Day 64, Saturday - Dubai to Doha

Travel day!

After breakfast at the hotel, Asma took me to the airport for my flight to the last stop on my Middle East tour: Doha, Qatar. As always, it is hard to say goodbye to friends, but not so hard when you know you will see them again. :)

Entertaining Interlude:

Taken while waiting at the airport

I totally had a movie moment in the airport today: the Dubai airport has those moving sidewalks which are common in large airports. Now, every so often, there are breaks where you have to get off of one and onto the next one so that people can get to the different gates. Well, I had gotten off of one and was walking towards the next one when all of a sudden my heel got stuck. Turns out, there was a hole in the seal which connects the metal plate right in front of the moving sidewalk to the floor, and I had put my heel right in it. I tried to pull it out with my foot but it was too stuck, so I actually had to step out of my shoe, pull it out of the hole and put it back on my foot.

Then I continued on until I reached my gate where I sat for about an hour before I could go through the last security check to sit for another half hour or so before boarding.

While in Doha, I will be staying with Terry and Mary Anne Murphy who have been good friends of my parents for years and who come to Seattle about once a year to visit. They have been living in Doha for about nine years now and lived in Oman for many years before that.

Mary Anne met me at the airport and brought me back to the house.

"My" room

After settling in a bit, we went to visit their friends, David and Trish Seepy (I need to check the spelling of their last name so my apologies if it is really off at the moment, I have only heard it, not seen it written down) for coffee/tea.

They are all such kind people but it is a little funny for me to be back around so many Americans.

Doha will likely be a sort of “half-way house” for me in terms of transitioning back to American culture. ;)

Day 63, Friday - Dubai

Today I met up with Todd Leyland, who I met when I was here three years ago and who has known my father for years, and his wife Sonia. 

The market at JBR Walk

They took me to this beautiful area known as the Jumeriah Beach Residents Walk which is right along the coast and has lots of little restaurants and coffee shops along a boardwalk type path.

Todd and me

The weather was absolutely perfect, like a sunny summer day in Seattle. There was a little outdoor market going on and lots of people were out because it was the weekend.

 

We went to a nice sushi place for lunch and then strolled around a bit more. We also stopped in a Starbuck’s:

Todd and Sonia

We also went over to Dubai Creek:

A little later in the afternoon, we went back to their apartment and I met Sonia’s son and the four of us visited well into the evening.

It was a beautiful and relaxing day.

Day 62, Thursday - RAK to Dubai

*Sorry but I can't upload more pictures until I buy space (turns out there is a limit of free space and I have used it all up :) ). I will work on that, but right now it is very late so I will work on it tomorrow. For now, you will have to use your imagination!*

*Yay for pictures! So, if I go back and compress the images I get more space, but as this is a very time consuming process to copy, compress, and replace the images, I will try do only do as much as I need. Anyways, enjoy!*

Today (November 18th) is a big day for three reasons:

1.) It is the 40th National Day of Oman! Happy National Day to all my Omani friends!

2.) It marks the two month point of my trip.

3.) It is my birthday. :)

So hooray all around! Asma and I had decided that because I had to fly out of Dubai, we should go a couple days early so that I could see the city a bit.

After breakfast, and my pot of tea of course, we finalized our packing and headed out late morning. This requires another map:

Look! It's a complete triangle!

Our first stop in Dubai was the Gold Souq (market). After a bit of driving, we found it and I got out to walk through the area.

After the souq, we drove into the city a bit more and I took a couple pictures of a few buildings for you:

Through a tinted window which is why it's kind of bluish.

Then it was time for lunch with a friend of Asma’s who took us to a place called Shakespeare & Co. next to the Burj Khalifa (formerly known as “Burj Dubai” and currently the tallest building in the world. It’s tall. Really tall. By the way “burj” means “building”).

I really enjoyed the restaurant which had a sort of British mixed with Middle Eastern feel. I typically think of English places as being very cozy with lots of little details to fill up space, while Middle Eastern design tends to be more open and fewer bigger things. This had the tables and chairs in a British style but with a Middle Eastern open-air arrangement.

Oh, I also learned that you can't smoke inside in Dubai. Not that I smoke, just an interesting fact, and coming from a city where smoking is also banned indoors, I appreciated the smoke-free environment. You can still smoke outside though.

The menus were like old, hard-backed books and I had the most amazing chicken with a mushroom sauce, and I’m not even that big a fan of mushrooms.

Burj Khalifa

The restaurant is in a sort of mall type place which leads to the plaza in front of the Burj Khalifa. This plaza boasts the largest “dancing water display” timed with music in the world. We caught the tail end of the show and I only snapped this picture before it ended. I have been told that it is really something at night. I thought it was impressive during the day so I am really hoping to see it at night.

The indoor "souq"



Burj Al-Arab



After checking into our hotel, which was a bit away from the center of town, we arranged to meet up with a few of Asma’s friends and go to the Burj Al-Arab for coffee/tea/light dinner. One of her friends is an Emirati psychologist while the other is an American guy whose mother became friends with Asma after she, Asma, gave a talk at a college in Alaska. It’s a little tricky to follow, but it helps if you know that Asma has traveled quite a bit and has friends everywhere. :)

After a bit of an effort to get in to the Burj Al-Arab (turns out you need a reservation, which is a newer rule and one we were not aware of before we arrived), we went up to the “coffee lounge” area where we chatted while listening to a beautiful classical quartet.

After our light meal, the hostess brought over a dessert with a candle in it and the string quartet played happy birthday for me, it was really nice and I enjoyed it very much. After “Happy Birthday,” they played “Time to Say Goodbye” which was not a request, but happens to be one of my favorite classical crossover songs.

We took a little tour of the building before heading out. Keith, the American guy, invited me to hang out with some of his friends for the evening so we went to his place to meet his friends and then to a “beach bar” which is kind of like a “beach club” in my opinion. There was an upper area where you enter and then stairs down to the beach where there was a live DJ.

I got a bottle of water from the bar, I know, exciting, but it reminded me that I have forgotten to make an important note in my blog. I have been drinking a lot more water here than I do at home, mostly out of necessity as it has been so hot (that wasn't the important note by the way). The thing I have forgotten to mention, is that it has been cooling off lately. When you step outside in the morning, it is often cool now. Don't worry though, it still warms up quite a bit during the day.

At the end of the evening I hopped in a cab back to the hotel and had a good night’s sleep after a very fun and busy day. :)

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. :)