What it’s like over here...

This initial entry is to basically make sure everything is running smoothly, and more importantly to assure myself that I know what I’m doing.  Many people have asked so... Here is what it is like in the UAE

As most people know, I took the first opportunity to travel and live abroad after graduation.  While I wasn’t on my own, living and working with my father, I have enjoyed being immersed in a VERY foreign culture.  I am able to find some similarities, but they all come with an Arabic twist.  While the national language is Arabic, the national business language is English, which helps out.  The Emirates is a newly wealthy region, making all of the major cities quite young.  Dubai is a jaw-dropping place that stretches along the coast of the Persian Gulf.  It isn’t a dense city, like NY, but rather it is a city made up of monstrously tall buildings designed with either a modern Arabian style or simply futuristic.  Looking at NYC, the tallest building is the Empire State Building, which stands at 102 stories (or 1,454 ft including its super structures), and pretty much towers over the entire skyline.  Not only does Dubai contain many buildings around 100 stories and taller, but it is home to the world’s tallest building; The Burj (which means tower in Arabic) Khalifa stands at 2,717 ft tall, nearly twice as tall as the Empire State Building.  During the economic boom in Dubai they began building any project that looked out of this world, many of which have been permanently suspended due to the economy.  The projects that are now completed are incredible, like the man made islands in the shape of palm trees and the continents, an indoor ski slope attached to one of the many malls, the largest glass panel in the world (part of the Dubai aquarium located in another mall), among many other rather expensive endeavours (Check out the link to scroll through a picture timeline of Dubai).

Driving about an hour and half west through sand dunes and little pull off rest stops, you come to Abu Dhabi.  Although Abu Dhabi is not as extravagant as Dubai, it is the wealthiest city in the world.  It is made up of many islands, each serving a different function.  The main island contains the old city (where I work), there is a cultural Island (saddiyat) which contains less than a handful of finished buildings, Yas Island is the entertainment section (where I live), currently more developed but still a few years from completion.  Many of the islands in Abu Dhabi are still under construction, but by 2015 it should be a very impressive location.  Of course Abu Dhabi also has many attractions like the world’s second most expensive hotel (the Emirates Palace), unfortunately Singapore just finished a more expensive one, and the world’s 8^th largest mosque, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (home of the world’s largest carpet and largest chandelier).

As for the people; the men wear white cloaks (dishdash) and head scarves (guthra) held in place by black rope (egal) and the women wear black robes (abaya) and black head scarves(either shela or hijab), some also wear veils over their faces (burqa) and even gloves.  The nationals are very wealthy and very few.  They all have servants, typically Asians, and those who work are involved in government jobs.  Like I said they are very few; only 20% of the residents in the UAE are nationals, and that doesn’t include the many consultants (and people like me) who work in the country with visitor visas.  The entire labour force is brought in from third world countries like India and Pakistan.  They come over with 2-4 year contracts and send the majority of their earnings home.  They live in labour camps and are bussed in and out of the city for their work shifts.  The next group are skilled labourers, who can ‘’speak’’ English.  They work in the restaurants, at the hotels, and in the offices as tea boys, parking attendants, and drivers.  They are very friendly, but I cannot understand a word our tea boy or driver say, and by the way, our tea boy wears a tuxedo.  Then there are the business expats who are educated in engineering and architecture and so on.  These are the people I meet with and learn about projects.  Everybody has a different background and there is a vast difference in each person’s ability to communicate in English, it literally reminds me of a Star Wars movie, trying to interact with ‘beings’ that are so foreign and I can barely understand.

Over all it has been a great experience.  The UAE is a very safe place and seems to be an international hub.  It is a great place to meet people from all over the world!!