christmas goodies on the table. We have 22 coming for lunch and a ham to feed 40. All are welcome! 12:30 pm is lunch.

Pictures: Snow, Corn Palace in the snow, cattle in the snow, Jodi with a transformers helmet, and my niece and nephew with New Years Decorations.

Modern Dubai

Ben and I had a wonderful and relaxing trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirites. Our sole purpose for visiting Dubai over New Years was to fly Emirites for the extra 10 kg of luggage that they allowed verses Air India. We had 4 beautiful nights in a town that resembles California, but felt like Adventureland at Disney World/Halloween. UAE is made up of 30% locals and 70% ex-patriots. I thought NYC was rich in culture, but UAE had an even larger mich of nationalities. It ranges from a large mix of Phillipino, Middle East, Indian, and East Asia in addition to the Africans, Russians, Australians, and everyone else. There are so many different types of dress. The only word that describes the automobiles is "SICK!" Ben works in the automobile industry so we enjoy admiring nice vehicles, but Dubai is something else. Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes Benz M Class, Land Rover, Range Rover, Royles Royce, and everything else. The oil struck in UAE is apparently quite profitable as gas was $0.30/gallon and everyone drives SUV, sports cars, or pick up trucks. The city is modern, clean, and constantly under construction. There are buildings going up in every direction. We enjoyed sitting by the pool, seeing the indoor Ski Dubai, watching the New Years Eve fireworks next to the Burj Al Arab, hitting the local club scene, and enjoying beef. Dubai is mostly Islam so unlike India they are beef eaters. The city was covered with U.S. restaurants and very nice shopping malls. They have a beautiful metro system and a very organized society in general.

Dubai is one of the seven emerites with Abu Dhabi being the largest and Dubai the second largest. If you have watched the news lately you will remember that Abu Dhabi recently bailed Dubai out of bankrupcy. Yesterday, Jan. 4th, Dubai also opened the world's tallest building the Burj Dubai (http://www.burjdubai.com/). A very impressive building from the ground up, but unfortunately I didn't have a camera at the time. A great city for shopping if you have the luggage space!

Pictures include: Desert Sand Safari, Camel Ride, New Years Fireworks by Burj Al Arab, and the beach.