Rain, Rain Go Away (And Take Me Too!)

I was supposed to fly back to Pittsburgh leaving at 1:00 a.m. on February 28, but we went scuba diving the day before, and after our dive our instructor told us we should wait 24 hours before flying. We had almost 14 hours to go before our scheduled flight, and I was prepared to ignore the 24-hour advice as overly conservative, but our scuba instructor was adamant. So I had to endure the wrath of Neal, who had asked about this very point and been told by yours truly that there was no problem. I pointed out that he had taken the same e-learning course as me on scuba diving and therefore should not have relied solely on my off-hand response (which was supported in the course materials had we taken only one dive, but technically we took two dives, which I had not anticipated). So we decided to delay our departure to March 1, which was no problem for Neal as he was able to change his business class ticket. But I try to fly on a companion pass on a space available basis to save money, and it did not look good that night. In fact, no one flying space available (SA) got seats that night, so I said goodbye to Neal at the airport and went back to the apartment. It looked better for the next day so I headed out to the airport again (where there was a nice sign welcoming my husband, valued full fare customer, who of course, had already arrived home), and greeted many of the same people trying to fly space available from the night before. This time they took a few, but not me (it's based on seniority and all current and retired employees get priority over companions), so I repeated the drill heading home in a taxi once again in the middle of the night.

I have a new plan tonight. I bought a ticket to fly to Kuwait and will fly space available from Kuwait to Dulles, where there are lots of open seats and a good chance I will get business class. Just to prove that good things happen to people who wait, it turns out that coincidentally my twin sister Janet is in Kuwait at this very moment preparing to fly the plane I will soon be taking back to the good old USA. So I will be assured of one friendly face in the friendly skies of United!

Since we finished our scuba dive in the sandstorm, it has been raining off and on in Dubai. The worst rains are at night with lots of thunder and lightning. The rain was so bad the first night we went to the airport that a lot of roads flooded and it took us 2 hours to make the 30 minute trip. But this was nothing compared to the 6+ hours that people spent stranded in traffic in the neighboring emirate of Sharjah where the roads are much narrower with no drainage. Three people were electrocuted due to fallen wires and one person was hit by a truck and killed. Six other people died in Dubai in a 13-hour span when an SUV hit a truck that had run out of gas and been left on the road with no flashers, and another truck overturned as the driver was trying to avoid a hazard in the road. I myself saw many road hazards coming home last night from the airport, as signs and temporary barriers had blown into the road. You definitely don't want to be on the roads here in the middle of a storm, and the aftermath can be deadly, too, if you're not extremely careful!

Add to the rain-related woes the recent news that the observation deck on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa remains closed due to mechanical issues; the massive new aquarium at the Dubai Mall sprang a leak; one person was killed and 13 others injured when a pavilion at the Global Village collapsed; fire broke out on the track of the Dubai Metro, disrupting service; and it seems that cracks are spreading everywhere you look across Dubai's glossy veneer. Maintenance personnel seem to be handling these crises as they arise, but will they be able to repair the damage so things look as good as new, and how long will residents and visitors put up with this? I'm hoping it stops raining soon (me who came here thinking that it never rained!) and that I can finally get out of here tonight!

February Finishes

This month has been my longest continuous time in Dubai, almost to the limit of my 30-day tourist visa. My residency visa has been delayed due to a mistake in bringing my original marriage license to Dubai. I have to go back to the USA and get it authenticated there before I can even start the process in Dubai for a residency visa. I hate leaving loose ends, but that's a big one. If I find myself here longer than 30 days, I will need to travel to a neighboring country (like Oman) and exit and reenter to get a new 30-day tourist visa.

Most of the other loose ends have been tied up. Did I mention my car accident? It shouldn't have happened, and it wasn't my fault, but it was an embarrassing and very not fun experience, not something I'm anxious to revisit, but the good news is that all the damage has been repaired and our practically brand new car looks brand new again! We bought our car at the largest dealerhip in Dubai, and I must say that the body shop and service centers are truly stunning in their size and pleasantness. The police were very cordial and efficient in issuing the accident report that is required before insurance will cover the repairs. I couldn't read it, because it was in Arabic, but I was just happy to get the green copy which means I was not at fault.

