DXB Brinkworth

This year we had our first Christmas in our adopted country, Dubai. Being a Muslim country and away from all family, it was always going to be different. But it was still extremely enjoyable with some good friends taking the usual place of family.

It seemed that most of our friends went home, or decided to travel over the Christmas break. I should mention, the Christmas “break” was a break by accident only. The holiday season is irrelevant over here. We were just fortunate that December 25th happened to fall on a Friday - the first day of our weekend.

We knew a handful of friends were staying in the building Christmas day, so we invited them to come to our place for a traditional Christmas lunch. Well, not quite traditional. We happily substituted the baked ham for a baked lamb as we had Muslim friends join. And also, the Christmas crackers that we’d expect to pay a few dollars for in Australia were the equivalent of $77 AUD a packet. So we got the cheapest kiddy ones, and used them sparingly.

For the months before, there were quite a few shops advertising the Christmas season which surprised me. We were even able to buy a tree - we chose the only one that would survive the attention of a headstrong 1 year old called Lewis. So it was certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We even had a Christmas lunch at work which was unlike any Christmas lunch I’ve ever had. Karaoke was the theme of the day. And Santa was not as pale as I recall. He had dark skin from the Asian subcontinent, as well as a penchant for Bollywood dancing, which made for a fantastic entrance!

It also seemed at least one of the local police were in the spirit of the season when he booked me just one muqalifer(?) - fine - instead of the two I was deserving.

The traffic infringement happened on the way into work. I found myself in the wrong lane for the turn I wanted to make, so just like everybody else - which is apparently no excuse - just before the traffic lights I cut over a solid line when I saw a break in the traffic. This got the attention of a policeman on a motorbike, that I did see a few minutes earlier. He shouted a few things at me, and the only thing I comprehended was driver’s license which I gave to him. After this he wanted to see the car’s book (registration). I was driving a friend’s car while they were out of town, so I had no clue where the rego paperwork would be. I tried all the obvious places starting with the glovebox. I didn’t want to make the policeman more angry so I started handing him each piece of paper in there. Handing him things from the kids’ school didn’t help matters. We drove a little further where we could stop. He started dishing out a few more fines to people as he parked his bike - man this guy was efficient! I used the extra time to search the car completely, but to no avail. When I checked the boot I spotted an “I love UAE” scarf on the back window. I half-considered inconspicuously putting the scarf around my neck to appeal to his patriotism and let me go. But I thought better of it. At times like this there’s probably a fine line between trying to make a genuine connection with a guy in authority and taking the piss. The fine was just for “Not presenting vehicle registration card when required”. He dropped the charge for cutting the line. Ho, ho, ho.

Otherwise the Christmas was great. Technology enabled us to beam into my family’s Christmas celebrations in Australia, where everyone was well. Our boys loved riding their new bikes and Insha’Allah won’t break any bones. And our table full of friends - who incidentally spanned four continents - all shared what Christmas has always meant to me, having fun and enjoying the company of others. That is, despite all of us eating way too much - an obligatory Christmas tradition!

In fact we had plenty of food remaining, so we filled a few plates and sent them to the security guys who work in our building. Ordinarily they’d gobble this up and be extremely grateful. But it was sort of pleasing to hear that they couldn’t accept the food. Their fridge was already overflowing from loads of other tenants sending down food for them also. ‘Tis the season.

The day after Christmas I woke up early at 5:00am to watch some of the Boxing Day (Cricket) Test match - a bit of an Australian festive tradition.  After watching just half an hour of play between Australia and Pakistan, I had the clearest demonstration of the time difference between Dubai and Australia I’ve had.  Despite rising before the sun did in Dubai, play had already finished for the morning and it was time for the lunch break!

I hope everyone else had a lovely Christmas.

Ryan Family news, Interesting bikes, Christmas, fine, police

Contrary to a lot of advice I was given before coming to Dubai, it does in fact rain in the middle east. We first saw some rainfall in Deira when we were staying there. It was plain to see how ill-equipped the city was for rain when a few mils of drizzle would fill the streets for a week or two.

The rain has been a lot more solid in the past week, now that we’re into what they call winter. It’s interesting to see how quickly some English colleagues have forgotten what it was like back home and complained on their Facebook status about the rain. On average, December is likely to see 15mm rain from 3-4 days. Not much to write home about.

But the city still acts like it’s a monsoon. The terrible driving on our roads gets even more terrible. And this makes the terrible traffic, even more terrible.

