Why this suddenly sparked some attention is that yesterday I got a rare opportunity to go to a local's home, which anyone in Dubai will tell you, is really a rare opportunity. To give a little background, I was at work one random day and oddly, our clinic manager wanted to see me. Never a good sign, right? So I nervously went to our main reception and there he is standing with an average looking man. My manager is a funny chap and he was almost falling over himself to introduce me to this patient and to "take care of him." As he has NEVER done that before, that was an automatic sign that this patient is fairly important. On a side note, whenever we get VIP patients or VVIP they are funny in that they always say, "take care of this patient." Like I wouldn't take care of him? Anyhoo, so I bring him back to the treatment room and assessed and treated him as usual and again, English was good not great, so there was a little barrier there, but got a bit of a background of his work and no surprise, he has an affiliation with the sheikh's... so yes, VIP. We mostly chatted about him hunting, which I know nothing about, but Arabs love hunting. Later visits got more of a background of his VIP or should I say VVIP status, but super humble guy and.... genuinely nice! One of our conversations, he was saying how is daughter got married and as I of course congratulated him, he said, "yea, you can read about it in the papers." Oh. Then shows me a pic of him with pretty much all the Sheikh's in Dubai. Ahhh.... yes, VVIP. But again, super sweet! He then said he likes to welcome foreigners to Emirate life and said he will connect me with his daughter to invite me to dinner. Wow! So he calls her up right then and there and I give her my phone number, kinda thinking, "well, let's see what happens with this!" Then he also said he would bring me dates from his farm, which many locals too, which again is sweet. So he misses a few appts and then when I see him again, I was joking, "what happened to my dates?" And he saw that I didn't hear from his daughter and calls her right away and then we speak on the phone and she does in fact invite me to dinner. I know his daughters are young, all under or about 21, and you can see that with her cutsy WhatsApp messages.
Anyhoo, so I am also treating a Sheikah from one of the royal families, I've been seeing her for years, and she was the first one to expose me to life as part of the huge royal family. My patient's family isn't royal, but apparently very well known. I asked her what I can bring as a guest as obviously I wouldn't bring wine or something, and she said with upcoming Ramadan, dates or chocolate is appropriate (which I knew). She also knew of his family and said they are very well known among Emirates. So I really didn't know what to expect of this dinner thing. I was going to straight from work in my dress casual work attire, but then my co-workers made me nervous and said it is better to at least dress a bit nicer as it is a well known family. So I thought better to be overdressed than under-dressed, right? So I did wear a dress and some heals, not super fancy, just nice.
Again, I had NOOOOOOOOO idea what to expect of this dinner. I find her place and it is more of a compound, which was interesting, different houses... not over the top, normal looking but nice. I meet the daughter that I have been in communication with and she is wearing one of those silky long dresses, almost like a sari, but for the home. Then one by one the other sisters come by with the same thing. So yeaaa, I was a bit over-dressed, but hey, would rather have that than the opposite. I had a very brief look at the house and immediately went to somewhat of a living room. I have noticed this about Arab homes, they are fairly simple. No paintings or wall decorations, literally just a couple of sofa's and a TV and a couple of coffee tables. On one was of course dates and mangoes. Mangoes! I don't know if I have ever mentioned, but I LOVE mangoes but they are sooo sooooo expensive here! No joke in that one mango is like $5-7 USD. So of course I commented on that. So we the funny part of the dinner was that I don't know who was more infatuated with who. They were just beside themselves that I was American and I was beside myself that I was in a local's house! They hadn't been to America, but were going on and on about LA as if that was their 2nd home (in a sweet way). They were soooooo enamored with LA especially and also America. I of course was positive about it but when I dared to mention that LA is great and all, but there is some not-so-great things, like the homeless and the horrible traffic... and that most of the stars were outside the city. They just looked at me blankly, totally ignored what I said, and went on and on how great it was and how they would love to go there (but there mother said it is too far). I generally have noticed that with a lot of cultures, they really see America as Hollywood and Hollywood only. They really don't believe you when you say you America has it's own fair share of probs. Anyhoo, we talked about everything from movies (they looooooooooove Fast and Furious) to music. Having said that, I was SUPER curious to hear what they thought about how they portrayed Abu Dhabi, which I was fairly shocked (maybe i've become a bit prudish here?) and they too agreed it was a bad image. So we agreed on that. Then they also were disapproving of some of those over-the-top superstars like Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus, we were on the same page of that. They love One Direction, Shakira, Beyonce and more... nicer and clean superstars. When I asked about the concerts here, because all of those artists have been here, they said, "no we are not allowed to go to concerts." Hmm... Then another discussion went to the heat (of course) and then water parks, "no, we're not allowed to go there." BUT they do have a ladies night, "noo... we are not allowed to go." Then when they were talking about London, which they go every year and REALLY love and speak highly of it, of course I mentioned theatre and shows, "no, we've never gone. We're not allowed to go." And I couldn't help but look surprised and kind of teasing, "but come on, Lion King is sooo fun!" But surprisingly, they AT ALL didn't look like upset or angry that they couldn't go, they were just like "nope, we can't go." I tried to not be facetious about it because that's the way it is. I tried in a round about way to ask what they did in London then, and in more or less words, it seemed shopping, being at home, and walking around. Okayyy. I guess since they are sooo involved and attached to family, it really is fun for them to be with family... literally all the time (sorry, as much as I love my family, this would drive me crazy). And it seems the girls had friends, but really, spent most of their time in the compound with their family. Interesting! Oh, when the conversation went to technology, wow, then I could tell I'm 15+ years older than them. I didn't even know some of the latest social medial stuff they were talking about! And I almost feel as I am getting older, I am getting less and less into it than the other way around, like I don't feel I am missing out. These things can be such a waste of time (personal opinion, mind you!).
