A Dog's Life

Generally speaking, Muslims don't like dogs.  This is something that a lot of Westerners don't really think about before they move here.  It's not illegal to have a dog in the Emirates, but dogs are always supposed to be on a leash and be muzzled.  [This is good for Cindy and I since we're not really dog people.  But I digress...]. 

Some of the reasons for this were explained in the newspaper this week.  There is a weekly  "Ask Ali" column where people generally write in with cultural questions - and Ali, who is Emirati, provides his insights. 

Ali starts off by mentioning that the general dislike for dogs is not universal and that he even had a dog when he was young.  The average person's attitude towards dogs can be summed up pretty well, though, by noting that people would often say to his father,

 "Do you think your prayers are answered when you keep that dog?"

People would call the dog haram [forbidden].  Ali goes on to mention some of the specific reasons why Muslims do not like dogs. 

[Muslims are]..."afraid that being near a dog will break their ablutions, their Wudu, or bring disease, or that angels will not linger when a dog barks....  [This is] what they have been taught."

Both ablutions and Wudu refer to the ceremonial washing that a Muslim must do before praying.  So essentially, touching a dog would make the Muslim unclean and unable to offer prayers.  Obviously, however, a Muslim could still own a dog, and simply not touch the dog until after praying, and still be ceremonially clean for prayers.

This attitude towards dogs is interesting in light of the fact that the Bedouin who have lived in the deserts of Arabia for centuries have often hunted with Salukis, a particular breed of dog known for its speed (check out the photo of the Salukis racing below).  It's also worth noting that in spite of the general disdain for dogs, it's trendy right now for younger Arab guys to keep Salukis.  It's seen as a way that they're embracing their Bedouin heritage. 

It Pays to Support Your Team

The most popular sport here in the UAE is definitely soccer.  One thing that may surprise you about this is that a lot of fans get paid to go to the matches.  Seriously.

This is how it all started.  Back in the day (like, 10 or 15 years ago), the teams/clubs were primarily owned by families.  And so the team was an extension of the family.  And so just like when a family had you over to their home they would take care of you, when you go to the stadium, the family-owned team feels like they should take care of you.  The going rate for attending a match is about 50 dirhams ($13).  Admission is free.  There are bonuses for cheering, chanting, singing, and clapping.  Drinks and snacks may be included for the most vocal supporters as well.

[disclosure - I had no idea about this until I read about it in the paper today - but I'm definitely intrigued by it all - the full article is here ].

I have thought about checking out some of the local soccer matches just to see what it was like.  Now though, I know I need to be sure I get a fair price for my services.

USA vs UAE

by Cindy

One of the things I was trying to do over the summer months in the USA is keep a mental log of the differences I noticed.  The longer we spend in the UAE, the more normal things become and, in many ways, normal begins to shift to the ways of the UAE instead of the ways of the USA.  Most of the things are subtle and mundane, but part of this blog's purpose is recording the changes and differences.

Some of the differences that I noticed this summer:

• Bread.  Yum.  I had no idea that I missed bread made with yeast but I found that I couldn't get enough when it was served with meals.  Here we mostly have 'flat bread' that's made without yeast.  It's really good but different from what is in America.  I couldn't get enough rolls and biscuits.  Now I can't get enough room in my pants to breathe!
• Water refills.  In the UAE we drink bottled water in restaurants (our tap water is safe to drink but restaurants don't use it) so the unlimited refills of water was a welcome change.  (A side note - water is crazy cheap in the UAE compared to the US.  We pay about $0.33 for a 12 oz bottle of water.)
• Billboards.  We have them but they don't advertise casinos or alcohol and we certainly don't have as many as the US.  Quite frankly, I don't miss them. 
• Gasoline.  We have mentioned before that we have full service in the UAE, it's cheap and the price is fixed for the whole country.  I don't miss having to look around for the cheapest gas.  I certainly don't miss pumping my own gas!
• Plastic cups.  No restaurant here gives away plastic cups.  I miss the convenience of plastic cups.  It's hard to take a drink with you in the car when all you have is glass.  And, milkshakes are hard to make in an ice tea glass!  I meant to snag some plastic from my brother's house but I forgot.  :)
• Cold water.  Weird, I know.  What I noticed in the US was that cold water out of the tap is actually cold.  In the UAE, everything is so hot that you can't get the water cold enough.  When you want a cold shower in the middle of the summer, you often get a warm shower which isn't quite as refreshing.  Jeff can even tell you what golf courses actually cool their water so there is a cold shower.  Those are the courses they prefer to play in the hot weather.
• Swimsuits in public.  Don't miss this one!  I was shocked at how many people wear their swim suit in public, particularly to the grocery store.  Really? 
• Wallets and check books.  For all intents and purposes, we don't have checks in the UAE.  That also means that our wallets don't have places for a check book.  I wrote a few checks this summer and each time I found myself double checking my work to make sure I had filled it our correctly.  Another funny side note is that if you buy a wallet here in the UAE (which was probably made in Europe) it won't hold US dollars!  They are too big for the wallet.  Ask Jeff, he knows.

