growth in Dubai

I am totally blown away by the constant construction and obvious incredible growth in Dubai. There are just miles and miles of construction. They are building the tallest building in the world. One-fourth of all of the construction cranes in the world are right here in Dubai. The traffic is beyond terrible and it is clear that there are serious infrastructure needs.

This is from the Wikipedia article about Dubai.

The BBC World News reports that "Dubai's economy grew by almost 17%, four times faster than that of the United States and twice as fast as China's."

How about these hotel rooms from thisarticle: "At the present time, the centre of the construction boom is undoubtedly Dubai. In the hotel sector alone there are plans to build 150 more hotels over the next five to seven years, expanding the number of hotel rooms from 20,000 in 1990 to 55,000."

Here are a few of the absurd projects being built or planned: Great Structures of the Emirates.

Zayed University

Today we are at Zayed University, which is the public university that is federally-funded. What an incredible facility! I can't believe how nice the buildings are. The mission of the university is "to prepare Emirati students for a meaningful and successful twenty-first century personal and professional life; to graduate students who will help shape the future of the UAE; to support the economic and social advancement of the UAE; to lead innovation in higher education in the UAE through teaching, learning, research, and outreach; and to do so in a culturally diverse, humane, technologically advanced, and increasingly global environment."

On the drive over here we saw a number of camels being ridden across the desert, which makes me happy because everything they sell for souvenirs has a camel on it and I thought "watch me never even see ONE camel!" but apparently we are going to actually get an opportunity to ride one. Yes indeed.

I facilitated a discussion between the registrar and admissions staff from various universities in the UAE. They are talking about the same issues!! They said "students never read anything we send them" which, of course, is just true. What else can I say?

I have been eating a lot of traditional Arabic food and it's been quite good. The hummus here is actually very tasty and tabbouleh is always served as well, it seems. I discovered a new dessert, it's Egyptian, called Um Ali which means "mother of Ali". One of the staff members from AUS says his name is Ali and his mom makes it for him all the time.

American University in Sharjah

Today we went to a different emirate to visit AUS, which is in a more conservative area of the country. There are several universities in University City here, and it was really a gorgeous campus. Their athletic programs are pretty competitive and they are the Leopards--which is rather unusual for programs in the UAE. AUS is accredited by the Middle States (like SACS, but because it is currently affiliated with American University in DC, it's accredited there).

I brought my travel book with me to the business center so I could show you a few places we've been already: The Emirates Towers, the Souk Madinat Jumeirah, and I've seen the Burj Al Arab, which is the "only 7 star hotel on the planet even though the official scale only goes to 5 stars." Now, that's great!!

other random comments

so I know you want to know about the TV. The two basic languages here are Arabic and English. There are a lot of TV shows in English, I've seen 3-4 episodes of Scrubs already and they are subtitled in Arabic. I just watched much of the Oscars live because I woke up at 4:30 am. Today we are going to another Emirate, which is supposed to be more conservative of an area to visit the University of UAE.

American University in Dubai

We visited AUD yesterday and it was really interesting. They have 2700 students and they have five majors: business administration (57.3%), information technology (12.1%), visual communication (11.7%), interior design (7%), and engineering (5%). 6.9% of the students are undecided majors. it is a private, non-sectarian, for profit, teaching focused institution of higher education based on an American model of higher education. 55% of the students speak Arabic, but it seems that everyone speaks English there.

Their president told us about the five pillars of AUD:

1. high standards: for entrance, graduation (which is unusual). The idea that students will be asked to leave for poor performance is incredible in this region of the world (and because it's a for-profit school).

2. focus on teaching: about 20% of the faculty time is spent on scholarship and research. They tend to teach 4 courses a term rather than the typical 3. There is a high value placed by faculty on the development of imagination and creativity, which is new to these students.

3. skill centeredness: AUD wants its students to be familiar with the theory and tools/techniques used by practicing professionals.

4. personal growth: lots of extra-curricular activities, athletics, etc. Cultural tolerance is a hallmark of an AUD education. Students are taught to respect themselves but to respect equally those who are different than themselves.

5. personal attention: students are treated as individuals, AUD seeks to fulfill individual needs of its students. They even have due process for procedures with students, which is also unusual for the gulf region.

Great first day in Dubai!

