abu dhabi re-run (week 2)

10/10/06 Tuesday
Last night I ventured to the carpet souk after dinner... I was told that the market was active in the evenings because of Ramadan hours, but as it turns out there were few people other than the shopkeepers, my colleague Steve, and me, so we got a lot of attention.
There were about 50 small shops, all of which looked essentially the same from the outside and inside, until of the vendors started unfolding rugs and laying them out on the floor. Everyone wanted us to come inside to see *their* rugs (hand made, machine made, silk, wool, afghani, kasmiri... the works, and all "very high quality"). All the shop keepers kept calling me sister (as in "Come inside, sister. Take a look, sister.") which made me smile. Using the best of my bargaining skills, I ended up purchasing two rugs.
I think I did pretty well under the circumstances (I drove a *really* hard bargain for the second rug), paying less than half of the originally quoted price for each one... This was in line with some advice that I had been given about the way price negotiations work in this kind of market (including the fact that regardless how low I feel the final price is, chances are the the vendor is still probably making a pretty penny off of me!). Now I just have to figure out how I plan to get them back to the United States. Why didn't i bring an extra empty suitcase with me?
As an aside, I noticed an article in the NYT this morning about an interesting competition for young Muslims that took place in Dubai over the weekend. I attached a .pdf of the article to this message if you're interested in reading it.

10/11/06 Wednesday
I've gotten some questions from you all via e-mail, so I thought I'd answer them here so everyone can read...
Q: You don't have to wear a head scarf?
A: The UAE is one of the less conservative countries in this region, and with expatriates making up 80% of the population, there are fewer restrictions on dress here than in other middle eastern countries from what i understand. I've seen a bit of everything, from women dressed in black from head to toe, to women in mini skirts and low cut blouses (obviously the latter are not observing Ramadan). Generally though, out of respect to the Muslim population (and especially during the holy month) it was recommended that I avoid tops that expose my shoulders and arms, and that skirts, if I choose to wear them, be at least long enough to cover my knees.

Q: Are you having trouble communicating?
A: Not really, because most people speak English. The most trouble I have (and it really isn't much) is when the street names on my map don't match the street names that taxi drivers know (there are some nicknames, like airport road, or passport street, because that's where the passport office is). So from time to time there is confusion when I'm telling a taxi driver my destination, but otherwise, communication hasn't been an issue.

In other Abu Dhabi news, I checked www.weather.com and determined that the reason why it's felt cooler to me recently is that it actually *was* cooler (imagine that). :) Instead of a high of 104 degF (from last week), the 10 day forecast only shows the temperature going up to 99 degF. It's a cold spell!

10/12/06 Thursday
I have come to expect the spurt of brown water that comes out of the bathtub faucet each morning before the water runs clear. However, the structural engineer in me was shocked to see a large diagonal crack in the wall behind my bedroom door, which was exposed when I closed the door for the first time tonight. Let's just hope it's not a load bearing wall... :)

10/13/06 Friday
The first time we actually left the office at a reasonable evening hour, we had a lot of trouble finding a taxi to take us back to the hotel. In fact, there were virtually NO cars on the road compared to the usual hustle and bustle, and the streets were strangely quiet. Soon we realized that it was because it was IFTAR time and everyone was EATING.

10/16/06 Tuesday
We took one full day off last weekend and took a desert tour, complete with camel riding and dune driving! Will send the pictures shortly...

Until next week, Cat