Falling in love with my city all over again

I have lived in Dubai for 4 years. I have experienced both the boom and the fall out from the crisis. I have seen whole communities mushroom, seemingly overnight. I have sat in traffic, cursed the ridiculous rentals, played dodgems on Sheikh Zayed road, avoided mad Iftar drivers in Ramadan. I have watched the Burj Dubai, grow from an idea to the world's tallest tower. I have seen friends come and friends go. I have experienced the seeming disintegration of a dream when the real estate sector crashed and I have watched as friend after friend packed their bags to leave. I have literally pulled my hair out when trying to achieve simple tasks like ordering a pizza over the phone or trying to make a complaint. Its become part of my vocabulary to start giving my address in the wrong order - Block 5, Street 2, apartment 407... I also think its quite normal to get an address like "opposite American Hospital". I get my dry cleaning collected and delivered in the evenings and I think nothing of popping down to the shops at 10pm to do my grocery shopping.

Last night, in one of my very rare (these days) forays into Dubai nightlife, I went to quite an upmarket nightclub and my cellphone got stolen... I then had a real "hair pulling" moment trying to cancel my sim card before Mr or Mrs Sticky Fingers decided to drunk dial their friends in whatever country they came from.

After an hour of trying to establish what number to dial to stop my sim card, I spent another 3 hours consistently calling said number only to get an error in connection every time. Eventually, I found an Arabic speaker who phoned a friend at the Telco who told them there is no way to stop it now.

Now I've lived here long enough to know that the fact that the Telco's systems were down when my phone was stolen will not cover me from having to pay for la sticky finger's drunk dialling bill as it will, of course, be my fault for 'losing it' and not reporting it.

In desperation at 5 am, I called the police station closest to the nightclub to find out if I could make some kind of affidavit that I had tried very, very hard to report it.

As the policemen on the phones could not speak much English, I was put through to the CID head - a little excessive I agree - but hey, thats Dubai.

Ended up having a lovely conversation about Cape Town, drunken Brits and frustrating telco companies. Feeling quite lighthearted and positive I eventually got through to the telco and spoke to the nicest customer care agent I have dealt with, ever. Ended up having a lovely conversation with him too we both found it particularly funny that there is no facility for "stolen" phones, you have lost it, thats all. Silly me.

Sim card stopped, mood improved and for my efforts was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise on yet another sunny day in my desert city.

It will never be home, but it has been kind to me and this little crazy desert town will always hold a special place in my heart. So to all you Dubai bashers out there, understand this, we live here... not just for the money. We live here because we love this city, its got mojo and its just going to keep pissing you off because it will succeed.

Shukran Habibti

musings of a corporate nomad...

Last night, on the plane, after yet another frustrating Cairo trip, a (large) family of Emiratis sat next to me. The young girl to my left, was about 13 years old, and would (or could) not stop fidgeting. She had cheap, plastic bangles on which jangled every time she moved...

She couldn't figure out the entertainment system and kept smacking it and bumping me, I turned to look at her to give her a glowering look, and she smiled at me with the most open, guileless, beautiful smile. My heart just melted. I helped her put on her "arabia" music and settled into my inane movie about a girl meeting a dark, handsome stranger in Greece blah blah. She then touched me gently on my arm and offered me a chewing gum and again that heart-stopping smile, braces and all.

Halfway through, she touched my arm again and asked me, in broken English, where I was from, when I explained South Africa / Dubai, she was very confused. Then she said "me UAE", turned to her older sister and asked her something, I was about to put on my headset again, when she said: "You very beautiful!" a giggle and again that smile. Well. Shoowee.

When my movie finished she said "you, listen music". I laughed, and decided she may be right, and the first album that caught my eye was Paul Simon's Graceland. As I listened to the sounds of home, getting more and more nostalgic and warm, she touched my arm again and pointed out the window. The moon was so bright, so beautiful it really was quite awe-inspiring. As I smiled and said "its beautiful" she clutched her chest like only the young and innocent can, and said, eyes shining, "yes very beautiful".

This little stranger touched my heart in so many little ways.