Day 61, Wednesday - RAK

So today was a bit of a rest day, but I did learn how to cook these really tasty dough things. A couple of days ago, they gave me these round dough things with a sweet syrup on them and they were really good. Well, we have had them a couple times now and so I finally asked what they were. They are kind of like doughnuts in that they are deep fried and the syrup on them is date syrup. The Arabic word for them translates to something like “bites.”

I wanted to see how they were made so I went into the kitchen and watched Jean, the maid/cook, make them by squeezing the dough from between her finger and thumb into hot oil.

I’m adding this to the list of Middle Eastern things I want to learn how to make.

In the evening, we went to a salon for a special hair treatment which uses olive oil and steam to make your hair soft. First, the woman washed my hair; then, she put this paste, which I was told was olive oil, in my hair and gave me a scalp massage to work it in. After that she gave me a little back massage before putting my head in a thing which reminded me of a professional hair-drier except that it produced steam instead of dry heat.

I flipped through a book on India while the steam worked on my hair. 

After about 15 minutes, she washed my hair again and then dried it straight. My hair now feels like silk. I’m not even kidding. 

Day 60, Tuesday - RAK

Dressed for the Eid!

Eid Mubarrak! (Which means “Happy Eid”… and eid means holiday). Today is the first day of Eid Al-Adha and a day full of visiting family.

In the morning, Asma and I got up early to get dresses and go to the mosque for the eid prayers. We went to a big open space which was surrounded by a wall. It is traditional to meet in these designated open spaces so that many people can gather at once. 





We went through the women’s entrance and I stood in the back by the wall while Asma joined the other women praying. The men and women are separated by a large space of open area. Everyone stands facing the direction of Mecca and listens to the prayer. As it reaches certain points in the prayer, everyone bows from the waist and then stands up and then bows to the ground and then stands again in tempo with the words which are being recited. 



For those who are too old to stand, they sit in chairs and bow from the waist as best they can with everyone else. Children sit or stand with their parents or are allowed to wander around. I was a little surprised to learn that things don’t have to be quiet when people pray, for example, the kids can run around and laugh and even shout.

I had thought it was more like in church, specifically in the sanctuary, where people are generally expected to be quiet during prayer times so that those who are praying can be more focused on praying. In Islam, children are not required to follow the rituals which are required by adults, such as prayer, and it seems that they do not have to be concerned with disrupting the prayers of adults either. 

After the mosque, we returned to the house for breakfast before heading out on our rounds of visits.

It is popular to have your head scarf in this style

First stop was Asma’s mother’s house. Asma’s brother and his wife and kids were also there when we got to the house. Now, Asma and her sister-in-law, Mae, had seen me only in Western-style clothing up to this point, so I got quite a reaction when I got fully dressed up. Asma said she thought I looked Emirati, or at least maybe one of my parents was Emirati. Mae asked if she could take a picture of me, which was fine with me. 

Throughout the day people seemed really interested when they met me and found out I was American but wearing traditional clothes. Asma said she thought they all seemed happy to see me dressed in an abaya, and I thought so too. The people I had met before and who had seen me in Western clothing seemed particularly interested in seeing me in their traditional clothes, it would seem that an abaya suits me. 



This is how you get that bump for the scarf



After visiting her mom’s house, Asma and I went to her aunt’s house, where we met some other relatives, mostly women, and then to another aunt’s house. The visits tended to involve mostly chatting in Arabic, though they would sometimes talk to me in English, and eating some food.

Each house had a food display set out for visitors, and I ate a little something at each place. Mostly, we were invited to take something from what had been set out, but at the third place, one of the girls cut up some different fruits and plated some of the dessert and put them in front of me and Asma.

At this third house, there were women and young children and we sat on the low couches which are cushions on the floor, like in Oman. In Asma’s mother’s house the majlis has several big two or three-person couches which line the room. While at the first aunt’s house, the couches were a cross between these two ideas: there were no arm rests separating the couch, it ran along the wall much like the low-style except that it was higher off the ground, so more like sitting on the big couches, but not quite as high.

One tradition of the eid is to give children money, so the children all carry around purses or wallets to collect their gifts. This is also how I learned the word for “come here” “or come to me” which is “ta’ally” because the adults would say it to get the kids, especially the really young ones, to come over to get their eid money. 

Children can get money up until they are somewhere in their teens, and the amount of money depends on the child’s age, their relationship to the person giving them the money, and the wealth and age of the individual giving the money.

We returned home to take a nap, since we had gotten up early, and then we went out to lunch.

Asma

Me

The view

After lunch, we picked up Asma’s mother in order to go to her brother’s, Asma’s uncles’, house.

There were a lot of women in the majlis, some of which I had met earlier in the day. Asma’s uncle was there when we arrived, so we visited a bit before he left to go pray and go to rest for the evening while we women ate dinner and chatted.

