Dubai Rugby 7s

We just got back from Dubai. Every year they have a huge rugby tournament called the Rugby 7s. Not that I know anything about rugby, but apparently, it usually consists of 15 or so people per team, but for this tournament, they reduce it down to 7 and shorten the match down to 2 seven minute periods. Teams from a bunch of countries come to participate in the 2 day event, and every expat from miles around comes to watch. We showed up on the first day, not knowing anything about the game. After it all, I must say that I can see the appeal of it. It is like American football on speed, with a lot more passes and without the commercial breaks. A great time was had by all, and then . . .the rains came. Yes, it rained in the desert. We were always told that it rains once a year, and it just decided to do it when there is an outdoor tournament going on. We decided to forgo the second day of matches and an inevitably soaking wet, miserable day. Instead, we thought it was a good time to run some errands. Don't ask me why, but in any event, it was a learning experience. Lesson learned number 1: since it doesn't rain in the desert, the infrastructure doesn't take rain into account. Meaning, there are no storm drains or any way to drain all of the water, so the water just accumulates and floods the city. We spent 3 hours in the car to go about 10 miles. Lesson learned number 2: the Land Rover is very nice to have in a flood. We were high and dry! Lesson learned number 3: people who live in the desert have no idea how to respond to flood waters. For example, you don't drive through flood water that comes up to your door! We were fairly entertained, watching car after car stall out, and then there was the car that caught on fire! Well, the good news is that they had plenty of water around to try and put it out. ;) By the way, the picture in this blog was on a billboard along one of the major roadways in Dubai. I included it because I figure most of you reading this just want to see pictures and don't really care what I have to say, and I found it incredibly amusing. Is it just me or is there something wrong with that picture??