Dressing Up

Today, we would like to give you a brief education on how the locals here dress.  The first illustration below shows how the Gulf Arab men dress.  Gulf Arabs include the Saudis, Kuwaitis, Bahrainis, Omanis, Qataris - and of course the Emiratis.  Essentially, their dress consists of the "thobe" or "kandura" or "dishdash," (these words all mean the ankle-length outer garment) and then the headdress, known as the "ghutra" (in other parts of the Arab world, they call this headdress the "keffiyeh"].  Note that each country has slight differences in how their traditional dress is tailored and worn.  After being here a while, it's starting to get easier to tell the different nationalities apart.  [You may want to click on the picture to get it to open up in a separate, larger window].  As with clothes everywhere, these can be bought "off the rack" or can be custom-tailored.  Most Emirati guys seem to have theirs custom-made.

As far as accessories go, it's common to see designer sunglasses in the pocket or hanging from the buttons of the kandura.  Fountain pens are pretty common as well, either in the pocket or hanging from the placket that runs down the front of the garment.  If the kandura has cuffs, cufflinks are worn (most Emirati ones don't, but some of the other Gulf Arabs often have cuffs).  And finally, no kandura is complete unless it is properly accessorized with a designer watch.  Rolex is by far the favorite, although other luxury brands like Patek Philippe, IWC Schaffhausen, Omega, etc. are also worn.

And now, here are some differences in the way the ladies of the region dress.  Most people in the West would say "all Muslim women wear burkas" or "all Arab women wear burkas" or something similar.  Not true.

Gulf Arab women wear what is known as an "abaya" - a black cloak, often elegantly embroidered, and a matching headscarf known as a "shayla".  There are some variations of this, including the "niqab", which is a veil either covering the entire face or having only a horizontal slit for the eyes.  The abaya and shayla are by far the most common, with the niqab (the full veil) being worn by perhaps only 10% of the women one would see here.  And contrary to the "unfashionable" perception many westerners have about the abayas and shaylas, they are actually quite elegant.  In the illustration below, "Khaleeji" is the term for "Gulf Arab". 

Gulf Arab women accessorize with rings, watches, and especially with designer handbags (Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Fendi, Hermes, etc.)

Arab women from the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine) wear the attire seen below for important occasions, but more often would wear "western" clothes paired with a headscarf that is often called a "hijab".  Younger Levantine Arabs would be almost completely western in their dress, without even a headscarf.  Most of the young ladies from the Levant who attend our university would not look out of place on a North American campus.

Some of the other women's attire (for Afghans, Turks, and Moroccans) is shown below as well.  We do know a few Turkish women who wear the clothes shown below, but have never seen an Afghan woman in the full body covering.

It's a Small World

26 May 20122
by Cindy
An update on someone who knows someone who lives by someone...

This past weekend we were able to take a student from our university to church with us.  As we were talking she mentioned that she's Palestinian, with family in Jordan and America but she was raised in Saudi although she's an American passport holder.  Her brother currently studies in America, at...University of Texas at Arlington.  Per Google maps, that's exactly 3.6 miles from my mother's house.  We figured out it would take only five roads and three turns from her brother's house to my mother's house.

Later that same day I was at dinner with a big group of people only to find out one of my friends here lived in Arlington while she was in kindergarten and first grade.  While we didn't go to the same elementary, we would have gone to the same junior high and high school and would have been in the same graduating class.  Too bad she moved to Iran after first grade.




18 January 2012
by Cindy
I said I would update/re-post this blog every time we met someone who knows someone we know or  something of that sort.  So here goes...

When Jeff and I were in Lubbock we would annually host The Traveling Team in our home.  This is a group of post-college young adults who travel around to US college campuses mobilizing students to go abroad.  You can read more about there here.  One of ladies who came through our home years ago has since married, had children and now lives in our city with her family!  We are fortunate to get to have dinner with her family from time to time and catch up.  Who knew that a connection from years ago would come full circle!




December 2011
by Cindy
Even though we live 8,000 miles away from Texas, there never seems to be shortage of people we meet who know someone that we know.  And occasionally, we have a friend in common who is a very good friend of the person we just met.  I've been keeping a running list but I thought I would go ahead and post the list and then each time we someone who knows someone, I will repost.  Meeting all these people certainly makes 8,000 miles seem not too far and helps us to realize that it is a small world after all!

