Dubaiiiii

Hi guys,

Just had our first of two three day weekends, the other being next week. As I'm sure everyone reading this knows, it was Easter Sunday yesterday and so CIEE gave us an extra weekend day, thus our highly anticipated weekend trip to Dubai which was planned months ago arrived (just in time to spare us the agony of schoolwork). And so 8 of us in all packed our swim trunks and sun screen for a weekend of luxury in the Emirate. Our first order of business was to stop at the Duty Free in the Amman airport and grab some drinks for the trip. After this we lined up to board a flight to Kuwait where we would have a 50 minute layover. Here we discovered the meaning of corrupt policing. The 8 of us had each purchased our favorite bottles of alcohol in order to ensure a cheap and fun time in Dubai (where one drink at a club can cost upwards to 10 US dollars). As we went through the baggage check PJ and I were pulled aside and told that our alcohol was going to be apprehended. The other 6 were never caught, we don't know why. I have my assumptions, the officer said it was because it wasn't properly sealed but both our bottles were unopened and in Duty Free bags. Either way it was no big deal but a good example of an unexpected problem while traveling in the region. I suspect it had something to do with Americans having alcohol, even if we were in transit the Kuwaiti police felt the need to exhibit some authority.
We arrived in Dubai and jumped in a taxi to go to our hotel. We stayed at the Country Club Hotel and were completely blown away from the size and cleanliness of the rooms. The 8 of us stayed in two hotel rooms but these rooms which are for 2 persons each could have easily held 8 thrifty students in just one. Each room had 3 showers, two bathrooms, a sauna, a queen size bed in a seperate room with a door that shut off the tv room (even though the bed room also had a flat screen tv) which had a huge pull-out couch. The first night we stayed in our room and celebrated our vacation. the next morning we woke up early for breakfast and 6 of the group went to the Mall of the Emirates to go skiing on an inside hill. Being from some of the best skiing on the East Coast (and poor) I opted to stay at the hotel and lounge out by the pool (where I changed the color of my legs from transparent white to lobster red). Around 2 we all met at he marina and hopped aboard our boat ride upon the Arab/Persian Gulf. For 4 hours we cruised around the gulf banana boating and swimming at times and eating hamburgers for lunch. that night we went back to the hotel and decided to lay low because we had to get up early the next morning.
The next day (Saturday) we got up early and head to Atlantis at the Palms to play in the Auquaventure park. All of us were super excited for this and were flooded with childhood nostalgia of Disney Land and water park fun. However, now that I am 20 I found that I was fully disillusioned to the allure of water parks. Most of the day was spent waiting in 30 minute lines for 30 second rides, or spending ridiculously amounts of money on food. Over-all I was a little disappointed with the rides and park. The beach was imported sand on a man made body of salt water. After the park we entered the Lost Chambers and walked around watching stingrays, manatees, sharks, and colorful fish. On the other side of one tank were windows into hotel rooms for the Atlantis which we learned cost upwards of $10,000 a night. The motif of ridiculous wealth I'll get into later...
Later in the day some of the group caught a bus to Abu Dabi to go to Ferrari World, which I also didn't do. Instead I returned to the hotel with Emmy and Becca and had a delicious dinner at a Persian restaurant in the hotel. That night the other guys got back late, we had aspirations of hitting up the Dubai night scene but after taking a pre-partying nap I found it impossible to wake up and celebrate. The next morning we got up early, checked out and went to the world's tallest building, the Khalifa Burj. All of us filled into a new-age looking elevator and shot up to the 124th floor. From this we looked out over all of Dubai and the surrounding desert. 
This was everything I did in Dubai and now I feel impelled to tell you how I felt about Dubai. Dubai is not the Middle East, it's not the West, it's not anything. The best way I could describe it is as artificial and fake. The desert sands are probably as M.E. as it gets. the streets are immaculately clean to the point that they are sterile and eerie. You rarely see people walking along the clean sidewalks and when driving between the two main clusters of sky-scrapers the shops were mainly spa's and dental/orthodontic stores. The architecture reflected a culture of compensation through the means of absurd oil wealth. The population is mostly comprised of foreign immigrant workers from India an d Pakistan so many times our taxi drivers knew less Arabic than us.  Everyone speaks English. It is a country that is so young and built on foreign investment and tourism that it could only survive by learning English.
I'm glad to have had the experience of going to Dubai to have seen what the Emirates are like. However, I wish I hadn't spent my remaining funds on such an expensive tourist destination. I think it helped me hone in on what I look for in traveling. One thing I really look for is interaction with locals and in Dubai I spoke with maybe 2 locals, one being a taxi driver and one the bartender on our boat. From these interactions I didn't leave with an appreciation for the place where I was. In Turkey, I felt over-whelmed with social and cultural interactions and loved every single one. I found myself even missing the heckling from street vendors while in Dubai. It was as if people have been taught to go about there business and only assist the tourists when asked. If I could go back in time I certainly would have spent my Dubai money on Lebanon or Israel, but such is life and I did get perspective out of this trip to Dubai.
On the flight home I met a famous Iraqi singer who had fled to Dubai from Iraq in 2002. He is the co-founder of a production company based in Paris, Dubai, and New York. He told me that his father was the man who bought the copy rights to Sesame Street and made the Arab Sesame Street (so he's from a lot of money). He was a very friendly guy and it was clear that he was a celebrity as he never once needed a passport to board the flight and he made the flight stewardesses giddy. Here's a music video on his website for reference: http://alimala.com/music-videos.html . He's staying in Amman to see his mom for 4 days and said he'd like to meet up if possible so inshallah I will see him again. If not he expressed a desire to work on a song together in New York, although who knows how serious a comment this was. Either way, it was fun to meet an Arab celebrity and get a peek into his lifestyle.

In more surprising news:

I recently discovered that I was broke and have decided that I am returning home for the summer to work with Jason and live at home. Although I am sad to not be leaving Amman sooner than expected I am looking forward to seeing family and friends and sharing my experiences. I have also come to realize that I miss a lot about America. A return to normalcy would be refreshing and this way I save up money for my next travels!

Love,

Wylie of Arabia