Dressing Up

Today, we would like to give you a brief education on how the locals here dress.  The first illustration below shows how the Gulf Arab men dress.  Gulf Arabs include the Saudis, Kuwaitis, Bahrainis, Omanis, Qataris - and of course the Emiratis.  Essentially, their dress consists of the "thobe" or "kandura" or "dishdash," (these words all mean the ankle-length outer garment) and then the headdress, known as the "ghutra" (in other parts of the Arab world, they call this headdress the "keffiyeh"].  Note that each country has slight differences in how their traditional dress is tailored and worn.  After being here a while, it's starting to get easier to tell the different nationalities apart.  [You may want to click on the picture to get it to open up in a separate, larger window].  As with clothes everywhere, these can be bought "off the rack" or can be custom-tailored.  Most Emirati guys seem to have theirs custom-made.

As far as accessories go, it's common to see designer sunglasses in the pocket or hanging from the buttons of the kandura.  Fountain pens are pretty common as well, either in the pocket or hanging from the placket that runs down the front of the garment.  If the kandura has cuffs, cufflinks are worn (most Emirati ones don't, but some of the other Gulf Arabs often have cuffs).  And finally, no kandura is complete unless it is properly accessorized with a designer watch.  Rolex is by far the favorite, although other luxury brands like Patek Philippe, IWC Schaffhausen, Omega, etc. are also worn.

And now, here are some differences in the way the ladies of the region dress.  Most people in the West would say "all Muslim women wear burkas" or "all Arab women wear burkas" or something similar.  Not true.

Gulf Arab women wear what is known as an "abaya" - a black cloak, often elegantly embroidered, and a matching headscarf known as a "shayla".  There are some variations of this, including the "niqab", which is a veil either covering the entire face or having only a horizontal slit for the eyes.  The abaya and shayla are by far the most common, with the niqab (the full veil) being worn by perhaps only 10% of the women one would see here.  And contrary to the "unfashionable" perception many westerners have about the abayas and shaylas, they are actually quite elegant.  In the illustration below, "Khaleeji" is the term for "Gulf Arab". 

Gulf Arab women accessorize with rings, watches, and especially with designer handbags (Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Fendi, Hermes, etc.)

Arab women from the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine) wear the attire seen below for important occasions, but more often would wear "western" clothes paired with a headscarf that is often called a "hijab".  Younger Levantine Arabs would be almost completely western in their dress, without even a headscarf.  Most of the young ladies from the Levant who attend our university would not look out of place on a North American campus.

Some of the other women's attire (for Afghans, Turks, and Moroccans) is shown below as well.  We do know a few Turkish women who wear the clothes shown below, but have never seen an Afghan woman in the full body covering.

It's a Small World

26 May 20122
by Cindy
An update on someone who knows someone who lives by someone...

This past weekend we were able to take a student from our university to church with us.  As we were talking she mentioned that she's Palestinian, with family in Jordan and America but she was raised in Saudi although she's an American passport holder.  Her brother currently studies in America, at...University of Texas at Arlington.  Per Google maps, that's exactly 3.6 miles from my mother's house.  We figured out it would take only five roads and three turns from her brother's house to my mother's house.

Later that same day I was at dinner with a big group of people only to find out one of my friends here lived in Arlington while she was in kindergarten and first grade.  While we didn't go to the same elementary, we would have gone to the same junior high and high school and would have been in the same graduating class.  Too bad she moved to Iran after first grade.




18 January 2012
by Cindy
I said I would update/re-post this blog every time we met someone who knows someone we know or  something of that sort.  So here goes...

When Jeff and I were in Lubbock we would annually host The Traveling Team in our home.  This is a group of post-college young adults who travel around to US college campuses mobilizing students to go abroad.  You can read more about there here.  One of ladies who came through our home years ago has since married, had children and now lives in our city with her family!  We are fortunate to get to have dinner with her family from time to time and catch up.  Who knew that a connection from years ago would come full circle!




