The Sheik of Sharjah coming to Town (Part I)

This is a summary of the visitation of the shiek of Sharjah, UAE from Sep 14th to Sep 19th. During this time, I had an opportunity to meet with interesting people, exchange ideas with them and open myself to another culture. It was truly an amazing experience. So, here it goes.

Wednesday, Sep 14th
After the 4 day Chuseok weekend, my body was not ready to go back to work. But what can you do? Nevertheless, I was a bit excited to go back to work because I wasn't going back to the office, but to the field. They put me in charge of taking care of some of the group from U.A.E visiting Suwon and other places in the region. And I am supposed to be charge until 19th. So yay.

I got up and went to the best hotel in the region, which is only 5 mins away from my place. Then, I met with other coworkers of mine from other departments. They told me that I am going to usher the art consultant to the shiek. It was actually the consultant and his wife. They were from Holland and very nice to talk with.

In the morning, in a van reserved for them, we went to the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art so that the consultants would inspect the exhibition that display about 100 artworks recently delivered from UAE. The consultant was in charge of how the pieces were displayed in the best way in which people can appreciate them most. The inspection per se was quite all right. The consultant wasn't really giving the curator in charge a hard time.

After that, we came back to the hotel. Then, they asked me to take them to a traditional market. So I did. There, I showed them around and explained things. The wife bought an ajumma visor She loved it. Then, she bought a Hanbok shirt for herself. I took them to the Hanbok place whose owner I know very well. Of course, we haggled a bit and the wife was quite content with the price and the product.

By the time I came back to the hotel, it was around 6pm to punch out. Then, I went to the gym to get my muscles pumped up. It was a long day, but quite eventful and fun.




Thursday, Sep 15th

Knowing what is going to happen or who I am going to accompany with, I again went straight to the hotel. And last night, the sheik Sultan bin Mohamed Al=Qasimi and his subordinates arrived and so did the press group. Originally, I was supposed to have a lot of face time with the press, but since they were still jet-legged from the trip, they were taking a whole day off at the hotel. Instead, some of the coworkers asked me to accompany the UAE traditional performance group (16 guys).

First, we gathered in the lobby and headed to KBS to throw a performance. There was a wide open area next to the entrance to the building and that's where they were going to perform. It was about lunch time so everyone was excited to see a great turn-out. But there wasn't, unluckily.
Many people passed out on their way out to lunch, but not many actually bothered to stop and appreciate the gig. Nevertheless, the guys did their best and put on a very good show. It was my first time to see them do their thing. It was very impressive. In particular, I admired the fact that even without a lot of audience, they enjoyed themselves to a great extent.

Next, it was after lunch and thus they, well, everyone was hungry. And I suggested we go to "Dubai" restaurant in Itaewon to treat Hala food for the gang. We were welcomed by some Arabic speaking owners and clerks. The gang seemed to enjoy both their company and the food. The Koreans also tried their delicacy. I had curried two pieces of chicken breast coupled with onions and cabbage and it was delicious. After eating, everyone was tired and decided to go back to the hotel.

Finally, as the last schedule, the team was ready to put on another show downtown in Suwon. We picked this alley where there are many bars and restaurants. At some point, we were a bit concerned because the gang might not like the setting due to alcohol consumption and all that. So, I asked the head of the team and he said, "No problem. We did this in Europe and they loved it. They(Europeans) were drinking and dancing with us. No problem!" When the show kicked off, people stared at us like they have never seen anything like this before, which is probably true. Then, they did not really mind us and kept on drinking and eating while enjoying the show. Thankfully, some of the bystanders were brave enough to join the crew and relished the performance.

Utterly worn out, both the gang and the Korean were dying to go home and rest and we did around 10pm. It was such a long day-