Is this real life...?

The past couple of days I've found myself asking the same question that David asked his dad after that infamous dentist visit... "Is this real life?" I continue to have such amazing experience and have gotten to try new things that continue to educate me and transform my view on the world.

So... what's happened since last Thursday?...

On Friday (the weekend here), I enjoyed sleeping in and catching up on some much needed rest. There isn't really a point to waking up early on Friday morning because everything is closed because Friday is the Islamic holy day (like the Christian Sunday). Stores, restaurants, souqs, etc. typically don't open up until two or four in the afternoon. So, why wake up early? Around one or so, Katie picked me up and we went over to the LuLu Express building that also houses a salon. The salon does hair, nails, waxing,... basically everything. It's interesting (and I think really awesome) that these salons are typically women-only. There are separate ones for men. Why? Because the women who come in to the salon to get their hair done must take off their shayla (head covering) to get their hair done, therefore, no men can be in the salon. I think it's a neat idea, it also makes a girl getaway! :) I got a manicure and afterwards, Katie convinced me to get my eyebrows threaded. Katie is really awesome at convincing me to do things that I should experience, but that I probably wouldn't do without a little bit of prodding (ex: trying sushi). Eyebrow threading was an interesting experience. It hurt like hell and was a strange feeling the first few times she did it, but it wasn't all that bad and as soon as I got used to the feeling it was okay. And now my eyebrows look legit. This is definitely something I am going to try again in the States, but not at a mall which is the only place that I've seen them there.

Me next to the dhow boat! 

After a little bit of pampering we headed back to Katie's place and got ready for our night out on the water- dinner on the dhow! When we signed up for the dhow dinner  cruise we were told that it was going to be on an air conditioned dhow, I should have known that wasn't going to be quite accurate. The boat was really large- there were probably 40-50 people on it. There was a small air conditioned area that held about 15 people, but from what I heard it wasn't all that cool. As soon as the boat got moving though, the heat wasn't that much of an issue. We got to see the sunset over the Doha skyline and enjoyed seeing the city light up from a distance over the water. It was truly gorgeous! Best view of the Doha skyline that I've seen yet! We had yummy Arabic food on the dhow and after about an hour and a half we headed back to the Doha Port. When we got off, we were pretty much drenched in sweat and speed walking towards the car for some good ole AC. Even though it was hot, it was really fun and totally worth it!

Sunset from the dhow cruise.
View of the Doha skyline.  

On Saturday I got some souvenir shopping in and checked some people off of the "to buy for" list. Now I've probably just got to run to the souq one or so more times... mostly just because I love that place so much! :) There's so much neat stuff to buy, the people are so sweet, and it's fun to walk around and get lost. It seems that I am such the tourist.

View of the skyline at night from the dhow cruise.
Absolutely beautiful on a clear night! 

Later Saturday night a large group of us went out to a Ramadan tent at the Four Seasons Hotel for Katie and Wil's birthdays (which were both on the 11th). Once again, there was fabulous Arabic food to be had and a great, beautiful atmosphere. Most of all it was really nice to spend some time with friends in such a fun setting.

Yesterday (Sunday) was the first day of Orientation Peer Advisor (orientation leader) training that I am in charge of. I am supervising eight wonderful students that I am really enjoying working with. Every day is a new challenge and experience. They teach me just as much as I teach them and they teach each other. We've spent a lot of time on team building activities, which I love facilitating. It's awesome to see a team come together and work great together after a fun activity. I got a lot of my activities from my experiences from Fish Camp, so kudos to A&M for preparing me for this adventure!
Today was day two of training and it was even better than day one. I know that it's going to get better and better everyday and I can't wait to see all of my and my colleagues efforts come to fruition on August 26th! :)

And after a long day of training we had volleyball match #2 of the tournament that I'm playing in with Team HBKU. This time it was really intense. The team that we played was ridiculously good, but our team was equally as awesome and we came out on top in the end. We won 2 of the 3 games and the last one was awesome and really close. We got the match point on a serve that was barely out of bounds- a really good call by Wil to not hit it. It was some really awesome energy and I played cheerleader with Arooj and some of the CDA staff. I wasn't nearly good enough to play against this team, but the next game is tomorrow and I think I'll be able to play  again since I think the most intense team is now behind us. We'll see though, the other teams could totally surprise us! Here's to being one game closer the the finals and a 5,000QR prize! :)

Some of the team and the fabulous mascot celebrating the win after a long game!
Note the score of the final game, it was a close one!! 

