It has been two weeks since we visited Al Ain and I have been so consumed with life that I haven't had a chance to even think about updating the blog. While visiting Al Ain I didn't have access to my laptop and so I wrote in my journal instead. The following is exactly what I wrote while I was there:
As I sit here there is a guy on the health club just staring at me. He is not an Emirate, but from some other country. Apparently other cultures do not have the same ideas about what is an acceptable time to look at someone. The pool is gorgeous and the temperature is a perfect 70 degress. I feel like I am in the Bahamas instead of a desert in the Middle East.
T just came back from his job interview and they told him he has the job and he could just stay there if he wanted to. When those words came out of his mouth I felt like the wind had just been knocked out of me. I am so excited about the opportunity but the reality scares the heck out of me! I have this lump in my throat and feel like I am constantly on the verge of tears. It's not because I am sad, but only because I am overwhelmed and I don't deal well with change (the jet lag doesn't help things). It is one thing to move away from friends and family, but another to do it half way around the world in a culture that is so different from your own.
While T went on his interview, I ventured out on my own and decided to go to the town center first. I had heard about the crazy driving but it really wasn't as bad as I expected which is a good thing since my taxi didn't have a seatbelt! The first thing I noticed is that all the signs are in both Arabic and English - what a relief! My driver barely spoke english but was able to explain that he was dropping me off in the town center. What surprised me the most was the amount of grass, trees and flowers that are in Al Ain. It is truly the garden city of the desert.
As I sit here there is a guy on the health club just staring at me. He is not an Emirate, but from some other country. Apparently other cultures do not have the same ideas about what is an acceptable time to look at someone. The pool is gorgeous and the temperature is a perfect 70 degress. I feel like I am in the Bahamas instead of a desert in the Middle East.
T just came back from his job interview and they told him he has the job and he could just stay there if he wanted to. When those words came out of his mouth I felt like the wind had just been knocked out of me. I am so excited about the opportunity but the reality scares the heck out of me! I have this lump in my throat and feel like I am constantly on the verge of tears. It's not because I am sad, but only because I am overwhelmed and I don't deal well with change (the jet lag doesn't help things). It is one thing to move away from friends and family, but another to do it half way around the world in a culture that is so different from your own.
While T went on his interview, I ventured out on my own and decided to go to the town center first. I had heard about the crazy driving but it really wasn't as bad as I expected which is a good thing since my taxi didn't have a seatbelt! The first thing I noticed is that all the signs are in both Arabic and English - what a relief! My driver barely spoke english but was able to explain that he was dropping me off in the town center. What surprised me the most was the amount of grass, trees and flowers that are in Al Ain. It is truly the garden city of the desert. 
The city center was hectic and I was overwhelmed at first with all the cars and honking and there was a lot of construction going on in the middle of the road between the shops. As I looked around I saw lots of shops with apartments above them and all the shop signs were also in English and Arabic. The majority of the shops reminded me of a thrift store with items just stuffed in the tiny shops. All I saw at first were men and it appeared they were from all different backgrounds and dressed in various styles, some wearing jeans and t-shirts or khakis and a button up and even some wearing traditional dress from various Islamic cultures. I decided to walk around aimlessly and after a bit I began to see some women dressed in the Abayas. Interestingly, although the Emirate women wear the Abaya they are adorned with sparkles and jewels, and I 
saw many of them wearing a lot of makeup, carrying designer purses, and wearing cute shoes and designer sunglasses adn walking around on chatting on their cell phone. It seems while they practice their traditional dress, they are still influenced by Western ideas and fashion. Even the advertising was a blend of both cultures.I walked into a grocery store in the city center and saw an Emirate woman with her children shopping for groceries. Although she was dressed in the traditional dress, her children were not and they looked like an average American family to me with the kids p
ushing the little carts around asking for everything in sight, they were just dressed differently. It sounds ridiculous, mostly because I am not sure how I expected them to live, but somehow it made me feel connected. I also felt like I was more apart of the world on this trip. As Americans, our newspapers and television stations don't cover as much of the world news as European and 
other cultures do. You see so many people from different countries, some dressed differently to represent their culture...so much more than in Atlanta where there are twice as many people as in the entire U.A.E. There was a mosque located right in the city center and I thought it was an interesting contrast to the modern building beside it.
ushing the little carts around asking for everything in sight, they were just dressed differently. It sounds ridiculous, mostly because I am not sure how I expected them to live, but somehow it made me feel connected. I also felt like I was more apart of the world on this trip. As Americans, our newspapers and television stations don't cover as much of the world news as European and 
other cultures do. You see so many people from different countries, some dressed differently to represent their culture...so much more than in Atlanta where there are twice as many people as in the entire U.A.E. There was a mosque located right in the city center and I thought it was an interesting contrast to the modern building beside it.
I then took a taxi to the European Wal-Mart Carrefour located in a mall in Al Ain. The scenery began to change a little bit as we left the city center and the buildings began to look more sleek and modern. I saw many more Emirates in the Carrefour and there were a lot of families shopping together even though it was a Sunday afternoon which is a work day in the U.A.E. Everything seemed so much more expensive because the prices are in Dirhams and it takes my mind awhile to attempt the conversion ($10 = 36 Dirhams). I just take a third of everything and figure it is better to err on the side of 
thinking something was more expensive. A lot of American brands were represented but with different packaging. The mall had a Chili's and a food court with American fast food brands along with ethnic food choices (not to mention I could get an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins).
thinking something was more expensive. A lot of American brands were represented but with different packaging. The mall had a Chili's and a food court with American fast food brands along with ethnic food choices (not to mention I could get an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins).
After exploring the mall I grabbed a taxi back to the hotel and my Indian driver asked me where I was from and as soon as I told him he wanted to chat about Obama and asked me what I thought about him. It seemed everytime someone figured out I was from the U.S. they wanted to talk about Obama and how the world sees us differently now and how we are headed in a better direction and can mend our broken past from the last eight years. After about five minutes of politics, the driver asked if I was married and had any children. I lied and said I was married to prevent any assumptions that I wasn't commited to my fiance and I told him about T's interview and how we might be moving there. He said he had 
lived in the U.A.E. for five years and his family was back in India. He said he had worked in Saudia Arabia and he liked it much better in the U.A.E. because the Emirates were much nicer than the Saudis. I told him I didn't have any children and he was perplexed and couldn't understand why a woman my age did not have any children yet. I tried to explain about graduate school and wanting to explore the world before I had responsibilites and then I realized he might not ever understand. He then asked if I was a Christian or Muslim and I realized that in the span of 1o minutes I had covered all taboo subjects such as religion, children and politics.Back at the hotel I surfed the tv and there were about 10 American channels with Arabic subtitles. The programming was completely random and one minute there would be Larry King Live and the next a sitcom. The movies that played on one of the channels were not as censored as I had expected.
That night Tyson and I went to dinner and chatted about the possibility of moving and what needed happen to get us there. I felt like I was watching a movie and somebody else was playing me...
