Al Arabia

Gentle Readers,

The week has quickly come and gone. After just a few sessions of Arabic we've now got the whole alphabet down which apparently takes GW professors upwards of seven weeks to accomplish. This coupled with the slang and conversational stuff I'm picking up here and there, its coming along well. I sat in the shower just now for twenty minutes trying to sound out my shampoo bottle. TMI??

The week saw a third world medical clinic, an evening at the Outside Inn with Ed, and a luxe night in Dubai with a friend one my professor introduced me to. We went out for sushi and happy hour at a bar at the Medina Jumeirah, the celebrity laced neighborhood under the Burj Al Arab . My professor described my new acquaintance as "well Connected" in the Dubai socialite's scene. I'll leave it at that.

I broke down tonight. I gave in. I did it. I ate at KFC. And it was delicious.

Vanity Fair

...not just a magazine.

Gentle Readers,

A few things I've learned about License plates and phone numbers: They're status symbols here. License plates are almost as important as the flashy car they adorn. the closer the letter to A, the better, the more distinct a number sequence the better, the fewer numbers the better. Just to put it into perspective; the license plate B 123 just sold for 36 000 000 dirhams or 10 million dollars. Phone numbers are the same. They can be purchased if you have the money, or acquired if you have the clout. A number such as 5444444 is worth upwards of 75 000 dollars.

It occurred to me that the lavish lifestyle so normal here would be the status quo in the US as well if there were no taxes. Here, there are no taxes whatsoever, land is free, and families receive housing subsidies. You connect the dots.

This evening was quite the experience. Many of us foreign students had to go the municipal clinic this afternoon for a medical exam. It included a blood test and x-ray and despite the first world reputation, the clinic didn't exactly live up to the reputation of the country... 20 of us were shoved into a small waiting room by a screaming Pakistani doctor who didn't speak English and told to prepare for the x-ray. A good bonding experience is a polite way of putting it I guess. The blood test was something for the record books as well. The 'nurse' who had presumably been sitting there for hours went after my forearm as if she were digging around inside it with a garden hose. Who knows how clean the garden hose was too...

Afterwards, Ed and I decided to ditch the university bus and do some exploring. Leave it to the cab and coach drivers to tell you what life is really like behind the glamour in the UAE... We ended up at the Outside Inn, the hang-out I previously told you about. Fosters, Peanuts, company of a good friend, and a chili dog later, I had forgotten where I was. Glorious.

Time to watch some Frontline. Again, Thank you L.B.S.

Weekend Update.

If only Tina Fey was helping me write...

Gentle Readers,

The second weekend has come and gone much more enjoyably than its predecessor. Thursday night brought wreckless drivers, an immaculate shopping mall, and sheesha. Also known as hookah to those of you in DC, and those really tall pipe things to those unfimiliar with the whole concept. Its enriched tobacco laced with sweeteners so its like a swisher weest from a pipe. 8 of us piled in to an SUV for the evening when I was immediately made aware that it was extremely rude to wear a seatbelt as is means you don't trust the drivers abilities. However, the reason the university collects our blood type is because so many students die in car crashes (Official statement). I think I'll be wearing my seatbelt from here on out regardless. I'm 'A' positive by the way.

Last night I accompanied Kelly and two of her friends to the Outside Inn, a tavern on the beach north of campus. The sign on the door kindly stated that those not wearing "casual western attire" were not welcome. Racism in kind words I guess... The place, located on the beach of the Persian gulf, was full of western nationals (Among us were French, Germans, Russians, Australians, etc...), was very cozy, and very cheap. The sort of place you'd see in a movie like Syriana. I can definitely see myself frequenting the joint in the coming months. Later in the evening, I met up with a friend from class and we went to yet another immaculate mall (They're everywhere). We met a friend of his, an American born Saudi from Arizona, very good people. We decided to see the movie Rogue Assassin. Terrible movie. Terrible. I returned at 2:30 (curfew is at 1am) and with the help of my new friend from class swooned my building supervisor into being ok with my being late on the weekends for the rest of the semester (something about letting me experience the full Emirati culture, most of the negotiation took place in Arabic. I was clueless). Officially sanctioned late nights. yesssssss.

Observation

I recently discovered that Dr. Laura Schlessinger has a blog on here.

A.) Sickening
B.) Am I no better than her?

I'm a Stellar Bowler

Tomorrow marks the end of the first week of classes. Am I a better person on the eve of this momentous occasion? Well, I'm a tired person, at least.

