Time to Hit the Books

None too pleased to be stuck in the library.

When I first came to AUD, I was really surprised at how easy it was.  I never seemed to have to study, and I rarely did homework.  Now a month in, I feel like I've been transported back to junior year of high school with AP classes keeping me up at night and midterms demanding intense study sessions.  So after the insane weekend two weeks ago which had us traveling all over the GCC, I was glad to have some time to chill in Dubai.  With so much studying for midterms and term papers, I was looking forward to the weekend until Wednesday when disaster struck.  A few coughs and a temperature reading later, it was official - I had a cold.  After the team lunch at Red Lobster as a reward for all the data entry we had been doing at work, I went back to my dorm room and crashed.  I never get sick, and staying in on a weekend night was simply unacceptable.  But after dinner at the beach on Thursday evening, I knew that going out again and not sleeping would be a horrible idea.  So there I was with a bottle of Robitussin watching government-censored American movies on the local channel.  It was kind of sad, but after fourteen hours of sleep, I awoke Friday morning healthy and ready to go!

The Consulate General's speech on voting day.

Before dinner on Thursday, however, there was time for at least one social activity.  Thursday was absentee voting day for Americans living in the UAE.  A group of us jumped on the metro and headed to the consulate in Dubai for a voting day celebration.  We presented our passports and walked into a quintessential American festival complete with smartly-dressed sexuality-questionable greeters, stars and stripes table decorations, pulled pork sandwiches, and noticeable increases in the percentage of obese people.  After being out of the country for a month and a half, it was nice to get a dose of America.  Besides that, it was rather amusing that they served pork sandwiches and invited the crowd to the on-site Marine Corps bar right next to the Saudi Arabian embassy.  We could feel the judgement coming over the 8-foot reinforced concrete walls.  It definitely made a good story for first voting experience, even if I did spend the rest of the night taking cough syrup in bed.

Excited to be at Africana

The Band

I got up on Friday and was feeling well enough to get back at it, so I met up with some friends that evening, and we tried to decide what to do that night.  We had been to a lot of the tourist areas of the city already, and since none of us felt like spending much money at those places anyway,  we decided to go exploring.  None of the girls cared to go with us, so we decided to go into the cheap area of the city, where most of the locals and workers live.  A few hours later, the six of us set off for Bur Dubai on the same street where the Iranian restaurant and somewhat sketchy malls are which we visited for dinner the week before.  We 

started at a normal Irish pub and after a couple rounds of pool, we decided to move down the street to see what we could find.  We were a little early for the crowds and ended up chilling alone for a while in Club Africana, a club that caters to Sub-Saharan African people living in Dubai.  The waitress told us to come back in about an hour and a half, promising a crowd.  We explored down a couple side streets and found some less than classy establishments, mostly owned and frequented by the large population of construction workers of the city.  A little later, we returned to Club Africana, and the place was jumping.  I for some reason get a strange thrill from being the only white guy in a place, and let me tell you, I got more than a few stares from the couple hundred Africans as I jumped onto the dance floor with the rest of the crowd.  After a few minutes, a couple of my friends joined, and the people were just taken aback that three random American kids were dancing in the middle of the crowd of Africans.  It was such a strange experience but a lot of fun, and everyone there was really nice!  On the way out, we stopped by an Indian establishment to round out our cultural night life evening.  It was such a change from Africana and was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life.  Though I can’t post much about it here, look for a post about it after I return to the United States and don’t have to worry about my speech.  For now, let it suffice to say that there is a whole underworld to Dubai; removed from the tourist areas are places that are so different from my base of experience in America and are hard to forget. 

I'll file this under places I don't care to revisit. (Bus Station)

The next week was incredibly productive.  I got a lot of work done toward my professional goals for the semester and made some great contact.  One event was on Wednesday evening after work when I went with one of my coworkers to an MBA fair in the city.  It was good to learn about things I should be doing now to prepare myself as well as get an idea of what options there are for the future.  On the academic side, I decided to take a little research journey.  On Thursday after class, I headed to Abu Dhabi to interview a couple of the employees at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) as part of two research projects on the oil economy diversification in the Middle East and the international push for renewable energy.  Despite planning out which bus to take and getting directions from the bus terminal to the office, it was still quite the adventure to get there, taking twice as long as it should have.  In standard Jacob-with-public-transport fashion, I went to a random parking lot in Dubai, gave a guy twenty dirhams, and hopped on a bus that looked like it had seen one sandstorm too many.  Ninety minutes later, I arrived at a bus terminal that was seriously straight out of Indiana Jones with hordes of smelly people, stores selling dates (and racy magazines in the back), and of course the hole-in-the-ground toilets.  After taking the city bus way past my actual stop and climbing to the top floors of three skyscrapers, I finally found the correct office (and was only fifteen minutes late at that!).  It was a really good interview after I finally arrived, and I learned a lot that I'll be able to take with me back home and use for my senior thesis.  

Seems legit.

I returned to the bus terminal, got a ticket home, and stood in a line of 300 people as bus after bus shuttled us back to Dubai.  When we entered the city, we drove right past the parking lot where I got on the bus, and I had a moment of panic when we still hadn't stopped fifteen minutes later.  I knew for sure that the driver was taking us hostage and kidnapping us to Saudi.  Fortunately, we eventually stopped on the side of a road under an overpass, and I decided that was my cue to leave.  Half of the passengers also got off, and after getting my bearings, I realized that I was a half hour train ride from campus.  I kicked myself and cursed the public transportation system while following the throng of people to the metro station.  

Birthday Party!

