When in the Emirates...Do as the Emiratis Do

Happy Halloween Week!

With the weather still lingering in the 90s and no pumpkins or colored leaves in sight, this week did not feel like Halloween at all. I honestly would have forgotten about it all together if it weren't my brother's birthday too (Happy Birthday, Nick!). Thursday rolled around and we were all going to spend the entire night in the desert. We had decided to dress up and make it a little more Halloween like but right before we were going to meet up to leave everyone decided to not dress up. Little did they know my friend and I had a surprise in store for them. After dinner we all drove in separate cars to the gas station that we were going to meet up at to drive to the desert. While driving there my friend Joya and I changed into our costumes. Since she is Lebanese and I am American we decided to take this opportunity to do as the Emiratis do so we dressed like khaleejis. When we drove up next to our friends they did not even recognize us at first. Joya was wearing a kandora which is traditionally worn by Emirati men and I wore an abaya and sheila like Emirati women traditionally wear. Of course my outfit had to come with a pound of makeup since the khaleeji women wear a ton of black eye liner and blush. It was really fun to not only experience what it would be like to dress as an Emirati but also trick our friends...their reactions were priceless. The rest of the night was spent at this amazing spot in the desert. We started things off with a Khaleeji photo shoot...

Sumaya pretended to be our child...aren't we just a precious Emirati family?

AUS Vollyeball team in the desert for Halloween :)

No outing is complete without a funny picture

We were trying to look stoically into the distance but Joya fell down the dune

Titanic in the desert?

The photo shoot continued even after we took off the Emirati clothes. I am so blessed by the friends I have here, they are ridiculous in all the best ways and so loving. I know someday I am going to be super grateful for all of these crazy pictures with them.

Prom picture anyone?

I love these girls so much

 

No night in the desert is complete without s'mores of course so we spent some quality time around the fire roasting marshmallows.

 Instead of charades this week we had a dance party. Unlike in the states where generally the girls are all in the middle and the boys are circled around awkwardly watching, here the boys are all about being the center of attention and the girls generally dance on the side or just laugh at the boys. It makes sense considering a lot of dance moves a girl would use could be considered inappropriate here. Either way, it was still incredibly fun (and a crazy good work out since maintaining your balance in super soft sand is rather difficult) and we didn't have to face the embarrassment of losing at charades again.

Some khaleeji music and moves for you

No dance party is complete without a group picture

 Considering it was the men's and women's volleyball teams together in the desert of course volleyball was played. The dunes that we were on made it really hard to keep the ball from rolling far away but it made for a great picture!

 The rest of the night was spent with us all talking and telling stories around the fire.  At one point the boys asked me tons of questions about university in the US and what my day to day life was like. Everything from Greek life to dorms to relationships to the dining halls...they wanted to know it all. My friend got this great picture to capture how ridiculous it was.

As the night turned to morning it actually got surprisingly cold and we were all as close to the fire as we could be for heat. At about 5:20am we heard the morning call to prayer and decided to head back to the dorms. When we were cleaning up I realized I had left my shoes in my friend's car and she left early so I ended the night in a rather grim state. We clearly missed our 1am curfew in the dorms so not only was it 6am when I walked into the dorms but I was wrapped in a blanket without shoes. The supervisor was thoroughly confused to say the least.

Probably the most grim picture of me that exists. 5:30am on a deserted road in the desert without shoes.

Halloween was an amazing night and another one of those memories I will hold onto forever. I laughed so hard I cried more than once that night and also during our super long talks around the fire I really got to know people on a deeper level which was really nice.

Apart from Halloween, I had an amazing week! Lots of great things happened so here is a quick summary....

Wednesday I helped plan and host a screening of Girl Rising. I was able to watch the film back in the spring at Dartmouth and was super excited to have the opportunity to raise awareness of girls' education here at AUS too. We had about 50 people (which is pretty good for an AUS event) and had a nice discussion at the end. The coolest part was there were some students (and faculty) who were really encouraged by the film and wanted to get involved! I have been in touch with a few of them and we are in the process of planning a larger event in which we hope to hold a screening of Girl rising for all of University City (AUS and the surrounding universities) and get the culture clubs at AUS to get involved too. I had no idea that this event would turn into anything more but I am so excited to be a part of this movement...especially since the education gap is in the UAE's backyard.

My team showed up to support me at the Girl Rising screening..they are the best!

This week I also bought my Christmas present... a plane ticket to Jordan to see my best friend Phoebe. She is doing her study abroad there and I am incredibly excited to get to see someone from home and to get to adventure with one of my closest friends here in the Middle East. I leave Thanksgiving day so just three weeks away!

Next week's post is most likely going to be all about volleyball since that has become my life. I was asked by my coach to play with a club team in Dubai in an international tournament this weekend. I have gone to a few practices and it has been so great. I am crazy excited to play with them and to get another unique experience. Plus it is great practice for our tournament in Rome....after all we leave in 9 days!

Until next week...HAPPY NOVEMBER! As most of you adjust to below freezing temperatures and snow I will continue to progress through fall in 90 degree days with perfect summer like nights...oh the joys of living in the desert :)