Church

So we went to church today for the first time. The church is called the United Christian Church of Dubai. It's an evangelical, nondenominational church - you can check it out at http://uccdubai.com/ and even listen to the sermons if you want to. We've included some pictures below [the first picture is from the back of the sanctuary after the service, and the second is from where we were seated].

I'd describe it as contemporary-style worship. We sang about 7 songs, 3 of which we knew, and 2 of which were hymns (When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and A Mighty Fortress is Our God). Then there was a message - some solid expository teaching - the sermon was about 35 minutes long, and then we took communion together. The entire service was probably about an hour and twenty minutes. There were about 400 people in our service (the English one) and the sanctuary was almost entirely full. It wasn't standing-room, but there weren't more than a few empty seats. There was a Chinese and an Arabic service going on at the same time elsewhere in the building. One of the couples that we met said there were several other services that met at other times during the day (Filipino, Indian, etc.).

In the English service, there were the usual Americans, Canadians, Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis, with a fair number (maybe 1/3 to 1/2) of Africans, Indians, Bangladeshis, Singaporeans, and other folks from around the globe.

So how was it? It was a great, comforting reminder of home. The best comparison I can make is that it was like the first good, familiar American meal that you have after you get back from a long overseas trip. You sit down, relax, relish each bite, and just soak in the whole experience. It was really great.

Anniversary

So our anniversary was this week - on August 26 - we've been married 9 years and it's been great. We decided we needed a little slice of Americana for the anniversary, so we skipped the upscale Dubai cuisine and went to Chili's. Cindy got fajitas and I had a burger. Both were AMAZING.

We've been doing well on food - no American meals since day 1, but we were just wanting something familiar for our anniversary. Here are a couple of pictures.

Miscellaneous Observations

by Cindy
As we have begun to get settled and started classes this week, I have made a few mental notes that I thought I would share.

1. Everything here is about face to face contact. They are not as big on email, texting and using the phone. As a result, you walk a lot more. At least it is a healthier alternative since it is not the most time efficient.

2. I'm going to have to trade in my three inch stilettos for a smaller heel (see #1).

3. Every floor is made of marble, I have yet to see a carpeted room. The marble is beautiful but painful on the feet (see #1 and #2).

4. All of the bathrooms have a western toilet / bidet combination. This means that the floor is usually slightly wet (with clean water).

5. This is a formula for disaster: #1 (walking a lot) + #2 (stiletto heels) + #3 (marble floors) + #4 (wet floor) = disaster. Nothing has happened yet but I live in fear every time I go to the bathroom.

6. My 10th grade geometry teacher taught me that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. That is still true but I think the formula needs a variable for air conditioning. It may be that the path from my office in the Library to the Business building is a nice straight 30 degree angle. But, I can walk from my office, through the main building (right angle) and then to the business building and get some A/C in the middle of the walk. That's the path I choose every time! Whatever path takes me through the most A/C is the path I am taking.

The doctor

by Cindy
Shortly after our arrival, I got pretty sick with a head cold / sinus infection. I knew I was starting work soon so I wanted to go to the clinic, get some antibiotics and just get better. I was coughing all night long so Jeff wasn't getting any sleep either.

Jeff was able to figure out where the clinic was on campus so we walked over...
2 minutes to fill out paperwork
2 minutes of waiting until they called my name
5 minutes with the nurse while she took vitals and typed my blood
2 more minutes of waiting
5 minutes with the doctor while he confirmed that I was in fact sick and he wrote my prescription for an antibiotic, cough syrup and nose spray

3 minute walk to pharmacy on campus

1 minute to hand over prescription and her to fill it
1 minute for her to explain that our insurance doesn't kick in until September 1st so we need to pay for the meds out of our pocket. No problem, I just want to get to feeling better. I instantly felt better when the total for the meds was 52.50 Dhs / $14.30!!!!

So to sum up my doctor's visit: It took under 30 minutes and less than $15. I already feel much better and I'm not even finished with my antibiotics yet.

Jeff and I spend more money and stay longer at Starbucks than we did at the doctor!!!

Cereal

by Cindy
For those of you that know Jeff and I well, you know that we love cereal. Morning, noon or night, we are happy with a bowl of cereal for any meal. Prior to our departure, our evenings were filled with many goodbye dinners and we were looking forward to arriving in Sharjah and having cereal again.

Our first trip to the grocery store was simple - our list comprised of oatmeal, raisins, bread, peanut butter, jelly, milk and cereal. No problem.

Oatmeal. Check. No selection here but we did find Quaker Oats oatmeal. They had several porridge options but I'm not really sure what porridge is...

Raisins. Check. We immediately found white raisins which are just as good. They had numerous dried fruit options.

Bread. Check. Wheat bread, white bread, multi grain bread, pita bread, you name it, they had it.

Peanut Butter. Check. Jif reduced fat crunchy. Just like home.

Jelly. Check. They only had one grape option which was pricey but they had numerous strawberry options. No problem.

Milk. Check. We couldn't find skim / no fat milk but we did find low fat cows milk. They also have "full fat" and "double fat" if you are so inclined.