I got back to school forty-five minutes later, ran into my room, got cleaned up, changed clothes, and headed out right away for a night out with friends.  We began the night at the rooftop bar just behind campus before heading off to one of our friend's birthday party downtown.  It was a great time, but after we left, I was exhausted and ready to collapse.  Everyone else was in the mood to eat, so off we went to the beach-side cafes for dinner/breakfast.  I really nearly feel asleep at the restaurant  and I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't even shower before falling asleep at 5:30 that morning. 

The next day was full of studying; I could finally finish the paper with the research from the interview on Thursday.  Since it was midterms week, we worked all day and decided for a chill evening at the mall -- here they call it "going malling."  I think that it's roughly equivalent to goin' to the Wal Marts back home on a Friday night.  After a delicious meal at my favorite restaurant (McDonald's), we caught a movie at the theater in the mall.  It's times like this that I remember where I live.  After sitting through the 90-minute movie, I'm still not exactly sure what the plot was about due to the excessive censorship.  Random scenes were cut out, and conversations would obviously jump, so the dialogue didn't make sense.  Any conversation deemed immoral, especially those referencing sex, was removed from the movie because such been behavior isn't acceptable for public.  It was really annoying.

Malling

Though the past couple weeks have not been full of adventure like last month, it's been a great chance to get to know Dubai a little better and to get some good professional activities in so that my parents don't think I'm just over here being a slacker.  There is only a week and a half left until the week-long Eid break which will be full of crazy stories as we make our way to Jordan, the Dead Sea, and maybe even Israel/Palestine, but until then, it's back to the books. 

Outside the City Gates

It's easy to get a false sense of security in downtown Dubai with the five-star resorts, trendy bars, and high-class restaurants.  We tend to forget that we are living in the Middle East and that things aren't as rosy on the other side of the horizon.  After a full month in Dubai, it was time to get out of the city and explore some of the area in which I live.  The week took me from one extreme to another, from dining with the nation's elite to staring down the barrel of a sniper.

The week started off as any other with a series of uneventful classes and days at work.  On Sunday, I went to an office party at a coworker's apartment; it was an interesting night hearing about the others' travels through the Middle East.  It was cool to get a firsthand account of what's actually happening in places like Syria and Bahrain, names I'm used to only hearing in news reports.  It's pretty cool how diverse the staff is, with everyone having incredibly different backgrounds and interesting stories to tell.  I decided that I needed my own stories to tell and thought that a visa run to the border would be a great place to start.

Bur Dubai - not quite like the glitzy downtown area

Iranian Restaurant, complete with live birds

On Wednesday night, the study abroad mentors organized the weekly CRF night (Cultural, Reasonable Food) to an Iranian restaurant in the old part of the city.  I ended up getting off work much earlier than I anticipated and got a ride to the right neighborhood with one of my coworkers who lives in that direction.  I arrived at the metro station meeting point an hour before we were supposed to meet, and, since the rest of the group was still a 45-minute train ride away, I decided to do a bit of exploring on my own.  Like I said, this was the old part of town, and for the first time since I've gotten here, I was the only Westerner on the street.  I entered an old mall and thought I had entered the opening scene of a horror film.  Most of the shops were closed except for a laundromat and a store full of gold and silver trinkets in the back; the halogen lights flickered as a few people roamed around the joint, fading in and out of the dark corners of the mall's main hall.  In the background, a young girl was on a mechanical car ride that sang "Frera Jacqua," but instead of the usual lyrics, the song got stuck on "mother's coming; run away.  Run away."  I was more than a bit spooked and decided it was time to go.  I walked the couple blocks back to the metro station and noticed a few oddly dressed middle-aged Asian women on a street corner.  As I walked past, I caught the eye of one of them, and it didn't take me long to realize what she was doing there.  I hurried along as she followed after me, hearing another man discussing prices with the woman.  I continued walking toward the metro station, found some M&M's, and sat on a bench inside the station, wondering how this could be the same city, just 15 stops from my dorm gate.  Side note - the Iranian food was really good once everyone finally got there!

At  the Atlantis Resort Aquarium

By Thursday, I'd had enough of Dubai's less-touristy side for the moment, and we decided to explore some of the more up-class areas of the city.  We took a cab from campus out onto the Palm Jumeirah to the Atlantis resort.  While there, we had desert and drinks at a Moroccan restaurant, complete with dancing and live music.  Though I had no idea what I was doing with the dance and instead elected to take pictures, it was a really cool place.  After we took some time to explore the incredible aquarium, amazing city views, and interesting clientele at Atlantis, we drove downtown to meet some of Mary's cousins at a bar under the Burj Khalifa.  The restaurant was all outside, situated next to a lagoon, with palm trees lining the sitting areas, and the Burj Khalifa standing tall across the water.  After a fun, chill evening, we headed back to the dorms.  I ended up going to sleep a bit too late that night, and five hours later, I was awake again for our trip to Oman.

Hiking up the Hatta Fort Foothills

I'm in the UAE on a temporary 30-day tourist visa, meaning that every 30 days I must leave the country or provide a two-week notice to AUD officials with a detailed itinerary prior to leaving.  Rather than having to plan ahead and have AUD all up in my business, a group of us decided to leave the country to get another 30-day tourist visa, a rather quick road trip through the desert to the Omani border.  Friday morning, Tom, Sid, Oliver, and I got a ride to the airport where the cheapest car rental agencies are.  We rented a car, met up with the rest of our group, and and began our drive through the desert.  We drove through small outposts, mini sand storm cyclones, and incredible sand stone mountains.  We got through the first two checkpoints without any problem - just flashed our American passports and we were on our way.  At the border crossing, things got a bit dicey.  We pulled over at the passport control office at the UAE exit gate, looked around, and I realized for the first time where I was in the world.  Passport control was housed in a run-down trailer next to a series of small concrete buildings that looked like they'd been burned down years ago.  Half of the road was blocked due to a collapsed overhang whose metal roof lay crumpled in the road  I was glad to get out of there quickly.  We drove into Oman and stopped 100 yards into the country at the visa office.  After an obligatory picture in Oman, we got back in the car and drove right back across the border.  On the outskirts of the UAE, we stopped at a resort, the Hatta Fort, and had a great dinner at a pool-side cafe before hiking up one of the nearby foothills to watch the incredible desert sunset.

