26 January 2011

the mv logos hope

Last Saturday, I read in Gulf News that the MV Logos Hope was docking in Dubai until the 5th of February, and since I love reading and I’ve been reading to Caila lately, I wanted to check it out. When I was still a kid in Papua New Guinea, my dad took me to the MV Doulos when it docked there (either in Rabaul or Madang) and I remember I was amazed at the thousands of books they were selling.
So, anyway, yesterday, as soon as hubby picked me up from the office, we headed directly to Port Rashid. There was a shuttle bus at the gate, so we just parked Piper beside the other cars and got on the bus. Logos Hope was docked right beside Queen Elizabeth 2, but there were so many signs that said picture-taking of that ship and the port wasn’t allowed, so unfortunately I didn’t get to take a photo. Anyway, as soon as we got off the bus, hubby and I went straight up the steps to the ship’s entrance, making us the first ones from the bus to enter. As soon as I saw the shelves of books, I became giddy. Before I had Caila, I was an avid reader of novels and pocketbooks, so when we entered the area where they were selling the books, I became really excited. There were so many books (on food, health, spirituality, fiction, etc), I didn’t know where to start. While going around, I came across an entire shelf of Nancy Drew books (all hard-bound!) and I remembered that they were my addiction when I was in elementary. Unfortunately, in the Fiction area, books by my favorite authors weren’t available. However, there were many others to choose from and the prices were really cheap! I got a basket and if there was a book that I liked, I immediately put it in. In the end, hubby and I realized we had filled 2 baskets! Well, we couldn’t buy them all, so we sorted through the books and removed 5 (all supposedly for Caila). It didn’t matter; there were still a lot of books we got for her. After paying the cashier (a young Filipina who was very nice), we went through a path with cartoon posters on the walls and dioramas, and a voice could be heard on the speakers telling a story, which seemed to be a modern version of the Prodigal Son from the bible. The end of the path showed us to a small area with a mini version of the ship’s helm (a crew member volunteered to take a photo of us there), then we entered a small cafĂ© and I bought ice-cream for hubby since he said he wanted one. It cost Dhs5...more pricey than McDonalds, and not as yummy, but it was ok. Once he finished his cone, we got off the ship and boarded the shuttle bus. While we were waiting for the bus to get filled, we noticed that there were crew members from the Logos Hope on the bus (who, I guess, were going out for a night in town). One of them, a young American guy, was seated near us and he was soooo talkative. He kept talking to us, his colleague, and the other passengers near him. He reminded me of Ben Affleck’s character in Surviving Christmas, but not in an annoying way. Even after we got down from the bus, he told hubby and me “Take care. Have a good night!” Very friendly. Come to think of it, all of the crew that we saw on the Logos Hope were friendly and had a smile for everyone.
Once we arrived at home, I took out one of the books for Caila and gave it to her. You can imagine she became so excited, especially when she saw the characters of Playhouse Disney on the cover. She was literally shrieking while jumping and hugging the book. Within minutes, she asked hubby to read one of the books to her on the sofa, and even though he was hungry, he patiently opened the Blue’s Clues book and read a few pages. So sweet!
As you can imagine, after I read her a story from one of her new books that night in bed, she wanted to go to sleep with that book in her arms. Even though it was pretty big and hardbound, she didn’t and wouldn’t let go...at least, not until she found it difficult trying to find a comfortable position with the book on her chest. That’s when she allowed us to keep it beside her, even if it meant less space for her to sleep on.
If you’re wondering what books we bought that night, here’s a shot of most of them plus a foldable Dora the Explorer wallet (I think there are 2 or 3 other books that aren't in the picture)...all of this for Dhs409.50. Definitely a steal!

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