My friend Eszter and I went to the beach yesterday, the first time this year. Weather is definitely getting nicer, the water was just perfect, all came with a gentle breeze, just what you need to feel the greatness of life.
Floating in warm water, we discussed our favorite beach topics (how boring baby blogs are, how boring life with kids can get, etc) (oh you guessed right, none of us have kids), when someone, who btw had extraordinary big ears,- said hello in Hungarian.
He said hello in a way how a friend would, so I looked at Eszter but she nodded to show she had not known him either. Having awful face memory, I searched for a clue whether I was supposed to recognize him. It turned out he is a tourist visiting Dubai for 11 days. He, his friends, and his extraordinary big ears.
He asked if we liked Dubai, and right there the second question, he asked if there was anything else apart of big bucks keeping us here. The third question was straight in the middle, asking how much our salaries were.
Khm. I love to travel places where I know someone. I love to get know new random people at places I travel to. I love to have advices from locals and non-local residents, who can tell me everything that is not written in the tourist guides.
If I were the guy I had taken the opportunity asking for recommendations on the best beach, best local restaurant, coolest place to go, ramadan habits, discuss some local weirdness that I noticed, etc.
No, he (and his extraordinary big ears) wanted to know the salary of a total stranger instead.
I told him "So I hope you will enjoy the rest of your holiday, Dubai is a great place" and he was laughing at my face with an expression "I cannot believe this" and "she is hysterical".
I bought a book the other day. It is The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. Some friends told me it is good and the new "hot one", but none of them could tell me clearly what was it about. So the audiobook version was displayed 100mm away my face on the counter at the shop where I bough something else, and suddenly I decided to check it out.
I am half way through, and have not decided yet whether it is worth to recommend or not. It is a kind of self-help book, based on positive thinking methods, telling you that all can be achieved what you want.
I realized most reasonable techniques described in the book as "ways to use The Secret" have already been applied by me in general, except I have never been thinking about them.
Some chapters are crap, like the "Imagine you make 100x more money next year and you will". Ehh. It actually takes much more than that.
But some is correct. A method that Rhonda Byrne mentions as basics to The Secret, is gratitude, to be grateful of what you already have, to say thank you and feel happy about your present situation.
Actually, I do stop time by time, have been doing it for 10+ years, look back, summarize where I am, notice the positive changes since my last summary, and feel happy about how I live and why I live. Rhonda reckons you should do it every day, I do it only occasionally, maybe every two months. Last time was about a week ago, I went to a huge building site near Abu Dhabi, which is just a piece of flat desert now, and by 2009-2010 it will be an operational district of the city. I drove through, parked at the massive big site office, walked in, and was truly happy to be part of this development.
Beach also often makes me think about rainy London and turns me truly grateful.
Back to the guy with his extraordinary big ears, he said he was working in London. He never mentioned what he does, but as Muegyetem, the name of the most famous Hungarian university did not ring a bell to him, I assume he never had the chance to enter higher education. Yet he was probably working hard and he could afford an 11-day holiday in Dubai, where there are no hostels and hotels cost a fortune. Yet he had the beach after rainy London with nice warm water and gentle breeze.
Why cannot you stop, look back, and be grateful of what you achieved? Why do you need to worry about the salaries of total strangers?
And why you are not the only Hungarian who could die for learning what other people make, in jobs totally irrelevant to your life?
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Especially in India
I just had this car in front of me at a red light and found it funny.
Update.
I need to add an explanation as I talked to friends since I posted it and figured that although most of them found it funny, based on cultural background, they found it funny for all different reasons.
I heard that it is funny because "This little van wants to drive all the way through India" and because "The business owner must be from India, otherwise one could not give significance to India" (I had to disagree, most expats here are from India, there is a business sense in it.) and "Why would one deliver flowers from the desert to India, which is full of native flowers"
No, none of these. It is purely funny to me because I would have thought India is part of "anywhere". Such as Luxembourg, Chile or Iceland are part, hence they are not listed...
Update.
I need to add an explanation as I talked to friends since I posted it and figured that although most of them found it funny, based on cultural background, they found it funny for all different reasons.