December 2011
by Cindy
Even though we live 8,000 miles away from Texas, there never seems to be shortage of people we meet who know someone that we know.  And occasionally, we have a friend in common who is a very good friend of the person we just met.  I've been keeping a running list but I thought I would go ahead and post the list and then each time we someone who knows someone, I will repost.  Meeting all these people certainly makes 8,000 miles seem not too far and helps us to realize that it is a small world after all!

• Our friend Katie who we know from LateNite in Lubbock went to seminary with our pastor and his wife.  When Katie came to visit us, she walked into our church here and said, "hey, I know them!"
• A couple in our small group, Dianne and Kent are very close friends with our friends Marcy and Bob, from Lubbock.
• Our children's pastor is from Snyder, TX.
• There is a gentleman here from Denver City, TX (!) who we run into quite a bit.
• Our pastor and his wife went to college with our friend Emily who we know from Irving, TX
• Our friend Susan, from Lubbock, had a patient at her dental office who is the mother-in-law of a pastor at a church here in Dubai.  We visited the church when we first arrived and the pastor knew our names before we knew his!
• A fellow church member, Laura, went to school at Lubbock Christian University and was in Lubbock at the same time Jeff and I were there.
• One of our elders knows our friend Greg at Asbury Seminary.
• The craziest one of all (to me at least) is our friend Josh.  Josh was here with his friend Todd, who we've known for several years.  It turns out that Josh is the half-brother to my former step-brothers and sisters.  So we're kind-of related.  We didn't figure that one out until after his visit but it is a very small world!

So, if you think about moving away (or your kids or parents tell you they are moving away), don't fret - it is a small world after all.

Pictures

by Cindy

One of the things that is quite different here is that many of our friends do not have family pictures visible in their home.  In our home and offices, we have pictures everywhere so people are always amazed when they come into our living room or see our fridge full of pictures.

In my office at work I have several pictures of family, trips we've taken and other fun things.  The students are always looking at them, wanting to know who is in the picture, where it was taken, etc.  They are curious in the same way an American would be if we saw someone else's pictures but they approach the pictures with much more enthusiasm.  They are especially amazed at my niece Reagan's big blue eyes and everyone with blond hair.

Our local / regional friends here certainly take photos but they would not be put on display for the world to see.  My students have thousands of photos on their phone but they are for personal viewing, not public viewing.  Jeff has a photo of me in his office and he's had a female comment and say, "Arabs don't show off their women."

There are numerous reasons why they don't have pictures out in the open but mostly it is that families here are very private.  Seeing members of the family in pictures is just for the family.  Many of my local friends are on Facebook but they have images rather than photos as their profile picture and just wouldn't post many photos on the internet.  Some of the common questions in America like "how is your family" or "how many kids do you have" or "do you have boys or girls" would be totally inappropriate here.  Information about your family is information for your family.

1001 Nights!

When we started this journey, we didn't quite know what to expect.  We signed a three year contract and started our blog for you to follow along.  We were looking forward to living outside of America, experiencing a different culture, and trying something new.

Our expectations have been exceeded on every possible level.  We love our jobs, we travel all of the time, we see our family more than when we lived in Lubbock, we have amazing friends and a wonderful church.  We are blessed beyond measure and beyond our wildest expectations.

Here's a summary of all that we've seen and done in the past 1001 nights.  We have been to Ireland, Italy, England, Spain, Russia, and the Czech Republic.  We've been to Jordan, Oman, Qatar, and Egypt.  In Africa, we've been to Kenya and Tanzania, and in Asia, Thailand and China.  We've also been to India, and of course, to America.

We've prepared pasta in Tuscany, cooked curry in Thailand, and sampled ham in southern Spain.  We've sipped Jameson in Ireland, sherry in Andalucia, vodka in Russia, and chianti in, well, Chianti.

