WHAT I LEARNT FROM DUBAI

BURJ AL ARAB AT NIGHT BEAUTIFUL "BLING" MIRRORS MADE FROM SWAROVSKI
BEAUTIFUL CHOCOLATE CAKE - ONE OF HANNES'S BIRTHDAY CAKES FOR WORK
I had a wonderful but very busy 3 weeks in Dubai. The apartment is settled and I worked very hard to get it to this stage. Hannes can now live comfortably.
I have to leave tomorrow morning and am really not looking forward to it. The reasons are varied as I have to go back to lots of nitty gritty stuff. Just for starters one of the locums looking after the practise until end September cancelled a week on number 99...... the house has to sell or rent and the 2 vehicles have to be sold. Worst of all I am alone and have to do this by myself....
Ok enough grumbling....Will not change it at all only make it harder to do....
lets get back to Dubai lessons and experiences.
MILK
In the grocery stores Hannes bought milk by the name "LABAN". When he got home and poured himself a glass of milk he tasted it had gone a little sour and was not tasty at all. he threw the milk away and blamed Dubai heat and mishandling and bad luck for this milk incident.
next day he bought more "LABAN" milk. Same story at home....... next day he went to buy milk again and this time asked where the fresh milk is. In totally another section they showed him the fresh milk.....
"LABAN" in cultured milk (like our butter milk ....) Also kept in another section completely in the food stores. Kept amongst the yogurts and stuff.
The fresh milk and other dairy stuff' are not kept near each other in the stores at all.
Now buying milk is a very big choice to make....... There is 2%, fat free, full fat ect. just like at home BUT there is also camel and goat and cow's milk....... and about 10 different dairies to choose from......
I know know "Laban" is sour milk.
MEAT
Beef from Brazil and Holland, Lamb from Aussie and New Zealand and India, chicken is local are all available and prices more or less the same as home. very readily available. The beef tastes totally different than in Sa but very good.
Pork is not kept in stores at all. Only Spinney's carry a pork section. So bacon is made from turkey in all other stores.
Turkey is huge in the cold meat section.........
VEGETABLE AND FRUIT
The fruit is fantastic. Vegetable are good and the choices of potatoes are huge. All onion and garlic can be bought ready cleaned (Just like in SA)
Un known veggies to me are okra and the pulses family...... Lentils all shapes,colours and sizes to be bought. Muslims are big on the vegetarian side....
CLEANING PRODUCTS.
This is a maze to me as all the packaging looks totally different and the names are unknown. So lots of reading and I still do not now which is the best in the cleaning products so for now it is trial and error. I tend to buy the more expensive one's until I get familiar with cheaper products with the good workings..... Laundry detergent is still major...... Washing not clean enough for my liking.
ALCOHOL
I have not seen one liquor store yet...We also need a license to buy liquor and we get R3000.00 per month for liquor on our license. We will cross that bridge when we receive our license. You also have to buy the liquor and go strait home as if you stop around in town with booze in your boot you can be seen as a pusher.
POLICE
The police here take their job very serious. They accept NO BRIBES AT ALL......They are polite but keep the laws intact.
Public affection is frowned on (between man and woman and same sex affection is taboo) You can even get jail time for this.
WORK FORCE
The work force in Dubai is Pakistani, Indian, Filipinos, Kenyan (very few) but no Arabs.
I believe the Arabs get money every nth to survive and thus do not really have to work.. This is only on hearsay and I cannot say that is a fact.
SAFETY AND CRIME
This is so fantastic.... I have never felt threatened or scared even at night. Small crimes I think will be there but the news paper is filled with thing like what is happening and new ventures in Dubai. Crime reports do not exist.
PEOPLE ON THE STREET AND IN STORES.
I find Dubai very very friendly and all people I have come across are soft spoken and very helpful. Language can be a problem at times but it is very easy to get along with English. At all grocery and shopping points your shopping is packed in bags for you and even your trolley will be pushed to a waiting taxi or car. It is also not purely done for tips.......

Dubai is very very clean. No papers or rubbish any where to be seen. Dubai is one big building site. It is just cranes and highways and building being built every where you look. And Dubai is filled with shopping mall's. I might take 3 years to just get to know each one and what is sold there.

All apartment's and houses are equipped with water heaters. It is like a light switch. When you need the water to be warmed you simply put on the switchfor 30 minutes and the water is boiling hot. I have never used hot water here as the cold water in the tap is bath temperature......and good enough for washing greasy dishes... We put on the water heater about 2x per week.

Make peace with sand and dust. It is a fine powdery sand and dust..... From all the building development and the desert.

All shops are more or less put in areas as per what they sell.. If you want something with electronics go to electronic city (this is an area and not a building) Knowledge city is again where all the colleges and university are concentrated.

Bazaars, Souks and Plaza's tend to be the cheaper shopping areas. For instance Karama is an area where you find bargains and cheaper articles and are expected to bargain for the price. The gold souk also expect you to bargain.
I fund Lamzy Plaza today. A small shopping centre (4 floors) and here the full spectrum of needs are catered for, and all stuffs are affordable.
Mall of Emirates is very very lani and has all the brand shops and is fantastic to see BUT totally out of my budget.....
I stumbled into "DIASO" this is a Chinese shop which has anything you can think of. All items are one price. 6 DHS ( dirhams) an item..... From kitchen stuff to small cleaning and cosmetic dept.

I now can also cook with a gas stove............. (sometimes still not very successful.......) but we now can eat all that I have cooked and not only some....I just have to get the timing thing under control.....

Well I have had a wonderful 3 weeks and am sure we will be happy here for the next 3 years...The choices and experiences are fantastic to go through. very interesting and stimulating... (Even buying groceries !!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I leave tomorrow morning and will be back in Durban tomorrow night. Is it not amazing how small the world is as tonight I am in the middle east (Northern hemisphere) and tomorrow night I am is south african in the southern hemisphere.........................
I love it but hate to go. I know I m going to miss Hannes badly and dread being alone...... Luckily I have the boys there t and all the semantics to keep me busy. Who knows I just might do a surprise visit to Dubai before December when I am scheduled to be back.
Talk again later.