I heard that it is funny because "This little van wants to drive all the way through India" and because "The business owner must be from India, otherwise one could not give significance to India" (I had to disagree, most expats here are from India, there is a business sense in it.) and "Why would one deliver flowers from the desert to India, which is full of native flowers"
No, none of these. It is purely funny to me because I would have thought India is part of "anywhere". Such as Luxembourg, Chile or Iceland are part, hence they are not listed...
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Humidity
Some days in Dubai are 100% humidity level days. Usually mornings, when temperature is a little lower. It feels like being in the steam room, except steam is not 75+ Celsius only around 30-35.
This morning was one of those days. I was driving to work and it seemed like winter fog in Hungary. I set the aircon to 15 Celsius and could completely fool myself that I am "driving in the snowy countryside in December back in Hungary".
To add a facade specialist's note, all the single glazing goes completely disgusting on those high humidity days. Look at this petrol station enclosure. It is moist on the outside. Sometimes restaurants and hotels think that they need a cool frameless glass door, single glazed of course, and then you need to touch the poor moist thing... very posh.
The glass is supposed to be totally clear, it is just covered with condensed vapour.
This morning was one of those days. I was driving to work and it seemed like winter fog in Hungary. I set the aircon to 15 Celsius and could completely fool myself that I am "driving in the snowy countryside in December back in Hungary".
To add a facade specialist's note, all the single glazing goes completely disgusting on those high humidity days. Look at this petrol station enclosure. It is moist on the outside. Sometimes restaurants and hotels think that they need a cool frameless glass door, single glazed of course, and then you need to touch the poor moist thing... very posh.
The glass is supposed to be totally clear, it is just covered with condensed vapour.
Date pie
Nah akkor most mondja' olyat amit nem lehet datolyabol fozni...
Is there anything that you cannot make out of dates?
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Justifying expectations
There is a thing in Dubai, that one gets used to very quickly: most buildings have gym and swimming pool. These can range poor- to well equipped, small to large, basement to elegant rooftop location. But I am telling you, the most poorly equipped gym I saw in Dubai beats all the gyms of most London 4-5 star hotels.
I remember before I moved here I was looking for accommodation in Dubai on the Internet and noticed that many buildings feature swimming pools. That time I was reasoning that I might not need a swimming pool as I never had before, and expected those pool-less buildings be cheaper. Well, it was not the case. Those "without" buildings either do not exist or you have to compromise a lot on your comfort level and tolerance towards unpleasant neighbors and their unexpected house pets to move there.
The health club in the Dubai Marina building where I lived till this June was on the 35th floor rooftop, with fabulous view. I loved the pool and the jacuzzi, they relaxed me after stressful days. Gym - well, I am not the fanatic type, I only went 5-6 times when I hurt my spine due to lack of knowledge on what to do in a gym, and ended up in an emergency room and with a 3-month argument to get my insurance company pay my medical bills. Good thing about it that the only way I could ease my back pain was to float my body on water, so I spent an extremely pleasant 4 day sick leave in the pool area and went back to work stunningly tanned. Best sick leave ever.
So now I decided to get a personal trainer and go working out regularly. I have been doing it for 7 weeks. I hate it, you would guess if you now me, correctly.
My first personal trainer gave up on me after 10 sessions. He could not understand that I will never love working out. I lost my temper with him regularly and he transferred me to a fellow trainer. A typical session with him was as follows:
- Come on, you will like the CrossTrainer.
- I will do it but do not expect me to like it.
- So, do you like it?
- No, I hate it. Please do not ask it again, I do not like the gym but I will still come because I decided to do it.
- You will see, you will love it.
- Beleive me, I will not.
- But remember, you must have liked PE classes at high school, everyone did.
- Actually I went to special mathematics high school and we were only 6 girls and the coach let us study for physics and mathematics tests instead of useless stupid PE.
- ...So, what do you think about the Chest Press, we increased the weights, it means you started liking it.
- No, I still hate it. Increasing the weight only means that I have more reason hating it now.
And then we go home. And the following session he would ask whether I liked the gym.
The second one is less enthusiastic, that helps. His name is Roger. Every session he tells me that he wants to live in London and asks me how is it there. So every each time I tell him that it is expensive, it is a rip off, people are unfriendly and careless, all the places he could rent are very small and badly maintained, and crime rate is high. And every each session he says:
- Really?
And then we both go home, and next time he would tell me about his plans to live in London and ask me how it is there. And when I tell him, he will say:
- Really?