We've stood atop dunes in the Empty Quarter, climbed Kilimanjaro, explored Yosemite, camped at the "grand canyon" of Arabia, and safaried in Africa.  We've attended a wedding in India and biked the Golden Gate bridge.  We've toured the Collosseum in Rome, wandered through Egyptian temples in Luxor, and hiked to Petra.  We've been to St. Peter's in Rome and St. Basil's in Moscow.

So what did we do on our 1001st night?  We sat at home in Dubai - exhausted and thankful.  But keep reading - because the best part of our adventures thus far is that we've signed up for 1001 more nights!

The Zamboni

Most public spaces here don't have concrete sidewalks.  I think that's partially because the sand here doesn't have the right chemical makeup to be used in concrete - and also because the Arabs have a general dislike for concrete.  It's lowbrow. 

So they use marble.  Everywhere. Acres of it.  In the photo below, you can see the main plaza at our university.  We have six academic buildings on this plaza (two of which you see in the background), and a large administration building (casting a shadow from the left).  I would guess that the plaza is about the size of 3 football fields.  We've also got a fair amount of additional marble around our business and engineering buildings which are located elsewhere.

You can also see here one of the maintenance staff here at the university driving what looks like a small Zamboni.  He's actually cleaning the fine layer of dust from the top of the marble (note the "clean" marble in the foreground and the slightly dusty marble in the background).  They run this machine about once per week.

Boomtown

This past week, CNN had an article on its website about urban sprawl - and how it's happening all around the globe.  The article has some great photos with it, including a photo of how Dubai has changed in the last 10 years.  Click on this link - and then drag the line in the center of the photo back and forth to see how the city grew from 200,000 to 1.2 million in 10 years.

[We live in the bottom right corner of the photo - there's a green strip just above the word "colour" that shows University City, where the American University of Sharjah is located].  This green strip is visible in both the 2000 and 2010 photos.

Re-Introduction to Cold Weather

by Cindy

On the advice of our friends who have been in the UAE for a long time, we try to to take a cold weather trip each year.  In the UAE the coldest it gets is 50's F and that's just in the pre-dawn mornings for a couple of weeks.  So, if you want real-deal cold weather, you have to leave town.  Last year Jeff and I headed to Prague for cold weather and this year we headed to Russia.  Mind you - Russia in the first week of April, not Russia in December.  We are not fools!  We enjoyed cold, gray mornings, cool crisp mornings and snowy mornings so we were thankful for the variations in weather in just our eight days in the country.  It is funny how quickly one forgets what cold weather is like. Here are some of my reminders:

• Shaving your legs in cold weather is futile.
• Layers are the key.
• Layers - be the death of me!
• One forgets that the long johns go on first, the socks last, over the long johns.
• Don't get dressed too quickly or too soon or else you start to sweat before you leave your room.
• You drink a lot less in cold weather because you don't want to peel all of the layers off and going to the bathroom means going inside where you will sweat because of so many clothes. 
• You cannot put on enough lotion in cold weather.  (One hotel did have some nice body butter but it was hardly enough!)
• There is no dignified way to wipe your runny nose.
• Snow really is magical.

We did have a wonderful time and I enjoyed getting out the winter clothes, even if for just a week.  I think at the end of the day, I'm a warm weather girl. 

Top MIS researcher

by Cindy

I'm a very proud wife these days.  Jeff has been named a top 100 MIS researcher in the world.  Or as they say it, "Individual productivity rankings also indicated that Baker and Al-Natour are among the top 100 most prolific researchers publishing in the top four journals."

Here is the article as published on our university website:  Top 100 Researcher

Jeff has worked hard over the past several years and plans to take a bit of a break from research this summer.  His new goal - single digit handicap.  We'll be in America all summer so if you golf, let him know, he'll need some play dates.

Juices

by Cindy


Fruit juices are really popular over here.  You can get passion fruit, guava, cranberry and kiwi, litchi, youngberry, pomegranate and lime, lime and mint (my favorite), watermelon, mango, pineapple, kiwi, strawberry and the list goes on and on.  You always have to be careful because often times they mix LOTS of sugar with the juice but you can ask for the sugar on the side.  When you do that, you get pure liquid sugar in a coffee-creamer-like-container and you can add the sugar yourself.  Here I had a lemon juice, tart and tangy just like you put a straw into the side of a lemon, and then I added the amount of sugar I wanted.  Instead of coffee and cream - it's juice and sugar.

