Ok, I'm going to take a little break from the Vblog Series for a quick review on essential vocabulary in the UAE. Clearly you have to learn at least a couple of words to get along when you go to a new place and show respect for local culture. So, here's our top 5 Arabic vocabulary items, along with a bonus item we used constantly:
1. Al salam alaykum = hello. Nice, all purpose, for some reason it wouldn't stick in my head. I always tried to say the next one, which just made me look clueless. I did manage to get it right when we did our final presentation to the client, but that's only because I copied 4 of my teammates who introduced themselves right before me and started with al salam alaykum.
2. Wa alaykum asalam = response to #1.
3. Halas = done, finished. Very important, it is used to indicate something is totally over. Like so:
"I'm telling you it's not a shawl! Halas!"
4. Inshallah = God willing. The great thing about this phrase is that you can add it to the end to basically add "good luck with that" or "when pigs fly." Observe:
"Oh, you want me to write the final paper? Of course, I'll get it done tomorrow, inshallah."
5. Yala = let's go or we're outta here. Very useful, especially when you combine it with halas, as in:
"Ohmygosh, I need a bucket of coffee. Anybody want something from Gloria Jean's?" (at this point, whoever's going takes about 6-8 orders: Americano for Karen and Paul, latte for Faiz & Imane and possibly Tahir or coffee with cold skim milk for Tahir, soy latte for Mel, tea with milk for Ritesh) "Ok, halas, yala."
6. Schlak = Ok, this one isn't Arabic but I'd be crazy not to add it to the list. It's actually a made-up word that someone Imane used to work with said. It kinda means the same as crap, which I probably should not be writing in a blog that may be viewed by children or the IBM police. Maybe they won't see it, inshallah. After Imane told us the story of this word, it kinda caught on. Its usage in a variety of grammatical contexts can be seen in the following exchange between me and Imane:
Imane: Ok, I'll be at breakfast at 7am and we'll leave at 7:30.
Me: Schlak. There's no way you're gonna be down by then. I'll give you until 8 to show up.
Imane: No, I will be. If I say it, I'll be there.
Me: Um, schlak!
Imane: What? I'm telling you I'll be there at 7.
Me: Yeah, ok, I hear ya. Care to bet? Loser buys lunch.
Imane (laughing, as we shake): Oooohhh yeah, I'm gonna schlak you tomorrow.
Me: Try I'm gonna schlak you, sistah.
As it turned out, I was the one schlaked since she showed up 10 minutes early. That's ok, she got up early, so the schlak was on her. I still got a yummy lunch. #ibmcsc uae
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
vblog series: meet karen
Karen and I met in the Atlanta International terminal before the flight to the UAE. We agree before we left to look for each other at the gate. I passed by the gate several times but couldn't find anyone who appeared to look like an IBMer ready to embark on a month abroad. When the plane started boarding, I finally saw a woman, hat in hand, scanning the crowd. From about 15 feet away, I hissed "psssst! Karen!" and she spun around, strolled over and enveloped me in a big hug. I knew right then we would be friends. She managed to sweet-talk some dude into switching seats with me so we could sit together for the grueling 15 hour flight over, which totally cracked me up.
It was lovely for me to have her there... it's difficult to explain how she just knew what I meant without having to say the words. Maybe it's because we've shared a common culture but it's also because she is so open, caring and supportive. The night before my Survivor Anniversary, she and I shared a quiet dinner where she was fully comfortable with my excessive emotion spilling all over our table. Without her, I would have had to be alone with the mess I was feeling, which is a good way to describe the general role she played for me during this month. We talked extensively about what we were learning about being Americans (much of which was not flattering), about all the other cultures and the role of the U.S. in the world.
When we arrived back in Atlanta after it was all over, we gave each other a hug and said our goodbyes. Then, after we got through customs, she stopped outside the doors and came back over to me, saying "I just have to give you another hug." It was a kick in the stomach to say goodbye to her.
I adore you, Karen... thanks for being my travel buddy and friend. #ibmcsc uae
It was lovely for me to have her there... it's difficult to explain how she just knew what I meant without having to say the words. Maybe it's because we've shared a common culture but it's also because she is so open, caring and supportive. The night before my Survivor Anniversary, she and I shared a quiet dinner where she was fully comfortable with my excessive emotion spilling all over our table. Without her, I would have had to be alone with the mess I was feeling, which is a good way to describe the general role she played for me during this month. We talked extensively about what we were learning about being Americans (much of which was not flattering), about all the other cultures and the role of the U.S. in the world.
When we arrived back in Atlanta after it was all over, we gave each other a hug and said our goodbyes. Then, after we got through customs, she stopped outside the doors and came back over to me, saying "I just have to give you another hug." It was a kick in the stomach to say goodbye to her.