As we were conversing, the maid brought out some coffee and "karak", which is like Indian masala tea, and I had a date. I really didn't know what to expect for dinner, thinking it probably would be something Arabic, right? So it was soooo funny when they brought out plain slices of cheese pizza and zaatar, which is like Arabic pizza... and then macaroni and cheese - served on all fine china including silverware. Haha. Good thing I am not really detoxing so helped myself (although they ate a little). Then for dessert there were these known arabic little balls of dough covered in syrup (not so healthy, I know!) and something I haven't had before, it was like a crepe with cheese and honey. It was good (of course because it is all sugar!). Funny and random dinner!
So we continued chatting and then of course I had to ask about their sister's wedding (she popped in and sat for a little bit and then had to leave). As it is common in Arabic culture to keep the whole wedding separate men and woman, that wasn't a surprise. But because they are VERY VERY VERY private, they hardly had any pictures. Even at the wedding they said they have "woman police" to go around to make sure no one takes pictures. They had a couple of selfies of themselves, and really, they looked stunning!!! Super beautiful, make-up and dress to the 10's. They were so happy I was so complimentary, which was so cute. Again, TOTALLY different than most other weddings. I know they get decked out though, the few pictures I did see, the bling was out of this world, diamonds diamonds and more diamonds!
I was glad I didn't assume they didn't do anything and was glad to hear that the older ones were in school, one studying "science" and the other IT. I of course was interested in the one that was studying science, figuring it may be something... well, in the sciences (medical?) but she seemed dead set against that, so I still don't know what the studies are about and she kind of ddn't seem to know about it herself and didn't wt to push it. I do have the feeling that when they get married, those studies will probably go away as well. Again, I can be wrong and it's not to say that locals don't work because plenty do, but also many take on the role as a wife and then eventually mom. The Sheikah that I am treating works as well, which is probably more surprising because she is part of the royal family, but I do see she works hard. But she also defo gets major perks for being royal.
Soo... I really enjoyed the evening! It was just a fun atmosphere because again, I was happy to be there and learn about them and their culture and they were beside themselves that I was American, haha. Although SUPER SUPER innocent and protected and EXTREMELY humble, very sweet girls. Besides them bringing up how they had these homes in different parts of the world, I wouldn't even guess they were uber rich. But it doesn't really matter, does it? THEN, it was super super super sweet that when I left they gave me this big o bag of mangoes and dates!!!!
I honestly honestly have to say that Emirates are genuinely giving and thoughtful people. Out of the few people that have given me little gifts, it's been Emirates. Even the Sheikah, out of kindness because she has been to our clinic so many times, brought the whole clinic these little cakes. So nice! As Emirates take up literally 20% of the Emirate population, the rest is Expats and foreigners, they do get privileges, and sometimes that is not seen so favorably, BUT you can't blame them. It's nice that they are taken care of by the government and because the families are so huge and inter-related, they defo have a lot of "wasta," or connections, the "who you know." I had some thoughts before, but now I really do have a better understanding and respect for them. Everyone has their own opinions about Arab culture, Emirate culture, but if more people take the time to understand them and their upbringing, it will be a much more peaceful world!
I honestly honestly have to say that Emirates are genuinely giving and thoughtful people. Out of the few people that have given me little gifts, it's been Emirates. Even the Sheikah, out of kindness because she has been to our clinic so many times, brought the whole clinic these little cakes. So nice! As Emirates take up literally 20% of the Emirate population, the rest is Expats and foreigners, they do get privileges, and sometimes that is not seen so favorably, BUT you can't blame them. It's nice that they are taken care of by the government and because the families are so huge and inter-related, they defo have a lot of "wasta," or connections, the "who you know." I had some thoughts before, but now I really do have a better understanding and respect for them. Everyone has their own opinions about Arab culture, Emirate culture, but if more people take the time to understand them and their upbringing, it will be a much more peaceful world!
No comments:
Post a Comment