So after much more travels, I have spent my first day in Dubai and it was outstanding. Already the entire drama was worth it. I'm having to use the internet cafe in the business center in the hotel because the plug adapter thing for the computer doesn't work for me...so my battery is totally drained on the laptop and I'll just pay 6 dirhams for 5 minutes at a time (good thing I got some from the ATM machine!)
The second flight, by the way, was on a brand new Air France 777 with a screen to choose my own movies at my own pace. The TV shows that they had were the Brady Bunch and the Love Boat. Jan was voted most popular girl in the school! Anyway, I watched The Queen and Little Miss Sunshine and I have to say that they were both great. I would actually like to see the Queen one more time.
The entire arrival at the Dubai airport was a bit nuts but yet ok, they have these paid ambassadors to whisk you through passports and we cut the whole line and my luggage was there and hooray. I had to wait for a while after that to get my hotel shuttle but that's fine. It was muggy and there was two separate places for men and women to wait. Lots of people in a range of clothing, including head-to-toe black cover and regular Western clothing. The hotel is nice.
Today we went to American University of Dubai, which is SACS-accredited. I took a bunch of notes and it was truly fascinating. The students are from 81 nationalities and the largest group is Iranian, with a lot of Palestinians, Indians, and UAE nationals. We met with several staff members, ate in the cafeteria in a catered meal there, and toured the residence halls (the women had to go in the women's one and the men had to go in the men's one). They are quite strict about that. We met with the university president for about an hour and really talked about the structure and governance of the university and its goals. We also talked about the Spellings report and how globalization needs to be a bigger focus of American universities and students. I am in the midst of writing a recommendation letter for a student to be a Clinton Scholar here next fall and it was really neat to visit this campus where she would be. I have lots more to share about the campus visit but as the time and dirhams are ticking...well...perhaps later.
I have taken a lot of cool photos of food, of course, and have eaten some traditional foods from this part of the world and tonight for dinner they took us to this restaurant called The Noodle House. It was quite good and I had crispy duck wontons and prawn dumplings in wonton soup and banana beignets there.
The women who do the student activities and academic advising sat at my end of the table and we had quite a good time. I'll see them on Tuesday at the first NASPA-UAE conference we are all attending/presenting. I saw the famous hotel building which looks like a sail (I'll have to look up the name of it) and took some cool photos today so far. I'll have to wait until I get home to share them. Tomorrow we are off to another town and another university. I might get more creative to come back and tell you more but I am pretty tired, but I am proud to say that I made it through the entire day without getting sleepy.

Charles de Gaulle airport

I don't have much battery left so I am going to try to write something up quickly. I didn't get much sleep on the plane but I did see three movies in a row--A Good Year with Russell Crowe (I never even heard of it), Marie Antoinette (and I liked it, it's a Sofia Coppola movie and I like her stuff and silly costumes and such), and Man of the Year which was kind of stupid. I am now trying to stay awake as it is 11:45 am here but it's really like I stayed up all night. I am drinking a Coca-Cola Light that you can get everywhere but the U.S. and there are a ton of duty-free shops in this terminal. Hermes, Burberry, a fancy food store with cheese and fois gras and truffles and smoked salmon and stuff I want but don't want to drag to Dubai to create an international incident, and more. I read the International Tribune today and still the U.S. looks stupid. Britney's shaved head is on both of the international daily tabloids. That's my report, I should be getting to Dubai as planned. I hope to sleep on the flight!

on my way to Dubai...but an extra 24 hours in ATL

So this is what happened. I go nice and early to the Gainesville Airport, everything's on time, etc. We're about to board. Well, they make an announcement that there is a problem with the airplane and they've called the mechanics, we should be delayed an hour. OK. They shuffle some passengers off to other flights, but say "but those of you headed to Paris will be fine, your flight is at 9 pm." They get us on the plane but we don't leave until 7 pm, and then because of the problem with the landing gear, we fly the entire way in the prop plane with the landing gear down so it takes 2 solid hours to get to ATL. I call from the runway to see if my Paris flight has left...and it has. So I go and wait in the line and they rebook me to arrive in Dubai on the same flight the very next day, so I will miss 24 hours in Dubai. My luggage remains checked so I only have what I brought with me, which is not very much.

They give me a hotel voucher and some meal vouchers. I am quick enough to go ahead and pay for some wireless internet in the airport so I can get online and email everyone else on the trip and the hotel to tell them I've been delayed. I haven't checked my email yet to see if anyone knows...but by now someone must now. Dubai is 10 hours ahead of EST so phone calling is weird.

I go outside to wait for the courtesy shuttle to the free hotel, it's a Country Inn and Suites. I meet up with the couple who was delayed also from Gainesville/Paris, and we stand outside in the 45 degree weather for about 45 minutes waiting for the shuttle that they claim is on its way in 5 or 10 minutes. I have no jacket with me and it was just cold. Then the shuttle ride is hellish--we drop off at 3 other hotels, it takes another 20 minutes just to get us to the hotel. They have no typical courtesy toiletries like toothpaste, despite the fact that everyone arriving has no luggage. I get into my hotel room at midnight exactly. I am still frozen so I think "I'll take a hot shower." The handle to the shower falls off in my hand, so I have to hold it manually just to make it work. I decide to wait. I fall asleep pretty quickly with the Law and Order SVU rerun on TV with Henry Winkler. But....I failed to check to see if the clock was set. It was, for 6 am. I don't have to be back to the airport until mid-afternoon. I was able to fall back asleep to discussions of Britney's future and Anna Nicole's body about 8:30 am.

I am back in the Atlanta airport, they wouldn't give me a boarding pass to Dubai, I have to get it in Paris. I have about a 6 hour layover in Paris. Hopefully that will be fine and maybe something fun to do.

I had planned to buy a few books to read in the Atlanta airport during my planned 2 1/2 hour layover yesterday. On the flight from Gainesville, I read the only book I had with me, it's for the book club: Martha Cooley's The Archivist. Then I am reading my usual stash of stupid magazines and the Entertainment Weekly has an interview with Christina Ricci and she recommends 5 things: one is that book. So...may the rest of the trip work out better.