Since I have been so involved in school work, not too much has happened. However, this past weekend was rather exciting. On Saturday, several of us went to the Sharjah Aquarium. It is in a very beautiful location, and the aquarium itself was very nice. There was a walk through tunnel that had fish swimming on all sides and above. The selection of fish they had was not that diverse, but there were also several large stingrays. After the aquarium we had to walk about half a mile to get to a main road where we could flag down a taxi.
We took the taxi first to Sharjah City Center (mall) and then to Sahara Center (another mall) looking for a Fudruckers. We finally found one at Sahara and had a surprisingly good meal there. Malls here double as entertainment areas as well as shopping areas. This particular one had a carnival-like attraction area. We decided to check it out and ended up riding a roller coaster and carousel in the mall. The roller coaster was amazingly startling considering it was not that big nor had any large drops. The carousel was pretty boring, but I got to ride a Timmy-look-alike horse which made up for the lack of excitement.
After that, we decided it was time to leave the mall, so we took a taxi to al-Mamzar beach. We got there somewhat late (around 3:00) and the sun was all ready very low in the sky. Normally, when we go to Mamzar, we always go to the same beach which is usually dirty and crowded. Last time it was so awful that we decided to explore other beaches and see if we could find a better one. The one we ended up at looked out over the "creek" (waterway from the Gulf to a harbor). The view was very nice as we could see all of downtown Sharjah and the water was clearer, cleaner, and colder on this beach. It wasn't crowded and had a lot of shade. Except for the massive amounts of sea grass growing on the ocean floor, this new beach was considerably better than the other one.
Anyway, we stayed there until sun-down when we decided it was time to head back to campus and start the homework for Sunday. We walked out to the park entrance where there are usually cabs dropping people off. When people get dropped off, those waiting then enter the taxi and leave. Unfortunately, no one was coming to Mamzar at night on a Saturday (like a Sunday night in the US), so no taxis were coming. Mamzar is very out of the way so that no taxi would just happen by. We then came up with the bright idea of walking to the main road or at least away from Mamzar and flagging down whatever taxi we could find.
Two hours and four miles later, we realized just how far Mamzar really is from the city and how not logical it was for us to walkaway from the taxi pick up stand. The only taxis that passed us were full with people going to the beach; they weren't going to pick us up where we were. Finally, we saw a main road within reach. No sidewalk would lead us to it, so we crossed a patch of desert to get there. Turns out this main road was the Sharjah-Dubai Highway (Emirates Road) which is an 8-lane, constantly congested highway. Since traffic was barely moving on one side, we tried to flag down a few taxis; unfortunately, we were on the side of the road headed to Dubai and no taxi driver was willing to turn around. Exasperated, we figured we needed to get on the other side of the road to get a cab headed towards Sharjah, so we chose to cross Emirates Road.
Crossing the first half wasn't bad as it was bumper to bumper traffic. When the cars saw we were trying to cross, everyone stopped and gave as a nice path to walk across. The median is a raised strip filled with sand that we had to crawl up. The other side of the highway, the one headed towards Sharjah, was unfortunately not filled with traffic. Quite opposite, it was very filled with cars traveling 60+ mph and long breaks in cars were infrequent. At this point, we were either too smart or too scared to attempt to cross this highway, so we walked down the median strip for awhile; finally we came to an exit in the middle of the highway, so an extra lane appeared. Here, we got off the median and knew we had no other choice but to cross. Jeremy, Daniel, and I were the first to make it across as we dashed for our lives across this major highway. Kendal was next, and finally Kevin made it across. While this wasn't the best idea, we really had exhausted all other possibilities, and we all made it across in one piece.
Now on the correct side of the road, we tried to flag down a taxi again, but no one would pull over. Finally, we had enough and walked to Sahara Center which at this point was only a few blocks from where we were. Earlier that day, we had taken a cab from Sahara to Mamzar. Now, we had just walked the same distance. As if the day hadn't been enough, when we got to the mall (after crossing through construction sites and dump areas) we found one last obstacle in our path. We had to cross another, though smaller, highway and this one had a spiked fence in the median. While this fence was clearly designed to deter people from crossing the road, we didn't care. We were getting to Sahara and getting a cab. Jeremy and I walked left along to road to see if there was a break in the fence while Kevin, Daniel, and Kendal walked right. Five minutes later, Kevin calls me to tell me they are in a cab and the cab refused to turn around and pick us up.
Jeremy and I were pretty upset at this latest development, especially knowing our friends were on their way home and we were still walking. We eventually found a break in the fence, crossed the road, and tried yet again to get a cab. Once again, no one would pull over for us, and we gave up. We went into the mall and went grocery shopping were I got some really good bread and grapes that became my dinner. Afterwards, we stood in the taxi-pick-up line outside the mall and within a half hour, had a cab home.
We left Mamzar at 5:00 PM, and I got into my dorm at 8:30 PM. It was a very long and trying day but was rather exciting as well.
The rest of my week has been pretty good. I went back to the Sharjah Equestrian Center to speak with a trainer since no one answers the phone. I am going this Friday morning to ride (if they can find me a horse). I also went to GITEX two days ago, which is a huge electronics expo. I went with Bader who met up with some of his friends from Abu Dhabi; upon seeing me, his friends quickly left, and Bader said he thinks they didn't expect me to be here. Though I meet a lot of normal guys here, there seems to be a fair amount who either don't think it is right to hang out with girls or don't know how to act around girls, so they just leave. There is a strange mixture of guys here, but I'm getting used to the odd behavior. GITEX was pretty cool, and Bader and I played a bunch of free video games. It was somewhat like a car show for electronics with the atmosphere of an auction.
Anyways, I have class in a bit and need to go make some lunch. I will try to keep this blog updated more.
-Lindsay
Fish in a Blue Tank:
Big Fish:
Sharjah Cityscape:
The Look on My Face Describes my Feelings Towards our Predicament:
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