We had back to the dorms in the heat (which is becomin more bearable) and called a taxi. Surprisingly, our taxi showed up in about ten minutes, and we were on our way to the Mall of the Emirates, home of Ski Dubai. When we arrived, we took time to watch the skiers at Ski Dubai but decided to hold off on skiing for another day. First thing we needed was cell phones as life without a phone is very difficult. I got a cheap cell phone which is surprisingly good quality for the price but was only able to get a 3-month SIM card since I did not have my passport to show them. After that, we headed to the food court for lunch where I apparently bought some sort of Mexican spicy pasta. Needless to say, it was inedible to me, so I ended up buying a small pizza from Papa Johns and ice cream from Dairy Queen.
After lunch, we wandered around the Mall for awhile. We were there for almost four hours and could not even finish the first floor. Once we got tired of shopping, we once again went into Carre-Four (this one was attached to the mall we were in). Seems there is a lot to be bought in order for one to live comfortably. Even though I bough several items including a small carpet, lamp, hair dryer, notebooks, and food, I spent very little US Dollars.
We were able to get a taxi within five minutes of leaving, and the day seemed to be going very well. Unfortunately, we sooned discovered our cell phones would not work since the mobile phone people failed to inform us that we needed to buy minutes in addition to the phone and the SIM card. That was disappointment number one. Then, when we got back, I went to plug in my new and much needed lamp only to discover the lamp used a Middle Eastern outlet while Sharjah uses a European outlet. Then, I went to use my new hair dryer, same outlet problem. Rather upset that none of my new purchases would work without the addition of more money for minutes and converters, I gave up on fixing things and watched some Milo and Otis.
I met up with Kendal later to go get dinner. It was then that we discovered all the food places on campus were closed, somehow perfectly ending this day. But things got better as I could pasta again, and it is slowly becoming more edible for me. Kendal came over to my room, and we began laying out all the activities we want to do (desert safaris, snorkeling, touring mosques/museums, skiing). That put us both in a better mood as we looked into prices and found out that a lot of these activities are very affordable. We also moved the furniture around in my room (pictures below) to a much more functional set up.
So that is how things have be going so far. Orientation is tomorrow, and then we have the rest of the week relatively free. All is well.
-Lindsay
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