Tuesday, December 30, 2008

why and more whys...

It has been a long time since I worte anything. It's strange that I didn't need to turn to bloggin to vent, many things have happened since.

I was just at the UAE community blog and read the post and comments about Gazza, it was intresting to read many of the comments that really just shows how screwed up we are as a nation and how Palestinians will remain to suffer alone despite our shared sentiments and the occasional frowns at what we see on t.v and the short lived shock state we live. Palestine, you are alone in this as somebody said in the comments.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid just announced that all celebrations for new year is to be cancelled. I love that man.

There are few bloggers I would like to meet in person, those who caught my atttention.

Blessing in Tragidy--> Makes me laugh and makes my blood boil.
Dubai Jazz --> the only person who makes sense, he sounds stable.
Hemlock--> I thouht she was a he until recently.
Nick--> just curious to see the face of a funny person.

I am sick of seeing the Christmas tree, and the festivities in the shopping mall, simply because I don't relate to it. I respect all religions, but this does not represent what my country stands for.
Eid has never been celebrated like that. I should be gratful as we had an excellent celebration for National days. The celebration was put together by the government and by locals, who put their individual efforts. What was very clear that all shops were not interested to reflect any kind of gratitude on this special day for a land that has hosted them.

I am just worried at how our religion is given the back seet when itcomes to what is important. Shame.

The other thing that is happening while all this identity crisis is going on, is the repeated failure of men and women meeting each others expectations. Life is getting confusing to them as they are now in a transitional phase where many cultures are ifnluencing our people adults, youth and children alike. I am goingto write some more about it.

Marriage and me, people are curious to why am I single to until this day :) the answer is usually (mafi Naseeb), believe me Ihave a more elaborate answer, but its too complicated and might make me look like a girl with some issues.

Maybe I do, but I would like to keep that to my self. But will also share my thoughts here on the blog just t fee some voyars curiousity.

Write to you laters :)

Monday, October 20, 2008

Sleepless night

What a day...
The Karate Centre have been demolished.
My travel agent who my family have been dealing with for the past 20years or so have passed away July. Allah yer7amek Mr. Mateen, I was so sad when I found out today, it really felt like a family member gone. My thoughts are with his family.
It just got me thinking, this guy has been working so hard throughtout his youth, throughout the best years of his family life, away from his family, he did not get to even enjoy the money he earned. Life is full of such stories, it still upsets me, I am relieved it does, I don't want to be desensitized to tragidy.

I played with my nieces and nephews today, I must say, that they are my prozac in life, they can make me forget all my worries an sadness, they have this magical ability to suck out all the negative energy and emotions and fill me with happy ones. Bless them and all other children, may their smiles and laughters never fade.

I am tired from reading about how Dubai is a terrible place in the UAE CB. I've decided to avoid that dark place. We all know the reality of the situation, talking about it is just useless, all what people there ar doing is validating their thoughts with others and leaving it there....

Sunday, October 5, 2008

From the newspaper to the road

"Bridging the public-private gap of benefits, including standardising holidays for both sectors, will help boost the Emiratisation drive in the private sector and banks, said government officials and human resources managers. " copied and pasted from Gulf News.

Is it really about the holiday? Are you kidding me? Please tell me this is a joke.

What direction are we headed to.

I went out this afternoon, to ibn battuta and to Interiors furniture shop. I was out from 3,40 till 8, 35pm. The time I spent in Ibn Battuta was 45 minutes, and 24 minutes in Interiors. The rest was in Traffic.


I looked around...the busy roads full of expats.

I can hear expats at the UCB responding to this,"this country is nothing without us, we built it, who will do the dirty job, etc etc" I was happy with the number of expats in the 80's and early 90's...There was a balacne, everybody was happy.


Now I can honestly feel my blood pressure rising as I wait in traffic, I can feel my self getting upset while in the car and once at home/ work, I really hate the thought of going out, it means wasting at least a couple of hours of my day in dirty traffic. Taking the children to extra curricular activities...dream on.
Why? Why?


I love my country, but for some reason, I can no longer recongnize it anymore.

Friday, September 26, 2008

My thoughts in no specific order...