• Our friend Katie who we know from LateNite in Lubbock went to seminary with our pastor and his wife.  When Katie came to visit us, she walked into our church here and said, "hey, I know them!"
• A couple in our small group, Dianne and Kent are very close friends with our friends Marcy and Bob, from Lubbock.
• Our children's pastor is from Snyder, TX.
• There is a gentleman here from Denver City, TX (!) who we run into quite a bit.
• Our pastor and his wife went to college with our friend Emily who we know from Irving, TX
• Our friend Susan, from Lubbock, had a patient at her dental office who is the mother-in-law of a pastor at a church here in Dubai.  We visited the church when we first arrived and the pastor knew our names before we knew his!
• A fellow church member, Laura, went to school at Lubbock Christian University and was in Lubbock at the same time Jeff and I were there.
• One of our elders knows our friend Greg at Asbury Seminary.
• The craziest one of all (to me at least) is our friend Josh.  Josh was here with his friend Todd, who we've known for several years.  It turns out that Josh is the half-brother to my former step-brothers and sisters.  So we're kind-of related.  We didn't figure that one out until after his visit but it is a very small world!

So, if you think about moving away (or your kids or parents tell you they are moving away), don't fret - it is a small world after all.

Pictures

by Cindy

One of the things that is quite different here is that many of our friends do not have family pictures visible in their home.  In our home and offices, we have pictures everywhere so people are always amazed when they come into our living room or see our fridge full of pictures.

In my office at work I have several pictures of family, trips we've taken and other fun things.  The students are always looking at them, wanting to know who is in the picture, where it was taken, etc.  They are curious in the same way an American would be if we saw someone else's pictures but they approach the pictures with much more enthusiasm.  They are especially amazed at my niece Reagan's big blue eyes and everyone with blond hair.

Our local / regional friends here certainly take photos but they would not be put on display for the world to see.  My students have thousands of photos on their phone but they are for personal viewing, not public viewing.  Jeff has a photo of me in his office and he's had a female comment and say, "Arabs don't show off their women."

There are numerous reasons why they don't have pictures out in the open but mostly it is that families here are very private.  Seeing members of the family in pictures is just for the family.  Many of my local friends are on Facebook but they have images rather than photos as their profile picture and just wouldn't post many photos on the internet.  Some of the common questions in America like "how is your family" or "how many kids do you have" or "do you have boys or girls" would be totally inappropriate here.  Information about your family is information for your family.

1001 Nights!

When we started this journey, we didn't quite know what to expect.  We signed a three year contract and started our blog for you to follow along.  We were looking forward to living outside of America, experiencing a different culture, and trying something new.

Our expectations have been exceeded on every possible level.  We love our jobs, we travel all of the time, we see our family more than when we lived in Lubbock, we have amazing friends and a wonderful church.  We are blessed beyond measure and beyond our wildest expectations.

Here's a summary of all that we've seen and done in the past 1001 nights.  We have been to Ireland, Italy, England, Spain, Russia, and the Czech Republic.  We've been to Jordan, Oman, Qatar, and Egypt.  In Africa, we've been to Kenya and Tanzania, and in Asia, Thailand and China.  We've also been to India, and of course, to America.

We've prepared pasta in Tuscany, cooked curry in Thailand, and sampled ham in southern Spain.  We've sipped Jameson in Ireland, sherry in Andalucia, vodka in Russia, and chianti in, well, Chianti.

We've stood atop dunes in the Empty Quarter, climbed Kilimanjaro, explored Yosemite, camped at the "grand canyon" of Arabia, and safaried in Africa.  We've attended a wedding in India and biked the Golden Gate bridge.  We've toured the Collosseum in Rome, wandered through Egyptian temples in Luxor, and hiked to Petra.  We've been to St. Peter's in Rome and St. Basil's in Moscow.

So what did we do on our 1001st night?  We sat at home in Dubai - exhausted and thankful.  But keep reading - because the best part of our adventures thus far is that we've signed up for 1001 more nights!

The Zamboni

Most public spaces here don't have concrete sidewalks.  I think that's partially because the sand here doesn't have the right chemical makeup to be used in concrete - and also because the Arabs have a general dislike for concrete.  It's lowbrow. 

So they use marble.  Everywhere. Acres of it.  In the photo below, you can see the main plaza at our university.  We have six academic buildings on this plaza (two of which you see in the background), and a large administration building (casting a shadow from the left).  I would guess that the plaza is about the size of 3 football fields.  We've also got a fair amount of additional marble around our business and engineering buildings which are located elsewhere.

You can also see here one of the maintenance staff here at the university driving what looks like a small Zamboni.  He's actually cleaning the fine layer of dust from the top of the marble (note the "clean" marble in the foreground and the slightly dusty marble in the background).  They run this machine about once per week.