kookie in dubai - tales in the desert city

Into My Arms

2008-03-09T12:02:00.002+04:00

When I first came to Dubai I was relaying a frustrating experience of trying to give directions to a taxi driver who had no idea of where they were going and neither did I.

The person I was telling told me that I was going through the five stages of grief. At the time I thought this was a rather odd comparison but in hindsight it was quite true.

Below is my mindset during this time – which I think was over a six month period.

Denial: The initial stage: "It can't be happening."
This is surreal – there are camels on the freeway and people are driving like lunatics at 140 kph in a 100 speed limit.

A little man keeps coming to our apartment door offering to sell me water filled bottles – doesn’t he know that there is a perfectly good water from the tap in the kitchen?

Opposite us are the Russian hookers – I only see them in the late afternoon with their seriously high heels and then very late at night if I’m sleeping lightly I can hear their door bell ring. They are all remarkably friendly and in my Anglo way I do the polite smile thing – nod and smile with a closed mouth and don’t engage.

Still unsure of dress code I’m wearing ankle length floor skirts and look like I’m from Little House on the Prairie. Even though I’ve started going to the mall I’m still not comfortable with showing too much flesh – even though there are lots of English tourists baring fatty flesh who look like lobsters and have no idea of the concept of ‘slip, slop, slap’.

Anger: "Why me? It's not fair."
Why am I living in a place full of dust and sand and its over 45 degrees in the middle of May? Why do taxi drivers insist on driving like lunatics and racing other cars if they get cut off? Why do people keep flashing their lights at me on the freeway? Why does the hot water burn in the shower? Why are all my clothes shrinking? Where can I buy stamps? Why can’t I find one decent hairdresser? Why do waitresses always read back the order? Why do I have to pay for a glass of water? Why do men keep staring at me? Why isn’t mail delivered to my home? Why does know one know which street I live on?
Why am I here?

Bargaining: "Make this not happen, and in return I will..."
If I live here for a year then I can leave with lots of money and I can travel to many exotic lands...and I can buy new clothes and feed my addiction to Zara, Massimo Dutti and The One…I could buy a Touareg…I could buy some diamond earrings…then I can retire at an early age and tend to a garden in suburban Australia…eh?

Depression: "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"
If I watch another DVD that cost me 10 dirhams that I have bought from Who Who, the dodgy little lady who comes to my door and says ‘hey sista, what up?’ then I might have to consider going to bed and not getting up – ever.

The heat is unbearable – there is just no reprieve. Four months later and it has reached just over 50 degrees on a few occasions and standing in the shade causes sweat patches to form straight away in the most unusual places.

Acceptance: "It's going to be OK."
It will be ok – it really will – the worst is over and the second season has kicked in – winter. Twenty degree days means picnics in the park and walks along the beach; pure bliss.

Things I like and have learnt to love:

I love learning about little nuances – anyone who live here knows what manakeesh is, understands what yani, yella and habidti mean
Love walking past the mosque. There is something deeply moving and calming about the call to prayer and seeing from the outside in the ritual of prayer
Taking an abra across Dubai Creek is just pure magic
I’ve never liked malls and in the past would avoid them – now I understand their purpose as a community hub and as an air conditioned retreat for all
Love the fact that I work with 12 different nationalities – the Lebanese have the best hair and know the best hairdressers, the Filipino's are the hardest workers, the Egyptians attend the most lavish weddings, the Jordanians are friendly yet reserved and the English are well…English.

And as for living in a Muslim country - its been nothing but a truly fascinating and liberating education. I’m so grateful to all those people that have let me ask probing questions and try to come to some understanding of why things are the way they are. Maa al salamah

Ramandantastic!

2007-10-29T08:49:00.000+04:00

The holy month of Ramadan has now been and gone. What does this mean for a western woman living in the sandlands? Well if you work in an office with over half the office being Muslims it means:

- no swearing
- dress more conservatively than normal, don’t wear skirts or anything revealing arms
- take into account arranging meetings due to Ramadan working hours – this year the government decreed that private and government companies work only six hours a day. Needless to say a lot of private companies with expat employees didn’t enforce this at all.
- No drinking/eating in public during the day until sunset – this includes cinemas
- Going to Iftars – Muslims break the fast by traditionally eating dates at sunset followed by an array of mezze type dishes like hummus, tabbouleh etc.

