I’m Not a Tourist Here

Posted by Kanga.

So, we have completed a marathon travel experience to reach North Carolina for our daughter’s one and only high school graduation.

It began like this…

[Dubai] At about 11 pm we dragged our suitcases out to the curb to begin the process of flagging down a taxi. DaddyBird remembers suddenly that he forgot the money that others have given him to buy a few things (iTunes cards and barbecue sauce), so he runs back to the apartment and I am left standing on the curb with three large suitcases and two smaller bags looking for a taxi.

A taxi pulls over almost immediately. The driver gets out and comes over to me. He begins telling me that it is a busy night. It is difficult to get into and out of the airport. I have a lot of bags. And then a sentence that I think was supposed to be along the lines of what was I willing to pay for this service, but ended with something along the lines of  ”how much give to you?” I needed to stall anyway, until DaddyBird had time to return. So, I made this guy repeat his request several times, saying that I didn’t understand what he was asking, which technically is the truth since his grammar was all backwards. He gave up just as DaddyBird appeared around the corner, got in his taxi and went away.

We got in another taxi soon thereafter. There was no discussion. The driver helped get the bags into the car quickly and away we went. He got us to the airport quickly. We paid the fare and tipped him well. That is how it should be.

The first driver must have seen a white woman standing near a hotel with a ridiculous amount of luggage and thought “here’s a tourist I can scam.” Sorry buddy, I’m not a tourist here anymore. I know I don’t have to haggle for a taxi ride.

As for the rest of the trip, our first flight via British Airways to Heathrow Airport was a little taste of hell. There were no vents above the seats to blow cool air and it was horribly hot the entire flight. We desperately needed to sleep, but could not. Second leg of the flight from London to Raleigh/Durham North Carolina was better temperature-wise, but sleeping was not easy or very satisfactory due to the discomfort of economy class seats. This flight was operated by American Airlines and I will say that the food was good.

We changed our currency and ended up with quite a wad of bills because about half of what she gave us was in $5 bills. Thankfully, she didn’t resort to giving it to us in ones.

Anyway, we landed safely, although exhausted and a bit smelly. We checked into the hotel and went immediately to sleep.  It’s about 3 am local time now, so I should try to get a little more sleep and try to adjust to the new time zone. Jet lag is a cruel mistress.

Signs from the ‘Hood

Posted by Kanga.

A creatively named restaurant. Hmm… wonder what they serve here.

Now you know what the royalty is up to.

Here’s an image I never expected to see in the Middle East. (This is actually in a mall not in the neighborhood.)

“Spur People – People with a Taste for Life”

Chicken Tikke so good even a chicken will eat it!

Chinees Food, speaks for itself.

We first saw Rio More tuna in a commercial during the previews at a movie theatre. Then I saw it plastered all over this taxi. The image of tuna in olive oil (greenish goo) is not very appetizing.

Settling in

Oliver seems to be settling in. He was rather wild the first few nights, keeping us awake by pouncing on our heads, all teeth and claws. He’s discovered “under the covers” where it is nice and warm and has slept longer hours allowing us to sleep longer, too.

I bought him some plastic balls which he is very good at losing under the furniture. I’ll have to get a bigger size, I think.

It is the height of the summer heat and we won’t have a car until next month, so I doubt that I will be having too many adventures outside the walls of our apartment. So Oliver just may be the height of entertainment for a while.

I am riding the bus to work which is much, MUCH easier than this time last year. They put many new double decker buses on the line that I ride and they come fairly regularly, close to the schedule. Last year, I could wait for an hour or more and not see a 13A bus. They are nicely air conditioned, too. The taxi companies have added many new taxis also, which is evident now as I stand at the bus stop and there is long string of empty taxis driving by, looking and honking to see if anyone at the bus stop wants a taxi. This is the complete opposite of last year when the buses were running very badly and there was stiff competition for any empty taxi that might drive by, which was very rare.

