Every day life in a diverse environment...

It occurred to me that whilst (yes, that is a word, I learned it from Frank) doing my second load of laundry, we Americans don’t understand the magnitude of modern conveniences. In five days I have managed to accomplish much less then I originally anticipated. Now, many may think that this is normal, that one always sets out to do more than possible in the course of the day. However, I beg for your ear to share what I have learned so far.
When I go to Publix, I can choose from Tide to Purex… Bounce to Snuggle, Glad to Ziploc Breyers to Edys… Not to mention the store brands, which are possibly equal to or better in quality. In Dubai, you can choose from Tide. Bounce is the only dryer sheet I’ve seen so far…one solitary box. Breyers? Not so much. Store brands… well, I suppose they are ok, if I could read the labels.
It’s not that there isn’t a lot to choose from… I simply pointed out brands from the US. Actually, we have more to choose from here, but you may only find one or two from your home country. I’ve never had tuna packed in brine from Thailand, can I trust it? How about powdered milk? Is this something I should know about, and which brand it best? From appliances to fish, I am in foreign territory. I considered myself a well versed shopper in the States, but here, I’m not just contemplating my purchase, I’m trying to understand it. It’s not just ‘pick up a blender’; it’s trying to find a blender that with a name that you can trust… how is this possible... I don’t know these names. I don’t know these languages. Everyone asked, ‘Do they speak English?’, ‘Will you have to learn Arabic?’. Yes to the first and no to the second. Although, I might possibly have to invest time learning Indian, Chinese, French, and a half dozen more to accomplish anything. Why don’t I ask for help? Oh sure, but I hope they like to repeat themselves. Communication is broken in most every society, whether you speak the same language or not. It’s not a matter of listening anymore. I can listen all day to everything I hear, I won’t in a million years, understand it all.
I only have met 2 Americans so far. One I already knew, he was in John’s interview class, and the other I met at HQ while processing my visa. The guy above us is from South Africa, the neighbors next to us are from Australia, the girl in the pool, she was French…I heard a few Germans and plenty of Indian. I almost shared a cab with a Chinese flight attendant…but we were going in opposing directions… I think. There is not political correctness her either, I don’t have to look around before I say anything about anyone. It’s simply describing a person. Back home I can say the ‘black guy’ and get some nasty looks, here, I can say it and no one shirks. There are too many people from different places… you don’t know if the ‘black guy’ is African…he may be English, or Sri Lankan… Offences here are not the same. And NO ONE knows how to stand in line (they call it a ‘queue’ here).
I’ve mastered the timing of taxis and traffic, although it’s not without difficulty. You must plan very precisely. Timing is crucial. You must always plan on getting back home before 4pm… that’s when the shifts change. It’s also the beginning of rush hour, which can last a full six hours, maybe even more. At least is it moving traffic. When it comes to getting around, everything is according to landmarks. So you don’t give the cabby an address like 123 main street, you give them landmarks, ‘Millennium Tower, Sheikh Zayed Road, by Business Bay and on the right side near Metropolitan Hotel’ If they still don’t get it, you have to describe the building. If you fail to do this, it may result in a larger fare. Pink cabs are for ladies only. They have lady drivers. It’s Muslim thing. I dig it… except the girl that drove me home yesterday, had no idea how to use the gas pedal. She was Indian. The Pakistanis are aggressive drivers, great, but very scary. The Indians are the talkative ones, so they enjoy a bit of conversation. There are lots of accidents, but no more then there are back home.
In the US, people walk around texting constantly, phones raised to their faces so they can type away at an alarming rate. I do the same, only I’m sporting a calculator, punching numbers to find out what I’m paying for. 1 US dollar is equal to 3.67 Dirhams. Sometimes, I’m shocked to find out what the prices are… I can’t figure out how they can make them for so little. I bought a Master Chef hand mixer for 8US. Not bad… But even with so many prices lower there is an occasional shock, for example. Lint rollers. For $2.50 you can get a whopping 10 sheets on a cheap plastic handle without a reputation. In some way I feel like I’m in a giant dollar store. Did I mention yet that the ‘supersized’ grocery stores are located in the malls? IKEA is across from Hyper Panda (it’s like Wal-mart on crack), which is located adjacent to Festival City where you can by Dolce’s newest hand bag. You’d expect the wealthy, who will spend loads of money on designer products like clothes, shoes, jewellery (that’s how they spell it here) to also spend big money when it comes to everyday goods. Nope. Not so true. I saw 10 people huddled around a bin full of pillow cases “pack of 6 for 9 dirhams” that’s $2.45 in US Dollars. 120 thread count, and they are not all the same pattern or color. It’s so ironic.
Juice bars and Ice cream stores are plentiful, that’s for sure. They love, love, love sweets. We have a coffee shop on the ground floor of our building… they have gelato. So tempting. So good. SO BAD. But on the other side of the building we have a drycleaners, small pharmacy and money exchange. In time, when the buildings around us are completed, we will have lots more small shops. The ground floor of most every building has some kind of shop or restaurant. Some even have medium sized grocers. Business Bay, the area right behind us, is shaping up very nicely, and eventually will provide access to everything I need… and if I tried, I could hit a base ball right to it. Unless of course there is fog. In the mornings, the fog can get very dense. So dense, that you can’t see the outside of your window sill. It burns off by 8am or so. But it hasn’t been entirely clear since I arrived. The sky line at night is pretty amazing though. Especially when there is traffic. It’s like a solid line of white for as long as the eye can see.