So what's a girl to do when she's had a week and a half of training and needs a little bit of relaxation time? Get a massage of course! Katie and I both got massages tonight at the Education City Club House, which was awesome because I got an hour-long massage for about 15 US dollars (60 QR) plus a tip!
What I wasn't expecting was the experience in general. Okay, so I've had massages before in the states. It's nice and relaxing and you lay there and get pampered for an hour or so. Then you're done, khalas! Not so much here... I learned afterwards from Katie that Thai massages are a little bit different than the ones that I've ever received before.  I knew it was going to be an interesting experience when she climbed on the massage table with me. She really put all of her body weight into and I ended up in some pretty strange positions. She was crawling all over the table and was standing up. Did she really put me in a half-Nelson at some point? Yes, I think she did. It was just one of those things that I wasn't expecting at all so when she did something I thought was funny I started giggling, which caused here to start giggling, so it was kind of a laughing fest. In the beginning I was thinking to myself, "how can this be relaxing, I'm freaking out over this right now." But as soon as I got used to the different-ness of it, it was really nice and relaxing, but still really different! :-P I was really relaxed afterwards and now my muscles feel fabulous. Ready for the rest of the week of training, BRING IT ON!!

One of the biggest lessons I've been learning over the past few weeks is to remember the big picture. Sometimes I get caught up in the small things that go wrong in life and I lose track of what the important things are. Why are we doing what we're doing? What is the goal? I try and remember this when I get to a point in training and I know we're running about 15 minutes behind, but I just remember that the session that we're doing right now is important to wrap up and we can catch up on time someplace else in the schedule. I'm also learning to not stress about the little things. Sometimes I think that there are bad things happening or life is getting a little hectic, but when it really comes down to it I've learned that I need to put things in perspective. I may be frustrated over something small but there are bigger things going on in the world. There was a shooting in College Station today, over 300 people died yesterday in an earthquake in Iran, and there's uprisings all over the world. Does it really matter that I didn't choose the perfect activity for training? No. Things will get done and things will work out. I'm learning to focus on the big picture and the important things and to not stress out about the relatively little things because there's always something worse/more stressful happening in the world. What I'm doing is really important for the students and families that it's going to impact, but in the big scale of things I don't need to be stressing about it 24/7. I definitely thank Katie for teaching me a lot of these lessons throughout the past weeks. As always, my colleagues have been amazing teachers and friends.

Okay... so three days of training left! I can't believe it's going by so quickly! And I seriously can't believe that I only have 13 days left here in Qatar. Where the hell has all of the time gone?!!

To continued good times and hard work... until next time! :) 

Calm Before the Storm...

Leading a team building exercise with the CDAs. 

The title of this blog post seems rather fitting to me at the moment. The past week or so has been relatively calm, but also really productive. I've been doing more prep work for orientation and orientation leader training and I've been helping out with CDA (RA) training. Same on the social front, I haven't done anything crazy or outlandish, but I've been doing a lot of low-key yet still fun things.
The "storm" that is coming is: orientation leader training next week, orientation August 23-26, leaving Qatar on August 27, starting classes on August 27, starting my graduate assistantship again on August 28, and surviving another semester of grad school. I'm also trying to fit everything in that I want to do before I head back to the other side of the world. So what do you think... "calm before the storm" is relatively fitting, yes?

Last Saturday we had macaroni night at Katie's. We were supposed to watch a movie about two religions coming and functioning together, but we got sidetracked in conversation instead. Macaroni was delicious, Katie did an excellent job! Over dinner conversation they planned possible trips to nearby countries that they wanted to visit before the end of the year. This is one thing that I am totally envious of my colleagues that work here year round- they travel everywhere because it's so close! The passports that I've seen here are jam-packed with stamps, the way that I hope mine will be someday. The location of Qatar is perfect for long weekends to nearby countries like Oman, the UAE, Jordan, etc. I would absolutely love to come back and work here and be able to experience the frequent traveling (one of the many perks of working here!).