A desert sunset at the Omani border

After enjoying the sunset and the first rain shower we had seen since arriving in the Emirates, we got in the car and began our journey back to Dubai.  The first checkpoint was similar to the one on the way - just flash our passports and on we go.  The second, however, was a bit unnerving.  We pulled up to the checkpoint guards who had AK-47s at the side, ready to go.  The guard took each of our passports and took his time going through each of them, looking for issues with our visa statuses.  We sat in the car, watching as cars in the other lane zipped past, while the armed security officer scrutinized our entry.  With a nasty look and a wave of his gun, he tossed us back our passports, and we were home free.  After the sketchy checkpoints and border crossings, I was really glad we were back in time for happy hour at our go-to local standard.  It was a fun night, just relaxing at the rooftop restaurant next to campus and hanging out on the beach walk.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Chillin' in the palace

As if we hadn't done enough the day before, the study abroad mentors had arranged a day trip to Abu Dhabi for us on Satuday.  I crawled out of bed at 9:30, completely exhausted from trip the day before, and headed out for a new day of exploring.  Abu Dhabi is about a 90-minute drive from campus via a huge highway, so there wasn't much to see on the way there which was good since I spent most of that time catching up on sleep.  Our first stop was at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, an incredible building that looks like something straight out of 1001 Arabian Nights.  All of the men had to wear long pants and sleeved shirts, and the women borrowed abayas from the mosque to wear as we toured.  The courtyard was huge and seemed celestial, made completely from white stone and highlighted with gold on the minarets   Inside the main hall, there were three domed sections, each with elaborate chandeliers hanging in the center.  The floor was carpeted with one enormous Persian rug, the largest in the world.  In all, the mosque and courtyard can hold 50,000 people when completely filled on the holiest of days.  After a quick lunch, we made our way to the Emirates Palace Hotel.  Years ago, some of the royals lived in this palace, but it was converted to a hotel after the royal family upgraded to a nicer palace.  It's actually the same hotel featured in the Sex and the City movie.  I don't know if I'm more amazed at how opulent and luxurious places here are or at the fact that it's incredibly easy to get into them for free.  Though we of course didn't have a room, nobody questioned us as we roamed about the palace hotel, sat in the plush lounges, watched performances, took pictures in the porticoes, or gazed in amazement at the gold ATM -- yes, this ATM seriously dispensed pure gold.  I thought back to 24-hours before when we were at the dilapidated border buildings and couldn't believe how two such different worlds can exist so close to one another.

Our Group at Sheikh Zayed Mosque

Dubai is an amazing city, full of some of the world's finest resorts, restaurants, bars, malls, and countless other attractions, but to truly get a sense of the UAE and the Gulf area in general, we had to get out of our comfort zone and leave the tourist areas.  Though many visitors choose to ignore the old city and other less-refined areas of the country, these places offer some of the most incredible experiences and can be even more exciting than another fancy meal or another beautiful beach.  This week, I set out to get my own Middle Eastern adventure stories; it never occurred to me that all it would take is a quick trip outside the city gates.

The Real Middle East

The Kandora

On Thursday morning, the office where I had interviewed called to let me know that I had landed the internship.  I told them that I wanted the weekend to think about it and would let them know first thing Sunday morning before class.  I had a lot to think about over the weekend as well as a ton of work from classes that week.  Naturally, it was time to go out for a good time to clear my mind to make these decisions.  When classes ended on Thursday, I called up a few friends and decided to go to the Belgian Bar fairly close to campus.  According to the Europeans, it was a really great representation of what a bar in Belgium actually is like – complete with the correct design and drinks.  We chilled on the rooftop terrace for an hour or two before the heat became too ridiculous.  We hopped in a taxi and cruised down the boulevard to a well-recommended karaoke place.  When we opened the door, the place was packed wall to wall; we could barely move.  Eventually, we found the microphone and it was “Sweet Home Alabama” all the way.  Half of the songs on the system were Korean, and I started having massive flashbacks to my summer in Korea at the noraebangs.  We hung out there for a while watching Marc’s crazy dance moves and listening to Tom’s rather startling scream-o bit before deciding to call it a night. 

In the old city

Friday was quite a lazy day; all we wanted to do was relax.  We spent the afternoon chilling at the pool and shopping at the Mall of the Emirates.  That evening, I went to dinner with Marc, Vanessa, and Martina who have decided that their goal for the semester is to make me European in all aspects.  After being approached three times last week to be told that I look distinctly American, I told them good luck.  Their first attempt at the transformation by feeding me sparkling water was an unfortunate failure. 

