Spoiled/ Incapable of Doing Anything on My Own

Most people in Dubai are extremely spoiled. This is because there’s so much money, the culture, and because you are not really expected to do a lot of things on your own. I live with my grandparents, and they have a cook and a driver, and someone who comes to clean the apartment once a week. Every day my lunch is packed for me for when I go to work, and now that my grandparents are gone, I have the driver to myself. Normally he works from about 9-8, but I’ve almost reversed his schedule. He drops me off at work at 930, and then goes home. He picks me up at 6, and then I usually use him from around 6pm to 11pm, for when I go out at night. Drivers here also run all your errands for you. If you need a prescription to be picked up, anything to be dropped off, etc. you just tell the driver. And drivers here know everything, way more than most people about Dubai. A good example of this is everything that I’ve had to do for my visa. To get a residency visa, I had to prove a graduated from U of C, and since I only brought a copy of my diploma, this was a long process. I had to get a visa service in the states to get a copy of my original diploma, get a copy notarized, then stamped by the DC local government, then taken to the state department to get stamped, then to the UAE embassy in DC, then sent here, then stamped by the ministry of foreign affairs. Once that was done, my company got all the paperwork filled out. Then I had to get a health check, basically TB, HIV, and HEP A/B. I had no idea how to do this, but of course my driver did. He basically took me to a health center and I just stood there while he got all the correct authorizations and I just had to give my blood. Then he went back 3 days later to get the results. To get my license, I have to get an eye test, and of course, my driver knows exactly where to go and how to get everything done. Also, most of the people that work at the government agencies are Indian, so he just runs around, speaks to them in Hindi or his local dialect, and I just stand there until he tells me to do something else. I literally could not have done any of this on my own, and even my cousins told me to ask my driver to do everything for me. So obviously I am extremely spoiled here, but half the things I would normally do, I literally couldn’t. I don’t even know where half the things in my own kitchen are. Even for dry-cleaning, someone comes to my apartment to pick up the clothes and drop them off. This week, the cable stopped working for some reason, so of course, I asked the driver, and he knew exactly what to do. So it’s been awesome being so spoiled, but also frustrating that some things I literally cannot do on my own, and I have to ask others to do them for me, which is a very weird experience. But all in all, I’ll take it!

Shopping, Malls, and the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF)

Dubai is all about shopping. There are at least 8 major shopping malls, most of which are bigger than those in the states. Some of them are Festival City, Wafi (Egyptian Themed), Mercato (like Venice), Dubai Mall (biggest mall in the world), Mall of the Emirates (with indoor ski area), Ibn Battuta Mall, etc. The DSF is a month long affair that is one of the main tourist attractions in Dubai. Every mall had ridiculous sales, and pretty much any store you can think of is in Dubai. If you spend a certain amount of money, you get free raffle tickets to win cars, your weight in gold, vacations, and tons of money. Before the economic crises, one Rolls Royce was given away every single day. Now it’s slightly more toned down. They also have a fireworks show every single night and carnivals and cultural events throughout the city. Since I needed to go shopping, I figured I’d go during the festival, and I got a couple raffle tickets to win a Mercedes. Fingers crossed! One thing I did buy was a pair of sandals. This was a big deal because I’ve only had crocs for almost a year now, so for all of you croc haters, I will no longer being wearing crocs all the time! As most of you know, I hate shopping and suck at it, so I recruited my cousin and her mom, and they literally had laid out a route through the mall to take me on to get what I needed. I went to Dubai Mall, and took a couple pictures, so you can see how insane the place is. They have maps just for the parking garage! The mall has an ice rank, an aquarium, and tons of other random things. At some point I will post pictures of the other malls so you can see how nice they are. I hate shopping malls generally, but the ones here are so nice, that I don’t mind going to them. Not to mention, it gets so hot here during the summer, that everyone just hangs out in malls, because you cant do anything outside.

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.

Apocalypse in the U.S.

In lieu of the earthquake that hit Chicago this morning, and with the massive blizzards that are hitting Chicago and the East Coast, I thought I would write about my earthquake experience.

