This weekend was fairly relazing and low-key. On Friday, the majority of my friends were still in Dubai; only Jeremy, Daniel, and I were still on campus. And by only, I mean we were pretty much the only people here. I don't know where everyone goes, but this campus becomes a ghost town on the weekends. I met up with Jeremy and Daniel to get lunch around noon, and no food places except Subway were open. Not that I blame them, there was no one here to buy the food. So we ended up getting subway and sitting around and talking for awhile. Finally, we couldn't take the empty campus anymore and decided we had to go somewhere.
I called a taxi who said he would be here in an hour, and we decided to go to Al-Hamzar Park which is just over the line from Sharjah in Dubai. It is a public park and beach, but since it is in Dubai, the swimwear is very liberal. An hour later and the cab still had not shown up. We were waiting in the mini-mart since Jeremy and Daniel got kicked out of the Women's Welcome Center for being men. This I don't understand because males are not allowed in the female section of campus and the women's welcome center is just outside the dorm section. I assumed this welcome center was the place for males to wait for girls, but I guess not. Anyway, we were waiting in the mini-mart and the taxi calls me to tell me he is on his way and has started the meter. I did my best to argue with him since no taxi has ever started a meter before I've gotten in, but the driver did not really speak English or Arabic so the argument was pointless. In disgust at our late and expensive taxi, I started calling all the other numbers I had but couldn't get anyone. Our taxi finally arrived but had no idea where we were and we couldn't describe it to him in any language he understood. So we ended up walking all the way to the main gate (its a long walk) and meeting him there.
Finally, we were on our way. We got to the park and the taxi turned out to not be that expensive. The park only cost AED 5. It was an ok park. Mainly only Indian men and boys were there. It was me and one or two other females and a whole lot of guys. We went for a swim and got out to a jetty. The beach we were at was very obviously constructed and the two jettys on either side meant to protect it from the drilling and construction in the water. Again, the water was very salty and very warm, but it was still nice to be on the beach. When we were done, I went to shower off in the women's changing area. The water was steaming hot and therefore to whole place was like a sauna. Trying to dry off in their and put clothes back on was a horrible experience. It is sad when it is refreshingly cool to go outside. I envied the guys who could live their changing area shirtless. I, meanwhile, was fully clothed and soaking wet.
We then went into this arcade that was right there to cool off in the A/C before grabbing a taxi and going to Irish Village. This is a resturant (not a village) in Dubai that is very, well, Irish. We got dinner there, which was decent, and then walked around in the cooler, though still hot, climate. Finally, we grabbed a cab back to campus were I met up with Kendal and her roomate, talked for awhile about what they did, and then went to bed.
Saturday was much less productive. I pretty much slept all day, did some homework, and worked out a little. By the time night came, I was ready to do something. A bunch of my friends were going to Irish Village to official celebrate Kendal's birthday, but I had just been there so I didn't go. Instead Jeremy, Daniel, Max, Kevin, and I played rummy 500. That took a few hours and then I went to bed since class was the next day.
Yesterday, classes were ok, though it was a long day. I got kicked out of my room at 9 AM because they were spraying pesticides in my dorm even though we have no pests. I wasn't allowed back until two, but I have class from 2-4, so basically I couldn't go back all day. After my first class, I got lunch with a bunch of people, then went to my next two. When that was over, I met up with Kendal and we went to a presentation on Ramadan, which actually started today. That was decently informative, though really aimed towards Muslims, not non-Muslims. Then we worked out, and I made dinner and watched a movie. I got a little homework done, then headed to bed for it had been a long day. Well, I have class soon, so I must be off.
-Lindsay
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