Middle Eastern Culture Crash Course

As I said in my last post, Dubai is such an international city that it often feels like being in the US, so I made it my mission for the weekend to explore some areas that were a bit more Middle Eastern.  Though I’ll admit that this desire mostly stemmed from wanting to sing themes from “The Mummy” and “The Prince of Egypt” while walking around an old Middle Eastern-looking area, I was no less excited when I found out that the study abroad mentors were taking us to an old market (called a souq) Saturday morning.  We took a bus from the school to the old section of Dubai next to the creek area where we were greeted by a man dressed in a traditional kandora at the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding.  I knew that it was going to be a good day when he started by saying, “Today I will answer all of your questions about the Middle East and Islam.  It’s a day of learning, and no question is off limits.  For example, many say that if you commit suicide you’ll get 72 virgins; I’m dead and that’s a lot to manage!  What would I do with 72 virgins!?”  He proceeded to take us on a tour of part of the old city area and demonstrated the standard procedure in a mosque.  After the tour, we ate a traditional Middle Eastern meal in the courtyard of a house while sitting on pillows and rugs.  It was seriously the best food I’ve had since arriving.  The rice had a cinnamon taste and was mixed with incredibly tender beef and vegetables.  He let me take some to go. 

A cruise down the creek

After leaving the Islamic Cultural Center, we took a voyage across the creek in a rickety old wooden boat as people have done for hundreds of years.  We arrived in a whole new world, completely different than the high rise metropolitan area that typifies downtown Dubai.  There, we toured a gold souq, a spice souq, and a textile souq.  I had been dying to buy a kandora since arriving here, and I finally got the chance to buy one for a really cheap price!  At the souq, you have to haggle with the shop owners to get a good price, so you don’t want them to know how much you’re actually willing to pay and how much you really like the product.  We Americans would go into the store and discuss in Spanish what we actually thought, throw a price out in English to the shop owners.  The shop owners would discuss amongst themselves in Arabic or Urdu before replying in English.  To get a better price, I told them I was Ukrainian, so they were too confused when we began speaking in Spanish.  Their faces were hilarious.  

The desert church

On Sunday after class, I decided that it had been too long since I’d been to church and found a night service at an Anglican church not too far from campus.  Well, Google maps can be a bit deceiving, especially when it gives directions via public transport.  I was doing pretty well, taking the train to the right stop then taking the correct feeder bus just outside the city proper.  I got off the bus with about ten other people, looked around, and realized that I was in fact in the desert.  To my right was a compound of houses that looked like something out of Star Wars, to my left lay the desert, and behind me was the skyline of Dubai in the distance.    The small crowd of people all started walking in one direction down a dirt road, so I decided to follow, asking one on the way where the church was.  "The Catholic church?" she asked.  I thought for a moment before saying yes, figuring it was better to sit through a Catholic mass than sit through a half hour alone in the desert hoping the next bus would show up.  After a ten minute sojourn through the desert under the starry night sky with the huge moon looming in the distance, we arrived at the Christian compound.  She asked if I was Catholic, and I told her no, that I was in fact looking for the Episcopal church.  A guy also in the group of desert wanderers turned around and said in a British accent, "hey mate, I'm Anglican.  That's pretty much Episcopal right?  Just come with me."  Come to find out, all of the Christian churches in Dubai are required to be on specific compounds, so the Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and whatever others are all on the same plot of land.  Thankfully, my new friend Neil showed me to the right place.  The service was small but nice, and one of the church members fortunately gave us a ride back to the train station rather than having to trek through the desert to a bus on the side of an old dirt road.

Okay, so not where I work, but a beach sunset is a
better picture than a gray office.

On Monday afternoon, I started my internship with Korn/Ferry International as a research analyst intern.  Their office is in the airport free zone which is about a 45 minute train ride from my dorm and quite removed from the skyscrapers of downtown.  When I exited the train station, I was really thankful that I remembered my sunglasses because without all of the buildings around, the wind whipped all of the sand straight into my face as I walked to find a cab.  I hailed two cabs, and just like in a movie, two incredibly rude people swooped in front of me and stole my taxi.  I would have been mad, but I was too busy laughing - I couldn't believe people actually did that!  Anyway, my orientation into the office was really interesting; I learned all about the different projects that the firm is involved in and got assigned to my first project.  The staff is all incredibly friendly and interesting.  I'm the only American in the office, and the staff has adopted many British words used by our English boss.  I have to keep a tab open on the internet just to search words like "gobsmacked," "botch job," or "dodgy."  It's almost as hard as learning Arabic.  

Dubai Nightlife

Thursday night, my friends and I decided to go out for a night on the town.  I started off at a friend's sister's apartment in Marina hanging out for a bit before meeting up with the rest of the group.  The view from the balcony was absolutely amazing, overlooking campus and the twin Empire State Buildings.  Afterward, we headed out to the Palm to chill for a bit with some friends.  The pool where we stayed overlooked a marina, surrounded by villas and canals.  In the distance was the Burj Khalifa and the Burj Al Arab protruding from the water.  After a bit, we took a taxi downtown to meet up with the rest of our group at the club.  We weren't allowed into the VIP area but still had a great time hanging out and dancing.  It was a great night full of a lot of good stories.  

I started the week wanting to explore the "real Middle East," but in the end I realized that even though downtown Dubai may not be dotted with minarets or filled with winding corridors with little shops on the side, it is just as important to the region and its culture.  With all of the events of the past week, I realized that it's important to remember that parts of the region, such as the UAE, aren't filled with violence and are modernizing and progressing at an amazing rate.  Finding the real Middle East is realizing that the region can't be grouped under one umbrella and learning to enjoy the good experiences that come no matter what the surroundings. 

United States of Arabia

Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building

When AUD students ask how we Americans are adjusting to life in Dubai, they are always surprised when we tell them that it is really not that different from the US.  In fact, I would say that Dubai feels very much like being in Las Vegas.  Well, other than hearing the call to prayer over the mall's loudspeakers.  And of course there are a ton of men in kandoras and women in veils.  Well, and alcohol is only allowed in hotel bars.  Oh, and nobody here speaks English as their first language.  And of course there are the workers who clean our dorm rooms every week for us.  Okay, so maybe it's a bit different than life in the US, but it's certainly not the culture shock I expected moving to a country on the Persian Gulf!

