Oh! Oman!

road trip!

The weekend before last, I left the country for the first time since I arrived! On Thursday after work, we drove out to Hatta, a sleepy town tucked into the mountains on the border of the UAE and Oman (on the UAE side). There are weird little patches of Oman, however, tucked into the UAE which we had to avoid on Thursday night as we'd only purchased Omani car insurance for Friday and Saturday. There's an easy highway drive-around solution which we'd mapped out on Google, but Roger (my GPS) wasn't in on the plan and kept suggesting that we take the fastest route because I can set it to avoid toll roads or to avoid highways and the like, but I can't set it to avoid Oman. And the road signage in the UAE is only so-so, often skipping a route number and only posting a destination city. So our Thursday drive involved a tiny bit of of backtracking and going slow trying to puzzle out the route. Meant we did the last bits in the dark which I think was a shame as the little I could make out of it via the headlights looked quite pretty with dunes running right up to the edge of rocky mountain slopes. Another time I'll take the route in the day, it's only an hour and a half or so if you keep up with the speed limits.

Hatta Fort Hotel

We stayed at the Hatta Fort Hotel which is the only gig in town so far as I could tell. It's very relaxing with cool evenings, green lawns, peacocks and rabbits on the grounds, a couple of pools and gorgeous flower beds. After a peaceful night's sleep with the window open- a nice luxury- we headed across the border. It was a simple crossing. We met someone doing one of the famous "border runs" from Dubai. basically, a family member comes to see one of us with a resident visa and can only get 30 days or so on a tourist visa (or maybe it's 60 or 90, I don't know, I just know it runs out.) In order to stay longer, they need to leave the country and come back in while applying for a new tourist visa and another 30 (60? 90?) days. Hatta is a popular border crossing for this but we were doing more than just crossing over and back. We got our UAE exit stamps and then drove on through a customs checkpoint for Oman and then on for a mile or so, and then through an abandoned looking bunch of official buildings and then a bit further. We were starting to worry we'd missed something when there it was: both the place to get the visas and a great little herd of goats.

Muscat tucked between mountains and the sea

We came down out of the mountains and drove along a coastal plateau, a highway punctuated with round-abouts, until we reached Muscat which is a pretty low-slung city that stretches miles along the Gulf of Oman. There are no giant highrises, some places with 6 or maybe even 10 stories, but generally the buildings are dwarfed by the low mountains and hills which come right down into town. White and cream buildings with arched windows and doors or fancy roof edges and turrets are perched on dark black brown hills stepping down toward the corniche.

camel, it's what's for dinner

After a camel burger- with haloumi cheese and rocket (wild arugula) and Lebanese pickles for lunch at the hotel bar (tasted a lot like a regular burger, maybe a little gamey and/or salty but that last could have been the way it was prepared more than the meat itself), we headed to the old downtown souk area for a walk along the sea looking back up at the remains of a Portuguese fort and over at the giant statue of an incense burner (to commemorate Oman's contribution to the Arabian frankincense trade) in a hilltop park. Then we plunged into the souk. It's a nice one. A good mix of souvenirs and everyday stuff and a similar mix of tourists and locals. Leslie bought an abaya, I tried a few on but didn't find the one for me yet though I did purchase a carpet/ wall hanging type thing and some art.

Sultan Quboos Mosque grounds

The next morning we headed out to the Sultan Quboos Grand Mosque. We'd both been to the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi and couldn't help but make comparisons. SQ's mosque won out the in the gardens and grounds categories and in the carved wood competition. I prefer SZ's mosque's marble inlaid inner courtyard and sheer size/wow factor though really, both deeply beautiful structures.

carpentry workshop in Seeb

My new Omani wedding chest

We broke the return drive up with several stops including one in the town of Al Seeb where I found a traditional Omani wedding chest that will serve as a bedside table and also in the town of Sohar where we walked on the beach collecting a few shells after a tasty lunch. Back through the border crossings and Hatta and on past the big red dune and the weird little bits of Oman wrapped in the UAE and home to my highrise cat.

girls on one side...

inside the spaceship! from the courtyard of the AUH campus

Zayed University is about 15 years old. It was started as an all-women's University but maybe 5 years ago, they started a small segregated men's program and some co-ed graduate programs. It's one university on two campuses. I work mostly at the Dubai (DXB) campus but travel to the Abu Dhabi (AUH) campus once a week or more on the daily shuttle van. The drive takes about an hour and 15 minutes.

