Personal Essay
My Name is Fulan Alfulani. I was born and raised in Abu Dhabi. Given that education has become an integral factor in achieving success in today’s world, I decided to study abroad after getting my high school Diploma in my country. As a result, my family and I decided that it would be best if I studied in an Anglophone country where I would not only be proficient in speaking and writing in English, but also the fact that the US has high quality schools. Thus, after finishing high school I decided to apply to an American university because it was part of my dream to study abroad.
When I came to the US, I was shocked because of culture difference between the US and my country. Given that most of my life had been centered in UAE, I had not travelled to the US. Also, I was not quite fluent in English thereby, hindering me from communicating with people. I have a heavy accent that makes people not understand me fast enough as I would want them to. This was a little frustrating at first, but I have improved over time through taking English courses in college. Also, the food in America was quite different from my home country.
I decided to study English in Michigan so that I can work on my communication skills in that English as a language is the medium of communication in most states around the US regardless of many immigrants in the country. I am also majoring in Human Resources Development at Indiana state university. I am hoping that I will use my major to be part of making change in my home country for a better future for generations to come.
Geography
UAE is geographically located in the Middle East, between Gulf of Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. UAE is located at the coast and had a long coastline of about 1315km. It is a small country 83,600d km2.
History:
A little history about my country is that the country was considered part of Middle East before it annexed itself as an independent nation-state. Today, my country is known as United Arab Emirates because it comprises of six states. States that make up UAE include Abu Dhabi, 'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash Shariqah, Dubayy, and Umm al Qaywayn. Also, there are some 9000 years old remnants found in some of the areas in the UAE (Umm Al Nar, Jebel Hafeet, Dalma Island and kalba) like graves castles, old buildings and potteries. There is no much information about civilization but traditional people worked on hunting, fishing and Trading.
The Emirates (area) was part of Achaemenid Empire (Persian) that was from 550 BC - 525 BC and part of the Sasanian Empire 224-651 until the Islamic country.
During that time, all of the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula were Islamic, and the Emirati tribes attended Islam during the era of Prophet Mohammed. The Islamic country expanded so fast, during the Umayyad caliphate. The Emirates coast flourished because of the coastline that acted as the center of maritime trade and shipping. Also, shipping industry was built around the coast for more trade with the outside world.
In the end of the Abbasid caliphate, UAE as an Islamic country started to disintegrate. Most of the in the Arabian Peninsula started to manage their internal affairs, including the Emirati tribes. Each tribe used to have a shaick. Also, the Emeritus were not part of Mamluks and the Ottoman’s states. In 1506 to1620 Portuguese took control of the Emirates and Omanand that led to people uniting. During this era, Nasser bin Morshid united the people such that he managed to eject the Portuguese and created a country called Yoruba Dynasty 1624-174.
The Emirates became part of Emirate of Diriyah (1744-1818), and then part of Emirate of Nejd (1819-1891),
Demographics:
According to the world Population Review website, the population of UAE is 9,368,283 from 200 different nationalities. Most of the UAE citizens are Muslims while small fractions of the population are Christians, Hindu and others.
The national language in UAE is Arabic, but the Common language is English. The UAE citizens speak Arabic, and there are other spoken languages like Hindi, Persian and others. Most Arabian countries have the same culture, and we speak the same language but have different accents. However, we use the same accent when we speak formal.
Economy:
Before the early 60s, the Emirates economy was dependant on Fishing, trading, and exporting pearl. Then in 1962, Oil was discovered in Abu Dhabi, which began to flourish since that time. Since then, Emirates united the economy growth continuously.
The GDP in 2013 is about 394.5$ Billion. This shows that the country is doing fairly well in terms of economy.
UAE is the third largest company in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The economy in some Emirates is depended on oil including Abu Dhabi, and it is the richest city in UAE, Dubai is the second richest city in the UAE and the percentage of its oil sector is 3% from its Economy.UAE benefits of its strategic geographical location by trading and transportation like international ports, factories and airline companies.
Culture:
There are almost no differences between UAE culture and the rest of the GCC countries. The culture is a result of social and political beliefs over the years, so it is difficult to understand the culture completely unless one has been born and lived there. Also, Islam as a form of religion has been influenced by culture in UAE. However, most of the Arabian traditional is not related to Islam. This means that Arabs integrated religion of Islam to fit their cultural values and traditions.
Political System:
The UAE is a federation of seven constituent monarchies (seven Emirates).
According to the convention, the ruler of Abu Dhabi is the President and the ruler of Dubai is the Prime president.
Federal Supreme Council is the highest constitutional authority that:
-Establishes general politics.
-Sanctions federal legislation.
-Counsel’s members elect the president.
Federal National Council is the federal authority and it represents citizens.
Council of ministers is the federal executive.
There is a federal judiciary for all the emirates except Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. Court of cassation is in Abu Dhabi.
Tribe:
Tribe is an important issue for Arabs, especially in the GCC countries, Yemen, Jordan and Iraq; it is a form of a social community. Tribe usually affects the political status of the people, and it’s part of the Arabian history. Most of the tribe members are loyal to each other, and they consider each other as family, despite the fact that they are not related to each other directly. UAE is one of the countries that have tribe association. Thus, I believe Tribe has positive impacts in that: It make people know their lineage, their antecedent’s histories and their grandparents’ names. Also, it reinforces the ethics and makes people behave well because they represent their tribes.
Architecture:
Marriage:
Marriage is a big celebration in UAE. It is shame to have a relationship before marriage in most families. In Islam, a man is allowed to see women without wearing her hijab and make conservation to get to know each other in the presence of their families in a one citrine day to decide if they want to get married. After that, both of the man and women can decide if they want to marry each other.
Usually people who have known of their bad ethics don’t get marry. A man who is about to get married, a member of man’s family visits the women’s family to give their daughter gifts contently to earn her satisfaction during their Engagement. After engagement there comes the formal marriage, and they have a small celebration between their families. Then after few months comes the large winding.
Poetry
Arabic language is so deep since it is an old language, Arabian poetry is part of the culture, and people use it seriously to express they are serious. Emirates are well known of Nabaty poetry which is Kaliji dialect poetry, the poet topics are usually about flirtation, praise and description of particular case
Dress
Emirati people are usually conservatives of wearing their traditional dress. Most women wear hijab, and men wear the Arabian dress, especially in the important events.
