The United Arab Emirates: Dubai

A few weeks ago Chris and I were talking about how fortunate we were that all of our trips had gone exactly as planned. It would seem our luck ran out a little. We decided to go to the United Arab Emirates so that we could see Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It was a good trip, but a trip with some some bumps along the way. Below is a map of the UAE with the two cities we visited. It took an hour and a half flight to get there.
We rented our car and had it brought to us at the airport. As we drove into the city we could easily see why Dubai has the good reputation it does. I first learned about Dubai 3 or 4 years ago. I had no idea such an amazing city in the Middle East existed at that time. It is filled with some incredible modern sky scrapers.
Not only are the buildings amazing, but the city is immaculately clean. Dubai attracts people from all around the world. It is a very popular city for business.
Unlike many big cities in the US that has all the sky scrapers next to each other, Dubai has patches of sky scrapers - then small buildings - then more tall buildings. I kind of like it that way.
One lucky thing about this trip is that Chris knows a nice family from his mission now living in Dubai. This family was nice enough to take us in during our stay. What was even cooler was that our host family lives on the famous Palm Jumeira, a man made island in the ocean shaped like a palm tree. You can see a drawing of it below.
Here is the Palm Jumeira, a very nice and rich part of the city. It is filled with apartments, homes, and some incredible hotels including the Atlantis hotel. The house we stayed in was on one of the palm leaves on the right side of the island.
Above is an actual camera photo of the island. Isn't it amazing that people make islands like this?

Confused by the above photo? Though Dubai is in the desert they have built a ski resort in the Mall of the Emirates. It was the first time I had felt winter and seen snow since I left the US.
Isn't it funny that I am from Utah, but the first time I ever went skiing was in a mall in the Arabian Peninsula? I say I went skiing, but rather, I went falling. I basically just went down and then fell, and then fell again, and fell again.
It was still fun though. I liked seeing the women in Abayas wearing huge jackets and skiing as well as the men in Thobes skiing. The UAE is not nearly as strict as Saudi Arabia. People of all different cultures and lifestyles live there.
Behind me in this picture is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Are you surprised to know the tallest building is in the Arabian Peninsula? This country loves impressive and rich things. This building was recently featured in the new Mission Impossible movie.
This picture is taken from atop the Burj Khalifa. The elevator is amazingly fast to get to the top. We had to buy our tickets in advance. The weather was not very good while we were there. It was pretty hazy most days so it was often difficult to see very far in front of you. It was also pretty hot and humid, but that wasn't surprising.

Here I am at the top. It was very high.

Below is a picture of the pool of the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall, the biggest mall in the entire world, or at least that is what they tell me. Everything is so little.

Here is the evidence of the decadence of Dubai. The above machine is a gold ATM. You stick in your credit card and you literally buy gold. You can choose the size of gold you want, but it is pricey.

Back on the ground we went to the pool. Every thirty minutes they have a dancing water show with music. The water actually does look like it is dancing when you watch it.

More of the dancing water show. The two malls we went to in Dubai were packed. It was crazy. They say Dubai isn't doing well because of the economic crisis, but you wouldn't know it by looking at all the customers at the mall and surrounded areas. It took us awhile to find a parking spot.

The beautiful fountains in front of the Burj Khalifa.

Very cool. This was still our first day, but after our time at the tower, things took a downward turn.

This is the picture of the car wreck we got in. Chris rear ended a nice family from India. This one event caused us a lot of running around town trying to pay fines and getting a new car for many hours of our trip. It was very frustrating. Nobody was hurt except for our car. It wouldn't have been too bad if not that our anti-freeze was leaking and therefore we couldn't drive because the engine would overheat.

Here is the Burj Khalifa. This is the view from our car wreck. Its not everyday you wreck in front of the tallest building in the world.

Here is our view from the back yard of the place we stayed. The water was probably the best I've ever swam in. It was perfect. The family we stayed with was very nice to allow us some time with them. They showed us around and helped us when we needed it. Thanks to the Gubbays if you are reading this!

Here is a pic of the city from the Palm Jumeira.

