Salam!
I’m about two weeks late starting my blog, so this blog will be my longest because I have so much to cover. Please feel free to ask me any questions about the culture or area you would like to know and I will do my best to find out.
My first taste of another culture was on my plane ride out of the US. Although most of the group flew together; I flew alone with AirFrance because it was cheap and made an exchange flight in Paris. Surprisingly (to me anyway), I was one of the few Americans on the plane, the majority of travelers being French. The most interesting parts of the flight for me were dinner on the plane and my chaotic experience at the Charles De Gaulle airport during my time between flights. I had read articles online about what a nightmare the CDG airport was to navigate, and most travelers recommended a minimum of 2-3 hours in between exchange flights. I had less than 2 hours between flights, assuming the plane arrived on time.
My flight in CDG arrived on time, but proceeded to take a half hour to taxi into the gate. In addition, the gate ended up being at a remote terminal, instead of one of the main terminals that was originally listed. From there, a bus took us to a terminal on the opposite end of the airport from my exchange flight. I just barely caught a second bus that drove between terminals, ignoring the security officer’s warnings that the bus was full. Once I arrived at the correct terminal I had to wait through security a second time, which was delayed even more because there were no more tote bins. Although somewhat hectic, I ended up making it to the gate right as the plane started boarding. At least I can say I've been to Europe now! My second flight was fairly uneventful. Twenty-five hours later (including the time difference), I arrived at the enormous Dubai airport. I was immediately greeted with a blast of warm humid air, a stark contrast to the snowy winter weather in France. Accompanying the blast of air was the sudden realization of how alone I was, with no (easy) way to contact anyone I knew. Long story short, I managed to find the RIT Dubai student who was waiting at the airport and I arrived at the dorms around 2am.
I won’t give a play by play of all the events that happened during the next few days but here is a brief description of the dorm and some cultural differences I noticed the first couple days. The dorm is similar to a hotel, with room service that comes to clean once a week. My room is air conditioned, with no option for heat. I will be in Dubai for the coldest part of the year, and the lowest the temperature will get is in the high 60’s- low 70’s. Currently, it has been in the high 70’s-low 80’s. The biggest difference between these dorms and RIT’s dorms in the US is the lack of co-ed floors. Men are strictly forbidden from venturing onto the girls’ floor, but girls are allowed into the lounge area on the men’s floor. Women actually have a lot of special privileges in Dubai. The gym complex has two swimming pools, a sauna, etc. but these are open to women only from 8:00am to 5:30pm during the week. From 6pm-9pm the fitness center is only open to business people (who stay on another floor), which leaves only 9pm-11pm as the only time that I can swim during the week. Not exactly the hottest time of the day.
Speaking of water, the water pressure in my shower is far greater than any shower I’ve taken in the US. Unexpected, for a city in the middle of the desert. This is probably why Dubai has the highest carbon emissions per capita in the world. The city of Dubai is incredible; it is a surreal experience seeing enormous buildings flanking the shoreline of the Persian Gulf and surrounded by desert on all sides. Public transportation is excellent; cabs and buses are readily available and are very cheap. Additionally, a new metro system was completed last year. However, there is a downside in that it is not possible to walk anywhere, meaning that anytime I want to go somewhere, I have to call a cab which will then take me to the metro station.
