Dubai

I'm visiting Song in Dubai during my winter vacation. It's about 60 degrees warmer here. I can't tell you how nice it feels to go from single digit-weather to solid double digit-weather.

First impressions: It's nice to be out of Korea. A little girl ran into me with her mini shopping cart in the store last night, and her mom was really sorry and even said, "Oh, I'm sorry" with a genuine smile. It was just nice to have an interaction with local that felt sort of normal. It's not that a mom in Korea wouldn't have been sorry, but she just wouldn't have been able to say it, or, I guess, maybe she would've just scolded the child and kinda ignored me sans genuine smile. That's my thought anyways.

I also liked the people who worked at the store. They smiled and treated me like a normal person, and their English wasn't great but they didn't make a huge deal of it like I'm used to. You see, in Korea, there's three ways I'm treated at stores:
1. Usually, I'm avoided at all costs, cause everyone is so scared to speak English.
2. Or, someone will try to speak to me in Korean, which goes well on occasion.
3. Or, on occasion, I'll be treated like a celebrity and spoken to in English like I'm a best friend.

I know, it sounds like I'm knocking Korea. I'm not. I'm sure this place has a lot of bad things compared to Korea. I'm sure if I'd lived here for a year and a half and then visited Korea I would be so enthralled with every little thing and would constantly talk about how Dubai is so blah blah blah. The grass is just greener on the other side for the moment.


Realistically, it's not as expensive as I'd initially assumed. Take these order-in menus. You get a plate of food for around 10-15 dirhams (divide it by 3.33 and you get how much it is in dollars...if that's too difficult, here's a rule of thumb: 10 dirhams = 3 dollars). Click on the picture and you can see how many dirhams each plate is if you wanna work those 5th grade math skills of yours.


Not only that, but they had my two favorite candies at the local grocery store. I haven't wrapped my lips around either of these delicacies in over a year and a half. The Starbursts were a little old, but the Reese's were fresh and succulent. God bless America and it's globalization.


Here's the view from Song's apartment. Nothing spectacular, but I wanted to point out all the construction. Lots and lots of it. And sand too. Lots of sand. Just because it's different, I love it (not the construction - the sand).