Ridiculous Week!

The last week and a half has been absolutely ridiculous. So much has happened. I’m going to combine 3 blog entries into 1.


One night last weekend I went out with a friend on my side of town, which is called Deira. Deira is the original Dubai. It feels like a real city, its cheaper than most other parts, there are always people out and about, and it’s very diverse. Many parts of Dubai are so modern and nice that it doesn’t really feel like a real city, kind of like a fake resort. Hard to describe. Anyway, walking around was great because the Dubai Shopping Festival is going on right now (I’ll explain this in the next post). So there were a lot of small street festivals and tons of people were out and about. There was tons of street food, carnival games, etc.

During the week, on Monday night, I went to this arts space where every Monday they show an indie movie and there’s a concert afterwards. They showed Sita Sings the Blues, which is an animated story that incorporates Hindi legends with a modern day story, with blues music. It’s a great movie and I actually saw it at the 2008 Chicago international film festival. On a side note, I went the week before, and even though this is a private space, the movie last week had some nude pictures, and they actually blocked the projector to sensor it. All nude images and graphic scenes are censored in Dubai, but it was surprising that the people who run this art space censored a private screening. After the movie, some labor camp workers sang some a capella Bollywood songs, which was absolutely incredible. A bit of background: all the construction workers in Dubai are Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. They live in labor camps, which are horrible housing complexes. They work 6 days a week, and basically work and sleep. They have almost no rights, barely get paid, and literally are not allowed to do much of anything besides work. However, recently, they allowed a singing competition between the labor camps, and some of the winners of this competition were allowed to perform for us. So this was special for many reasons, and the fact that they were legit singers made it even more special.

On Thursday night, which is the weekend here, I got a call from a friend right as I was leaving work. She had been given 2 VIP tickets to the jazz festival and invited me to go. The jazz festival here isn’t like jazz festivals in the states, because it’s not really jazz. They invite artists, like James Morrison and David gray to come and perform. The night I went, David Gray was headlining. IT was a pretty cool experience, especially because the concert as in this really cool outdoor space surrounded my skyscrapers. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. Afterwards, I went out with one of the guys who came to the concert with us, and went to this awesome club called Okku. I have no idea how we got in, clubs here are ridiculous, and for guys, you generally have to have a bottle to get in. But this guy knew everyone, and somehow we got in. The funny thing about Dubai is that you party with anyone and everyone, and apparently the managing director of his firm goes out every weekend and gets a table, and they all party together. Nowhere else in the world would this happen.

On Friday, I had lunch with one set up cousins and then went to this ridiculous club that’s at a beach resort. Its 30 minutes outside of Dubai, and people go during the day to party at the beach. You literally show up in a swimsuit, the club is on the beach, you can go swimming at the club, and some of the tables have Jacuzzis next tot hem. There was an awesome DJ playing and everyone was having an amazing time. I left a little early to meet up with another group of cousins for dinner. These cousins are on the “fun” side of the family the same ones I get together with every 4 years for a family gathering in India. Even the grandparents make dirty jokes, and all around it was a great night. Imagine 40 year olds and older taking shots.

Yesterday, I woke up and went shopping with one cousin and her mom. Right after that, I went to a 20/20 cricket match to see England vs. Pakistan. IT was incredible! There were very few British, but all the Pakistanis were going crazy. I sat in the rowdiest section and everyone was singing and dancing. Cricket is usually an all day event, but this new 20/20 format shortens to the length of a baseball game, so its much more exciting. Pakistan ended up winning at the last minute, and the stadium erupted. The tickets were only about $15, and the best part was they sold samosas at the stadium.