On Sunday, CDA training started and it was a great day. This whole week of training has been good insight for what to expect from my orientation leader staff during training next week. I'm excited and prepared (mostly) for an amazing five days of orientation leader training, which I haven't had the opportunity to do in a few years! Sunday night at had dinner with Kevin, a former SAAHE student, which was really great. We talked a lot about how great this experience is going to be and how good it is going to be as a marketing tool during job interviews and what I should do before I leave Qatar. He's a really cool guy and I'm glad I got to see a SAAHE alum while I was over here.

On Tuesday I went out to dinner with some of my HRL colleagues to Neo Sushi. It was really great food and while I ordered pasta as my main dish, I tried my first piece of sushi ever... and it wasn't that bad! Of course, the piece I tried didn't have any kind of fish in it, but it's a step!! Another first experienced in Qatar...

My first piece of sushi! Grateful that Katie encouraged me to try it!

Early in the week, Jimmy, one of my colleagues, asked me if I wanted to participate in a volleyball tournament with the HRL staff. I thought it would be fun, so I said yes. Little did I know when signing up for this that there was a 5,000QR prize attached for the winning team! Had I known there was something riding on the game I would have been a lot more hesitant... I'm definitely not a star volleyball player by any means. On Wednesday night we had our first game. I prepared, did some stretching. But the real preparation was mental. Had to keep telling myself, "okay, if the ball comes towards you, don't dodge it or close your eyes- hit it!" We played a team from Education City Facilities division. We won the first two of three games and won the match (using correct terminology here?). I was relatively proud of myself. I made a couple of serves and only completely botched one. Thankfully my teammates are really supportive and the team we were playing wasn't crazy amazing so I got some good practice/skill building in for prep for the next game. I'd like to think that I somewhat held my own, there were sometimes though that I definitely messed up. I am aiming for improvement in the next game that we play which is on Sunday at 10:15PM (late, huh?).

Volleyball- Team HBKU! 

Today (Thursday) we wrapped up the first week of CDA training and had a relaxing evening. After iftar I went back to Katie's place and we napped until we met up with Wil and Arooj for a late night coffee outing and antique shopping. There was a really neat shop that we'd been wanting to visit that is next to Thai Snack. It's a crazy awesome antique shop that sells a little bit of everything. We went upstairs and it felt like I was walking through my grandma's attic. Very cool collections of stuff.

Tomorrow night we are going on a Dhow dinner cruise out on the water, which should be amazing and really fun! It's the first night of the birthday celebration for Katie and Wil, who's birthdays are both on August 11th. There are going to be lots of fun events throughout the week and hopefully I can get more things knocked off of my to-do list!

So what is left on my to-do list, you ask?...

• go dune bashing with a professional driver
• ride a camel
• buy something at the gold souq
• visit the Villagio Mall (if it opens back up while I'm here)
• Take a picture with the giant pearl on the Corniche
• Visit shops on the Pearl, maybe have dinner there
• Go to the Grand Mosque
• Go to a service at a mosque in English
• Get a henna tattoo
• Buy local clothing, maybe have something made
• Get a massage at the Club House (not really cultural, but relaxing none the less!)
• Go on a dhow boat (tomorrow night!!)
• Do more shopping at Souq Waqif for souvenirs
• See the Falcon Souq- where they sell falcons
• Eat dinner at Aspire Tower
• Go to Heritage Village

There are probably other things that I am forgetting... but this is the main list. 

I'll have lots of exciting things to share next time I post, so until then...

Feel free to leave me comments if you'd like to :) 

"Wait... so what are you doing in Qatar?" My internship, Garangao & a Night Out at Souq Waqif

