The Blue Souk

On Wednesday the AWA ladies loaded up another Zara bus and headed out for a trip.  This time we went to the Blue Souk.  The Blue Souk is an old-world style shopping center located in Sharjah, which is another Emirate about 45 minutes from Dubai.  It's a big blue tiled building, which is where it gets its name.  It holds a bunch of little one-room shops which are each run by a different shop owner.  Their goods range from pashminas and scarves, carpets, antiques, jewelry, pottery, and other Middle Eastern items.  My favorite shop was Sorma Novelties, a pashmina shop run by a man named Naveed.  We spent a good amount of time in this shop listening to Naveed teach us about the craftsmanship that went into the different scarves and pashminas - which ones were more mass produced and which ones were made by hand in Kashmir, his home town.  He was not only an interesting person, but extremely nice and well spoken.  I highly recommend his shop if you ever end up in the Blue Souk.  He had some really beautiful pieces.

Part of the souk shopping experience is haggling with the sellers to bring down the price.  I was told to always counter offer at half of where they start their price.  And use phrases like, "I live here, I'm not a tourist" or "Give me your best price and I'll bring my friends back next time."  I was super nervous about haggling, but did OK.  I walked away from a few things, got my way once, and once or twice didn't haggle at all because the shop owner came recommended and their prices were already fair.  I totally need to go back before my next trip home.  

Here's what I came back with:

A necklace made out of old coins.

A scarf (not pictured)

A coffe table mat set.  I'm using the longer piece for decoration on our dining room table.

After our shopping adventure we headed to nearby Pizzaro Pizza.  We were all starving at this point and hoping for some good food.  We weren't disappointed.  I had the best Margherita pizza I've probably ever had in my life.  And the restaurant gave us each our own much with our Zodiac sign on it to take home!  The hospitality here can be amazing.

I put an embarrassing dent in this pizza all by myself

My only other update is that Renard has a girlfriend.  Our neighbors also have a rescue dog with separation anxiety and we watched her the other day while they were out.  In return they took Renard to a horse farm!  Their dog's name is  Maggie and she's a total sweetheart.  Plus, she looks like Falcor, the Luck Dragon from The Never Ending Story!  Here are some pictures from their "date."