Driver’s licenses

We were at the bus stop at 8 am to begin our journey to get our driver’s licenses. We had our licenses in our hands by 9:14 am and I was to work by 9:40 am. I wish everything was this easy.

After we got our licenses, we were standing at a bus stop waiting for either a bus that would take me close to the college or a taxi. Traffic was quite thick. A taxi driver in the far lane saw us and signaled, so I signaled back. He crossed four lanes of traffic to come over and pick us up. Typical Dubai taxi driving. Needless to say that we had to run a little way to get to where he had pulled over (blocking the right lane) and the driver behind him was honking madly.

Now that we are licensed, the search for a car to lease begins in earnest. Hopefully, we will have wheels soon! Then watch out. We will be making the best of our weekends.

Taxi fun

Last Tuesday night we had another fun taxi experience. This time is wasn’t because it was difficult to get a taxi, although it was. We did finally get a taxi. We told the driver where we wanted to go. He said he was new and asked if we knew how to get there. He asked us where we were from. We told him United States of America. He grinned very big and said “US Amrika?!” We said, yes. He was apparently really pleased and kept grinning and laughing. Paul asked him where he was from. He told us Pakistan. He said – “President Bush…good…no good?” You probably know what our answer to that was. He told us Benazir Bhutto was good. He asked all kinds of other questions — was our whole family here? was I Paul’s wife? did we have children? would Barack Obama be a good president? etc.

We could tell he was a new taxi driver because he hadn’t learned the bad habits, yet. He only honked at another driver once. He was cautious and polite when changing lanes. He didn’t tailgate the car in front of him. He’ll learn eventually.

GITEX

GITEX was this week. A whole week of a technology conference, Sunday through Thursday. Being a member of Emirates Mac (the local Mac users group), Paul got in as an exhibitor and volunteered at their booth.

Monday night was a dinner put on by ABM (Arab Business Machines – the local Apple affiliate). Paul went directly to the dinner from the convention. I tried to catch a taxi to take me there and had very little success. I was going to cash it in and go back to the apartment, but Paul didn’t have enough money on him to get home, so I had to go, if I wanted to retrieve my husband. Luckily, I did finally get a taxi. (We SO need a car.) By the time I arrived at the dinner (in one of the poshest hotels) my dogs were not just barking, they were howling. The doors to the dining room were closed and there was a gathering area where one could meet and greet, etc. WITH NO CHAIRS! There was a musician performing background music and my feet hurt so bad I was tempted to sit in her chair when she took a break. I was even considering just sitting on the floor. After standing there waiting for a chance to sit down and being in extreme pain, I finally gave up and went out to a lobby area that did have chairs.

When dinner was finally served it was a buffet with lots of sushi, so it eased my pain a little. We sat with other Mac users, including a guy crazier about Macs than Paul. He collects them. If only we hadn’t disposed of Paul’s collection, we could have made a little money selling them to this guy. The Mac users group has been our best opportunity, so far, to meet Arabic speakers.

Paul had more adventures at GITEX, but I will let him tell the stories himself.

Directions and Corrections

Well it turns out that buildings in Dubai will be getting street addresses! The Roads and Transport Autority (RTA) announced that a pilot program is underway to assign addresses to all building and roadways That will- hopefully- make it easier to find your destination, get deliveries and, most importantly, tell your taxi driver where you want to go!
It will, however, take away the satisfaction feels when successfully having managed to get the taxi driver to understand where you want to go without an address!
We don’t know yet how well this will work and how quickly they can implement it, but they are pretty good at getting things done here and improving things when necessary so I expect it won’t take too long.