I've gotten this question a lot from my family and friends... what am I doing over here in my work?
I'm working for the Qatar Foundation at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, which is the umbrella university for the six branch campuses over here (Texas A&M University, Cornell Medical College, Carnegie Mellon University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Northwestern, and Georgetown).  You can learn more about HBKU here: http://www.hbku.com/en/index.html. I work in Faculty and Student Services in the Housing and Residence Life department. The new student orientation program is run through this department. My main job while I am working here is with new student orientation. I have created a training for the Orientation Peer Advisors (OPAs, or orientation leaders) and will be facilitating the training for them in two weeks. I am also helping facilitate the actual orientation, which will be on August 26th. There are also lead-up events to orientation from August 23rd-25th while the new students are arriving from all over the world. These events have been planned to ensure they have fun and exciting things to do while they are also learning about their new community that they will be living in/going to school in.
As I've said many times in blog posts before, I absolutely love the work that I am doing here and the people that I work with are great. I can't imagine having spent the summer elsewhere! I am currently half-way through my internship and I am already sad about the prospect of leaving. This place is really amazing. I hope to be able to return to Qatar some day and work in Education City in this amazing educational environment. I learn new things everyday, whether it is in the office with my colleagues or out and about running around Doha. The culture here is fantastic and I love being emerged in and and really learning what Qatar is all about. It's nice to see how similar and how different it is from the United States and to really push past all the misconceived notions that people have of countries in the middle east. I feel like I'm learning at every moment of the day and the people I am with are always having really intellectual conversations and candid conversations that get to the truth of matters. I can't wait to share my newfound knowledge with people when I return to the States.

Approaching sunset in Qatar. Aspire Tower on the horizon. 

So what have I been doing since I last posted?
Last night was the half-way point for Ramadan (cue the "ooooooooh we're half-way there...." music!). In Qatar the night of the half-way mark there is a celebration called Garangao. Garangao may look like Halloween to an American, but there are some key differences. There is some debate over whether it is a religious or cultural tradition, but it dates back a long time. After iftar (the dinner meal that is eaten to break the fast, pronounced just like it is spelled) children dress up in their traditional Qatari clothing and go around to homes in their neighborhood singing the Garangoa song and receiving candy and sweets from their neighbors. The Garangao song translated to English is:

"Garangaou gargaa'ou,

Give us and Allah will give you,

To the House of Mecca He will take you,

Oh Mecca, Oh Ma'moura,Oh mother of gold and chains oh Noura,

Give us good weight in candy, 

Azizaan greets you,Give us from Allah's wealth, Abdullah greets you…

Give us, give us,

Give us and Allah will give you,

To the House of Mecca He will take you"

The song loses the beauty in translation, but I guess that goes with most language translations. Nothing sounds quite as beautiful in English. The celebration is to celebrate the cultural past, children, and gets young children in the spirit for Ramadan. Unlike Halloween, there is no "trick-or-treat or basis in which craft, but more in the religious cultural beliefs of generosity.  

Last night, Katie went to Katara, the cultural village with lots of restaurants and art galleries, to experience Ganangao firsthand. There were hundreds of children walking around in mini-thobes and tiny traditional Qatari dresses- it was precious. If you've ever seen a child in a thobe, they're stinkin' adorable! I didn't take pictures at Katara because it's not really a picture-taking society or it would have been rude for me to take pictures of them without their permission. So if you want to see some adorable little Qatari children dressed up, google "Garangao" or look here. 

Before we went to Garangao we went to dinner at Thai Snack, which I've been hearing about since my arrival. It was about time I made it over there for some yummy Thai food.  It's kind of a throw-together building and the service isn't that great, but the food is phenomenal! Best Thai food I've ever had... I think I've only had it once before... but still the best, and relatively cheap! Dinner was fabulous- we had curry chicken, pad thai, sticky rice, dumplings, and I had a Thai Iced Tea, which was fabulous. Every time I try something new I think to myself... "mom and dad would be so proud!" I always have a great time hanging out with my friends/colleagues here, they're awesome company!

On the menu at Thai Snack- I'm really hoping this is a translation error...

Today I slept in, which was so nice. Around noon, Katie and I went grocery shopping. First we stopped by a more local Qatari supermarket that was close by. I hadn't been to anything besides the LuLu, Carrefour, and MegaMart, so it was nice to see something a little more local. There was an isle of huge sacks of rice and an entire isle of oils. It was really interesting to see a different kind of grocery store, probably one more frequented by the locals. Afterwards, we went to the LuLu Express that is right next to campus and I stocked up on food for the next few weeks. Thankfully I didn't have to buy too much since I will be helping out with training for the CDAs (equivalent of RAs) next week and dinner will be provided for us. After that, I came home and relaxed for a couple of hours until I met up with Lauren (the girl that I met during my medical screening that is from Magnolia, TX) and headed to the souq for a fun night. 