The gender segregation is an interesting complication in the libraries on both campuses. The idea is to keep marriageable boys and girls apart in a place where they're supposed to be learning, not flirting or meeting unchaperoned. I guess by graduate school, everyone is either mature enough or already married so there can be gender mixing on a limited basis. Also, once a young man or woman is employed- even if they are a recent grad- then in the course of business, they can interact with the opposite gender. I should mention that other universities in the UAE are co-ed, ZU just provides a choice for those girls (and everyone here calls them "girls", many

complicated hours- male and female days

do arrive fairly sheltered and young-seeming) or their families who are more comfortable with the segregated undergraduate experience. So the Dubai campus was built before there were programs for males. We have only one of big resources like a cafeteria, a gym, a library. We have to segregate by time. Female library hours are 7:30AM - 4:30PM, male hours are 5PM - 9PM. Yup, the men get the short end of that stick. The Abu Dhabi campus was built (to look like a giant spaceship!) after the introduction of men's and co-ed classes and so they built two of a lot of big resources, like cafeterias and gyms, however, they couldn't really, in good conscience, build and fill two complete libraries side by side- those books get crazy-expensive. Instead, in Abu Dhabi, they ran a wall down the middle of one floor of the Library so there's a men's side and a women's side each with some English language learning resources (duplicated) and a help desk and study rooms and other materials. And then, on the 2nd and 3rd floors, they employ a maze of retractable opaque walls and on certain days of the week, men move freely from the first to second or third floors and on other days of the week, women do. If it's a men's day, however, and you're a young female student, you're stuck on the 1st floor in your

from my office window in AUH, female day in the courtyard

section and if you need a book from upstairs, you request it from a staff person who will go pull it for you. Similarly, there's only one courtyard off the 2 cafeterias and so if it's a Tuesday (female day) and you're a young man, you're eating inside.

 Other than the whole gender segregation thing, much of my daily work life is not unlike my work life in the US. There are a few other reminders that are now becoming so commonplace I almost don't notice them any more. My keyboard is bi-lingual! And for any library or teacher friends who might be familiar with Ellison dies, we have Arabic alphabets and I asked the tech in our Curriculum Resource Center to cut out the letters for my name.

click on this to see it larger and to see the Arabic letters

If there had been a test on how to order and put those letter together to spell my name, I probably would have failed, or maybe squeaked by with a low C grade. I did know which letter came first, second/third combo, and fourth. And I knew to order them right to left. But I flipped 2 of them over and put the dots that go above and below to make the letters complete in absolutely the wrong places. With quite a bit of coaching, I managed to glue them down correctly!

that says Diane!

livin' the high life

the view down my street- SZB

After 2.5 months of living in a hotel/apartment (and enjoying the daily housekeeping, breakfast, pool towels, etc.), I've finally moved into my Dubai digs for real. I have a 2 bedroom apartment on the
14th floor of the 54 story tall Manazel al Safa building. My building is located on Sheik Zayed Blvd (SZB)- the main 10 lane highway through the middle of the city and the road that you take to Abu Dhabi. The metro parallels SZB and I'm between the stop for an area called Business Bay and the Dubai Mall stop. I'm living amongst superlatives. The mall is the world's largest (based on total area) and houses the Dubai Aquarium which boasts the world's largest acrylic panel for viewing the big tank (who knew Guinness would certify such

the acrylic panel! colored bit are reflections of the candy store sign

random things?) right across from the world's largest candy store, Candylicious. The mall is also connected to the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. I've now got with me the world's cutest globe trotting cat (Guinness has yet to certify him, but I know it's so) after he did a stint at my sister's, my parents', my aunt's and my colleague's homes, not to mention the layover at the pet hotel in Frankfurt. Shipping a cat around the world may put me in the ranks of the world's most frivolous, but having him here is pretty great.

