What are we up to?

If you'd like to see our kiwi custard, the local beach, and pictures from a run in rural UAE, check out this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66976&id=536358651&l=0940e

In the Absence of Hippies and Pork

A little ranting on the local culture and touching on my mild and intermittent homesickness was what I was after in my last post. But it seemed to strike people mostly on two chords: A. Who on earth would miss the smell of hippies? and B. What a bummer about the pork.

So do I really notice the absence of hippies when we take in live music on the Gulf? (Get ready for some American pride here) I think it's really a sense of nostalgia for a society that doesn't quash things counter-cultural, rebellious and anti-authoritarian. It is true that hippies bring with them to music venues their dreadlocks (fun to look at), body odour (no thanks), patchouli oil (in passing it's ok) and various smokables (put your own assessment here). But remember they also share an off-the-grid lifestyle that is abolutely attainable in the US, and even cherished by those of us who sometimes wish we weren't too straight to embrace the unconventional. Doing such a thing in the middle-east is simply not an option.

But on the topic of pork, I made it seem as if it weren't available at all here, and I need to set the record straight. There is a chain of stores that has the proper license to sell pork, but the experience of buying it is unique. Go into any Spinney's in Dubai, and look for a small room with a big NO MUSLIMS sign, and that's where you'll find it: bacon, sausages and pepperoni, ham in several varieties and even pork chops. You'll also find it in the high end hotels who have the facilities to separate pork from everything else, and a discrete code can be found on the menu to alert you of anything containing it. But consider this: a pound of bacon in the US might cost six bucks, where a pound of bacon here might cost twice that, and it requires a special trip to a special store - suddenly it feels like a prized and shameful ordeal all at the same time. And then when you discover on Saturday morning that your nanny has cooked the whole pound of salty pork for the kids as a snack, that's when you truly miss the comforts of home.

Am I a Global Citizen?

Someone recently asked whether I still felt good about our decision to come here. My answer is overwhelmingly yes, but it is my nature to make the best of any situation. Whether it's the snippy shop clerks of France, the underpant stealers in Japan, or the rude librarians of New York City, a good cry or some retail therapy usually does the trick to bring me back to my sanguine state of mind.

But here in the UAE, there are days when frustration bubbles up out of nowhere. This could be explained by reckless drivers, road rage and babies in the front seat, a littered desert, sewage spills into our favorite gulf swimming spot, as well as blocked internet sites, enormous speeding fines and students who are holier than thou.

However, I think it's really more about the stuff that's missing. Having stored our precious belongings (my estimate is 1 1/5 tons) in a block-long chain of storage units in dusty Colorado, we've come to the other side of the world without our sheepskin houseslippers, our quirky collection of coffee table books, seldom-used kitchen appliances, and art. And even though we had plenty of time to think about what life would be like in another country, (we'd been casually job-seeking for years), our own domestic attachments didn't become apparent until the dust settled and we started spending time in our new home. My longing at times for bagels, uncensored movies, unfettered Internet access, cheap bacon, and the smell of hippies at concerts is a sad but true betrayal of my fantasy self-image as a true citizen of the world.