Two years ago, and 6.0 earthquake hit southern Illinois and St. Louis. I first felt it at 4am. I was wasted and playing guitar hero at the time. Suddenly, the whole house started shaking. I thought it was part of the video game and that that I had beat the game! Anyway, I passed out soon after and woke up again at 8am to the whole house shaking. I thought it was street construction and was so pissed they had started so early and woken me up. I only realized it was an earthquake and aftershock when some co-workers told me later that day.

The 4.3 earthquake that struck Chicago this morning around 4am was a 4.3. Almost no one I know felt it, or even knew it occurred until I told them about it. It was in the suburbs, and barely anyone felt it in the city, but people felt it in Indiana, especially around South bend.

Little known fact: The midwest is the second most active fault line in the U.S. outside of California. It sits on the New Madrid fault line, and every couple of hundred years, there are devastating earthquakes. Because the region is so flat, even small quakes are felt for miles and miles. Here's a great article about it:

http://www.scchealth.org/docs/ems/docs/prepare/newMadrid.html

The earthquake happened in Chicago while I was at work, and everyone in Chicago was sleeping. I wanted to get first hand info about what happened, and I finally realized how people can communicate so quickly using Twitter. On Google, when you search for news articles, there is a live feed function that continuously pops up new articles and blog posts are they are published. This includes twitter, so literally minutes after the quake, I was able to read people's responses and learn where people did and did not feel the quake, how they responded, and what their thoughts were. It was pretty cool.

For the first time, I miss the states, mostly because of the snow! I'm so jealous that everyone in DC is getting 3 feet of snow in a week! I want to be sledding and having snow ball fights in the street. Dubai is a 'cold' 65 degrees. People are bundling up in sweaters and complaining about the cold. Funny how in Chicago people would kill for a 65 degree day and in Dubai people complain.

Being in High School Again

Living with my grandparents is almost like being in high school again. Every time I go out they ask when I’m coming back, what my plans are, who I’m hanging out with, etc. I know every Thursday and Friday night I will be going out (weekends here are Fridays and Saturdays, still getting used to that) but I don’t usually know when or where. And I don’t usually know if I will be eating dinner at home or not. This is usually the biggest concern. After the first week when I told my grandmother that I will go out late on the weekends, she stopped worrying all the time and I was fine for a bit. Other times I’ve come to Dubai, she has stayed awake until I came home, but now she goes to sleep. However, on Friday night I went out to a friend’s birthday party, and we got another stretched hummer limo and bottle service at a club. Needless to say, I was wasted when I got home, and somehow my grandmother woke up. She then proceeded to yell at me for drinking. I honestly don’t remember much of what she said, but when I woke up the next morning, she proceeded to yell at me more and tell me how disappointed she was at me. I blamed it on the American friends I was hanging out with and told her they were bad influences. But now I realize that I will have to move out at some point. On top of that, she set the alarm in my room for 7am!!! I was so pissed!! I asked her about it, and she said she didn’t know how to use it and that it must have happened randomly. But the alarm clock had been in my room the whole time I’ve been here, and had never gone off.

Luckily for me, my grandparents left for India today and will be gone for a month and a half, so I don’t have to worry about them for a while. Besides the whole religion thing, I have been getting really annoyed with my grandparents lately. Every morning I wake up my grandmother wants to talk, which isn’t a bad thing, but when im tired and cranky in the morning, sometimes I just don’t want to talk, especially when she talks to me in Gujurati, a Hindi like language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarati_language). I don’t understand the language completely, and I have to really concentrate to understand it, and in the morning im just way too lazy. My grandfather has really bad hearing, and doesn’t understand my English very well. So when he talks to me, I have to yell back at him and repeat myself 5 times, which gets annoying after a while. And then, when I leave every morning, my grandmother wants to hold my hand and pinch my cheeks. This is cute, but doing this every morning for a month gets annoying. On top of that, I don’t work on Fridays and Saturdays, so I can have a normal weekend, but every Saturday morning they wake me up at 8am and ask if Im going to work. A lot of private companies have work 6 days a week, and they think I should be working, but I need my weekends.

In other news, there is a new girl in the Zainulbhai family!!!!! Azeem was officially married this weekend so I have a sister!!!! The wedding ceremonies aren’t for another month, but in Hindu custom, you get married on an auspicious day, and last Sunday was the only auspicious day for the next couple of months. It’s exciting to have a sister!

