I know I’ve already mentioned a couple of things we did in the UAE, but I figured I’d go back into detail to explain what we’ve been up to here (I say “here, but I’m currently in an airplane traveling back to Cairo…). First off, our entire trip was paid for by an Emirate Foundation (ie: the Crown Prince of Dubai..) that brings school groups to the Emirates in order to establish international school partnerships, as well as encourage students interested in international pursuits to consider Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And I think our entire group can attest to the fact that they certainly did so…
So, we woke up very early on last Friday in order to catch our flight to Dubai and ended up being a bit delayed. All went well though, and after a 4 hour flight, we were touching down in DBX. We hadn’t had much of a plan from the Emirates foundation (part of me thinks they wanted to keep it all mysterious..) so Professor Khater (a meticulous planner) told us he wasn’t sure exactly how we would be getting to the hotel from the airport. However, there was a large delegation awaiting us when we finally got through customs and exited baggage claim! There were about 6 Emirati “tour guides” waiting to pick us up and deliver us to our wonderful, air conditioned bus. Did I mention it’s about 120 degrees here with 47% humidity? Incredible!
Anyway, so we were then driven about half an hour into town and delivered to our Dubai hotel, the Address. The name sounds pretty regular but this hotel was INCREDIBLE! It’s a 5 star hotel connected to Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world. Seriously, there is an ice skating rink and an aquarium inside, as well as the entrance to the Burj Khalifa, our first stop that night after we got settled into our rooms.
The Burj Khalifa is actually the largest building in the world and you can take elevators up to the 126th floor. It isn’t the top, but it’s much higher than any other building can take you. We took wonderful pictures of the entire city by night and then took elevators back down to the ground floor and got some spicy Portuguese food for dinner in the mall. It’s incredible how everything is connected here by air conditioned tunnels. Considering the weather, I’m sure it’s been a long time coming but it’s still so different here. Anyways, after dinner we shopped a bit but eventually headed back up to our hotel and passed out in the wonderful, fluffy “cloud” beds.
The next morning we set off to a “cultural center” located at an old, restored traditional Emirati village. I think we all thought it would be a really lame experience but it was actually one of the most fun things I’ve done here. The director of the center and our tour guides explained many of the traditions while serving us breakfast while we sat on cushions on the floor. He was a very intelligent and frank man, and encouraged us to ask whatever questions we would like about the Emirates, so we all asked away without worrying about offending our hosts. As is to be expected, many of the questions pertained to gender issues and roles, including women, marriage and divorce, and the practice of polygamy.
While it’s something that the West traditionally looks upon with disgust, they explained the Quranic origins and how it is supposed to be carried out—a means of providing for women and their children if something should happen to the husband, or a practice designed to help boost the population. Both of these are quite rampant after war, so the practice of polygamy is quite high in places like Iraq compared to the Emirates where it’s about 2% of marriages. One thing I’ve learned in the past, but that has been affirmed over here is that Islam is an incredibly social religion that focuses on communities at large and less on the individual. Polygamy is quite a different situation from that perspective, so there’s a lesson in cultural relativism for you! Also, Islam has marriage contracts that allow women to control whether or not their husbands may engage in polygamy, so it’s not a decision made only by men. I’m done defending polygamy now, I just found it incredibly interesting.
After our breakfast (THEIR BREAD IS SO GOOD HERE!) we visited the restored village and saw how everything was built in the days before air conditioning. The engineering was truly remarkable as the building materials and design kept people cool inside their homes. It’s simply too hot here to be working outside during the afternoon—they actually still have a law that prohibits labor work outdoors from 12-3PM called the “Law of the Sun”. Then we visited a mosque and were encouraged to ask questions again. It was very enlightening to hear some talk of the relation between Muslims and Christians and Jews from a strictly Quranic perspective, as Islam considers all to be “of the book” and even allows intermarriage. It was all very interesting and the man answering our questions really knew his stuff, which was nice.
After we got back to the hotel, I went swimming in the wonderful pool overlooking the city and with a wonderful view of the Burj! Our group was supposed to go to the Nakheel Palm Island tour but many of us decided to stay back at the hotel and get henna instead. We couldn’t actually go to the island, only look at it from a distance, so I think I made a good decision. Instead an Indian henna artist came in an gave us henna tattoos (they’re temporary, Mom.) for a pretty cheap price. Henna is usually done at weddings and holidays on women’s hands and feet and it’s absolutely gorgeous!
After eating a quick dinner at the hotel, we actually ended up going to SkiDubai, the indoor skiing facility located at the Mall of the Emirates. It was a bit of a taxi ride but it was definitely worth it. I mean, how often do you get to go skiing in the desert?! They provided the fake snow and slopes, as well as the ski gear, for a pretty cheap fee, about 50 USD for 2 hours. I definitely went all the way up to the really big slope and only fell once all night, so I had a great time. Afterwards we played “find the Aston Martin” in the parking lot—All of the cars are shiny and new here! Our tour guides actually came and picked us up in huge, shiny SUV’s and took us back to the hotel. We listened to Boys II Men and they also sang Arabic songs for us— it was a blast!
So that’s the first half of the entry, I’ll be back later!