And guess what we speak about the session after that... Maybe next time I should tell him London is twice as cheap as Dubai, it would not make a difference. (Really?)
Well, there is a saying about sportsmen having underdeveloped brain... (Yeah, both of them are Philippinos, but let's not go back to that...)
I cannot really compare this gym to any other facilities worldwide as I always tried to avoid gyms so there is nothing to compare to. This gym is supposed to be the best here, branch of Fitness First international network. However, I do not have the feeling that the personal trainers are really professional and would have an understanding of how the body and muscles work and how each individual body are different. They just make the very same exercises with anybody, over and over. I recently heard from friends about the importance of keeping the heart rate on level, well, he never measures my hearth rate. The music in the gym is selected by the (khmm... Philippina) receptionists... they are the Brian Adams type let's sleep immediately songs. Nothing energetic or powerful that would help doing the stupid cardios. I am not sure that she realizes that she works for a gym not for a coffee shop.
This happens quite often in Dubai. You have fantastic facilities, operated by cheap and consequentially undertrained staff.
Restaurants are the same... beautiful setting, designer environment, and just dare to ask a simple question about the food.. like "is it a cream soup or a clear soup?". You are lucky if he says " I am not sure ma'am." More chance that he will not admit that he does not even understand the question or does not now anything about their food and he says
- Yes ma'am.
- Yes what?
- (imagine a very stupid looking face here)
- I tried to ask if it is was cream soup, the one that looks white, or clear?
- White ma'am, white. (wow, he caught a word)
You can bet it will be a clear soup. If not tomato based red soup.
To be fair with Philippinos, most restaurant staff are Indian.
You know, some here say they wanna leave Dubai because they just got tired of dumb people. I am not saying it is easy to take. But nothing is free. You get luxury services here in Dubai for peanuts, like manual car wash, manicure, massage, cocktail served at the beach, free valet parking, clean toilets at public pop concerts, etc And if you appreciate those - you have to appreciate the dumb people who deliver it to you. Or you can leave. Do not complain, just leave.
That is why I do not fire my personal trainer and why I tip the cleaning lady even when she folds my dirty laundry and puts it back to my wardrobe. For the record, a PT makes 2800 AED and a cleaning lady makes 800. In London a PT would take home 1800 GBP and a cleaning lady 1200 GBP. The exchange rate is 7.4. Comparing the expectations? Go and figure.
I remember before I moved here I was looking for accommodation in Dubai on the Internet and noticed that many buildings feature swimming pools. That time I was reasoning that I might not need a swimming pool as I never had before, and expected those pool-less buildings be cheaper. Well, it was not the case. Those "without" buildings either do not exist or you have to compromise a lot on your comfort level and tolerance towards unpleasant neighbors and their unexpected house pets to move there.
The health club in the Dubai Marina building where I lived till this June was on the 35th floor rooftop, with fabulous view. I loved the pool and the jacuzzi, they relaxed me after stressful days. Gym - well, I am not the fanatic type, I only went 5-6 times when I hurt my spine due to lack of knowledge on what to do in a gym, and ended up in an emergency room and with a 3-month argument to get my insurance company pay my medical bills. Good thing about it that the only way I could ease my back pain was to float my body on water, so I spent an extremely pleasant 4 day sick leave in the pool area and went back to work stunningly tanned. Best sick leave ever.
So now I decided to get a personal trainer and go working out regularly. I have been doing it for 7 weeks. I hate it, you would guess if you now me, correctly.
My first personal trainer gave up on me after 10 sessions. He could not understand that I will never love working out. I lost my temper with him regularly and he transferred me to a fellow trainer. A typical session with him was as follows:
- Come on, you will like the CrossTrainer.
- I will do it but do not expect me to like it.
- So, do you like it?
- No, I hate it. Please do not ask it again, I do not like the gym but I will still come because I decided to do it.
- You will see, you will love it.
- Beleive me, I will not.
- But remember, you must have liked PE classes at high school, everyone did.
- Actually I went to special mathematics high school and we were only 6 girls and the coach let us study for physics and mathematics tests instead of useless stupid PE.
- ...So, what do you think about the Chest Press, we increased the weights, it means you started liking it.
- No, I still hate it. Increasing the weight only means that I have more reason hating it now.
