June 28th 2011

On to another week here in the Middle East, and onto another ManBlog post. This week we are enjoying a short work week-apparently there is a holiday called Al Isra Wal Miraj, which celebrates the ascension of the prophet Mohammad, which naturally denotes a long weekend! So what are we going to do? Take a trip to Oman to renew our Visas. We found a really cheap flight (through Swiss Airlines…who knew!) and will be on our way Wednesday night. To be honest I never thought I’d go to Oman, but at the same time I never heard much about Oman to even entertain the thought. We will be far away from the craziness in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. I have heard Oman has some of the best beaches in the world, so we are looking forward to spending some time at one or more of them during our brief visit.

We had a really good time this past weekend. Arabian Nights Tours (fitting name eh?) took us out to the desert for a sand escapade. They call four-wheeling through the sand dunes in SUV’s “Dune Bashing.” We were picked up at our place by the Toyota LandCruiser and piled into the back seat. We were joined by a family that were already in the car-a couple from Houston Texas, and a dad from Columbia and his daughter Camilla (they were all related somehow). Camilla was the greatest. The moment we got into the car she said, “You guys are going to love going on the sand! This is my fourth time going!” If seven-year old Camilla could handle Dune Bashing…then I could handle some Dune Bashing.

We took the 45 minute journey away from the city to the middle of the desert. The tour guide took a few minutes to deflate the tires a bit…to bashing standards and then we were off. I won’t lie the ride was nuts! I held in my girl screams and covered them up with laughter. Some of the turns/hills/spins we took were pretty crazy. We all had a really good time. After the bashing we ended up at a camp-still in the middle of nowhere-where they have tables, souvenirs, and smoking/drinking lounges where everyone meets up for an Arabic barbeque. Also just outside of the camp were boards for sandboarding, ATVs, and camels to ride. I had a really good time. It was definitely the greatest night in Dubai so far.

It’s time again for a few more facts about this foreign land:

-Kilometers are used instead of miles

-Liters are used instead of gallons

-Meters are used instead of feet

-Celsius is used instead of Fahrenheit

-The white “head robes” mean the men are Emirati (from the UAE)

-Red and white head robes mean the men are from Saudi Arabia

-Black and white head robes mean the men are from the north

-Portions for food are SMALL everywhere here…difficult to fill me up

June 20, 2011

It’s time for another blog post. Two weeks down…about seven to go, and I am starting to somewhat adapt to life here in the Middle East. Brad and I have the rest of the seven weeks mapped out as to what we want to do while here. Because of our work schedule we don’t have much time to do things on the weekdays, so most, if not all, of our activities will have to wait for each weekend.

This past weekend we were able to attend church again on Friday. There is something about little branches that are awesome. I think back to my mission and the branches I was able to serve in and remember that I always preferred branches over wards. I can’t really put my finger on the reason why. What I’m trying to say is I enjoyed church thoroughly again. Jeff Singer (Brad’s uncle-and the reason why we are here) is the Sunday School teacher and always does an awesome job teaching.

On Saturday we woke up early, ate breakfast, and went and picked up Matt Singer (Brad’s 18 year old cousin) and hit the road towards Atlantis Resort. It is located on “The Palm Jameirah” which is the palm tree shaped island they built extending into the ocean (if you don’t know what I am talking about just google “Dubai palm” and it will pop up). On The Palm there are apartments and homes, each with their own personal beach, but at the top end is Atlantis (it was built by the same company that built the Atlantis resort in the Caribbean). At the resort you are able to go to an aquarium, hit the waterpark, swim with dolphins, go scuba diving, go ray feeding, and shop. Because each one costs money individually we decided to just go to “Aquaventure”, the waterpark. We had a blast. There are lots of rides, rapids, and lazy rivers. One of the best slides/rides was the “Leap of Faith” which is a straight shot down to into a tube. It’s pretty legit. We spent a good four or so hours lathering up as much sunblock as we could-after all it was about 106 degrees. I didn’t want to fry on my first exposure to the sun of the season. The annoying thing about the walkways in the waterpark are the bricks they have laid as the sidewalk. The sun hits them and heats them right up. I kid you not I was booking it everytime we had to go into the locker rooms cause it would fry the bottom of your feet. It was actually pretty funny to watch everyone yelping and jumping around trying to find any kind of shade to rest for a couple seconds before moving on. Some would walk on their towels, others would jump on people’s backs. It was funny to see everyone’s reaction but when your own feet are the ones being fried it was a pretty painful experience.

