Ladies, Hide Your Toes

After spending a week in Damascus, I've come to accept the fact that I am absolutely in love with this city. The moment we drove into town from the airport, I knew I would enjoy my time here.

Damascus is the oldest city in the world—dating back at least 6,000 years—and the history of the city shows all over: in its buildings, in its streets, in the way people live their lives. The city is built on a mountain, growing upwards. It's full of charming little road ways, comparable to the alleyways of an old Roman city, impossible to drive through (though, Syrians manage to do it just fine). Much of the city's buildings are old and run down, but instead of looking like a slum, the antiquity is what makes Damascus so lovely. The city lacks modernity as we know it in the West, from its architecture to its people.

The people of Damascus are one of a kind. They possess the boisterousness and hospitality that characterizes the rest of the Mediterranean with an extra charm of their own. They tend to be hot-tempered, but as quickly as they get angry, they cool down. Everyone here wants to help, perhaps a little too much, but they usually mean well.

Damascus can be considered liberal in some ways, especially compared to many other Arab cities, but Middle Eastern culture as a whole is conservative, particularly in terms of one's sexuality. Women are valued creatures here, and sexually repressed men treasure every inch of a woman's body they can glimpse as a woman passes by—including her feet. Especially her feet. There seems to be an odd, culture-wide foot fetish here—something I was welcomed with when I arrived here.

I was wearing open sandals as we were walking amongst vegetable stands when, from the corner of my eye, I noticed some men shamelessly staring at me. Needless to say I was incredibly uncomfortable and a bit confused—I was dressed conservatively and I had just gotten off the plane, I wasn't exactly looking my sexiest. I didn't dare look directly at them as I didn't want to give them too much face, until I finally had enough. I prepared my newly-learned insults and my death stare to get these guys off my back when I turned around and realized that they weren't looking exactly at me..at least not where I expected them to be looking. Their eyes were pointed downwards, not at my legs or my behind, but at my feet! They were having some intense conversation, analyzing my freshly pedicured toes, perhaps watching how they move. I was so surprised, I didn't know how to react so I kept my mouth shut, averted my eyes quickly and walked away. They looked at my feet with such intense desire, I felt like I was walking around naked!

In the coming days, from observation and conversation, I learned that Syrian men have a thing for feet—who knew? I'm no longer surprised by it, nor am I scared of it. I'm more conservative now in the exposure of my toes, and I'm prepared to use the same offended death-stare to protect them as I would any of my other, more womanly, body parts. So ladies, should you come to Damascus, beware or hide your toes.

Dubai: A critique

Dubai is a city in the making, and it's being made fast. When I visited four years ago, I would've called it a large town. Now, Dubai is full of malls and high rises, serving as a commercial hub for the region. Though extraordinarily developed, especially given its age, Dubai still has a long way to go.

In terms of physical and commercial development, this tiny emirate has accomplished plenty. In just a few short years Dubai grew immensely, at one point containing more cranes than anywhere else in the world. It has the world's largest mall, the world's tallest building, and the world's only man-made island that can be seen from space. You could say Dubai has a napoleonic complex of sorts—small city, big stuff.

Everything in Dubai is incredibly convenient. Everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE, delivers: restaurants (the majority of them), supermarkets, pharmacies, etc. There are men who offer to wash your car in mall parking lots. Self-serve gas stations simply don't exist. Many mainstream places provide valet parking. There's even a guy whose job is to sit a the entrance of parking garages and press the button for your parking pass—you know, so you don't have to reach too far out of your car. Unfortunately, this harvests a culture of laziness—there's less movement and less motivation to actually DO anything for oneself. Compound that with the popularity of fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, Burger King, and, most of all, KFC and the result is a lazy, obese population in a few short decades. According to a friend, about half the Local population suffers from some form of diabetes, apparently linked to this sort of lifestyle.

The culture of laziness runs deeper than these simple examples. For foreigners who live and work in Dubai, this deeper laziness doesn't seem to exist, but for privileged young Locals, it's a different story. From my observations, this seems to be a problem present in the Gulf region as a whole—young men and women (but especially men) between the ages of 15 and 30 are just plain lazy. They sleep all day and stay out all night, have little desire to pursue a career. They're quite happy with the status quo of their lives. Because they're Local, they receive immense benefits; for example, if a Local man marries a Local woman, the government gives them a “cash prize” of 7,500 dirhams, and for each child they have they're given a stipend. These handouts seem to be counterproductive to the government's “Emiritzation” project—a government-run initiative to grow the Local population and get them educated, as a friend of mine explained to me. For instance, she told me that the Emirati government actually provides a full scholarship plus stipend to Local men who want to go to university abroad. The strange thing is, very few of the Local population actually take advantage of this benefit, which I believe is connected to the culture of laziness.

The “marriage” initiative not only encourages young Locals to marry one another, it inadvertently encourages them to marry young so they get “free” money, thus also inadvertently discouraging them from taking advantage of the education scholarship. The issue of “falling in love”, so important in Western cultures, isn't a problem at all because firstly, the concept isn't as culturally present as it is in the West, and secondly, it's completely acceptable to have more than one wife—therefore, men can marry a Local woman to get the money, and take on a second non-Local wife with whom he has “fallen in love”. Another benefit these young Locals have is that they receive priority in the job market, no matter with disregard to their qualifications or lack thereof. There are many instances when a Local obtains a position, despite the fact that he never went to college or received the necessary training, over a non-Local with the proper qualifications and a university education. Additionally, well-paid, stable, and comfortable government jobs are available only to Locals. These guys work from 9 to 6 and get paid a high salary from the start. The downfall is that there is very little room for growth or promotions, but this appears to be a non-issue for them. These sorts of benefits also discourages Locals from taking advantage of the education scholarship provided by the government and allows them to get on with life very comfortably without working very hard.

