Sandy carparks are the only reminders that I am in a desert. I have not seen a single camel just yet… not even a cactus (hmmm, that friendly camel that you see here actually lives in the museum -- so the real thing is yet to come, hehe). Anyway, what they say about Dubai being cosmopolitan is very true. But contrary to warnings about the Arab culture, it is a pleasant surprise that Abu Dhabi and Dubai are two of the safest cities in the world. Both are clean and far from polluted, the architecture is marvelous… and the weather – pleasant. The worst weather is yet to come (40 to 55 degrees starting in April until October) – similar to being baked inside an oven. But so far, we still enjoy 16 degrees outside… and freeze in what seems like “below zero degree” inside the office and the flat. Yup, I can still wear my pink furry jacket!
Dubai has a multi-cultural set-up with over 70 nationalities, one of which are Pinoys who seem to be in every nook and cranny of this city. The locals are not as hospitable as Pinoys… But they are nice people. They are actually very educated and can communicate well. They even find it amusing when I greet them with “assalam alaikom” (which means “peace be with you” in arab).. and with that, they reply “alaikom assalam” (“and also with you”) with a smile. When they recognize us as FIlipinas, some would even say "Kumusta ka..." in their most awkward Tagalog intonation coupled with a very warm smile.
Dubai has a multi-cultural set-up with over 70 nationalities, one of which are Pinoys who seem to be in every nook and cranny of this city. The locals are not as hospitable as Pinoys… But they are nice people. They are actually very educated and can communicate well. They even find it amusing when I greet them with “assalam alaikom” (which means “peace be with you” in arab).. and with that, they reply “alaikom assalam” (“and also with you”) with a smile. When they recognize us as FIlipinas, some would even say "Kumusta ka..." in their most awkward Tagalog intonation coupled with a very warm smile.
On the streets, we go gaga over luxury cars -- hummers, range rovers, ferraris, bentleys, beamers and whatnots of the world! -- cars that I didn't even know exist... Cars that i once saw in my brother's matchbox collection... And these people (these people!) change their cars like they change their cellphone models. Whew.
It is March 28 today... exactly our eighth day in the office and I still haven’t heard nor seen any project for Beckham or Posh Spice just yet. But I’ve already learned so much from our "Beckham-looking South African boss" who has such a brilliant and creative mind. He’s a cool, hip and very well-dressed six-footer architect who also happens to be a fashion model and an interior designer. On day one, he gave me and Tantan (my friend from Phils) one “puny, little” project to design… It’s the entire 15 storey-hotel with a three-storey mall in Chennai, India!). We were so overwhelmed that we caught ourselves staring at the huge plans for one whole afternoon. Gosh, we wasted the day pinching ourselves (to check if this were real) while feeling so grateful for being given such a big, challenging yet exciting responsibility.
There’s also Chris.. our Filipino senior interior designer who gives us design pointers and insights every so often… that we practically had to erase and change our drawings after talking to him for the first time. He made us move out of our comfort zones and made us want to have a total paradigm shift in creating concepts.
We also have one uber gregarious Canadian archi boss, a handful of Turkish, Lebanese & Palestininan officemates… (talk about united colors of benetton!)... two super quiet Indian officemates (who play all these “na--aah na-aah” Indian chants all day that I would catch myself humming along with it! Hah, meron na kong kakantahin sa videoke pag balik ko dyan sa pinas, hehe.)... one motherly Indian receptionist who brings us Indian desserts for lunch… and one Indian tea boy who serves us coffee for breakfast, coffee after lunch and if our systems can still take a couple more cups, he would gladly serve it in the afternoon too! Gosh, too much caffeine in our systems now!
Then there’s (let’s see… one, two…) nine of us, Filipino designers out of a total of 25 employees (from the design and architecture divisions)… that they’re starting to call our office “Pinoy mafia”. We haven’t really explored Dubai just yet. In fact, we only have a few photos of “lakwatsa” except when we landed in Abu Dhabi and when we went to check out one mall. But since we arrived in Dubai from Abu, we’ve been busy looking for a permanent place to stay and we’ve been all work… and no play. But now that things are starting to settle in, we might plan to check out the beach in Palm Jumeirah sometime soon.
Dubai is a cool place to work in – especially for people in the construction and banking businesses -- as everything seems to be booming here now. Not so sure though if it’s a great place to raise a family as everything is just so expensive and cosmopolitan. They say education here has high standards. But it seems like the kids don't have patintero, jumping rope and agawan base here.