And finally, cereal. They don't have the full aisle devoted to cereal like we have in the States but they did have about 1/2 of an aisle to choose from. Out of that selection, about 1/3 of the aisle was Corn Flakes. They have boxes of Corn Flakes that contain 164 servings! The didn't have any Honey Bunches of Oats or any Frosted Mini Wheats. They did have Honey Nut Cheerios but no regular Cheerios. They had one box that resembled Raisin Bran but it was more like mini-wheats stuffed with raisins. It was crazy expensive, too. We settled for Corn Flakes, only 40 servings though. : )

Here is the tally:
Oatmeal 7.75 Dhs / $2.11
Raisins 9.10 Dhs / $2.47
Whole grain bread 5.25 Dhs / $1.43
Peanut Butter 10.55 Dhs / $2.87
Jelly 10.25 Dhs / $2.79
1/2 gallon milk 10 Dhs / $2.72
Corn Flakes 5.95 Dhs / $1.62

Total 58.85 Dhs / $16.03

All in all, our trip was a success. Cheap, too. If you ever want to send a care package our way, we love cereal!

The Office

I love my office. It's classy, attractive, and has new furniture. It's better than my shared office with 1960s furniture at Tech [and lest any of you think I'm kicking Texas Tech around, it's nicer than my professors' offices at UT, too].

Maybe one of these days, I'll get tired of having a cube, but right now, I'm glad to have some of my fellow new professors right next door to talk to. We're supposed to get a new business building before my 3-year contract is up, so I may move from this nice, new office to a nicer, newer one.

What I Learned on My Trip to Dubai

Hello from Dubai! Cindy and I made it in last night and got some good rest. We're trying to figure things out in the city today (Saturday) and I have some orientation stuff on campus tomorrow, but basically we're just trying to get settled in.

Sorry we don't have any pictures for you yet - you'll have to give us a couple of days to get over our jetlag and get things squared away. Besides, if I put up pictures today, you might not come back to read for a while. I need to build suspense.

So, here is a list of a few things that we learned on our trip over here. Some are just observations, some are funny, but all are about our trip. So here they are in no particular order of importance - 10 Things I Learned on My Trip to Dubai.

1. If Cindy and I ever have children and take them overseas, we will sedate them for the flight. Go ahead and judge us if you want.
2. If you have small children/infants, British Airways apparently puts you in bulkhead seating. This means that (a) if you're traveling with small children, you should consider BA, and (b) if you're traveling on BA and request a bulkhead seat, you may be traveling with small children.
3. Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones are the greatest gift Cindy has ever given me. I HIGHLY recommend them.
4. Halcion (sleeping pills) are the greatest gift my father-in-law has ever given me. I fell asleep somewhere over east Texas and woke up over the UK. Amazing.
5. UK Starbucks stores take US Starbucks gift cards. Also Amazing.
6. British Airways Rocks, Part 1 - They have good food, better legroom than any US airline that I have flown, free papers and magazines, and free wine with meals. This is in all four classes from first to economy.
7. British Airways Rocks, Part 2 - Entertainment on Demand. You have your own personal video player, on which you can choose to view any of about 50 movies, tons of TV shows, plus musical performances, news, and sports. You can play, pause, rewind, fast-forward, etc. If you're a golfer, I recommend the swing mechanics lessons from Hank Haney. If you're not into watching videos, there are plenty of audio channels. You know it's all good when they have Pat Green on the country channel. Again, this is in all four classes, from first to economy.
8. Romance novels are apparently popular in Dubai. We know this because we sat next to Fabio on the plane. OK - not the real Fabio, but the British Fabio. Tanned, toned, blonde - and with an accent. For the record, I'm taller than the British Fabio.
9. Muslim social mores do not fully extend to 37,000 feet. There were not one, but two women breastfeeding on our row on the plane. Not with a blanket or towel or anything like that, mind you, just breastfeeding. Now I'm not making any kind of statement about whether breastfeeding in public is a beautiful expression of motherhood or if it's inappropriate. I'm just saying that I wasn't expecting it on a flight to an Arab country.
10. Muslim social mores come close to 37,000 feet. Many women boarded the plane in western attire, but deplaned in burkas and veils.

Well, I hope you were entertained by our stories. We'll fill you in with more info after a few days. Right now, I'm off to find some good American food for lunch. Pizza Hut? KFC? Hardees? I'm not sure. We'll let you know how it is. Adios.

Going, Going,...

Here are a few shots from our last outings with friends in Lubbock. We've posted more pictures from these get-togethers on Cindy's Facebook page.

LAST LUNCH AFTER CHURCH

LAST STARBUCKS COFFEE SEMINAR

LAST (BIRTHDAY!) BBQ

...GONE

Missing, Presumed Lost

OK - so a little speculation tonight. What do we think we will miss when we get over to Dubai? We're not really sure. We'll have to update this after we get settled in. But here's our best guess.

1. Football
2. Austin
3. Football in Austin (especially the beatdown that's coming on September 19)
4. Country Music
5. Winter
6. BBQ
7. Tex-Mex
8. Thunderstorms
9. Old South Comfort Food (fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, gigantic bowls of mashed potatoes,...)
10. Thanksgiving

That's all true, but in reality, we'll probably be able to find places to watch football and get American food. The "Missing, Presumed Lost" title of this post is probably an exaggeration. We already know of some Mexican restaurants and we know the Texas Exes meet at least once a week. And music is always available on the Internet.

The stuff we can't replace is attending Westminster, working at the Bridge, coffee seminars at Starbucks, family, and all of our friends in Lubbock and DFW. That's probably the real list.

We're curious about any guesses you have. Let us know what you would miss, or what you think we'll miss. We'll let you know.