Journal Pages - United Arab Emirates

Today in a Taxi

As told to me by cab driver in Dubai:

"In my home, very good looking people. But the women are not small. Work very hard. Don't sleep in the middle of the day, at night only. Lots of work, sweeping and cleaning.

If woman doesn't listen, *claps hands together, like washing them of something* divorce. 

The first day of marriage is most important. If she doesn't listen first day, she will never listen. *claps hands* Divorce. I tell my woman. 

She not goes out, I tell her stay in the house. To her mother's home only, I tell one hour, then come back. Do work in the house.

Most important she respect my mother and father. She no respect my mother and father, *claps hands* divorce. One day my mother wash a dish, I tell wife to get out, send her to her mothers home for three months. Her mother comes to me crying that I take her back. I let her come back but tell her if one more time, *claps hands* divorce. 

But I give her anything she wants, I tell her if she respect me, respect my mother and father, then I will respect her.

We must control our women, yes?

Woman in a Man's World

I don't know how to write this without saying something culturally offensive. I understand that a lot of these things have religious significance, that I have been here a short time, and I likely don't know a lot of the details.

That being said, I have found being a woman in Dubai and in parts of India to be a lonely experience. 

Earlier in the trip we met someone who wouldn't talk to me directly. He asked Subash questions about me, even as I was sitting next to him. "Where is she from?" "She eats Indian food?" I finally asked him questions about how his day had gone to force him to look at me and talk to me.

In a different case, someone was praying and left the room when I came in to go pray in a more pure space.

In many places here, men won't touch me. They won't shake hands. Many would argue that I should adapt and respect local culture, but mostly I put my hand out anyway and force them to take it. In India this happens as well. In some cases men will not touch any woman who is not their wife.

On the surface this might sound nice, or romantic, or courteous, but I do not think so. To me it means that I am first and foremost a sexual object, always always.

Similarly, I find the extensive body covering of women here frustrating. Another case where I know I should be more understanding, but deep down am not. For the record I still believe that women can choose to wear whatever they want! But.

The problem I have with it is that little girls do not have to follow the same rules, which means that at some point in their lives it is decided by society that NOW they are ready to be sexually objectified by strangers. Maybe if I lived with it I would understand it differently, but as an outsider this is very depressing. Someone gets to decide that for you. When? Where is the line?

You could argue these rules don't give men enough credit either. It implies that men are so all consumed by sex at all times that they are incapable of functioning if a woman is wearing shorts, or if they touch her hand. If I were a man I would be insulted! How weak do we think they are? 

I am not being an "angry feminist" here, although I am a feminist, and I am angry. What surprised me, though, is that I am sad.

Not shaking my hand, when you just shook the hand of the person standing next to me, and the person next to them, means that I am inherently different, no matter what I do. No matter what I accomplish the fact that I am a woman will always come first, and render me untouchable. 

I wish I could put it into words better!!! This is the best I can do:

I am going about my day, talking, making plans, meeting people. In my head, things are one way. I hope people like me. I feel like I am part of something. Then suddenly it is pointed out to me, in front of everyone else, that I am NOT a part of it like I thought. This fact is I can never really join in, not completely.

These things matter. I am afraid to sound like I'm exaggerating or making something out of nothing, but it matters to me. It makes me feel deflated and like I'm not a person. 

My body can do amazing things, it has carried me my whole life. My heart beats, my arm have held everything I've ever loved. Even so, it is probably the least interesting part of who I am. I can't be defined by it all the time, it's tiring and it's boring. I have other things to say.

Al Ain Zoo

On one of our free days in Dubai before the cricket test match started we went searching for animals.

Previously we saw the Ras Al Khor wildlife sanctuary when hitching a ride from the Sharjah cricket stadium with a friend who kindly stopped so we could the flamingos there.

It is outside the city so the skyline lurks in the distance, and it looks like it is in the middle of an uninhabitable wasteland.

There is a huge bird blind constructed far out in a barren flat where water collects in the rain (when??). Flamingos, egrets, herons, and plovers all call it home.

