It’s a small world after all
When I lived in London, someone once told me that every 7th person you meet would know someone you know which I tended to agree with. I’m not sure if this formula is a universally applicable law, but it certainly isn’t the case in Dubai. In Dubai its definitely every other person you meet will know someone you know! It’s also quite remarkably scary how some people you meet in Dubai know people you knew from back home, or for instance lived on a street next to you.
Here’s an example; I was invited to a friend’s house for an Iftar (breaking fast ritual during Ramadaan) along with 9 other people. I was early, actually I was half an hour late, but Dubai time keeping tends to mean you arrive around 1 hour after the suggested time, but just don’t arrive any earlier than 30 minutes before the suggested time, as the host will be surprised. You will also look like a lemon without a life who has been waiting all day for this dinner party.
Anyway, there was only one other person there when I arrived and he had shifted to Dubai a few days ago. Host was in the kitchen preparing, so I chatted with new guy. We exchanged the typical Dubai questions asked when you first meet someone; how long you been here, what do you do (as opposed to how do you do..btw, do people still say that?),where were you before etc.. Chatting away, we managed to ascertain that he lived next door to my cousin in Pakistan, which was an incredibly bizarre coincidence! In my mind, I then started editing out what I would tell him about me and definitely wait till I reach home before lighting up a cigarette. Reason being, my Father would probably catch wind of my little habit resulting in him cutting off my head and shitting down it. I know I know, I am a grown woman and shouldn’t matter what my parents think but trust me, I firmly believe my father has the ability to kill someone simply by constantly nagging them.
So with this in mind, you really do need to be careful what you say and to whom. This could quite possibly act as fuel to the shallowness and pretence of the city. Maybe no one wants to reveal his or her true selves for fear of being caught or judged? It certainly is a pigeonhole city, which I guess is human nature helping us to adapt to new environments. This could trace back to when we were kids and learning our colours as it helps us broadly classify things? Hmm, just trying to make some sense of the way people act out here..
Dubai is so small, you can’t even go to the supermarket without bumping into someone you know when you probably look like a dogs backside due to a heavyweight night before. The supermarkets frequented by westerners (particularly the one near my place!) have the tendency to look like a peacocks parade or Crufts. For those of you unacquainted, Crufts is an annual dog show held in the UK where owners proudly show off their well-groomed dogs. Now we all know these dogs don’t wake up looking like this and neither do the shoppers picking up their milk and bread.
When you walk in the supermarket everyone seems to check each other out whilst swanning around with bog roll and toilet cleaner in their trolleys. A friend of mine and I were discussing how we sometimes feel the need to curl our eyelashes before we go to the supermarket. Now you could say, well that’s your problem if you feel the need to have to curl your eyelashes to visit the supermarket. But when you are surrounded by people who have obviously spent a lot of time and effort on their appearance you cant help but feel that your jogging pants, favorite comfy ugly sandals and bed hair is quite going to get you in and out of there without a few disapproving stares. Chance would have it, you are bound to bump into a client or work colleague as well who is used to seeing you suited and booted.
A further example of how small this world is was while I was at work. I was chatting to someone in a PR agency about a client, we talked about the project and then went onto the usual; how long, where, when etc.. Well it transpired, when I was working in the UK 2 years prior, my company had arranged an “agency girls night out” to watch Bridget Jones Diary in Leicester Sq. 30 girls in total and she was one of them. That was the first time we had met and second being in Dubai 2 some odd years later… Altogether now, it’s a small world after all!
Here’s an example; I was invited to a friend’s house for an Iftar (breaking fast ritual during Ramadaan) along with 9 other people. I was early, actually I was half an hour late, but Dubai time keeping tends to mean you arrive around 1 hour after the suggested time, but just don’t arrive any earlier than 30 minutes before the suggested time, as the host will be surprised. You will also look like a lemon without a life who has been waiting all day for this dinner party.
Anyway, there was only one other person there when I arrived and he had shifted to Dubai a few days ago. Host was in the kitchen preparing, so I chatted with new guy. We exchanged the typical Dubai questions asked when you first meet someone; how long you been here, what do you do (as opposed to how do you do..btw, do people still say that?),where were you before etc.. Chatting away, we managed to ascertain that he lived next door to my cousin in Pakistan, which was an incredibly bizarre coincidence! In my mind, I then started editing out what I would tell him about me and definitely wait till I reach home before lighting up a cigarette. Reason being, my Father would probably catch wind of my little habit resulting in him cutting off my head and shitting down it. I know I know, I am a grown woman and shouldn’t matter what my parents think but trust me, I firmly believe my father has the ability to kill someone simply by constantly nagging them.
So with this in mind, you really do need to be careful what you say and to whom. This could quite possibly act as fuel to the shallowness and pretence of the city. Maybe no one wants to reveal his or her true selves for fear of being caught or judged? It certainly is a pigeonhole city, which I guess is human nature helping us to adapt to new environments. This could trace back to when we were kids and learning our colours as it helps us broadly classify things? Hmm, just trying to make some sense of the way people act out here..
Dubai is so small, you can’t even go to the supermarket without bumping into someone you know when you probably look like a dogs backside due to a heavyweight night before. The supermarkets frequented by westerners (particularly the one near my place!) have the tendency to look like a peacocks parade or Crufts. For those of you unacquainted, Crufts is an annual dog show held in the UK where owners proudly show off their well-groomed dogs. Now we all know these dogs don’t wake up looking like this and neither do the shoppers picking up their milk and bread.
When you walk in the supermarket everyone seems to check each other out whilst swanning around with bog roll and toilet cleaner in their trolleys. A friend of mine and I were discussing how we sometimes feel the need to curl our eyelashes before we go to the supermarket. Now you could say, well that’s your problem if you feel the need to have to curl your eyelashes to visit the supermarket. But when you are surrounded by people who have obviously spent a lot of time and effort on their appearance you cant help but feel that your jogging pants, favorite comfy ugly sandals and bed hair is quite going to get you in and out of there without a few disapproving stares. Chance would have it, you are bound to bump into a client or work colleague as well who is used to seeing you suited and booted.
A further example of how small this world is was while I was at work. I was chatting to someone in a PR agency about a client, we talked about the project and then went onto the usual; how long, where, when etc.. Well it transpired, when I was working in the UK 2 years prior, my company had arranged an “agency girls night out” to watch Bridget Jones Diary in Leicester Sq. 30 girls in total and she was one of them. That was the first time we had met and second being in Dubai 2 some odd years later… Altogether now, it’s a small world after all!
posted by ReginaFilangee at 10:31 AM
1 Comments:
not really Alex, i guess during an iftar people come to just eat without any pre dinner chat?..
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