In related news in my previous post titled “Where are we??” I included a map with some notes on it. One of the note stated that I didn’t think that the numbers given to the side streets were official. It turns out they are official. And there are even street sign to prove it!
Still, I don’t know who uses these to refer to the streets or to give directions. My only guess about them, besides being a bureaucratic reference, is that they may be used by emergency personnel. Perhaps they will be used in the upcoming addressing system. With the streets named, or at least numbered, all that has to be done is to give the buildings their own numbers. One problem with that is that it’s not obvious that the street number assignments is unique, that is, there may be a “4th street” in more than one area of town, which will require that the district name still be used to distinguish which 4th street you’re referring to. But that’s not a big problem, and it’s still easier than verbally guided navigation by landmarks.

If a lot less satisfying.

Work, buses, etc.

First week of work – The college has a carefully planned out orientation schedule that covers two weeks. It has definitely given us a feel for what the college is about and how things work. The library alone has four new employees and one who started in February. We are all going through orientation together which definitely is different than going through orientation as the only employee in your department would be. We are developing into a close group through shared experience.

The director of the college gave a talk on Dubai and the college’s mission. Daddybird was interested and wanted to attend, so we asked if that would be okay. Apparently, this was the first time such a request had been made and they were impressed by Daddybird’s interest. so, he got to come to campus and listen in. It was a very informative time and we realized that we really did make the best decision in choosing this college.

Some of the other “newbies,” as the new employees are lovingly called, have expressed that there have been times when they wanted to pack it in and go back home. Daddybird and I have not had a single moment like that. We are very happy and are occasionally amazed by the enormity of the adventure we are on, but we are committed. My only fear is that we will be sent home. I won’t be able to relax until I have that residency visa in my hand. We miss you all and you are welcome to come live with us, but we won’t be coming back to the States anytime soon (of our own volition, anyway).

So, what adventures have I had this week? I am still struggling to find reliable transportation to and from work. Catching a taxi is hit or miss. I was late on Monday because I didn’t get out early enough and had difficulty getting a taxi. Daddybird is so cute. He gets up and gets dressed to go out with me to flag down the taxi (or to walk me to the bus stop). Taxis didn’t work so well so I tried the bus line. It is a short walk to the bus stop in the morning and the stop where I get off is right in front of the entrance to our apartment building. Daddybird and I went out together to the bus stop (the day of the aforementioned director’s talk), however we did not end up on the same bus. Here’s how it works. The first three rows of seats are reserved for women (actually they use the term “ladies” here) AND women are not allowed to stand. So, there is a maximum of 12 ladies on the bus at any one time. Men can sit in the back and stand in the aisle. So, when the bus came to our stop, the driver was only allowing ladies to get on because the bus was nearly full, but there were a few ladies seats available. So, Daddybird and I were separated. I got on the bus and he waited for another one. As the bus journey progressed, I watched as the driver would pull up to a stop where there were crowds waiting to get on and he would simply refuse to open the door or would open only half the door (for crowd control) and tell them how many of which sex could get on the bus. I shudder to think of how long some of those people had to wait for a bus driver that would finally let them on. Luckily, Daddybird was able to get on a bus eventually and join me at the college.

The bus works fairly well in the morning, but when I tried it in the evening – major fiasco. The street in front of the college is 2 lanes either direction with a fence down the middle to discourage pedestrians from crossing. This means that to get to the bus stop that will get me home, I have to walk all the way down to the intersection and back up to the bus stop, which makes it a very long walk. The bus is SUPPOSED to run every 20 minutes. The bus stop is one of the air conditioned ones, but it is still under construction, so no air. After my log walk to the bus stop, I waited an hour and 1/2 before a bus came. The bus stop is in front of a gas station and I saw several taxis going into the gas station to fill up, so figured I’ll snag one of those. No such good luck, since they were going off shift and did not want to go into Deira, where I live. ARGH! So, I tried calling a taxi, but the bus finally arrived and I got on because I did not want to continue waiting for a taxi that may or may not come in a timely fashion. I managed to get on the bus and pay my fare before the driver realized that there were no ladies seats available and I would have to stand. Luckily, one of the ladies was getting off at the next stop and convinced him that was good enough. That’s good, because after a couple of hours in the baking heat, mousy little me would have torn him a new one. I was not about to be thrown off that bus.

