Same Kind of Different As Me

by Cindy

Well we have been here for about four weeks now and we have made a few observations. Who knows if these will play out to be true over time but here's what we have for now.

What's the Same on Campus

• Students - they are a lot like they are in Lubbock - here are some more details...
• Skipping class - yep, students do that everywhere.
• Clothes - same designer brands here. If anything, there is more high fashion here.
• Campus - big buildings and lots of room to walk.
• Cussing - we have heard every word in the book in English, no telling what Arabic cuss words we are missing out on!

What's Different on Campus

• Backpacks - no one here really carries a back pack, the women all carry purses and men generally don't have anything.
• iPods - they are not plugged in everywhere they go. Everyone walks in groups and talks the whole time. They are much more social.
• Call to prayer. We hear it all over town as well as campus.
• Names! They have sounds and letter combinations that we don't have in English. It has been a challenge to learn and (correctly) pronounce everyone's names!

Ramadan - Part III

Ramadan is over-commercialized. Sound familiar?

THIS AD IS FOR AN ELECTRONICS CHAIN IN THE UAE (PRETTY SIMILAR TO BESTBUY). EID IS THE HOLIDAY AT THE END OF RAMADAN AND "EID MUBARAK" MEANS "HAPPY EID."

High-End

One thing we've discovered is that since Cindy and I teach at a private University, we've got some rich kids running around. And I mean rich. Here are a few stories - all of them are true.

Exhibit 1 - Cindy is teaching her class - talking to her students about how some companies differentiate themselves from their competitors by becoming "luxury" brands. She uses Mercedes-Benz as an example. Her students are taken aback and say "Mercedes are for common people. Lamborghini and Aston Martin - they make luxury cars." [this is an actual quote] . Here's a shot of some nice "middle-class" kids' cars.

FROM RIGHT TO LEFT - MERCEDES, INFINITI, INFINITI, BMW, AND LEXUS.

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Exhibit 2 - Cindy is still talking about brand differentiation in her class and is explaining that Emirates airlines (one of the national airlines over here) markets themselves as a luxury airline with great service. The students respond with, "A real luxury airline is Marquis Jet, not Emirates airlines."

At least they get the concept.

Exhibit 3 - Cindy notices one of her 18-year old sophomore students carrying a nice purse. Cindy thinks, "I wish I could find that bag in black - it's exactly what I've been looking for." So after class, Cindy heads back to her office, finds the bag online, and discovers that it's a $14,000 Hermes. FOURTEEN THOUSAND!!!

So basically, I'm saying that while the girls are all wearing black abayas and headscarves, they're carrying Gucci, Chanel, or Louis Vuitton bags. They have designer jeans and heels poking out from under the abayas. The Emirati guys have Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Jack Spade messenger bags. Not everybody rolls like that, but definitely more than at any school I've ever been to. So that's kind of crazy. We've got preppy Arab kids. It's like the SMU of the Middle East.

Ramadan - Part II

by Cindy

This is a typical greeting you might receive during Ramadan. The other common greeting is a picture with your family or just your kids. Look and sound familiar?

Ramadan

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic year. It is the Islamic month of fasting, when Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from sunrise until sunset - with the intention of learning patience, modesty and spirituality from this practice. It's a time when Muslims (the UAE is about 96% Muslim) ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds. The celebrate Ramadan because they believe it to be the month in which the first verses of the Qu'ran were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. The closest thing I can compare it to for Christians is the observance of Lent.

The dates for Ramadan change each year because Muslims follow a lunar calendar rather than a solar calendar, but this year, Ramadan lasted from August 22 to September 19. Next year, Ramdan will move forward by about 11 days.

So what is Ramadan like for Muslims? Here are four of the most obvious ways. First, most Muslims wake at around 3:30 or 4am to have a substantial breakfast before morning prayers at around 4:30am. Second, the workday is shortened for everyone (by law) from 8 hours to 6 hours. That way Muslims who are fasting can get in a little siesta. Third, after sunset and after evening prayer, at around 6:30pm, everyone will break their fast with a large dinner, called an Iftar. Ramadan is a time of the year to be with family and friends - similar to the way Christians want to spend Christmas with family - and so most families gather each evening for their Iftar or afterward to spend time together. Everybody ends up becoming a little more nocturnal during Ramadan.

