UAE Wins Gulf Cup

Hello people,

If you think the Rio Carnival Parade is a Festival, think again! If you thought nothing could be better than the magical Disney parade, think again! What could be better? The Parades that are happening all over Dubai, and for good reason. The UAE football team won the Gulf Cup, with one of their player scoring in the 72nd minute into the game. The final was against Oman. Saudi Arabia was knocked out by UAE in the semi final, much to my disappointment, as I was rooting for the Saudi team, purely on the basis that I am an an ex-Saudi expat. But it was the case of May the Best Team Win, and UAE certainly were the better team of them all. Many congratulations to the UAE as they celebrate their joyous moments.

Right now, outside on Jumeirah Beach Road, the streets are strewn with confetti, snow spray and party spray leftovers. Young men climbing out of their jeeps, sitting on the roofs, trunks and bonnets, waving flags. Many have their faces painted in the national colors. Flags are covering the cars entirely. Traffic is being held up with men get out of cars and dance on the roads, oblivious to the traffic blockage behind them. Some local Emirati women are alsi joining in on the fun, celebrating their nation. A few police cars are arresting a few miscreants, but there are only so many the police can catch. Majority of them are having a ball of a time, honking their cars, blasting away into the night. I pity the people in this neighborhood as they will have a sleepless night tonight.

Well done UAE. An Emirati would be proud of their nation today.

Mansur

Terry Fox Run

Hey everyone,

So today morning, at 8am my friend and I went to Mamzar Park to register for the Terry Fox Run in Dubai. Terry Fox was a young man who had cancer, and vowed to walk across Canada to raise money for cancer research back in1980. Talk about paying it forward, as his determination has led to Terry Fox Run all over the world.

About 10,000 people were expected at the park today morning. Once we got there, I got into my roller blades, while my friend walked/ ran in between. The race begane at 930. We walked/roller bladed/ sprinted/ jogged the entire 8.4km. It didn’t seem that long, and it was good doing all that knowing our donations went for cancer research. There were lots of people from schools, and apparently come companies who had surrely paid theie employees to run the race. People ran, walked, cycled, roller bladed, skate boarded. The weather was pleasant, the roads were wide open with enough space for people to do their walk without bumping into anyone else. One exciting thing that happened was a group of yuong teenagers fighting with one another. I had never seen a young teen kick another teen in the head and chest so hard. I was freaking out a little seeing such violence. Despite that, we all got our certificates at the end and several bananas and sandwiches.

I came home, and then to the Fitness First gym at the Ibn Battuta Mall. They are celebrating their first anniversary and so today, tomorrow and day after is open to the public. I thought I might as well check it out. I thought it was an ok gym. The equipments were all high tech and all, with complete flat screen tvs everywhere. This club is exclusive and caters to a certain cleintele. The funniest thing I saw was the notice in the changing room, where it asked everyone to respect other people and be modest. What I saw in there was far from modest!

Mansur

A break…

Hello people,

Since my new place in the Meadows is so far away from everything, I don’t have close access to the net. I cannot blog from my work place anyways. So for now, I will not be blogging as extensively as I would like to. I will be taking a short break for about a week or two and wait to settle in and get all the net connections and all, and will then start actively blogging again. However, if I find someone I absolutely have to blog about, I will do so.

Mansur

Random Acts of Kindness

Hello friends,

I talked about the Pay it Forward issue just a few days ago, and today I did just that. Since I am out of my apartment in Sharjah and moved to Meadows in Dubai for a short while till my apartments in International City are ready, I thought I should say a thank you to two places near my home where I frequented on an almost daily basis.

First stop was Al Ahlam Net Cafe. I used their net cafe almost daily (for emails- chatting with a certain friend in Saudi, and blogging) and was always given a warm welcome. Sometimes he would even let me chat and not charge me. I said a huge thank you to him for his wonderful services, and his reaction was that of an awkward silence followed by a long time of ” you-are-one-of-my-best-customer” kind of talk.

However, it was the second place where I got a reaction that left me stunned. I got a Thank You card and addressed it to the staff and serves at my local McDonalds. I thanked them for always serving me with a smile. For two years I had been coming to McDonalds right in front of my house on an almost weekly basis, and got to know all the people working in there, so much so, one of them even gave me two burgers when I ordered for one. So, I walked in and asked to talk to the manager, and told him that I wanted to thank him and the rest of his staff for doing a good job and handed him the card. His reaction, as well as that off the filipino servers there, was that of a long, shocked, stunned silence. They didn’t know what to say. All I could say then was “thanks so much for everything, and I will miss coming here.”

It gave a rush as I sat back in my car and realized how amaxing I could feel when I said thanks to people who I don’t really know. It’s the same kind of rush/ thrill I get when I am on a roller coaster. I am encouraged now to do more acts of random kindness now and enjoy the adrenaline rush I get from it.

Mansur

A Day Out in Dubai

Hello friends,

So we went to Ace Hardware at first to pick up some items my friend wanted for her car, and after that we didn’t know where to go. While driving down Emirates Road, we made a spontaneous decision to go to Bab Al Shams, which is part of Jumeirah International- the chain that has Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Emirates Towers and Wild Wadi. Bab Al Shams is about 35kms outside of Dubai, and so after a quick lunch at Arabian Ranches, we made our way to Bab Al Shams.

The drive is not exactly a scenic one and very straightforward, but once you come to the main entrance to Bab Al Shams, it’s all about tradition and arabian delights. Hanging lamps lead us through winding roads to the main entrance where men in traditional Arabic clothing greet us and valet park my car. Walking down curved pathways lit with oil lamps brings us to the center courtyard where we climbed up to the rooftop to get to the cafe. The sun was setting and the skies were turning purple, red, orange and a dark blue. There was music emanating from the other end by a Filipino band singing Latino songs, where the lead singer was all dressed up like Shakira. The mood was festive, lively, enjoyable and most of all romantic. I wish I were here with someone who I truly loved so the time here would be more enjoyable- not that I was not having a good time with my friend.

We ordered cheesecake- probably the most expensive one I had in my life, about 30dhs- and all I got out of it were 5 small bites. After watching the sunset, and witnessing the whole rooftop cafe lit up in traditional Arabian lanterns, we made our way back to Dubai driving down a patch of dark road in the empty desert. Sometimes, it’s an amazing experience to be able to go out in the desert with modern gadgets and cimmune with nature.

On our way back, we stopped over at the Dubai Autodrome, where there was a 24 hour drifting/ racing taking place. The first thing that hits you is the intensity of the noise emanating from the cars that whiz past by you. We climbed up to the seating area and saw cars zoom past by so fast. It was an experience to witness. However, no one was drifting their cars.

Went to Lamcy later on to check out roller blades which we plan on buying to go for the Terry Fox Run happening on January 26th ‘07.

More on what’s happening in Life of Mansur later. As for now, I am going to be moving out of my place in Sharjah to Dubai on Monday, 15th Jan. Will get back to you after that day.

Mansur