An evening in Dubai.

The past week has been a whirlwind of activity - starting with last weekend.  Since this is a Muslim country, our week is Sunday through Thursday with our weekends being Friday and Saturday, something that definitely took some adjustment.  On Thursday night, some friends and I decided to do a bit of exploring and head to the world's largest shopping mall, conveniently located right next to the world's largest building.  We took some obnoxiously touristy pictures in front of the Burj Khalifa before heading to the mall.  I really underestimated what it would be like to be in the world's largest mall, and it probably goes without saying, but this place was MASSIVE!!  We spent four hours walking around the different souqs and shops and never doubled back on ourselves.  There was an aquarium, countless fountains, an ice skating rink (still blowing my mind that it's in the desert), and tons of fantastic restaurants.  We finally stopped at a Lebanese place to eat some dinner before we collapsed.  Out the window, we had a fantastic view of the Burj Khalifa fountains which are very much like the Fountains at Bellagio in Las Vegas.  Every half hour, there was a water, lights, and music show with the Burj Khalifa and a souq in the background.  It was a really fun evening!

Chillin' at JBR

On Friday, it was time to go to this beach that everyone kept talking about.  We took off for Jumeirah Beach Residence public beach, right at the base of the Palm Jumeirah.  I am going to get way spoiled with such a nice beach only a $3 cab ride from my dorm room.  The water was so clear that we could see our feet no problem, and there was hardly any wildlife near the beach, though I did get stung by a small jellyfish twice.  We ate a late lunch at a beach-side cafe before heading back to campus to escape the heat.  Later that afternoon, we met up again to go to the largest IMAX in the Middle East and Asia to see the latest Batman, which was just released in the UAE.  It was a strange trip, and I seriously thought I was being abducted.  The taxi driver left the main strip of the city and started driving into the desert.  I was pretty sure that he was taking us right into the heart of the Saudi Arabian desert, but fortunately, like a mirage in the distance, a huge structure appeared in the middle of the desert, just outside the last buildings of Dubai.  At a random camel race track, there was the giant IMAX.  I think that the trip out there was better than the movie itself.  That evening, all of the study abroad students ended up heading to our favorite local standard, conveniently located just behind the dorm, to hang out before calling it a night.

Dubai Mall keeping it classy with
some first class fountains

Though it had been a really fun weekend, I couldn't help but dread the coming week of classes.  Since I'm only taking 12 hours here, I get really bored in the afternoons and decided that I needed something to occupy my time since the homework load is incredibly small.  So, I decided to look for an internship and found a few through the career services office and by word of mouth through some of my friends.  I have a couple options, but for now only one carries a story to share.  I got called into an interview for a research intern position at a company on the other side of town and went to meet them yesterday.  After class, I suited up and took the Metro to the office.  I probably should have at least read an article about doing business in the Middle East before diving right into it, but that just wouldn't be near as exciting.  The interview lasted an hour and forty-five minutes and included intense questioning by the four people who work in the office.  It actually wasn't that different than an American interview; I just met with each of the office staff.  The office manager is British and absolutely hilarious.  He looked at my resume and noticed that I had spent the summer in Korea and spoke some basic Korean.  He pointed to me and said, "Give it a go!"  So, I commenced to give him a rundown of my daily schedule in Korean.  I was glad that I could remember some Korean language, because at the end, he told me that he had lived in Seoul for a decade and knew some basic Korean.  Regardless of whether or not I actually get the internship, it was quite an entertaining afternoon.

The midweek pick-me-up

 When I got back to campus, it was time to celebrate a good interview, and let's be real - it's college.  Do we really need an excuse to celebrate??  Fortunately, there were quite a few people who also needed a mid-week pick-me-up.  We went back to JBR's strip of fun restaurants to chill at a couple beach-side hangouts for a few hours, watching the string of ridiculously expensive cars parade down the beach-front road.  At least there are a few affordable restaurants there!  It was a really fun evening, but waking up for class the next morning was quite painful.  Fortunately, I had plenty of time for a three-hour afternoon nap after class!  Even though living in Dubai sometimes feels like living in the United States of Arabia, the people here are some of the most interesting I have ever met, and the experiences never disappoint.  It hasn't even been two weeks since I arrived, and so much has happened.  There is no telling what the next three and a half months have in store.

The Next Great Adventure

Train into Dubai!

I've been in Dubai for six days now, but it certainly feels like much much longer with all the activities and adventures I've already gotten myself into.  From the less than glamorous travel to the absolute excess that is Dubai, it has been an insane week moving to the Arabian peninsula.  But before I get into all that, here's a little background on what I'm doing here.  

The front entrance to my school.  Beautiful campus!

I applied for the Clinton Scholars program which awards ten American students the chance to study at American University in Dubai (AUD) for a semester free of 

charge.  I originally received the scholarship for the 5-week summer term but instead opted to go to Korea with CLS.  Fortunately, the Clinton Scholarship committee pushed my application back to the fall semester and offered me a place here from August through December.  What started as a 5-week trip to the desert became a four-month stint in one of the world's most incredible cities.  

This is a view from the front gate to my dorm.
We're right in the middle of the city.

After I got back from Korea last month, I spent two weeks in Alabama visiting family and friends and trying to get 

everything squared away for this next great adventure.  It was such a short visit, and I didn't get near enough time to see everybody or do everything that I wanted to do.  But time waits for no one, so on August 29th, I pulled up to Huntsville International and boarded a plane for the unknown.  The fourteen-hour flight was one of the worst rides I'd ever taken.  There was so much turbulence that a guy in front of me threw up as the lady next to him received oxygen and was dragged to the galley where she passed out.  I have never wanted to get out of a place quite that badly.  When I got off the plane and headed past the Muslim prayer rooms to the restroom, I looked into the bathrooms and saw squat toilets and a hose to clean yourself.  Welcome to the Middle East.  