High Tea on the Dubai Creek

by Cindy

My Friend Chris and I wanted to get together and try something new in Dubai.  She's always up for an adventure and she's good at finding new things to do.  This time around, we chose High Tea while cruising the creek.  I'm sure Jeff was breathing a sigh of relief that he got a pass on this tea.

Glass top boat with tables set for tea.

Front top of boat for lounging around while cruising.

Chris with our yummy food.

More Tunisian Treats

by Cindy

Some more goodies from my Tunisian neighbor and her mother.  I gave them some cream cheese brownies in return.

Sweets - the one on the left is chocolate and butter crackers.  Jeff and I think it tastes a bit like graham crackers.  The one on the left tastes like a chocolate swirled pound cake.  Both were really yummy.

I have no idea what this is called and it had everything in it - tuna, eggs, beets, carrots, potatoes, green beans, olives, cheese, peas and I can't remember what else.

Again, no idea what this is called but in America we would call it a spinach quiche with tuna.  It was really good and made for a very filling breakfast.

I love being able to share food with my neighbor and get to experience some real-deal Tunisian food.  I think I'm going to have to start sharing some Tex-Mex foods with her!

Mushy Peas

by Cindy


Every once in awhile we get a craving for fish and chips.  For our American readers who aren't familiar with cuisine "across the pond" in the UK, fish and chips = fried fish and french fries.

Fish and chips often come with mushy peas or Brussels sprouts - neither of which are worth eating.  You can get some great chocolate from Brussels but the sprouts are not so great.

This latest dish of fish and chips came with mushy peas.  Mushy peas are just what you imagine - mushed-up green peas.  Unfortunately, there's nothing extra to keep them from tasting like peas.  We were dining with someone from Texas who thought Jeff had received a side of guacamole with his fish and chips....  Not exactly.

Church Pot Lucks

by Cindy

Even here in the UAE our church enjoys a good meal.  When we have our baptisms we have potluck dinners, which are great.  But when we have our membership meetings, we have a catered meal.  It will be hard to top this if we ever leave the UAE...

No meal is complete without shwarma!

The dessert table!

Tying the Knot

The following article is taken from our local paper.  It's written by an Emirati who grew up largely in the US and has recently moved back to the UAE.  It's part of a series of articles that he's writing on learning the culture here.  This one is about the process of how Emiratis get engaged and married.  The article in the paper is available at this link.

Weddings vary greatly around the world according to region, culture, religion and family background. Having attended a few in the United States, and stumbled on one in Kashmir, my experience of the ceremony is still developing. But when my brother recently put the wheels of his union in motion, I was set to further my nuptial knowledge through an Emirati experience. The men's side, anyway.

The first steps in this local unification came in the form of a meeting of the female sides of the families. Since mothers know best, the prospective groom's mum - my mother - along with the other women of our family, undertook the ice-breaking journey to the house of his intended. This scouting expedition ensured the women of the families, particularly the mothers, became familiar and gave the women in my family their first glimpse at the bride-to-be.

Once everything was assuredly in order among the females, it was time for the males of the families to gather. Dressed up in our finest and trimmed to a tee, we men followed the same path our women had taken just a short while earlier. Familiarisation again was key, but it was also at this time that the formal request for the lady's hand in marriage was made and details of the essential, predetermined dowry would be ironed out. These discussions would not be held by the future groom, but rather the patriarchal heads of the families. This is, after all, not just a union of two people but a coming together of two families requiring appropriate representation.

Made in the presence of all, the official request, dowry details and replies were communicated briefly at the beginning of the evening with the rest of the visit dedicated to the men getting acquainted. Relations were not hampered in any way by the incredible levels of hospitality given by the hosts, who permitted no lulls between the offering of coffee, tea, fruit, desserts and a local dinner not for the faint-hearted eater.