Lauren and I went for dinner at La Dolce Vita, an Italian restaurant at the souq that was suggested to us by Katie. When I heard there was an Italian restaurant at the souq, I was honestly a little worried about what the food would be like... who gets Italian food in the middle east, right? But I'd heard good reviews and we decided to give it a try- and it was great! The only thing that could have made it better was a glass of wine, but alas, it is Ramadan and no alcohol is served/sold during Ramadan in Qatar (and even when it's not Ramadan, the only places you can get alcohol is inside hotel restaurants or at the store that sells all of the haram things- pork and alcohol). 

After that, Lauren and I walked around the souq exploring different souvenir options. This place is awesome and I could walk around for hours! We found the pet souq again and saw lots of little kittens and this time I picked one up to play with, it was adorable! It was one of those "control yourself Jen, you can't buy a cat" moments. I also took Lauren by the jewelry place where my friend gave me a necklace, he was really nice once again, offering us tea and water. We didn't buy anything tonight, but I know that I will be returning soon to pick up souvenirs for everyone before I fly back home. I've got quite a list of people to buy for, hah! After walking around for about an hour we settled down at a restaurant on the main strip and smoked shisha. We got grape-mint and strawberry flavored and we shared. It was yummy and I got to share in Lauren's first shisha experience.

Baby chicks in the souq that had been dyed different colors- kind of like when ducklings and chicks are dyed different colors for Easter in the US. 

We had an interesting experience while we were smoking shisha... Earlier when we were in the jewelry store there was a group of three American men that were also in there. When they left they said goodbye to us in passing and when I said goodbye back, he turned around and was like, "y'all are American!" and we were both like... haha, yes we are. They asked why we were there and I jokingly replied, "shopping." Which they got a laugh out of. We asked why they were there and they said they couldn't tell us- that it was a secret. From the look of them my guess is that they were in the military or some kind of government organization, but I didn't push for information because we were just being friendly. Flash back to when we were smoking shisha about an hour later- one of the guys comes up to our table and is like "I hate to be forward, but can I sit down for a minute with you two?" We say sure, it's always good to be nice, right? We talk for a few minutes. Turns out he's from Oklahoma and he said it was nice to hear that "southern twang" in the middle east and he knew we'd be "good people." He was still secretive about what his job was but said something of the sort that him and his buddies weren't allowed to socialize outside of work, which is interesting. They had just gotten into town this week and since we had been there for a while they wanted to know what there was to do in town. We exchanged information and said that he'd call us when he wanted to get some more info about things to do in the area. This is definitely not something that I would have done in the States, give my number out to some random 40 year old man, but I guess that's how you meet other expats over here. And to my parents, who I know will read this- I promise that I won't let myself get "Taken."
Then about ten minutes later another guy came up to our table and tried to start talking to us. He  seemed a little more sketchy and he said he wanted to be our friend, but Lauren and I pulled the "we're only in town for the weekend" card because we didn't get a great vibe from him. Then Lauren and I were joking that we didn't run into him in a few weeks! Hah!
After we were done smoking shisha, we headed back to our places and made plans to go out dune bashing and camel riding in the future. I'm really glad I've met another fellow Texan over here and someone outside of work to hang out with. She's a really nice girl and she plans to got to A&M when she gets back to the states.  I'm slowly trying to get her to drink the kool-aid! Hah! I know some people think it's brave/adventurous of me to come over here alone at 23, but she's only 18!! So I have a lot of respect for her being here alone as a nanny for an American family. I'm looking forward to hanging out with her again.

Tomorrow I am going to dinner at Katie's for macaroni dinner and "people of the book" night, when we're going to incorporate a little bit of religion from all of the different people who partially or wholly base their religion on the first testament: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It should be a fun night!

Until next time... masalama!