Neal and I went back to the Carpet Oasis on the next to the last day of the DSF (Dubai Shopping Festival) and got better acquainted with the Ghanbarinia family, which has been a leading dealer for five generations. We met both Amir and his father. Armed this time with a specific size and price limit, we felt more comfortable. And we got a very good price on two lovely carpets! There's a lot of trust involved as the prices vary tremendously. You do get a sense of why after seeing many carpets. They wouldn't even let us buy the first one we were considering for the large living room area, insisting that another was more alive and unusual! They were eager to make some sales, as the market is down. We hear that Persian carpets are now out of style, as the younger generation wants something cheaper that they can replace every few years to go with more modern decor, plus they face cheap competition from China etc. making good-looking fakes.

We decided against looking at the pricier silk ones, the ones with the finest detail that look like paintings and are signed by the "artist" (and are not suitable for the hard wear they would get in our house!). Maybe we will brave this market at some point now feeling more comfortable with the dealer. Sheikh Mohammed visited them for the first time in several years and bought several carpets!

Venus Williams had a relatively easy time beating Victoria Azarenka and defending her title in the women's final of the Dubai Tennis Championships, 6-3, 7-5. Novak Djokovic was also able to defend his title in the men's final against the Russian Mikhail Youzhny, but with great difficulty, as the match was suspended for rain last night and had to be resumed today, which may have helped Youzhny come back and win the second set after being down 5-7, 0-3. The final score was 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in favor of Djokovic but it could have gone either way.

The rain and thunder last night was a bit scary so we didn't venture out. Some schools were closed today due to rain, which caused flooding and power outages in various areas, including our garage and other buildings on the Palm. The drainage systems apparently aren't designed to handle sudden large downpours, with the overflow taking any available path (including on the security guard's head at one nearby building). Treacherous ponds build up on the roads and in the tunnels and are hard to see at night, with accidents bound to happen. One is well-advised to stay off the roads in a rainstorm here!

The big rainstorms seem to follow days of haze and sand, as we had three days of limited visibility with heavy winds and blowing sand before the rain came. (I wondered how the tennis players were able to manage with the sand in the air.) Neal and I were scheduled for another training dive for our scuba course yesterday, and we assumed it would be cancelled, but they assured us the conditions underwater were okay so we were able to get our dive done. We found that the dive masks come in handy even out of water to keep sand out of your eyes, but we must have looked ridiculous. One woman burst out laughing as I walked past her in my mask and wetsuit. Nobody looks good in scuba gear, so I didn't take it personally.

You Say Persian, I Say Arabian

There's a huge controversy (pronounced here with the accent on the second syllable) over the name of the body of water that I can see out of my apartment window. All the maps around here call it the Arabian Gulf. However, the United Nations and, of course, the country to the north formerly called Persia and now known as Iran consider "Persian Gulf" to be the only valid name. Some in the media, including the BBC, prefer to fudge and just call the waterway the "Gulf", which satisfies no one.

Iran seems to be trying to bring the issue to a head, calling off the Islamic Solidarity Games which were to be held in Iran in April because organizers could not agree on which term to use on the logo and medals. Iran most recently has threatened to impound airplanes that fail to use the term "Persian Gulf" on their in-flight monitors. (This idea was particularly interesting for me, as I have been wondering why United Airlines refers to the country of Iraq on their in-flight monitors as Mesopotamia. But perhaps it's only so the passengers don't get upset at the thought of flying over a war zone.)

If you search Arabian Gulf on Google, the first hit takes you to a website resembling a 404 error message, which tells you "The Gulf You Are Looking For Does Not Exist. Try Persian Gulf." It also states "If you typed Arabian Gulf, make sure you read some history books." This site is a so-called "Google bomb" created by Iranian bloggers several years ago as a protest when the National Geographic decided to use both names for the gulf in their World Atlas.

The media in Dubai has not been very vocal on this point but everyone here seems quietly to use Arabian. The Gulf News weighed in last year with a piece arguing for Arabian (since Persia hasn't existed since 1935) but also suggesting that the Gulf leaders be more vocal and pursue the matter with the UN, and that the two terms could be considered legally interchangeable.