I'm second building from the left.

I took a walk around my new neighborhood last night. I used the metro station pedestrian overpass to cross the highway out in front to see what's across the street. There are a few luxury car showrooms, a men's thawb/ thobe shop and tailor (also called dish dashes or kanduras, they are the sharp white robes commonly worn by Arabic men), a hotel and a Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts. That side of the street has some tallish buildings (maybe 10-20 stories) but nothing like my side of the street. Over here though, I noticed something kind of crazy: between these big, sleek towers, there's sand lots. Along the smaller access road running parallel to SZB there are some sidewalks, but then between one building and the next, unlike in NYC or Chicago, for example, there's empty space and non-paved space. I even noticed a couple of scraggly trees just hangin' in there like they did when this was a patch of desert, between two buildings next to mine. I park, usually, in a sandy empty lot between my building and the next because my spot in the parking garage is on the 10th floor and all that spiraling up and down is a pain and makes me queasy.

My apartment is pretty empty- though I'm planning to do something about that this weekend- and has

from the front door looking into the living/dining room

amazing views. I realized the other day that I've never actually lived higher than the 2nd floor anywhere. I'll share a few apartment pictures but will hold off and post a more complete tour of the place after I get some more furniture.

butternut and i on the couch reflected

bedroom 2- the fishbowl!

life is a highway

I've been driving in Dubai for nearly 2 months now and I'm getting somewhat comfortable with the roundabouts and aggressive speeders who suddenly appear in my rearview mirror flashing headlights like mad. I remain unable to get my bearings, however. I'm totally reliant on Roger (my GPS, named by Andrea.) He delivers directions in a crisp British accent and directs me to "Take slip road right." This translates to "take the off ramp" in American English. It seems that I'm frequently taking slip roads as most roads here are highways or turn into highways at a moment's notice. For example, my apartment (I really will move in there someday insha'allah) is on Sheik Zayed Boulevard (SZB) which is a little 12 lane superhighway flanked by 50 story skyscrapers, at least that's what is is in my hood- it's also the highway to Abu Dhabi, flanked by a lot of empty desert with occasional camels to spice up the view. Try to imagine if say State St. in Chicago or Wall St in NYC were 6 lanes each way. it makes for a strange downtown. the above ground metro runs along SZB too and there are pedestrian bridges over the street at Metro stops but that's a walker's only chance of crossing the street and the other side of the street is probably a half mile away. There are also frontage roads on either side so a taxi can stop in front of my building, for example. In the old part of the city (and remember, in Dubai, old means 30-50 years ago) things are more walkable, and in many of the newer neighborhoods too, I guess. except when they're not. My cat is staying in Deira which is in an older part of town along the "creek" (I'd call it a river personally) and for the most part, the streets there are just 2-4 lanes though repeatedly, I've missed a turn trying to get there or back to my hotel from there and I wind up being swept along as a 4 lane city street starts gaining lanes and the shops drop back and then suddenly the speed limit is 80 and then 100 kph. and I'm having to take slip road right to loop around and correct.

the flock and the skyline

Sometimes Roger doesn't seem to be able to find what I'm looking for. every day on the way to/from work i drive by a lagoon with flamingos but the access to the bird blind that gets you close to the flock is on another highway. I can see it but had no idea how to get to it. I've tried aimlessly driving around where i think you might access it to no avail and plugging all manner of things into Roger in hopes that wildlife, bird, sanctuary, viewing, blind... something might yield directions but nope. but one day, I was probably lost, I drove by the access ramp to one of the blinds! I marked the spot in Roger as we zipped by and then one evening the following week pointed Roger toward it only to learn that the blinds are only open 9am - 4pm Saturday - Thursday. so finally today, a Saturday, I made it back to the blinds- yay flamingos!

