**** Culture Shock ****

Culture Shock, I get it every time I come back to the US and when I go back to the UAE.

and so my famous LISTS:

1. First Shock: Why are people staring at me, and then give me a smile? weirrrd.
2. Traveling domestically is a pain in the @$$!! The service is horrible too :/
3. I ran into a girl I knew in grade school at the airport, that is just soo random. I haven't seen her in years, and what is she doing way across the US?
4. People talk slowly when they first see me,and I give them a big smile and talk super fast. ;)
5. The speed limits are so low and people just drive so slowly, It drives me crazy.
6. COPS ARE EVERYWHERE, WATCHING YOUR EVERY MOVE.
7. You actually have to come to a complete stop at stop signs. YES COMPLETE STOP. or else you'll get a huge ticket fine, I mean HUGE $$$$$$$.
8. Around town, people will wave at you. They don;t know you, they are just being friendly. I always have to remind myself to wave back instead of wondering if I know them.
9. You get major discounts for being a college student, even if you are studying overseas.
10. A drunk man asking the waiter to read the menu for him because he can't read. I actually started laughing.
11. In the bible belt of America, homosexuals actually proclaim they are homosexual. THATS A HUGE CHANGE.
12. Renting a movie is so cheap (compared to the UAE).
13. GAS IS SOOO EXPENSIVE. People are about to sell an arm or a leg. Last summer the prices were $1.60, now its $2.60. I remember one summer, about 7 years ago the price of gas was $0.60. NO JOKE.
14. Super markets are so strange to me. I haven't grocery shopped for my parents in the longest time. There is just too much variety.
15. Electronic Stores don't have the latest electronics. haha.
16. Sex is always the topic on American TV.
17. Gossip Magazines are everywhere, and they follow the same people around everywhere. GET A LIFE.
18. I ran away from a thunderstorm yesterday. Literally, I saw black clouds approaching and lightning.I was at the neighborhood basketball courts. I was running at full speed, I was about 15 minutes away from the house. Right when I entered the house, I heard the loudest crackle of lightening and thunder!!!
19. Little kids here are so social and talkative!! (Mashallah).
20. And the last culture shock is that Food is everywhere here, you cant escape from it, its just too damn good. I didn't think I could hold down all that junk food. My friends were shocked that someone that tiny could eat that much, and not throw it up later!! ;)

It starts today :)

Im glad I have time to attend this. It should be intresting. I can't wait.

How snobby are you?

Your score = 20

What does your score mean?

Way to go! You don't appear to have a snobby bone in your body. Your answers on the test show that you are generally laidback, open-minded and down-to-earth. You try not to judge others based on superficial outer qualities like their car, clothes or bank account. Either you are the type of person who likes EVERYONE, or you have your own measures of whether someone is worthy of your respect; chances are you look beyond the surface and judge people on their character and inner worth. This attitude surely brings a lot of interesting people and experiences into your life and allows you to develop real, quality relationships. The world needs more people with this perspective!

** http://www.queendom.com/tests/minitests/fx/snob.html

I'VE BEEN TAGGED BY AHMED!

20 Years Ago I...

• I was a year old.
• was spoiled rotten by my parents and siblings.
• lived in the suburbs of the bustling city of chicago

10 Years Ago I...

• Punched a boy(in the face) for trying to kiss me.
• ate so much candy during halloween my stomache had to be pumped.
• slide down the stairs on a cardboard and my foot&leg went through the wall.

5 Years Ago I...

• arrived in the sandy desert of the UAE
• got my car stuck in the sand between the ducan and chouefiat.
• would drive with my non-emiraty license (illegal) ;)

3 Years Ago I...

• I graduated from highschool.
• Still hated harees.
• I met MJ!!! (wasn't sure what she was about)

1 Year Ago I...

• was very happy and loved al ain.
• couldnt stand the wallpaper in my sisters bathroom so i took it down in the middle of the night.
• celebrated my birthday numerous times,was suprised each time.

So Far This Year, I...

• jumped in a pool fully clothed.
• drank from a (green?) coconut
• was sung to by a mexican band.
  

Yesterday, I...

