But I don't feel completely insanely upset like I did last week (see High School Equivalence Certificate in Dubai).
So hey, that's something.
See, today I drove up to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from where we live (on the cusp of Dubai and Jebel Ali). I had to go to Abu Dhabi to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to get an 'equivalency of degree' as part of my application for my Masters. (An application I turned in 15 months ago, by the way.)
The nice thing about Abu Dhabi is that even though I've never been there before the streets instantly make more sense than the streets of Dubai. Not only are they in a grid, they're also numbered sequentially. Even numbered streets run northwest to southeast, odd numbered streets run northeast to southwest.
Oh, yeah, and there's even a very limited mapquest of the city.
How about that?!
So before I left I printed a few maps of the city. These helped immensely when I got minorly turned around at one point. I love knowing that A) if I take two right-hand turns there'll be a parallel road and B) I can even guess what the name of said streets will be because of the ordered numbering system.
And sometimes people wonder why Abu Dhabi is the capital of this country!
So I found the ministry with little problem. But then that's where the confusion started.
I went inside and instantly my Bachelor's Degree from Boston University raised flags. Uh-oh. I was hurried into some big-boss's office and was told that "Boston University is not on our list".
What?!
What list?
What?!?
I mean, I can see Boston College being flagged - considering it's a university and it's in Newton, talk about your blatant false advertising - but BU?
I tried to reiterate that this was from America (maybe there's a Boston University in India?) and that this was my Bachelor's Degree.
After a heated minute with this gentleman I could see he was reconsidering. One more shot should do it.
"This is my undergraduate degree, from the city of Boston, in America."
"Oh. That's okay then."
The other week at the Dental Convention (don't ask) I found out that BU has opened the Boston University Institute for Dental Research and Education Dubai at Dubai Healthcare City. But apparently this institution has yet to be accredited by ... yep, you guessed it, the UAE's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. So when the ministry people see "Boston University" they, well, freak out.
Phew, I thought. All clear.
Famous.
Last.
Words.
See, the reason that I made the 80 mile trek today is because the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research website says that they're open and accepting 'equivalency of degree' applications on Mondays. Well, I should clarify, in June the website said this. This fall the website is gone. Completely adios. As far as I can tell there is no website for the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research these days.
And, as we discussed last week when I was looking for the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dubai, finding phone numbers for these places is tough, but if you do find one and call the chance of you actually speaking to someone with useful information is just about impossible.
So it turns out that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is open today but not accepting 'equivalency of degree' applications. The application guy is there on Sundays and Tuesdays.
So tomorrow I get to go back to Abu Dhabi.
But hey, at least I have maps.
Here are a couple of photos of the streets of Abu Dhabi:
