Chris in a Mall?

After two weeks in the United Arab Emirates, I feel quickly acculturated to this new place where (in sh’allah) I will spend the next two years. Although I didn’t think I was coming to the UAE with many expectations, as when traveling anywhere, I quickly found this was not the case. Here’s a couple of my expectations that I’ve found to be false:

I thought there would be money here but I had no idea how much there would be. There are NO old cars. The malls all feel like they have been built within the last five years at most. Although there are more moderate malls, each mall I go to seems like it is nicer than the last (a couple nights ago I went into an Armani store!). And it seems like malls are where people spend their time (and where I’ve been spending more time than I EVER would have expected). As with money here, unlike in the US where people strive towards the stability of a middle class lifestyle, it seems like here it’s a striving towards a positively upper class lifestyle. Julie and I feel like we’re the only people in the area who picked our cell phone’s by choosing the cheapest one. Also, flying in on Emirates Airlines was wonderful. Julie and I had our own seats in the back of the plane with our own screens with ICE (Information/Communication/Entertainment). The highlight was tons of movies, TV shows, and games. I watches The Office, The Simpsons, played Tetris, and started watching No Country for Old Men. It made the 15 hour flight go by in a flash. It will probablly be the nicest flight I am ever on.

It is hot. On the tarmac in Dubai at 7:00 PM I felt like I was literally hit in the face by the heat. The hottest I know it has been in the last few weeks is around 52 C. Luckily, it has started cooling down. Unfortunately, this has made walking to explore where I am living difficult. The couple of times Julie and I tried walking in the evenings we came back to our apartment dripping with sweat. Also, everything seems hotter because I spend most of my time in air-conditioned spaces (apartment, car, school, mall).

The traffic is worse than I ever could have imagined. There is virtually no public transportation and the country’s infrastructure is not ready for this many people with cars (and by building a two lane bridge now when you know you’re going to need a three lane bridge in five years ensures that there that there will be work in six years…).
As for some expectations that have proved true:

There is a real divide between social classes. Our apartment is about 1 kilometer from Emirates Rd. which is the main road between Sharjah and Dubai. We are living in what Julie has been calling an “industrial desert.” Our apartment is quite nice and is located next to the school. Surrounding us are other apartments that have all been built within the last few years (or are currently being built). What is ironic about all of these apartment buildings is who they are being built for: the laborers that are building Dubai and keeping it going in all of its prodigality. These are the types of apartment buildings that some of you may have read about where men (primarily from India and Pakistan) are squeezed into dorm style housing, working 14 hour days making virtually no money in binding contracts (and without any worker’s rights or political representation). When walking around where we are living, it is obvious that we are the definite minority (and Julie is pretty much the only female). As Julie said, she feels bad about not looking at people or saying hello when we are out walking but there is just no response.
The expectation at school (and elsewhere I’m sure) is that someone should be taking care of moving boxes, cabinets, etc. instead of me taking care of it for myself. So there is a clear division of labour, and it is along defined and seemingly definite ethnic and class lines. And this is just my relationship between this social group. I really have not had much experience with native Emiratis (except with several of my students).

The school is VERY unorganized. Wesgreen International School is broken up into four sections (Early Years at a separate campus around 15 minutes from campus where Julie is teaching), the Primary Section, Girls, and the Boy’s School. I’m teaching Grade Five in the Boys School (the youngest group at that campus and the first year the students are separated by gender). Communication between the main office and each campus is flaky and it seems like there is no real accountability--promises are made and rarely fulfilled. Also, construction of the new wing of the school was supposed to be complete by the start of school and they barely got one of the two new wings in order for the first day (minus whiteboards and lights). So this is one of the many places “The Monkey’s Paw” comes in handy. First of all, what is the monkey’s paw? There is an old episode of the Simpsons where Homer gets, Mojo, a helper monkey to make his life easier. Towards the end of the episode, Homer and Mojo are lying on the couch. Mojo is in his diaper, slouching like Homer with his belly hanging out. Homer says, “Get me a beer Mojo.” Mojo barely raises his hand and with a slight wave he says, “Meh.” So Tommy, my brother, turned the monkey’s paw into a helpful expression. The monkey’s paw is not a disengagement from life, a mere denial of the forces that seem beyond my power to change. It is a recognition of the insignificance of many of the details in my life; an affirmation of the transience of life and my inability to control circumstances that are ultimately out of my control. It is not a flight from action or responsibility. Basically, it is not complaining when you know that there is nothing you can do to change your immediate circumstances. Or, in the words of an African proverb: “Never tell a man that is carrying you that he smells.” Anyways, the monkey’s paw is a helpful posture to adopt in life in general and especially when you are not in a first world country.

Besides the school‘s chaos and politics, I really enjoy the staff. There is an atmosphere that we are all working for the “common good” of the school and passing this idea on to our students so they can live in morally upright lives. Unlike the US, however, there is still a clear sense of what the common good is so it can be used in a completely unapologetic/non-ironic/non-Republican way. If nothing else, this is a nice way to teach (especially fifth graders) since there is a very defined hierarchy and discipline can be harsher than it may be at a public school in the U.S. So I’m working on exercising my authority and being more and more firm with my students each day. Also, the teachers in the school really do try and help each other out and this has made the immediate transition into teaching even easier. Nevertheless, the 25 tem year old boys have still been a handful for the first four days of school.

The other interesting thing about the staff has been the number of South African teachers. Probably close to one third of the teachers are South African (including all but one other teacher among the Grade 5 and 6 teachers). I think I’ve heard more Afrikaans here than when I was in South Africa. They have been fun to work with though.

So that’s some of my general observations from the first few weeks. I’ll be writing more about my day-to-day life soon.