• listened to an awesome khutba from an inspiring Imam
• ate a huge steak :)
• realized why I never spent too much time at home. (haha)
  

Tommorow, Inshallah I Will...

• plant some flowers.
• spend some time with the younger muslim kids in the community.
• watch me some FIFA!

In The Next Year, Inshallah, I Will...

• cry because my nephew will be 3!!
• probably be at mj's house eating heemba (the correct way).
• still love al ain.

I Will tag...

• 3lo g
• Arsal
• Seher
  

Update:

I'm Stateside!!!!

It's good to be home, im still a little jet lag though.
What do you expect after a total of 36 hours traveling. :/

I had some problems when I stopped in London for transit to the US.
The employees of the airport were extremely rude, racist and prejudice. They treated my parents as if they were sheep herders and automatically assumed that they were uneducated. Because of their conduct and their unwillingness to help me and my parents we almost missed our flight to the US. When I saw how they treated my father, a renowned doctor, I blew up and demanded to speak to the airports adminstration.It was all caught on tape and there were witnesses.

I demanded that they hold our plane and that proper transportation shouldl be provided for us. I can't believe how they treated us! My parents were speechless. They have lived outside of Syria in the US for more than 30 years and this has NEVER happened to them in the US, but surely enough it happend in London.

Funny, all our friends in the UAE warned us about people being treating us badly in the US, but they never mentioned ENGLAND.

It was a long and annoying trip, but the best part was the service of Emirates airline.

Its good to be home though :)

The talk of travel is in the air.

While most people search and browse through endless websites and magazines about travel destinations around the world, I always had one destination in mind:

HOME = AMERICA.

So for me, my mind is at ease. Right now I just want to go home so fast. I've been counting down since May 20th. Every night I cross out the day that has finished on my makeshift note card calendar. Two more days and I'm gone! Poof!!

Home is where the heart is. I can't wait to wake up to birds chirping in the morning and the fresh clean breeze coming through my window. The bright blue sky with big white clouds spread across it. The bright green grass and the magnolia tree in full blossom of its gorgeous (yet scentless) flowers. What a beautiful way to start a day!

I'm so homesick!

While I have these frequent day dreams where I am home, I am often zipped back into reality by people snapping their fingers or poking me.(ha ha) My friends are in a dilemma! Where should they go for the summer if they do not want to go to Europe, Africa, Middle East, North America and South America? The world seems small when you narrow it down to that degree!!

Singapore is actually pretty cool. Its not on my top places I must see, but its pretty interesting. Its actually a lot like Dubai, so I may skip on seeing it. If I have the time and money extra to spare, then I would definitely check it out, but I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future. Its so much like Dubai, that its kinda scary.

Anyways, if anyone has suggestions, pray tell!!

I then can be left alone to sit and day dream until the day I arrive home : )

JUNE 9TH: The countdown ends

THE FIFA WORLD CUP STARTS TODAY!!!!

Everyone in the UAE and around the world is gearing up for the world cup. I don't think I have ever been so excitied about the world cup before. Being American, soccer is often overlooked, we tend to focus more on american sports like basketball and football and more or less: baseball.

Living overseas for quite some time has effected me in a way. I actually go rowdy at soccer games now. I bring in my basketball and football cheers and use them to motivate my peers.

Also, having a brother in law with some south american influences really changed my attitude. I was pressured into picking a team to support this year for the world cup.

I choose : BRAZIL

I love the characters on that team. They are flamboyant and highly spirited. They are also highly skilled athletes.

so brazil it is.

let the best team win.

Here's today schedule:

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooot EMIRATES AIRLINE!! shhh hells yea.

for more info check out the website:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/

BOOKS! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKS!! BOOKS!

My mind has been so overworked with academic coursework, conferences, activities, ect... that I haven't had the time to read in agesssss.

For me thats horrible! I love reading books. I love to hear what other people are reading. I love to discuss books with people. I love the exchange of ideas and opinions. I love the heated debates!

I get so annoyed when people say that they don't like to read or that they haven't read anything since they were in middle school. By the way, romance novels do not hold well with me, i may laugh in your face if you ever told me that you've actually read that crap.