Everything I read about the area recommended the Al Ain zoo for seeing animals. It is a conservatory in addition to zoo, with a big emphasis on animal welfare. Dubai also has a zoo, which would have been closer, but the reviews on Tripadvisor all indicated it was a depressing place with sad animals.

The U.A.E. is definitely a driving country. Gasoline is plentiful and dirt cheap. In fact, it costs more to buy water than gas. At the moment, gas here works out to about $2 US per gallon, while the same amount of water would cost $4. There is no such thing as free tap water in restaurants--you drink it, you buy it.

But cars are everywhere, and despite a solid metro and bus system in Dubai, I couldn't find any public transport to Al Ain, about an hour away.

In the end, we rented a car for the day for 70 AED, which is about $23 US. I've never driven in another country before!! It was on the same side of the road as the US at least, but I definitely spent the first 20 minutes with a death grip on the wheel.

We drove off out of Dubai and into the barren desert around it on pristine expansive highways that look like they were made yesterday. In many places it was 8 and even 12 lanes across.

Once in Al Ain we had not one but seven round-a-bouts to face to get to the zoo. I'll take a nice relaxing stop-light any day.

The zoo itself was amazing! It was clearly designed very carefully and by someone with a lot of love for the animals and the visitor experience. The enclosures were big and diverse with good habitat, and the paths were fun and winding, with a lot of shade. In some areas you walked through fake rock caves.

One lion had fallen asleep right up against the glass.

What is this giant bird???

The giraffe enclosure was incredible.

They also had a fancy gift shop full of stuffed animals I would have killed for as a kid.

It also had some kind of crazy zoo train that drove by us at one point. No idea how you get on or where it takes you.

There are mosques everywhere here, and at prayer times the prayers echo out from them across the city. The zoo had its own mosque as well.

It was a fun day! I really enjoyed the zoo, and it is worth the trip if you ever find yourself in Dubai. If you ever do go, though, don't go before 4 pm! Even with all the shaded areas it is scorching. The animals feel it too, and a lot of them were just getting up from their midday comas when we got there.

 It's always nice to see something you can tell was created with love, and someone out there definitely loved this zoo.

Dubai

Last Thursday we landed in the United Arab Emirates, starting in Dubai. Out of all of the people living here, only something like 10% are actually citizens. The rest are from all over the world. 

I heard on the radio yesterday that 202 different nationalities call Dubai home.

So far we have gone to the Dubai Mall, Dubai Creek, the Mall of the Emirates, Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary and Sports City. We also rented a car yesterday to go to the neighboring city of Al Ain. More on that later.

The malls were probably worth going to once, but otherwise totally overwhelming and not that special, in my opinion. Maybe from a helicopter it would be more unique, but from the inside it mostly looks like any mall you've been in except endless. Maybe if I could afford more things, both financially and suitcase-space-wise it would have been more amazing, but even then, how many stores can you go in!!

The most incredible thing to me about the mall was how it is designed in connection with the "tube" so you never have to go outside. We walked and walked for hours without ever leaving the air conditioning.

The malls also have a number of other novel attractions, like an ice skating rink and a ski resort / sledding area inside, in the desert heat.

More my style was Dubai Creek, which has a number of different "souks," or market areas. It is an older part of the city, with some of the older buildings still instead of just skyscrapers. It included a covered outdoor area that had a bunch of shops selling trinkets and souvenirs. 

I can't tell if this is something original, and a real market, or if it was designed to give tourists like me a sanitized version of such a place. To be honest, I feel silly for liking it so much and wanting all of the things. But I do!!!! I want all the shinies.

You can also walk along the water. Nearby are stores selling spices and dried fruits, which are the one thing I have bought so far. Mango and papaya and melon! Delicious. 

One of my favorite parts of Dubai so far is there are cats everywhere! Wild street cats that sit on the parked cars and wander the sidewalks. It seems like people feed them pretty frequently, as I've seen little bowls of water and food left out.

It's an interesting place, that's for sure. The cricket match starts in a few days and in a bizarre twist I have media accreditation. This means I can go with Subash to watch in the press box and hang out with the journalists. 

Until then, I'll keep exploring and looking at that incredible skyline!