I’ve been really bad about blogging lately because I’ve been pretty busy. A few weeks ago I got promoted to Social Studies teacher, so I’ve had a lot more on my plate (and in my paycheck)! I’ve had a few exciting weekends this month and I’ve written a few drafts about them that just aren’t ready to post yet.
That being said, this evening was so bananas, writing inspiration struck!
When our vice principal, Vanessa, texted us that she and our principal, Jeremy, were hosting an event for Americans at the Lulu’s, we knew we had to go. Lulu’s is an Indian supermarket chain that is essentially a super Walmart. Apparently they added to their stock of American products and wanted to celebrate.
With nothing better to do on a Monday night, we headed across town for the 6PM ceremony. We walked into the store and the first thing we saw was a big “Discover USA” display. For some reason, they chose NASA, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Universal Studios as their representatives for the US. We found Jeremy, Vanessa, Vanessa’s daughter, and a large group of Lulu’s managers and operators standing nearby.
The first stop was in the middle of an aisle where they had red white and blue balloons, American and UAE flags, and a ribbon across the aisle. We walked down a red carpet and gathered around and employees at the store started playing the UAE anthem at full blast. Immediately after they played the US national anthem. I got a video of the ordeal. It is several minutes long and mostly just show’s Jordan’s back, but I did capture the insanity. It is unfortunately too big a file to upload, so I will get that posted separately.
After that, Jeremy cut the ribbon and there was a huge confetti explosion from either side of us and the speakers started blasting John Philip Sousa. Meanwhile, families did their grocery shopping as if this insane thing weren’t happening in the middle of their errand.
Our tour guides then brought us to various stations where they put some of the American products at their end caps and had sample stations where we were treated to cheese balls, oreos, cookies, and cheddar cheese. The cheese was fairly exciting, as many stores here don’t offer much more than mozzarella. A store manager proudly told us they imported 250 cheeses this week. I could tell as they had everything from muenster to smoked cheddar to mango habanero gouda. My mom would be glad to see they now have cheese curds!
We were also pleased to see they brought in American grapes. The grapes you get here are fairly small and are full of seeds. These were the same big seedless grapes we are used to from home. While we sampled some fruit, Jeremy and Vanessa were brought over to cut a big cake in front of a cardboard cut out of the White House.
I had figured when the cake was cut that the event was over, but from there we were shown several more cheeses, hamburger, and bites of steak.
Our final stop was a big Christmas display with various trees, lights, garland, and a big fake Santa. One of the managers instructed his employee to turn on the speaker to play Christmas music for us, but the moment he did the call to prayer began. We laughed as they frantically turned the speaker off.
To top off the night, Jeremy gave a speech thanking Lulu’s for the event and inviting him as a representative both of Manor Hall, and of the United States of America.