I adore you, Karen... thanks for being my travel buddy and friend. #ibmcsc uae
vblog: meet asma
Asma was our beautiful Emirati interpreter. As you'll see in this video, she is gentle, engaging, earnest and simply delightful. Her smile lights up her whole face and makes you feel happy simply to be in her presence. She interpreted for both project teams and came out with us a couple times, much to the delight of the fine gentlemen in the team. ;-) Asma talked to me quite a bit about abayas and explained going to the tailor to have one custom designed. She has gorgeous taste - one of her abaya had peacock feathers on the sleeves with sparkly stones to highlight the pattern. The one she's wearing in this video has pink satin edging covered in black lace. Just beautiful, just like she is.
Asma also went beyond the call of duty when she interpreted - she expressed interest in our topics and had absolutely no difficulty engaging our client in conversations and reinforcing the importance of what we were doing. It was so lovely to meet her and hear about being an Emirati woman firsthand.
I think it's fair to say I speak for the whole team to send a huge THANK YOU to Asma for being part of UAE Team 2... we were the better for having you with us!
Al salam alaykum, Asma... #ibmcsc uae
Asma also went beyond the call of duty when she interpreted - she expressed interest in our topics and had absolutely no difficulty engaging our client in conversations and reinforcing the importance of what we were doing. It was so lovely to meet her and hear about being an Emirati woman firsthand.
I think it's fair to say I speak for the whole team to send a huge THANK YOU to Asma for being part of UAE Team 2... we were the better for having you with us!
Al salam alaykum, Asma... #ibmcsc uae
vblog: meet catherine
Catherine was our fun and jovial teammate from China. Catherine blew me away one of the first days we were in the UAE, as she started telling me the historical significance of some monument in a square in San Francisco that I'd never heard of. Me and Karen just looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders - what did we really know about China? Turned out it was a theme. Catherine was incredibly well-read as well and talked to Karen about Shakespeare and a variety of other English authors. Living in China has clearly not limited her knowledge.
Catherine was game for taking in as much of the UAE as she could possibly pack into our 4 weeks. Even when the rest of us were tired and starting to fade, she had the courage to take the bus by herself to Sharjah and go to the world's most expensive hotel, Burj al Arab in Dubai, simply because they were on her Must Do list. She swam about a million laps in the hotel pool daily and was always snapping hundreds of photos. By the end of week 2, I think she had something like 6 gigs of photos - our Dropbox (online photo sharing for the team) quivered in its boots when Catherine got online. When you see her in photos, she is invariably holding up 2 fingers in a victory sign or spreading her arms out wide, showing how much she lives her life for all it's worth. When I told her right toward the end that I was feeling really sad about our experience coming to an end, Catherine told me you can't be sad about the end but be happy about the next thing coming. Not a bad way to live...
Here's Catherine... #ibmcsc uae
Catherine was game for taking in as much of the UAE as she could possibly pack into our 4 weeks. Even when the rest of us were tired and starting to fade, she had the courage to take the bus by herself to Sharjah and go to the world's most expensive hotel, Burj al Arab in Dubai, simply because they were on her Must Do list. She swam about a million laps in the hotel pool daily and was always snapping hundreds of photos. By the end of week 2, I think she had something like 6 gigs of photos - our Dropbox (online photo sharing for the team) quivered in its boots when Catherine got online. When you see her in photos, she is invariably holding up 2 fingers in a victory sign or spreading her arms out wide, showing how much she lives her life for all it's worth. When I told her right toward the end that I was feeling really sad about our experience coming to an end, Catherine told me you can't be sad about the end but be happy about the next thing coming. Not a bad way to live...
Here's Catherine... #ibmcsc uae
the indian rule
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| L to R: Ritesh, Sheela & Faiz Aren't they adorable? |
Background explanation: UAE society is made up of a majority of ex-pats from other countries who come there to find work - most of the service, construction and making-society-go jobs are held by people from Asia, especially India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand. Every morning, the team would take 3 taxis from our hotel to Al Ain Municipality, the government offices where we worked. And, every morning, our drivers were Indian (mostly), with an occasional Bangladeshi thrown in for some variety. India has lots of languages - each state has its own language - and the common language that unites the country is English. Most of the Indian languages are not intelligible to the others. So, the average Indian person knows not only the language of their state, but English, and maybe Hindi and a couple others. It's really quite extraordinary and obviously prepared Sheela, Faiz and Ritesh to be truly global citizens.
Right at the beginning, the team decided to implement the Male Rule; namely, that there should always be a guy with the ladies. Very nice, I like that rule. The Male Rule quickly got trumped by The Indian Rule, which, in its most general sense, stated:
Never go anywhere without an Indian.
The Indian Rule had a special incarnation for our morning taxi ride: One Indian per cab. This was necessary because you could never be sure that all cabs would make it to the Municipality. Also, the driver sometimes spoke broken English, sometimes just about no English, so trying to explain where we were going (especially until they figured out we went to the Municipality EVERY day) was not easy. Enter the Indians, who simply chatted away in whatever language they deemed appropriate and we were off to the races. (You think I'm joking here but some of those cab rides were... adrenaline-producing, shall we say?)
