Just occurred to me that I should mention this here:
In an average country, one is expected to be the nationality of whatever country he/she was born, and is most likely to be the passport holder of that given country.
In Dubai, it is three separate questions.
- Where are you from originally?
- What nationality are you?
- What passport do you hold?
Given the large number of Lebanese with Canadian passport grew up in the USA, Indians with British passport grew up in the UAE, Iranians with Australian passport grew up in wherever, some are actually surprized that my nationality and passport are matching....
Monday, October 29, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Cityscape 2007
We had the Cityscape event last week, a 3-day exhibition where developers showcase their dreams for the following year. In the shadow of the huge flashy developer's stands, pushed to the wall, engineers, architects, project managers, etc also have booths. Hence, the company I work for, also exhibited. I was manning the stand a few times, standing under a huge, meter high "engineers" text, responding to questions like :
'Can I ask what your company exactly does?'
'Hmmm, let me see... I guess we do engineering!'
but my favorites were
'We are a recruitment company and we can source all kinds of engineers for you.'
'Oh yeah? We need facade engineers.'
'Khmmm... Never heard of facade engineers..'
Back to what the developers promise for Dubai to be soon, I post some photos here. The funny thing in Dubai, that developments are not buildings any more. Not even a complex of 2-5 buildings. Developments are expected to be massive districts, whole cities. Having a shopping mall is nothing. Having 5 shopping malls with high rise buildings everywhere in between, that is something.
'Can I ask what your company exactly does?'
'Hmmm, let me see... I guess we do engineering!'
but my favorites were
'We are a recruitment company and we can source all kinds of engineers for you.'
'Oh yeah? We need facade engineers.'
'Khmmm... Never heard of facade engineers..'
Back to what the developers promise for Dubai to be soon, I post some photos here. The funny thing in Dubai, that developments are not buildings any more. Not even a complex of 2-5 buildings. Developments are expected to be massive districts, whole cities. Having a shopping mall is nothing. Having 5 shopping malls with high rise buildings everywhere in between, that is something.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Parking spot taken
Yesterday night I went to Madinat Jumeirah (high grade hotels- restaurants- shopping mall- event halls complex) and wanted to park my car as usual when a security assistant came and asked me to park elsewhere.
'You cannot park here Ma'am.'
'Yeah. Why.'
'Because the wife of President Bush will park here.'
'The wife of President Bush?'
'I'm serious Ma'am, she is with Sheikha Fatima.'
'The wife of President Bush and Sheikha Fatima? What are they doing here?'
'They are doing breast cancer.'
Well, that explained.
'You cannot park here Ma'am.'
'Yeah. Why.'
'Because the wife of President Bush will park here.'
'The wife of President Bush?'
'I'm serious Ma'am, she is with Sheikha Fatima.'
'The wife of President Bush and Sheikha Fatima? What are they doing here?'
'They are doing breast cancer.'
Well, that explained.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Sick
I had been sick last week. This gives the opportunity to write about health care in Dubai.
In the past almost 3 years a saw a few doctors here, not a great amount, but enough to draw the conclusion:
1. Dubai has no famous medical universities, research facilities, ongoing subsidized research programmes, etc. Why would a good doctor ever come here?
2. Rather than having big huge hospitals, it is more like a big bunch of "clinics". By "clinic", do not expect a "multidisciplinary medical institute that provides out-patient care only", as one would. Expect a (1) doctor to work from his villa. If you are lucky, there will be 3 doctors!
3. Medical facilities receive no funds from the state (there are no taxes, are there?), they are pure business. All business wants to make maximum profit in Dubai, and medical ones are not exempted. In Dubai, this generally means using cheap workforce. For the medical practitioners, it translates to cheap nurses. Who cannot speak English and are in trouble with the basics of their profession.
4. As most western expat's package contain good medical insurance with full refund and large cover, doctors are not shy to prescribe three times the drugs you really need and surgeries where you do not really need.
5. As most people here, your doctor will most likely be in some other country in a few years. Who cares if all the patients complain?
6. Maybe as a result of all the above, but doctors seem to follow what you ask for. It happened to me with different doctors, if I mention a blood test or X-ray, I will get it. No consideration whether I needed it. Instead of feeling well-serviced, it really disappoints me. At the end of the day, they are the doctors, they should tell you what you really need. They loose credits.
Other uniqueness of the clinics in town that they all contain "American" "British" "German" "Canadian" in their name, although their operators or doctors mostly have nothing to do with these countries. Not that the UK proved to me any excellence in health care, but apparently people worldwide assume otherwise.
Anyway, I feel better now, I dumped my unused X-ray sheet to the trashcan, so did I dump 168 dirhams of unused medication, and crossed out a new doctor on my list. I continue my search for a proper GP next time. Or just stick with the pharmacist, who gave me a box of 8.50 dirham pill that finally cured me.
On a final note, although it is frustrating, I am not discouraged using medical service here. Being young and generally healthy my problems are most probably standard ones that do not need great experience to deal with and even a crap doctor will later or sooner figure it.
In the past almost 3 years a saw a few doctors here, not a great amount, but enough to draw the conclusion:
Avoid doctors in Dubai.
1. Dubai has no famous medical universities, research facilities, ongoing subsidized research programmes, etc. Why would a good doctor ever come here?
2. Rather than having big huge hospitals, it is more like a big bunch of "clinics". By "clinic", do not expect a "multidisciplinary medical institute that provides out-patient care only", as one would. Expect a (1) doctor to work from his villa. If you are lucky, there will be 3 doctors!
3. Medical facilities receive no funds from the state (there are no taxes, are there?), they are pure business. All business wants to make maximum profit in Dubai, and medical ones are not exempted. In Dubai, this generally means using cheap workforce. For the medical practitioners, it translates to cheap nurses. Who cannot speak English and are in trouble with the basics of their profession.
4. As most western expat's package contain good medical insurance with full refund and large cover, doctors are not shy to prescribe three times the drugs you really need and surgeries where you do not really need.
5. As most people here, your doctor will most likely be in some other country in a few years. Who cares if all the patients complain?
6. Maybe as a result of all the above, but doctors seem to follow what you ask for. It happened to me with different doctors, if I mention a blood test or X-ray, I will get it. No consideration whether I needed it. Instead of feeling well-serviced, it really disappoints me. At the end of the day, they are the doctors, they should tell you what you really need. They loose credits.
Other uniqueness of the clinics in town that they all contain "American" "British" "German" "Canadian" in their name, although their operators or doctors mostly have nothing to do with these countries. Not that the UK proved to me any excellence in health care, but apparently people worldwide assume otherwise.
Anyway, I feel better now, I dumped my unused X-ray sheet to the trashcan, so did I dump 168 dirhams of unused medication, and crossed out a new doctor on my list. I continue my search for a proper GP next time. Or just stick with the pharmacist, who gave me a box of 8.50 dirham pill that finally cured me.
On a final note, although it is frustrating, I am not discouraged using medical service here. Being young and generally healthy my problems are most probably standard ones that do not need great experience to deal with and even a crap doctor will later or sooner figure it.
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