I got to hear some great stories and debates, many over the roles of men and women in society and many about their experiences traveling abroad, mostly to Europe (America is too far away for most people, they don’t want to sit on a plane that long. I don’t blame them ;)).

Most of the women take off their abayas and many let their headscarves slip off when it is only women, children, or blood-related males in the room, I just left mine on because it was easier for me. When they left, however, all of the women put on an abaya and headscarf, and many of them, especially the older women, put on a face veil and some also wore gloves. The women who cover more are those who are more conservative and/or come from more conservative families. 

Children get to wear pretty much whatever they want, but they do have to dress nicely for the eid.

As a guest, I was treated very well in everyone’s homes. They often served me first, especially in the last two houses where they brought me several plates of things and I felt bad that I wasn’t hungrier. They even brought over a small table so that they could set the little plates next to me while I sat on the couch. I did, of course, join them sitting on the floor for the actual meal part.

Everyone was so friendly and I got to hear lots of Arabic today.  :)

And that was how we spent the eid.

Day 59, Monday - RAK

Cleaning day! So tomorrow is a holiday or “eid” for Muslims so today we cleaned the house. Well, I didn’t do much cleaning, but I did organize my suitcases.

Living out of suitcases for so long really isn’t all that bad, but I am getting a little tired of wearing the same things. It is also a little tiring to have to either remember exactly where you put everything when you unpack so that you don’t forget to repack it and/or having to dig through everything in your suitcase to find the one thing you want at the bottom because you didn’t want to unpack everything for a couple night stay.

Also, every time I repack I wonder how I got everything in there before. But so far I have managed to accomplish it every time. Well, if you don’t include the box of things I sent home. Next time I only pack half a suitcase.

I tried on some dresses or “galibiat” (singular is “galibia”) this afternoon so that I will have something appropriate to wear for the eid tomorrow. Tomorrow is Eid al-Adha or “the Greater Eid,” and so everyone dresses nice. Here is a little fashion show to give you an idea of what some different galibiat look like:

Now, I will wear an abaya over whichever dress I choose, as is traditional. I’ll be sure to take pictures of that for you too. Tomorrow I will describe the events of the day, but I will tell you that we plan to visit lots of people.

Day 58, Sunday - RAK & Sharjah

The road outside of the Sharjah Ladies Club

We drove down to Sharjah today (and now I know I have at least driven through all of the emirates) to go to the Sharjah Ladies Club. Why? Well, for a massage of course.

This is only the second time I have ever been to a spa and the first which had a pool in soak in. I came out feeling pretty relaxed. :)

We sat at the club’s restaurant for lunch, which overlooks the Arabian Gulf:

Ladies, I highly recommend this place. Sorry fellas.

I spent part of the afternoon looking up video clips of classic American movies/tv shows to show Asma, mainly Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, and I Love Lucy.

And now for a few items which are of common use here which I feel are rather underutilized at home.

1. Spoons – where we often use forks, people here tend to use spoons. Turns out that they are a more utilitarian utensil than I had given them credit for and are great for more than just soups and puddings. Eating rice with a spoon is actually a lot easier than using a fork.

2. Facial Tissues – here they are used more like napkins. There is at least one box in any given room and they are used all of the time for wiping off your hands, which also makes them a replacement for paper towels and are a cleaner option than the front of your jeans.

3. Flip-flops – okay, so this one is more of an individual thing because it is usually too cold for me to wear flip-flops at home, but I wear them almost all of the time here.

Now for something not used here very much: hair conditioner. I have noticed, through conversation and observation within the houses I have stayed in, that people only use hair conditioner occasionally here. I asked Asma about it and she said that it is because they believe it makes your hair fall out. I personally don’t buy it, but I think it is something that the hair-care companies should be aware of. And if it is true, I guess the rest of us should be aware of it too.



The tea set I use every day here in RAK. :)

Day 57, Saturday - RAK, Sharjah, and Fujairah

Road trip! Today Asma and I went for a drive. This requires another map:


Drawing by Asma :)



Can you match this one with the drawing? ;)

I will explain the loop momentarily, but let’s start from the beginning.

I should explain, by the way, that Ras Al Khaimah (typically abbreviated RAK) is more of a rural area. Hence the local goats:

We drove North a bit first and on our way we saw… camels!

 

This black one if for my mom (look, I found you one!)




















Here is a bit more scenery as we drove to the mountains:

At one point the road crosses through a bit of Oman and then right back into the UAE. After that it was through the mountains:

And then Asma was feeling very tired because she is fasting, so I drove for a while. Now, I asked if there were any exits or signs that I should look for and she said no, just to stay on the main road. So I did. However, I’m not really sure what happened but when Asma woke up from her nap she didn’t know where we were (I didn’t either, but I was assuming that was obvious).

