Workman In Dubai: A Whirlwind Week

Hey all!

I know it’s been a week since I’ve last posted, but this past week has flown by in a whirlwind of travel and new experiences (and class, of course). My last post this past Sunday saw me preparing for a busy week, and the start of the new summer semester. To give you all a roadmap for this post in a concerted effort to keep this a readable length and organized, I’ll first go through what I did and where I went each day. Then, to finish, I’ll give a little splurge about the food I’ve devoured while here (spoiler alert: it’s amazing). As usual, I’ll tack on some pictures throughout and at the end J

On Sunday we traveled to the biggest mall in the world, the Dubai mall. Situated right next to the Burj Khalifa, the mall is a vast, multi layered labyrinth of high-end designer stores and pretty much whatever store you could ever think of- there’s even an aquarium and an ice rink! After walking there, we went outside to take in the massive Burj Khalifa that stretches halfway to heaven. Feeling dwarfed, I was amazed that humans can build something that can be that big, it was almost incomprehensible.

Monday saw the first day of classes come and go, and for the most part I can say that I enjoy most of my studies here. Due to the fact that we have to cram everything into six to seven weeks, classes are over two hours in length, which can drag on as you can probably imagine. To be specific, I’m taking Politics and Economics in the Gulf region, a global media course, and Middle Eastern Cultures and Societies. I especially like the first and the last, for it is always interesting to learn about the place that you are actually living in. We had our Clinton Scholars orientation lunch and learned some good background knowledge about Dubai and the region in general.

Since myself and a number of the other Clinton Scholars don’t have class on Tuesdays, we went to the beach in the morning at the Jumeirah Beach Residence. There really isn’t a bad day to go to the beach here- every day is hot, sunny, cloudless, and perfect for beach activities. The water is crystal clear here, and is so warm it’s like bath water. Actually, it’s really not all that refreshing, but it is nice not to worry about how cold it might get! The sand is ivory colored and contains small, fine grains that make it quite soft. All in all, the beach was lovely. After resting in the afternoon (we went to the beach pretty early in the morning to escape the heat), I spent the rest of the evening doing homework and going to get food.

Again, Wednesday was a day chock full of long classes, and in the evening we went to the mall and grabbed some food.

Thursday myself and the other Clinton Scholars got to meet the U.S. Consular General to Dubai, Robert Waller. We had a great conversation with him on topics like the Middle East and careers in the State Department, which was followed by numerous pictures together. He was very nice and well spoken for, the ideal diplomat! At night we went to a place called Madinah Jumeira, which is a resort/ attraction. Right by the Burj Al-Arab, this complex has a luxury hotel, with a number shops and other touristy things. All of these buildings are connected and surround a long canal. Studded with palm trees and lanterns, it was magnificent at night. Afterwards, we went to a really good Lebanese place for some food and shisha (I didn’t partake in the latter, but it smelled good!).

By far, the most eventful day was Friday. Three of us got up early and made the cross-city trek to Old Town Dubai. After a long taxi ride, we stepped out into the heat of the day, it was well into the 100’s at this point. One of the main criticisms of Dubai is that it has lost much of its ancient culture and heritage, but I can attest that this place was what many people mean when they say they “want to see the real city”. Little mom and pop shops on every corner, old mud buildings everywhere, ancient Islamic architecture was frequent, a Mosque every few streets- this was the Dubai that the history books refer to. Despite the heat of the day, it was impossible to ignore the vast beauty in my surroundings. After walking through the trade market, which was alive with the scent of oriental spices and street food, we crossed the river in a dhow (a traditional boat) and went across to check out the gold market. Despite the fact that under no circumstances I could ever buy anything there, the gold market was a brilliant array of sparkling and glittering gold and silver jewels. After admiring from afar, we went back across the river to grab some lunch at a little Indian place.

Despite the heat and the spice of the Indian food, we crossed the street and headed to the Dubai Museum, an old fort that was constructed a long time ago, and has since been converted to a museum. Exhibits were placed on the inside of the parapets and turrets. I originally thought that there wasn’t much to the place until one room led underground, which turned out to be a huge network of interlocking rooms full of information about traditional Arabic and Bedouin tribal life. Though I was bottlenecked between French and Chinese tourists, we still gained a lot of knowledge in a somewhat short amount of time. By this time, we were overheated and tired, so we decided to head back to AUD. A short while later, we headed to grab dinner and then afterwards took the metro back to Old Town Dubai because a few people missed the first trip. I didn’t mind since it was at night and cooler, and there were some things that we didn’t see. The markets came alive at night, with shopkeepers doing their best to get you in their shop any way possible (one guy in the group got called James Bond). After walking around a bit, we discovered a small alleyway that no one noticed before. We decided to check it out, and inside was pretty much a little India. Tiny shops crammed together full of flowers, Hindu statues, and small trinkets. Upon exiting, we went and saw the Heritage Village (a preserved site that displays traditional Arabic life). At night, the river was magnificent. It was lit up with boats that had lights on them, riverside restaurants hummed with music and laughter, and men sat on the banks smoking and talking. To cap a long but eventful day, a local friend took us to this little food joint near AUD that had some of the best food I’ve ever had.

Saturday we all got up late because of the late night, and enjoyed the cooler weather outside. I didn’t expect there to be much wind here, but because of the proximity to the coast, it’s both windy and humid. After sitting outside and talking for a while, we got dinner and then went to an outside café for a while to do some work and just take in the surroundings. Today I’ve spent most of the day doing homework, and tomorrow will be full of class. This upcoming weekend we’ll be going on a desert safari, so I’ll be sure to make a post after that.

Now, the food. Oh man. Where to begin? I probably will be very sad when I go back home because I’ll miss the food so much. I’ll highlight some of my favorites. On Sunday I had great Iranian food that consisted of chicken and beef with rice and a stew that was a fiery red and had bits of okra in it. Monday night I had Manakesh with meat and cheese, which is like a Lebanese version of a quesadilla with traditionally spiced meat and cheese, which was amazing. Friday at the Indian place in Old Town I had a butter chicken paneer, which was a wrap with spicy Indian curried chicken. Thankfully I got an iced coffee to go along with it, which helped balance the heat! Also on Friday I had Mendy, which is a half of chicken roasted with spices, on top of a bed of rice with this tomato sauce and yogurt. Mixing the yogurt with the tomato sauce and rice created a downright diabolical combination, and the chicken was beyond tender. We also found this little hole in the wall joint two metro stops down from AUD named Golden Tasty, and it’s already become our favorite late night spot for street food. I’ve had Hassan Mathar, a bread pocket full of chicken, sauce, and who knows what else. I couldn’t tell you what all was in it, but it was out of this world. Last night there I had Arabic Shwarma, which is similar to Hassan Mathar but a different style. To wash it down I had fresh strawberry juice, which sent me back to my childhood when we would make smoothies after picking the berries in a patch at local farm. Not only is this place dirt cheap, everything is outstanding, and the guys that run it are over the top nice.