And then we go home. And the following session he would ask whether I liked the gym.
The second one is less enthusiastic, that helps. His name is Roger. Every session he tells me that he wants to live in London and asks me how is it there. So every each time I tell him that it is expensive, it is a rip off, people are unfriendly and careless, all the places he could rent are very small and badly maintained, and crime rate is high. And every each session he says:
- Really?
And then we both go home, and next time he would tell me about his plans to live in London and ask me how it is there. And when I tell him, he will say:
- Really?
And guess what we speak about the session after that... Maybe next time I should tell him London is twice as cheap as Dubai, it would not make a difference. (Really?)
Well, there is a saying about sportsmen having underdeveloped brain... (Yeah, both of them are Philippinos, but let's not go back to that...)
I cannot really compare this gym to any other facilities worldwide as I always tried to avoid gyms so there is nothing to compare to. This gym is supposed to be the best here, branch of Fitness First international network. However, I do not have the feeling that the personal trainers are really professional and would have an understanding of how the body and muscles work and how each individual body are different. They just make the very same exercises with anybody, over and over. I recently heard from friends about the importance of keeping the heart rate on level, well, he never measures my hearth rate. The music in the gym is selected by the (khmm... Philippina) receptionists... they are the Brian Adams type let's sleep immediately songs. Nothing energetic or powerful that would help doing the stupid cardios. I am not sure that she realizes that she works for a gym not for a coffee shop.
This happens quite often in Dubai. You have fantastic facilities, operated by cheap and consequentially undertrained staff.
Restaurants are the same... beautiful setting, designer environment, and just dare to ask a simple question about the food.. like "is it a cream soup or a clear soup?". You are lucky if he says " I am not sure ma'am." More chance that he will not admit that he does not even understand the question or does not now anything about their food and he says
- Yes ma'am.
- Yes what?
- (imagine a very stupid looking face here)
- I tried to ask if it is was cream soup, the one that looks white, or clear?
- White ma'am, white. (wow, he caught a word)
You can bet it will be a clear soup. If not tomato based red soup.
To be fair with Philippinos, most restaurant staff are Indian.
You know, some here say they wanna leave Dubai because they just got tired of dumb people. I am not saying it is easy to take. But nothing is free. You get luxury services here in Dubai for peanuts, like manual car wash, manicure, massage, cocktail served at the beach, free valet parking, clean toilets at public pop concerts, etc And if you appreciate those - you have to appreciate the dumb people who deliver it to you. Or you can leave. Do not complain, just leave.
That is why I do not fire my personal trainer and why I tip the cleaning lady even when she folds my dirty laundry and puts it back to my wardrobe. For the record, a PT makes 2800 AED and a cleaning lady makes 800. In London a PT would take home 1800 GBP and a cleaning lady 1200 GBP. The exchange rate is 7.4. Comparing the expectations? Go and figure.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Being fat
'So tell me what is soo very interesting here for (fools like) you?' he did not actually add the part in brackets but certainly suggested by the tone of his voice.
I just did not feel like explaining.
'Well, things are interesting for some people.' and I moved away.
'So you do not want to speak to me? .... You know you have a huge fat ass!! You are really fat!! Ha-ha.You should lose weight first!' he shouted after me, even when we were around the corner already.
Update on Heathrow
This is a follow up on a previous post
This time at the first security check point at Heathrow Departures Check-In, I catched the following conversation. A woman with a relatively big, but not enormously big trolley bag tried to pass. Security person, on relaxed low tone voice:
'Excuse me, this bag might be too big for handluggage.'
'I need to keep it.'
'Ma'am, could you please come with me... measure the bag here yourself, see if it fits to the size allowance.'
'I really need to keep it.'
'Ma'am, I only try to help you.' (still relaxed and relatively kind)
'I cannot check it in, there are important items in.. blabla...'
I could see from the corner of my eyes that it is too late. An other security person hurried from the other end of the room, shouting from 30 meters distance:
'YOU CANNOT KEEP THAT BAG, CHECK IT IN, CANNOT YOU READ THE RULES'
'But I need the..the.. items....'
'YOU ARE KEEPING THE LINE UP, MOVE OUT'- and he dragged her out.
Wow, poor first security guy must have been fired that night. He was too humanitarian for this job.
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