Given the large presence of friendly Iranians in Dubai, I don't see Dubai taking the issue any further. It may be left to Iran to continue to stir up the controversy over "the gulf between us", which is also the name of a book about a gay sheikh which caused a media frenzy last year for supposedly being banned from Dubai's literary festival, which turned out not to be the case.

Suspects Mount in Dubai Murder

The January 19 killing of a military commander for the Palestinian Hamas group in a hotel room in Dubai has been front-page news for weeks here. The Dubai police originally identified 11 suspects carrying forged European passports, and recently added 15 more, to bring the total to 26, showing their photos (often smiling), names and passports on a full page spread looking like a school yearbook page. They used passports from the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, and Australia, with European-sounding names that could not be mistaken for Israeli.

The Dubai police have put together the logistics of the plot using surveillance video, credit card payments and phone records. Both men and women, some traveling as couples, are shown in surveillance videos from the airport and hotels using various disguises (such as wigs, hats and sunglasses and a tennis outfit) and are thought to have played various different roles in the plot. For example, the "tennis player's" job was to discover the victim's hotel room. The Dubai police have stated that they are virtually certain that Israel's secret service Mossad was behind the assassination with the logistical support of the suspects.

I hear more suspects may be named soon, which raises obvious questions. Why were so many operatives needed? Where did they come from? How is the Dubai police getting such detailed information about the suspects and their roles? What could the Dubai police put together about my comings and goings here in the last month? It raises concerns that Dubai's relatively open border for most tourists, like me, who get a 30-day tourist stamp visa upon entry, may not stay that way. (I have yet to get my residency visa due to the need to obtain official certification of my marriage license in the USA.)

The commentators here have been strangely silent. The news broke while the Israeli woman tennis player Shahar Peer was in town (she was denied a visa to come to Dubai last year) making her unlikely run to the semifinals against Venus Williams. The only sign of concern was that she played all her matches, even the semifinal, on a more confined side court with entry through a metal detector, the only court so protected.

Men Take Centre Court in Dubai

The crowds are increasing at the Dubai tennis stadium as the men's tennis gets underway. Men's day 1 was fun as I got to see Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) beat Gilles Simon (France), Max Mirnyi (Belorus) and Mahesh Bhupathi (India) beat a local Arab team, Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez from Spain, and Scotsman Andy Murray beat a tough qualifier from Russia, Igor Kunitsyn. Except for the doubles match, these were all great battles. It does not look easy to win a match here!

What surprises me most about these early matches is that they seem so close. Even with a score of 6-3 or 6-2 the difference between winning and losing is small, just a couple of points either way. I was surprised that Djokovic and Murray had so much trouble with their much lower ranked opponents. Perhaps it was just because it was their opening match?

Andy Murray looked much more put together than before in his new Adidas outfit, whilc Novak Djokovic got my vote for best dressed, mostly due to his shoes, also Adidas, which looked like they had spats. What's next--a tuxedo tennis outfit?

I am very sorry to hear that Federer had to withdraw at the last minute due to a lung infection. Since he now lives and trains in Dubai, he is expected to make an appearance at some point. So I may be rubbing shoulders with him soon, as I did yesterday walking right past by Feliciano Lopez and Max Mirnyi as they came off the court. The kids who attended Kids' Day were in heaven with the incredible autograph opportunities. The rest of us were glad to see them go at the end of the afternoon, as they were hogging the good seats and spilling their drinks and getting up and down at odd times.

Mosque Madness

There are over 1,000 mosques in Dubai, practically everywhere you look. Which is why I got a bit annoyed when one new acquaintance gave me directions that said at one point, "turn at the new mosque." They all look the same to me! While I often hear the calls to prayer that ring out five times a day, until recently I had never been inside one, since non-Muslims are not usually permitted entry. I finally convinced my husband to accompany me on a tour of the Jumeira Mosque, which is open to tourists four mornings a week for a guided tour and talk on Islam, followed by a question and answer session. Conservative dress, meaning no shorts or sleeveless tops, a scarf or shawl for covering women's hair (which is provided) and removal of shoes before entering are the only requirements. Cameras and photos are encouraged.

