Sheikhs on a Plane

Two days inshallah until Ramadan! (Although you wouldn't know it from Carrefour, which has been rolling out the Ramadan decorations for the last few weeks, a la Christmas in the States.) Provided the moon is in the right phase in Mecca tomorrow night (I am not sure exactly how the process works but that's my understanding), the Holy Month will begin on Thursday morning. I'm excited for the experience - the iftars, the Ramadan sweets, the festiveness, the 9 AM - 3 PM work hours (although whether or not I'll actually work that little is debatable). I'm less excited for de facto fasting - 90% of my office is Muslim, so no eating/drinking at work obvi, and restaurants are closed during the day except for takeaway... it's frowned upon to eat in sort-of public places like your car, and my office is too far from home to go back and forth during the day. So basically, game on quasi-fasting! (Aka sneaking NutriGrain bars into the bathroom.) I have a date with a Lebanese guy on Thursday night who's taking me to one of the big Ramadan tents erected throughout the city for shisha and backgammon (this is apparently a classic Ramadan combo) so it should be a good kickoff to the month's festivities.




















Oh and lest you not believe my earlier post about license plates, voila some ads from a car magazine I just bought. (Yes, I now buy car magazines. Collective gasp of disbelief. Girlfriend's gotta know if she's getting value for her money.)















I think this one is really funny because they're selling 2-digit plates, which are super prestigious, but instead of being Dubai plates they're from the emirate of Fujairah (which is a kind of "Tennessee is to New York" relationship). How low-budget. Nonetheless, a "15" Fujairah plate will still set you back a cool USD $216,621 at the fixed exchange rate of AED 3.67 to USD $1. Honestly, at that point, I think starting a big bonfire of all your money is a better way to get rid of it. Or just, you know, giving it to me. Hook a girl up.















I have also learned that even 5-digit plates can be prestigious IF they're "good numbers" - witness the 5-digit "14141" going for USD $12,261.















Aaaaaaand shifting gears - sunset as seen on my drive home from work.















Seeing the tallest building in the world at sunset = not a bad way to unwind. (Even if you have AN HOUR TO LOOK AT IT since you're stuck in mind-numbing, rage-inducing Dubai traffic... so much for unwinding.)

Oh and the title of this post... I went to a stand-up night last week where a hilarious Aussie guy talked about how he had just flown back to Dubai from Qatar. Apparently at the Doha airport they wouldn't let him through security with one of those little metal claw thingys you use to remove staples, but they simultaneously let two locals board the flight with their falcons. (If you do not know about the crazy, fierce, bloodthirsty killing power of a falcon, I will save that for another post, but suffice it to say: respect the falconry.) So of course the punchline (which left everyone but me groaning, since I am a Great Lover of Puns) - "Oh sure, ban me and my office supplies but let those guys on with their falcons... I can tell you right now what's going to happen, it'll make a great movie - Sheikhs on a Plane!"

Maybe you had to be there.