My Dubai Getaway

I have been working fiendishly the past few weeks at my internship preparing for New Student Orientation and orientation leader training. I was glad that I had the opportunity to sneak away for a weekend in Dubai. I've always head that Dubai was a fun exotic place to visit and I wanted to see it all for myself.
I left Doha on Thursday night (the weekend is Friday & Saturday) on a FlyDubai flight. The flight was only about 45 minutes long and I got to watch about half of the Harry Potter 7 Pt. 2 movie, which I finished on the return flight. Going through security at the airport in Doha was interesting. I was prepared for the whole ordeal that the US airports put you through: take off your shoes, liquids in separate bags, remove all metal from your body, etc. As I approached the security counter, I was preparing myself slowing... remove belt, take off watch,... and about the time I started untying my shoes, the security guard stops me and pushily tells me to continue through the metal detector. As I try to explain to him that I haven't taken off my shoes and metal items, he just repeats "go, go"... so I walk through the metal detector wearing my watch, two rings, coins in my pocket, my belt, and my shoes. Of course, I set the thing off. I turn around and look at the security guard who I assumed was going to make me walk through again or wand me, and he looks at me and says "Please continue, ma'am." As I collected my things from the x-ray conveyor belt and walked away I was somewhat in shock. Why didn't they really screen me? I could have had something dangerous on me and they'd have never known it. I told one of my coworkers about it and he got a kick out of it since he's stopped at every security checkpoint in every airport ever. He told me I probably wasn't thoroughly screened was a combination of the fact that I was white and also a woman.
Needless to say I had plenty of time left in the airport since I had collected my ticket and gone through security in a matter of 20 minutes... what to do, what to do? Thankfully I had brought my iPad along with me for the weekend and proceeded to play games until my flight was called for boarding. The flight was relatively uneventful. I watched the movie and relaxed. It was about the same distance as a flight from College Station to Houston would have been. Just about the time they hit cruising speed and altitude, they're already on their way back down.
Another interesting part of my traveling experience happened once I got to Dubai...
I got off the plane and headed for the customs and immigration line. As a US citizen you can show up in Dubai without a visa and they'll issue one on arrival. This was really nice so I didn't have to do a lot of paperwork beforehand. I just had to request an exit and reentry permit for Qatar. I got several passports on my stamp this weekend: entry and exit stamps from Qatar and Dubai as well as a 28 day visa stamp from Dubai (all shown below).

Dubai passport stamps, airplane ticket, and Qatar exit permit. 

After immigration, I went through customs which is just putting your suitcase on an X-ray belt again, nothing serious. It seems like no country I've been to really takes the whole customs thing seriously. On my arrival in both Italy and Qatar I walked right through. The US has the same process with a longer line and just makes you fill out paperwork if you're declaring anything. My experiences with customs have never been intense, but that's neither here nor there. After customs I found an ATM in the airport to get money out so I could pay a taxi driver to take me to my hotel. I arrived at about 11:45PM and by the time I exited the airport it was midnight so the metro was closed already. I put the card in the machine, choose my language, type in my pin, choose how much money I want to pull out... and I get the lovely message "This card is invalid." Machine spits card out at me. Try again. "This card is invalid." At this point I'm already concocting the verbal rampage in my head for the phone call that I'm going to make to Wells Fargo if I ever get to my hotel. The only reason I could think that my card wasn't working is that they'd cancelled it... after I'd spoken to them several times about my travel plans and had them make notes in my account. I was livid... and having a mental freakout because I was now in another foreign country, by myself, with 34 Qatari Riyals (~$9.50). All I'm thinking to myself is crap, crap, crap... this isn't good.
I walked into the mini convenience store at the airport and ask if the taxi drivers will take Qatari Riyals and she tells me yes- I'm so thankful that most people here speak English, and really well- not the case in Italy. She tells me to cross the street to get a cheaper taxi because the ones that pick up right in front of the airport are more expensive. So I walk across the street and there is a taxi driver waiting outside his taxi and asks me where I want to go. I tell him I need to go to the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel and ask him about how much it is going to cost. He tells me about 95 Duhrams (UAE money), which is about equal to the Qatari Riyal. Once again... crap crap crap. So I do the only thing I can think of (and which Chris will hate me for)... I play the I'm-an-American-alone-in-another-country-and-the-ATM-isn't-accepting-my-credit-card-and-all-I-have-is-34QR card. I put on my best pathetic girl face and the driver is like fine, fine I'll take you. YES!
The taxi driver was incredibly nice and wasn't resentful at all about the fact that I wouldn't be able to pay him is full fare. The taxi ride was about 20  minutes long and we talked the whole time. Him about growing up in Bangladesh and all of the different places that I should visit while I am in Dubai and he asked me about America and Texas. He turned off his taxi meter about half-way through the ride when it hit 34QR because that was all I was able to pay. Seriously, best taxi driver ever. I was just about ready to give him a hug but that would have been really culturally inappropriate, especially during Ramadan! When we get to the hotel I give him all the cash I have on me and walk into the hotel sans moolah.

