The Black Folks of Abu Dhabi

[Update (January 9, 2014)-  Though several blog posts are still here,  I have moved the blog to:

                              www.abudhabiexperience.com

 Here you will find my most recent posts.  Hope to see you there!]

There are a few companies that recruit teachers to come out to Abu Dhabi.  One of the big players is Teach Away, a pretty well respected recruiter (and also the first recruitment company hired by ADEC, as they will be proud to let you know).  The best thing about Teach Away is that they have a discussion board on Facebook dedicated to all issues concerning Abu Dhabi.  There are tons of people on this board, mostly consisting of teachers that are already over and want to share some words of wisdom, and those interested in coming.  Anyone that has ever come out here has at some point learned what they needed to know from that discussion board.  Things such as what to wear, how much you get paid, where to get good daycare for you kids, what are good groups for the spouses to join, where to eat, etc.  During my courting period with the notion of teaching here I absolutely consumed any and all information I could get from this discussion board.  It was helpful to say the least.

Something else that it let me do is gauge the black teacher population.  Natova and I were surprised to see that there was a fairly large number posting on the board.  In fact, there were discussion threads concerning all black issues, like where the ladies could get there hair done and things like that.  So when I got here, I knew I would see Black folks but not to the extent it ended up being.   My first few days going to the apartment after we were assigned by ADEC, I was convinced half of my entire building was Black.  I would run into a different Black person in the elevator every single time I went there.  And to this day, Natova and I average seeing at least a couple of new African American faces every week.

It surprised us a little because we saw ourselves as the exception when it came to what most Black people would do when presented with the possibility of coming to Abu Dhabi.  Black people, as I have come to know them, aren’t really big on exploring the unfamiliar or delving into the unknown.  The process of coming out here had unknowns around every corner.  The recruiters were constantly reminding us we will need to stay flexible.  It is the same thing I used to hear in the Marines (we used to say “Semper Gumby” which translates to “always flexible”).  When you hear people use the word flexible, that lets you know there is going to be changes, and changes can equal uncertainty. Black folks and uncertainty do not like each other and tend to go their separate ways.  When you pile on top of the uncertainty the fact that you are in an Arabic country half way around the world in a region full of countries with names that do not have the most cheerful word associations attached to them (i.e. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, etc) you have a recipe for a good old helping of “You must be out of your damn mind…”

But apparently Black people are a lot more open minded than Natova and I gave them credit for.  Like us, most did their research on Abu Dhabi and Dubai, made sure it was safe, read about other teachers’ experiences, became impressed with the quality of living here, did more research on it, discussed it, debated it, saw a once in a lifetime opportunity, took a chance, and ended up out here.  But to be fair I do think the economy played its role in everyone’s decision.  It has come up in several conversations I have had with other teachers and spouses, both black and white, that the poor economy was a large factor in their departure.  I talked to one guy that said he plans on staying for a while because there is nothing for them back in America.  That seemed to be the consensus for everyone.  One lady asked why go back to have to grind so hard just to survive.  But don’t get me wrong, not everything about being here is Shangri La.  We do earn our paychecks.  This is actually the hardest I have ever had to work in the classroom (I am finding there is nothing more frustrating than trying to teach a semi-complex idea to a group of people that have no idea what you are saying, and then trying to manage behavior on top of that).  But like Natova and I, most people here figure if they have to work a tough 9 to 5 somewhere, it might as well be somewhere exotic where you can live comfortably and where at least one spouse gets a break from working.

