We found this display amusing. It is very rare to see children this small wearing abaya and sheyla. They usually don’t start wearing them until adolescence. Can you imagine trying to keep a child’s head wrapped in a scarf?
Abayas
March 6, 2009Kushti wrestling
March 6, 2009Check out the new video on http://fortylove.tv on Kushti wrestling. When Adrianna says that a friend told her to meet him — that was Paul. It was three Friday’s ago we went to see this.
As a woman, I was getting a lot of looks like this one. Without pushing my way into the crowd, I wasn’t going to be able to see much and standing for hours just isn’t physically possible for me anymore, so I spent most of the time at a distance where I found a place to sit down.
Notice the guy above wearing a grey sweater over his kurta. It is winter, after all.
Paul elbowed his way into the crowd so he could see better.
The physical intimacy among men will always seem odd to me and ironic in a place where such a public display between a man and woman could get them into trouble.
This is the crowd around Adrianna as she interviewed the referee. So, if you are a woman and want to come to this event, make sure you are a cute Asian with a video camera and an interpreter.
Random thoughts
March 6, 2009We’ve coined a new phrase — road neener neener. Paul doesn’t have road rage. He has road neener neener. If he can keep someone from cutting in front of him or pass someone who is driving ridiculously and leave them in his dust, he takes great joy in this. It’s what keeps us sane while driving in Dubai.
Totally embarassing moment: Paul called to tell me he was there to pick me up and I walked out to the place he usually waits to pick me up. I saw a little white car in that same spot. Walked up to it. Opened the door and almost got in when I realized that the driver was a strange woman? So, I say “Oh, sorry, wrong car. … Where’s my husband?” and I look around to find our car. She says “I don’t know, but I can give you a ride home.” Luckily, I saw that he had pulled into a parking spot a short distance away, excused myself and proceeded to get in the right car. No more operating on autopilot for me!
Miss Kitty came to visit me at the library while I was working the late shift Tuesday night. She came to the front door and meowed. I heard her through the double doored lobby. So, I went out picked her up and petted her a bit. Not enough to satisfy her, but I was working alone, so couldn’t be away for very long. She is starting to shed voluminously. The weather is warming up again. I suppose it won’t be long before she is hairless again.
“A grouchy Sudanese telling an American living abroad in an Arab country to go see an Indian Chiropractor. Only in Dxb.” – our friend Muhammed Ali (yes, that is his name.) This pretty much sums up Dubai (Dxb is the airport code – you can probably see why I find PDX and DXB confusing.) Dubai is the ultimate in multicultural and our growing group of friends and acquaintences is definitely multiethnic – Indian, Singaporean, Burmese, Russian/Syrian, Sudanese, Eqyptian/Swiss, Swedish, North Carolingian, South African, etc. They are incredibly funny, intelligent people I love to hang out with.
At our favorite restaurant one night, we had a new waiter. He asked Paul where he was from (it’s the beard again). The waiter then struck up a conversation, in his best Globish version of English, asking us how we thought Obama was doing in his first month. He then proceeded to tell us that it is American politics/foreign policies that people hate, not Americans and that the Americans he has met are all nice people. He really wanted us to understand that there is no animosity toward American people. Interestingly enough, this came up in another conversation with someone else a few weeks later. So, I wonder. Can American’s say the same?
Car washing/cleaning is rampant here. There are no fund raising car washes here because that would require a business license (also there are very strick rules regarding charities and fund raising here). However, you can get your car cleaned in nearly any parking lot. There is a man who cleans the cars in our apartment building parking lot. We pay Dhs 100 ($27) per month. He goes over the body with a duster, wipes the windshield and washes with water and rag only when there is something the duster can’t handle (like when Paul drove through the Sharjah industrial area after it had rained). This is done several times a week. Paul tried putting tips of 5 or 10 dirhams under the windshield wiper, but the guy just deducts that from the monthly fee. Festival City mall seems to have a troup of car washers hanging around in the parking lot just waiting to wash your car while you are doing your shopping. Kind of amazing. We saw someone washing a car in an open parking lot during a sandstorm. Might as well have been spitting into the wind.
We love Dubai. … Have we said that already?
Not knowing our place
March 4, 2009We went to a local chicken “fast food” restaurant. I put fast food in quotes because they don’t have food ready sitting under a heat lamp. If you order the 15 piece family meal, they actually have to cook 15 pieces of chicken for you while you wait, even though your order is “to go” and not “eat in.” This is not American fast food.
Anyway, we waited. When our order was about ready, the guy filling our drinks dropped a cardboard drink carrier on the floor. He was behind a counter and unable to reach it. Paul automatically walked over and picked it up. The guy waved and said “No, sir, no” and gave Paul one of the most scornful looks ever. How dare he pick that up! We were greatly amused. I told Paul “It’s because you just don’t know your place.” We live in a topsy turvy world. It was like the opposite of “who do you think you are?!” So, I’ve coined another word – downity. It’s the opposite of uppity. It applies to folks like us who were taught to pick up after ourselves, be kind to others and pitch in to help who are now trying to adjust to a world where someone is paid to pick up after us and we are not supposed to pick up after them.
Al Meshwar – Fujairah
March 2, 2009To find a place to eat dinner after our bull butting disappointment and short visit to the beach we consulted the guide book. We picked Al Meshwar mainly because the guide book said “a bizarre building that looks like a cross between a set from the Flintstones and a crusader castle.” Darned if they weren’t right! — Great food, we highly recommend.
Fujairah
March 2, 2009
Fujairah has several roundabouts with large public art. Above, the large coffee pot and cups, below a hand holding a perfume bottle (?).
Along the beach were some rather Flintstone style trees and matching trash cans.
This is Paul and our new friend Zeyah standing on the beach. Below you can see that the water was so still and the sky so hazy that it is nearly impossible to see where the horizon is.
I fully intended to dip my toes in the Gulf of Oman, but the overwhelming bad fish smell put me off. The sand here was actual sand, not broken shells. It was very dark sand and it made the water dark, too, which made it even more uninviting.
What I’m talking about!
March 2, 2009This is part of our trip to Fujairah. We had to negotiate several roundabouts (they love roundabouts here). We took the wrong road at one point and had to double back which is why you will see the mosque twice.
Watch carefully at the end of the video you will see a typical example of the dangerous driving that goes on here. In fact, this was the second time this had happened that day. A SUV pulls up behind us, flashes his lights. When we don’t get immediately out of his way, he pulls around us and continues to weave through traffic.
Recommendations
February 28, 2009For those of you who read our blog to live vicariously, you should add www.fortylove.tv to your vicarious viewing habits. Our friend Adrianna and her friend May post videos of the strange and interesting things they are encountering in their travels. Adrianna is about to embark on a trip around the Middle East – Yemen, Iran, Syria, etc. (I’m not sure of all the destinations.) I am certain that she will have a lot to share.
I would also like to plug one of Paul’s Shufflegazine blog entries – More Connected Than Ever. This is SO true for us. We have met some of the most amazing people here in Dubai solely because Paul has connected with them online. We would not have found these friends by just wandering around a city of 1.5 million or relying on my work environment.
Bull Butting Bust
February 28, 2009
We drove all the way to Fujairah yesterday in hopes of watching the traditional bull butting. We did find the “arena” and there were other hopefuls there waiting to see a contest or two, but none materialized. Someone said that someone important had died that morning which would mean that the contests were canceled due to mourning. Nothing in the Gulf News this morning, so it wasn’t a government official.
Notice how this guy drove up onto the berm so he could watch from the comfort of his vehicle. Below, more of the hopefuls waiting for some action.
Anyway, we had a blast on the drive, the dinner, and the drive home. We had the company of two new friends and lots of interesting sites and experiences. I will post each separately.
Oops, you are probably saying “What IS bull butting?” It is a contest between trained bulls who butt heads and the winner is the one who pushes the other out of the “ring.” It is a mostly bloodless sport. No bull is killed. No matadors. Think of it as bulls wrestling.
We intend to go back, so if and when we do, we’ll have video so you can experience it vicariously for yourself.
Driving in Dubai
February 20, 2009We’ve been attempting to video the driving experience for you. However, we’ve determined that we must have a magic camera, because traffic is uncharacteristically easy when I have the camera on. It is when I don’t have the camera on that the most amazing things happen. So, these are three fairly mild (and maybe downright boring) versions of our drive to work.
Pulling out of the garage and the first three-four blocks are the most challenging. Not only does Daddybird have very limited visibility of oncoming traffic (due to SUVs parked along the street, but if we don’t time it just right, there are wandering crowds of construction workers due to the shift change that happens right about 7:30 am. One morning Daddybird nearly ran over a woman who was on our left and she thought it would be a good idea to walk in front of a car that whose driver was looking to the right for oncoming traffic. So, now my job is to be on pedestrian watch. It is amazing how little responsibility for their own safety pedestrians take.
Things to watch for in these videos: Pedestrians walking in the street when there is a perfectly good sidewalk on the other side of those parked cars. Cars double parked or stopping to let someone out, blocking traffic. The waltz that is the intersection where three streams of traffic come together. In one video the oncoming car flashes his lights to let us know we can go. Uncharacteristically polite! There are also bicyclists to avoid.
This third video is fairly boring until about half way through when a truck pulls in front of us without much warning and directly after that a car blocks traffic trying to change lanes. The kicker is that he doesn’t just want to move over one lane, but he wants all the way over in order to make a left turn.
The rules of the road here include:
1. Don’t move over just one lane. Move from the far right to the far left or visa versa. Cross as many lanes as possible in as little distance as possible.
2. Don’t get into the back of the line when you can move up to the front and force others to let you in.
3. If you want to change lanes, do not slow down and pull in behind the car in that lane. Speed up and pull in front of them.
4. Brakes are a strange and unnecessary feature on your vehicle.
5. After clearing a speed bump you should accelerate at top speed until you hit the next one, especially in parking lots.
There is a great blog post by someone else that documents Dubai traffic complete with pictures to prove the points. http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/01/dubai-driving-tips.html
