"People like you"

Hunter claims he is only staying here for two years because after that he will be bored! We still feel there are so many things we haven't had time to experience and now... 'tis the season...for outdoor concerts, horse racing, exhibitions, shows and cultural events. There was a huge sand storm yesterday with 60-70mph winds and with that came lots of rain during the night. It has cooled eveything down. We all went to see Queen + Paul Rodgers (from Bad Company) on Friday under clear skies with a full moon - it was the perfect temperature. There will never be another Freddie Mercury but it was no doubt still an impressive and great concert. Hunter does not want me to write that he came along (it is just SO un-cool to go to a concert with your parents and other "people like you" but since he never reads the blog, I'm going to tell everyone who reads this that he was definitely there - propably the youngest person to attend but he rocked anyways. Dubai has very few official and large venues for concerts. Even Brian May pointed out that this was perhaps the first time he has ever played in a parking lot between Ace Hardware and Ikea (it is a very large parking lot - don't be fooled) - and it just made it more intimate. We were about 15 feet from the stage and the long walkway where Paul Rodgers rocked up and down. At one point the entire band came out to the end of the walkway, set up a second stage while playing and did a few songs there. Aidan managed to find the only other [female] teen there besides he and Hunter, and spent most of the night chatting to her (she had separated from her parents because they were also "people like us"). We are still trying to find out who "people like us" are.

Earlier in the day we went to Dubai Mall, the brand-new-giant-money-losing--open-as-of-last-week, shopping extravaganza. Apparently the largest in the world, it houses a Gold Market, huge aquarium (I saw 4 bull sharks there), an ice rink, cinema and 1200 shops (of which 35 are open so far). I don't understand why they have a grand opening when most of the shops are still under construction. Needless to say all the stores which are open are losing money every day. Aric and I went to a furniture store to look at beds. We don't have a place to live yet but once we get an apartment, we will need a bed. The nice and polite Indian person who worked in the store told us everything in the showroom was designed by Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi...hmmnn, they should have stuck to tennis. We did like the bed though but at $12,000 it was a wee bit above our budget. Aric joked and asked the sales guy if he had one like that and the reply was "no sir, that's made for people like you". Aric and I looked at eachother quizzingly as if we were now somehow suddenly celebrity...or exceptional tennis players perhaps? "People like us?" we asked - the guy clearly became a bit embarrassed, but continued, "yes sir, people like you, with lots of money". WOW!! I suddenly realized that this is how everyone in the working class here sees expats. We are here, like everyone else, just trying to make a better life, put a little aside for a rainy day and for when we have more wrinkles . Not unlike the large population of Indians, Malaysians, Pakistanis, Lebanese, etc etc - who all work long days to make a better life and secure an education for their children back home. While we are always extra cautious and culturally sensitive and aware, and we constantly strive to treat everyone here equal - we are still seen as the "white, rich, potentially bad, capitailistic exploiters from the West". I don't think we will be able to change that perception soon, though I try and I also try to teach the boys to treat everyone equal despite where they may be from. We politely explained to the sales guy that not everyone here has obscene amounts of money like the Arabs, and then we headed for Ikea!