So what is it like for non-Muslims like Cindy and I to live here during Ramadan? Well, it's different. Because most people are active in the morning and evening but sleeping during part of the afternoon, most businesses change their hours. For instance, Cindy and I have been car-shopping and we were surprised to hear that most dealerships are open from about 9-12 in the morning, and then again from 9-12 at night. Most stores and shops have similar hours. So it takes some planning to get used to the adjusted schedule. It was a little hard to convince ourselves to head out to car-shop at 9 at night - usually that's when we're winding down for the day - but that's what we did.

Also, because most people are fasting, it is considered highly offensive for people who aren't fasting to eat or drink in public during daytime. Restaurants are required by law to close during the daylight hours (some will still do carryout, however). And the University where I work has a special room set aside where non-Muslim faculty, staff, and students to go to eat their lunches and snacks. Not a big deal, but you just have to plan what you're taking for lunch a little more carefully - you can't just run over to the campus Burger King like usual.

The other big difference is Iftar. Since most of the country is fasting, dinner becomes a major event every day. Restaurants and hotels go all-out for Iftar buffets. We hear that most Muslims put on weight during Ramadan (kind of like the holidays back home :) - I'm waiting to see if gyms run post-Ramadan specials). Even non-Muslims attend Iftars - and the meals are pretty impressive. Below are some pictures of some of the simpler Iftars that we went to with fellow faculty members. We also went to a couple of full-on five-star Iftar buffets. More than anything, we enjoyed the Iftars as a way to get together with people and start to make some new friends.

Enjoy the pictures and let us know if you have any questions.






































PS - The bald guy in the foreground on the right is Kevin, the guy who led us to the "teahouse." [If you missed that story, look for the post from earlier in September entitled "Misadventure #1"].

My Crib

Housing has been the one big frustration for us in this move. We feel like everything else has been "as promised," but housing has not. We were told before we moved that we would be in a 2-bedroom apartment or townhome on campus. We saw pictures, talked to people, and felt like it would be a nice place to live. We were excited.

After we arrived, we found out that our housing was not ready and that we would be in a hotel "until some construction is finished." We were told that it should be a matter of weeks, but could stretch into months. I could make this story longer, but that is the gist of it.

The hotel that we stayed in was OK. It was clean, it was across from the beach, we had two meals per day provided. About a dozen of us from the University were at the hotel. There was a bus to and from school each day. So we made it work.

After one month of hotel life, we are now on campus. They still do not have the two bedroom ready for us but the one bedroom is nice and we are very glad to be on campus. So the bottom line is that we're "happier" with our housing situation, but not completely "happy." Nevertheless, we like our new place. We have a 10 minute walk to work or a five minute bus ride. Here are some pictures.

OUR APARTMENT: J06

BATHROOM - WE'LL HAVE MORE TO SAY ABOUT THE BIDET IN FUTURE POSTS :)

KING SIZE BED

DINING AREA

KITCHEN - NOTE THE TINY EURO-STYLE WASHER-DRYER COMBO

THE LIVING ROOM (FROM THE DINING AREA)

So there you have it. Hope you enjoyed the tour. If you need more pictures, see Cindy's Facebook page. Adios.

Lost and Found

by Cindy

Before we moved into our apartment, I accidentally left my purse on one of the shuttle buses. Once I realized I had left it, I called and left a message for Henri, the gentleman in charge of transportation. It was a Thursday (the weekend here) so I knew I was going to have to wait until Sunday before I heard anything back. I didn't have my passport in my purse but I did have every other type of identification along with several hundred Dirhams in cash. On Sunday afternoon when I boarded the shuttle bus, the driver said to me, "miss, wait right here" and he took off running (in 100+ degree temperatures). He showed up in about 10 minutes, dripping with sweat, and had my purse in a bag. I told him thank you and started to sit down on the bus. He said, "no miss, please go through everything to make sure it is all there. Please count all of your money and look for everything." I had no idea how much money should have been in the purse but I went ahead and counted all of it (he corrected me when I got two of the coins mixed up) and confirmed (multiple times) that everything was there. Once I had convinced him everything was there, he wanted me to be sure and let his boss (Henri) know that he had returned everything to me.