There are some other college employees living in the building, so I will be contacting them to seek a carpool or advice on how to get to work.

Thursday morning I needed to go to a different destination in the morning, so we walked over to a nearby shopping mall where it is easier to get a taxi. We were standing in a line of people politely waiting for taxis when three local women walked up directly to the front of the line as if there was no line and they were next. No one contested this and when the next taxi came, they made it clear that it was for them and away they went. After they left, a man (who by his accent was from a Slavic country) came to the front of the line to scold us for letting them get away with that. Where was he earlier??? Why didn’t he take them on?

The humidity has been significantly lower this week, which makes all the difference. It is still hot, but one can stand to be out in it. In fact, I was about an hour into my bus fiasco before I started to feel sweaty. This makes it easier for us to get around and I hope to explore the neighborhood a little this weekend.

The Third & Fourth Day

Tuesday was a difficult day. We would have liked to just stay in the hotel room, rest, and avoid the humidity, but we needed to go to the apartment and document any damages or problems so that we won’t be charged for them if and when we move out.

We started by walking two blocks to a restaurant, the Ritzy Palm (a bit of a cheesy name, but a very nice restaurant). We had the special, which was an Arabic entree and comprised of mostly meat. Four lamb chops, four sausage like meats, and several kabob type meats, a green salad made of mainly onion with a little lettuce and various pickled vegetables, served with flat bread and a plate of French fries. Way more than we could eat. Why French fries? I don’t know, but they seem to like them a lot here.

There are no street addresses here. You give directions by referring to landmarks. So to tell the taxi driver where we need to go we have to say “Al Majid building in Al Muteen across from the Marks and Spencer or Toys R Us” and hope that he knows where that is. To make things more interesting the street in front of our building is under construction for the rapid transit train, so one has to drive up to the back of the building. So, we made it to the apartment, documented a few things, took pictures, some of which are posted here. Our apartment is nice — all the flooring is tile. The entry and living room have grey granite tiles, the bedrooms have some sort of composite tile, the bathrooms have brown granite tile (on the walls as well as the floors) and the kitchen has brown composite tile. There – more than you ever wanted to know about our flooring.

When we were done in the apartment, instead of calling a taxi to pick up us at the apartment building, we walked a short distance to the shopping mall, thinking it would be easier to just get a taxi there. We went into the mall to cool off and look around a little. After leaving the mall we ended up walking around in the horrible heat and having significant difficulty getting a taxi. Lesson learned — call a taxi, don’t expect to find one spontaneously.

Wednesday was a planned shopping trip. The college provided a bus and driver to take us around to the large furniture/housewares stores. The good part of this was that we met others who are new employees also. One is another librarian that I will be working with. The others were two families of four. The children ranged from 4 to 7 years of age. I can’t imagine doing this with young children in tow.

Our shopping trip apparently doubled as a sight seeing trip. We drove past the Deira Palm Island construction site, the zoo, the Burj Al Arab (7 star hotel shaped like a sailboat), we saw the Burj Dubai (world’s tallest building, still under construction), got a glimpse of the Persian Gulf, and a glimpse of the Sheik’s palace.

The stores we were taken to were Home Center, Homes R Us, and IKEA. It was a whirlwind shopping trip with only an hour or so in each store, but it gave us a chance to see what was available and what prices are like. Paul and I found a few things we could agree on. There is a Home Center in the mall near our apartment, so it won’t be too hard to go back and purchase the items later. Prices are comparable to the U.S., so no big sticker shock, yet.

We went to dinner with my new boss and new co-worker in a very nice hotel restaurant (buffet style). There was lots of salmon, so I was happy. That was one of the foods I was afraid would be difficult to come by here. Buffets are very popular here and have a marvelous variety of foods.

It is three a.m. now as I am writing. We are still having trouble adjusting to the time schedule. That will wear off eventually.