Almost Five Months in Dubai

So, it has been almost five months since I moved to this foreign country, and by foreign, I mean FOREIGN. In five months time I have: had five rental cars and probably have five more, two apartments, one head cold from a sand storm, spent 13 hours in a hospital for one vile of blood and one x-ray for my residency visa, and spent countless hours lost in Dubai from detours and road construction. All-in-all, I would say it has been pretty productive.

Due to the global financial crisis, work is slowing down. Dubai was probably the last place to get hit, but nonetheless it was hit. There were a few articles that were published in the newspapers here that said, people were abandoning their cars at the airport and just leaving the country. Also, in the car-park at my apartment building there was more than one apartments-worth of furniture just left there to be collected by anyone who came by... or the trash people. Traffic has eased and rent has gone down; Dubai is becoming a different city. Knock-on-wood, I am one of the few that still have a job and I don't foresee it going anywhere anytime soon. Thank God!

At this moment, I know now that I will put in my one-year personal commitment in Dubai and move on. At the commencement of this new adventure I came into it with an open mind and I told myself that I could be here for two years. Two years is a long time to be away from the family that you are so close to. Two years is a long time to be away from "home." Come September, I will leave Dubai and come back to the United States for a number of reasons, but mainly, Dubai is not home. Dubai is/was a place for a new adventure, an adventure it has been, period.

I can't say that I've "hated" Dubai because that wouldn't be fair, but I know I can say that I have been in much more enjoyable cities around the world: Athens, Damascus, Stockholm, and London to name a few. I will also tell you this; if things were different I might stay, for example, if they had a healthcare system that worked, or if rent wasn't so artificially high, or if the entire city wasn't a construction zone... I might just stay for more than a year. But no, what you see on American television or read in the American newspapers is not what you get when you actually get here. Sure, things are awesome for two weeks when you first step off your 20+ hour flight to get here, but things slowly start to take light. After your "vacation" wears off, you "see" the real Dubai, the prostitution, the filth, the traffic, the construction everywhere. I don't think I have been on one road yet that doesn't have some form of construction on it. Not one!

Sure, I am being overly critical of a place I really haven't been in for a longtime, but I am just stating the facts. On a funny note, I have turned into a "Mall Rat." There isn't much to do here, especially when temperatures reach well into the 120+ range (48º C). Did you know that when it reaches 50º C in Dubai, when not if, everything, by law, must shut down…it is just too damn hot to do anything. Not to mention the 100% humidity in the summertime. I am so looking forward to July and August in Dubai!

What else… there isn't too much to report from my end, work is steady, my girlfriend is amazing, and life goes on. Please don't let my rant dissuade you from taking a trip here. Nov – April is amazing. The weather is great to go out and enjoy a coffee or cigar and people watch at one of the 4,500 malls in the area. Till next time… BmH