1 Year and 1 Month: Stray Observations

1. I arrived in Dubai on May 1, 2008. Hard to believe it's been that long. 

2. The heat isn't so bad this time around. It's 44C today(111F) and it's not really a huge distraction. I've been eating lunch outside on the patio, sans A/C, and it's actually quite pleasant. 

3. The Arabic is improving. The lady of the house and I can go three or four sentences into our greeting before retreating to English. Trying to stay diligent with the practice, but laziness periodically sets in. People are occasionally impressed with our pronunciation. 

4. It's possible that I now drive like a jerk. There'll be no way to know until I return to the painful traffic-politeness of Portland. 

5. I am now quite a bit more sensitive to portrayals of Arabs and Muslims in the media than I was when I left. Did you know that the U.S. Media often misrepresents Arabs? Did you know that Sayid from ABC's Lost is British and of Indian decent, and would never be mistaken for Iraqi by anyone who had ever met an Iraqi? This is the kind of thing which now drives me crazy. 

6. I don't miss much, (aside from family and friends) but I admit that I miss my neighborhood dive bars. I wasn't really prepared for their absence. 

Out to dinner with Colin Powell

Before I get everybody's hopes up, let's start here: I did not get to personally meet Mr. Powell. I did get to sit near him while we both ate an absolutely fantastic gourmet dinner. 

Unfortunately, I arrived to the soiree (At Mina A'Salam, above) after the time for photo-ops and handshakes, due to being stuck in the parking garage of the Trade Center after the commencement for almost an hour, waiting for every other person in the parking garage to pay their fee and exit before me and my chauffer. The commencement at the trade center was fine, fun to see the graduates and everything. See one walking across the stage while Colin Powell and Sheikh Mohammed hand him a diploma....

...and I was worried about being late to the commencement after getting out of the salon late prior to that. My expert chauffer, however, navigated us to the graduation with deft, class and style in plenty of time. He even insisted I take time to change in the bathroom of the Dubai Mall before departure - so confident was he in his abilities to bend time.  I, of course, needed to be in the salon for 4 hours, in order to look like a movie star in the unlikely event that I should get to meet Mr. Powell. (Exhibit A: beauty-rific Alicia gazing at a biography of Colin Powell.)

So, salon and commencement aside, the real fun began at dinner, even though we arrived late. We were served wine and a terrific salad with like a balsamic & truffle oil dressing with some cheese... it was MELT in your mouth delicious. Then we had some kind of very good lentil soup with fresh lemon juice. Then, Colin Powell had to leave to catch a flight. Which means he missed... the filet! A huge, perfectly medium-rare juicy tender flavorific steak with a little glazed potato and some roast cherry tomatoes. Mmmm. Dessert was a baked cheesecake that I hardly paid attention to while eating, but I think it was good.

We even had complimentary valet parking, which is great because I get a huge kick out of it when the man in his formal hotel wear opens the creaky door of the crapulator for me, so I can step out looking all fancy and then wait while Mr. Man explains how you have to press a button under the steering wheel to start the car. Very classy.

The funny thing about the night was the number of terrible fashion faux-pauxs everywhere - sitting in front of us at commencement was a beautiful woman in a beautiful white backless dress.... with a big fat black 3-hook brassiere strapped across the middle of her back. On the way out? Some woman in a black top and leopard-print skin-tight pleather pants was being accompanied by a gentleman who seemed truly enthralled, and who appeared to be actively ignoring the giant white and hot-pink tag hanging off the back of her shirt which read: "Marks & Spencer / M / $17.99". She must have been in as much of a hurry as I was yesterday.

Interesting times

We're in the home stretch for summer vacations now. It's interesting times over here; I've got my hat in a lot of rings (or something) and it will be interesting to see how it all pans out over the summer. I am -really- into this system where you get to go away for several weeks once a year and get your mind refreshed to come back with a new start. Without it I'm pretty sure everyone would have killed each other by now.

We have this arabic coffee shop/cafe at the foot of our building called Sawalef, and although it's mere steps from our front door, we've never brought ourselves to go in there. Everytime I walk by, it's 100% dudes smoking shisha. I just feel a little out of place. There's a "family corner" on one side, but you can't see in, because it's the family corner, so I can never tell if any chicks actually go inside. I sort of suspect that they might have some really awesome arabic food and coffee there, but after 15 months of living right above it, I still haven't brought myself to go inside. The tentative plan is to take a stab at it before holiday time.

In other news, the nation of UAE has now offered me the first possible use for my Emirates ID card (some of you may remember the saga involved with getting the ID card, a legal mandate). Apparently, if I want to avoid long passport lines at the airport, I can enroll my ID card to function as an "e-gate" fast-track card. In order to avail myself of this functionality, I have to go somewhere, stand in a long line, and pay a fee. In other words, to avoid one long line, I have to sit through another. I think I'll just keep using my passport per the usual for now, thanks.

Lastly but not leastly, I'm invigilating (I think I used to say "proctoring") a college entrance exam for high school girls in Umm Al Quwain this weekend, entitling me to a night at the beach hotel gratis, which I won't really be able to take advantage of, what with the working, but Dan-O most certainly will. Another 12 hours of beach-sitting, I presume, while I stand at the front of the classroom: "Shayla Check! Let's see those ears! No hiding any tiny electronic cheating devices, ladies!" I can't say I'm not looking forward to it.

Oh how I long for a pug...

And not only so that I can dress him up as a pug-tato...

Why do the simplest things have to turn into a moral dilemma

This was our Friday morning this week; white wine, blue cheese, herbed crackers, smoked salmon, walnuts, fresh fruit and jams on the porch. We played chess and I lost badly, but didn't mind since the blue cheese was so good.

Mornings like this I can't help but think about the Pakistani construction workers. How rich we have it, really. Mind you, we drive the crappiest car in Dubai, eat cheaply, don't subscribe to TV, make do with cellphones from 1996, and wear generic label clothing. We have massive student loan debt. But we're still a thousand miles ahead of the construction workers, who work 16 hour days in 100-degree heat for pennies. Sometimes it makes me want to take my cheese back to the store.

I'm having a lot of wealth-guilt this week because Colin Powell is in town and we're going to a dinner with him at the Madinat Jumeirah. My evening-wear collection is limited so I went shopping for a dress, and after trying on several in the $500-$1500 dollar range, I settled on a very beautiful one for $119 and got a little black lacy shrug to go with it for $76.  Still, it took a long time to decide to buy it. The last time I bought an evening gown was over 4 years ago, and off the clearance rack at Meier & Frank. The clincher on purchasing this one was a mental image of myself in a room full of gorgeous women dressed to the nines, smiling and greeting Colin Powell, and me ashamedly sitting in the back hoping no one will notice my frumpy "business casual" day-wear. Should this really be a major concern??? Obviously not.

Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing Colin Powell. Now I'm trying to decide what to say, should I get the chance. Preferably something other than "waaahhhhh!!!" as I fall off my shoes.