The other thing I will say about the black people here is that everyone has been pretty nice.  It’s early but everyone Natova and I have met so far have been people that we wouldn’t mind hanging out with every now and again.  We recently went to a small get-together at someone’s house.  Including us, there were three couples and two singles, each a male and a female.  The owner was a Zoologist, with a specialty in reptiles.  And yes he is a Black guy.  He worked at the Al Ain Zoo for a bit before he came over to the outskirts of Abu Dhabi City and I forget who he works for now.  His house was pretty nice, 3 levels, a couple of rooms on each level.  The coolest thing, or most disgusting thing depending on who you are, is that he converted his second bedroom into a…well… a showroom for reptiles, complete with maybe 10 or more tanks, each with its own type of animal in it.  Most held lizards, there were a couple of spider tanks, and plenty of snake tanks, some of which held real live poisonous snakes (and if you haven’t guessed it already, yes he is the one single male at the party, and according to the all the ladies, he will not be getting a woman anytime soon until he clears that room out of all his little creatures).  He explained that they are all indigenous to the region (i.e. he would be driving down the road, see a snake, and literally get himself out of his car, grab his snake stick- you have probably seen those long metal rods with a hook at the end that people use to handle snakes- catch the snake and bring it home.  Just like that, poisonous or whatever).

The rest of the night was great.  Our host grilled chicken and lamb ribs.  The lamb was unbelievable.  Prior to this day, I had decided that I didn’t like taste of lamb, but after this I was hooked (he later shared with us guys when we went outside on the back patio to talk and drink, is that the secret to cooking lamb was marinate it in vinegar and Worcestershire sauce).  Then we played some games.  We started out playing Jenga, but that was quickly thrown aside after one game when I discovered the UNO cards laying nearby.  Once everyone saw that it was on and everyone was talking smack about how bad they are going to beat everyone else.  We pretty much played that for a couple of hours (and please allow me just a moment to vent:  Apparently in certain regions of the country, there is this thing called “doubles” in UNO, where you can throw down two or more of the same card on top of each other.  For example if you have 3 “draw two” cards you can put them all down on top of one another no matter what color they are and the person going next will actually have to draw six cards.  The UNO purist in the room got into a debate with some of the other guests about the validity of these ‘hood rules. In the end we played it out with doubles and it turned out to be pretty fun).

I am happy to say that all Black related conversations, incidents, or outings have been pretty positive, and I feel that everyone is representing themselves and our race and culture well.  I have no doubt it will stay that way. 

Update (January 9, 2014):  Though several blog posts are still here,  I have moved the blog to www.abudhabiexperience.com.  Here you will find my most recent posts.  Hope to see you there!

Dubai Bound!

Last week I got a chance take a break from work because of  Eid (pronounced “eed” as in “need”).  Eid is a holy week here in Abu Dhabi and the entire region.   Off the top of my head, I believe it marks a certain amount of days after the end of Ramadan.  I probably should know more about it, but what I do know is that it finally gave me some time to recover from 8 straight weeks of teaching with no breaks or days off (there are no substitute teachers here,  so when you are out your colleague’s have to pick up the slack.  None of us LT’s want to put that on anyone else so we make sure that unless we are deathly ill we to show up to work).  

During Eid like most holidays, Muslims like to spend time with their family.  Most of the students at our school have roots in the surrounding areas: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or one of the other Emirates such as Ajman, Dubai, or Sharjah.   During my informal inquiry of the class (i.e. distracting them from childish behavior like  hitting each other or wrestling by engaging them with a conversation) I learned most of them planned on going back to these places for Eid.  During the same inquiry, they had a few questions for me, such as what were my plans during Eid.  I asked what they suggested and inevitably they would tell me I should visit Dubai.  And that is exactly what I did.

To be honest, Natova and I had been wanting to visit Dubai for a while now and I suspected that we would go during this break.  As luck would have it, a young black couple that lives on our floor for whom we had recently made friends was also going to Dubai (post to come later about the black teacher contingent in Abu Dhabi.  Believe it or not we are well represented).  Fortunately they had a car so we rode with them (and by the way, we do not have a car but we do fine with catching rides and taxis.  It sounds like a hassle but it’s surprisingly convenient because there are tons of taxis in Abu Dhabi.  I actually prefer it to driving because it feels like I get to be chauffeured everywhere. The fares are very cheap usually averaging around 15 to 20 dirhams per trip, or $4 to $6 USD.  Besides the driving here is… uh…. a bit aggressive to say the least.  But that’s a whole other post).