A funny story, I was suppose to be celebrating the summer with a few of my friends, by going partying and going insane. We got too bummy and ended up discussing books! I felt the need to start compling my summer reading list! Two hours later and I found the books that I want to read over the summer. Haha I don't know how much will be read, but inshallah I want to read a lot.

You will always find a book or two in my bag. There are a few books that are not on the list because I re-read them every summer and they are usually always in my bag or on my bed stand.

They are :
1. Rajal houl al rasoul : Men around the Messenger.
2. The Search for Beauty in Islam.

And so I give you... My list .....

1.Einstein's Dreams, Alan P. Lightman
2.Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino, William Weaver (translator)
3.If On A Winter's Night A Traveler, Italo Calvino, William Weaver (Translator)
4.The Scarlet and the Black, Stendhal, Margaret R. Shaw (Translator)
5.Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev, Constance Garnett
6.Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol
7.Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
8.Animal Farm, George Orwell, C. M. Woodhouse (Introduction), Preface by Russell Baker 9.The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
10.Life of Pi, Yann Martel
11.The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
12.Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
13.Sixteenth Round, Rubin Hurricane Carter
14.The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl
15.The Coffee Trader, David Liss
16.The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Lucia Graves (Translator)
17.The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
18.Cry, The Beloved Country, Alan Paton
19.One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa (Translator) 20.Don Quixote: A New Translation by Edith Grossman
21.The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
22.Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (currently reading)
23. 1984 by George Orwell (currently reading)
24.The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury(currently reading)
25. Me talk pretty one day by David Sedaris

iEARN United Arab Emirates


On Wednesday, June 7, 2006,
U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Office
in cooperation with Fujaira Education Zone
opened the iEARN United Arab Emirates Fujairah Center
at Saif Al-Dawla Basic School in Fujairah.
The iEARN program has been implemented in several schools
around the UAE the Fujaira center is unique in the country.

iEARN is the "International Education and Resources Network",
the world’s largest non-profit global network,
enabling young people to use the internet and
other new technologies to engage in collaborative educational projects
that enhance learning.

iEARN has been linking schools internationally since 1988.
Today, iEARN is a worldwide global community of educators
who share a commitment and vision that telecommunications
technologies can enhance teaching and learning and make a human
difference at the same time. iEARN involves students in interactive
educational work with their peers around the world.

In February, 30 teachers from all around
the Emirates participated in an iEARN workshop in Dubai,
conducted by two trainers from the Egypt,
followed by an intensive training for 10 Emirati trainers.

The iEARN program in the UAE is funded through
a small grant from the Middle East Partnership Initiative

*this is from the US embassy's website.

Interesting.

The smothering heat

I park my car at the universities parking lot. I step out of my air conditioned car, and im welcomed by a harsh hot blazing wind hitting my face. A slap in the face. I curse myself for forgetting my sunglasses. I try to ignore the heat and grab my laptop bag and rush inside the universities gates. The only reason why I am at the university is to attend a series of important meetings. I enter the campus and the weather is brutal. The wind is strong and mercyless. My abaya is flying around, its a love hate relationship. It shields my skin from being horribly burnt, but its black, thus attracting more heat. My eyes are burning, I cant bring myself to look upwards. Im looking down and shielding my head with my folder. I grabbed my scarf and covered my face. This is one day i wish i wore a nikab. My friends joke that I cant handle the heat because im so fair. Sweety I am still arab, I can handle the heat, Im not sweating like a roasting pig. I thnak the lord above for those genes. The western professors at our university are drenched in sweat from the smothering heat.

We go on with life eventhough the hot weather is killer. I complain that the weather is just too brutal, and my friends reassure me that its always this hot at this time of the year. I think back over the last 5 years and think, yea maybe, but seriously ITS REALLY REALLY HOT. We've become accustomed to it and move on.

BUT IN REALITY ITS THE HOTTEST AL AIN HAS BEEN IN 10 YEARS!!!

damn.
I WAS RIGHT! its not that HOT usually.

the funniest thing is when i go back to the states, and the temperature outside is in the high 90's and everyone is complaining about how hot it is. I act totally normal and they think im a psycho because im not phased at the weather.

I give them a puzzled look saying ' Its not hot outside, its weather is pretty good, compared to where I live"

-jaws drop open-

pffftt WIMPS.