This ice skating rink is at the Dubai Mall.

The mall also has an incredible aquarium inside.

Here I am walking around the aquarium. This aquarium has the largest acrylic panel of glass in the world.

Here is a shark swimming around.

Here I am vomiting the fish.

Here is Chris and Lightning McQueen from Cars.

Here is a cool fountain inside the Dubai Mall.

The metro stations throughout Dubai look like alien spaceships.

And here is one last shot of the sweet buildings in the city. It is weird to think that none of this was here 50 years ago. It was just a sad looking desert back then. Oil sure does wonders for a country. We spent 4 days in this country - 3 in Dubai, and 1 in Abu Dhabi the capital. We mostly spent our time in malls. We also went to see a movie while we were there - Transformers 3. It was mostly nice just to get away from Saudi for awhile. It is like a breath of fresh air. More to come about Abu Dhabi!

Approaching the Finish Line and Other Thoughts

Mark Twain said in The Innocents Abroad "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." I preface my post with this because I want to illustrate the different, untrue, or unfair views that people often have in countries throughout the world.

Some of my students refuse to believe me when I say I have never had alcohol or drugs. Some are convinced that all Americans do these things all the time. Chris's students told him that people in America get shot all the time and believe we see this stuff quite a bit. It is funny to hear their perceptions of the US. I have had some students say similar things. One student said he would never go to America because he doesn't want to be shot. Isn't it funny that many Americans believe the same things about Saudi Arabia? I remember when I prepared to come here and other countries in the Middle East people would say "don't get shot" or "watch out for terrorists" I try to tell my students what America is like, but I really don't know if they believe me. Point - Americans think Saudi is dangerous, Saudis think America is dangerous.

I had a funny conversation with my students a few weeks ago about bathrooms. Many of the bathrooms in Saudi Arabia have squatter toilets. There is no toilet paper, but you do have a hose that sprays water. This is how you clean yourself. My students were telling me how disgusting it is that Americans use toilet paper to clean themselves. I thought this was funny because I can imagine a lot of Americans saying how gross it is that Saudi's use spray hoses. I actually can understand why Saudis would think this, after all, you actually use your hand to clean yourselves with paper. I told them that despite how you feel about the subject, American bathrooms are BY FAR much much cleaner than bathrooms I come across in this country. I have seen some pretty disturbing bathrooms here. I personally would take the toilet paper with clean bathrooms as opposed to the hoses and dirty bathrooms. Point - Americans don't like Saudi bathrooms, Saudis don't like American bathrooms.

A week or two ago Chris's students asked him if he would ever come back to Saudi in the future and maybe bring his wife (assuming he ever gets married of course). Chris told them he would not because he didn't think his wife would like it here. The students wanted to know why so he gave them a few reasons, one being that he didn't think his wife would like wearing an abaya. After all, it gets pretty hot in the summer (it is usually 110-115 degrees) and why would you want to cover yourself in a black blanket? Not to mention that she could never go outside without a man escorting her. This led the students to say why women wear abayas. One student said women who don't wear abaya's are bit****. They used quite an interesting analogy and here it is - they said "teacher, do you like wrapped candy or unwrapped candy." You can imagine why this would be completely offensive to us. Women are not candy, but people. They are not an object created for our pleasure, but have thoughts and feelings of their own. Chris and I have often had conversations about this subject amongst ourselves while living here. Many Saudi's are offended (and rightly so) by the blatant sexualizing of women in America. I find it incredibly offensive and disturbing and I am sometimes embarrassed by what other people think about America because of what they see on TV. But on the other hand, I have often felt that by doing the extreme opposite, covering your women and never allowing people to talk to them, you do the exact same thing of sexualizing them - hence the fact that some students would say women are candy. The fact that some students compared women to candy would be extremely offensive to women and men throughout the world. I have found that in almost everything I can think of, extremes in just about any subject can be dangerous. In saying this I do not mean any disrespect to the women in this country who choose to wear abayas. Many women would choose to do this even if they had the freedom to do so. Many women in Turkey and other countries do this of their own choice and I think that is their right to do so and I think it is great they want to be modest and follow their God. Please also understand that not all the students nor do all the people in this country feel this way. Like all countries there are various opinions on many subjects. Point - Saudis find treatment of women of America offensive, and Americans find treatment of women in Saudi offensive. (Perhaps we are both right in some ways)

