Lorena's Epiphany

Crane-Filled Mustard Sky

December 12, 2009 at 8:34 pm Leave a comment

One of my good friends in Boston was originally from Dubai. She’d been raised there but doesn’t speak more than a few words of Arabic. When I first met her, I was completely surprised. How did she ever get by?

The past few days shed a blinding light on my curiosity. I went to Dubai for the first time in 2007. My closest friends live there and I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. We spent most of our time that trip on the beach, walking laps around the garangutan malls, drinking into the wee nights with Zaatar-w-Zeit breakfasts right after, and doing a few touristic things, like Dune riding. There isn’t really much to do besides that.

To say that Dubai has changed in the past two years is a major understatement. The entire skyline is different now. Burj Dubai, or what I like to call “Toothpick in the Sky”. hails as the tallest building in the world with the biggest mall, Dubai Mall, right beneath it. Dozens of other building sprouted and there are 20 different sectors/“villages” for every business industry. It feels like one massive Sim game where the players are bored sheikhs with the secret code that gives you unlimited cash.

For anything to exist in Dubai, it has to fit into one of these categories: the biggest, the tallest, the most luxurious, or the most ridiculous. Who’s the genius behind the world islands? The huge bubble finally burst when they claimed bankruptcy recently. A reality kick was certainly due after such insanely rapid growth, and hopefully things will tone down moving forward.

Eerie capture of Burj Dubai, by Michael Enning

Honestly, I’m not hating on Dubai. From literally a desert, rose an international city. Where only camels used to trot, now slide lavish Mercedes and gold-plated Hummers. It’s an adult playground that caters to the ambitious, expats searching for that Middle Eastern flavor, women/men with shopping addictions and your typical party-going, beach-lying hedonists.

One can’t help but appreciate how organized it is though. The streets are easy to navigate, the metro is running (but a little bit useless), and there’s an underlying sense of Western order. People actually respect the law. None of my friends will even touch alcohol if they are driving. If you have an accident and the cops detect alcohol, automatic jail time. No get-out-of-jail card, no tolerance.

Although Dubai is very much an Arab country (and all the Deshdeshes will keep you in check), it’s also eerily Western. It completely messed with my sense of perception. It looks like an Arab country, feels as dry as one, yet it’s full of foreigners – Americans, Irish, British, French, Swedish, Indian, Filipino – you name it! And they all seem to belong. Forget melting pot, Dubai is simply a world of its own. I just have to accept it as such.

And that answered my question as to why my friend never needed Arabic living there.

Entry filed under: Floating. Tags: 2009, arabic, Buildings, Burj Dubai, culture, Dubai, Dubai Mall, Expats, Foreigners, Language, lifestyle, malls, order, regulations, Villages.