Ibn Batutta Gate Hotel in Dubai

Ibn Batutta Gate Hotel in Dubai. Room was on the 4th floor to the right of the white drive through. 

The hotel that I stayed at was absolutely amazing. It was a 5-star hotel that I booked on Priceline and only paid $100/night for. I figured I'm only going to make it to Dubai once, so I wanted to do it in style! I checked in and and asked if there was an ATM at the hotel that I could use. They pointed me to one and I approached with caution... this would be the true test... Did Wells Fargo cancel my card or was the machine at the airport just not working... deep breath... insert card, select language, type in PIN... select amount of cash and... SUCCESS! Biggest sigh of relief in my life. I was dreading what I was going to have to do if my card wasn't working. I stopped mentally cursing Wells Fargo and took the elevator up to the 4th floor and settled into my hotel room. The rooms as amazing. I had a comfy king-sized bed that I sprawled out on and passed out because it had been such a long day of work and travel.
I woke up early Friday morning and got ready for the day. I had planned out the trip earlier in the week and knew what I wanted to do. On the docket for the day: Mall of the Emirates and the Dubai Mall followed by a trip to the top of the Burj Khalifa after the sun had set.
The Mall of the Emirates was huge and awesome. I spent about an hour there because I was waiting for the metro system to open up since it has Friday morning reserved for maintenance. I walked around and took pictures of the indoor ski slope and meandered the stores, but I don't recall buying anything. When the metro station opened for the day I bought myself a day pass and hopped on the metro for the Dubai Mall- the biggest mall in the world that has 1,200 stores!! It was massive and ridiculous in every way. I'm pretty sure they well everything ever invented, even human organs (okay, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point), EVERYTHING! I bought the ring that I've posted pictures of on Facebook, two pairs of stud earrings, some postcards and other small items. I was careful not to buy anything big or heavy for fear of making my carry-on bag too heavy for the flight back to Dubai (the limit was 7kg, which is about 15lbs). I spent hours walking around the Dubai Mall, there was a ridiculous amount of things to see. I went to the aquarium and saw lots of fish, animals and even penguins (in the middle of the mall)! There was a huge 3-story waterfall and various hotels connected to the mall. I went to one of the hotels for lunch since all of the food court options were shut during the daylight hours (Ramadan). Lunch at the hotel was fabulous and it was a nice break for my feet. Afterwards I sent to the spice souk and then headed the Burj Khalifa for my 7:30PM appointment to take the elevator to the top!

Burj Khalifa

I arrived at the Burj Khalifa right after sunset. Thankfully I had purchased my ticket ahead of time, which made it a quarter of the price and I didn't have to wait in a ridiculous line. I piled into an elevator with a dozen other people and we were rocketed to the 124th floor, ears popping all the way. The view was amazing. I could see Dubai at night and it seemed to go on forever, except the side of the building that faced the ocean, where there was a distinct line of where buildings met the coast. Absolutely gorgeous and a "must-do" for people traveling to Dubai!
Afterwards, I took the metro back to my hotel and relaxed in the hotel bar with a glass of wine. I went back to my hotel room, took a bubble bath and fell asleep after my long day of exploring Dubai. It doesn't seem like I did a lot but the heat combined with the miles of walking really did me in!
I woke up the next morning and headed to the private beach that the hotel visitors have access to. I spent the morning until 2PM alternating between the beach, the infinity pool, and the lazy river. What a life! I finally got some sun, which is funny to think that I haven't really had much of my arms or legs exposed since I've gotten here. My goal was to relax... mission accomplished. After swimming and sunning I returned to my hotel, showered, checked out and ate a late lunch in the hotel restaurant.

Private hotel beach in Dubai. 