In fact one night this week when I was on the metro heading home, Elle called to say she was caught in traffic. So I caught a taxi from my station at the Mall Of Emirates. After driving through a few deep creeks which were formally roads, we hit a bad section of traffic that was not moving at all. It was under a kilometre from our place, so I cut the taxi ride short and got out - sporting my new Emirates umbrella - to set off to walk the remaining distance. Probably not the best idea. The footpaths in our neck of the woods are appalling. There was no room besides the cars for me to cross the busy intersection, so I set off to find a break in the construction of the overpass. An even worse idea. The place was full of mud, and while I did my best to only step on solid ground. On two occasions I stepped into a mud puddle and stepped out without a shoe. Fortunately there was just enough light to see and rescue the shoe before they were totally consumed by the puddle.

After this debacle I made it home in one piece, a little wet but so muddy, the dry cleaner’s going to wonder what happened.

The schools also struggle at this time. Poor Myles had an Achievement Assembly cancelled on account of the rain. I remember a couple of times while I was at school wishing that the rain would cancel school, all to no avail. Here it seems to be the norm.

Ryan Newsworthy rain, winter

The other day, in the face of a total lack of logic I found myself not willing to argue, disagree, or even comment. Instead I just accepted it as a standard Dubai thing I have grown accustomed to. It got me thinking of all the things in Dubai that we’ve found to be very different to what we grew to expect in Australia, but have grown used to. This isn’t meant to be a rant and rave about how things back home are better. It’s not the issue.

I just think it’s interesting how some things we get used to quite quickly and easily. Others I don’t think I’ll ever get used to.

The following is no where near exhaustive, but it’s a list of some of the key differences I can recall that we’ve encountered, and just how long it’s taken us to accept or get used to them.

Different thing	How long before we got used to it
A total lack of logic or common sense in some people and processes	Around six weeks - although it still raises a wry smile at times
Driving on the right-hand side of the road	1 - 2 weeks from driving, although still getting used to this in car parks. Driving again on left side took more than two weeks to revert back
Driving in a crazy scary fashion	A good six months to learn what to expect. And from my parents’ feedback when they holidayed here, it took me less than seven months to start driving the same way.
No household recycling	Throwing paper in the regular bin took couple of weeks, but still feels strange to throw cans in the trash
Kids jumping around in the back seat not wearing seatbelts	Not used to it yet, and I’m sure it’ll always haunt me
Prevalence of hired help at home	3-4 months - but couldn’t get it myself
Being able to get literally anything home delivered	2 months, and it’s disappointing that everywhere else doesn’t do this
Not being able to show affection in public	Immediately off the plane, I know a few guys that are jealous of this
Working week starts on a Sunday	At least three months - but still occasionally refer to the week’s end as Friday, and tell work mates I’ll see them on Monday
Massive height of the Burj Dubai	Around nine months. It’s a good sign I’ve been here more than a little while, cause it honestly doesn’t look that big.
Massive proportion of luxury cars	Four months, but some cars will still revert me to a 12 year old when I spot them
Often seeing two guys, always just friends, holding hands	2-3 months before it seemed normal, but it continues to shock when I see them holding hands while walking into a public toilet

Ryan Ponderings differences, expats, extravagance

The whole GFC (or Global Financial Crisis for those lucky people not in the know), has reverberated through the media with as many points of view as climate change.

A few months after we arrived we heard plenty of stories about Dubai being in a whole lot of trouble.  We hoped it wasn’t on account of moving here. Despite all the gloom and doom of the time, most of it was deflected.  Not just from the local media which finds it impossible to publish a negative story, but also from the international press which first broke the “story”.

But over the last few weeks there has been a new scale of concern across the Emirate we now call home.  Stories broke in the UK about the failure of Dubai World, and the almost inconceivable debt levels. The news is now impossible to refute as it’s made  its way to our local media.

The newspapers still find plenty of positive stories about the refinancing and ongoing success of the region.  While the radio news doesn’t hide the severity at all.

Plenty of news exists about this around the web.  The following article though which was sent to me provides a little insight from an expatriate perspective.  While I don’t choose to totally subscribe to it, it provides an interesting and worrying possibility.

equally we were all united in the hope that Dubai’s unique economic, cultural and social experiment should be allowed to continue
The Guardian (6 December 2009)
http://m.guardian.co.uk/?id=102202&story=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/29/dubai-world-desert-gulf-investors
http://snipurl.com/tl3c6

Ryan Newsworthy financial crisis