The road from Abu Dhabi to Dubai is a straight shot, about an hour and ten minutes, if you are driving conservatively.  There were menacing clouds overhead at the start of the drive.  That happens sometimes so we didn’t think anything of it. But it didn’t stop there.  About thirty minutes into the trip we started to see and hear the pitter patter of raindrops on the windshield of the car.  We were all shocked.  I can count on one hand the amount of times it is expected to rain in Abu Dhabi this year and still have a couple of fingers left.  And of all days it decides to come down on the single day we  visit Dubai on a bus tour with an open roof.  Great.  Though the rain was not heavier than a drizzle or sprinkle where we were driving, it apparently had come down much more in Dubai, as I noticed size-able puddles on the ground once we got there.  Fortunately, the rain didn't affect our day much.

It doesn’t feel long at all getting there, but I’m sure our conversations in the car help pass the time as well.  The first thing I see as we approach is the skyline.  It is massive and very metropolitan, slightly different from Abu Dhabi which is a mixture of contemporary and traditional.  As it approaches I think to myself, here we are, downtown Dubai…then I realize I am wrong.  I had been told by a colleague who had come out here a couple of times that Dubai is really spread out, and it is.  The first cluster of buildings one comes to is just that a cluster of forty or fifty shimmering towers of office buildings and mostly condos.  The road however passes through all of this and continues for a while after it with the buildings in the background.  Then we eventually came upon the second cluster of buildings, this cluster maybe considered downtown because it has more government buildings and courthouses but also lots of skyscrapers, including the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.  The tallest building in the world also happens to be connected to one of the largest malls in the world, Dubai Mall, which is where we began our Dubai exploration.

 

As cliché as it may be, we decided to get the Big Bus Tour Dubai because it would hit all the famous spots in Dubai and give us a chance to walk around to visit shops.   I did take my camera this time so I am going to give a visual tour rather than just talk about it. So enjoy the pictures and videos.

We started in the Dubai Mall as I mentioned before.  It was morning and the place was mostly empty.  After walking around we ran across this water monument near one of the entrances.  It was the perfect place to take pictures.

  

Dubai Museum

The Dubai Museum was interesting, but not really for the right reasons.  I didn’t think much about the place when we got there.  I just thought it was some tiny little fort in the middle of town, but it turns out that it is one of Dubai’s main attractions.  As we entered I was surprised at how far the path through the museum would go.  What made it interesting was that it seemed to go on forever,  always having another turn here or nook there.   It turns out that the entire museum is underground and it’s almost like a maze down there.  I was not really impressed by too many of the exhibits.  The history of the U.A. E. is has two specific histories on two opposite ends of the spectrum.  The first is in the recent past and the other is way in the past.  The country is only 40 years old.  This involves the modern buildings and the recent rise in tourism and discovery of oil which funds all of its great attractions.  This is only half of the history and the other half, which is most of it, comes from BCE, around 4000 years ago or so.  Their museums reflect this and as a result they can be very boring.  Not like America or Europe with revolutions, and industrialization, and Civil Rights Movements, Women’s Rights movement, Prohibition, wars, etc.  Nope, none of that for Dubai.  Just stone carvings, arrow heads, old rifles and so on.  There was one room in the museum that seemed pretty interesting: the one devoted to the influence of the Arabian Sea.  I posted a video of the room which was draped in a blue light.  It was by far the best room in the museum. 