Shopping mall - Middle Eastern style!

I got past immigration without hassle and found a taxi to take me to AUD.  After signing into the dorms and getting my key, I met the guys across the hall - my RA (Marc) who is French and another American here for the semester (Lloyd).  I unpacked a bit before heading to a late 9PM dinner with Lloyd at a restaurant down the street and couldn't believe how smoky the place was.  There were at least twenty tables of people smoking hookah in the restaurant.  Apparently everyone in the Middle East smokes; I'm hoping that four months of second hand smoking won't be enough to negate not smoking for the past 19 years.  Since I had come with only two suitcases and two carry-ons, I had no blankets or pillows and spent the night on an old stained dorm room mattress with a jacket for warmth.  It was a sad day.

Chillin' at the Dubai Marina.

The next morning, Lloyd and I, along with a couple other study abroad students, took the metro to the mall where we entered the Dubai version of Wal Mart and stocked up on all the dorm room essentials.  The rush hour commuters packed like sardines on the train were not happy when we entered with all of our bags, blankets, and pillows in tow.  That evening, I went for a short run around the track before heading back to the dorm dripping in sweat.  On my way in, a guy stopped me and said, "Are you Jacob the study abroad student?"  I told him I was to which he replied, "cool, we're going to dinner fifteen minutes."  It turns out that he is one of the study abroad mentors who the university assigns to find us and make sure we have a good time in Dubai.  I met up with the group of study abroad students and mentors for a fun Friday night at the Dubai Marina where we learned all the do's and don't's of Dubai.  The rest of the weekend went about the same way, with orientation sessions, dinners and outings to the mall with the study abroad group, and meeting a ton of really cool people.  Despite a couple nuisances such as getting lost on the metro in search of a non-profit where I'm supposed to volunteer, dripping with sweat in the 105 degree weather between classes, or, you know, actually having to go to class, I can tell it's going to be an amazing semester in Arabia!

Becoming Korean

Holy water, unholy bacteria.

Over the past two weeks, I have learned two very important lessons.  One - there is no such thing as Buddhist holy water.  And two - even though the water may look holy, when it comes from a mountain stream and hasn't been filtered, it still contains bacteria.  I probably should have used better judgement before drinking from this fountain anyway (see picture right).  My digestive tract will never be the same.

After we got back from the amazing excursion two weekends ago, it was time to hit the books.  We had two weeks left until finals and a week and a half until the dreaded Oral Proficiency Interview - a half hour phone call that determines how much we have learned.  Everyday that week was pretty much the same - class, cafe, study, home, dinner, study, sleep.  When class ended on Friday, we were all absolutely exhausted not to mention sick from the unholy water.  I ended up going to a cafe and eating dinner with friends before heading home.  Even though it was a rather dull Friday, it was great to be able to speak some English.  I had only spoken broken English for the past two weeks, and it was time for a break from the Korean.

I'm adding this to my list of "Korean Practices
That Would Lead to Major US Lawsuits" 

I knew that I needed to keep practicing Korean over the weekend so I would be ready for the OPI and the final exam the next week, so I was really glad when my host family suggested we take a trip to an island just off the west coast.  The eight of us set out for Wido on Satuday morning in the good ol' family van.  After driving for an hour, we arrived at a ferry terminal where we grabbed all of our stuff, parked the car, and got on board.  It was a beautiful 45 minute ride, with mountains jutting out of the water all around and birds diving for crackers that we threw from the sides.  I wasn't exactly sure where we were staying or how we were getting around since we had left the car on the mainland, but I have learned by now to just go with the flow.  So, it wasn't at all weird for me when I got in the back of a dune buggy/truck/ATV-ish vehicle with my host siblings and set out along the miles of winding mountain roads next to the sea.

The beautiful sunset outside our cabin.

Twenty minutes later, we arrived at a cabin right on the ocean.  It isn't like any beach that I've been to before with loads of tourists crowding under umbrellas waiting for daquiris.  It felt a lot more like being at the lake with barbecuing on the deck and walking down to the water.  We went to the beach for a couple hours where my host brothers got a hold of water guns.  Actually I think "water rockets" is a better way to describe these things.  Whoever thought it a good idea to give them weapons probably needs to reevaluate their decision making process.  We spent that night shooting fireworks on the beach and taking a mystery "ghost" walk down the road.  Besides that, it was simply the most incredible sunset I have ever seen in my life.  The cabin was one room plus a bathroom and loft and in traditional Korean style had no beds.  Uncle Joe and I were exiled to the loft due to our obnoxiously loud snoring.

A bit worse for wear but quite the haul of clams!

The next morning, Aunt Kim, her sister, my host sister, our younger brother, and I decided to take a walking tour around part of the coast.  On our way out of the cabin, the owner stopped us and insisted that we allow her to take us in her truck around the island.  For the next hour, we circled the island, driving through a half dozen tiny fishing villages that dotted the coast, stopping for pictures at a hidden temple and at washed up boats along the way.  We took a short break before setting off on a clam digging adventure.  My host sister, a random Korean guy, and I hopped in the back of that same ATV and headed to the coast.  The tide had just gone out, exposing acres of mush crawling with tiny crabs.  We dug for two hours, searching for clams in the hot sun with crabs crawling through the mud which oozed through our feet.  Covered in mud, we finished the excursion with quite the haul and had some great clam soup that week.