The main difference I’ve noticed this year is that Ramadan, like Christmas, is now a commercial entity. A local Emirati beauty product company sent out a press release titled ‘Ramadantastic offers!’ – they were alluding to the fact that they were bundling their products to entice customers to buy 2 for 1. Eid, the festive period after Ramadan, is a time when families give each other gifts and for younger children they receive new clothes and cash from parents.

Take Me To The River - Part 2

2007-08-30T08:03:00.000+04:00

The maintenance man finally turns up from Rocky Real Estate - yes, that's right. Rocky Real Estate...they pride themselves on building solid foundations....

The guy turns up, unannounced, last Saturday whilst I'm pottering around the house in my sarong (as you do). He fixed the door bell, the leaking toilet, the light switch that has never worked and then hands P a form to sign before he leaves. P and I look at each other and then ask 'what about the hot water unit? it's been broken for months'.

Blank look. He then makes a call. 'No, they won't fix until winter'.

So let me bring you up to speed. For three months we've had no hot water in the kitchen and if we do attempt to turn on the hot water tap the system leaks from the ceiling in to the cupboards. So for three months all the contents of those cupboards are in bags against the wall and plates and glasses are now stacked high in one cupboard. To wash the dishes we have to boil the kettle. So the drama continues.

Rocky Real Estate have now received a fax asking them to fix the unit immediately. But what can we do? As far as I know there is only a rent committee that deals with rent related issues. Will have to do some more investigation work.

Big Love

2007-08-30T07:48:00.000+04:00

Father of 78 aims for 100 children

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) -- A one-legged Emirati father of 78 is lining up his next two wives in a bid to reach his target of 100 children by 2015, Emirates Today reported on Monday.

Daad Mohammed Murad Abdul Rahman, 60, has already had 15 brides although he has to divorce them as he goes along to remain within the legal limit of four wives at a time. "In 2015 I will be 68 years old and will have 100 children," the local tabloid quoted Abdul Rahman as saying. "After that I will stop marrying. I have to have at least three more marriages to hit the century."

The United Arab Emirates newspaper splashed its front page with a picture of Abdul Rahman surrounded by his children, the eldest of whom is 36 years old and the youngest of whom is 20 days old. Two of his current three wives are also pregnant.

Abdul Rahman said his large family lived in 15 houses. He supports them with his military pension and the help of the government of Ajman, one of seven emirates that comprise the UAE, which includes the Gulf trade and tourism hub of Dubai.

Islam allows men to marry up to four women at a time, though most marry only one. The UAE is a Muslim country but is home to migrants from around the world.

These Boots Are Made for Walkin'

2007-08-16T10:55:00.000+04:00

I'm trying to get a bit fitter and losing a few kilos in the process wouldn't hurt either. P and I joined Fitness First and after visiting for 2.5 weeks I seemed to have lost momentum and couldn't keep up the stamina or interest to:

a) remember to bring my gym clothes to work
b) leave work on time to get to the gym
c) stand in the queue to join one of the many classes

So I've decided to take action and am considering getting a personal (buff, preferably male) trainer to help me get rid of the muffin top and get me (back) into the skinny Sass & Bide jeans that I bought some time ago.

I read recently that once you hit 36 years of age 85% of your life is already mapped out for you through your actions, habits and lifestyle choices. So where does that leave me? It means that I have less than six weeks to rectify the situation and sort myself out.

Will let you know how I get on.

Orphans

2007-07-01T13:03:00.000+04:00

My colleague and I were talking about charities in Dubai and the lack of them.

I was telling her how I'd like to volunteer somewhere that actually has something to do with people. All of the charities that I know seem to be for animals, which is fine if you love feral cats and dogs that look nothing like Lassie. I don't mind them but would much prefer to have interaction with people.

She then told me that there are no orphanages within the UAE - not one. The understanding being that if a parent/parents died within a GCC family then the siblings of that person would take care of them. Its understood in Islam that family stays with family. No questions.

There's no discussion about custody, no visits to court and no chance for them to go to an adoption agency. The power and understanding of what constitutes a family here can't be underestimated.

But what if the family are from India? Philippines? Malaysia? I'm going to do some investigation work and will let you know.

Take Me To The River

2007-06-20T08:02:00.000+04:00

One night, a month ago, P and I were sitting in the lounge room, lounging, as you do. I decided it was time to refill the chardy and walked to the kitchen to do so. I could hear the water gushing and when I opened the door the room was flooded with water.