It has been a great educational experience living in this country let me tell you. My eyes have been opened to a way of life completely different from what I have understood and lived. It really gets you thinking (I'm mentally exhausted!) Isn't it funny all the misconceptions and beliefs that people have of other countries when they have never been there? One thing I wish I could instill in all people in Saudi and America is the ability to put yourself in another person's shoes, to imagine what your life might be like if you were another person in another situation. With that, let me say that I am almost finished with my time here. I have a month and a half left and then I'm flying to Spain for a few weeks and then America. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. P.S. I'm going to the United Arab Emirates tomorrow to visit Abu Dhabi and Dubai for four days, so I'll write about that later.

Istanbul: Part 2

Istanbul is a huge city. Many of the things tourists would like to see exists in or around the same area. So needless to say, there is a lot we didn't see there. We talked to a man who had lived there for 10 years and he said he had only seen maybe 40% of the entire city. The part we did see was pretty spectacular though. We stayed in a hotel near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. I put a ton of pics on, in no particular order.

Above is a pillar that was made during the time of Constantine. The pillar was made when the city name Byzantium was changed to Constantinople sometime in the 300's AD. The pillar commemorated the beginning of the new capital of the Roman Empire.

This is a picture of an underground cistern. This ancient place was built to store water. What amazes me is that above it is just a normal street filled with shops, restaurants, and tourists. You would never guess something like this is right under your feet.

There are fish that live in these waters as well as plenty of coins that tourists throw in to make wishes. One of the James Bond movies had a scene filmed in this place, though I'm not sure which one. It would make a pretty cool place for a movie. I think they said there were something like over 100 pillars that hold this place up.

For an unknown reason, the base of two of the pillars have Medusa heads. They are pretty unique compared to the rest, which are completely normal.

One popular site is the Topkapi Palace. This is the place where the rulers of the Ottoman Empire lived with his family and servants. Today it is a museum. It is quite large. You could be here for a long time if you want to see absolutely everything.

This is the harem where the many many wives and concubines of the king lived. This place sees the most tourists in the palace area. The women lived here with their eunuch guards to protect their virtue I guess. If you were one of the concubines and the king really liked you, then you would move up in rank among the different wives....yay?

One of the rooms of the Ottoman concubines/wives.

This was a sitting room for the royal wives. This place was very big for a house....however, since the women didn't leave very much, it was probably pretty small for them.

Here I am at the palace. This place also had many museums with various things. Some of the stuff was pretty amazing like crowns and jewels and other things that are probbaly worth millions upon millions. Other things were kind of funny. One museum had Abraham's sauce pan, Moses' staff, Joseph of Egypt's turban, King David's sword (all of which seemed to be in remarkably good condition!....you'd almost think they were brand new.)

You might need to click the next few pics to see them well enough. I made them black and white because it was kind of hazy this day, and it was the only way I could get the picture to show up clearly. This is a view of Istanbul from the Palace. You see the minarets of the mosques all over the city.

Another view of Istanbul with a huge cruise ship. Many cruises come through here.

At periodic times of the day they had many different kinds of shows that spectators could come up and watch. This one was a traditional dance competition for children. You can see the Blue Mosque off the left. This is one thing I really like about Istanbul. I never really cared about dancing or music that much in the US, but now, living in a place where both dancing and music (I might as well add color and normal human interaction to that list) are seen as evil, it really makes me appreciate a country like Turkey which will celebrate their culture and history.

Turkish boys and girls performing a traditional dance. It was a lot of fun.

Just a scene of one of the many streets. Chris says Turkey is very European (which makes sense since this is Europe). I wouldn't know as this was my first time in Europe at all.

