Wishing you all the best

Our presentations are complete!   We had a great farewell "local" dinner in Dubai. Now it is time to say goodbye.  From all of us...

 Team 1: Giulia, Yadov, Cheryl, and Robert

Team 2:  Ryutaro, Sunil, Rosa, Angela, and Yves

Team 3:  Seongsoo, Deb, Thomas, Asuka, and Karthik

Wishing you all the best!

#ibmcsc  #uae #dot

Souqs, souqs and more souqs

It has been fun to explore the souqs located in Sharjah and Dubai.  I have to admit, I was not prepared for the sensory overload from these visits.  From Hollywood's representations of these markets, I expected to find vendors displaying their wares in the streets.  I did not expect to find rows of shops squeezed together, overflowing with merchandise.  I also did not realize that souks specialize in product categories.  For instance, there are souqs for

 nuts,

 spices,

                                                                                   fish,

                  

                       fruit,

      

                                                         pets,

                                                                  and  livestock.

I think you get the point by now.  Shopping malls are organized much like souqs.  Services, such as tailors and cell phones, are grouped together on a floor, women's fashion on another, with electronics in a separate area.  Giulia has noticed that stores along streets are organized along the same concept.  For instance, in Sharjah there is a place known as cell phone roundabout.  IBM is located in Internet City.  Global Knowledge is part of Knowledge City, etc.

Here ends our shopping excursions for the day.  I hope you enjoyed it.   

#ibmcsc  #uae

                                                                                     

                                                                                

                                                            

Our final week

The Sharjah e-Government  hosted a traditional Sharjah breakfast for us on Thursday at the Palace of Cultural affairs.

A traditional Sharjah breakfast. 

The waiting room is filled with ornate chandeliers, window coverings, and furniture.

The Sheik and his entourage stay in this room prior to concerts, plays, and cultural events.

Today, Sunday, we begin our final week in the UAE.  (Our four weeks have passed quickly!)   All teams are working diligently on our project recommendations for our Wednesday deadline.

Our team met with two professors from the College of Business earlier today.  They shared research on the topics of e-Government services, e-commerce, and e-loyalty with us.  Mid-day we received an additional 700 results from our first survey!  (Time to redo our analytics!)  By late mid-day, we were informed of a schedule delay for the results from our second survey.   The answers about which marketing techniques that appeal to students in this region will not arrive until Tuesday.  What is a project with a few challenges? 

#ibmcsc  #uae

You can make a cake and eat it too

In my last entry, I mentioned we had some great opportunities on our CSC assignment.  Our hotel, Radisson Blu Sharjah, has been great to us.  One of our guilty pleasures while working in the Chill Out Café has been indulging with the pastries.  

On Thursday, we had a chance to meet the executive chef and pasty chef of the hotel.  The pastry chef then spent three hours with us showing us how to make cakes and mousse.  We also had demonstrations on how to work with chocolate, frost cakes, and create masterpieces.

 

Yes, we did get to taste the final products!  The best part is that we now have the recipes.  (Start with two kg. of butter.  Add 36 eggs....)

During my stay at the hotel, I have run into two mystery fruits.  Do you know what they are?

This was on top of the white cake above.

This comes with our weekly fruit basket.

#ibmcsc   #uae

Ladies, is this for you?

I have to admit, we have had some great opportunities on this assignment.  One of them was a tour of the exclusive Sharjah Ladies Club. 


The Sharjah Ladies Club is a membership club designed for “exceptional”  experiences for women.   (Membership is controlled so women do not feel crowded.)   Women come here to be pampered, focus on health and exercise, and forget about daily stress. 

The club offers many amenities including salon services, fitness classes, yoga, message, water therapy, arts lessons, healthy meals,


day care,

 

ice skating,

Yes, that is me with the air rifle.

team sports, including rilfelry,

and a private beach.

I think this type of club should come to the U.S!  As for my marksmanship with the air rifle, the coach said I could join her team.  I hit the target on the line between the bullseye and the first ring.

#ibmcsc  #uae  #sharjah ladies club

The University of Sharjah

Team 3 has had the great opportunity of working with the University of Sharjah for our project targeting the university students as an eGovernment market segment.    The main campus resides in University City, an educational complex containing nine academic institutions.  

His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, the ruler of Sharjah, established this 1600 + acre complex, shown in pink above,  in 1997.  We see the progress of buildings under construction each day.

 

The University of Sharjah is quite impressive in terms of scale and academic offerings.  The campus is beautiful.  The buildings and ornamentation are excellent examples of Islamic architecture and design.

(There is no way that a single photo shows the splendor of the site.  Click here to see a flyover video of the campus.)

As you face the main building,  the men’s campus is located on the right and the women’s campus on the left.   The buildings containing the same academic programs are labeled with the same number.  However, the building number also contains the M or F so you know in which area it is located.  (e.g. M9 and W9.)  Many classes are segregated by gender. Others are not.

We have met with students in business, engineering, medical fields, Arabic studies, Communications and more.  We have seen the new university hospital, lab buildings, and the state-of-the-art production and media labs in the Communications building.  The cafeteria closest to us in in the Women’s Lab building.  It has been neat to see the solar projects that have been on display the last few weeks.

In case you are curious about what students wear, some of the male students are dressed in a kandura and guthra.  (The long robe in white, sand, or blue and the head covering.)  The majority of the male students wear jeans and a button-down or polo shirt.   