I am registered in the following:

Beginning Arabic - The professor rivals Kasaxler if you know what I mean. She's very well put together. I now know the first five letters of the alphabet or the "allefbeh," the word for door, mother, father, and every curse word imaginable (taught to me be my Palestinian friends and various cabbies, not Prof. Ismail)

World History 1500-present - I'll just preface by saying I did an amazing job at choosing to take this GRC course abroad. I like the prof a lot though, she be a good one.

Modern France and Algeria - Analyzes the conflict between the two nations particularly from 1930 on.

Global Political Economy - The course will examine just that. It is however what's called a Soliya course. Soliya apparently is a format of course in which we will be video-conferencing with students all over the globe (at 8 different universities) for one, two hour session each week. We will be in groups of eight, one from each university, together discussing history, current events, and politics under the direction of a moderating professor from one of the universities. I however as an American studying abroad here am a little confused. Am I to represent AUS or the USA?

Arab Political Economy - I am most excited about this course. The Professor seems very stimulating, pushing me the levels of critical thinking not demanded of me before. My sole task for the semester: one 25-page research paper on any subject I like pertaining to Arab political economy. I am to use only the British archive we have in our library here. I think I have settled upon arms trade within the middle east as sanctioned and forbidden by the British from 1870 to present day and can't wait to get started on the project. He has challenged me to the project allowing me to forgo many of the other smaller assignments he has assigned the rest of the class. I'm sure many of you share my enthusiasm... Go arms trade!

Apart from class, the student center seems to be the hopping place on campus. It is the nucleus of socialization for sure. Choice activities include but are not limited to; billiards, bowling, making fun of each other's countries in jest, bowling, and more billiards. I shared with some very animated Afghans, Pakistanis, and Bangels the furor of Minnesotan winters. They were baffled and impressed. I was challenged to a game of bowling by a random Palestinian from Saudi this evening conviced he could beat me. 123 trumps 68, buddy. Poor soul...

Hopefully we're off to Dubai's club scene tomorrow night in search of a good time. Will report back if I make it out alive.

One more tic

Saw someone carrying this around campus today too. I think I'm going to splurge and get one this weekend at the mall, apparently they're only 350 Dirhams.

Proud of this one:

*Click Photos to Enlarge

I know I told you I wasn't going to post again 'til later in the week, but I had to share this one with you. Took it on the way home from dinner with the American contingent (All 6 of us).

Desert Versailles - I Finally Have a Campus Worth Taking Pictures Of

*Click Photos to Enlarge

First day of classes today. I'll elaborate more near the end of the week after I get a chance to feel them out. I thought I'd be lazy today and skip writing. I've taking some photos of campus this evening for your enjoyment.

Note: Is it sad, that in this desert locale, the AUS campus has more green than GW's will ever have?

Yes.


The is the rear gate (to give you an idea of the scale of the front gate) and archway. Campus is heavily guarded by city/state police and no one is granted entrance to the compound unless they are affiliated with the university. If you look close, you can see guards posted at both the gate, and the archway further back.


This is a view of the Library. In relation to the photo above, I merely turned around and stood in the middle of the drive. The dirt circles will soon house more palm trees.

The library on the left, engineering school on the right, Mosque behind that, and Student Centre in the back with arches lined in white.


Again, Library on the left, School of Engineering on the right. The Main Building can be seen in the background. This houses mainly administrative offices including the post office, academic advisers, faculty senate chambers, and an auditorium.

Main Building on the left, Mosque in the center, and Student Centre behind that.


Cure for bad white balance = greyscale. This is the staircase in our library. The interior of the buildings are just as lavish as the exterior. luscious.


Looking west from the third floor of the Library.

Looking north from the third floor of the Library. Again, the rear gate. I think this photo more than any of the others gives you an idea of the massive scale of this campus. My building is back and to the left.


Mosque on the right, Student Centre on the left.


Looking back at the Main Building with the School of Engineering and Student Centre on the Left and the School of Arts and Sciences on the Right.

I guess you could call this our quad. I'm going to go ahead and say it trumps your quad. This was taken from the steps of the Main Building.



Interior of the Main Building. The extreme temperature difference between indoors and outdoors makes it impossible to quickly switch from one to another with a camera. Lenses fog up instantaneously. I had to get this one in quick because there was a security guard coming. You can barely make him out in the doorway across the rotunda.

I enjoy the Allah like effect of the flood lamp...



On that note, I've got some major swass that needs to be taken care of.

I Can't Sleep

It sucks.

I've been averaging maybe four hours of sleep per night and thats being a little generous. I think its a combination of cleaning people 24/7 (they seriously never stop), loud water pipes, lots of birds, wicked uncomfortable bed, jet-lag, and new environment. One of my softer t-shirts is now acting as a pillow case and I turned the "comforter" they gave me into a mattress pad so I no longer have much of a blanket, well see which I can fare better without. I'm kicking myself for not having swiped all the blankets I could find on the way off my united flight like I was planning. I hope this passes...