So much solar!

On our drive back home, we passed the Renewable Energy Theme Park.  Yes, I had been about an hour's drive away from a Renewable Energy Theme Park all summer and hadn't heard about it.  Despite the hours of Google searching, it never occurred to me to search in Korean for renewable energy and economics institutes in the area.  I had to go.  Fortunately, Chae Wu was also really interested in the idea, and he, Nick, and I took off after school on Tuesday for some exploring.  After plenty of confusion about bus routes, we eventually found the theme park.  It was about this time that I realized "theme park" is a very literal translation, as in, it is a park with a renewable energy theme and a museum.  I was a little disappointed at the lack of roller coasters and churros, but I learned a lot from the museum and found some good sources for the future.  It ended up being a good thing that I hadn't found the place earlier - everything was in Korean, so I had just enough language to piece together the meanings of the exhibits with the help of diagrams and the always obliging Chae Wu.

One of the acceptable pictures.

The last week of classes was of course packed with testing, cramming sessions, studying, and more testing.  By Friday, we were absolutely tired of studying Korean and ready to have some fun.  So after a three-hour traditional music rehearsal, we set out to make the last weekend night with friends great.  First, a few of us went to a DVD Bong which is basically a place where you can rent a movie and watch it on a projector in a private room.  Yes, you can imagine what generally occurs in a DVD Bong, but I was surprised at how clean and non-sketchy it really was.  After our movie ended, we headed to dinner and then to a lively establishment to hang out.  It was a great mix of Korean and American friends, and I found myself speaking Korean not because I had to, but because we wanted to since that was the language most people were comfortable with.  Our host families gave us all extended curfews since it was the last Friday, so we had a great time.  I'm really going to miss these people!

The wonderful lady who drug me kicking and
screaming through the intensity of beginning Korean.

On Saturday evening, a few of the CLS students and I went to a traditional Korean music concert that was playing near campus.  It was extremely boring, so I was super excited when my host family texted me to ask if I wanted to see Batman that night.  Well, I'm not quite sure what the hangup was, but we instead ended up watching a comedy that was entirely in Korean.  I found out later that it was supposed to be a parody of Gone With the Wind, but I'm not quite sure what the movie was about so can't say for sure.  Regardless, it was certainly a fun way to spend the last Saturday here.

Graduation performance!  Tie and t-shirt,
probably not my best look...

After a four-hour long graduation on Sunday in which I made a fool of myself running around in a bib and bear ears (possibly one of the reasons I was dubbed the Korean equivalent of "Class Clown"), my host family invited Chae Wu to dinner with us.  We ate an incredible meal and toasted the end of a great summer for all of us.  Sitting around the table as I introduced my friend/tutor Chae Wu to my Korean host family was a bit surreal.  It felt very strange to be introducing another Korean to my Korean family when I am clearly the most foreign guy there.  I think my transformation to adopted Korean child is now complete.

Final Thoughts on Korea:
This has been the most incredible summer of my life.  Two months ago, I set myself in a host family in a foreign city, knowing nothing about their culture, language, life, etc. and frankly not sure whether or not I would make it through the full program.  It was a huge challenge in the beginning, but between the other CLS students, teachers, and host family, I have had some of the craziest, funniest, and most memorable times of my life.  It's hard to leave knowing that I may never see some of these people again, but I wouldn't trade the last couple months for anything.  It has certainly been quite an adventure.

Losing Modesty

Myra's Birthday in the Norebang

Sorry it has been so long since my last post!  The past couple weeks have been full of adventure with the added stress of trying to get ready for the fall, so time has been pretty limited.  Anyway, I'll try to keep things short and let you in on all that's happened recently, starting with last Monday.  Last week was CLS Birthday Week with three birthdays.  Myra's birthday was on Monday, and we headed to a norebang after class let out.  Norebangs are always a good time, especially when they have "Call Me Maybe."  The few Koreans who were with us just didn't understand when we all jumped up to dance during the chorus.  I don't know why that song is so awesome...

Tea Ceremony Time

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful until our class excursion on Thursday.  After school, we went to the Hanok Village where we donned hanboks and learned how to perform a traditional tea ceremony.  As you probably know, I am a total spazz.  Trying to steep the tea and pour it in the set pattern with proper decorum while speaking Korean was just too much for me.  Besides my laughing at random times and awkward mistakes, my phone went off during the ceremony, and it took me forever to get it out from under the three or four layers of clothes I had on.  The tea ceremony instructor was less than pleased...

On that midnight train to Jeonju.

After school on Friday, Winston and I headed to the bus terminal and set off for his birthday weekend in Seoul.  We arrived at the hostel in Itaewon just before dinner, got cleaned up, and went in search for some non-Korean food which we eventually found at a Bulgarian restaurant.  It was really random.  After dinner, we went in search for some nightlife and met some really cool English teachers along the way who showed us around.  Our other friends from the CLS program, Justin and Chris, also finally made it.  It was an incredibly fun night with some great memories.  The next day, we took it easy and slept in before meeting up with some other CLS people for a dinner of fried chicken.  Afterward, we went to a honky tonk called Grande Olde Opry.  I'm not even joking - in the middle of Korea is a legit country bar with Kellie Pickler, Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift, and line dancin'.  Speaking Korean in the honky tonk was one of the weirdest experiences of my life and has caused so many strange dreams since.  I had to leave at 10PM to make the midnight bus back to Jeonju (I sang "Midnight Train to Georgia" subbing in "Midnight Bus to Jeonju" about fifty times that day) and was sad to leave Seoul - a city full of many crazy memories.

