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.