Keep your eyes on your own pasta sauce

This weekend I went to Souk Madinat Jumierah in Dubai, which I absolutely recommend to anyone living in the UAE. It has the old world feel and looks like what you might picture Middle East market shopping to look like (whether or not it's actually like that!) I was able to find some really cool, unique gifts for Christmas presents and sit by the ocean eating creme brulee and drinking tea :o) While there I also saw the Sound of Music musical which I have been wanting to see since it came out in Canada a few years ago. It had all the classic songs everyone loves and Mother Abbess had the most amazing voice I have ever heard in live theatre. One thing I love about living here is the opportunity for random entertainment. I was able to see Wyclef Jean for free on the beach in Abu Dhabi Thursday, visit the tallest building in the world on Friday then browse a market for old world items and see an Austrian musical on Saturday. Dubai really is the vegas of the Middle East and I think it will remain one of my favourite cities long after I leave here.

Al Ain, on the other hand, has much less to offer. It is good for day to day living, but as an expat woman I definitely feel more comfortable in Dubai. I blend in well there, men stare much less, and when the drivers try to kill you on the road there, you can just be sure it's a result of bad driving and not intentional hatred of your little expat orange car and "Western" appearance. Today in Al Ain I was minding my business, deciding on pasta sauce in the grocery store. An Arab man and his wife (likely Emirati, but I cannot be sure) were also shopping in the aisle. The wife was talking to her husband about pasta sauce choices and he stopped paying attention to her, fully turned around to face me and stared at me. Not just normal staring either. The kind of staring where you think maybe he has secret x-ray vision and can see right through your clothes. Imagining hurling my pasta sauce in his face and telling him to go buy his wife a present for being such a jerk, I stared him right back (with a glare) and he smiled and started coming toward me! I fled the scene not even wanting to know what he was going to say to me, but it left me quite crabby. Not to mention the fact that I was wearing a floor length loose skirt, a long sleeved shirt to my collar bone, with another looser shirt overtop. Not exactly a street walker's outfit. I guess I will never get used to some things here...