Things that are different, Part 1

I’ve been collecting random snippets of things in my head that are a bit different in Dubai to say, London or Melbourne. All of these things I have just noticed and filed away somewhere in my hippocampus (is that the correct part of the brain?) in order to help me integrate into Dubai society.

• People say “zero” instead of “oh” or even ‘nought”. Say either of these other two and they don’t get it (western expats excluded)
• At the supermarket, when you get some fruit and veg which is charged by weight, you have to get it weighed and labelled at the fruit and veg counter, before proceeding to the checkout
• They drive on the right – I know, not so unusual for most of the world, but I still get confused when crossing the road, or going the”wrong” way around a roundabout
• Everyone calls me “mam”
• TV is absolutely rubbish and there is no Sky+ 😦
• Our office has ‘teaboys’ who are between the ages of about 40 and 60
• There is a very marked and obvious difference between the have and the have-nots. Culturally, the colour of your skin and your nationality dictates how much you get paid and the hours and number of days that you work
• Every address is a P.O. Box. Street addresses are almost impossible to come by, and you need to ask for a map and directions if you want to get anywhere. I’m currently stressing about how I’m going to get to the hairdresser on Tuesday. I have got a map, I have even cross-referenced it with Googlemaps, but as my current capabilities on the driving front enable me to only get to and from work and the Mall of the Emirates, this is new and scary territory. But my roots really need doing and every time I look in the mirror I see more grey. (Hair grows quicker here too – assume that’s because of the extra sun)
• When out and about – mall, shopping etc, women should not really expose their shoulders (beach and poolside is fine). It’s culturally insensitive to do so – the equivalent of walking around Clapham with your baps out. Naturally, you get stared at. You can pick the tourists in the mall by their spaghetti straps and angry sunburn. You can pick the rich expats by their coiffed hair and leathery tan
• There are no “Ladies who Lunch”. Instead, they are called “Jumeirah Janes”

That’s my lot on that for today…more later on.

Flickster. x