The G{ina} Diaries: A month and two days...

...since I have been in Dubai. I would be lying if I said it had been simple and without hiccups. It hasn't. But things are on the up and up. I was having a massage tonight and thinking about all the things I have observed so far about Dubai. And there is no better place to capture them than in a blog (which I have only now managed to figure out how to get into English!!) So here goes...

(The boulevard in front of my new home)

Night time living. This is a city that comes alive at night. It hums and buzzes and moves and shakes when the sun sets. the highway - Sheikh Zayed Rd (the main highway leading through Dubai, more finely known as SZR) - is alive and glittering with car lights no matter the hour. What I want to know - where are all these people going?
Super cars. Everywhere. Driven by hip youngsters...most of them. Doing speeds that make my toes curl.
Selfies. Everyone is taking selfies. Often with truly the most nondescript backgrounds. Outside restaurants, in front of super cars parked on the streets, in front of signs for the metro (why??), on the side of SZR with all the traffic in the background. I can't help but smile when i see yet another selfie being taken.
Children awake at midnight...in shopping malls. This is a nocturnal society. No two ways about it.
Filipinos. I think the bulk of the Philippines is living here in Dubai. They are the bell hops, the masseuses, the nannies to wealthy locals, the concierges, the tailors, the laundry owners. It is almost as though the society has decided what roles Filipinos can and do fill. Because I have yet to come across a Filipino taxi driver (and I have taken a LOT of taxis in a month). They are all from India (which explains the MANIC, INSANE driving here) or from Pakistan (ditto) or from Morocco (ditto ditto).
Delivery - no matter what no matter when. You can have anything you need delivered to your very own hands at any time of night for FREE. The local grocery store will bring you a can of coke and a loaf of bread at midnight if you need it. And if they do not have the coke, they will go via another store and purchase it for you. I am just ASTOUNDED. I have been tipping generously as I just cannot comprehend that this is possible. They are probably looking at me thinking *sucker*!!!
Prices. Dubai is it's very own dichotomy. Rent - off the charts expensive. Taxis - for free. Local veg - affordable. Washing powder - price of GOLD!!! I know it is still early days, but I simply have not found my grocery rhythm. Everything and nothing looks the same here. I have tried Waitress (definitely not the same calibre as London but good), Spinneys (my fave so far), M&S (absolutely poor show on the foodstuffs), Al Maya (local supermarket). All that is left for me to try is Carrefour (a french chain equivalent to Checkers). I ventured into one yesterday...briefly...it was so PACKED and MANIC...I ran. So yes - more to come in figuring out my shopping habits!
Bacon. Turkey Bacon. Veal bacon. Chicken bacon. Beef bacon. NONE of it real bacon. I have found the secret section of Waitress and Spinney's for non-Muslims that has the pork products - but I am still trying to figure out what everything is. It is funny - as soon as you can't have something, it is the only thing you dream about in copious quantities!!!
Service. Really understanding service. That is one thing I have been amazed by. The rest of the world has a lot to learn from service levels in Dubai. NOTHING is too much trouble. And most things are done in record time. World class technology. I have a cheque, savings and credit card account - and I have yet to step inside a bank. The relationship manager came to my office twice...at 7pm at night...8 hours after I emailed him....and 3 different couriers brought me the cards and cheque books. It has been a learning curve for sure, but a pleasant one I wasn't expecting.
Heat. I really was not sure what to expect with the weather. Everyone had warned me within an inch of my life. And I am under no illusions that it is going to get WAY hotter. But at a steady 38/39 degrees for the last month, I have not found it unbearable. Don't get me wrong - you do not voluntarily go and stand out in the full on sunshine in the middle of the day. But i go swimming and lie by the pool around 2pm and I don't fry. Ironically, I have a jersey and a pashmina on the back of my office chair...and closed shoes under my desk. The aircons here are Icelandic in their temperature!!!
Money. I am getting used to the dirhams and fils. More than once I have handed over the totally wrong amount of money. And it is usually the quizzical look of the attendant that makes me realise I made a muck up. The 500 dirhams (about 100 quid) note looks *very* similar to the 50 dirhams note (about 10 quid)....thank goodness Dubai is an honest city - they had back the 500 and tell me 'ma'am you made a mistake'. Bless them.
Kindness. Lots and lots of kindness. Dubai is filled with warm hearted, kind people. They smile. They want to be of service. They are helpful. English is *occasionally* a barrier....but hand gestures and broken English usually gets us by. This truly is a cosmopolitan city - and in my curious way I ask people where they are from (usually the ones I am guessing are from Africa). Tonight my massage was from Jenny from Nairobi. Yesterday I tried on trainers with Thoko from Gweru. Chris from Kenya was the friendly bellhop at my last hotel. Guraj from Pakistan (who has been in Dubai 15 years and remembers when there were no roads, only dirt tracks through the desert) redeemed my faith in the mad hatter taxi drivers. The South African waitrons from Nezesaussi. The list is endless. I wonder if I will meet a local anytime soon.
The unwritten rules. Dubai has a heartbeat that you really have to listen to. All the stuff that is not written anywhere, yet everyone knows. Figuring out the way things *happen* here is an industry all of its own. The visa process is truly one of the most complicated I have ever come across. And those who process them everyday know exactly how it works and the ordering and the timing. Those of us on the receiving end are completely in the dark. Same goes for the way you identify and rent a property. I could write an entire book on that process. Utterly mind boggling. It's almost like there needs to be a book written called 'The dummy's guide to moving to and living in Dubai'. When you know what needs to be done and the order it needs to be done, then inevitably you can do it online and quite simply. But if you just simply don't know the 'what' then you really are flummoxed. I have become an incessant asker of questions (as if I didn't ask them before!!!) - the structured, organised freak in me if having a complete breakdown!!!!!!
Sunshine. Every day. It lightens your mood from the minute you wake up. It can't not.

So as I make my way through another week in this hotel....followed by a work trip to Paris for 3 days (more nights in a hotel)...followed by a final night in a hotel when I land back...I can smile about the journey I have had so far. I have a lot to learn. I still have some life admin to do (I need a drivers licence, a car, a moving in permit, ejari and DEWA connections and a UK visa....don't ask)...but the end is in sight...and I am enjoying my Dubai adventure immensely. And when I move into my apartment on 9 June, it will officially have been 60 days that I have been sleeping in friends spare rooms, hotels in Dubai/Paris and airplanes. I cannot WAIT for my own bed. Only 12 more sleeps...not long now :)

Love, light, peace and gratitude in abundance for the support of you all...near and far xxxx