Well, one of these days perhaps I will do a better job of publishing my life online, but for now it seems very difficult to find the time...perhaps because life has been so full of adventures these past three weeks! Packing for the trip to Dubai was quite an experience and got smushed into the 4-day period between Christmas and departure (with a sister's birthday on one of those days, as well); but I'm happy to report that the flights and all of the travel in general was very good--no real complications--woohoo!
The day after I landed (New Year's Eve), the team and I (all 11 of us) drove up to Jebel Hafeet, the highest point in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), so we could look out over the country as we kicked off our new year! On New Year's day, we all had a picnic in the desert and spent the afternoon dune-bashing (driving up and down through the dunes with plenty of slipping and sliding included...basically, the Arab redneck version of mudding). ;)
My first week here was spent trying to catch up on sleep, and getting unpacked and familiarized with the new surroundings. Here are a few interesting discoveries that I have made in my two weeks here: most of the stores are found in malls (including the grocery stores), light switches must be flipped down to turn electricity on and up to turn it off, most of the restaurants have delivery service (only a few have drive-thrus), the main currency is the AED or dirham (about 3.5 dirhams to a dollar), a can of Pringles is about $2 (not too bad), Fridays in UAE are the same as Sundays in USA (go to church, labor workers have the day off), Sundays in UAE are the same as Mondays in USA (start back to school and work), and all the gas stations are full service (I'm going to be VERY spoiled when I get back home!). Also, I've found two favorite foods already. The first is chicken biryani (pronounced bree-YAWN-ee), an Indian dish of rice and chicken (still on the bone, so plenty messy to eat) that is incredibly flavorful! The second is called a shawarma (pronounced SHWAR-ma), and is the Arab version of a McDonald's hamburger--it consists of thinly sliced meat, lettuce, tomatoes, sauce, pickles, and probably some other stuff wrapped up in Arab bread (think pita bread).
The traffic here is not nearly as bad as I expected it to be--it is actually somewhat like Houston with a touch of India (I guess) mixed in. The traffic can get pretty thick at times and people treat the lines between lanes as a suggestion, but there are very few wrecks (I haven't seen one yet). I've heard that some of the taxi drivers can be deported if they have a wreck, so the stakes for not driving safely are pretty high! The weather has been absolutely beautiful--today was the first rather hot day we've had. I've been able to wear long-sleeved or 3/4-sleeved shirts most days and not gotten too toasty at all!
Now for the most important part--the people! There are so many cultures represented here that people-watching is more fascinating than anywhere else I've ever lived! I've had the opportunity to talk with women from the Philippines, India (several regions), Russia, South Africa, the UAE (see story later on), Australia, and (of course), USA. I found myself very surprised at how similar people here are to people back home--obviously there are differences in culture, but once I looked past the differences in dress and (some) behavior, I was amazed! I love it!!! My favorite story so far (and I'll likely be telling it a lot when I get back home, so just prepare yourselves to smile through it again later) was about these two Arab ladies (presumably Emirati's) that Jerri K (my roomie) and I met in the park. They were both grandmothers (based on the depth of their laugh-lines and the face coverings they were wearing), and reminded me of two awesome ladies from back home (Debbie V. and Susan M., I met your Arab counterparts!). The essence of the story is this: neither of them could speak more than two words in English (apparently-- "hello" and "bye" were all we got), but we all had a great time jabbering back and forth in our own languages--them pointing and laughing and telling us all about it in Arabic, us pointing at what we thought they were talking about and laughing back and trying to clear things up in English, them chattering and laughing some more while shaking their heads like they didn't really understand but continuing to talk about it like they did (always in Arabic), and us smiling and laughing back with a little less zeal and just shrugging our shoulders. It was a great time and never in my life have I had such a great laugh with complete strangers--I loved it!!! =D I hope to have many other fun stories like that before I come home!
As for the girls I'm working with--they are sooo wonderful!!! Evan is 12, Bella is 8, and Alex is 7 (pictures will be coming soon), and they each have such different personalities. I can't wait to see what adventures with them lie in store for the remainder of my stay! Jerri K has been a great help in getting me used to the city and being an adventure buddy--I'm quite certain we both help to embolden each other enough to try lots of new things we'd never think of attempting on our own!
Guess that's it for now! Hopefully the next entry won't be quite the marathon this one was! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment