Newsletter 10 - July 13, 2005 (Sand Storm)

Note: This photo goes with the news article at the end of this Newsletter

Aug 28, 2005 11:50 AM

Newsletter 10

I hope you like this one. It's filled with cultural experiences and also a weather experience.

I'm sending two items this time; I suggest you  read the newsletter first to put the other one into

perspective.

July 13, 2005 (Sand Storm)

My office mate at Zayed Central Library is Madame Afaf, a lovely Sudanese woman who is responsible for receiving library related statistics from the central library and branches, accumulating and reporting them. Her beautifully colored clothes in the traditional Sudanese style are worn in what is, to me, a complicated arrangement of a long and wide swath of material. This length of fabric, extending from chest to ankles wraps around the body, over and completely covering an underdress of some sort, then it goes under one arm, sweeps around her back and over her head, covering another piece of fabric that tightly covers the hair and is secured by a dark colored cord, and finally drapes softly from the top of her head, over her other shoulder and down one arm, displaying the beautifully embroidered border. Coordinated portions of the border pattern are scattered about the body of the fabric and the background color is always a dark solid color which is a perfect setting for the bright patterns, often floral, featured on the fabric. My favourite is the green one (no surprise to anyone who knows me well) with all-white embroidery.

On Wednesday this week, Afaf came into our office looking devastated. I asked her if she were ill and she told me her sister’s daughter had died. I felt awful for her and knew she was hurting deeply but I didn’t know what to do so, in my American way, I said, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I am very sad for you.” She graciously acknowledged my offering and sat down at her desk. Almost immediately and continuing as long as she was there that day, other library employees started coming to her, one at a time, to offer condolences. Everyone spoke in Arabic so I couldn’t understand the words, but the meaning was clear. The women gave her the traditional hug on right and left sides with kisses on each cheek. The men shook her hand solemnly or offered the Islamic open hands, palms turned up gesture which reminds me of the “Omen” (amen) in Uzbekistan, done during an after-meal prayer and at other times, which she returned. Heads bowed, they maintained this pose for several long seconds. The women usually sat down in a chair beside Afaf after greeting her and they talked in low voices or sometimes said nothing at all and when I looked over at them, they seemed to be praying silently; sometimes I heard what sounded like verbal prayers softly spoken. Finally, when there was a break between visitors and I went to her and gave her a traditional-style hug, which she genuinely seemed to appreciate, and asked her how she was doing and how her sister was. She left after a while that day and was off work the next three days (either traditional mourning or university-allowed, I’m not sure which), except that she came in to the office occasionally to do something, at which time more visitors came to her.

Each time she came into the office and I was there (i.e., not on the other campus), I would ask how she was doing and give her the traditional hug and cheek kisses and ask how her sister was. The sister, who lives in Sudan, is grieving so much that she will not eat or talk. Afaf calls on the phone but can talk only to her brother, who is keeping her informed. Today, the last day of the work week, she was at work all day long and I took the opportunity to do something for her I’d been wanting to do. Several times she has surprised me by having the student services worker who runs the little cafeteria in the library building (not in the library proper) deliver a small carton of orange juice to my desk as a mid-morning snack when she had ordered something for herself. Today I saw the worker walking through the library and asked him what Afaf liked him to bring her from the cafeteria. He said it was coffee, so I asked him to take one to her and I’d pay for it. When it was delivered, she was very surprised and thanked me so sincerely I wished I’d begun sooner and done it more often.

The people here are very much into being of service. In the stores, where workers are almost always expats from Southeast Asia, you can do very little for yourself. Several times I’ve gone into a store or shop just to look then ended up selecting a few things to buy, holding them in my hands while I continued looking, when suddenly an employee would show up either carrying a shopping basket or pushing a cart for me to use to carry my intended purchases. At the checkout, someone usually removes items from the cart and places them on the checkout counter or conveyor belt for me. After the purchases are bagged, another worker carries the bags or pushes the cart full of bags outside and places them in the purchaser’s car or flags down a taxi and places the items inside. In stores and the mall there are service workers everywhere, sweeping the floors, mopping up spills or just mopping, scraping up things stuck to the floor, straightening shelves, realigning fresh produce, etc. It’s amazing to see people with such a strong work ethic. Even the workers who’ve come to my flat to do repairs or whatever do their tasks meticulously and with care, cleaning up after themselves, and taking no more than their allowed breaks (this is definitely not South Carolina!).

One thing I really like here is the business office hours. Most small shops and stores and many service locations have hours like 8 AM to 2 PM and 4:30/5:00 PM until 10:00 or even later. Mall stores are open something like 8 AM until 10 PM, the Post Office from 8 AM to 8 PM and the telephone office has evening hours, too. Almost everything is also open for 4 or 5 hours on Thursdays (first day of the weekend) starting at 8 AM. Banks are less accommodating during the week, with hours like 8 AM to 2 PM Saturday through Wednesday and 8 AM to Noon or 1 PM on Thursday. But still one can do business in the evenings anywhere else, which is very nice. Also open evenings and weekends are doctor and dentist offices, optical shops and the like. It’s great!

One drawback to the service here is that so much documentation is required for almost everything other than ordinary shopping transactions. For example, to register for electricity and water service, the following documents are required. (I learned some of this from reading a brochure as I sat waiting for the resolution to my being overcharged on my first electricity bill – 2 months instead of the 1 month I’ve been living in the flat). For Habitations (Houses, Villas, etc.): Letter from the Municipality, Owner Passport copy, site map copy, land ownership copy, and application form. In addition, mosques must also furnish a letter from the Endowment Ministry. Weddings, Parties, Consolation & Exhibitions require: Letter from the Civil Defense, ID/passport copy, and application form. Cattle and camel yards seem to have fewer requirements: letter from Municipality, owner passport copy, application form. For new water connections for a Habitation: ownership copy, copy of the registration summary of all family members, subscription number, house and street number, house maid’s visa copy (if applicable), and application form.

BTW, to get my water bill adjusted, I had to prove when I had moved into the flat by furnishing a copy of my rental contract, although I had furnished such a copy when I applied for service, but they no longer seem to have it. My bill had come in the mail just that day, delivered to me at the library where all my mail comes, so I didn’t have my personal copy of the rental contract with me when the library driver took me to the municipality office, so nothing could be done for me at the time. The driver later arranged for the university housing office to fax a copy of the contract to the utilities employee who had assisted me, then called and learned that by Saturday the adjustment should be made to my bill. In spite of the very different way of doing business here, I have to admit that the water and electricity bills here are reasonable; for one month’s electricity, 50 dh (about $13.60) and 100 dh for water ($27.17). That includes air conditioning in 100+ outside temperatures in my large flat and water being used for cleaning all the marble floors every week (by my cleaner).

One truly wonderful thing about being here is that I am enjoying the services of a cleaner who comes weekly to my flat and whom I am borrowing from Bonnie, an UGRU instructor and church member who is currently on vacation on the states. She recommended him very highly and everything she said is true. This flat shines like a new dirham when the job is finished and the charge is only 15 dh per hour and four hours time. It is worth every fil (100 fills = 1 dirham). When I told him I would be very sad when Bonnie returns and will need her cleaner again, he said he would come clean my flat after finishing Bonnie’s every Saturday! That would mean his coming something like 8 PM to midnight! It would be worth it except for my lost sleep waiting for him to finish and leave. I’m hoping one of his other regular customers now on vacation somewhere will decide not to return and I can take over their day and time.

I’m also taking advantage of the widely available “take home” (to go) services offered by restaurants and cafes which feature a wide variety of national and regional cuisines. I usually get about 32 dh ($8.70) worth of dishes and they last me at least three meals, often more. So far I’ve tried Arabic and Chinese and have collected an Indian menu. I’m collecting “take home” menus and am always on the look out for new places to try. All restaurants and cafes here offer a wide selection of fresh juices along with water and soft drinks (as a non-drinker I find it refreshing not to have to deal with public drinking of intoxicating beverages – or the common results from overindulging in that activity). A fairly typical restaurant selection of juices might include: mango, orange, apple, avocado, pomegranate, strawberry, pineapple, kiwi, guava, lemon, banana with milk, melon, watermelon, and carrot. So far I’ve tried many of those not having milk and they’re very good.

Today I received an invitation to an Arabic wedding! One of the young staff members at the Art library on the girl’s campus will be married on July 28 in Dubai, her hometown. The invitation is a work of art. It is on heavy shiny parchment-like, elegantly embossed cream colored paper with gold engraved inscriptions in Arabic and is in two parts, looking much like an elegant bookmark in a sheath. The sheath is rectangular – about 3 by 8 inches and opens on one narrow end with the open end notched to allow room for a lovely long Arabic-style tassel of heavy golden threads which is attached to the invitation itself. An elaborate inscription looking much like a seal in gold Arabic script gives (I was told since I can’t read Arabic) the family names of groom and bride. The invitation is held horizontally and the invitation slides out from the right side by the tassel so you can begin reading it as it emerges, Arabic being written from right to left. The wording includes the date, time and place in some order nothing like the standard way it’s done in the US, and in larger script the name of the groom and, separated by a line of writing, the name of the bride’s father and their family name (daughter of ___). She told me that much about the invitation was her choice – the size, shape and bookmark aspect and also that her given name not appear on the invitation, only her father’s name.

The invitation was for me and Rebecca. When I got back to Zayed (the central library), I showed it to Rebecca. She has plans for that day, a Thursday and hence a weekend day, to go to Abu Dhabi to meet a friend coming in from Hong Kong but she will see if the location of their meeting can be changed to Dubai (apparently the friend is traveling) so she can also fit in attending the wedding. The event will take place in the Bustan Rotana, a major hotel in Dubai, and will include dinner and then continue until 1:30 AM or so. Another staffer told me that this event is a traditional party and that the men and women would be separated. Often a singer or group of musicians and sometimes traditional dancers also entertain the women guests at these events. It definitely sounds interesting and I certainly want to go, with or without Rebecca’s company. Here again, I can be assured that there will be no drinking (or the behavior associated with excess imbibing) so the whole event should be very pleasant.

She had given me a ride home the day of the sand storm (more about that below); and had told me that she was to be married soon and that Rebecca and I were to be invited. I asked her some questions that I hoped weren’t intrusive. Would an Imam be there to do a ceremony? No, the ceremony had taken place by an Imam in February when the engagement took place; he came to their home and did that. Was it an arranged marriage (this is common in Uzbekistan and I wondered if there were a difference here)? No, she always had the right to say no. The mother and sisters of the hopeful suitor came and visited with her to talk about him. After this, she agreed to marry him and he came to visit her at her family home with her family present. Did she know him before? No (no further explanation given; I’m not sure if she understood the question as I meant it, but maybe I’ll find out more later.).

Okay, now about the sand storm. It happened earlier this week or late last week – I’m still confused with weekends happening in the middle of my mental week and my mental weekends coming at the beginning of the work week. She had offered me a ride home from Maqam (the girl’s campus). We had just driven past the guard station (no unauthorized males can get on that campus; even taxi drivers have to let off and pick up their fares outside the gate, even if the passenger is an authorized female) and were driving parallel to the fortressed wall (topped by barbed wire) that encloses the campus. It’s a long straight newly paved drive leading to an intersecting road.

A strong wind started blowing and then suddenly ahead of us we saw what looked like a wall of sand blowing straight across the road, about 20 feet ahead, going from our right to our left. By the time we got to that spot, there was sand blowing everywhere around us, not ferociously hard or it would have torn the paint right off the car, I’m sure. I commented, “I think the desert is trying to come back!” which made her laugh. The entire way to my flat was a drive through blowing sand, sometimes and in some places thicker than in others. When we got to the long straight street that leads to a T intersection with the main street near my flat, where we should have seen the three-story Mega Mart straight ahead very plainly, we saw nothing but blowing sand and the road was only visible about 10 feet ahead. When we got near the stoplight at the T intersection, we could dimly see Mega Mart directly in front of us.

She turned the car left and started along the road leading to my little side road and by then I could feel sand blowing into my eyes in spite of all the windows being rolled up and my wearing glasses. She got to my street, drove cautiously along - with everything barely visible and the wind blowing hard - turned into the gate of my apartment complex and turned to pull up in front of my building, which is fortunately sheltered by an awning for parking cars under to protect them from the ferocious sun but which now served to block most of the sand from blowing directly onto the building entrance. Thanking her for the ride, especially for driving me home under such adverse conditions (she had commented mildly on the strength of the wind and the amount of sand but didn’t seem upset or surprised by it), I made a mad dash, eyes nearly closed, to the interior of my building.

So I’ve experienced my first Arabian Desert sand storm. I’ve read and thought about the camel caravans of old traveling the Silk Route across deserts, including this one, encountering vicious sand storms and now I have a better understanding of what they endured, although they were out there on the open desert with no protection like that afforded by a well sealed modern car or sturdy buildings. When in got into my flat, I checked the floors near the balcony doors to see if sand had blown in. Amazingly none had. I’m sure it had to do with the direction the wind was blowing. And, I was grateful that I had discovered just last week that the threshold was missing from the balcony door in the side bedroom and had insisted that it be replaced, which it was done just a day or so before the storm!

Meanwhile, Rebecca and I had made a great plan for our visit to Dubai tomorrow. We’ll leave on the 10:30 AM mini-bus and when we get there about noon we will visit a couple of the traditional souqs (markets), then a couple of shopping malls during the hottest part of the day and finally after dinner go to Heritage Village, where one can see life as it was lived here in early days. Rebecca says they have great traditional type things for sale there and she is planning to pick up a number of souvenirs to take home to Hong Kong with her on vacation next month.

Storm blankets Al Ain in thick layer of dust
Al Ain | By Aftab Kazmi, Bureau Chief | 11/07/2005
A severe dust storm hit Al Ain city and its surroundings last evening, reducing visibility to almost zero in some areas. Aftab Kazmi/Gulf News Motorists drive cautiously in Al Ain as a severe dust storm raged for 20 minutes in the city and surrounding areas, reducing visibility to zero in some areas. The high intensity storm made breathing difficult on the streets. Residents took refuge indoors and those caught outdoors sought shelter in the corridors of nearby buildings. It was also a testing time for motorists who had to deal with almost zero visibility. Many motorists parked while the storm raged on. No accidents were reported by the police and the Civil Defence Department. The storm hit the city at 4.30pm and the winds were laden with tiny sand particles and dust that completely blanketed the city for almost 20 minutes. The storm later gradually moved in a north-western direction, restoring the city to normal at about 5.10pm. The storm left a thick layer of dust in homes whose windows were left open. According to the Meteorological Department, the winds were gusting at 25 to 30 knots during the storm that was caused by an atmospheric low pressure area over the UAE and the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia. An official at the Meteorological Department yesterday said that dust storms are a normal phenomenon in the country, particularly in Al Ain and the Western Region of the country. "High temperatures in the region generate heat waves and storms that occasionally become severe in cities which are surrounded by desert," he added. He said strong winds are also expected to hit various parts of the country in the next 36 hours. The weather will remain hot and hazy in general in most cities across the country. The level of humidity in coastal areas is also expected to rise.
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