Landing in Dubai

I’ve been in dubai since April 12, 2008. What am I doing here? I quit my wonderful job from my wonderful employer and decided to move here with my aunt(mom’s sister) and her husband. We live in an Apartment in Satwa. We all sleep in a single room. They at a bed and I just spread out a soft cushion at the foot of their bed. The place is nice, the aircon’s on the whole day, which is a big help considering the weather here. Freakishly HOT.

Everyone’s been asking me ever since I got here, How’s dubai? How’s dubai? How’s dubai? What’s it like there?

Let’s start from landing of course. I am always trying to compare dubai, not to the Philippines but to the also super developed capital of Japan, Tokyo. As I entered the airport, as usual I was impressed. Which is nothing new, I always get impressed with beautiful modern architecture. We came in at April 13, about 12am. I’m going to quote this from a site that says cultural stuff about Dubai: “Dress code is liberal in Dubai compared to other Middle Eastern cities, particularly in the residential western expat areas where women wear shorts and sleeveless shirts.”

However, you’ll be able to identify the Arab nationals from : “Both local men and local women are easily distinguished by their traditional dress, which is a common sight in the United Arab Emirates. Men wear the long white Dishdasha and headdress, while women wear the black Abaya.”

These are the rich nationals where the you’d probably spot the women shopping all day at the signature boutiques at the mall.

Dubai is a place with mixed races, people who live here are mostly, Indians, Filipinos and European expats (british, French..etc.). Boy there are a LOT of Indians here! You’d think that they were the nationals! Also Filipinos! At every corner, really! Which is also fun, cause you won’t feel that alienated. Of course when I first got here, my aunt immediately told, “Oh walang katulong dito ha” I was really scared to go out even to say buy the local paper. Seriously! Those Indians are scary!! There are a few other arab races here, like, Iranians, Labanese, Pakistans, Egyptians etc. They all look scary too! There are mostly men out, the women are probably at home, tending to their children or at a grocery.

Okay, Filipinos here try to help each other out. If you see a Filipino, you can always refer to him/her as Kabayan. So if you’re lost in a bus stop or bus station, you can ask any Filipino looking people for directions, always start with a friendly, “Kabayan! Saan ba yung… ???” It’s quite easy to spot any Filipino because all the other races look so different from us!

And here, we call the Indians, "Pana". you know why?

That’s all folks!