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.

Plan Your Trips Now!

People are asking us when they can come visit. As a general rule, you should come during the winter months. It's BLAZING hot during the summer. Really. Think Las Vegas heat with Houston humidity. In fact, as I write this, Dubai is experiencing 90 degrees and 79% humidity with heat index of 110 - AT 4:56AM! Oh, and did I mention that there are dust storms?

So don't come during summer. Unless you want to sweat. And then have the dust stick to your sweat. Winter is cooler, drier, and the dust doesn't blow.


DUST STORM ROLLS IN

OK - so now for more details. Here are some events you could plan to come for.
-Dubai Rugby Sevens - December
-Dubai Shopping Festival - December-February
-Dubai Desert Classic (Golf Tournament) - February
-Dubai Tennis Championships - February
-Dubai World Cup (Horse Race) - March
And of course, there's always the beach, desert safaris, restaurants, museums, mosques, architecture, and the city itself. For those of you who are still picturing camels, open-air markets, and sand dunes, did I mention that Dubai is modern, cosmopolitan, and trendy enough that Paris Hilton just taped the most recent season of "My New BFF" in Dubai?

And here are some dates when I will have time off from teaching. We don't know Cindy's schedule yet, but this is when I'm off.
-September 18-26
-November 26 - December 5
-December 31 - January 16
-March 19-27
-May 7-31 (kinda getting close to summer here - maybe you should re-read the first paragraph before making plans)

You can get direct flights to Dubai from Houston, LA, San Francisco, and NYC (you can fly from a lot of other cities if you don't mind connecting through Europe). Most direct flights are in the 12-16 hour range, so try to score some Ambien for the flight - or if you want to stay awake, maybe just pick up a whole season of "Paris Hilton's My New BFF" on DVD (or some other reality TV guilty pleasure).

We probably won't be back to the States for a few years, so if you want to see us, you'll need to make a trip. Sign up soon. Family gets first choice on dates.

Feelings

Probably the most frequent question we've had about our move is, "How do you feel about it?" There are a few variations - with some people asking "How do you feel about moving to the Middle East?" or "How do you feel about moving so far from family?" or "How do you feel about moving to a different culture?"

If you've known Cindy and I for any length of time, you know that we're pretty matter-of-fact about everything. That's just who we are. We're more "thinkers" than we are "feelers" and so when people ask us how we "feel" about the move, we don't always know how to respond. Mostly, we know that this is the opportunity that has been set before us, and we know that this is where we're being led, so we're going. Period. There just hasn't been a lot of "feeling" involved in the decision.

Having said all of that, I do want to point out that we're not completely robotic about the move and about our lives. Mostly, we feel excited about the move. We love traveling to new places, experiencing new things, and meeting new people. We're excited about the school, our apartment, and our new city. We're excited about new restaurants, new foods, and new activities. And while we've liked a lot about Lubbock, while we've met some great people at Westminster, and while we've enjoyed working with students, we're looking forward to heading somewhere new. We haven't met a lot of people at our age and stage of life in Lubbock, and so the past several years have been a little lonely for us. We’re looking forward to a change.

We also feel a little nervous about the move. We’re moving from a place where English is spoken to one where Arabic is spoken, and from a place where men and women are (mostly) equal to one where there is an acknowledged hierarchy. We’re moving from a place where status is earned to one where it is inherited, from a culture where change is valued to one where it is shunned. We’re moving from a culture that values the potential of the future to a society that values the traditions of the past, and from a society that values individual rights to one that prioritizes social harmony. So while we’ve tried to do our homework, we realize that we don’t truly understand the language, the customs, or the values of the people. We strive to be kind, courteous, hospitable, generous, and respectable in every situation – and we won’t know how to do that once we move. We won’t be able to understand everything, won't be able to make ourselves understood, or be able to control some of the situations that we get in. That makes us nervous.

But mostly, we feel blessed. We know that the Lord has provided for us financially – my salary package is great – in the States or anywhere in the world. We know that He has already begun to provide relationally – we have a dozen people who are “friends of friends” that we’re planning to connect with when we get over there. And we’re also being provided for spiritually – as we take our anxieties to Him and as we find places to be in community once we arrive.

So for those of you who’ve been trying to pry our “feelings” out of us…there they are. :)

What's the University Like?

OK - so I've had a lot of people ask me what the university will be like where I'm teaching. The school is called the American University of Sharjah (AUS). It's a private university with about 5000 students, and is home to the National Champion AUS Leopards basketball team [there aren't any NBA lottery picks coming from the team, but they're obviously still pretty good. The school plays about 20 varsity sports and holds its own in soccer, cricket, and tennis].

The students are mainly from the Persian Gulf region - the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan, etc. If you're really curious about where students are from, you can click on this link to see some nice pie charts.

