July 11th 2011

Hello Americans. I hope you all had a great 4^th of July last week! I will say I don’t get homesick too often…but I did miss being home for that day. It has always been my favorite holiday next to Halloween. It was the first 4^th of July I have not been able to celebrate (as the mission was still in the States). But you know what? I made do! I wore a red, white, and blue tie and made sure everyone in the office knew it was an important day for us Americans. Many of them, however, already knew. One lady named Mansi (who is like mine and Brad’s office mom) even bought us cookies for it! She is great.

I began interning at the Dubai Financial Market last week. I received a great welcome from the employees there. They are all really great. The difference between the DFM and Nasdaq Dubai is Nasdaq is made up of mostly ex-pat employees, whereas the DFM since it is the domestic trading company in Dubai, is made up of Emirati employees. I am the only American/non Muslim-and I kind of like it. The Call to Prayer song plays through the office at around 12:30 pm, and I am the only one, besides two or so others, that does not wear a Jilbab or Hijab (the Muslim robes). I have had all sorts of Arabic food in the office when they bring food in-most of which is pretty good. I had some sort of fish last week-which was bomb! Loved it. Lebanese food, however, is still my favorite.

I was given a tour of the DFM and was able to walk on the trading floor there. Of course it is much smaller than the New York exchange floor, but it was really cool to see. I even walked up to the top where they ring the bell, I was tempted to ring it myself (Maybe when my time here is almost up!). I work under a guy named Chadi (Marketing), and two women, one named Shirose Osmon (Vice Pres. Corporate Communications and Business Development) and Fahima Abdulrazak Al Bastaki (Senior Vice President and Head of Business Development). All of them have been great to work with so far, and I have already learned a lot. My projects right now include proofing and revamping the DFM website (which actually needs A LOT of work), and creating the invitations and announcements (layout/print/design) for a corporate event being held in September. I was able to attend a Joint Marketing meeting with my “Masters” from Nasdaq and also my new “Masters” from DFM. It was cool to be able to see them all in action to increase the Marketing, Communication, and strengthen the Business Development for the two exchanges.

Yesterday I experienced my first sandstorm. It was pretty legit. It looked like heavy brown fog. It engulfed the whole city and caused quite a mess for the cars and buildings. Still no sight of rain or any precipitation of any kind whatsoever. I am still praying for some rain to come around.

All in all I am having a great time here and learning a ton. I am down to only a month left, and hope that I can continue to make the most of my time here. I think I am going to miss this place when my time here is up.