Rain in the Desert?!
Hello,
Thanks for checking out my blog, reported live to you from the United Arab Emirates. To give you all a quick update of our travels, we arrived in Dubai Friday at 1am. I was expecting big things from all the media pictures, national geographic articles, etc, I have seen of Dubai, however the real thing was far from glossy pages. The lights from the sky scrappers were impressive. The roads were a maze. The ocean was not visible due to all the construction. In fact, I have learned that 20% of the world's cranes are currently in use at Dubai's construction sites, which are many! Another visit is in the works.
We were picked up by our clinical instructor and driven to Al Ain, about an hour, where we will be working at Tawam hospital. We are lucky to be given small apartments on the hospital grounds in the "female compound". Since arriving we have been adjusting to the prayer calls, obvious cultural differences, the weather, and for me the malls.
The first night, I made a novice move by keeping my windows open. It was very pleasant outside, warm and breezy. Well, in fact a significant dust storm raged that evening and through the night. In the morning I laughed when I came out of my room and every surface area was covered in a thick layer of dust. The storm lasted the next day filling every crevice with sand and drying our eyes out completely. Weather is a funny thing. The dust storm ended and rain came. Sheets of rain have been pouring down ever since. The roads are flooded as the they are bordered with cement curbs that do not have any rain drainage systems. The lightning lite the dessert sky revealing more of the landscape, mountains in the distance, I hadn't yet seen due to the dust. Rumor has it around the hospital that we brought the rain. I anticipate somewhere along our way we will experience some hot, dry, clear skies, although I may be wrong.
The plethora of malls are another interesting point that I have observed, but I will save that story for later as the computer must be released to another.
Thanks for tuning in and hope to be in touch again soon.
All the best,
Emily