Since the students are predominantly Arab, most of you are probably wondering about language. English is the language of instruction (my dedicated readers will recall from an earlier post that the United Arab Emirates were a British protectorate until 1971), and so English proficiency is a requirement to be admitted to the university. The upshot of all this is that communication won't be a big deal for me. Nevertheless, I do plan to start learning Arabic after I get there. I know that I generally feel like people who come to the US should learn to speak English, so I think it's the right thing for me to do to learn Arabic while I'm over there.

And for those of you who are wondering about clothes, I will dress like the typical business school professor here in the US - a suit, slacks with a shirt and sportcoat, or sometimes just a golf shirt. What do students wear? Everything from jeans and t-shirts (just like in the US) - to the traditional abaya and hijab for women (cloak and headscarf) and the dishdasha and keffiyeh for men (robe and headdress). There are more photos of the university and students here.

Next week, Cindy will be posting on the blog (!), so send some questions her way if there's something you want to know about. Also, if you see Cindy between now and then, be sure to ask her how her writing is coming. :)

What Are You Taking With You?

This is it. 23 boxes. All together, they measure about 6x6x10. We're moving halfway around the world and this is what we're taking.


What's inside? Pictures, clothes, books from home, and books from my office. We have the option to ship either air freight (fast, but expensive), or to ship by sea (cheap, but slow). We've talked to people who've made this move and found out that we can ship 4x as much for the same price if we ship by sea. So that's what we're going to do.

And as far as shipping by sea goes, it takes about a month to ship. So we can either ship now and have our stuff get there when we do, or we can ship when we move and be without our stuff for a month. Cindy and I have both opted to basically live out of a suitcase for the next five weeks until we fly out. I'm sure we'll get tired of the few outfits that we kept, but basically, we just decided to keep the 20% of our clothes that we wear 80% of the time anyway, so hopefully it won't end up being such a big deal. In the meantime, if you want to call me to play golf, want to borrow a book, want to use the internet at our house, or just want to see the funny hat I got with my Ph.D., sorry, you're out of luck.

The movers come to pick up our stuff next Wednesday, it goes onto the boat, and if the boat's not hijacked off the coast of Somalia, our stuff should arrive in Dubai a few days before we do. Incidentally, if you're thinking about giving us a going-away present, just have it shipped. We don't have room in our suitcases. [I suppose Rolexes are small, though.... :) ]

YOU'RE MOVING WHERE?

This August, Cindy and I will be moving to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Dubai is on the Arabian Peninsula near Saudi Arabia (Here's a Map). We're starting this blog to answer people's questions about where we're headed and what we're doing - and also to keep our friends and family back in the US updated on our lives. So here's a little more info about our move.

Most people are curious about what we'll be doing there. I (Jeff) will be a professor at the American University of Sharjah (which is actually not in Dubai - it's technically in the city of Sharjah - it's pronounced SHAR-juh - think of it as a suburb of Dubai). There's a picture of the University at the bottom of this paragraph (and more pictures here). Cindy will also be working, we just don't know where yet. She's planning to get another technology job like her previous positions at Andersen, Sprint, and United.

Dubai is a city of 2.2 million people (Sharjah is another 800,000) and the primary industries are financial services, tourism, construction, and real estate. Most people are surprised to hear that oil is not a major part of the economy. There is some oil, but oil contributes less than 10% to Dubai's economy. If you've heard of Dubai, it's quite possibly because you heard about the world's tallest building (the Burj Dubai, twice as tall as the Empire State Building), the Palm Islands and The World archipelago (man-made islands with luxury homes), Ski Dubai (the world's largest indoor ski area), the Dubai World Cup (the world's richest horse race), the Tiger Woods Dubai (the first Tiger Woods-designed golf course in the world), or something else that's the biggest, first, newest, or richest.

A lot of people want to know what the culture is like - and specifically what it will be like for us to live in the Middle East. First of all, we will not be riding camels or shopping at open-air markets (we don't ride horses to the general store here in Texas, either). They have the restaurants and shopping you would expect for a city of the same size in the US, Europe, or Asia. Second, while the UAE is a Muslim country, we will be free to go to church. Also, Cindy won't have to wear a veil or a headscarf. Third, the primary languages are English and Arabic, so we don't need to learn Arabic to live or work there. The UAE was a British protectorate until 1971, so most people speak English. I'll be teaching in English at the University and almost all business is conducted in English (except for camel-trading and bargaining in the open-air markets :) ).

We're leaving the US on August 13; we'll probably leave Lubbock a week or so before that. We've got our house on the market here and the University is providing an apartment for us in the UAE, so we won't be buying a home there. We couldn't be more excited about the move. Send us any questions you have and we'll try to get them answered on here.