Having gone smoothly, the first meeting of the men gives way to closer contact for the women. Now they will begin ironing out the details of the bride's hope chest (an elaborate gift box containing the Dh20,000 dowry, jewellery, fabrics, ouds, perfumes and more), of the engagement and wedding rings, of the engagement party, of the milcha (a process in which the marriage is made legal by a religious sheikh), and of the wedding dress and wedding, all to be paid for by the groom and his family. By contrast, the extent of the bride's responsibilities are preparing herself and shopping for a wedding dress. Not too bad a deal on her side.

Once the groom has spent his heart out, the engagement party can take place. The milcha can be held either then or the day before the wedding, and my family opted to have it at the same time as the engagement party. Here, only close family were invited, which in our culture includes a few cousins, uncles, aunts, brothers- and sisters-in-law as well as parents, grandparents, siblings, nieces and nephews.

On this occasion, the men and women of the families were brought together under one roof, but in two separate living rooms, with the sheikh and the children the only ones permitted to travel freely between both.

Dressed in our finest kanduras, we were witness to the legal bond of the bride and groom according to Islamic law. The groom and the head male of the bride's family joined hands while the sheikh, sitting between them, grasped their hands, recited Quran and had the men repeat marital vows. Once the social contract had been signed and witnessed, the news quickly spread to the other living room. Being in earshot, we clearly heard the ululations, the almost deafening, high-pitched celebratory sounds.

For the families, this meant we were now bound together by this union, and in an instant our family numbers mushroomed. For the groom and bride, it signified permission finally to be alone. But the marriage would not and could not be consummated until after the big wedding. This last step in the Emirati marital process, yet to be taken in this instance, is where the new wife and husband are revealed and announced to the extended family and greater community.

Never before having been a witness to the procedures of an Emirati marriage, I am fortunate to be experiencing the process for the first time through a member of my own family. Although the customs of Emirati weddings vary greatly within the different regions and tribes, I now have a better perception of what they entail - and what might be expected of me in the near future.

Advanced Milk Tasting

by Cindy

My dad came to visit recently and he's a big fan of milk.  I thought I would give him a chance to taste all of the different types of milk we have.  I did the same for my brother a few months back but since then, I've found that we have many more options!  See if you can figure any of these out:

Streaky Rashers

by Cindy

Without the aid of a photo or Wikipedia, do you know what streaky rashers are?

Hint: For us, it is something that we love and is hard to come by in our country.

Answer: (British) Bacon!

Wedding Bells and San Fran

by Cindy

During our most recent break, Jeff and I traveled back to America for a dear friend’s wedding and a few days in San Fran.  We flew directly from Dubai to San Fran, 16 hours, and then drove on to Yosemite Park.  We were fortunate to spend one night on the way to Yosemite in San Jose to catch up with Bethany, an old friend from Lubbock.  We spent four days in Yosemite and got all four seasons while there – warm, rainy, cold and snowy.  It was great to be in the mountains, to see snow and to sit by a fireplace for a while.

Here are some pics from Yosemite:

Jeff’s parents joined us for our time in San Fran:

Taxi Drivers

by Cindy

You never know what you are going to get with our taxi drivers.  Some speak English, some hardly at all.  Some will “chat you up” others not so much.  Last week I got a really chatty driver that proved most entertaining.  He picked me up from our campus and I asked him to take me to a restaurant so I could join Jeff and my family for dinner.  We chatted about anything and everything!!!  

• He did give me one good piece of information on why it can be hard to get a taxi from our campus. Apparently the campus security guards only let older drivers onto the campus so if a younger taxi driver shows up, they make him wait outside of the campus gates.  Very useful information!
• He showed me pictures of his 13 grandchildren, pointing out one who he thinks is "too white."
• He pulled over onto the side of the highway to share some of his sweets with me.  He keeps them under his driver's seat.  It really was a lovely gesture.