In the second week, we had to make a slight revision to The Indian Rule when we went to a different office of the Municipality with our Emirati interpreter Asma. Not only could Asma speak to the driver but she actually knew her way around the city too, which resulted in the following:
Take a native Emirati with you as a first choice. When Asma is not available, take an Indian.
In reality, we only had Asma once or twice, but it seemed irresponsible not to update the rule.
Eventually, we would find that there was also a pecking order that had an impact on implementation of our Indian Rule. Faiz could talk to anyone, and in fact, he did. I swear, the guy never met a stranger. Everywhere he went, he busted into conversations with everyone about everything. So Faiz was definitely high on the list of Indians to make sure you stayed close to. If you remember from this post, Faiz could survive anywhere for weeks with only lint in his pocket and make about 50 friends in the process. He seemed to speak to people in Hindi most of the time when I was around.
Sheela kept meeting people who were from her state and spoke her native language, Malayalam. Even though she could speak several Indian languages, she'd invariably pick her native and strike up a conversation with cabbies, bus drivers or any random person. When I'd ask her how she knew which language to pick, she'd just casually say she looked at the name. Huh? I think it's actually some sort of top-secret language-sensing radar Indians have installed at birth that they just don't want the world to know about. Maybe it's installed by their CIA. Maybe Sheela was doing me a favor not letting me in on their little secret? In fact, I might be in jeopardy just mentioning it.
I didn't actually get to spend a lot of time with Ritesh because he was on the Other Project Team (ack! THEM! just kidding, love you guys!) and always seemed to end up in a different cab. But, I did hear about one incident where he couldn't talk to a driver, so I was forced to demote him. Very unfortunate. He's still a nice guy and will, I'm sure, go on to raise a pile of multiple Indian-language-speaking kids with his lovely wife.
Felipe made a grab for getting on the Usefulness List when he met a Colombian at Al Ain Museum and spoke to him in Spanish. Even then, I told him the most he could hope for was to be Useful Person #4. I mean, yeah, it's impressive you hold a convo in a language other than English or Arabic in the UAE but how's Colombian Spanish gonna help if we suddenly encounter a date avalanche or stampede of camels? Unfortunately, I was all the way at the bottom of the Useful Person list - that's right, blonde, English-only-speaking American me was #11 out of 11. What an embarressment. I did FINALLY figure out one teeny useful skill I had, but it took 3 weeks to happen. I could hail a cab really quick. Chalk one up for the blonde American chick. #ibmcsc uae
sufi dancer, desert safari
Here's the famed Sufi dancer from our desert safari. This is just a short clip so you get a sense of it but the guy spun around for 15 minutes at least. I like the lighted costume... he must have the same stylist as Katy Perry. And, yellow boots? My hat's off to anyone who has the self-assurance to pull off yellow boots.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Monday, October 15, 2012
vblog series: meet ritesh
Here's Ritesh... as you can tell from this video, Ritesh is the comedian of the group. He is just hilarious and likes to say blatantly false things with a straight face, making you question whether he's telling the truth or not. Usually not. I quickly decided making stuff up is his default. Ritesh and Stephan hit it off pretty thoroughly, meaning that the two of them were a mountain of (thoroughly comedic) trouble. He's also a really nice guy who talked about his beautiful wife of 1 year daily. He shared some lovely photos of their 4-day (yes, FOUR DAY) wedding, with both of them wearing incredibly ornate traditional costumes. While we were there, he carefully planned a lovely week with his wife in the UAE after our project ended and got more and more excited over the month for her to arrive.
I didn't get to spend a ton of time with Ritesh since he was on the *other* project team. Nonetheless, I was really touched one night when I was running upstairs to get my laptop back from a teammate and found him in our hotel meeting room, pacing around the table at 10:30pm. When I asked him what in the world he was doing, he shared that he was getting ready to help Kana prepare for a presentation to their client the next day. He told me he wanted her to feel confident since she had written in her profile before arriving that she was nervous because she had never presented to a client before. Then he asked if I would like to join. How in the world could I say no to that?? So, Ritesh, me, Stephan, Kana and Karen stayed up until midnight helping her practice the client presentation. It was really inspiring to be a part of it.
Namaste, Ritesh...
I didn't get to spend a ton of time with Ritesh since he was on the *other* project team. Nonetheless, I was really touched one night when I was running upstairs to get my laptop back from a teammate and found him in our hotel meeting room, pacing around the table at 10:30pm. When I asked him what in the world he was doing, he shared that he was getting ready to help Kana prepare for a presentation to their client the next day. He told me he wanted her to feel confident since she had written in her profile before arriving that she was nervous because she had never presented to a client before. Then he asked if I would like to join. How in the world could I say no to that?? So, Ritesh, me, Stephan, Kana and Karen stayed up until midnight helping her practice the client presentation. It was really inspiring to be a part of it.
Namaste, Ritesh...
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