Afterwards, I took a taxi to the old gold souk that is close to the airport, toting my duffle bag with me- not the best arrangement, but it worked out. As in Doha you are asked to come into the shops by the owners who want to show you all of the things they are selling. I had a 15-minute conversation with a guy about my age from India. He started off trying to sell me a gold/diamond necklace and I think he finally got the hint after me telling him several times that I couldn't afford it. Afterwards he just talked to me about life and America and what I was doing in the gulf area. He gave my his name and told me to find him on Facebook, and of course... the inevitable question... "Are you married?" I was asked three times that weekend. Note to self... just start answering yes= less hassle.
I didn't end up buying anything at the gold souk, because while there were amazing and beautiful pieces of jewelry there just wasn't anything that shouted "BUY ME" that I could afford! I headed out to the road and asked a taxi driver to take me to the airport. Somewhere I must have done wrong because about the time I threw my bag into the backseat and started to climb in, another taxi driver came and told me to get into his cab because he had been waiting longer. Then came the screaming match between the two cab drivers... it was intense. I was momentarily worried that the guy I'd gotten into the cab with was going to run the other guy over. Such an awkward ride after that confrontation. The people in the gold souk around me gave me sympathetic looks and I think were trying to tell me, "don't worry, it's not your fault." In the end I made it to the airport, one angry taxi driver later.
The Dubai airport was just as lax security-wise as the Doha airport. Somewhat troubling, but I made it back safely so I guess everything turned out okay.
Overall, I had an amazing time. The places that I visited were beautiful. Like Doha, there is construction everywhere and the driving is insane- do these people not have a fear of dying in car crashes?! The culture here is something that I am soaking in every moment. I am enjoying Ramadan and have even fasted a few days to see what it's like for the Muslims.  I have a whole new level of respect for the Muslims in America that walk around during Ramadan and have to watch people eat and drink all day while they cannot. And the heat in Texas while walking on campus in College Station, I can't imagine. This whole experience has been eye opening and I learn new things every day. I wish everyone had an opportunity like this so learn and share and see others' world views.

Now that I've returned from my weekend getaway I've gotten back to work and have to buckle down because orientation leader training starts the week after next. Next week the CDA (equivalent of RA) training starts and I am assisting with it.
On Sunday I had more Arabic food at Wafi Gourmet (kind of like an Arabic version of Hubble and Hudson Kitchen). I am really starting to love the food over here. I am going to miss it when I am back in the states, which was unexpected. I've noticed that you just get much more variety over here. A meal consist of several different items and not just a main course and a side. It makes it easier to try several new things at once. On Monday night, Basit was craving a burger so we went to iftar at... Fudruckers... yes, they have one over here! Haha it was kind of funny to see it in a totally different setting. Then last night I had more Arabic food at Arooj's house while we worked on some things for work and watched Fun With Dick and Jane, which I had forgotten how funny it was. I died laughing.
Tonight I went to iftar with Arooj, Will, Fatima, and Maria then went for ice cream afterwards. Ice cream as an interesting experience. We were sitting at the table alone in the restaurant and a family came in. A mom, a nanny, 7 little girls and a little boy. The only thing I was thinking was, "good lord I would pull my hair out if I had that many kids!" The kids were all really sweet, giving us high-fives and saying hi. Then after they ordered ice cream they were standing awkwardly close behind me, it was like a had eight little shadows. After a couple of minutes one of the older ones (about 6 years old) came up to me and slowly (with her mother reminding her of words) said to me: "We would like to invite you to learn about Islam." I thought it was really interesting because you're suddenly stuck in this awkward moment of what do I do? I want to be nice and respectful, but I don't know what to say in return. I ended up saying thank you and awkwardly looking to the people at my table for help, who were giggling at the interaction. It's funny because it puts it all into perspective for me little bit better. This is what Muslim people experience sometimes when they come to America, people trying to teach them about their religion. I know the little girl and her family were just trying to be kind, but it was an awkward and eye-opening position that I found myself in. A big lesson in putting myself in another person's shoes.
Still... this is an amazing experience. I couldn't have asked anything more out of a summer internship. The people I work with are great and I love the work that I am doing. The culture is exciting and I'm learning all the time, which is awesome. Everything seems to be a learning moment. I really can't wait to bring back all of my new knowledge back to Texas although I'm not looking forward to leaving Doha, half of my time here is gone and it's been so quick!

Dubai- outside the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel.

I will leave you with a few Arabic words of the day...
"shukran"= "thank you"
"Al salaam a'alaykum"= "hello"
"ma'a salama"= "goodbye"
Funny word stuff: "Shisha" has several meanings- the stuff you smoke, an IV, or an incubator that you put newborn babies in. During staff training we asked Mohammed to put this into a sentence for us- "Put my baby in the shisha." I died laughing.

Until next time, leave comments if you'd like...