Moving into my new apartment and conferencing... all on the same day!

Here I am sitting in my new apartment... I am a little frightened, to tell you the truth. It's such a huge space. It's so empty and quiet. I had to turn on my music very loudly to drown out the silence. If any of you would like to visit, I have a spare bedroom. I've never had a spare bedroom since moving out of my parents' house. This is such luxury!

I went to a store called Spinney's to pick up some essentials. Mainly, I wanted some coat hangers so I can hang my work clothes. I also wanted to buy some food. I looked around the store and everything was strange. I walked around in a daze and finally asked someone where the coat hangers were. He showed me where they were and they were so ugly and weird looking. I was expecting the white, shiny Canadian variety, the ones you buy from the dollar store. These ones are green and awful. I was so sad.

I wasn't sure if the tap water here is drinkable, so I bought six huge bottles. They were very heavy to carry home. Then when I got home, I realized that whoever packed my groceries had failed to put the food in my grocery bag. Again, I was sad. I wasn't sure if I had paid for them, I couldn't find my receipt. As you can see, I didn't have a very successful shopping experience.

The good news is I was able to get Internet connection in my apartment. I am not sure who I am stealing from, but frankly, I don't care. If I didn't have Internet in my apartment, I might go insane. I have to wait until I have my residency visa in order to get Internet in my apartment.

Everything is so strange. The electrical outlets are all weird. Just in case any of you ever want to travel to Dubai (or work here), be sure to bring some converters for your electronics. They use the same weird three prong plugs like the UK. By the way, don't bother bringing your hair blow dryer. It doesn't work. The voltage is different. Sigh.

Conference at the American University of Sharjah


I went to a conference at the American University of Sharjah today. As you can see from the picture above, it is a beautiful campus. Sharjah is the another one of the Emirates. If you are looking to work in the UAE, please note that Sharjah is DRY. If you like your booze, make sure you are aware of that.

Anyways, the conference was called "Information Literacy Network in the Gulf Region" and you know, it's the usual stuff you hear in conferences. Very similar to the guest speakers I had heard in library school. "It's a process NOT a program, It's education NOT instruction", blah blah blah. There was also a lot of talk about social networking tools and whether or not these tools are suitable for professional development within the library community. In my opinion, social networking tools should just remain SOCIAL. I would not in a thousand years use Facebook to communicate within the library community. My colleagues and potential employers do not have to know that I love Radiohead and that I am a bit of a drunk. If there could somehow be a separation between the social and professional spheres within Facebook, maybe I will consider using it as a professional development tool. Maybe Facebook could have two different pages, one for your friends and the 'cleaned up' version for the folks working in your field. Until that happens, I don't feel comfortable about using it any other way. Maybe other tools like it are more professional? I know people who have LinkedIn accounts. Do people post their drunken pictures up there as well?

There was also a discussion of Second Life... Ugh. Why, oh why? Why do people think it's cool for your avatar to go to the library? I mean, there are already so many ways of using library resources on the Internet... I just think the whole trend with Second Life is just ridiculous. What about your first (real) life?

I am going to knock myself out nice and early so I can be ready for more conferencing tomorrow morning.