Quick facts about the Middle East (I will share as they come to me!)

Since living here in the Middle East now for almost 5 weeks, I have learned several things. Here are a few of the more interesting ones:

The beach just outside my door.

 

Arab women wearing the abayah and burka to the mall. 

Building architecture over here rocks!

Love the architecture!

Here is my little clothes dryer. Nothing but the sun and air!

My kitchen. Notice the clothes washer next to stove!

1. Weekends. The weekend begins on Friday here in Dubai. So most people don't work and many of the stores are closed. The weekend is Friday and Saturday and most people spend these two days with their family going to the mall, water parks, or some sort of adventure. People resume work on Sunday, and kids go to school on Sunday, similar to our Monday (this totally messes up one of my favorite songs by the Bangles, "It's just another Manic Monday". Doesn't sound the same as, "its just another manic Sunday...Oooohhhhh. I wish it were Monday....cause that's my fun day". Yeah, no good. I still am having a hard time getting used to this over here.
2. The Beach. Women who wear the abayah and the burka don't go to the beach. Well, they do go to the beach, they just sit on the lawn chairs wearing their black outfits, never getting in the water. Strange. Tourists like to swim though. ;) I am getting used to seeing Arab women all around though. It no longer takes me by surprise to see them shopping or out and about.
   
3. Architecture. The building architecture over here is very interesting. I have never before in all my life seen so many fantastic buildings. It feels sort of futuristic and space like to me when I see them (I wonder if they are earthquake safe though...).
4. Nap time. It is the culture over here to take a nap from 1pm to 4 pm everyday. Shops close down for this. At first I found this strange...but now I realize why. See from 1 to 4pm it is the hottest part of the day over here. People go in where it is cool and sleep. After 4pm, shops open back up and the streets become busy again until about 2am the next morning. Yes, I said 2am. It is crazy. at midnight you can go shopping anywhere or out on the town and the night life is thriving! Right at 2am things die down and it finally gets quite outside (I know this because I am working through the night for Huntsman Cancer Institute and have noticed how quite it can get).
5. 11 hours ahead. Dubai is currently 11 hours ahead of Utah time. This has made it interesting for me to Skype with family and friends. I also telecommute from 7pm to 3am my time. I am actually quite enjoying this.
6. Slave Labor. Society over here is built on slave labor. Most Arab families have a maid, cook, driver, and nanny. At first I thought...wow, this is interesting. The more I think about it, these families hire Indian, Pakistani, and Filipinos to full fill these jobs and they pay them next to nothing. The more I speak to cab drives, nannies, and maids, I am finding out that these people have left their families back in their native countries. They work here for 1 to 2 years and then go back to visit for only two months before returning to do it all over again. Now, don't get me wrong...I would love a maid, driver and cook back home in the U.S. I just feel bad that these people leave their families for so long.
7. Clean is not clean. Being a germaphobe is really tough over here. In many situations, I have actually felt myself panic a bit when it comes to everything being dirty. Yes, everything is filthy over here. I have learned that the level of cleanliness in the Middle East is a bit different then in the U.S. I do have to admit, that on several occasions, I have had to just smile and go with it. Currently, in my apartment I do have a maid. One day, I stuck around to see exactly what she cleans since it appears to me to be nothing. It takes Winnie only 25 minutes to breeze through. In this time she changes the sheets and towels. Swishes the toilet brush once and mops about 4 squares of tile out of the 400 that are here. She dusts a couple of things and off she goes. This level of cleaning is acceptable over here. Let's just say that I always wear socks because the floors are gross. I actually clean the toilets and kitchen myself for piece of mind. The mold in the bathroom scares me so much that I have to close my eyes when I shower. :)
8. No clothes dryers. Here in the Middle East since it is so hot all the time, they don't use clothes dryers. Strange. The washing machine is also located in the kitchen. Yes, I did say the kitchen. Like right next to the stove of all things. They are also very small in size so you can only wash a few things at time. Each cycle takes two hours also. Strange! I must admit that I am very spoiled when it comes to laundry. I love doing laundry and love hanging up clothes and drying them. Here, you dry your clothes outside. At first I found this very interesting. It reminded me of when my mother would hang clothes out on the line when I was a child. I secretly must admit that I love hanging clothes out to dry. LOL. It just sucks that you cannot get all of your laundry done in one day. The downside to drying your clothes outside is that is is very common for dirt to fly in the wind here. So it seems that all of our clothes now have a sort of gritty sand feel. :) 
9. If it breaks...it remains broken. One thing that Mr. Big and I have definitely noticed is that once something breaks, no one seems to fix anything over here. There is a mentality othat the newest is the best and the culture seems to flock to the newest thing forgetting about the things that are a just a few minutes older. For example, at the resort we are staying at, there are lights burned out and busted, graffiti, broken playground toys, broken water fountains, etc, and no one ever fixes them. See, everything looks great from a distance, but when you look at the details, you see everything that needs repair. You know, a repair company would do really well over here!

As interesting things pop up I will post them randomly!