Family! Friends! Followers of the blog! You can breathe easy, as after copious amounts of inflight movies and a few awkward hours of plane sleeping, we’ve flown over the top of the globe and made it to the land of sand and extravagance, Dubai. Our Zags are a bit underslept and a bit overstimulated, but get used to it sugar cuz its all part of the experience. Last night we arrived weary and stiff from sitting in close quarters on our 13 hour flight, and immediately hopped to sit in close quarters for 2 more hours on a Dubai tour bus. After the quick tour seeing sights that we’ve only read about in Guinness Book of World records, our Zambezi Zags have a few words to describe their impressions of Dubai.
Rachel Haas: the try-hard child trying to stand out/compensate for something/earn approval
Preston: Extravagance
Leila: Middle east meets Bellagio
Bryce: Opulence
Rachel Walls: Colorful
Spencer: A Spectacle
Maurie: Big is best
Janeen: Imaginative
Sammi: unreal
Reagan: Awe inspiring
Annika: Extra…
Megan: Whoah…
Ellie: Lit up
Fr. Baraza: A place to go
Alea: Modern
Isaac: Bright
Emma: Larger than life
Daniel: an oasis of glass and steel
Chloe: the most successful 47 y/o I’ve ever met
Caitlyn: A whirlwind of differences
Josh: Inauthentic or plastic
The trip starts here in awe inspiring, over-the-top, larger than life, opulent, big-is-best, unreal, Dubai. In many ways it is possibly the farthest thing from Zambezi. It offers us a view of a world that values extravagance, wealth, and above all being the biggest and best. We’ll soon find ourselves in a place very much the opposite. It feels bizarre and unreal here, as if we’re in a Mission Impossible movie. Josh commented that it feels as if you could lean on the wrong pole and the whole place could come crashing down as if it is merely a well painted Hollywood background. I can’t help but agree, because after all the glory and glitter of Dubai was built in under 35 years, and the country of UAE is only 47 years old. Most of our parents are older than the famed Dubai (and as Chloe said likely less successful than Dubai. Do any of our parents have the tallest building in the world or an indoor ski hill?). Daniel described it as an oasis of glass and steel, and perhaps it is just an oasis; an illusion to be questioned. It feels fake though. Soon we’ll find ourself in Zambia a place that feels quite the opposite. Real. Almost too real. We’re quite literally boarding the plane for Lusaka right now so I’m off! Thank you all for reading and supporting us from afar. Your love and support crosses continents and oceans.
Kisu Mwane,
Ethan Kane
Gonzaga Alumni ’19
Mr.Ethan,
I’m so stoked for you to be on this journey and hopefully laugh as hard as we did in that infamous closet in the convent and get to meet another new born baby while you get your face covered in baby powder on a walk home from school. Also, please tell me that you and Father Baraza got matching Dubai shirts.
I really hope you find the time to enjoy those long walks and hopefully also have time to enjoy some time at the convent and explore some of the things that we did not get the opportunity to see. Give Jessie a big hug on my behalf and I really hope the reunion between you and little Josh is as magical as I envision it. You’re a gem E Kane, much love on this journey.
Hi father Baraza! I’m so glad I got to see you on my last trip to Spokane and I hope you enjoy your time in Zambezi with all of your new friends.
Zags, I am excited to see what this trip holds for you all. My only advice is to give yourselves grace. You will have some hard times and you’ll have some great times. The hard times might seem to outweigh the good times but two years later, I still am grateful for the lessons Zambezi taught me and the friendships I made.
Kisu Mwane (one of the few words I remember since the Ed team always managed to miss language classes),
Lyds
Thank you for the entertaining post. Your blogs will continue to comfort your slightly-older-than-Dubai (ahem) parents back in the states. I am taking my class of 3rd graders along for the ride as we follow your blog. We viewed images of the tallest building and we tried to imagine stepping into the warm, clear waters of the Persian Gulf.
Be tough and love on one another. Amazing experience ZZTops!
Kisu Mwane to all! (I don’t know the meaning of that expression but I will not Google as I know it will come to me in the coming posts.)
Yas team! Tired and amazed is a good spot to be! Hopefully, through the exhaustion and delirium, your eyes can focus enough to see all of these amazing sights. All kinds of good thoughts to you all and I hope the remaining travels go smoothly! Can’t wait to hear about the *grand* (fancy grand, ya know) touchdown. Stay gold and much love!
Mia
What a fantastic growth experience. So proud of my granddaughter Regan watching her growth from birth to becoming a Zag and now Zambezi. Enjoy, cry, understand and learn mixed with your inherent ability to love makes this a wonderful experience. Life Is Good.
Enjoy the adventure! from the writings of Dale Carnegie “You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people, than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Which is just another way of saying that the way to make a friend is to be one.” These weeks together learning of others and working together will bond you for life. Be good, have fun and ENJOY! hugs to Alea!