How Hot is It?

People ask us from time to time - is it hot over there? Yes. Hot like you can't even imagine. Hot like Phoenix or Vegas. Stupefyingly hot. It was 115 degrees Fahrenheit on the day that we left Dubai for summer vacation (July 16). And that wasn't a record, it's seasonal, typical even.

And no, it's not a dry heat. This place is like Houston - only more humid. Yesterday morning - 94%. Last night when I was playing golf, 90%. Our windows drip condensation all summer long and our glasses fog up when we walk outdoors.

OK - enough about that. We do have a lot of wonderful air conditioning here - and since the Sheikh pays my electricity bill, it's really not a huge problem.

For your enjoyment, here are two slightly more amusing ways you can know that it's hot over here and everyone knows it:



What appears to be an egg is actually a magnetic advertisement encouraging people to use public transportation. The print on the egg white says, "It's always a cool 20 degrees C on the Metro." The whole story about this advertising campaign is here.

And this picture was taken by a Texan who lives in Qatar (which is another country here in the Gulf). She's baking cookies inside her car. They cooked in about 3 hours. They were apparently a little crispy on the outside and slightly gooey on the inside.

It is starting to cool off a little bit for fall, by the way. It was 80 this morning, and we're expecting a high of 98. :)

She's Kind of a Big Deal

by Cindy

This week Jeff and I happened upon a birthday party for Caitlin's 1st birthday. While we don't know Caitlin or her family, she's apparently kind of a big deal. Caitlin's family rented out a hotel ballroom that will seat 350 people [we know this because it is the same ballroom where our church meets each week]. One of the funniest things is that Caitlin's party is going to last until 2AM. I'm pretty sure she won't still be awake and I doubt her mother will be either!

I'm wondering if my brother Kevin and his wife Kim are planning this kind of shin-dig for Reagan's (my niece's) 1st birthday party in December...

Sex and the City 2

by Cindy

I had a chance to see Sex and the City 2 on the plane on the way back home. For those of you who might have missed it, the movie is set in Abu Dhabi, which is about 90 miles down the road. For those of you who have seen it, I thought I would share some perspective on how well they did. For those of you who might be waiting to rent the movie, I promise no spoilers!

• The movie was not filmed in Abu Dhabi but in Morocco.
• They were supposedly staying at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi - Emirates Palace is a LOT nicer than the hotel in the movie.
• There is a scene where taxis pull up in front of the hotel - our taxis are much nicer. They are all very clean, new and never smell.
  
• The hotel room cost $22,000/night. That is probably about right (if you're staying at the real Emirates Palace Hotel)!
• The hotel room came with a butler for each guest - again, that sounds about right.
• Upon arrival everywhere the ladies are offered Arabic tea or juices - that always happens. This is a very hospitable place.
• There is a scene where the butler mentions that he flies to see his family every three months, when he can afford the plane ticket. In reality, it would be more like every three years.
• One of the things that happens in the movie is Sara Jessica Parker's character leaves her passport at the souk (market) but doesn't realize it until days later. She returns to the shop to look for her passport and the shop keeper has kept it safe for her. That would totally happen. When we moved here, I left my purse on the bus over a weekend and it was found and returned to me.
• Jail would absolutely be the punishment for having sex on the beach. The fact that Kim Cattrall's character got out of jail means that she had "wasta" [which means "influence"]. The fact that the trip was basically revoked after her stint in jail is a reasonable response here.
• Kim Cattrall's behavior at the sheesha bar and in the scene leading up to the beach would be totally inappropriate here.
• There is another scene where Kim Catrall's character is wearing shorts and a spaghetti strap top. You would never wear anything like that, it is very insensitive. Most of the clothing in the movie would be considered inappropriate here.
  
• There is a scene in the souk where covered ladies pull the American women into a room and reveal that they, too, are wearing the latest fashion. That is so true! Under the abayas and shaylas women over here wear clothes right off the runway!

I would say that as a whole, they did a decent job representing the culture here. The over-the-top wealth was shown as well as some of the things in American culture that clash with the culture here. I didn't think the movie was all that great but it does give you a brief glimpse into culture here in the UAE. It's worth a rental at least.

Book Club - Part 1a

written by Cindy but compiled by Jeff

OK - so you may have read our last post about the books that we're reading for our book club on campus this fall. If you would like some additional book recommendations, we're providing a list below. Now we won't be reading these in our book club, but either Jeff or I have read all of these and we think they're excellent sources of information on the Middle East. Whether you like history, fiction or politics, I think we have a book for you:

• From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas Friedman - a good overview of Middle East politics including the creation of the state of Israel, the PLO, Hezbollah, the Lebanese civil war, and the Intifada. If you haven't read much about the Middle East, this is a good place to start.

• City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism, Jim Krane – a fast-paced, thoughly-researched history of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. A great book if you just want to know about where we are and want to know how Dubai became a modern boomtown.
  


• Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson – story of a US citizen who traveled in Afghanistan and Pakistan and has begun to build schools in the region. A great read with a compelling story line about providing education to kids who live in remote and underdeveloped areas.

• War for Muslim Minds, Giles Kepel – Covers the roots of radical Islam, the development of the neoconservative political agenda in the US, and responses to Islam by the US since 9/11. Also another reasonable starting point if you haven't done a lot of reading on the Middle East.


• The Accidental Guerrilla, David Kilcullen - Good discussion of modern counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency military strategy. Author is an Australian who advised the US State Department. This reads like a graduate-level book on counter-terrorism. Excellent, but not a light read. If you don't like to listen to or watch the news, this one's not for you.


• Arabian Nights - is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is also known as One Thousand and One Nights. Obviously, this one is fiction (as opposed to the others on the list). It's a classic - you need to have this on your bookshelf (and have read it). Well, at least the abridged version.
  


• Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Ali is the Somali-born member of the Dutch parliament who faced death threats after collaborating on a film about domestic violence against Muslim women.


• World is Flat, Thomas Friedman - an international best selling book that analyzes globalization. Not specifically about the Middle East, but just a good book that will help you (assuming you're an American) see how business is becoming more global - and why that's both good and unavoidable.
  

If you have any additional books you think we might want to look at, let us know. Or, if you have any you want us to read and offer our perspective, we can try to do that as well (but we make no promises on how soon we will get it read)!

Book Club - Part 1

One of the things that we do over here is that we're part of a book club. We meet with about 12-15 people once a month to discuss a book that we've all read together. We love these meetings and so you may have heard us talk about the great conversations that we have there. This fall, we're focusing on books that deal with Dubai and/or Arabia. Since this is the topic for the fall, and since many of you are reading this blog to learn about life over here, we thought that we would invite you to pick up the books too. Feel free to comment on our posts about Book Club, to drop us a line on Facebook about the book, to send an e-mail, or give us a call (Jeff's old mobile number is now a Vonage number that rings over here - just call before noon Central time if you decide to call - that way it will still be a decent hour over here).

Our first book will be City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism by Jim Krane. It's about Dubai's transformation from a fishing village to a global metropolis in the past 30 years. Here's a link to the book on Amazon. If you want to read it with us, pick it up and start reading. We'll be meeting with our group here to talk about it on Sunday night, October 10. Enjoy.

Junk Mail

by Cindy

When we moved, we transferred our "permanent" address to my mother's house. That really only consisted of the two credit cards we kept and the life insurance policies. Otherwise, we canceled everything. So, how is it that we have received mail EVERY day since we arrived in America? That's makes no sense to me.

In the UAE we don't have government-run mail service. We have UPS, FedEx, DHL, and Aramex if we need to ship something to or from the UAE. We also have couriers if we need something delivered locally. That's really about it. The strange thing is that we can't really have the government-operated mail service like in the US because we don't have street addresses in the UAE!!! Nobody has them.

Technically, I have a PO box but it is actually the University's address so all University mail goes to the PO box. If you asked me for my street address I would have to tell you something like, "PO Box 26666, American University of Sharjah." That's it. There's no street.

It's hard to give directions with this kind of system - or lack thereof. If a delivery person doesn't know where my University is, I might elaborate by telling him "Universtiy City in Sharjah" or "take Emirates Road, follow the signs to University City, then go to AUS. It's near the Sharjah Airport. At the campus guard gate, ask for my apartment number." Although this does seem odd, works (and it isn't a huge money-loser like the USPS).

Dream Season

Maybe you grew up watching the TV show "Dallas". I know that I did. Friday nights I was glued to the TV for the Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas, and Falcon Crest. [maybe I shouldn't have admitted that - but oh well, there it is - it's true]. So I've been thinking about "Dallas" a little this summer.

One of the odd feelings that Cindy and I have had this summer is how familiar it feels to be back in America. We have lots of friends, we are enjoying seeing family, we know lots of great things to do and great places to go.... And it feels like we could step back into our lives here without any problem. Same people, same places, same everything. And it would be like our year in Dubai never happened. It would be one of those things where we'd ask each other, "Did we really do that? Did we really live there? Did we meet all of those people? Did all of those things happen?" It would be like the "Dallas" dream season [season 8, if you recall, was simply one of Pam Ewing's dreams].

That's how the summer in America has made us feel - like our life in Dubai is a million miles away and not quite real. Friends who've lived overseas - including several military veterans - have said the same thing about their overseas experiences. It seems like a whole different life - not completely real.

Of course, we know our life is real. I have plane tickets, pictures, and paychecks to prove it. And of course our time in Dubai isn't like Pam Ewing's season-long nightmare - we've loved our time in Dubai. We've met some great friends. And of course we know that we're going back in about two weeks. But it has been a strange feeling to live in two places. When we're here, our life in Dubai doesn't seem quite real. And I suppose that when we get there, America won't seem completely real, either.