The Life of a Sailor

Halloween aka party time! Where to go? Armani, Sensations, Boudoir? I don’t know! I didn’t have fun at Nassimi on Friday, so I have to get my money’s worth out of my costume tonight. There’s a party at school at 7:30. I ‘ll stop by there first. Then I’ll head out to the real parties.

I have a video interview today that has to be completed by November 1^st, and I am so unprepared. I was going to go job-hunting today. I guess not. I wish they hadn’t of waited until a day before to tell me. What kind of stuff is that (and this is an American company, by the way)?!

Sheikh Omar and I

Saturday was the desert safari. It was very interesting. I want a Hummer now. Haha. I wore a hijab, because I bought one before I came here and never got a chance to use it, plus I didn’t feel like doing my hair. Luckily, three other study abroad students wore kanduras, so I didn’t feel alone. 

The field trip lasted from 4-10, we did the safari, camel riding, sand surfing, sheesha, and watched a belly dancer perform. Not bad. I am looking forward to more study abroad events planned by AUD.

Kevin and I

Afterwards, I came home and tried to get some work done, but that didn’t happen. I failed my Islamic Art and Architecture exam, but I can still get a B. I am very disappointed in myself. Now I know that it’s not possible to cram 21 lectures in your head during the course of three days, especially when essays and short answer questions are involved. Why did I take this class?!

Tomorrow I have ANOTHER exam in International Accounting. I started studying last night in case I stay up real late tonight. 51 days until I graduate, and 59 days to find a job! By the way, the part-time job my professor told me about, is actually a full time job! Wahoo!

Drinking Is So Funny

I am writing this post in haste, so I apologize if there are any grammatical errors. I’m going to a friend’s house for dinner before I go to a Halloween party. It’s at Nassimi beach. I told her I was coming before I found out that the party is free before 8 (it’s 6:29). Oops! I cancelled on her yesterday, so I don’t want to cancel two times in a row.

I haven’t had much sleep this week because of three exams. So last night, I just went to sleep and got some laundry done. Tomorrow is the desert safari, and Sunday back to school, ugh.

It was an interesting experience shopping for a costume. Ill tell you about it later. Right now, I’d like to talk about something that I’ve been thinking about since my last post.

My father reads my blog, and he was worried about me when I talked about going to Buddha Bar. He forgot one very important detail: I DON’T DRINK. I never have. I don’t smoke either. It’s rare for American college students to not drink, so here when I say I don’t drink, they assume I’m a Muslim.

I am not a Muslim, and I don’t think there’s anything morally wrong with drinking. I just think it distorts your behavior, and I’d like to live a long, healthy life. Same reason why I don’t smoke. It’s extremely unhealthy.

People smoke so much here that my lungs are getting enough. They smoke at school. They smoke in clubs and bars. It’s horrible! My German friend told me they smoke even more in Germany than they do here. For some reason, I thought Americans smoked the most. Boy, was I wrong!

Anyway, up until now, I’ve been really skeptical about going to bars and clubs. I have a fear of vomit. I know that sounds silly, but every time I see a movie where there’s drinking, someone vomits (yes, I know you shouldn’t judge things by what you see in the movies). Nevertheless, drunk people are soooo funny. It’s fun to watch how people are before they start drinking, and how they gradually, and gradually, get crazier.

Bars and clubs are also a good place to meet people. There’s a culture here at school that I’m not really into. More on that later. It’s more likely for someone to approach me at a bar, than at the mall or the movies, and I am looking for a job...

Dreams Are Real, All You Have to Do Is Just Believe

I finally went to the Burj al Arab Friday! I went at 9am, before it got too hot. It’s been so long since I had to wake up that early. I’m so spoiled now. Working full time is going to be such a challenge when the time comes.

I stayed at the beach until about 12pm, and went to the Dome Restaurant for pancakes. Not every restaurant has pancakes, so I had been craving theirs for a while. Afterwards, I went to Deira to get some leave-in conditioner for my hair. It was really close to Dome, so I figured I’d save some time and money by going then. WRONG!

It was about 1:30, when I arrived, and it was FRIDAY. I forgot that places don’t open until the evening on Friday. The whole neighborhood was closed. They didn’t open until 4:00. I just went home. I was so angry with myself.

