Dolly's Blog

I have been thinking about this entry and how I want to write something positive about Dubai, so I tried to make a list of things in my head of the positives and this is what I came up with: free valet parking almost everywhere you go, capoeria, SkiDubai (even though I have some environmental ethics issues with it), diversity, good shopping and cheap gas.  That's my list.  So here is my effort at finding something positive that is a little more substantial than those things:

This whole war between Lebanon and Isreal has made me realize that Dubai is a really tolerant, even liberal place....relatively speaking.  The Muslim culture here is conservative enough that women dress in abayas (black robe thingys) with headscarves and veils, but tolerant enough to allow other women (Arab, European, Asian) to wear the fashions of the West.  There is definitely a religious and cultural tolerance here, that many other places don't have, but that doesn't stop people from making sweeping generalizations.  For example, there is a new law going into effect that says companies have to hire a certain amount of Emeratis.  The first reaction that most people have is why? all Emeratis are loaded and don't need to work.  The second is that companies would much rather hire Indians or Filipinos because they work hard for less money and Arabs, especially Emeratis, have a reputation for being lazy.  Regardless of the generalizations, it doesn't prevent people from co-existing happily.  Granted, I haven't seen or met one Jewish person, so I can't quite make the comparison to Lebanon and Isreal, but I do find here, that there is a good deal of respect for Islam from the Westerners and the Muslims seem to accept the Christians. 

I was taken shopping by one of the secretaries in my building to shop for fabric in a cheap area, because she said I would get ripped off.  I met her and her sister and their daughters on a Friday.  Normally at work she wears colorful clothes but always all covered up with a headscarf, but on Fridays she wears black because it is the holy day.  So I go shopping with these four Muslim women all covered up and there's me in white pants and a Mexican shirt with flip flops, but they didn't seem to mind at all!  It was really fun.  It was interesting, because we were shopping for Indian tops and her daughter and I were looking at the same one.  Her daughter is 15 years old and about the same size as me, so my friend picked a large for her daughter and handed me a small.  I kind of looked at her and she said "for you, it's okay."  She wasn't rude or condescending about it at all, it was just very matter of fact; if you are a Westerner you wear tighter fitting clothes...period....no big deal.

Okay, so that positive thinking just ended because I just found out that Etisalat, the local phone monopoly, has blocked me from using Skype.  I'm so mad I could scream.  The censorship here is unbelievable!  I mean, it isn't even censorship....the problem is that the censorship is left up to Etisalat, not the government, so Etisalat can "censor" anything that may eat into their profits!  Now I have to buy a 12 dollar phone card to have a 15 minute call to the US.  The censorship issue has been a hot topic lately, because they just blocked YouTube.com and all PC to PC calling programs.  I thought I was in the clear because I live in a "free zone" which means I can still access myspace.com, while the rest of the city can't, but that didn't stop Etisalat from blocking Skype!  Argh!!!!  I'm sooo mad. 

One more thing....I just went to the grocery store this morning and I was in the cereal aisle and all the Special K boxes had a big white sticker covering half the box!  Apparently, there is some woman, no doubt, on there is a bikini or something.  It's totally ridiculous, especially when you look up from the box and see a woman in daisy dukes and a bikini top shopping for cereal!!! 

Sorry, I am really trying to find good things to say about Dubai...I'll keep looking.