Farewell to a fellow sand-scribe
The recently dear-departed Dubai diarist, Son of the Desert, originally planned to stay in sandland for about a year but flew home after only six months:
"I got the adventure I wanted far faster than I originally expected. I thought the adventures would begin when I got chances to travel outside Dubai, into other parts of the UAE and into the surrounding countries. Actually, the real adventure came through daily life -- through trying to make sense of other peoples' ways of doing things, through the things I saw on my walk to work and the things I saw at work."
He recalls a job interviewer warning that people expecting a "Lawrence-of-Arabia"-type experience in Dubai will go home disappointed because "the Arab influence is actually quite limited there." Nonetheless, he wonders if his expatriate stint will have had a lasting effect:
"What I am interested in is this -- will my time in Dubai soften me? Will it allow me to be more patient with others? Will it increase my empathy with those in difficulty -- having been in difficult circumstances myself, circumstances which I never could have predicted?
"Was my six months in Dubai something other than a cocktail-party-story-hunting expedition?"
"I got the adventure I wanted far faster than I originally expected. I thought the adventures would begin when I got chances to travel outside Dubai, into other parts of the UAE and into the surrounding countries. Actually, the real adventure came through daily life -- through trying to make sense of other peoples' ways of doing things, through the things I saw on my walk to work and the things I saw at work."
He recalls a job interviewer warning that people expecting a "Lawrence-of-Arabia"-type experience in Dubai will go home disappointed because "the Arab influence is actually quite limited there." Nonetheless, he wonders if his expatriate stint will have had a lasting effect:
"What I am interested in is this -- will my time in Dubai soften me? Will it allow me to be more patient with others? Will it increase my empathy with those in difficulty -- having been in difficult circumstances myself, circumstances which I never could have predicted?
"Was my six months in Dubai something other than a cocktail-party-story-hunting expedition?"
5 Comments:
Good site you have here, I enjoy criticism about my country, transparency and openness is whats needed regarding social issues so that they can be fixed. Keep up the Good work.
dezertmirage@hotmail.com
Thank you. I also try to give praise where it is due - some of your ministers are extremely impressive and progressive: especially the Minister of Education and the Labour Minister.
Really late time to be awake, its around 4 am here, please feel free to check out my blog (Although it may be a bit confusing to the untrained in said art). Thanks
I wana read more about the findings...What was the outcome of the trip ..I want to know..where I can read the whole story...
Emirati: I enjoy criticism about my country, transparency and openness is whats needed regarding social issues so that they can be fixed.
Hah!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home