One night we went to Istakal Street, which is kind of the like Time Square of Istanbul. This is a very popular street. So much so that cars don't really drive on it too much because there are too many people. The people with the flags above are here supporting their candidate for Prime Minister I believe. The election was only a few weeks a way when I took this. Their man won I thiink.

More Istakal Street. We came to see the movie Pirates of the Carribean 4, which I thought was pretty good. One annoying thing about movies in Turkey is that the previews last 15 minutes sometimes and they have an intermission, which makes no sense to me.

Here is the popular Istakal Street. It has a ton of cool shops, restaurants, and cinemas. There is a lot of life here as well as some folks who try to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists.

This ice cream guy was pretty funny and devious. He lures you in by doing all these tricks with his cones. It is pretty funny to watch, but before you know it, you've bought a pretty expensive ice cream cone....and the ice cream wasn't that great. But the show made it worth it for a one time thing.

Istanbul Mosques. We only saw a few churches while we were here and they were walled and gated. I never got a feel of how Muslim / Christian relations work in this country. However, I thought it kind of odd that at every Christian tourist site you could never find a Bible at the shops, but always plenty of Qu'rans, which perhaps answers my question.

One day we spent quite a bit of time at the museum in Istanbul. I have to say, that after 6 or 7 days or seeing a million ancient things, my head was too full to take in too much new information. It was starting to get pretty overwhelming. But I was pleasantly surprised by two things in particular at this museum.

This one made me extremely happy! I have wanted to see this for years, and maybe even touch it if I got the chance. These three brick panels with the lion designs are apart of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon! (present day Iraq). I don't know exactly when these date back to but I know they existed in 587BC when the Jews were taken captive by Babylon. These might have been the very designs they saw when taken through the gates of the city. The entire gate was made of colored bricks with lions, and other animals like this. I didn't know I could see this in Istanbul. I know that Germany has a more complete collection of the gate.

Another one of the brick panels from the Ishtar Gate. They say that ancient Babylon was one beautiful city. Their hanging gardens were one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Only the colored bricks were a part of the Ishtar Gate. The museum wall is only colored to look like it. Aren't these awesome!? Of course the color is somewhat faded. I wish I could see what it would have looked like back then.

There were a million things at the museum. I'm only posting a few pics of what I saw. Above is a depiction of the Greek Titanomachy, a story where the Titans had a war with the gods. The gods won and cast the Titans out.

This was also a surprise to me. Above is the Hezekiah Inscription. Hezeakiah was the king of Judah and Jerusalem. The Assyrians were trying to take over Jerusalem and so Hezekiah built an extremely cool tunnel leading from an outside spring of water and into the city itself - it leads to the pool of Siloam for those of you familiar with the New Testament. This tunnel allowed the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stay inside the city for long periods of time without having to leave the city (necessary if you are besieged by a foreign army). You can also read about this in the Old Testament. This particular panel which inscribes the work done by Hezekiah was removed from Jerusalem and taken to a museum. That I knew, but I didn't know it was this museum! Very cool.

Talking to the Turkish kids. They all knew a small amount of English. Almost every single place we went to in Turkey we saw groups of school children. They must love their history (there is a lot of it). I guess I'm a pretty big nerd. Everyone always says, "how was Turkey? does it have good beaches?" and I just say, I think so, I was in the museums for most of the trip.

One of the rulers of Constantinople had a pillar from Egypt brought back to his city. It still remains in the city today. It must have taken quite a bit of work to get it there.

This is the gate to the Grand Bazaar. I don't know why I go to these things anymore. I always see a million things but I never buy anything. I guess they are just kind of cool to see.

Inside the Grand Bazaar. It always attracts a million tourists.

Again, the bazaar. I did end up buying a t-shirt and some Turkish Delight for my students while I was here though.

And finally, as we took the tram back to the airport on our last day, I got a picture of the ancient walls of the city. The tore some of it down naturally for the tram and the roads to pass through.

Goodbye Istanbul! What was nice about this trip is how slow it went. I really felt like I was there for a long time even though it was only 8 days. It was one of my funnest trips yet. I'm running out of time so I will end this here.