Sandier Pastures

Thursday Thirteen banner courtesy of Samulli

13 THINGS I LEARNED AFTER 11 MONTHS IN DUBAI

1. All things have their appropriate price. If you bought a well decorated but cheap cake at Carrefour, do not dare have great expectation of the taste!

2. Some people cross the street with a hot cup of tea in plastic/paper cups in their hands.

3. If you want to have a free photograph of yourself, overspeed on certain roads. I have been ‘photographed’ in Jumeirah Beach Road while running at 90kmh. The speed limit was 80 and I did not know since I was new to the area. That was why the reason why the Ferarri’s and the Porches around me were so mysteriously tame!

4. You will never know the real price of gold jewellery at the Gold Souk (Gold Market). You get a necklace, and the seller tells you it’s 570 dhs. You haggle for 500, he says yes. Then you try to take a peek at your wallet and tell him, oh, I only have 300 dirhams now, sorry. You head for the door and the seller runs after you with the sparkling object and say he is willing to give it to you for 300 because you are special.

5. There are more than one thousand kinds of spices sold at the Spice Souk (Spice Market).

6. The Spice Man at the spice souk thinks I have “special needs”. Like the tone of the ancient Ali Baba he came to me and in hushed voice, “Take this herb to stimulate your s_x life, Madam.” My 4 year old chuckled.

7. All that glitters in Gold Souk is not gold. There are also extremely sexy Russian girls with platinum hair and shorty shorts.

8. The internet at the office might not be free.

9. Despite being a Muslim country, Christmas is celebrated with gigantic Christmas trees in the malls, Christmas carols.

10. You can still go swim at the beaches in the middle of December.

11. I learned to never underestimate the 50C temperature and 100% humidity during summer.

12. Petrol is cheaper than water.

13. You can live normally without speaking the official national language that is Arabic.