Off to Dubai… for the day!

Went to Dubai for my interview with HCT today. It was an early morning to get everyone off to school and me to the airport on time. The departures area at Doha is actually not too bad once you get through security into the “passengers only” area where you go through check-in then passport control. Saw the duty free shop which is actually pretty big, but to be honest the prices are not that different from what you get in town (but it was a little strange to see alcohol on the shelves). The flight was delayed a little so instead of leaving at 7.55 it was scheduled to leave at 8:15am. That would have been ok, but we actually ended up sitting in the plane for at least an hour and didn’t take off until after 9am! I just think I am destined not to have a good experience with Qatar Airways!

Did see The Pearl from the air as we were climbing though, and it does look very impressive! I think we flew all the way across the Gulf as I could see land on the left side of the plane, which I was guessing was more than likely Iran and then came in over Sharjah, which looked pretty big… but I was on the wrong side of the plane to see much of Dubai. The land did look a little different with not so much rock and rubble as there is in Qatar, but rather undulating sandy looking ground with bushes everywhere… plus you could actually see some hills in the distance that was a change from the flatness of home. Once through passport control and security it was already about 11:20, so jumped into a taxi to go straight to Dubai Women’s College as my interview was scheduled for 12.

Impressions of this part of Dubai was it is a lot bigger than I thought as the college is quite close to the airport on the map, but it seemed to take about 20 minutes to get there. Everything looked similar to Doha, but more finished… so even though I could see cranes and building everywhere (plus the top of a few huge high-rises in the middle of the city) and the roads all looked finished and clean… and BIG!

Dubai Women’s College was very nice and new looking… the security at the gate welcomed “Mr Michael” and handed over a visitors pass… the reception area also welcomed “Mr Michael” and another security guard showed me where I needed to go. I was greeted by two of the heads of two of the business departments and the interview went as interviews go… it was video taped as well which made me feel rather self conscious. Can’t really say anything more specific about how it went because I really don’t know… I was asked questions; we discussed some things and so on. After the interview I was taken upstairs where I was introduced to some of the DWC staff and got to talk to the supervisor of the eBusiness program there which was informative, and then talked to another staff member from the business department. Both were rather open in their conversations and answering my questions, which was a good thing, and it seems like a good working environment with some good courses in place. From my understanding HCT falls somewhere between TAFE and Uni, being more focused on vocational education but also providing undergraduate degrees.

The process is quite complicated as the interview is just one step. Next the interviewing panel sends their recommendations along with my videotape to central recruiting services. Then I have to be recommended further by one of the colleges if I was deemed to have “passed” the interview. The business supervisors can read the recommendations and view my interview, and then recommend me for a position at any of the colleges… all a bit confusing, but I guess the one thing I do know at the moment is I am one step further along in the process.

By the time I waited for a taxi I didn’t actually leave DWC until about 2:30 so had to head straight back to the airport. Tried to call home several times but even though the roaming on the phone was working; apparently you can’t call from the UAE to Qatar… who knows, but maybe it needs to be set up before you leave or something! Once through the security check into the “passengers only” area I went through check-in and then passport control yet again… one thing I noticed about both the Doha and Dubai airports, that unless you are a passenger they look very small and you really don’t get to see anything at all!

I had a look around Dubai Duty Free, which is as big as you would imagine and bought a couple of pressies to take home with me. The prices once again really aren’t too different from in Doha, but I guess the whole “duty free” thing is aimed at travellers who don’t get these prices everyday. Another thing I noticed was the huge display of Fosters in the duty free section for both incoming and outgoing passengers!

Anyway flight home took about 40 minutes and saw the river (or whatever it is) and port at Dubai on the way out but not much else. Crossing the water I saw what I at first thought where groups of fishing boats with very bright lights, but then worked out they were the oil and gas platforms… and there were a lot of them! Anyway once through passport control and security one last time I was home again… a very long day with over 6 hours of it spent either in planes or at airports… and what did I see of Dubai? Well really nothing apart from the most cranes I have ever seen in one place, some very nice buildings and some very big roads with lots of traffic, but of course that is probably more or less all anyone sees in Dubai on a daily basis anyway. But next time we will all go and make sure we have time and money to experience what Dubai really has to offer!