Day 10

Today was pretty easy going. We didn't do much at all in the way of school. We met in the morning to go over one of the articles we were supposed to read. Practically no one had read it though, including me. The article was about Amish people and technology that Jamie had actually written. Someone told me he has written a couple textbooks and makes his classes read them. Kinda funny. Jamie apparently has done a lot of research on Amish people and interviewed several of them. His presentation was cut really short, but it was quite funny and interesting. Jamie is a funny dude, and we have really gotten to like him on this trip. He always says things like "my suspicion is" instead of "i think that". So we throw that around a lot. I wish we could have heard more of his presentation about Amish people and technology.

We walked over to the Jumeirah resorts across the street, specifically to the Al Qasar Hotel. There are a bunch of gold Arabian horse statues out front that i didn't manage to get a picture of. The whole hotel is kind of a horse/castle theme (Al Qasar means "the Castle"). Now THIS was a really nice resort. Much nicer than Bab Al Shams in my opinion. It's along the coast and in the middle of town instead of out in the desert, and i just thought all the amenities were much nicer. It was designed by the same person who did the Venetian in Las Vegas, so there are lots of canals and little villas around that you have to use abras to navigate. They also use the wind tower quite liberally as a decorative piece of architecture here. If i were to come back to Dubai as a tourist, i would stay here. The catch is that it's quite expensive. The busy season, which is right now, will run you about 4500 dirhams a night (about $1250). But i think if i had the money, i would do it. It's cheaper during the slow season, but i can't imagine it's much cheaper. Maybe half. The Al Qasar is part of the Madinot Jumeriah, one of 3 resorts in a small area. There is a souk in the middle of the resorts, and this is the best view of the Burj Al Arab i've been able to get. The tour of Al Qasar was really nice, but i was pretty disappointed that it was the only hotel we were able to tour. I was under the impression that we would be seeing inside the Burj Al Arab as well as Jumeirah Beach Resort, but that wasn't the case. The good side of that though is that this is all we had to do today, so we were done by about noon and had the rest of the day to ourselves.

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From the Al Qasar, Mariella, Marisol, Leonard, Danielle, Tatiana, Josie, Jill, David and i all got cabs and headed back to Maria Bonita (the really good Mexican restaurant i couldn't remember the name of that we went to on the first night). We had lunch there, and again, it was really delicious. Tatiana can be nice at times, but sometimes i don't really care to be around her. She and Danielle got into an argument about splitting the check that turned out to be a huge ordeal over nothing. It was really uncomfortable for everyone around. I talked to Danielle about it later and she agreed it was dumb, but that she was right and Tatiana was wrong (i would have to agree with Danielle). But once that little episode was settled, i think everyone was able to enjoy their lunch. When we were done, we went to get cabs to get back to the Academy, and since we had 9 people we had to get at least one big cab since you can't put more than 4 in a regular cab. So we go to pull over a regular cab, and second one pulls in behind it. Leonard tells him they have 5 and need a big cab, and the cabbie gets pissed and tries to charge Leonard 10 dirhams just for pulling over. So Leonard gets pissed back and starts arguing and swearing at the guy, but eventually pays him and the cabbie drives off. It was ridiculous. The cab didn't take them anywhere. Why would he think he could charge them 10 dirhams? Granted, it's not that much money in the grand scheme of things (about $3.60), but still, i would have told him to shove it and not paid him. Leonard told us to just go and they would get home later once they found a big cab, so Danielle, Marisol, Jill and i all head back to the Academy.

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Once we get back, i laid down and crashed hard. I was just looking for a nap, but i was out for a good 5 hours. When i get up, it's about 6:30 at night. No one is around and i just mess around on my computer for a while until i hear people come home. Danielle tells me that she and Marisol, Mariella, and Leonard went to a place called Nisimi Beach out by Atlantis and that it was awesome. They celebrated her birthday out there (which is today) and just hung out on a awesome resort beach. They tried to knock on my door and call my room before they left, but i was seriously dead to the world cuz i didn't hear any of that. Apparently they had a good enough time without me though, so good for them. When they get back, Danielle gets a hold of Khalid. He and Shaheem take us all down to a shop where they buy dokha. Dokha is a tobacco that is smoked out of a pipe. They say it's just straight tobacco mixed with some local herbs and claim it's way better for you than cigarettes because there are no chemicals in it. Khalid says dokha is a big part of culture here and practically anyone you can see smoking cigarettes (which is everyone) also smokes dokha. Leonard and Marisol buy a pipe and some dokha for themselves, and Danielle gets a pipe and some dokha for her boyfriend. After the dokha shop, they take us to a place called the Belgium Cafe for dinner. It's a little place with three stories, the top being on the roof. It's a fun place, but i am a little cautious about the food. They mostly just do mussels. I get an onion soup with a side of fries and am as happy as can be. People are having a few drinks to celebrate Danielle's birthday, and then Khalid takes us back to the Academy.

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At this point it's pretty late. Most of the people want to go to bed, but i have been asleep all afternoon so i am wide awake. So Khalid invites me to go to a crappy little sports bar with him to watch a soccer game. He is a big soccer fan, and his favorite team (Arsenal) is playing tonight. I say sure and Marisol decides to come along, so the three of us go to this crappy little sports bar that Khalid takes us to. It's a tiny place with no windows or natural light and filled with smoke. Khalid comes here all the time because it's an Arsenal fan sports bar. Arsenal is a British team and they air the games live, but since England is 4 hours behind Dubai, all the games air really late at night. I know nothing about soccer, but it was fun watching it with Khalid and having him explain the game. The bar is filled with British people. The team Arsenal is playing is Ipswitch, another British team, so all around are people cheering for both teams. All i know is cheer for the yellow team. Marisol is having a good time too. She tells Khalid he's a "daddy" and said she hated him at first cuz everyone was hogging him and she didn't get to talk to him. Marisol is really funny. She's turned out to be a really cool girl and a lot of fun to hang out with.

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The game ends late at night and we head back to the Academy and just chill and talk outside for a while before deciding we should go to bed. We have a really early morning tomorrow. We are supposed to meet at 7:30 to go to Sharjah all day. Khalid tells us Sharjah is super lame and we should skip it, but unfortunately i don't think our professors would approve of that. This Sharjah trip is a last minute thing. One of the students we met at Zayed University is from Sharjah and apparently lined it all up for us, and our professors jumped on the opportunity since they never heard back from the US embassy about visiting them tomorrow. The people from Sharjah have our whole day planned out. Khalid says we will be bored the whole time. By the time we are done talking and decide to go to bed, it's about 4:00 AM.