It turns out that the hot water unit located in the ceiling had sprung a leak. P turned off the tap and we started the mop up process. It was around 10pm and I went and saw our doorman, Mohammed.

He’s from Pakistan and we often have chats through mime. When I come in to our building and he’s slumped on the sofa I fan myself and say ‘hot, hot….’ And he nods politely. When his feral adopted cat had a litter of kittens I ooahed and aahed while he looked on with pride.

So when I try to explain to him on a Wednesday night at 10pm after two glasses of wine that there is water gushing down my kitchen walls my arms are flailing and I’m making gestures and noises to re-create a waterfall. He just looks at me in stony silence and says ‘come…come’.

We go upstairs to our apartment. He sees the water, looks up at the ceiling and mutters ‘no good’. Very observant is our Mohammed.

After more miming and standing in puddles he gets the ladder. He gets up, takes a look and says ‘broke’. He tells us he will fix it.

The next day we get home from work and again, there is water all over the floor. Not good. Again, I tell Mohammed. Again, he says it will be fixed. It turns out that the plumber did come and had told Mohammed that it was fixed.

That night, we clean up again and take everything out of the kitchen cupboards – damp flour, sodden cardboard boxes and all the unusual tinned food I’ve been collecting since we’ve been here.

We just came back from being on holidays for two weeks. There is still no hot water and no signs of it being fixed.

Inshallah.

Every Grain of Sand

2007-03-18T13:00:00.000+04:00

A few days ago there was a big sand storm. Imagine a really windy day with your hair going crazy and add to this tiny particles of sand blowing around. Ick!

P and I woke up and our balcony was covered with sand. The sky was dark with swirling clouds and a few rain drops started to appear. We decided to go out shopping (the largest Marks & Sparks outside of the UK opened here a month ago) and I was determined to buy myself a small retail treat.

As we drove to the shops the storm got progressively worse and it was difficult to see very far in front. Being a Friday morning there was hardly any traffic (Friday is a rest day, like a Sunday) so we were lucky that with P's now crazy Dubai driving and the bad weather we avoided running in to anything.

The one thing that we did see though was an active street sweeper...makes sense yeah? Have a massive machine working on the streets during the middle of a major storm. What's even funnier is that the guy driving it was so diligently driving against the curb...so Dubai.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

2007-02-22T18:42:00.000+04:00

It's official - I am now a resident of the UAE.

What does that mean?

I can now apply for an alcohol licence which means that I can go to a large supermarket full of booze, buy it and drink it at home
I can get a full driving licence and be subjected to waiting in queues for hours in a government building to get it
I am now, statistically, another single women living in Dubai amongst a growing sub-culture that come here for great job opportunities
I don't have AIDS; the blood test that is done when you apply for residency is to check that you aren't HIV positive. Remember, we are talking about a country where homosexuality is illegal
I can purchase property with the millions of dirhams that I've saved here

Now, officially I exist in a country where I haven't existed for 10 months.

Praise to Allah.

Cry Baby Cry

2007-02-20T18:24:00.000+04:00

To obtain a residency visa for the UAE you must be employed and also undergo a physical which consists of a blood test and an X-ray.

When I went to the hospital today I had to fill in a form that asked:

Please state that you are not pregnant for the following reason:

a) I am single/widow
b) I am on contraceptive
c) I am married and stay away from my husband
d) Other...please explain

Hmmm....my colleague and I started laughing at statement c and also the fact that in the UAE if you're single there's obviously no chance of getting preganant...

You Sound Like You're Sick

2007-02-05T08:13:00.000+04:00

So many people come to this city looking for a perfect job and like anywhere else it can be so hard to find. Read the email below and find out how one guy will never work in this town. And yes, it's real.

http://www.thedubailife.com/index.php/main/blog/how_not_to_apply_for_a_job_in_dubai

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

2006-12-17T16:27:00.000+04:00

Well that's a blatant lie…I'm not really. I'm dreaming about lying next to a pool, sipping on a Pink Lady and eating roasted peanuts while the sun goes down in Sri Lanka.

Back in reality people in the sandlands flock to the malls as the sales begin and see huge Christmas decorations that put the Myer windows to shame. I just went to Wafi City, a high end mall, with the most elaborate Christmas decorations that I've ever seen. There's a Santa house with four elfs waiting to play with children and a huge tree laden with presents. Even though Muslims technically don't celebrate Christmas the retailers understand and appreciate ($) the importances of the holiday in the west, and shops have been bombarding the public with advertising since October, just like at home.