There's a driving school near my apartment hotel and so daily- especially on the weekends- there are dozens of student drivers looping the roundabouts and getting on and off the highway. they drive a fleet of matching innocuous white Ford sedans with an arched sign over the roof "Belhasa Driving School" Not sure why, but seeing them always cheers me up. They seem very hopeful these baby Dubai drivers... As an American, I'm lucky, I could just fill in the paperwork and take an eye test and get a license based on having one in the US. That's not how it works for people from lots of places who know how to drive. They have to take an expensive series of classes.

this one's just right

I did a bit Goldilocks-ing around my vehicle. the first quick rental from the desk at the apartment hotel was too small (and ugly), the next temporary loaner that my leasing people set me up with was too big (a small bus, practically) and now I'm driving the wine red Honda CRV that I should have for the next 2 years. one of my coworkers, seeing the picture of it all shiny and new (it had 45 km on the odometer when i got it) said, "you need to hire someone to wash it everyday." I thought she was kidding. The thing is, here, she wasn't. I did eventually set something like that up pretty easily (not every day, but 2x per week.).

Off to the (camel) races!

In a recent post I wrote about a few things I was glad I brought or did in advance of coming here. The hands-down best thing I did is to have an amazing and adventurous friend willing to spend her Christmas break in the Middle East with me! It would have been a pretty painful holiday if not for Andrea's visit. As it was, we celebrated both here and virtually back in the States via Skype and we also had the chance to explore my new home. This is a very belated post about one of the awesome things we did.

at the gate

The Dubai Camel Racing Club has a track about 40 minutes outside of the city on the Dubai- Al Ain Road (the road I take to work every day). December to March they hold races on Fridays. We went to the early morning runs (we got there around 7:30) of the younger but not youngest camels. They run different lengths based on their age. An Emirati co-worker read the online schedule for me- it's in Arabic- I think she said they were running the 8km track- what is that, like 4-5 miles? It's a big track! We came at it from behind the grandstand after driving along between camel... not sure what to call them... more than pens, less than farms, not stables... camel outfits? Anyhow, there's a clubhouse for the members and VIP seating both inside and out but peons like us just wandered into the grandstand's general seating area. People were largely crowded around TV screens as the camels were on the far side of the track but pretty soon we could see them coming. Actually, we didn't see the camels coming so much as we could see the sun glinting off the fleet of SUVs that circle the track with the camels. I think owner and remote-control-jockey operators get to ride inside the track along with a daring guy who perches in a chair on top of a big truck and mans the camera that provides the

and they're off!

feed on the grandstand TV monitors. General spectators and anyone else who's up for it ride on the outside of the racetrack it seems. An announcer was calling the race in Arabic but it had the same sound and rhythms as any horse race.

We were the only females at the races for the first half an hour or so (more came later- but only tourists, I didn't see any local women though it's possible- not likely- that they were somewhere in the clubhouse.) There were maybe 6-10 people milling around like us who clearly had nothing to do with the camel care but most people there were camel owners and caretakers and they were caught up in the races. We wandered around and discovered we could stand at the starting gate, right down next to the track. They run about 15-20 camels at once. The gate doesn't have individual slots for each camel like at a horse race. Instead they're all lined up along one pole, side by side and when the pole lifts, the tether that was keeping them at the gate drops away and they're off with their gawky lopes! They kind of sway and some don't run especially straight out of the gate but it's exciting being right up beside them. I just read that camels can run about 40mph (65kmph) in short sprints and can sustain 25mph (40kmph) speeds for an hour or more. If I'd had a better car for it, we might've tried driving alongside on the outer track- next time!

robot jockeys

They used to use kids as jockeys but they put an end to that practice and went hi-tech. There are little robot boxes that sit on the hump. They have a radio controlled arm with a crop that whirls around urging the camels to go faster! We watched some of the camels lounging about pre-race and being fitted with their robot jockeys. Andrea asked a guy testing his out if she could lift one to see how heavy they are and the report is that those little robots are dense. The camel blankets (we also stopped at a weird strip mall full of camel ropes and blankets and food and vets along with giant cooking pots and little else) have a hole for the hump top! The camels have some really expressive faces and remarkable eyelashes. Their front and back knees bend in opposite directions so when they sit, it looks a bit like a card table collapsing. 

The camel races were a great taste of local culture! Come visit in season and I'll take you!

