Happy National Day!

The second day in December is National Day in the UAE. This year marked 41 years since the seven emirates became united.
I've said this from the minute we arrived here: I've never seen such incredible nationalism anywhere in my entire life. People here are so incredibly proud of their country, and so adoring of their rulers. On December 2, they paint their faces (or their kids' faces if they're not into it,) wear clothing and scarves with photos of the sheikhs (patriotism is not always cute,) and hand out UAE flags in the malls (exquisitely displayed above!) It's not uncommon to see things like this on the side of buildings, even when it's not National Day:

Or this (sorry about the bluriness-- was trying to avoid being hit by a car likely moving 40mph over the speed limit. Also very normal here.)

And nobody seems to mind covering every inch of their $500,000 car in decals and flags (this still irritates Rob every time he sees it.) Most shocking, it's not frowned upon to silly string people from your car on this day.

But silly string and obnoxious honking aside, it was really cool to be a part of this (and by a part of it I mean sitting at a street side cafe stuffing my face with hummus and hoping not to get nailed with silly string.)