Day 4 - Sharjah and Desert Safari

Another early start to the day, we hopped on the bus at 8am to head over to Sharjah, the land of museums (seriously there are 15).  We started out at the Sharjah Heritage Museum. Our tour guide walked us through the various aspects of the Emirati lifestyle, such as life in the desert, birthing rituals, childcare, medical practices, wedding ceremonies, and funeral customs. The gallery culminated with a video depicting the story of an Emirati girl who selflessly gave her life to find water for her sister. 

During the visit one of our members who donned (or should I say tried to don) the traditional thobe for the visit was informed he was, in fact, wearing the undergarment section of the thobe on his head. Thankfully, due to the generosity of our tour guide, this was quickly rectified!

We then had some free time to enjoy the rest of the Sharjah area. Being the fun-loving group that we are, some played on the swings and seesaw outside of the museum.

Then we took off to explore the area. First up, and of particular torment to me, was the bird and animal market (I’m terrified of birds). Lucky for me, this was just a quick stop before the Sharjah Souks and then lunch.

By about 1pm, or a little later thanks to those who broke off to get their names written in calligraphy, we began our journey back to the hotel. The latecomers were let off with some light booing on the ride back probably because we were all a little jealous we didn’t get our names written in calligraphy, or at least I was.

After our break, we headed out on our way to a desert safari, complete with dinner, camel rides, dune racing, and henna tattoos (this one was just for the girls).  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves there!

Day 2 - Heritage Tour, Class, Out on the town

Jet lagged but filled with adrenaline for the first full day, we hopped on the bus at 8 am to depart for the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding (SMCCU).  Upon arrival we were greeted by our host, Mr. Nasif Kayed.  Nasif really made the experience as he was funny, informative and insightful.  He encouraged us to ask the question "why" as we discussed numerous topics such as history, culture, religion.  The slogan at the cultural center is "Open doors. Open minds" giving our group an opportunity to really open up and ask questions we had all been wondering about the Arab world.  A few things that I found interesting are as follows.  Fisrt we learned that pearls were the original trade item.  Next we viewed the different types of houses begining with those made with goat hair, then palm tree leaves and eventually coral.  A common curiosity was about the dress - which we learned are called abayas (for the women) and thobes (for the men).  The people dress the same for unity.  According to the Quran one must be modest, not materialistic and they try to limit distractions by covering womens hair/knees/shoulders.  Following the tour we enjoyed a delicious brunch where we were served dates, coffee and traditional Emerati food.  We learned that they serve coffee and dates before meals as an act of hospitality.  Little did I know, coffee dates back to the 15th century originally from Yemen.  This was a great way to begin the trip!

Lunch at SMCCU

Group Tour at SMCCU

After lunch we headed to our host university, AUE, for two seminars.  We first heard from Professor Nabeel Jurdi,  Provost/VP for Academic Affairs.  Professor Nabeel gave a lesson on how to negotiate in the Gulf.  He stressed the importance of finding a common denominator between the two parties and establishing a friendship rather than looking at them as competition.  Once the lecture was complete we had a mock negotiation between two classmates.  After a quick tea break which also included sandwiches and dessert (common among "tea breaks" here) we received a presentation from Mr. Dimitris Floros, Global Corporate Account Manager, Global Sales for Emirates Airline.  His presentation was very informative, giving us a solid understanding of the brand and how it competes in the ever changing airline industry.

Mr. Floros lecture at AUE

Running on about 4 hours of sleep each we decided why not go out and explore the town.  We headed to the Dubai Mall area for dinner and drinks.  We wound up at the most American bar you could possibly find called The Claw.  We also got our first view of the amazing fountain show (that puts Vegas to shame) and the extremity that the Dubai Mall is.  The crowd was a melting pot of people, the most interesting thing to me was seeing little kids up so late at night.  I'm exhausted just writing this and can't wait to see what is in store for tomorrow!

Day 1 - Arrival Day

Our travel lasted about 17 hours and 30 minutes, a long day to say the least.  Our program participants gathered at the Philadelphia Airport at 7:30 am, with a take of time of 11:15 am.  The first leg of our journey was a 12 hour flight from Philadelphia to Doha, Qatar, which meant we arrived in Qatar at 6:45 in the morning with a connecting flight to Dubai taking off at 8 am.  We deplaned, rushed through a security check point and navigated to our next gate.  Fortunately we had enough time to sit down, some people found water and snacks, before boarding.

The next flight from Doha, Qatar to Dubai, United Arab Emirates was a little over an hour, arriving at 10:10 am. Our next step was to clear immigration, which easily took an hour.  Between our flight and many others coming into the airport there were hundreds of people waiting to move through.  As we slowly trickled out of immigration we collected our bags, exchanged or withdrew money, stopped at the Duty Free shop and congregated until we had found everyone.  Fortunately, no ones bags were lost over 6,000+ miles of travel.

We found Dr. Sohail just outside of the arrivals and preceded to the bus.  At this point, my body was completely confused on what day and time it was.  We arrived and checked into our hotel, 4 people to 2 bedroom apartment, and then headed upstairs for a quick lunch at the hotel.  Our next stop was a program introduction at the American University in the Emirates. And then finally, and as an attempt to beat as much jet lag as possible in the coming days, we headed out for a group welcome dinner.

Dinner was a three course Lebanese meal at Kan Zaman in the Al Shindagha Heritage Village, which is on the banks of the Dubai Creek. First were a tapas style appetizers, everything from hummus and tabouli to chicken livers and falafel stuffed with beef and pine nuts.

Next was an array of grilled and roasted chicken, beef and lamp, followed by a dessert of semolina and sweetened cream cheese.

Finally, the group ordered several different flavors of shisha and relaxed until departure at 10:30 pm.  We all rolled into our beds around midnight and caught some much needed sleep.