Later that night Brad and I were invited by Mohammed (our new intern friend) to go paintballing with him and a few of his friends. He picked us up and we made the journey to Sharjah, which is another Emirate (Emirates are comparable to states-there are seven Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, which is the country Dubai is located). Sharjah has a huge outdoor paintball field with old planes, fences, and bridges to hide and shoot behind. We had a good time. There was a group of 16 of us total. They were all really friendly and welcomed Brad and I. We had a good time. I got shot in the side by my ribs-which left a nice souvenir for me. It was a neat experience because many of them there had never had contact with Americans before. Hopefully we made a good first impression.

We are leaving Joey and Emil’s tomorrow and moving to Jeff Singer’s home now that his family is heading to Utah for the summer. The vanMoorsels have been really kind in letting invade their home. They have taken very good care of us, and we are very grateful.

Believe it or not I am still doing an internship. I don’t spend much time talking about that. I am still in the DIFC building at NASDAQ Dubai. I will be there until July 3^rd and will then be transferred over to the mother company Dubai Financial Market-which is in another building down the street. I am doing various projects for the Corporate Communications and marketing side of the company. It is great to have the exposure to better understand what I am getting myself into for a career.

Today (Monday) some of our coworkers took us to a Lebanese restaurant for lunch. It was awesome! They set us up with all the best things to get. I enjoyed it. We had some type of Lebanese salad, hummus, Arabic bread, and shwarma. It was the most enjoyable Arabic food I have had while here.

Well folks I think that wraps up another week here in the land of sand. Hope all is well at home. And this week remember to be thankful for religious freedom. It honestly is a huge blessing. Being free liberates.

June 13th 2011

It is Monday night, and tomorrow is hump day. A little strange for it to be halfway through the week on a Tuesday, but I’ll take it.

If there is one thing that I will most likely mention time and time again, it will be the roads here in the Middle East are terrrrrrible. I can’t tell you how many times Brad and I have been lost in the city…even while using a map. Saturday we got lost. Sunday we got lost. Monday we got lost. Chances are tomorrow we will also get lost. The roadways and signs are absolutely absurd. Road signs that tell you you are heading to a certain destination are suddenly nothing but lies as you end up heading in the complete opposite direction. I like to consider myself somewhat directionally savvy, but not here. Braden has been humbled.

We were able to see Ski Dubai (the indoor ski slope at the Mall of the Emirates) last night. It was funny to see how many of these people who have never touched or even seen snow were having the time of their lives in it. Wish I had the same enthusiasm for the white stuff.

I am keeping busy at work with numerous different projects. I am still tired all the time, and by the end of the day I am usually done for. I hope this lethargy wears off soon.

Today Brad and I had a new and cool experience. There is a 3^rd intern in the office that just started yesterday. His name is Mohammed. He is Muslim with the full robe get up and all. He approached us just before lunch today and asked if we had ever tried a burger joint downstairs. We said no, and proceeded to make plans to grab some lunch with him. What a cultural experience this was. He is a couple of years younger than us, but looks about our age. I didn’t expect to hit it off with him as well as we did. We talked about everything from the U.S. to Dubai, from sports to skydiving (he just went skydiving over Dubai about a month ago). We were even able to bring up religion. I am fully convinced that Islam is one of the most misunderstood faiths on the Earth…along with Mormonism. I learned quite a bit about Islam in Michigan, as there were quite a few immigrants from the Middle East that lived there, but as I continue to have personal contact with members of the faith I find that they really are not too different from the faith that I practice. There are many things that I don’t understand and will continue to learn about, but I have sympathy for the many members of Islam that are discriminated against. We discussed the many similarities Mormonism and Islam have. The lifestyle they practice aligns quite a bit with the lifestyle I live. And just so everyone knows…not all of them are terrorists. I say that somewhat sarcastically, but let’s be honest, terrorism and Islam somehow seem to falsely co-exist among many Americans thinking. So next time you see a Muslim or Middle Eastern individual say hello. Believe it or not they will probably say hi back.