Stealing and crime are not so popular here.. since most of them are rich, thus not having the need to steal nor kill. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any streetkids or beggars yet. They are also afraid of punishments so nobody dares to do anything ill. Sabi nila ibabalik pa ang cellphone mo ‘pag naiwan sa cab. Can’t say it’s a good tourist destination because I haven’t really seen much yet.. except for spectacular buildings that come in all shapes and sizes. Name it, they have it! Boat-shaped, parol-shaped (complete with changing lights at night)... everything.. and I mean everything! I won't be surprised if one day, they construct a building shaped like an arab in dishdasha (those white long gowns with turbans). After all, they've got all the money to burn.
Religion is also not an issue here. Everybody is free to practice their own religion. Weekends here are on Thursdays and Fridays.. so we hear Sunday Catholic mass on Fridays. There’s a compound of churches, temples and mosques set in one place. So it’s one biiiig happy community (with different versions of one and the same God).
They don’t call Dubai an open city for nothing. I feel free here (so far).
It is March 28 today... exactly our eighth day in the office and I still haven’t heard nor seen any project for Beckham or Posh Spice just yet. But I’ve already learned so much from our "Beckham-looking South African boss" who has such a brilliant and creative mind. He’s a cool, hip and very well-dressed six-footer architect who also happens to be a fashion model and an interior designer. On day one, he gave me and Tantan (my friend from Phils) one “puny, little” project to design… It’s the entire 15 storey-hotel with a three-storey mall in Chennai, India!). We were so overwhelmed that we caught ourselves staring at the huge plans for one whole afternoon. Gosh, we wasted the day pinching ourselves (to check if this were real) while feeling so grateful for being given such a big, challenging yet exciting responsibility.
There’s also Chris.. our Filipino senior interior designer who gives us design pointers and insights every so often… that we practically had to erase and change our drawings after talking to him for the first time. He made us move out of our comfort zones and made us want to have a total paradigm shift in creating concepts.
We also have one uber gregarious Canadian archi boss, a handful of Turkish, Lebanese & Palestininan officemates… (talk about united colors of benetton!)... two super quiet Indian officemates (who play all these “na--aah na-aah” Indian chants all day that I would catch myself humming along with it! Hah, meron na kong kakantahin sa videoke pag balik ko dyan sa pinas, hehe.)... one motherly Indian receptionist who brings us Indian desserts for lunch… and one Indian tea boy who serves us coffee for breakfast, coffee after lunch and if our systems can still take a couple more cups, he would gladly serve it in the afternoon too! Gosh, too much caffeine in our systems now!
Then there’s (let’s see… one, two…) nine of us, Filipino designers out of a total of 25 employees (from the design and architecture divisions)… that they’re starting to call our office “Pinoy mafia”. We haven’t really explored Dubai just yet. In fact, we only have a few photos of “lakwatsa” except when we landed in Abu Dhabi and when we went to check out one mall. But since we arrived in Dubai from Abu, we’ve been busy looking for a permanent place to stay and we’ve been all work… and no play. But now that things are starting to settle in, we might plan to check out the beach in Palm Jumeirah sometime soon.
Dubai is a cool place to work in – especially for people in the construction and banking businesses -- as everything seems to be booming here now. Not so sure though if it’s a great place to raise a family as everything is just so expensive and cosmopolitan. They say education here has high standards. But it seems like the kids don't have patintero, jumping rope and agawan base here.
Stealing and crime are not so popular here.. since most of them are rich, thus not having the need to steal nor kill. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any streetkids or beggars yet. They are also afraid of punishments so nobody dares to do anything ill. Sabi nila ibabalik pa ang cellphone mo ‘pag naiwan sa cab. Can’t say it’s a good tourist destination because I haven’t really seen much yet.. except for spectacular buildings that come in all shapes and sizes. Name it, they have it! Boat-shaped, parol-shaped (complete with changing lights at night)... everything.. and I mean everything! I won't be surprised if one day, they construct a building shaped like an arab in dishdasha (those white long gowns with turbans). After all, they've got all the money to burn.
Religion is also not an issue here. Everybody is free to practice their own religion. Weekends here are on Thursdays and Fridays.. so we hear Sunday Catholic mass on Fridays. There’s a compound of churches, temples and mosques set in one place. So it’s one biiiig happy community (with different versions of one and the same God).
They don’t call Dubai an open city for nothing. I feel free here (so far).
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