Downtown

Nice contrast

I stepped into this shop, where they were playing  "Ella", de Bebe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VH6LG2WDD4)

As I had no friends backing me up, I took a pic to some strangers.

I will pay ANYTHING

03.09.2013

Today (Tue) I met our big boss (who's tuned out to be Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's brother, my apologies for the wrong information provided yesterday!). He is a quite impressive Emirate, with big hands, vitiligo in lips and fingers, busy eyebrows, inquisitive and sincere eyes and such a cottony voice that makes you want to hug him and squeeze him ( I was happy with a hand shake, though). I, predictably, felt in love.

Besides his physical characteristics of a full-fledged man, he offered us a high quality brewed cappuccino, freshly picked dates (specifically picked for us!) and a velvety avocado smoothie. What else do you need to get your heart melted? We had a nice one-hour talk, with laughs, periods of silence and warmed intersperses sips of brevage. One of the funniest stories rose when talking about English language and us (foreigners) trying to learn how to speak it properly (a most of the times lost battle). The anecdote goes as follows: Both of them were having a high standard business meeting at a very posh restaurant with very VIP company (I think you get the idea) when his wife’s turn to ask for drinks came. Toda digna, she asked for a glass of cock (instead of coke). Inevitably, giggling and blushing happened. (Reading this now doesn’t sound THAT funny, but I promise it was when he told the story...).

After work I decided to go and explore “the big city” for the first time. I was brave enough to walk 30 min (and of course, get lost) towards the tube station under the scorching 39ºC sun. It is not surprising that Dubai is not peasant-friendly in any way: this heat can kill anyone who dares to defy the power of solar energy. To feel a bit more local (ex-pat local type!), I bought the NUL-card (Dubai’s oyster), valid for a whole year (it will be my legacy for the future interns). Even though it was pick hour, I was happily surprised of the spaciousness of the wagons. I had plenty of space and was almost able to sit. My eyes were on stalks (;)) when I left my head and saw dozens of men piled 5 meters away from my heavenly free of crowdiness (let me make up some words... it is called writer’s licence) carriage. I had stepped into the women-only-carriage without even noticing and I am afraid to say that I’ve become addicted to it. What a blessing... Apparently, the ratio male:female is 1:7, so it is paramount to keep as cautious and away from (single) men as possible :S. A simple smile can trigger an invitation to harassment. I’m finding it difficult not to smile in the street to random people or not to say good morning to the workers at my doorstep. But... I guess I just have to follow the rules I’ve been taught.

My destination reached, I got off the tube (or metro, as they call it here) and followed an astonishing 828m long concrete a/c tongue that took me straight to the Dubai Mall, in “Downtown Dubai”. (see pics, whenever I can download them...).  In this area you can find the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (yesterday’s pic! Though you cannot see the tip at the end of it), the Dubai Aquarium (I met the director of curators, a Spanish girl from Jeréz, and will probably get the chance to get a private aquaculture-tour), and the Duabi Fountain, amongst others.

I finished the night with my first CS meeting in Dubai, where I met a really nice guy who reminds me loads to Yuri and who blew my mind when openly accepted that he was working in an engineer-full (oh, yes! more and more engies) ghetto in Iraq just for the money. Now I feel stupid for being THAT surprised, but still gets me the chills when thinking about it. I decided not to go for beer, and had a fresh watermelon juice instead. Yummy!

Oh, Canada! There’s a picture especially for you.