When I start living here, I’m going to buy my hair products in bulk. I get tired of going so far away to get hair products. Even when I’m driving, I won’t want to do it. Boy do I miss the black hair stores in America.

I was supposed to go jet skiing Friday evening, but it didn’t work out, so my first Cali friend and I went to Buddha bar. It’s an upscale lounge at JBR. I enjoyed it. I especially liked the fact that I could sit down all night.

They had a fire show at 2:00 a.m. I felt the heat every time they blew fire, and they kept dropping the bottles. It was scary!

We met some cool people, which included some Brits. We went to “dinner” with them when the club closed and ate some Arabic food. We ended up staying out until 6am. I’ve never done that before. We may go out with them again. Who knows?

My friend and I forgot to take a pic before we left :-(

One thing I do know is that it’s time to explore Dubai night-life. This is the new Lara. The outgoing Lara. I will no longer be a “grandma” or a couch potato. I will not let going to the movies be my favorite thing to do. It’s time to go out and have fun.

I had and exam on Sunday in Arabic, and two exams in Islamic Art and Architecture on Tuesday and Thursday. I’m swamped! My job search is on halt and I cant wait to get some sleep. I miss my 2^nd Cali friend. I hope to see her this weekend!

I met with an accounting professor today. He's going to recommend me for a part-time job in Dubai. My intention was to not work so I could enjoy and explore, and interview, but if a job falls into my lap, I can't refuse it. I hope I get it! We'll see.

What a Long Week!

Sunday night at Aldo

Sorry I took so long to write! As I previously mentioned, I went to a career fair in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Monday night, I went to the Mall of the Emirates to shop for something to wear the next day. I also had other items to purchase. I went to Home Center, Forever 21, and Debenhams. I was supposed to go to Carrefour too, but I was there from 6-10, and by that time, I was beat.

Career Fair Attire

When I got back home, there was a breast cancer awareness event in the new dorm. Somehow I ended up staying up until 2am, and waking up at 6am to prepare for the career fair. I had to print some things at the library, like how to ride the bus from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, my career fair registration number, and a list of companies that were attending. I was also going to finish my Arabic homework before I left, but that didn’t happen.

My ride picked me up at 11am. We had a nice talk in the car about, culture, economy and job searching. I’ve noticed that at AUD, there is not much competition when we you want something.  A lot of people expect things to fall in their lap, without them ever having to lift a finger.

Yes, this is bad, but this is an advantage to me. Since most AUD students graduate in the spring, there aren’t many accounting majors, I have a US degree, and a lot of students are lazy and passive, I’d say my chances of finding a job are high.

The career fair was great, although many of the companies were hiring only locals. Out of the companies that were hiring international citizens, not many were hiring accountants, and out of those, not many were in Dubai.

The highlight of the career fair was the career advice I got from a NAJAH psychologist. He basically told me what I needed to do to get a job here. It was very helpful. Even though I walked away with very few prospects, it wasn’t a waste of time. I came back to Dubai, with some very useful knowledge.

I arrived at the fair at 12:00pm, and was done by 5:30pm. My feet were killing me, so I sat down for awhile before catching a cab. The cab ride was about 20 minutes, and cost 20 AED (about $6). The bus ride was 1.5 hours and cost 15 AED (about $5). When I got off the bus, I had to take another cab to get to school, which cost 40 AED (about $10). The first taxi driver asked me why I didn’t take a cab all the way to school and I asked him how much it cost, he said about 270 AED (about $70). I said well the bus is only 15 AED!

Anyway, when I got to the bus station there was only a ten-minute wait. The bus ride felt so long. My phone was dying so I couldn’t talk on the phone. I had to conserve energy in case of an emergency. I was so tired, since I had only four hours of sleep.

When I woke up we were passing my school. I was so sad. I wish they had created a special bus stop just for me. It took ten minutes to catch a cab, and about 20 minutes to get home from there. I left ADNEC at about 6:30pm, and got home at about 8:30pm.

Southern Dishes

Wednesday, I had to go back to Mall of the Emirates to go to Carrefour, my favorite place to go.  My 2^nd Cali friend went with me so it was more bearable. We made fried chicken, Mac N Cheese, and Brownies. It was all so delicious. We watched Changeling (good movie) and Beloved.