I went to Wafi in search of decent mince pies. I made the trip to Marks & Spencers to no avail…they decided not to stock them this year. So I left very disappointed but have already decided to go second rate and find some mince pies at the local Spinneys supermarket. Mr Kiplings will have to do…HO HO HO…

Girls On Film

2006-12-17T16:01:00.000+04:00

For the past 10 days Dubai has been treated to films from across the globe as part of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). It isn't in the same league as Melbourne or Toronto but obviously provides film makers with a great opportunity and allows locals and expats keen to learn more about religion and culture.

Storm in the South is about three Kuwaiti women who are making history in their country. They're each running for a seat in the elections in the South, an area known for its conservatism and tribal traditions. Women have never been allowed to run for office before now and this area is rife with corruption; vote buying exists. The film follows their campaign trail for each woman over the course of a month. There's a shot of one man who says women will never be in parliament' which gives you some idea of the mentality that these women face everyday. Then there's the public rallies where women are in burquas, (that's women who are fully covered and you can only see their eyes), publicly declaring that they will vote for one of the female candidates which gives you great hope and inspiration and the whole time you're thinking....yes, they're going to get in.

Election day comes and there appears to be a good vibe amongst the voters and each candidate walks amongst the crowd saying 'today Kuwaiti women will make history...'. The count starts. Then it closes...and then the tally comes up on the screen and they show that one of the women came in at number 8th in her area and that she got 1,400 out of 11,000 votes in the district. There was a communal groan in the audience. What happened? So many of the women in the show said 'I'll vote for you...'?'I want to see women in parliament...' and yet when it came obviously not enough women were able to bring about change. It was heart wrenching.

Not having experienced anything to do with war, it was also interesting to note that a lot of the stories told was centered around war torn cities and families. Some were shot in real locations such as the West Bank. It was amazing to see how resilient the human race can be and reminded me that I've have such a privileged white Western existence and have no idea of the level of pain and suffering that people continue to live in.

Singin' In The Rain

2006-12-10T19:00:00.000+04:00

To everyone else's disgust and disbelief it's been raining in Dubai over the last few days. For me it was heaven. I woke up in mid darkness, heard the rain against the window, rolled over and pulled the blanket up over my chin and went back to sleep.

When I finally crawled out of bed I pulled on a warm jacket, grabbed the umbrella and went walking. People looked at me like I was a crazy person.

When it rains here people are at a loss. They don't own an umbrella; you see all these people running around the street with a plastic bag over their head and they have no idea what it means to drive in the rain. Driving becomes a serious problem. Drivers aren’t used to driving in wet conditions and have no idea of how not to slide or how to control a car in the rain. In one day alone there were over 650 accidents reported.

The city isn't really built to cope with water. Parking bays are flooded as are some apartment building foyers…and we're talking about rainfall only over 2 days worth. For some people they saw it as a reminder of why they left their home country in the first place, for me it was like the city being washed clean. Buildings that are normally covered in fine sand are now back to their glory days…for the time being anyway.

The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round...

2006-11-09T18:05:00.000+04:00

I decided to catch a bus the other day. In Dubai that's a strange concept. Firstly white people are rarely seen standing at the bus stop and secondly, as a woman there are only four seats available to you. Confused? So am I.

You go to the bus stop and wait with all the other people. The bus pulls up and you go to get on and there are eight women sitting in the first four seats. These seats are designated for women only. How nice and polite I thought...how cavalier...how old fashioned...how weird.

However the bus was full and those seats were already occupied by other women so I kept walking down the aisle in the aim of standing up and holding on. People started looking at me and then a women yelled out to me that I had to get off the bus because it was full. I looked around and to my untrained eye the bus still had plenty of standing room. I followed this woman and got off the bus, blushing, because I felt I'd committed some sort of crime.

The kind lady explained to me that women are only allowed to sit in the first four rows and are not allowed to stand on the bus. So when the four seats are full, bad luck, you have to wait for another bus. Even if it's 45 degrees outside.

I looked around me, there were at least 15 women waiting. I stood there feeling like an idiot, then did what every Euro expat here does - hailed a taxi.

Spirit In The Sky

2006-10-24T15:23:00.000+04:00

It's Eid in Dubai which means that the holy month of Ramadan is now over.

