Don't they know it's Friday?

That’s the title of the book I first read when I arrived in UAE. It gave me some pointers what would be the culture I was getting into. The book suggests how and what non-Arabs should do, or shouldn't do in certain situations. Also, Friday is the 'holy' day of the week in the Gulf. You will never find any Muslims working on this day. Friday and Saturday is our weekend here. The book is a must read for those who want to work and live in the United Arab Emirates.

I found it amazing really to hear ten different languages in my new job everyday, from colleagues when attending orientations, meetings, or just have plain chitchats at the cafeteria. For my first few months in Dubai, I felt I didn’t have the time to be homesick as I knew that there were plenty of things to learn; new culture to adapt to, new language(s) to understand and to get used to, lots and lots of new people and colleagues to get to know, and a very new environment to explore. I was so excited.

I didn’t have any mobile phone yet, so I had to look for a phone booth to call home and let them know that I arrived in Dubai safely.

Anyway, during our company orientation, the first things we were told was, we, especially women, should try to avoid wearing all those sandos and shorts when visiting the malls or walking downtown. They warned us that, although, the government of UAE was not really that strict when it comes to dress code, unlike in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, expatriates were expected to respect the Arab culture and should not wear something indecent on the streets. We were not also allowed to take photos of local people here unless you have their consent.


Showing the public you're drunk is a bigtime foolish act here, but if you don't mind spending sometime in jail, that's okay. Dubai is very friendly when it comes to entertaining its visitors, because they also have bars and discos in the hotels, and even have Hard Rock Cafe along Sheikh Zayed Road. One of my Polish colleagues returned to Dubai from his vacation with high level of alcohol in his blood test. Maybe, he finished all the liquor bottles on the plane. How did the authorities find out? He just collapsed on the street, and of course, he's taken to the hospital. When he woke up, the police were already there waiting for him. He stayed in jail for one month. His head was shaven. And oh, I don't know if he received some lashes. Moral lesson of the story, you can get drunk here, but be discreet. Salaam!

The photo here shows where I used to work.

I got a job in Dubai!

It was still dark in a very cold February morning in year 2000 when I disembarked from the plane at Dubai airport. It was my first time in UAE. It was winter. I never heard of Dubai before, and I couldn’t google it as Google wasn’t born yet during that time. I was accepted to work as Business Centre Coordinator in one of the big upcoming hotels to be opened at Sheikh Zayed Road. I never heard of the company who hired me before, but since the package was good I accepted it. I thought it would also be a welcome change for me after working in Manila for years.


There were three of us recruited from the Philippines. Eric was a pastry chef, and Marose would be the Front Desk Asst. Manager. A smiling kabayan with long hair, and a white short bald guy picked us up at the airport. The Filipina was the hotel’s General Manager’s secretary, and the white guy who happened to be French, was the new Executive Chef. I came to know that all new hotel staff there were recruited from all over the world.

I couldn’t make any impression of the place yet as it’s still dark when we’re brought to our accommodation. A white van with the company logo was waiting for us outside the airport’s arrival area. Our road trip was smooth, no traffic. After ten minutes, we reached downtown and were brought to an eleven-storey building which we nicknamed later the Pink Building or Al-Khayat because it’s colored rosepink. My room was a studio flat. It’s semi-furnished. It’s got a double bed, TV, fridge, oven, kitchen stuff and plenty of cabinets. My room looked like something you could find from Ikea or Home & Garden magazines. Nice and neat.

The next day was Valentine’s Day. It was also our first day to report to our HR Department. All new staff who arrived the same day with me had a brief orientation, and all documents signed, we were then asked to go home to make ourselves comfortable in our new place. I took the time to unpack my things and to explore my surrounding. My flat had a balcony overlooking the road. I lived in Bur Dubai. The streets were clean, except of course for the birds’ droppings. Dubai was a newly built city with full of promises to a newcomer like me.