The young women are much more diverse in what they wear.  Many wear the abaya (black gown) and a shela or hijab as a head covering.  A few wear the burqa which covers all but the eyes.   I have also seen some with full facial covering and the hands covered by the gafaaz.  (One note about the Abaya and head coverings – they can be quite simple in all black or ornately trimmed with ruffles, lace, crochet, bead work, colorful fabric, and more.)   Some female students wear long skirts or slacks with tunics and colorful hijabs.   A few of the ladies wear jeans and knit tops with no head coverings.  

The semester is almost over on campus.  Finals start this Sunday.  Thank you students for your input in focus groups and in our surveys.  Your opinion made a difference!

#ibmcsc  #uae  #University of Sharjah

Al Ain

Several of us visited the city of Al Ain, the Garden City, on Friday.  

Al Ain is the second largest city in the Abu Dhabi Emirate and is located on the Oman border.  (Historically, it was a caravan stop on the trade route to and from Oman.) 

Our tour included:

'Oh great, another tourist.'

 The zoo.  The animals had little shade to find in the 40C/104F temperature.

The local museum.  It was closed due to the Friday services. 

All UAE cities have a local museum.

View from Green Mubazzarah Hot Springs

The Jabel Hefeet.  This mountain is the second highest mountain (1240 m/4068 ft) in the UAE. There is a long, winding road to the top.  We passed the Sheik’s home and several cars with overheated engines.  (Did I mention it was 40C/104F???)  I originally thought this mountain was made of sandstone, however, I found out it is actually made of limestone.

The children did not mind the hot water.

The Green Mubazzarah Hot Springs.  Al Ain has many natural springs in the area, which explains why it has more green areas than most in the desert.   We tested the water – it was hot.  The greenery here is called “artificial.”  In the UAE, this term means it is not native.

The Al Ain Palace Museum.  This museum was once the home of late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the former President of Abu Dhabi and the UAE.  He is credited for being one of the forces behind the formation of the UAE.

View from the bedroom complex.

Ladies sitting room

And of course…

The Camel Market.  This is a set of stockyards holding camels, goats, and sheep.  Nearby buildings house fish and birds.

Unloading camels for sale.

On our two-hour return trip, I saw a police checkpoint, a small sand storm, date farms, and a camel racetrack.  While the others slept, I learned quite a bit about the UAE, tourism trends, and Pakistan from our tour guide.   I will save that for another day.

#ibmcsc     

#uae 

ICamp – Student Entrepreneurs at Sharjah University

Team 1

On Wednesday, our team had a great time volunteering with INJAZ at the University of Sharjah. We mentored teams of female college students from the Business College.  Giulia and I worked with a team of eight young women who created a business plan for a total translation experience for tourists around the world.  (The technology they defined was pretty neat and unique.  I hope they choose to make that a reality one day.)  We were all excited with the third place title!

Kevin our INJAZ leader never stopped moving!  

Creating the company logo

#ibmcsc  #uae  #sharjah

Come along on our desert safari!

It is difficult to come to the UAE and not visit the desert.  On Saturday, we went dune bashing (SUVs driving quickly up, around, and down the dunes) in the Dubai desert.  I made the mistake of looking out the side window as we were dashing through those dunes.  As we tilted significantly toward my side of the SUV, I realized the importance of speed from keeping us from toppling over those dunes!  (I wished I had not paid attention in Physics.)

This is steeper than it appears!

Click here to see a video of dune bashing.  The difference is that during our trip there were five 4x4s following each other.  

The camp where we stopped was designed for the masses.  Each tour group offered different services to their clients – ranging from holding falcons to driving 4-wheelers.  Here are photos of us riding camels and modeling henna designs.

Yes, that is me and my host I called "Tiny."

Our artist gave us each unique designs.

The day ended with an Arabic feast and dancers for entertainment.  (I was asked to join the belly dancer and shared my moves with 500 of my closest friends!  Luckily, no photos have surfaced to show my performance quality.)  

Salads, flat breads, and grilled meats/fish

Angela shimmied, used wings, and canes to entertain us.

The show ended with a tanoura dance.  This is much like the dervish style of dancing where the male dancer whirls throughout the entire performance.  The tanoura also incorporates the use of brightly colored skirts.

These many layers of skirts also became props.

 

Click here to watch the same tanoura dance we saw.  I recommend you watch the video until the end.  Our dancer included props and electricity!

So how did I adapt to the way of the desert?  You decide.

#ibmcsc  #uae

The end of week one

It is difficult to believe we have been here for one week.  (I’m still adapting to Thursday being the end of the work week.)  We have had our challenges with our assignments, but we have all made progress. 

Our offices at our sponsors have different hours.  The hotel has kindly allowed us to take over some tables at the Chill Out Café so we can continue working while not onsite.

                                                 



 Guilia and Robert working on e-literacy for youth.

                                     


Sunil, Ryutaro, Rosa, Yves, and Angela planning for e-literacy marketing campaigns

                                    



 Asuka, Karthik, and Seongsoo creating survey questions 

Team 3 had a chance to meet with the e-Government again to hear about marketing plans.  We also met with the leader of the Research and Development program to discuss our survey needs.  We ended the day by going to the Sharjah Mall to do some research and test some of our ideas.  (Truly, it was for research purposes only!)

#ibmcsc  #uae