Ramadan is a time for self reflection for Muslims and is a month of fasting and prayer. During this month they can't consume anything between sunrise and sunset: no food, no water and no physical acts such as exercise, sex or smoking. So if you are a Muslim the last 27 days would go something like this:

0430 - get up, eat and go back to bed

0600 - sunrise and prayers and go back to bed

1000 - go to work. Many companies have reduced working hours during the month and this is observed all over the Gulf. During the day no one can eat, drink or smoke in public. This also applies to non Muslims and it's considered highly offensive for a non Muslim to eat or drink in the office place. Many offices set up a closed off area for people to eat in. During the day there are several prayers as well that Muslims attend.

1600 - finish work and go home or to friends

1800 - around this time the fast is broken. The tradition is to break fast with dates, milk and water. An evening meal is then had, called Iftar, and lots of people have a long evening with plenty of food and drink and many people go to Iftar parties until the small hours of the morning.

For a non Muslim it's an interesting time to see how religion plays such a large part of life here. On a practical level it means that no cafes are open during the day, shopping centres are quiet and there is less traffic on the road. It's also a bit like Christmas. People give gifts to each other and on the day of Eid Muslims dress in their best clothes, attend prayers in the morning, give to charity and give their love and blessings to anyone that they come in to contact with. So happy Eid to you...

Doctor, Doctor

2006-09-14T16:36:00.000+04:00

A while ago I was sick. I had a UTI; that's a urinary tract infection. Enough said.

I went to the chemist. I asked if they had any Ural.

Blank looks all around. Mmm...ok...change tact.

I attempted to describe the pain. The chemist looked at me and started pointing at his stomach and making loud, sort of farting, noises. He then asked 'deposits....you got the deposits'?

Eh? deposits? I stood there while my face went bright red and then my brain dropped into gear and I realised what he meant.

'No, no deposits' I replied.

'Ah, you have the wets then...you know wets....?'

Yes! Finally we're getting somewhere.

'Yes, I have the wets. Yes, wets...'

He gives me a box with Arabic text that has some small print in English which I can barely see.

'Drink', he says, 'three time a day and wets will go'.

Praise be to Allah.

I thank him, pay and leave. Get home. Open the packet.

'This medication is to treat diarrhea and should be taken 3 times a day...'

Think It Over Now

2006-09-11T13:58:00.000+04:00

It's again another very hot day in Dubai and I've exhausted all the shopping centres in the city and have spent hours on the net reading and am rather bored. Sigh.

So I took to doing a little exercise, of the writing kind, one of those annoying emails that people send and ask you to answer and send on, in the hope of getting to know the 'real' you. Feel free to copy and write about yourself so I can get to know the 'real' you.

I am? a woman who is about to go in to the next age bracket...UGH!
I want? to feel at peace
I wish? someone would employ me
I hate? injustices
I miss? changes in weather and laneway restaurants and bars
I fear? failing
I hear I am not? prone to exercise
I hear I am? kind
I dance? like a wild person with big hair
I sing? all the time and out of tune...please never give me a microphone, I'd like to maintain some shreds of dignity
I cry? all the time, especially when I hear sad songs that make the me feel sentimental
I am not always? the most patient person
I make with my hands? cakes...and more cakes
I write? all the time, sometimes just for myself or for want of talking to someone
I confuse? what I want and what I need...do I really need to pur-chase that $150 jar of face cream?
I need? food...fresh green food and lots of laughter
I should? go to bed at a reasonable hour
I start? thinking about things and can't seem to turn my brain off
I finish? books and am happy

Wash Me Clean

2006-08-28T12:01:00.000+04:00

I had to do a visa run the other day. This means leaving Dubai, exiting the country by car or plane and then returning to get another stamp in your passport which gives you 60 days on a tourist visa. I chose to fly to Doha, Qatar which is an hour away.

Before check in I thought I'd pop to the ladies, as you do, and do the obligatory 'before you board a plane toilet visit'. I walked in to the loos and there were 10 chicks, a family, washing their feet in the basin or touching up their make up.
Their abayas (the long traditional black dress) were hanging up all around the room. I was washing my hands when a European tourist came in and made very loud sniffing noises and looked disgusted with what she saw. She was right to think that the toilets smelt; they reeked of foot odour. It was a really pungent smell that hit you as soon as you walked in the door.

