Leftovers

*Number of times Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants has been played in my room: 13

*New cool phrase: Wake up and smell the hummus!

*Latest stalker: Omar from Birmingham, UK. His MO: Picking up chicks at the water park and following them around everywhere. Also telling them that they look 14, offering to declare their love by going headfirst down an 80km/hr waterslide, and not taking hints very well. See the kind of creeps I attract?

*Although I haven’t set foot in a McD’s, I have had more french fries in the last five weeks than I have in probably the last two years. They are served with everything! They even put fries on sandwiches. And here I thought I had a good chance of going abroad and losing some weight!

*Number of times I’ve been forced to listen to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” from 1997’s the Titanic: Way too many. Grocery stores, department stores and restaurants all need to trash this!

*Cab drivers. They are their own breed everywhere, but I now have a new appreciation for Chicago cabbies. I’d even go so far as to say that I miss D.C. cabbies…ok, no wait. I lied. D.C. cabbies are still the worst.

*If I never see another huge speedbump again it will be too soon.

*Number of times I’ve been blocked from sites due to the fact that they are "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political, and moral values" of the UAE:too many. Although I was surprised at some of the sites that were not blocked.

*I'm not sure how, but I managed five weeks in intense sun without any kind of a visible tan. I'm off white now instead of pasty, but no one but me can see it so you'll have to take my word for it...

Leftover photographs:





I found it amusing that Burger King was transliterated.

Inside the dome of the main building.

Inside the main building.

I really don't know why I'm like this. It's a sickness of some sort.

Olan just hanging out.

This is one of the most beautiful carpets in the world, and I am its godmother!

I'm not sure if I've posted this before, but it's my absolute favorite picture of the trip!

My miserable attempt at dune jumping.

Last Day

Ah, it’s finally here, the last day of the trip. Basically we were lazy, grabbed a final lunch in the student union, played some Ben Folds 5 on the piano, and trekked out to Jumeirah City for some Italian.

The best part of the day, however, was another selfless, generous gesture by one of our neighbors. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get my two sizable carpets back to the U.S. for a few days now. I decided I was going to need a huge duffel bag of some sort, so I asked the girls next door if they had a suggestion as to where I could find one. It’s not easy to get off campus, so I was hoping they had an idea. They suggested Carrefour, the large, Walmart-like grocery they have here. As Olan and I were getting ready to head to dinner and then Carrefour, one of the girls, whose name I don’t know, came by and offered me a bag of hers if the carpets fit. She said she had a bag she didn’t need anymore and I could come and look at it. The bag turned out to be a huge suitcase. I mean, who offers you a suitcase? Of course I told her I couldn’t possibly take a huge piece of luggage from her, and she said take it, and we went back and forth forever. After assuring me she didnt' need it again, I finally accepted. This solved a huge problem for me, and was an awesome gesture on her part. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, people here are so nice, they don’t even think twice about stuff like that. Needless to say, I picked her up a thank you gift for her when we were out at dinner tonight, and now I have a suitcase and a nice parting memory :)

There’s not much else to say about our day. Italian was great, the Burj was all lit up, and we had decent cab drivers! Olan and I took a walk around campus and said goodbye, so now we just have to finish packing and wake up at 5am (groan)!

Wild Wadi (rocks my) World

After five weeks we finally managed a trip to the famous Wild Wadi water park in Jumeirah beach, Dubai. Matt, Mike and I decided to head there for one last hurrah. It was also their last night, so we needed to let loose and have some fun.

The water park was a blast. The best part may have been its location. It sits right in front of the Burj al-Arab and next to Jumeirah city, so as you’re flying up the waterslide you get some great views. And yes, I did say up. I’d never seen this before, but you start on the ground level for water slides (with inner tubes) and water shoots you upwards, then when you reach a certain altitude, you slide down, like you normally would. Whoever invented this was a genius, because he realized that people hate climbing all those stairs to get to the top of slides and found a solution! The only problem was that the jets of water shooting you up the slide were pretty violent, so if you didn’t take care to sit up in your inner tube, you ended up with a sore rear. Still, soaring up a slide with a nice view of the park, the city, and the Burj with the Persian Gulf to look at, especially during the sunset, was pretty sweet!