BBQ madness

Last weekend I was invited to join a young Egyptian family on a BBQ. The plan was to go after
prayers on Friday, that translated to 3 or 4 in the afternoon. They came to pick me up: mom, dad, 2 daughters and Filipino nanny plus a small dolly to haul a cooler, four adult chairs, one child's chair, a small charcoal grill and 2 bags of charcoal, lighter fluid, chips, bottled water and 3 giant tupperware containers of meat. plus there was a stroller and the tiny cooler I brought with some bread and salads. I think it was more luggage then I brought when moving to the country for 3 years. We joined the throngs of people filling up Al Safa Park. BBQs in the park with the whole family and practically a small camp set up are wildly popular. We settled on a patch of grass surrounded by other groups and fired up the grill. We ate mountains of lamb chops. We tried both tiny tender Australian chops and big flavorful local chops. But then there were the birds! Little local quail, super juicy. I've seen some hanging out near the apartment hotel because it's sitting more or less in a weird patch of desert. We sat and ate and talked and relaxed. I felt so lucky to be invited along. huge thanks to this lovely couple!

el shaimaa and achmed- notice we're not alone in the park!

livin' and learnin'

I'm hoping that this blog, in addition to being a good way to share part of my adventure in the Middle East with friends and family, can also help me to pull together thoughts for others headed this way. Before I came, I asked everyone I met with experience in the UAE, or experience living abroad, what did they bring with them that proved to be important or what didn't they bring that they wished they had? I'm sure my own answers to those questions are going to evolve and grow once I move out of the hotel apartment bubble with daily housekeeping and dish washing and breakfast on my own... but one thing I've already noticed is that the "why?" behind answers to those questions can be interesting.

One person suggested that I'd appreciate having an unlocked iPhone or something similar, she mentioned that people "conduct a lot of business" here via SMS. I expected colleagues maybe setting up meetings or asking simple questions via text but no, I get the most texts from my bank and they're not junk really. I get alerts when I use my credit card, when a check I've deposited has cleared and the funds are now available, if I'm making a change to my online profile and they need to add  a layer of security they text me an access code and more. I was also alerted by text from the government when my ID was ready for pick up and I was sent a link to the traffic handbook after i got my driver's license. At the mall, there's probably free wifi but you'll need a password and no problem, they'll text it to you. Oh! If you get busted speeding by a radar camera, they'll SMS you with the ticket and if your account with Salik, the toll system, needs recharging, guess how they're going to let you know? Happily, when you receive texts or even phone calls, you don't pay! You only pay when you initiate them. And with my sim card (they handed me about 10 or so and let me pick my favorite phone number from the lot- let me know if you want my number, it has a lot of double 5s) it's super easy to buy a recharge code from the grocery store or the circle K on campus or wherever so I can just add value to my account- no monthly fee, no plan, just pay as I go. Having a phone that you're comfortable with that you can make work with the UAE carriers has been essential. Super glad I had that.

While the whole business of living in the apartment hotel for 2 months seemed like a bad deal at first, I have to admit, I'm kinda glad it worked out this way. Except for not being able to really be with my cat, Butternut, there have been a lot of upsides. For someone coming over with a more typical timeline which allows for a week or less to furnish a place entirely, I'd suggest trying to get to an Ikea

my red couches

repeatedly prior to arriving in the UAE to test beds and couches for their actual comfort rather than how comfortable they will feel when you're panic-outfitting your place on a 120 degree day and you're also stupid with jet lag. I'm the proud owner (with delivery a few weeks out yet) of a fancy name brand mattress with continuous coil and latex and other stuff that went over my head- I decided I didn't want to skimp on my mattress- that I got 50% off because it's the Dubai Shopping Festival all month long. I also scored 2 red couches and a little black footstool type thing at 60% off plus a discount because they were the floor models- no furniture from Ikea yet! (though I expect that is likely to be where i get the guest bedroom stuff) I'm getting most of my kitchen used from a colleague who is moving and I think I'll hold out for interesting and "ethinic" wood pieces like tables and chairs. and carpets! It's about time for me to engage in the carpet buying dance but that will be a post all it's own.