Our guide was a woman with a strong Cockney accent--obviously not a UAE native--who sprinkled her talk with double negatives, but we got the gist. She demonstrated the washing and praying rituals and laid out the fundamental concepts of Islam, including the five pillars. I learned that PBUH stands for Peace Be Upon Him, which always accompanies mention of the name of the Prophet Mohammed. Men and women are always separated in the mosque, with a smaller room for women and children (like the cry room in our church at home, except not just for babies). One of the pillars of Islam is the five-times-daily prayer, but women are not expected to go to the mosque that often due to their household duties.

She used a poster-size photograph of Mecca to explain the Hajj, which is the pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five pillars. What most surprised me in the picture was the large strange cube in the middle. This cube, called the Kaaba, is where prayers are directed, and constitutes the most sacred site for Islam, although its origins are believed to predate Islam. A black stone in a silver frame on the eastern corner of the cube is thought to date back to the time of Adam and Eve, and the building is thought to have originally been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael on that very spot.

I have many questions about Islam but none that I would venture to ask in a public session, so I do not know if it is true that all non-Muslims are condemned to eternal damnation, or why non-Muslims are not permitted inside mosques (which reminds me of the Mormons, who have a similar rule about their temples). But I did learn why Emirati women wear black--purely a local custom, not required--and that the Lebanese food most of us mistake for local delicacies is not the real Arabic food of the region. We were all invited to a traditional breakfast featuring native Arabic dishes compliments of the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, which also organizes the mosque tours and offers Arabic language instruction.

Last Saturday, having nothing better to do, Neal and I ventured east to the neighboring emirate of Fujairah, which shares a border with Dubai on the west and the Gulf of Oman on the east. Our route took us through the Hajar Mountains, past the "Grand Canyon" of the UAE. The east coast has some nice beaches, especially good for snorkeling and scubadiving, without the residue from massive construction that makes the waters of the gulf outside Dubai so murky. We also happened to stumble upon the oldest mosque in the UAE, located right off the main road, Bidiyah Mosque. It's a very small, muddy looking structure that is believed to date back to the mid 15th century, and it is still used for prayer.

The Russians are Going, Going, Gone

All three Russian women were defeated in the women's quarter finals, to the dismay of the many Russian fans at the Dubai tennis stadium yesterday. The closest match was qualifier Kulikova's valiant effort to make her first semifinal ever (having just made her first quarterfinal ever), but she seemed to tire in the third set and lost to the more accomplished and even player, Radwanska. The Chinese hopeful Na Li had to withdraw in the second set due to injury after losing a close first set to Shahar Peer. Zvonoreva looked completely outmatched both in size and skill by the much more aggressive Azarenka. Finally, Venus looked as strong as ever in outplaying her 18-year-old challenger Pavlyuchenkova in two sets. Venus really stepped up her game at the end to put her away, with several serves over 200 KPH (the fastest I saw, I think this is over 125 MPH), obviously not wanting it to come down to a third set.

I spent 8 hours at the stadium and was wise to slather myself with suntan lotion as otherwise I would be burned to a crisp. I happened to sit next to a very nice woman from Scotland whose husband works for Burt Hill, the architectural firm from Pittsburgh. We were very simpatico having had many similar experiences in getting used to living in Dubai. She draws the line at scubadiving, though. I could probably learn a lot from her!

Today's semifinals pit Venus Williams (USA) against Shahar Peer (Israel), and Victoria Azarenka (Belorus) against Agnieska Radwanska (Poland). Peer has been the biggest surprise of the tournament, especially since her inability to get a visa to play in Dubai last year was front page news, but I have to give Venus a big edge there. Azarenka looks too strong and powerful for Radwanska, although they have split their last four meetings and look very even on paper.

The Williams/Peer match is being played today at 2 p.m. on a side court with room for only a few hundred spectators, a little strange since the center court was packed to see Venus play last night, but it should be interesting! Peer seems to like these courts, where she put away Na Li yesterday.

Prediction: Williams v. Azarenka in the finals tomorrow!