The park itself is also quite beautiful. There are palm trees everywhere, a view of the sea, and of course the Burj and the Beach hotel shaped like a wave, all of which combine for a very pleasant, relaxing atmosphere. At night it’s even more beautiful. The trees were lit up, party lights strung everywhere, and the Burj was all lit up with different colors. The term 'enchanting' was made for this place! In terms of attractions, there was a mini wave pool, a kiddie play area, a surfing area, numerous slides, the one giant slide, and a long lazy river. We’d heard tales of the famous Jumeirah Sceirah, the tallest and fastest free-fall speed slide outside of North America (featured on Amazing Race 5), that shoots you down at upwards of 80km/hr. SO of course the boys wanted to tackle it. After the five minute walk up the stairs I figured I might as well suck it up, so I said my prayers, crossed my arms and ankles, and took off! There’s nothing like a terrifying shoot down a waterslide to add some spice to your day. But overall, a great park, minimal lines (none for the giant slide), and great people watching. Really one of the best parts was having all the great photo opportunities! (See below).

After Wild Wadi we decided to hit Sheikh Zayed road and our favorite Lebanese restaurant, Safideh. We’ve been there twice already with Dr. S, and it’s cheap and good so enough said. We caught some of the Saudi Arabia – Ukraine game, then headed home. Tonight was the last for Matt, Mike, and Kim, all of whom are on planes back to the U.S. in the next few hours! It’s crazy to think that Olan and I are out of here Wednesday; we’ve really settled in!

ps: My body feels like it’s been put through a meat grinder. I’m now rethinking the wisdom of massive jets of water that shoot you UP a water slide.

A waterslide with the Burj in the background.

The boys pose in front of the Burj.

Jumeirah City from a little ways up the Jumeirah Sceirah.

View of the park.

Yet another Burj. This one is from the top of Jumeirah Sceirah.

That's Mike going down. He's about to drop over the steepest part!

Last Burj I promise.

Last shot with the boys.

Khor Fakkan

I'm back! I know I've been slacking on posting lately, but this week has been our busiest in terms of our academic component, and after typing papers and doing a ton of readings, the last thing I've wanted to do is write about it!

The best part of the week is that it's over, yay! I still have a research paper, but no more classes until the fall :)

Let's see...to catch up, the last few days have been alternating between very hot and very hot with high humidity. You know it's bad when you walk outside and your sunglasses fog up. I suppose it's just as well that we had class every day this week and homework to keep us busy; 100+ degrees and humid is hardly good activity weather.
Olan bought a rug! We now have three sitting in our room. Hers is a qum (koom), which means it's 100% silk and absolutely beautiful. My Nyeen (sp?) carpets are jealous. The great thing about buying a carpet, or being with someone who does, is that it's not only the carpet you walk away with; it's also the stories that come with it. I'll always remember having the carpets unrolled in front of me (10, 15, 20, 30!), chatting with the owners of the shops, and the bargaining that went on forever, involved consultations with bosses and much fussing, and finally the sale! Everytime I look at my carpet, I'll have all those memories :)

The highlight of the week was our trip to Khor Fakkan, a neighborhood in Sharjah Emirate that sits on the eastern coast of the penninsula and is situated on the Gulf of Oman. Sharjah is distinctive in that it has coastline on two different bodies of water. To get there, we had to drive two hours, first through mostly flat desert land and then through the beautiful mountains of Fujairah, another Emirate. When we arrived, the eight of us were treated to a lunch buffet and the great service provided by the staff at the Oceanic hotel. It was a lovely, bright, warm day, and it didn't take long for us all to jump into the water!
The hotel's beach is located in a little bay, and has beautiful sand, mountains, and clear blue water. We spent some time lounging about and diving around in the warm surf, then decided to head for Shark Island, which belongs to the hotel. Shark Island (thank God I didn't see any!) was the best part of the whole trip, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures because getting to the boat required swimming out quite a ways, and I wouldn't have been able to save my camera from getting wet! The drive over was like an action sequence out of Speed 2; we went crashing over the waves in a tiny speedboat. Matt, Mike and I sat in the front, and it was a blast! There's nothing like being out on the water in a fast boat :)

The island was a small pile of rock not far off the mainland. The hotel had provided us with some snorkeling gear, so those of us willing to brave the water went in search of marine life. Mike was awesome at finding all sorts of fish. Among my favorites were the parrot fish, spiny black sea urchins, angel fish, sea slugs (ew, ew, ew, they were huge!) and a puffer fish. I was actually surprised at how much there was under the water. I think I must have been a fish in a past life, it's not normal for someone to enjoy the water so much...

The trip to Khor Fakkan couldn't have come at a better time. It provided all of us with a much needed break in the middle of a long week, and left us refreshed for the work we had left to do.

Only two and a half days left...I'm pretty worn out, but the goal is to hit as many sites and get out as much as possible before it's back to the USA.





View from lunch.

View from the hotel entrance.

Playing in the Gulf of Oman.

Another shot of the water and great scenery!

Just to prove I was actually there.

A shot from the drive home.

The Oceanic hotel, Khor Fakkan.