Last night in Dubai, and Local Flavor (literally)

Burj Al-Arab

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a day and a half, but it's been go-go-go since yesterday mid-day. I'm battling a splitting headache right now, and have to get up for the airport in 4 hours, so I'll try to make this brief, then elaborate when I get home.

Yesterday T's family picked me up and I went back to their house for iftar then shopping at Festival City Mall. I liked it better than Emirates Mall, more locals, less Europeans, and I felt less like a tourist. His mom prepared the most amazing dinner. And it's not like a main course with a few sides... it's many different dishes of shapes, sizes, and flavors. I ate so much! I tried to insist (unsuccessfully) that I was stuffed, but next thing I know his mom is handing me a second plate. Literally, I had 2 plates next to each other with food. Then tea. Then dessert, twice. They invited me back for dinner tonight, so I decided I needed a new eating strategy for the next day.

After dinner his mom, sis, and bro, and I went to the mall about 10pm and shopped for 3 hours, and stopped at a coffee shop. So many families were out and about, socializing, eating, shopping, having a great time, it was like Chrismas on crack. It kinda puts Christmas to shame, actually. I've never seen in America what I've seen here in terms of family and holiday spirit together.

What would be a Chiquita blog without me talking about shoes, right? Like some people travel and pick up souvenirs, I travel and pick up shoes as my "souvenir". A great pair of black and silver-striped satin slingback pointed heels from a London shop. Here's what I find interesting: all the display shoes are a size 8 or 9. We're so used to seeing a small size 5 or 6 on display in the US that it looks so big and bulky on the shelves here. Also, the styles are different... there are more chunky shoes and not as many delicate pairs. I didn't think it'd take me so long to find one pair I really liked. Even the styles at Aldo were completely different in Dubai than in the US.

I didn't get back to the hotel until almost 3am, then I just slept in today and started to pack. At 2pm I had an interview at a Dubai magazine. No, not a job interview... T's dad is a reporter, and he arranged for one of his reporters to interview me for a profile of "an american girl traveling to Dubai to experience Ramadan". He works fast. *smile* Afterward, I went back to their home where we talked for a while, then had dinner again, helped a sister and her friend study for one of their college computer classes, then more tea and dessert.

I'm so glad I had an opportunity and honor to be their guest. They're a wonderful family, funny and hospitable, and it was a great retreat from tourist trap of Jumeirah, and to experience some local flavor. I actually felt more comfortable in the more "local" side of town in the "locals" mall. Maybe it's part of being in Chicago or hanging out in more cultural neighborhoods.

In a few hours I leave Dubai, and I have to say everyone should visit. It's safe, spotlessly clean, friendly, and nothing like some stereotypical American view of the Middle East. Erase of images you have of busy, dirty, old, crazy Cairo, and think about some glistening modern city in the desert on the cutting edge of technology and development. That's Dubai.