We had a couple of extended conversations which were funny and random:

Taxi Driver (TD): My lady, how old are you?

Me: 39

TD: Three-nine is too much. You look 25, max 32 (In other words, no way that I’m older than 32.)

Me: Nope, I was born in one-nine-seven-two, just like the year when you arrived in the UAE.  He had previously explained to me that he arrived in one-nine-seven-two to drive his taxi.  He had been married right before he moved here.  His wife lasted four days here and she didn’t like it so she moved back to India where she’s been ever since.  That’s not uncommon here at all. He then gave me three guesses to guess his age and I tried 60, 62 and 66.  I think he told me he was 76 but I'm really not sure.

TD: What is your name?

Me; Cynthia

TD: Are you married?

Me: Yes

TD: What is his name?

ME: Jeffrey

TD: What is his mother’s name?

Me: Thinking that’s a weird question - Nancy

TD: What is your mother's name?

Me: Libby

...and that was the end of that, no idea why he wanted to know our mother's names...

TD: How old is your man?

Me: 37

TD: How long have you been married?

Me: 11 years

TD: How many children?

Me: None

TD: 11 years and no children? That is a problem. tsk.tsk.tsk.

Me: We don't want kids.

TD: Completely ignoring my comment. What's wrong?  Do you bleed?  How often do you bleed?  This is a problem.

Me: Surely he's not asking what I think he's asking.  What?

TD: Bleed - you know, does your blood come every month, or is it different?  This is a problem.

Me: I'm healthy.

TD: Oh! Jeffrey.  Please give me Jeffrey's phone number and I will call him.  I have a pill for him.  He takes it once a day, not three times a day.  Take it each morning with food but without milk or tea.  After one hour you can have tea and after two hours you can have milk.  Do you understand?  Fix problem.

Me: Yes, after one hour he can have tea and after two hours he can have milk.  Oh my goodness, I'm really having this conversation.

TD: 11 years, tsk.tsk.tsk.  The pill is only 5 AED ($1.50) so no problem.  After one month, your belly will grow.

He again asked me about my bleeding and we repeated this part of the conversation for the remainder of the drive, he wanted to be sure that I understood what it would take to make my belly grow.

When we arrived at my destination, I gave him a generous tip because he was so entertaining.  He was kind enough to tell me I had paid him too much money and tried to give some back.  I figured the least I could do was pay him for giving me blog material!  

Tunisian Sweets

by Cindy

My neighbor and I are quickly developing a pattern - "Friday sweet exchange."  You see, every Friday I bake cookies for Jeff and lately I started sharing some with my neighbor. I text her each week and tell her I'm coming over with a few cookies.  Then later in the week, she texts me back with something from her kitchen.  She's from Tunisia so we get different kinds of desserts (a.k.a. sweets) from her.  Here is a pic of the latest batch:

The ones on the left remind me of Pecan Sandies, especially the texture.  They taste like a sweet shortbread cookie.  The donut looking ones are filled with date paste and the ones with sesame seeds on top are like Fig Newtons but are filled with dates - Date Newtons?  They are all really good.

My neighbor's mother is here for three months since she's about to have her baby.  I'm hoping for some really good, homemade food over the next few months!

VeggieTales for Muslims

Most of our American readers will have heard about the controversy surrounding the "All-American Muslim" TV program.  You may not, however, have heard of the comic book series, "The 99."  It's about a team of superheroes whose special abilities are based on the 99 names of Allah.

Here's a little explanation - in Islam, there are said to be 99 names of Allah - names like Merciful, Strong, Faithful, Generous, Wise, and so forth.  Each of the characters in the comic series have a power based on one of these 99 names.  The comic book characters never explicitly mention their religion, so the series is promoted as a way to appeal to "universal virtues" of faithfulness, kindness, generosity, etc.

The comic series is now being made into a television series.  You can watch the trailer here - it's about 7 minutes long.  Check it out and see what you think.