Few more days and the month of Ramadan will come to an end.
It really feels like a dear vistor i leaving, I am trying to enjoy every second.

The weather has been fantastic the last few days.

I am going away for Eid and I can't wait.

When will peope show some class when driving.

Have you ever stopped at a traffic light at Iftar time, they give out small boxes with juice in it, few dates and a small cup of water...do you know who honks to get the guy's attention, non muslim looking western people with loud music playing in their car while the call to prayers is in the background.

I am tolerant to a certain extent...but there is always this limit that I stop being tolerant and I stop giving some people excuses.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Randomer than random

Ramadan, the guest that comes to visit us once a year only to leave us too soon.
Taraweeh prayer, shoulder to shoulder we stand in prayer, unfamiliar people become familiar by the end of the month, walking to the mosque becomes my favourite walk.

Sure there is no mention in our religion that prohibits non Muslims to eat, drink or smoke during our holy month, our country put this rule, not sure if it is right, but after seeing a man with a bottle of coke in one hand and a cigarette in another, sitting in the passenger seat of the car next to me, staring at me in the face and giving a daring smile, is why I believe that this law was not a total mistake. Some are just inconsiderate; some go out of their way just to be rude.

What's with the double Decker on top of the local ladies head. Do they honestly think its an attractive sight?!! What's wrong with the lazy awkward walk, the floppy hand and the facial indifference? Sometimes I get this urge of just pushing them to walk faster.

What's with our people, slipping words/sentences in English while speaking Arabic. I am yet to find an non-Arab do that! To some, it is a sign of being modern.

It is getting crazy over here....somebody do something...

Friday, July 25, 2008

Future and Fate

I woke up at 2 in the morning last night, I felt like I've slept a whole night but I have barely slept 2 hours.
I knew that to try to go back to sleep is a losing battle. So I reached out to the shade light next to my bed an turned the light on, on my night table, there was this book that has been waiting for me to read every time I put it down. I don't pick it up often, I think it isn't the right book for my mind set these days.

I look at a framed photo that I had placed there since I rearranged my room. My brother and I, my mom kneeling besides us, smiling. He was 4 years old, I was two and a half or so. His arms and tiny fingers rested on my shoulder, he was carrying a slice apple, half eaten, looking at the camera, looking happy, my eyes fixated on the apple, obviously interested in eating his slice.
Mom said, this was a picture taken by my dad, the day my brother was released from the hospital; he broke one of his legs in a car accident and was there for quite some time. My dad captured a moment full of happiness and relief, you could see it in all of us, specially my brother and mom, at that age, I was just happy to have the rest of the family home after being left alone for so many weeks with a nanny.

I could not take my eyes of my brothers' arms that rested on my shoulder, it filled me up with warm emotions and wondered when was the last time my brother put his arms around me, spontaneously, genuinely happy to be there beside me. When was the last time the three of us shared this common happy moment?

If only one of us knew that life takes us to places we never thought existed, we would hav either take more pictures like those, to have as a reminder of what it was like, or we would have really made a conscious effort to enjoy moments like that.

Two weeks ago, I was looking at photo albums of my years in the university, we all looked so innocent then, nothing like the university girls these days, who look sophisticated but think shallow. We looked happy though, I'm not sure how much I realized how happy I seemed of felt, but it is just so obvious in those pictures. I looked at each one of my friends, and my classmates, and thought about where they are now at life. Most married with kids, one unhappily married with kids, two divorced, one was physically and mentally abused until she got divorced, one friend became a VIP but remained down to earth despite all the fame. One died in a car accident along with two of her siblings and an in-law on their way back from Omrah.
She was newly married, the year she died, she accomplished everything she wanted except for having children, she passed two important exams, finished her masters and got married to a man she loved and loved her dearly.

When we took those picutres who thought each one of us would have the fate we have or will have. I don't think anyone of us in that picture stopped to think about that thought. Does anybody wonder at younger age of how they would be in 10 years? Whenever I did, it was in the context of getting married with kids, not with the other many possibilities that life has to offer.

