The city of excess

So far Tyson and I have ventured to Dubai twice, both times for his aviation exams. The first time was the day before we left for Germany and so Tyson dropped me off at Dubai Festival City to explore while he took his exam. This was my first time in a mall in Dubai and I was surprised to find so many recognizable brands - but the best store in there is IKEA (thank god for the Swedish and their cheap furniture!). Festival City was opened in 2007 and is not just a mall, but also houses residential, business and entertainment all in the same complex. It is on the water so there is a marina attached and a canal that surrounds the back part of the mall.

Although it is not officially recognized, I do believe that shopping is a national past time for the Emirate. It is one way to escape the heat. I perused the mall and noticed that the movie theater had movies that had been out in the states for quite awhile so it amused me to know that not much has changed on that front since living abroad over 25 years ago as a child. I still remember when Ghostbusters came out in theaters when we lived in Germany and it had been out in the states for more than six months!

When Tyson finished his exam we bought a few things at IKEA for the casa and then headed to an Emirates house. Tyson is fortunate enough to have befriended some nationals at his work and one of them offered for us to stay at his home in Dubai before we left for Germany and to take us to the airport so we didn't have to pay to park for a week. I must admit that I was a little intimidated to be meeting and staying with an Emirati. Mostly because I had no idea what to expect because the Emirati culture seems to be pretty closed and exclusive and there isn't alot of interaction with Emiratis and expats. It is so different to what I am used to with divisions between the genders and formalities and customs that are so contradictory to what I am accustomed to and as westerners we have so many misconceptions about the Arab culture and the middle east that you have no idea what is true.

Our host met us at a gas station dressed in the traditional disha dasha (white, immaculately pressed ankle length robe and red and white checked head scarf) and in his Lexus SUV to lead us to his house. He had told Tyson that we would have lunch at his house (asked if we liked fish) and that we would be staying in his guest house. He led us to his guest house and then turned to leave which confused us because of the amount of food that was laid out on the floor for us. He explained that he was going to spend time with us daughter, told us to make ourselves at home and left us to the guest house. The room with our lunch was long with an enormous ornate rug covering the entire floor with pillows lining the wall for seating. The walls were painted with texture making it appear to be cracked and there was a large painting on the wall with a water feature that was also textured.

We could not believe the amount of food that was laid out for us. There was kabob, hummus, Arabian bread, two whole broiled fish, fried shrimp with sauce, tabbouleh, dates, all kinds of different salads - enough food for at least eight people! Tyson and I feasted and couldn't believe that there was more food waiting for us in the living room area - a huge basket of every fruit imaginable and two cakes on a cart - for just the two of us! The "living room" had a giant flat screen TV with cable and a limited amount of English speaking channels and a couch that encompassed all three sides of the wall of this enormous room. Enough room for you and 30 of your closest friends. Dubai One is one of the cable channels that plays the most random line-up of shows - one minute it was Boston Legal and the next it was Tyra Banks and then Larry King Live. We were so stuffed that we laid around for the afternoon, took a nap and watched some TV. Anything to avoid going out in the heat. I eventually got up and explored the rest of the guest house. It had two bathrooms and one bedroom, but neither of the bathrooms had toilet paper - just the spray nozzles and guest towels!

We tried calling our host after awhile and figured he was napping when he didn't answer and then decided to go and explore parts of Dubai. We drove around and ended up at Jumeriah Beach and decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was gorgeous because the sun was setting and the sky was changing colors with hints of pink and purple. There was a walkway along the sand that was made out of the same squishy material as a track making it easy to walk and run along the beach.

Eventually our host called us and we went back to the house to meet him so he could show us around Dubai. We drove to get some of the best tea in town (that tasted like fruit loops) and as we drove our host was telling stories about his culture and I felt instantly at ease with him. It seemed odd to be riding along with a man dressed in a robe and whose culture had been completely elusive to me until now. I asked him if I could ask him questions about his culture and he was very welcoming and forthright with his answers. I asked about their marriages and he explained that their marriages are arranged by their parents and they are encouraged to marry young and have children. He is only 24, and already is married with a young child. He also explained that they are allowed to have four wives and a lot of men end up with their second and third wives being from Egypt and other countries. He also explained that they were allowed to divorce which seemed odd to me since their marriages were arranged. I asked if all the wives lived together and he laughed and said no most don't because they would kill each other. He said that he only had one wife because it was a lot of work because you had to do the same for each of the wives. I asked why women covered themselves and he explained that they saw women as diamonds and just like all things valuable other people are jealous and covet what they have so they cover themselves because they get jealous when other men look at them.

He also explained about the sheiks and how they came into power and told us that most Emiratis' histories were not far removed from the nomadic desert way of life and that is why tradition and rituals follow so much of their modern life now. I asked if there were any poor Emirati and he said there were, but that the government offered a lot of assistance and most Emirati were smart business people and so they were able to make a lot of money. He told us that the former ruler Sheik Zayed wanted all of the Emirati to have free housing and so disributed land and houses to his people (this has since changed since his death in 2004) and still to this day nationals do not pay for utilities like power and water.

I continued to ask questions as we drove around Dubai and visited the famous Palm Island, stopped at Dubai Marina and smoked sheesha, and drove along the beach. The most interesting thing to me about the day was how I noticed how respectful he was to Tyson always calling him "captain" and "sir", and how devoted he was to family, describing his father and brother, and other family -- but how disrespectful he was to the tea guy - pulling up in the SUV and honking to get service, parking wherever he wanted and not caring about an actual parking spot. There is definitely a huge divide between classes here - if you are from the Philippines or Pakistan or even India you are treated like a second class citizen. Despite this, he was more than gracious to us and provided us with better hospitality than I have experienced anywhere. He even personally drove us to the airport at 5:00 in the morning!

Our second trip to Dubai was last week and we happened to be there during a terrible sand storm! It was amazing how much sand was blowing around and how it made it difficult to see anything in the distance, not to mention how much of it was blowing around on the roads. We spent some more time at Festival City and explored some shops, and grabbed lunch at a Sushi place that had plates of sushi going by on the conveyor belt that you could just grab as you pleased. I was amused by the amount of enormous posters that were hanging from the ceiling welcoming Paris Hilton to Dubai. Apparently she was visiting and they made sure she knew she was welcome! After lunch we decided to explore the Trade Winds which is modeled after the traditional souks and got roped into a 30 minute presentation on carpets - the sales people are no joke and the most high pressure of anywhere I have seen.

We decided to explore some of the other malls to escape the sand and ended up at the Dubai Mall which is a monstrosity! Not including all the typical shops you would find, there is a gold souk, aquarium, waterfall and Olympic size ice rink! Everything in excess here!

Can you see my ghost husband in this one?