Home Again - Part 2

by Cindy

When we spend three months away from home we have to plan ahead a bit.  It drives Jeff crazy but I start cleaning out the kitchen about six weeks before we leave.  You know, I start pushing to eat that can of X that I bought on a whim and then never used.  Or I start thinking about finishing off Y out of the freezer that's been there for months.

I suppose the upside is that everything, and I mean everything, gets cleaned out once a year. [Are you reading this mother???].  Ideally we clean the whole kitchen out and then only have to eat out for the last couple of meals before we head off on summer holiday/vacation.

Of course, upon our return, we have to make a major trip to the store to restock our kitchen.  Jeff was gracious enough to do a majority of the restocking this year.  Here is a picture of the goodies we purchased the first day back.  I'm guessing we got about 90% of what we need and we'll be back to the store again in a few days to get the other odds and ends.  And for those of you who know us well, you can find all of the cereal boxes on the right hand side.  I think we have seven or eight different kinds.

For those of you who are curious, we spent 844 dirhams at Carrefour and 636 dirhams at Spinney's.  That's about $403 to get re-stocked. 

Home Again - Part 1

Most people are shocked to hear that we get three months of vacation each year.  If they can suppress their jealousy, they start to ask questions like, "What's it like being gone for three months?"  Or they say, "I can't imagine what it would be like to be gone from home for so long..." 

It was a little hard for us to imagine the first time, but after three summers of three months off, we're getting used to it.  To show you a little of what it's like, the next few posts will be about the kind of things that we came home to.

Exhibit 1:  Our Car.  It's a 2009 Volvo S80.  It's dark gray - not that you can tell that from this picture.  Here is what it looks like after we get back.  You can see that I've wiped off the windows so that it's drivable, but a substantial coat of fine sand covers the car.  We have covered parking outside our villa, but not a garage, so this is one of the things that we come home to.

We were fortunate that we didn't need a new battery after letting the car sit for three months in the heat.  During the summer, the low temperatures are about 90F and the highs are between 110 and 120F.  So it's pretty common to come back to a dead battery.  It's rare for anyone to have a battery last two years (regardless of the quality of the battery).

Also, if one of your tires happens to lose air - and then sits flat for three months - you're going to need a new tire.  Tires here usually only last 3 years (regardless of the warrantied mileage) because of the heat.

Here's a neighbor's car - just so you can see what one looks like untouched for three months.  On the positive side, the sand that you see coating the car doesn't scratch the paint.  This may sound strange (especially to our readers from West Texas), but it's true.  The sand wipes off easily and does not scratch the paint.  I've been told that the sand doesn't scratch because the chemical composition of the sand here makes the grains of sand round - while the chemical composition of the dirt in West Texas makes the grains more like tiny cubes (with relatively sharp edges)  [disclaimer:  this is what I've been told, but I am not a geologist and have no idea if this is true - if you're reading this and you are a geologist, let us know if this is right].

OK - so there's our first example of something we come home to [after three months].  More to come later in the week and early next week.