What she may not have realised is that the women were washing themselves in preparation for prayer time. When they had all washed their feet, they washed their hands and put their abayas back on over their jeans and tops and then left to go to the prayer room.

I Want Your Sex

2006-08-21T15:23:00.001+04:00

I live in a fairly busy area and often see ladies of the night do their business on the street. A car stops, they chat, she gets in and off they go. Good for them I think, as long as the women are safe and making some money, it’s their business.

And now according to one punter it’s mine too.

I stood in front of our apartment block and was trying to flag a taxi. Normally taxis spot you and honk their horn to get your attention. In 42 degree heat it I felt like I’d been waiting for some time when I heard a honk.

I turned around and saw a plain car. There are lots of private taxis who work for the hotels. So I walked across the street and as I did he rolled down his window and all I heard was ‘how much…?’, and indignation quickly set it. My mouth must have dropped open because he sped away and I crossed back to the other side of the street in a blushed state.

Someone suggested that I should be flattered; I was wearing jeans, tshirt and no make up. Hmmm…have to think about that one.

Some like it hot

2006-08-18T15:21:00.000+04:00

On Wednesday afternoon I was sitting in our lounge room reading when the room suddenly got very dark. I looked up and saw that the sky was cloudy and I could barely see across the street. At the same time P got a text message from a colleague saying "its the end of the world".

Gulf News reported the next day:

"Hottest day of the year sizzles at 45.9C but more is yet to come
You have just survived the hottest day of the year on Wednesday when the mercury climbed up to a sizzling 45.9C.
More hot weather is expected over the coming few days although eastern parts of the UAE, such as Al Ain, may have showers on Thursday. Forecasters at Dubai International Airport said the highest temperature on Wednesday was reached at 1.23pm just before the sea breeze blew inland and cooled things down by a few degrees. Later in the afternoon there was a dramatic drop in visibility caused by sand-laden winds from eastern parts of the UAE. At one point, visibility was as little as 200 metres although there were no reports of disruption to flights".

Who Are You

2006-08-13T13:37:00.000+04:00

So many people ask me 'so what's Dubai like?'. To give you some stats read below and find out what a research company discovered when they were employed by Time Out Dubai to conduct a survey of over 600 residents from various backgrounds. Some interesting statistics which may answer your questions:

The cost of rent is shooting up faster than the Burj Dubai and we are extremely unhappy about it – so unhappy, in fact, that a whopping two thirds of residents would consider leaving as a result.
80 per cent of Dubaians are still in rented accommodation. Forty-two per cent of us get a company housing allowance, with that figure rising to almost 60 per cent for Westerners
Fifty per cent of Dubaians work more than 50 hours per week, and 20 per cent of that total are putting in 70-plus hours a week. Further compounding this misery, 42 per cent of the lowest-paid workers (US$2,132 and below) work between 50 and 70 hours a week, while the figure is 27 per cent for the highest earners (US$8,000 plus a month).
Forty-three per cent of us are overweight for starters and we’re getting fatter. Twenty-five per cent of us never do any exercise and 41 per cent of us do less than three hours a week.
Anyone who has sampled the somewhat dubious pleasures of one of Dubai’s many lowbrow bars won’t be surprised to learn that 57 per cent of us drink, with that figure rising to 84 per cent for Westerners – 20 per cent of whom drink more than 15 units of alcohol (one unit equals one measure of spirits, half a pint of beer, or one small glass of wine) a week.
Over a quarter of us smoke. Arabs smoke the heaviest – 45 per cent smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day, whereas Westerners are more likely to be social smokers – 39 per cent smoke fewer than four cigarettes a week.
Fifty-two per cent are happy, 13 per cent are unhappy, and 34 per cent are neither happy nor unhappy

So who are we?

We work hard, we play hard; our doctor tells us we’re out of shape physically, and psychologists tell us we may one day lose the plot mentally if we don’t recalibrate our daily schedules. We struggle to pay our rent, we hate sitting in traffic; we have a whole heap of people earning a lot more than us, but also even more people making less money and having to do even more to earn it below us. The era of the generous expat package is over for many of us, but things could be worse – when all is said and done, we’re still here and that’s for a reason – we’re probably earning more than we would in our home countries, or at least taking advantage of opportunities that wouldn’t be available to us elsewhere. We’re a mixed bag of people from all walks of life trying to better ourselves, and doing so with varying degrees of success. Despite our frustrations we’re happy and we are – shock horror – actually quite normal.