Somehow we had made a big loop. Anyways, we eventually figured out where we were and once we got back to the main city she took over driving again. We made it out to the water, actually the Indian Ocean, and ate lunch at the Rotana Hotel.

On the way back we stopped by the oldest mosque in the country:

Then it was back home. I believe that I have now driven through all seven of the Emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm Al Qaiwain,and Ras Al Khaimah.

Day 56, Friday - RAK

I forgot to include a map yesterday that shows my tour of the UAE so far, so here it is:

We went to the grocery store today. I told you, I love visiting grocery stores in other countries. Here is a product that I don’t think we have in the US, or maybe just not in my Seattle stores:

I think it is like another version of Mr. Clean. I have also seen a "Mr. Proper" product, depending on what country I am in.

In the produce section, the labels tell you where each fruit or vegetable is from. Guess what? They had carrots and pears from the US. They also import peanut butter, syrup, and canned frosting from the States.

It was through this experience at the grocery store that I learned how I am possibly being treated differently here without even knowing it. I was talking to Asma about how I noticed more people here seem to notice me than in the other places I have visited.

She asked if my experiences with respect to this had been good or bad. I told her that I thought it was neutral since I didn’t think I was treated much differently, except maybe people paying me a bit more attention (i.e. more attentive service) because I look different and you can’t help but pay attention when something is different.

Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) countryside

(By the way, this does not include hotels which are full of Europeans, so there I look more like everyone else than Asma does. This does lead me to believe, however, that these people must not leave the hotel area much.)

She told me that I was probably being treated differently and I just didn’t know it. For example, she told me, that at the grocery store you have to take your produce to a specific guy who weighs and prices everything for you before you take all your items to the register.

Asma said that as a local woman, she often has to wait until the produce guy has helped everyone else before he helps her because she is a local woman. When we went to him today, it was rather busy and we had a lot of items, but he helped us with all of our items right away.

I figured it was just because of good timing, but she said that if it had just been her without me, he would have helped the guys who reached the counter about the same time we did. She believed it was because he thought he was helping me and hadn't even noticed that she was with me.

I don’t know because I don’t know what it is like to be her, but after thinking about it, I realized that every time I have bought produce at a grocery store in the Gulf, I hardly had to wait to be helped. I just figured it was a timing thing, maybe not.

In the afternoon, we went to Asma’s mother’s house for lunch where I met a few of Asma’s siblings and their children. By the way, Emirati Arabic is quite a bit different from the other dialects, at least more than I thought it would be.

 After the lunch at her mother's, Asma and I returned to her house where we were quickly followed by most of the rest of the family, including Asma's mom herself. 

The "majlis" or sitting room in Asma's house. This is where we sit and eat and watch tv and chat.

Day 55, Thursday - Al Ain to Ras Al Khaimah

The area of the hot springs

*Sorry about not posting yesterday, I lost my internet right before I tried to post!*

Al Ain has hot-springs, and we visited them today. It looked like there were places outside where you could sit in the water, but we went into a room which reminded me of a traditional bathhouse.

The outside of the bathhouse

Asma swam a few times back and forth, I did more soaking than swimming because it was a little too warm for me to swim in but I did paddle around a little. Fresh water pours out of a spout at one end, which you can sit under and get a little water-pressure massage, and that water is pretty hot though not scalding. Asma tells me that is gets hotter throughout the day so she likes to go earlier.

By the time we left I was getting hungry for lunch.

Random note sidebar in 3…2…1…



All white - Dubai



I asked Asma why different cars have different colors on their license plates (generally a square of color on the side or in the middle). She said that originally for Abu Dhabi they were red, but they started running out of numbers so they started making blue ones. Then then they decided that Al Ain should have its own color so they made it green, although an all green plate means that it is a taxi. Ras Al Khaimah is all white, though I think Dubai is too. Finally, Abu Dhabi was running out of colors again, so they started using grey. How about that?

All green - taxi

Red rectangle - Abu Dhabi

Blue square - Abu Dhabi

 

Yellow & White - government



Green square - Al Ain



"My" room in Ras Al Khaimah

 And we’re back!

For lunch, I had Lebanese food, which seems to be quite popular all over the Gulf region. I say "I had Lebanese food" because Asma is fasting, which means I had lunch with myself. :)

Asma and I talk about everything. We talk about similarities and differences between the US and the Middle East in terms of culture and politics. She has traveled around the US quite a bit and has also lived in England for some time so we talk about those places. It has been really interesting for me to gain a rather different view of the Middle East and the world from a woman who is from a very traditional Middle Eastern background but who has traveled so much around the West.

In the evening we headed to Asma’s house, about two or two and a half hours away in Ras Al Khaimah, which is where I am now. :)