A day in Sharjah

*Click photos to enlarge

Good day,

Enjoy the photos from today.

Unfortunately, this will be the second time I've written this entry as I already wrote one earlier but it seems to have been discarded.

The day did not begin so well. I rose around 700 and tried to fall back to sleep but couldn't. Rather, I sat in bed staring at the wall wishing I could again fall asleep and thinking about all that was wrong with my situation. I ate a few bowls of cereal, a cross between frosted flakes and honey bunches of oats. Around 1130 I took a power nap 'til about two. The excursion to sharjah did much to boost my morale.

Ed, Kelly, and I planned to head into the city to see what it was all about so we did just that. The cab cost about 25 dhs or 7 dollars. Our trip started at the City Centre Mall where, among other things, I purchased a cell phone, , a bath towel embroidered with a camel ($4.50)and a shower curtain (to match my aquamarine bathroom tile [hideous] $1.75), very lavish. Ed and Kelly came out with a bounty of produce. From the mall we crossed a main thoroughfare through town and walked across a park to the promenade along the corniche (fancy way of saying "bay" in Arabic).

We walked maybe a mile or two north to the Gold Sooq. Along the way we stopped at a dunkin' donuts for some water and some much needed sugar intake. Bottled water here is only about 45 cents. amazing. I dare say they like their dunking donuts here more than they do on the east coast

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The sooq was interesting, full of jewelers, Persian rug dealers, and electronics kiosks. Proved to be rather touristy but we all agreed it'd be a good place to get y'all gifts before our return. We exited the sooq at the call to prayer. we were right next to a mosque so we paused to take it all in. The next endeavour was to hail a cab which proves more difficult than one would think.

We finally flagged down a cab and headed on our way. For the first quarter mile, our driver was chanting Allah Akbar and he spoke all of 10 English words, more than my Arabic though. He kept trying to tell us something else as well. We soon established that he wanted to stop at the mosque for a minute. He pulled the cab over, ran to the mosque and left us sitting there. Quite entertaining. After he got back in, we established that he was from Pakistan through elementary conversation and we told him we were from the state. The first thing out of his mouth, "oooooh bush bad man," but seemed to love having Americans for his fare. He was a very interesting guy, very entertaining. What took 10 minutes to travel in the afternoon took an hour in the evening traffic. He got us there as quick as he could though thanks to his rather unorthodox driving skills. Quite admirable, really. All in all it was probably the most entertaining hour I've spent in a car thanks to our eccentric driver. We think we learned quite a bit of slang Arabic though we're still unsure of the meaning of "Shardah."

First Thoughts.

Good day,

Its going on day three now?? I don't really know. Its been quite interesting so far. I have made three quick conclusions: 1.) Arab men are very good at billiards. 2.) Theres a whole world of American sit-coms that Americans don't know about. 3.) Triple ply in the UAE doesn't mean the same thing it does in the US.














The guys in my dorm seem as curious about me and why I'm here as they are interested in telling me about themselves. My accommodations are quite nice. My room is massive, the hot plate leaves something to be desired, as does the grout in the restroom. I'm still trying to figure out what the dumbwaiter door in my restroom is for... Its locked.

The temperature is hotter than imaginable. I can't begin to describe how hot it is. On top of that, everyone wears jeans. Every day. I'm actually beginning to like it, as crazy at that seems. And somehow, despite the outrageous dew points and humidity, I have yet to sweat much.

I met some good people from AU today, Ed and Kelly respectively, very nice to know they're going through the same things I am. We're feeling a bit trapped on campus, its much more isolated than one is lead to believe. Its about a 5 dollar cab ride to the city of Sharjah, and maybe 20-25 dollar cab ride to the center of Dubai. We'll see how well the 1am curfew is enforced in the coming weeks. We're wanting to experience the city. The setup here is a bit of a shock as compared to gw or american. We're so used to being able to hop the next metro or just walk to any number of bars, restaurants, or clubs that it'll be a bit difficult being so removed. My dorm supervisor asked to smell my nalgene this evening on suspicion that I was carrying in liquor. It was water. sucker...

I think I'm going to join the swim team. I'll show the AUS leopards a thing or two about the sport. hahaha. There is a 50 meter pool here though it is under construction at the time. The team meets just three times a week for two hours at a time. A far cry from american collegiate swimming that my brother and friends talk about, but a way to meet people and pass idle time nonetheless.

Signing off and giving into jetlag,
Thomas

Getting ready

I now leave in 8 days, and I almost cringe at having just created a blogspot account, but I always hated receiving mass emails from people. This way, y'all can read on your own accord.