The only problem with Indian weddings is that sending out invitations are a huge process. For close family members, you have to literally hand deliver the invitiations with gifts. So, for the past week, I had to run around town and deliver invitations with my grandparents.

First Bad Experience in Dubai

So, this week has been a little bad because I got a cold. Now a cold on its own isn't so bad, but I also worked out my hamstrings on Sunday, and now I literally can't walk. I've been shuffling around like a penguin bc it hurts so much to walk. So because the cold and not being able to walk, I missed out on an art night, trivia night, and beach volleyball.

Amazing Week

The last week was really busy for me and I actually got to do a lot of things that I didn’t think I would be able to do in Dubai. Last weekend I met up with some of Azeem’s friends again and went to a place called Dubai Marine Club. This is basically a hotel on the beach, with a huge boardwalk like area with 10 restaurants, bars, and clubs. We just barhopped a little bit and hung out a Cuban bar/ restaurant. One thing that sucks about Dubai is that smoking is still allowed everywhere, so you end up always smelling of smoke. However, you can buy Cuban cigars at bars, which is awesome.

My dad came into town for a night on business, and since he was coming through the Duty Free at the airport, I told him to buy me a bottle of vodka, so I could smuggle it past my grandparents. Since my grandparents came to the airport with me to pick him up, we had to sneak it into his bag before they saw it. But now, I have a bottle of vodka stashed in my room, so when I really need a drink, I can get one. I never would have though that I’d have to ask my dad to smuggle booze for me!

On Tuesday, I joined a beach volleyball league and played beach volleyball. It was awesome, a great way to meet people and have fun on the beach. The league is played at a beach bar called Barasti, which is a really cool, chill beach bar. Tuesday happened to be Australia National day (there is no Independence day, bc Australia is still a commonwealth of the UK, but this day celebrates the first colonization of Australia), and they had a huge party. Lots of cowboy hats were passed around and there were a ton of drunk Australians. I’m sure I will be going back to this bar a lot, totally my scene. I fit in quite well wearing shorts, crocs and a Hawaiian shirt, the first chance I‘ve had so far to wear one!

On Wednesday, I went to Artsnight, at the Dubai International Finance Center (DIFC). DIFC is an awesome set of buildings with tons of restaurants, bars, clubs, and galleries. Besides having tons of offices, it reminds me of an outdoor mall in LA. The architecture is really cool. I saw a fashion show and all the galleries were opened up for people to check out the art. They also were passing out some food and free drinks. When I moved to Dubai, one of my cousins said there wasn’t much art and culture here, but apparently, there’s much more than there appears to be. It was fun, but all the people there seemed to be very posh and into the scene.

On Friday, I went on all day long hike. I left Dubai at 6:30am with a couple friends, and we drove to a town called Dibba, which is in Oman, about 2 hours away. We met up with an adventure company and hiked up a mountain called Jebel Qihwi. Jebel means mountain in Arabic. This peak is in a range called the Mosandam range (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musandam_Peninsula). It was a pretty intense hike, about 7 hours in all, and to get to the peak, we had to shimmey up a crack in the rock and literally climb our way through a hole to the top. From the top, you can see the Iranian coastline, which was pretty awesome. The mountains look a lot like the grand canyon. Wadi (river) canyons wind they way throughout he mountains all around. Wadi means river, but these are all dried up rivers, that flash flood whenever rain comes. The most difficult part was actually hiking back down from the top, because it is all loose stones, so footing is tough and you slip a lot. There was a cool small village on the way down that we walked through, with neat terraced fields. It’s incredible to think how people still survive out there with very little water and so high up in the mountains.

Today, I met up with a friend and we went to J.B.R., Jumeira Beach Residence, which is a development built right on the beach, with a ton of beachfront restaurants and stores. There were a ton of people out and about, and it felt like a real city with so many people walking around. In most parts of Dubai, there really aren’t that many people outside, so it was a nice feeling. Even though it’s in Dubai, it did kind of feel like a beach on an island, in a beach resort, kind of like being on vacation.

All in all, a great week, and I got to many things that I thought I wouldn’t be able to do in Dubai. People keep saying I’m so lucky to be doing all these things in such a short time after coming to Dubai, some things that my friends hear haven’t done in all the time they’ve been here. So I hope these kinds of things keep happening to me!