 Bus Tour

The bus tour was a bit of a disappointment.  They used a recording to give us the tour instead of a real tour guide with little anecdotes about various locations, or charming details that most may not know.  Natova and I didn’t like it but think we understood why they didn’t use a tour guide.  The town doesn’t really have a history like St. Augustine, or Chicago, or really anywhere.  Its so young, littered with multimillion dollar buildings, but you just can’t buy history.  It did take us onto the Palm Jumeira (a huge man-made island jutting into the Arabian Sea in the shape of a palm tree...yes, a palm tree.  Google it if you haven't already, its amazing to see) and the Atlantis Hotel, two huge landmarks of Dubai.  We also drove by the Burj Alarab, the largest free standing hotel in the world as well as the world's only 7 star hotel.  Interesting story one of my colleagues told me about this building.  The architect that they hired was apparently Christian (though on his website he claims he is agnostic), but the Emiratis didn’t think much of that because they hire out their architecture to people from all over the world with various religions.  Well once the structure was up, everyone loved it.  The only problem was that some think that the architect had ulterior motives.  There was a lot of speculation that Wright had set out to construct the one of the largest crosses on the planet right in the middle of the Middle East.  Sure enough, if you see the building from the ocean looking inland (it sits on the coast) you can see a huge vertical beam and horizontal platform crossing just above the center resembling a perfect cross, all cleverly embedded in the design of building.  From what I hear the Emiratis were pretty upset, but what can they do? Can’t knock it down after all the effort put into it ($650 million to be exact).  So there it stands to this day in all its "glory."

         

Souks and shopping

You can’t go to Dubai and not visit the souk district (souks are small shops selling everything from fabrics to jewelry).   It’s a bit like a flea market but with better stuff.  Always lots of people around, always busy whether it’s Dubai or Abu Dhabi.  Generally you have to haggle or negotiate your price.  Rule of thumb, so I have heard, is to come in at half the price of whatever they offer and meet in the middle.  I have yet to master my haggling skills.  I have only had to do it once or twice but these souk owners eat me alive in negotiating. I have learned you really do have to be willing to walk away to get a good deal.  This particular day we didn’t buy anything so I didn’t have to worry about it.  

     

Boat Ride

This boat ride was kind of spontaneous.  As a part of the Big Bus Tour we were supposed to get free admission to this large boat that supposedly had a restaurant on it and so on.  We were never able to locate where and when this boat was supposed to pick us up.  We saw several locals and tourist alike getting onto the smaller, raft-like, shuttles going back and forth across the Dubai Creek.  So after careful consideration and brief debate we finally decided to give it a go.  Glad we did too because I thought it was a pretty good ride. 

 

Dinner at Dubai Mall

The best thing of the entire trip, for me at least, was the dinner at Dubai Mall.  We ate at a Thai restaurant and we ended up with some great seats outside on the balcony overlooking the nightly water and light show.  The picture you see is actually the view from my seat at the table; I didn’t move at all to get it.  The same goes for the video.  The lights and water are all choreographed to music and there are at least 3 different songs, each with its own “routine.”  I was told that it plays every 10 or 15 minutes but I think it was more like 20 to 25 minutes.  When it did come on it was a site to see, truly spectacular. 

Dubai was fun to visit and it definitely has a distinct personality apart from Abu Dhabi.  Dubai really feels like a normal city back home.  You even see less abayas (long robes ladies wear) and khandoras (robes men wear).  I believe most anyone in the states would be comfortable living in Dubai.  I originally thought Dubai was as big as say New York or Chicago.  It is not by a long shot, so I was a little disappointed in that.  But I could see it as a great place to go shopping.  All of the U.A.E seems to be a great place to go shopping.  Our next visit we will probably go skiing...yes, skiing.  There is an huge indoor ski park in the Mall of the Emirates...yes, in the mall.  It has real snow and everything (of course real meaning generated by some snow machine).  A co-worker of mine actually gave me free tickets for a scuba diving lesson in the worlds largest aquarium, also at the Mall of the Emirates I believe.  We actually get to swim around with the fish.  Between Abu Dhabi and Dubai we expect to keep busy.  Till next time.