Dubai!

After leaving Tanzania we travelled to the polar opposite country in
the world, Dubai. We only stayed there for two days, but that was
enough to see that it´s the shouldn´t-exist Vegas of the Arabs…and
that oil is truly liquid gold. My dad had previously visited Dubai
when it was just a desert port – endless roads disappearing into the
sandy distance miles away. The tallest buildings were the sand-whipped
houses of the desert Emiratis. Now, what´s left of those huts can be
found at the “cultural heritage museums” in the city. Now, if you´re
an Emirati, you´re probably rich. Since oil was found and refined,
the government and the people’s wealth has ballooned beyond
imagination. The government has accumulated so much money, that if
you´re an Emirati, if I understood it correctly, you

1. Don´t have to pay any taxes.

2. Are supplied with a house (won´t let you be homeless).

3. Can get the government to write you a large check every year.

4. Get priority for government job openings regardless of skill.

5. Can make tons of money as a “sponsor”. Many companies want to do
business in Dubai due to its location and tax rates. To go there
however, they need an Emirati to “sponsor” them. To get an Emirati to
sponsor you, you´ll have to give them an annual salary and a big
share in the company. All the Emirati essentially has to do in
exchange is to visit his company office every once in a while and say
hey to everybody!

6ish. (Though this is not for Emiratis, and instead for Kuwaitis. It’s
still in the peninsula and is from a relatable source of wealth.) Can get
all your personal debts paid off by the government! Couldn´t really afford that
house? The governments got it handled.

Interesting fact: Dubai is 80% foreigners.

We decided our goal for a short stay in Dubai would be to see the excess of the city. On our tour we went up the tallest building in the world, visited the gold souks, travelled through the extensive malls (our hotel was in one!), walked through a couple theme parks inside malls, saw the Dubai skating rink, drove by Dubai Atlantis located on a manmade palm tree shaped island and gazed upon the various bizarre looking skyscrapers.

As part of excess-themed tour, we also decided to try to live the Emirati
dream. And like these people of the desert, we started with skiing…
At the center of one of Dubai´s colossal malls was actually a ski
slope. The view from half-way up the “mountain”: Beneath my feet I
gazed at the freezing mass of man-made (surprise!) snow. The cold
continued up into the 32° air, maintained as such by huge A/C units so
minimal snow making is required. In the air I could see the
continually bending and winding (with the slope) blue painted ceiling.
To my side was a mid-mountain chalet to continue the mood. Also
shrouding the snow from the led bulbs above was towering snowcapped
plastic pine trees. No doubt its lichen had already been gnawed off by
some roving reindeer. Though these furry friends were not in sight,
there were some close-but-no-cigar snow creatures waltzing around. At
the bottom of the hill there was (for a quite reasonable price) a
penguin petting zoo! You could see them swim around in their natural
habitat. Other optional adventures were the sledding hill and zorb ball
drop.
After we had our fair share of laughs though, we realized how truly remarkable this place was. Remember again- you could walk a
mile outside the mall and there is nothing but dunes and the
suffocating heat. Meanwhile one mile back, you could be petting penguins
and skiing. Wow! Inside they had two routes to ski down with a J
pole and chair lift. There was even a terrain park where some daring
teens were doing tricks. The most amazing sight however, was seeing Muslim
girls and women wearing headscarves bombing down the hill. We even saw
a few more conservative women covered completely with their burka except
for the eyes wearing puffy pink ski slope rental down jackets
with their ski boots. It was one of those sights that appear every
once in a while that make you think you couldn´t be farther from America.
Even with the western influence in Dubai their culture was still present. The other day I saw a Saudi couple (you can
tell Saudi couples apart from other Middle Eastern couples as the men wear checkered head scarves and the women are
completely covered – even hands and ankles). The woman I saw had even her
eyes covered by her burka. She must have been looking through the
cloth. It makes one wonder what Saudi’s like in Saudi. To think that there are neighborhoods there where that
is the norm! The other day there was an older burka clad Emirati women
sitting next to me on a boat taxi ride. Sitting down, my shorts
came up before my knees – a dress code infraction in all malls, and probably a
taboo elsewhere. I felt like such a fool with my shorts sitting next
to an old woman who had worn the burka for God knows how long.
She just stared at me with more distaste in her eyes than I believed
any old woman could muster. That was certainly the longest 5 minute
boat ride I have ever been on. I doubt I will wear shorts, even long
ones, in the Middle East again. On a lighter note, I am
embarrassed to note that I did take a yard sale wipeout while skiing.
I tried a small jump while going down the short, low-incline hill. However, my
Arab skier intermediate bindings were different than those same bindings stateside.
My ski fell off immediately and bam! I was down. Oh well, that will
surely stand as a Brigham record. A week in Utah without touching the snow, a few hours in Dubai and Bam! Wipeout!
-Greer