Housing Prices

For those of you who are curious, here is a table of housing prices in Abu Dhabi (click on it to enlarge). It's a relatively expensive place to live. Abu Dhabi isn't quite London, Paris, or Tokyo expensive, but they're close. If you want to do the conversions, 1 dollar = 3.67 dirhams.

As an example of something in the table, a 4-bedroom house in the Khalidiya section of town - which is nice, but not where the Sheikhs live, not on the water, and not on a golf course or anything like that - will run you $7,940.75 per month in rent. A two-bedroom apartment is $4,991.33 per month in rent. Those are in dollars, people. It's difficult to buy over here if you're not a citizen, and the legal system here isn't that efficient at handling property disputes. So if your employer doesn't provide housing, you would probably rent.

The Working Man

The government of Dubai just released some statistics about its workforce. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Unemployment is 0.8%
• The workforce grew last year by 7.2%
• More than 80% of the workforce is male
• 56% of Emiratis are not in the workforce (by choice)
• 23.9% of Emirati women work outside the home
• Of Emiratis who work, 58% work in government positions
• Emiratis make up only 3% of the workforce (the rest are expatriates from the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, and Western countries)
  

The full story is available on the website of The National, an Abu Dhabi-based English-language newspaper. Here's a link.

You can Get Everything at the Mall

Faithful readers - study the picture below closely - especially the stencils at the bottom. This photo was taken at one of the malls here - Mirdif City Centre, to be specific. What you'll notice on the sign in addition to directions to various stores, the bathrooms, and the movie theater is the arrow pointing to the mosque.

Yes, there is a mosque at the mall.

In fact, there are mosques in (or very near) all buildings. They're at the mall, at car dealerships, at government offices, at the golf course, and on campus. Some places have a full-on mosque, but others just have a small prayer room. But in either case, know that there is one in every building. If you're in the city, you are never more than a five-minute walk from a mosque.

It seemed a little odd when we first arrived - a mosque at the mall? Really? But for devout Muslims, I can see why it makes total sense. When you're supposed to pray five times a day, this is what's necessary.

Now I have to let you all know that the mall doesn't totally clear out when the call to prayer sounds. Not everyone runs for the mosque. Most people seem content to pray later, at home, or perhaps to skip it.

Mostly now we just think it's different. Without the five daily prayer times, it's just something Christians never picked up on. Prayer rooms in every building probably isn't a bad idea, though.

Arab Beauty Queen

One of the students here at American University of Sharjah was just crowned Miss Egypt. She's lived most of her life in Dubai, but her family is from Egypt. If you're one of our readers back in the States and you think that all women in the Arab world wear burqas, you've got a slanted view of the world. The story is available by following this link.

Inshallah

One of the first Arabic words or phrases anyone learns over here is "inshallah". It means "God willing" or "if it is God's will". Everybody says it over here. What you may not realize if you're not living here - and if you haven't heard this word very much - is that there are two ways in which the word is used.

The first usage is the one that makes Western expats roll their eyes whenever they hear it. For instance, when a student says "I'll bring you that assignment this afternoon, inshallah", most Western professors interpret that statement as "I'll bring you that assignment this afternoon, as long as my friends don't call - and as long as there's nothing good on TV - and as long as I don't take a nap - and as long as nothing else comes up." So there's probably a 50-50 chance - at best - that the assignment actually gets turned in that afternoon.

This usage is common with adults, too. One of the (Western) department heads here at my university asked his (Middle Eastern) administrative assistant on a Thursday if she could get copies of an exam run for him by the following Monday. She replied, "Yes, inshallah." These two individuals have a pretty good working relationship so he responded with, "When you say inshallah, do you mean, 'Yes, I'll get it done' and you're just adding 'inshallah' because that's what you do culturally, or do you mean it the way students mean it? Because one of the reasons I'm giving you this five days early is because I definitely need it done by Monday. " Completely unflustered, she said, "It will be done by Monday, inshallah."

