PEOPLE ALWAYS ASK ME WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO LIVE IN THE MIDDLE EAST I am standing in line waiting my turn at the currency exchange kiosk at the City Centre mall. It is a typical Thursday afternoon in expat life: there are 40 or more expats from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and assorted other countries in line with me, waiting to wire their paychecks home. As usual, some locals cut the line, and…
It is Friday, “family day, in Abu Dhabi, and we park along the corniche, a popular common denominator of these Gulf port cities. There is a strange, wooden structure, which looks as though someone piled together a bunch of two-by-fours to build, in the center of the plaza by the newly built “public” beach. A vendor is renting motorized mini cars and scooters, and children are scurrying after their parents to sample a few turns…
Marshall is there to meet me, on the other side of the arrivals hall in Doha. Immediately upon deplaning, I notice the cultural changes and duplicitous manner of life in this oil-rich kingdom. Three young women in black burqas embellished with beaded sequin trim around the cuffs, carrying Gucci and Prada handbags, wearing Manolo Blahnik platforms, alternately glance at their Blackberries while chattering in Arabic, as we ride the bus from the plane to the…