Thursday, I had a midterm in Arabic, so I crammed as hard as I could. One of my friends was leaving the next day and I missed her farewell dinner, so after I took a nap I tried to see her. I was worried because I thought I wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye. In the end, I did. I saw her at 3am, and I promised to keep in touch with her.

So Much for Staying in This Weekend…

I stayed in all of Friday. I’m proud of myself.  I did laundry and finished a moderate amount of homework.  Holly’s birthday was Sunday, so we went out Saturday night. She has a gluten allergy, so we went to PF Chang’s (they have a gluten-free menu).

This brings me to my #1 rule: Just because they have it in the US, doesn’t mean they’ll have it here.  Of course, when we got there we found out that they didn’t have a gluten-free menu. She didn’t want to leave, because she knew she wouldn’t find gluten-free anywhere. On the bright side, she ate a full meal, and she had a delicious mousse cake.

On Sunday, Holly’s actual birthday, we went to a place that sells organic and gluten-free food. She called ahead this time, and they said they had gluten-free pizza. When we arrived, there was NO GLUTEN FREE PIZZA! So we left, and on the way back, I ordered a lettuce wrap for her from Hardee’s. We specifically told them no bread. Guess what arrived? A tortilla wrap with lettuce and hamburger meat.

Later on, I tried to cheer her up, but my futile attempts made her even sadder. Poor Holly!

Last Tuesday, I went to bible study at AUD, and enjoyed it. I will definitely be attending from now on. There was a group of 4-5 students, and it was held in the cafeteria. My friend that I sumo-wrestled with invited me. She is the leader. She also invited me to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. Bless her heart!

Oh how I miss my fast internet! I’ll have to go to the library or my friend’s house to renew my license plates. Oh, the simple things I took for granted in the US.

There is a career fair in Abu Dhabi from the 18^th-20^th. A career services staff is taking me, but I have to find a ride home. This means taking a bus for a 2-hour ride, then taking a taxi to the train station, then taking the train back to school. I’ll be completely alone. I’m scared, but you gotta do what you gotta do. At least I have a ride there!

I’ll Never Get Used to the Stares…

The ratio of men to women here extremely is unbalanced. Taxi drivers are men, construction workers are men…. You get the jist. A lot of the workers here left their wife and kids at home. So when they see a woman, they stare at her like a pack of dogs. I do not understand it. I could understand if they were in jail and it was the first time they’ve seen a woman in ten years, but it’s not. They see women all the time. It’s annoying. When you look back at them, they don’t try to hide it. They continue to stare. How rude!

My Mom and I

I miss my parents. This eight-hour time difference is killing me.  When I wake up it’s too late at night to call my parents and when it’s late enough to call them, I’m in class. By the time my Mom gets home from work, it’s late here and I’m sleep or my roommate is sleep and either way I cant talk. We have to schedule our phone calls, and sometimes I forget (I feel so bad). Anyway, I miss you Mom and Dad. Love you! Darn this eight-hour time difference!

AUD has many IT problems. When I first arrived, the internet was down for a couple of days.  The past couple of weeks, gmail hasn’t been working, and AUD’s email server uses gmail. Luckily, I can access it on my cell. Otherwise, I would have been screwed. Today, the only sites that were working were Facebook, and gmail. Anything else had an error saying, “ Site blocked. Webfilter is unable to rate the page. Access not allowed.” Ahh, Dubai.

No desert safari. It has been rescheduled for next week. On a positive note, I have found someone who is willing to go skiing with me. Yay!  Today I decided to rest, so I’m not going anywhere. I also spent too much money on food this week, so saying home will ensure that no extra money will be spent. It’s hard to stay home when people keep asking you to go places but, oh well. That’s what I get for over-spending.

The Culture of Dubai

So I didn’t go to the beach party two weekends ago because my friend and I were sleeping and missed our ride. I was tired so I didn’t mind. I wasn’t in the mood for staying up all night. Have you noticed I haven’t done anything on my “things to do” list? Last Thursday we were supposed go to iFly, but it wasn’t properly planned, so we ended up going to Chili’s. This weekend we are supposed to do a desert safari. I hope it works out.