Post Number 1

Hi to whomever reads this. Just for a head's up...please understand that I am not a blogger, nor do I ever plan to be. I am doing this out of ease and convenience to all who want to know about the happenings in the Middle East for the next 2 months. So if I don't measure up to the rest of the blogging world I hope you will accept my apologies.

I am here safe and sound. I didn't miss my flight in the Paris airport even though we did get slightly lost, I didn't get shot down while flying over Baghdad, and I made it past the line of robed men that admit you to the Visa counters at the airport.

After nearly 18 hours of traveling we were welcomed to Dubai with 105 degree weather (at 11:00 pm!) and hundreds of Indian homies trying to get us in their taxis. We couldn't find our ride initially and wandered around wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. We finally found who we were staying with, put our luggage into their car, and we on our way. The couple we are staying with are named Emil and Joey (Johanna). Emil is from Swaziland (a landlocked country by South Africa and Mozambique, and Joey is from South Africa. They also have a son living here named Jacque who is my age. All three have been very hospitable and have done very well at taking care of us. We live in a suburb called Motor City. It is about 20 minutes away from downtown and the coast that you see when you google Dubai.

I started the internship the day after we arrived. We were able to sleep in to avoid any sort of jet lag, (which I am sure is next to impossible as I am still suffering from the effects). I am currently working at Nasdaq Dubai for the first 3 weeks, until I move to the mother company the Dubai Financial Market for the remaining part of the internship. I heard that it is going to be a very cultural experience as I will be under a woman in a position that has never been held by a woman before. So that might be interesting when it comes around.

Yesterday I was able to attend a breakfast/social gathering with the VP of Corporate Communications here in the office. The breakfast was at the "Capital Club"...very posh and out of my league. At the breakfast there were many representatives and Bureauchiefs representing all parts of Africa and the Middle East, specifically in many of the troubled areas like Libya, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and others. Of course I didn't have much to say as I am here a somewhat naive 24 year old American kid. But I was able to observe and listen to many of these people involved with much of the crises here in this part of the world discuss opportunity areas and solutions to what I feel are somewhat impossible problems. It's a whole other world over here.

To save time I am going to give quick synopsis' of other happenings here:

Sunday=is actually on Friday here. The weekends (due to Islam) is Friday-Saturday and the work week is Sunday-Thursday. We attended church today in a Villa. Reminded me a lot of the mission with a smaller branch. It was great.

Islam Call to Prayer=occurs 5 times a day, proceeded by music as a reminder that blasts through the city from every Mosque.

Prayer rooms=in most buildings...there is one right next to my office.

Taxis=crazy. We have had to ride 4 different times in a cab, they drive nuts.

People driving/roads in general=crazy

Strange bugs/animals=not too many so far, with the exception of the ghecko that was next to my bed yesterday.

Tallest building in the world (Burj Khalifa)= roughly 2,700 feet. In comparison the Empire State building is about 1,250 ft.

Weather this summer=expected to reach the usual of about 130 degrees with humidity and little to no rain. (Most residents here leave for the summer because it is so hot).

Shaeks=the Muslim "rulers" of the country. There are numerous signs and billboards with their pictures posted throughout the city.

Freeways=have cameras that take pictures of anyone speeding. They receive a text/email later that day with a picture of you speeding, your speed, and your fine.

Comforts of home=McDonald's (of course), Wendy's, Dominos, Carl's Jr., and even Subway. Haven't even at any of them yet, but it's good to know they are available!

Currency=Durhams (3.76 per 1 US dollar)

Time difference=10 hours ahead

Well, I think this about wraps up post number one. I will try to do this more often now that I have it set up so it's not so crammed or lacking in correct punctuation. Until next time go have an In n' Out burger for me. Thanks.