Future & Fate

Saturday, June 28, 2008

The Shopping Mall Stories

I was at Festival City with friends this afternoon, looking for a nice evening gown for a friends wedding.
It is such a drag to try on dresses, taking of your clothes, putting on others, messing your hair up, taking of your shoes, stepping out of the changing room to show your friends, stepping back in, trying to judge whether it is worth the price tag it is attached too, what would mother think of it, would she tell me her famous statement "I used to buy this material to line the dresses I used to make for you, such low class material, what happened to the fashion sense these days, does everybody have to dress cheap to look normal". Well this was a CH dress, not so fancy but not boring either. I left it and decided today was not a good shopping day after all.

Shopping or just going to the mall is such a fascinating experience. You don't need to spend a penny to enjoy it and let me tell you, it teaches you alot of things about the demographics of this country.

The majority are Indians ofcourse, then comes the Pakistanis and then the Philipinos, then comes the blonde sector and finally the Arabs, last not least the gulf areas and the locals.

Back in the old days, when a local girl/woman passes by a crowd of men, all of them would automatically give way. Now, you will either have to say "secuse me" 100 times or just choose an alternative route, which I usually avoid doing. I secuse myself though the crowd, making sure they hear me say "men these days have no respect".

While I was on the escalator I saw an ugly blonde man in a Hawaiian style shirt standing next to a red haired woman who apparently had some kind of phobia of her behind falling off, and I guess him being the gentleman, he kept holding it for her (awwwwwwwwwwww). I watched that medical maneuver and expected that she would get a prize at the end of this never ending ride. She did, it was a French kind of prize, that I have seen been exchanged in some movies. If my mother was there, she would have given them a lecture about respecting other people's country, etc etc. Once she approached this Russian looking couple (who turned out to be Russian really) who were Frenching (this would be my official word for that kind of activity), and she told him "you should respect the country you are living in" so he simply responded "do you respect Russia". I laughed so hard I could not keep a straight mad woman face anymore, so I said, "this is the UAE, when we go to Russia, we respect Russia".

Anyways, a local mother of three wearing the Niqab (the face cover which is famously known by our beloved non racist expats by the Ninja gear) approached them, and pulled out her cell phone where she apparently have video taped the whole medical procedure and told them that that was not acceptable in a Muslim country and that they should at least respect the feelings of the local people, the man brushed her off and walked right to Mexican restaurant, while his red haired fairy told the Niqabi woman that she was oppressed and should try to see the world without the mask "maybe you will understand and realize what you are missing out", then just before she stood by her husband who was now rubbing his belly she threatened to call the police if the Niqabi "harassed" her again.

If it wasn't for the high heel shoes, that was giving me headaches and backaches, I would have rescued Ninja. But I was too tired and had no faith in our system to resolve such issues without having to take of my shoes and throwing it at the couple as a sign of protest.

So I made my way to the prayer room and prayed that I will bump into Mr/Mrs. right who will do something about this craziness.

If that Frenching incident happened in France, where a Niqabi woman was looked at as someone who is repressed, oppressed (or both) who wished for a better life than that of a woman behind the vail, I would completely understand the red haired woman's reaction. But here, in my country.

No. But maybe that's just me.

You'll see

Monday, June 23, 2008

The Begining

Emaratiyah is the female for Emarati, which is a person from the Emirates, us, locals.

My blog was totally inspired by the UAE community blog.

Why?

Because, I find it fascinating how people talk openly in the safety of the blogsphere.
I always wonder how those individuals would talk when face to face with an Emarati or Emaratiyah, because so far I haven't had such intense criticism or "views" from the nice looking expat/ visitors I have come across (and I do come across many).

I know we tend to omit certain things when we talk, we don't usually just speak our minds in the presence of others so to read what I read in the UAE community blog makes me wonder, how many of the people I work with share the same sentiments towards us, and by sentiments, I mean the negative ones.

Criticisms, point of views, "constructive feedback" are all good things. But what I read sometimes does not really translate into any of that, it's sometimes just ignorant, arrogant, rude, thoughtless, remarks, that makes me uncomfortable dealing with the expats at work.

I don't want a small but virtually large blogsphere to skew my image and attitude towards the foreigners in my beloved land, so I am going to write down my thoughts, maybe shed some light to how it is for some of us locals here.