March Tidbits

I know there are women's rights issues in the Middle East, but from what I've seen so far, they seem to have it pretty good. Many local women cover their faces, but it's a personal choice for most of them--it's not a Muslim requirement. Many of the women from other Muslim countries will keep their head covered with a scarf called a hijab.

Many places, government buildings, grocery stores, etc. have seperate lines for ladies. The ladies get the front rows on the buses.

They do alot of window tinting here. Like the USA, it's supposed to be limited to 25-30% shading...unless you are a Lady, and then you can go up to 75%. Consequently, everyone says the car is for a lady when they get the tinting done.

The expatriate women here dress much like they do at home. I see lots of legs and cleavage. No one harasses them--or at least no more than if they were at home.

We seem to be getting alot of sandstorms this spring--folks that have been here claim it's a little unusual. Sometimes the wind is from the east carrying sand in from the desert; other times it is blowing in from the water carrying sand all the way from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Driving here has not been too much of a problem. Like any major city, you learn that you don't try to get on the highways during certain times of the day and you learn a few backroads--though it helps if you have 4 wheel drive. You do alot of U-turns here to get where you are going. They don't like for you to be turning across multiple lanes of traffic to get where you are going. I came across an intersection where I had to do that the other day and it felt really weird (of course, the next day their was a traffic light there). I also don't think you are supposed to turn right on red, though I have done it a couple times--after checking to see if there were cameras at the intersection. Running a red light will get your car impounded for 15 days--first offense. Now to help you avoid running a red light, they do have flashing Greens before the light turns yellow--I find I like this.

I did get a charge on my American Express for a speeding violation when I had my rental Yaris...650 dhms (just under $200). So far I have kept the Beast (Tundra) under control...no violations.

The drains in the apartment lead into pipes that also drain the main floor areas, so every now and then you start to get some odors wafting up from the floor drains. I bought a liquid to poor down the drain to 'fix'the odor--and now my drain is clogged. Drano hasn't worked yet, so I may have to go see if Ace Hardware has a snake...or a pipewrench (I'm a little short on tools).

Air Arabia is offering DXB controllers 2 familiarization trips a year. They fly out of Sharjah and cover the Middle East, Northern Africa, and India. Emirates also allows one trip a year, but exclude the US, UK and Australia/NZ. Still leaves some nice places to go. I'm headed to the states next week; but after that I plan to get out of the UAE every 3-4 weeks for a long weekend.

I have noticed a cultural oddity about the Indians (it's mostly Indian folks who do this--maybe some Pakistani or Sri Lankans, too) who live here. More than a few of them have no concept of waiting in a line. There will be a line 5-6 people deep and they will just step up behind the person at the counter. Usually a look will make them step back out of line and fall into place. I think it's more interesting or amusing than annoying. And I'm more than a little bit curious about how they come about that kind of mindset.

I went to a movie last week. "Finding Amanda" opened and it looked like it would be fun. So I went and it was ok; not sure how you have a movie about prostitutes and strippers in Las Vegas and not have any flesh showing--but they managed to do it. Perhaps it was edited out by the UAE censors. I know they do some censoring, especially te internet (dating sites, some religious sites, and obviously porn). I have also been watching an episode of 'Friends' and an obvious kissing scene is suddenly skipped over. On the other hand, I was sitting in the food court at Festival City this week and on the big screen tv's they are showing some show where to gangs were shooting at each other with bullets, blood, and body parts flying everywhere--the kids were enthralled. I have also seen the unedited (not TBS) episodes of Sex in the City

Back to Findng Amanda. It was a new release in Dubai. I looked it up on IMDB when I got home. It went straight to DVD in 2007 in the USA; ok, not straight to DVD, it does show it made $52,000 at the box office. From now on, I will be checking before I go see something. I noticed in the paper today 'The Rocker'is starting--I saw that last year in Columbus.

On the flip side--Slumdog Millionaire opened here before it did in the USA and so did the last James Bond movie.

When I'm working, I get to clear aircraft to Cairo and Vienna...sometimes I use the Georgia pronunciation. ;)