This situation can be quite troubling for a nation in which only 20% of its population are actually citizens. Soon, these young men and women will be the ones that have to take the reigns and continue to help Dubai grow, unless they want foreigners to run the show. Given the position of the UAE in the region, and it's disproportional level of importance in the global economy, the young citizens of the Emirates can be very powerful if they learn to take some initiative.

Despite the “culture of laziness” amongst Locals, I believe there is an opposite culture amongst foreigners. It's true, Dubai is the land of luxury, and the superficial laziness does exist, but in terms of working culture, these people work long and hard. Unlike the U.S., they get decent vacation benefits—4 weeks of vacation a year from the get-go. These people work long hours, though, usually getting out of work around 7, despite the fact that they start at 8:30 or 9. Though more relaxed than New York, things feel very rushed in Dubai—it's a high-stress environment compared to the rest of the Middle East. Because Dubai has turned into the commercial hub for the region, investment banks and advertising agencies are plentiful, raising the overall stress level of the city; after all, these are high-pressure industries. The presence of these sorts of organizations also takes away from the “Middle Easternness” of the city.

Overall, for a city in the Arabian Gulf, Dubai isn't very Middle Eastern at all. It does have an Arab culture somewhat present, but the commercialism and capitalism of the West is strongly present, and that's what is taking over the city. Because the city has been built basically from the ground up in the last two decades, everything is artificial--the city lacks history and it lacks depth. For a person looking to visit the Arab world, don't come to Dubai--you won't get what you're looking for. But for someone who wants to go to the Middle East and still have all the amenities available to you in the U.S. (like Starbucks and TGIFridays), by all means, Dubai is the place for you.

As for me, Dubai is a fun place to visit. The people I've met here are lovely, and what the UAE has managed to build here is truly a sight to see. I prefer a place with depth and culture--something that cannot be built overnight, as Dubai has been. A friend of mine who recently moved here from the States put it perfectly. "The one saving grace," he started, is that all that is here has been built over the last 15-20 years, and 30, 40, 50 years down the road, "I'd like to be able to say, 'I helped build that'."

Arengdu

My friend sent me this article recently: http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100502/NATIONAL/705019866/0/LIFE

Living in Dubai, you learn a whole new kind of English...or Arabic. When dealing with most people, you learn to speak a mixture of Arabic, English, and Urdu. Talking to a cab driver, you tell him Salamu Alaykom (hello) in Arabic, to please go Sida (straight) in Urdu, and any English you use, you leave out all pronouns or any excess words.

There are certain words in English you learn to pronounce differently. For example, the word "rehwehls" actually means "reverse", or "drehwel" means "driver". How? Well, in Urdu or in Hindi, the "v" is actually pronounced as a "w". There are lots of words like this that are used in mainstream language. It makes me wonder if the region will develop its own dialect soon.

Geekfest at Shelter - coolest thing in Dubai so far

Last Thursday a few friends and I attended an event called Geekfest, a lovely gathering of people who love all things geeky (specifically in terms of technology). It was really great to be around a group of like-minded folks, all interested in something a little deeper than what drink to have next at the bar (not that there's anything wrong with that, I just personally need a little more to think about sometimes).

It was a social networking event at which many people already knew each other. Their topics of conversation ranged from the latest on Twitter to personal projects to charity events. We got to see a short CGI film (the first to come out of Dubai) created by a group of guys who had enough passion for the project to volunteer endless hours of their time. They're going to Cannes Film Festival--which is awesome. A big thumbs up to them (and for anyone interested in checking it out: http://www.xero-error.com/).

We also sat in on a presentation by these two ladies organizing a biking trek from Lhasa to Kathmandu via Everest Base Camp in an effort to raise money and help build a playground for an orphanage there. Needless to say, I'm tempted. Very tempted. They're looking to set off at the end of July 2011...I think I can train enough by then...maybe? I should probably look into owning a bike...or riding a bike for the first time in 10+ years before I decide to do something like this. I'd like to at least support the, and I'd like others to support them too...sooo, here's the site: http://www.trekkingfornepal.com/

The location is also something to note. More people in Dubai need to know about Shelter. "Shelter is a flexible and cost-effective community workspace that provides a unique office infrastructure aimed at nurturing entrepreneurship within small businesses. An intellectual haven for forward thinkers and like-minded creatives to connect and exchange ideas, Shelter offers the ideal environment in which to convert social interaction into successful businesses." (They described themselves perfectly on their site: www.shelter.ae). A person can rent a workspace at Shelter and use their resources to start up their business or work on important projects. You pay a membership fee, because something has to keep this place running, but from what I can tell, you get your money's worth. I love the concept. I hope it catches on.

This was, by far, the coolest thing I've seen Dubai offer. It brings insight into the possible culture forming here. The city is young, it can't be as evolved as New York or Paris or London, I get that, but the lack of depth here was starting to trouble me. Well, I'm glad to see that there is more to Dubai than the glitz and glamour--there's a forum for a deeper discussion, and there are people interested in participating in it. Even more, Dubai is actually creating, just like New York or Paris or London did, and I think the world is ready for what this little city has to show for itself.