It's common to hear inshallah at government offices, when you call to get the cable TV turned on at your apartment, when you need a repair person, etc. And so most of the time, it doesn't create a real sense of optimism that things are going to get done in a timely manner.

So some people use "inshallah" casually, culturally, and as an excuse to not get things done. Maybe even the majority of people use it that way. But - as I said - there is another usage - one that is more than just using the word as an excuse.

Muslims use "inshallah" because they're required to do so by the Qur'an. Surah 18:23-24 says, "And never say of anything, 'I shall do such and such thing tomorrow,' except (with the saying): 'If God wills!' ." And so Muslims say "inshallah" any time they mention future plans.

As a Christian, I kind of like hearing "inshallah" in this sense because we (Christians) have the same instruction in the Bible. James 4:13-15 says, "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

Christians probably don't say "God willing" or "the Lord willing" nearly as often as the Muslims that I know over here, but it's still definitely something that I hear from time to time from Christians. It's always good to hear that someone is acknowledging God.

So when I hear "inshallah" on the lips of a sincere believer who is acknowledging God's control, I like it. It's a good reminder for me - and probably for other people as well - of God's role in the administration of the universe.

The Price of Gas

The price of gas went up today. You can read the article if you want and do the math yourself, or you can trust me. Over here, gas is...

1.61 dirhams per Liter, so that's
.4383 dollars per Liter, so that's
1.65 dollars per gallon.

If you're reading this in America, I bet you're paying more.

That's for full service, too. [For all of you youngsters reading this, full-service is when someone who works at the gas station pumps your gas for you while you sit in the comfort of your vehicle]. All stations here are full-service.

Arabs and the Greatest Movie of All Time

The greatest movie of all time, The Godfather, might not have ever been made if it had not been for the Arabs. Seriously.

As I began reading up on Italy in preparation for my summer vacation, I learned that Muslim armies invaded the island of Sicily throughout the 800s and 900s A.D., eventually conquering the island and setting up the Emirate of Sicily. The emirate endured from approximately 965 to 1072. During this time period, the Arabs who settled in Sicily renamed the city of Cunigghiuni, calling it Qurlayun. The town has retained this name, which is rendered in Italian and in English as Corleone. Movie buffs remember this as the surname of the mafia don played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather. Fans of the film may also remember that members of the Corleone family pay visits to the city of Corleone periodically during the movie.

While the Sicilan mafia did not achieve national and international fame (or infamy) until the 19th and 20th centuries, the structure of their "business organizations" has existed for centuries. In the mafia, families join into larger clans which then form an even larger "Family" [such as the Coreleone Family]. For this reason, it can be argued that the Sicilians mafia borrowed their organizational structure from the structure of the Arab tribes that conquered Sicily. Now let me pause here to emphasize that I'm not at all saying that the Arabs taught the Sicilians about crime. What I am saying is that the Sicilians may have taken an innocuous social structure and adapted it for their own (criminal) purposes. In the Arab model, families form clans, which then form tribes. This is different from the pattern in most European countries where "tribes" don't really exist.

So where would the Sicilian mafia be without the Arabs teaching them about family?

July 4th - Part 2

We just got back from our July 4th Cookout. It was a Southern affair, with representatives from Louisiana, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Florida, (and a couple of token Midwesterners who heard about our food). There were about 20 of us all together. Here's a picture from after the meal. Here's the menu:

Hamburgers and Hot Dogs
Potato Salad
Deviled Eggs
Cole Slaw
Fried Okra
Mac and Cheese
Salsa, Queso, Chips
Homemade Sweet Potato Chips

Sweet Tea
Assorted "Western Beverages"






And for Dessert:

Blackberry Cobbler
Apple Pie
Blue Bell Ice Cream
Banana Pudding
Fried Oreos



It was a real-deal Southern 4th of July. Have a Happy 4th y'all!

July 4th

In case any of our faithful readers back in the States wonder what we're doing on the 4th of July, here's your answer. Relax, we're OK over here. We're still among friends.