*All information from Time Out Dubai, 2 August 2006. www.timeoutdubai.com

Girls just wanna have fun

2006-08-04T16:11:00.000+04:00

Every Tuesday night in Dubai groups of women across the city rush home from work, paint on the plaster, splash on some perfume and then head to one of the numerous pubs that offer Ladies Night.

Ladies Night exists at many venues and generally offers free entry and a minimum of 2 free drinks. The idea being that there is approximately a ratio of 70/30 men to women in the city with many men being single and keen to meet some (trolley dolly) women.

Chicks tend to meet in small groups for dinner first and then do the 'rounds' and it's considered good value; go to a few venues and you've virtually had a free night out.

It's got to be said though that you get what you pay for or rather what you don't pay for. Think meat market and you'll get the picture.

Everybody wants to work...no, no, not me

2006-06-21T03:18:00.004+04:00

I'm not working at the moment and even though I have plenty of moments where I ask "Who am I?" "What am I doing here?" (thats my favourite thought right now) I'm enjoying just taking my time doing simple things. Like going to Paul, my favourite cafe, ordering a coffee and reading the whole paper until I notice the staff staring at me and I can see them thinking "is she going to order anything else?".

Then I remember what an indulgent life I'm living and think of the construction industry workers who you see all over the city in brightly coloured overalls.

You see them at lunch time outside Tasty Burger eating cheap meals and trying to drink as much water as they can because its free and they've been working since 6am in the heat. These men are mainly from India or Pakistan and come here to earn money which they then send back to their families back home. According to www.timeoutdubai.com these men earn, on average, 500 dirhams per month. Jobs for administration workers range from 5,000 - 10,000 dirhams per month and a marketing position at middle management level may receive 20,000 dirhams upwards per month. They live in labour camps which are reportedly over crowded with no airconditioning and there has been debate about the upcoming summer months because the workers argue that they shouldn't have to work outside when its over a certain temperature.

But Dubai is all about progress and the local media have been reporting that there will have to be some give and take between government bodies, the construction industry and the workers who are slowly realising that there is power in numbers. It will be interesting to see how the media reports the weather over the coming summer months.

Watch your mouth

2006-06-21T03:18:00.003+04:00

Customer service in Dubai can be quite bad. People blatantly lie and nod saying yes, it will happen when they know there is no such chance. It's considered very bad form for anyone to actually challenge the staff and even more so to swear at them. The poor Yank below found out the hard way. From www.7days.ae

"A fed up Dubai resident who lost his temper and swore at customer service staff has been jailed for a month. LL, 31, visited EmaarÃ‚Â’s customer service department in February to complain that, according to him, work on his apartment in The Greens had not been done as promised.
But when his complaints got him nowhere, he swore at the woman serving him, the Dubai Court of First Instance heard.

A witness told the court that the American also made offensive hand gestures to the 26-year-old woman. The angry customer unleashed a torrent of four letter insults at the woman, who was too embarrassed to say the words out loud, and wrote them down for the judge.
Ã‚Â“He was coming to complain, and then he started saying bad things to me,Ã‚Â” she said. Ã‚Â“I tried to calm him down and I told him that I would fetch my boss.Ã‚Â” LL was jailed for a month and fined dhs5,000. An Emaar security officer was also fined dhs5,000 for swearing back at the angry customer, a verdict that Emaar is appealing. The company said that while the case is still with the courts, they did not want to comment in detail but said that: Ã‚Â“Aggressive customers are not the norm for Emaar and there is no special policy to handle them.Ã‚Â”

Emaar added that the vast majority of its 13,000 homeowners are satisfied, but said that the company is Ã‚Â“open to genuine grievances, if any, of our customers.Ã‚Â” Ã‚Â“We have proper systems in place to ensure that our homeowners and tenants enjoy the best of amenities and conveniences.Ã‚Â”
Robert Keay, managing director of Ethos, a customer service consultancy, told 7DAYS that while he found swearing unacceptable, he understood how frustrating poor customer service can be.Ã‚Â“IÃ‚Â’ve witnessed several incidents when customers in Dubai lost their cool when problems were not solved for a very long time.

Ã‚Â“It happens every single day all over the world when people feel frustrated and lose the ability to think about the consequences of their actions,Ã‚Â” he added. All in all Keay believes customer service in Dubai is still much better than any other GCC country".