Friday I was supposed to go jet skiing in Sharjah, but my friend’s car broke down when we were almost there so I just said we’ll go another day. They wanted to rent a car, but the rental places are closed on Friday. Sunday I had a paper due and today I have an exam. Even though my earliest class is at 3pm, I’m beginning to feel overwhelmed.

I’m trying to plan a trip during Eid al Adha, with my 1^st Cali friend. We’re off Nov 3^rd to the 10^th, and my birthday is the 8^th. We are trying to get a hotel deal on Groupon or Cobone. We’ll see. We need to book our flight very soon.

Hosts of the Women's Cultural Exchange

Last night my 1^st Cali friend and my New Jersey friend held a women’s cultural exchange in the girl’s dorm. It was at 6 pm, and I have class at six (boy I hate that class), so I caught the tail end of it. I thought it was going to be about every culture there but it really about Middle East, vs America. Nevertheless, we had a good conversation.

I brought up racism, which is taboo here. I was warned about before I got here by previous study abroad students, so it wasn’t a surprise.  The surprising part is that it’s completely out in the open. It’ s not hidden like it is in America. There is a class system here. First they judge you by where you’re from. Then they judge you by skin color. (Check out Holly's post on racism)

For example, a Filipino or Pakistani person will make less than an American or British person who will make less than a local. If you don’t believe me go to dubizzle.com and look at their job ads. Salaries are posted on the adds, and jobs that are for Filipino are around 3000 AED/month (800USD).

I think that since I’m light skinned and have an American accent, I will not be as singled out as other blacks here that I know. I am the only African American study abroad student, and there is only one other African American student here.  People can tell that I’m American by my accent and, once people see that I’m American, I am automatically in their favor. I do not like this at all.  I believe in equality, no matter where you’re from or what you do.

A lot of people here emulate American styles. It’s as if they wish they were American. After the discussion yesterday, a friend of mine said there is no culture here. I said, how is there no culture here? I am still blinded by the black abayas even though they are worn with Louis Vutton bags and four-inch stilettos. My friend brought up the fact that many people here are just temporary workers, and even the people that are born here, and grew up here, still feel like they don’t belong because they’ll never get citizenship. Also, it seems that many of the people that do have citizenship here wish they had citizenship of another country (America).  It now makes sense to me why someone would say Dubai has no culture.

When I first got here, I noticed that people identify where they are from by their heritage, and not by where they grew up/were born. For example, I know someone that’s from Saudi Arabia, but says he’s from Jordan because that’s where his parents are from. In America, if you ask someone where they're from, they will say where they grew up, unless they’re an immigrant. It’s the total opposite here. So when people ask me where I’m from I say America, then they say where are you from originally, I say Africa somewhere….But that is another discussion that is perhaps not meant for this blog…

Uneventful Week

When I got here, I met a former AUD study abroad student who lives in Dubai, searching for a job. She is from Cali(not the one I went to Bastikiya with), and she is my soul mate. We have the same tattoo in the same place. We have gotten real close over the past couple of weeks. She lives five minutes away. We’ve went to the beach multiple times and talked for hours.

Tuesday, when I went to her house, I got into a cab, and the cab driver said he didn’t know how to get there, and I should give him directions. I didn’t know how to get there so I got into another cab (don’t judge me!). I know her house is only five minutes away, but it’s hard for me to learn how to get places when I don’t drive myself. Luckily, I now know how to get there. Yay!

I now plan on working here. Companies in the US are not letting me do phone interviews, like I thought. They are telling me to wait until I get back. I need a job before I graduate! So I’m looking here, and my plan is to stay here. I hope to find a job by mid-November, and secure an apartment by the end of the quarter.

Things are starting to get stressful. My school-work is starting to get heavy, and I’m still trying to explore Dubai as much as possible. Not only that, but job-searching is a full time job. I really feel like I’m slacking. Also, I do not have the same resources that I did back home. AUD doesn’t have on-campus interviews, so the job search is completely up to me. I’m about to be on it though. I have a paper due tomorrow and an exam Monday. After that, it’s on!

Recap of this week: friends house, Three Musketeers, studied for exam. Pretty uneventful. Didn’t get to go jet skiing :-( . Another time.