I was amazed on several levels. One, that my purse was returned to me with everything in it. Two, that I was not worried about it at all because I really knew it would be returned to me without anything missing. Three, the kindness of everyone involved and four, the realization that if something had been missing, small or large, this bus driver would have been deported and never allowed back into the country. He takes his job very seriously and it is the lifeline to his family back home. They work long, hard hours but do it with a smile on their faces and an incredible thankfulness to have a job. While some of the circumstances around the workers over here troubles me, they have an incredible attitude and sincere thankfulness for their jobs.

I know that if I had left my purse on a shuttle bus in the USA I would never have seen it again. Here, I got it back with everything in it. I like that, I like the UAE.

Overcoming My Fears

Call me unsophisticated if you want, but I had never used a bidet before. I was a little intimidated by the one in my hotel bathroom. And now I have one at my apartment. They're everywhere over here. All the cool kids have them. So I decided that I should learn how to use it.
It took me about 30 minutes of online reading and a YouTube video to feel prepared for this. But I have to admit that I like it. It still seems a little strange, but if being clean is your priority, this is definitely the way to go.

MY BIDET.

Longhorns are Everywhere!

by Cindy

When Jeff was applying for the job here in the UAE, one of the first things we did was to check on the location of the closest Texas Exes association. It was important to know that we could watch NCAA football and more specifically, Longhorn football. We were very pleased to find that there is a Texas Exes chapter in Dubai and in Abu Dhabi (90 kilometers away).





After we found out what date we were to arrive in Dubai, we contacted the local chapter and discovered they had a Happy Hour scheduled just five days after we arrived! We met up with about 30 other Longhorns and friends at the Dubai Marina and Yacht club.

They get together once a month for happy hour or other occasions. We will be gathering again in a few days for an Iftar. Since the Happy Hour, we have met two other Longhorns on campus who will be joining us!

Misadventure #1

OK - so there was a group of about 6 of us - all new faculty and all of us ready to get out and see a little of the town (Sharjah this time, not Dubai - Sharjah is the neighboring city and is more conservative and traditional - it feels like the Middle East, not like flashy, modern Dubai). So Kevin - an instructor in the Philosophy department and one of those people who's never embarrassed about anything - suggested we go down to the "old souk" one evening ["souk" is the Arabic word for market]. It was about 8:30 or so. We needed two taxis to get us all there, and Kevin, who wasn't really too detailed about describing where the "old souk" was located, jumped into the first taxi with Cindy and I. The other cab left with only vague directions.

Kevin found out the cab driver was Afghani, and proceeded to tell him in broken English/Arabic/Dari that Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, was a drug lord and shouldn't be able to stand for re-election. Fortunately, the cabbie laughed, so a potential crisis was averted.

After we arrived at the "old souk," Kevin thought we should go into this "tea house" while we were waiting for the other cab to arrive. He'd seen this "tea house" before and had wanted to visit. So Cindy, Kevin, and I go in, walking past a room full of Emirati men mostly in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. Picture them in their white dishdashas and headdresses, and us sitting in the adjoining room. So the guys in the other cab call us because they're lost (you're probably no more surprised than I was). So, Kevin walked into the other room and asked if one of the gentlemen in there could talk (in Arabic) with our (Arabic-speaking) Lebanese friend in the cab and the (Indian) cab driver to give them directions to our "tea house." It took about 10 minutes to get them into the general vicinity, at which point our friends hopped out of their cab and walked the last several blocks in the 95 degree heat.

After our friends arrived, we all had some more tea. The Emirati gentleman who helped get our friends over came in with another Emirati and we had a nice conversation (mostly in English) with everyone for about half an hour. The Emiratis were truly kind and we enjoyed talking with them.

So, Kevin at some point becomes curious about why there really aren't many waiters at the "tea house" and why there weren't any menus. So he asks, "What is this place?" It's hard to translate, but basically, our Emirati hosts explained that it was a meeting place for the leading men of the city - somewhere between a private club and a city council meeting. There weren't any waiters, only the Emiratis' personal servants.

So we're pretty sure they haven't seen any Westerners in the "tea house" in years. We're also pretty sure they haven't had any women in there in years - much less a Western one with no abaya and no headscarf (Cindy was in a t-shirt and jeans).

Now rest assured that everything was fine and that no one was ever uncomfortable. Furthermore, our hosts were fantastic and we enjoyed that little slice of culture. Maybe Cindy can even run for city council next year. But make no mistake, Kevin's on our list.