Actual weather and other musings...

Today Chris and I woke up rather groggy since the construction crew under our building is currently doing something loud all night but my bad mood dissipated quite quickly when I saw huge stormy waves with white caps crashing on the shore. The sky was overcast and grey and if you blocked out the cars that can drive right on the beach and the Indian and Pakistani laborers it could have been a beach on cape cod...well, almost. I was even more startled when I got outside and it felt cold and even more shocked a couple of hours later when it rained for about 30 seconds. The variety felt nice but I miss the happy sun already. I have been in a contemplative mood all day and have come to lots of new understandings with my feelings about Dubai. It is a fact that too many people have stupid amounts of money but it is kind of like living around poverty, you can get used to everything. This is a lot more comfortable then the impoverished village in Ghana that I lived in don't get me wrong but almost everyone in the world is interesting, rich or poor and I have just as much to learn here. Now, these feelings did not stop my anger at some moron who parked his sports car diagonally across two parking spaces ( and I mean diagonal, not at a slight angle like some old people do in the US to prevent people from parking close to them.) Lately I have been spending a lot of time with my new boss, the mother of my three year old students and I have been learning a lot there. She is Brazilian American, brilliant, has an MBA and has lived in Saudi for a few years. She has shared so much with me about Islam and Saudi Arabia. Driving home today I thought about how much more I know about the Middle East already and I have only been here 3 months, how much more is possible in a couple of years? Sometimes I feel like there is no culture here because everything is new, everything is a hotel or a high rise, there is no place to walk, there are no dives to perch on a bar stool at and order a cheap drink but then sometimes I remember it just hasn't been built yet and even though the culture is a lot of going out, eating fancy meals and shopping the people who live here are amazing. Where else could I have a choice of over 14 languages to hear catholic mass in? Christmas was quite the experience since we arrived early and watched the end of a Sri Lankan mass. We also enjoyed the insane variety of church attire. My grandmother would still be talking if she had seen the outfits at the St. Francis of Assisi church here in Jebel Ali. Everything from proper Christmas dress to evening gowns to miniskirts and halter tops were present. Some people looked ready to return to the international version of the Norman Rockwell painting they stepped out of for a nice big turkey while others looked more fit for all night clubbing. I actually saw a mom of three wearing fishnet stockings in the row next to us. All in all it has become just one of the many reasons I heart Dubai today. Have I ever mentioned that we are watching them build an elevated commuter train around the city? It is very cool to watch a city emerge from the sand, I can't imagine how people feel that have seen the whole process! Again, loving Dubai today...