Letters from Dubai
Never sure how personal to get online as I spend my days in Dubai with my family adjusting and catching some internet moments in cafes.
On my first day, no one in the neighborhood accepts VISA or traveler’s cheques My cash has run out by noon. I try a bank, but they need my passport to cash the travellers cheque, which my husband has at work. The goal of the day was to buy some bedding and things and thankfully I find a store that accepts Visa.
The boys mood improves with each air conditioned stop and this store is no different. We each get a basket, and they find the toy section. Everyone chats with the boys, touching their cheeks. I get two male personal shoppers to help me with items. No worries on finding anything! I find a little 15$ computer for the boys, that my personal shopper shows his assistant how to add new batteries — so I can confirm my purchase.
The sun is hot as we prepare for the 50 degrees to come. The boys hats are wet with Evian water as they evaporate in the sun. Reminiscing about Vancouver weather, they ask if it will rain in Dubai.
We walk into a free internet cafe that seems to be part of something more formal. There is an art exhibition, waterfall, and the security says it is a Museum. It looks more like the Board of Trade. I give him my card and get the name of the gallerist. The exhibition at a glance seems to be a history of the Sheikhs.
I am soaking it all in, inspired. But know i am not set up for any kind of painting right now. Getting a phone and internet are my main priorities. My ‘temporary studio’ is in Customs,, but tomorrow( Friday/Saturday) are the weekend here. People work on Sunday 8-1.
The sign says, “Low Crime is not No Crime.” Our taxi is driving us back to Muraqqabat. The beautiful roundabouts and smell of flowers drift by. Silk trees with soft open leaves, hardy hibiscus type trees with small flowers, I can’t figure out what the scent is, can’t be the snap dragons. I tried showing the boys how the flowers SNAP! but they are not amused. Somehow I remember my sister and I enjoying snap dragons so much. i don’t even know if that is the real name.
We make paper airplanes from the mall map at Starbucks, and the boys enjoy watching the machinery constructing the new train line. On the map, we show them that once completed, we will be moving into a new Villa in Mirdiff, close to the airport. Dubai feels like home. The new Burkeville (by the airport) and an extension of the Vancouver RavLine under construction.
The streets and neighborhood seem ordinary and dirty today. A Zamboni cleans the large sidewalk. Men walk around in bright pink and stiff peach dress shirts with creases from the package. A small beige fly with clear wings is dead; crushed when I closed my laptop. I assume the last crumbs on my keyboard protector were worth the risk.
The boys are asleep on my lap at Starbucks. We move in one 80 pound bear hug to the long couch. “To protect the quality of the coffee you are enjoying please refrain from smoking.” I realize I can’t connect to the HotSpot. I am frustrated with my Dubai office. I fantasize I am JK Rowling writing at a cafe while her baby slept.