I arrived back at the apartment in Jeonju at 2:30 that morning and was hating life when my 5:30 alarm went off Sunday morning.  The host family and I left the house at 6AM for the 2012 World Expo in Yeosu - about two hours away.  Somewhere along the way I got a second wind, because despite the miles of walking I did that weekend, I was ready to go for the Expo.  The theme of this year's World's Fair revolved around the ocean, conservation, and renewable energy which are all areas that I am really interested in studying.  My host sister and I had a great time exploring the International Exhibits, but I'm not sure that host brother was equally amused.  By hour five, he was having a bad time for real.  I think the picture explains it pretty well...  

Ringing in evening prayer.

"Where do you come from??"

The next week only had three days of classes, difficult as usual, and was full of homework and tutoring.  My tutor (Chae Wu) and I went on a bit of an adventure on Tuesday in search of my rain boots which I left at the tea ceremony the week before.  It took a while, but we eventually found them down a side street at a restaurant.  I don't know why I can always find a cheap $20 pair of rain boots but Raybans never show up after they go missing.  On Thursday morning, everyone from CLS met up at the school, and we set out on our third and final cultural trip around the country.  We drove to the east 

coast and ended up at a Buddhist temple nestled in a forest valley.  That afternoon, we participated in many rituals with the monks; my favorite was using the ram to sound the massive gong for evening meditation.  We set out with a monk on a hike of silence through miles of tree-lined paths, stopping for meditation along the way.  That night, we stayed at the temple in hanoks next to the stream.  I was set for a great night of sleep until that 3:50 AM alarm sounded.  Yes, 3:50 AM.  We were pulled from bed by the sound of the gong from across the compound, calling everyone for morning meditation.  After meditation, we walked into a room with mats for each of us and beads with string in front of each.  I thought, "oh, arts and crafts time - this should be fun!"  Wrong.  In fact, it was an exercise to learn about the Buddhist belief in 108 sufferings.  There was a bead for each suffering, and in order to understand the suffering, we did a stand, bow, stand sequence while thinking of human suffering.  It took 35 minutes.  In silence.  My legs were suffering, my butt was suffering, and I was hungry.  At least I now have a cool souvenir...

Night on the beach.

After lunch, we left the temple and set off again.  We had already deviated from the schedule, so I wasn't exactly sure where we were headed.  At one rest stop, we all got off the bus to find rolling hills and a goat farm complete with petting zoo.  When we were at the petting zoo, a Korean kid came up to me and said in English, "Hello, where do you come from?"  When I responded in Korean, he screamed and ran away.  His parents found me later, laughed, and insisted that we get a picture.  After the goat farm, we headed for that night's acommodations - a 99-room hanok house.  I christened it the "CLS Party House," and the name couldn't have been more accurate.  After dinner and a tour of the complex, our teachers loaded us up by class into taxis; none of us knew where they were sending us.  We ended up at the beach which happened to be just miles from our house.  Nobody was prepared for a trip to the beach, so after hours of hanging out on the beach, our taxi drivers were less than pleased to get soaking wet and sandy college students packed into the back of their cars.  The night was pretty crazy - our teachers definitely know how to have a good time!

Let's cross that bridge when we get there

In the morning, we headed out through the mountains for a hike.  We hiked for about a mile to a monorail station which took us to an incredible cavern.  The cavern was spectacular with amazing formations and slime.  It took a full hour to traverse it all, and I was very thankful that I packed my hiking boots for the venture.  After the monorail and hike back to the bus, we set out for the beach (part 2).  On the bus ride there, our bus driver found the news station on the built-in TV, and we watched the opening ceremonies and Parade of Nations for the Olympics.  Driving through the mountains of Korea and shouting for Team USA in Korean is one of my favorite memories from this summer.  

Swimming in the Pacific.

The weather was perfect at the beach, and we had a great time in the water.  After a few hours, we headed to our hotel for the night which we quickly discovered was complete with a traditional Korean sauna.  I'm not sure if you're familiar with Korean saunas, but they are not for the faint-hearted.  It is essentially a huge room with public baths of varying temperatures where you and your closest friends (and teachers...) get naked and relax in the giant hot tubs.  It was actually a lot of fun after the initial awkwardness and was definitely a bonding experience.  The novelty of the sauna wore off rather quickly, and we decided to explore the random village where we had landed for the night.  We stepped out of the hotel only to find a free concert just down the road.  As happens a lot with us, we weren't dressed for the occasion, and Myra can now say that she went to a concert in her pajamas.  I went into the convenience store for snacks, and when I came out, I ran into two teenage girls who saw me and literally started screaming and shouting "movie star."  When I spoke to them in Korean, trying to explain that I wasn't in fact a movie star, one seriously went weak at the knees, and her friend had to hold her up.  To all of you haters of my hair gel - please reference this video.  I am still in shock.  

My Amazing Class

We got back to Jeonju Sunday afternoon after hours of driving (and sleeping) on the way back.  It was another incredible journey with crazy stories that just couldn't happen anywhere else.  It occurred to me on the bus ride today that leaving Korea is going to be much harder than I thought - it has become a second home, and I have made friends here that I will have a horrible time saying goodbye to.  There are only two more weeks left here - it's time to make the most of them.  

Crazy Korean Discoveries: 

1. In some ways Koreans are very conservative, but in others, they have no modesty whatsoever.  For example, many Korean met won't go shirtless at the beach but they have no problem soaking naked in a bathhouse.  

2. During meals, you're unlikely to be served individually with separate plates.  Typically, all of the food is placed in the middle of the table, and everyone attacks it with chopsticks.  I can't count the number of times I've gotten in chopstick fights for the most American-looking food on the table.

3. Yep, this happened: (picture right)