JT in AD

Justin Timberlake in 36 days.
Here in UAE.
And I thought it's gonna be another boring Christmas in this part of the world.
I've been good. Santa loves me.

happy anniversary

Around this time last year, I was onboard the flight going to Dubai via Cathay Pacific.

 

Has it really been a year since the ‘airport scene’ when my classy and sassy friend Rod proved to be jologs when he sang Gary V’s Babalik Ka Rin in front of a multinational audience as a goodbye number for me?

 

Who woulda thunk it? I’m still here in Dubai!

 

Sluggish, restless and impatient as ever, but still, hey I’m thriving at kicking some Arab ass—correction: not just them Arabs, also Indians, Pakistanis, Russians, Germans, British, Koreans, Chinese, Africans… Americans? There are around 2 or 3 around Dubai.

 

See, 99 percent of the UAE are expatriates. Yes, UAE. Dubai is IN UAE. UAE is NOT Dubai. Dubai is only ONE of seven Emirates here. Yes, there ARE other Emirates. GOD made them. NOT the Sheikh. No pun intended.

 

Sorry, I’ve gone robot mode. I’m just sick and tired of explaining to people back home about Dubai… things like, it’s NOT a whole country per se, that it’s only about as big as Manila, that it’s not part of Saudi Arabia…

 

Anyway, see, I learned something about Geography! Anyone who knows me well would know that I care for Geography as much I care about, uhm, let’s see… a boxful of soiled toilet paper in the middle of the desert.

 

And this is only one of the several things I’ve come to discover here. Indeed, so many things have happened in a year!

 

Let’s see here a rough list: changed jobs (not too ordinary for fickle me), changed residence (three times!), changed hair color (but not Lindsay Lohan-frequent)…

 

I’ve discovered things about myself that I wouldn’t have contemplated on lest I’d be faced with truths, such as I am domesticated (HA!)—in terms of cooking, that is. I can actually prepare a decent meal—take your pick: Filipino, Chinese, Italian, American AND Arabic! Really, if someone had told me last year that he can see me cooking for a group of people, I would’ve laughed incredulously.

 

Not only that, I’ve learned to value my independence! Life has a way of happening when you find that you have to fend for yourself or die of hunger … or shabbiness. Having said that, I’ve come to appreciate that independence does not encompass the need for TRUE friends. I can’t imagine life here in Dubai without two of my bestest best friends. JJ: Jen and Jat.

 

Also, I’ve realized that silence is actually good. It is. And that silence is not only a by-product of mindless pigging out.

 

I also discovered that alcohol is alcohol and should NOT be taken in as water. Because of the scarcity of alcohol and the inconvenience of going to a bar before legally getting to drink beer, I’ve kicked the habit of binge-drinking like there’s no tomorrow.

 

I’ve always liked the fact that I come from an English-speaking race—but never realized its many advantages until I got here. I’ve discovered that Filipinos are smart, witty, humorous and very likeable compared to most people of other races—not because we are better than them, but because we are able to express what is in our minds. Filipinos communicate well. And I’m proud of that. I love it that I’m Filipino.

 

Being here in Dubai has taught me how the Philippines, even with its ‘third-world’ state, is very advanced in terms education. In the Philippines, courteousness is a norm—a reflection of higher education and good upbringing. Here, courteousness is a rarity and seen as a sign of weakness. For a place boasting of modernization, Dubai breeds a primitive lot of peoples with barbaric tendencies.

 

For all my years of complaining about having been born in the Philippines where the government is a joke and the weather is just a boring mix of rainy and sunny, I’ve realized how lucky I am not to have witnessed violence and bloodshed up-close—unlike most people here from other Arab countries. That the only thing I know of mass murders and bombs and beheadings are those from TV and Carlo J Caparas movies.

 

So, there. To sum it up, being here in Dubai has taught me a lot. I’m complaining less now about life and its intricacies. So, yes, I feel I’ve grown up a bit. Oh, and this thing with that Syrian guy? It has moved from being transitory to become a work in progress. But that’s another story. Let’s see till my 2^nd anniversary, perhaps?