As expected in a different country, there are obvious cultural differences. I’ll go ahead and mention the most notable ones:
The work week goes from Sunday to Thursday; Friday being the Islamic holy day. Additionally, 5 times a day no matter where you are, you can hear the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, being broadcast from the minarets on top of the mosques. There are mosques and prayer rooms everywhere (even in the malls) where Muslims go to reflect upon their beliefs. Most of the TV stations stop broadcasting during prayer times as well. The prayer times depend on the position of the sun, so prayer time changes every day. Another cultural difference is that tap water is not fit for drinking. In the dorms, there are a few water coolers, but generally people buy bottled water. Bottled water is very cheap, about 27 cents for a normal sized bottle. The dress of the local people is varied, and Dubai is certainly a mixing bowl of cultures. The general dress is conservative and very few locals wear shorts or revealing shirts. However, outside it is perfectly acceptable to wear shorts and less formal clothing. Inside buildings and restaurants, the rules are somewhat stricter; malls have signs that read “Please dress appropriately.” From what I have been told, the worst that will happen is that you will be denied entrance if your clothing is not suitable. This is nowhere near as extreme as the rumors I have heard that you could be arrested or fined for inappropriate dress. I was surprised to hear the music on the radio, the most popular stations seem to be ones playing top American songs, which are mostly hip-hop, pop, and rock. I found this interesting because the subject of the music usually goes against the beliefs practiced here. The other day, I heard the song “Kiss Me through the Phone,” on the radio. Pretty ironic, because PDA (Public Display of Affection) is forbidden. No holding hands, kissing, or homosexuality allowed. Also, alcohol is tightly regulated. To purchase it, the buyer must possess a special liquor ID. Even with the ID, there are very few stores that sell alcohol because it is forbidden in the Islamic culture. If you buy alcohol, you can only drink it in your home. There are nightclubs and bars, but by law they are only located inside of hotels.
All of my shopping so far has been at the malls; the malls here are magnitudes larger and more ornate than any in the US. There are even valet parking areas, complete with tons of nice cars that I can never afford. I ate dinner my first day here at a Lebanese restaurant that overlooked a ski resort. That’s right, a ski resort inside a mall. Snow is artificially made there every night, and skiers are provided with all necessary equipment as well as cold weather clothing. You can find any retail store imaginable inside the malls, the majority of which are very high-end brand names. January through February, the malls have an enormous sale, which attract tourists from around the world. Supposedly savings are from 50-75% off at most stores. An interesting fact is that most places I have been to only accept cash. One of the cashiers actually laughed at me when I offered him my debit card to pay.
For food, there is a store at every mall called Carrefour, which is similar to a Walmart. I never thought I would say this, but I actually miss Walmart. Carrefour is not as nice in appearance or layout and the quality of products is not as high. However, there are some nice qualities to it such as an incredible variety of spices and vegetables for purchase as well as a fresh fish market. My first experience inside the store was awful. I told myself I would never go back, but it is actually one of the only places I can buy groceries (later trips to Carrefour have not been as bad). I made the mistake of going to the mall on National Day (which is equivalent of our 4th of July, more on National Day later). It was more crowded than a Best Buy on Black Friday and people were going crazy. The store intercom was constantly going off with names of lucky customers who had won various prizes of sorts. There were also what appeared to be secret sales going on all around the store. In one area, employees wheeled out a large bin full of polo shirts. Shoppers started shoving their way through the crowd in an effort to grab packages of two polo shirts for only 25 dirhams ($1= 3.67 dirhams).
On to National Day.
The third day in Dubai, our group of students from the US ventured out to beach. We were told there were fireworks along the water at night, so we decided to stick around. While waiting, we decided to check out strange noises that were coming from the road. We never made it to the fireworks, but the real show was along the road
Cars and SUVs were cruising up and down the four-lane road. Every one of them was decked out with ribbons, streamers, and decals in UAE colors (red, green, and white). There were even cars with full decal wraps depicting the face of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who united the seven emirates together. Emiratis (pronounced Emiratees) were hanging out their windows and sunroofs shooting silly string, hand soap (the foaming kind), and funfetti everywhere. Drivers were blowing their horns and revving their engines. There were a few SUV’s with souped up engines shooting flames out of their exhaust followed by deafening backfires that sounded like gun shots. (I found out later that is not uncommon for people here to modify the engine of their SUVs to 1000hp. Yes 1000hp. For any car illiterate people reading this, a new Corvette has 430hp). There were no stop lights, except for those at pedestrian crossings. When traffic stopped, people would run out of their cars and shoot silly string into the window of unsuspecting passengers in cars around them. Overall, the event gave me a completely different perspective of the locals here. I had come with the notion that most people were very proper and strict and never let loose. National Day showed that this is clearly not the case. I should point out that everyone was having harmless fun, and there was no vandalizing or fighting going on that I could see.
Well, this has gone on long enough. I’m not up-to-date yet, but I will continue adding blogs when I get time.
