Brave New World...

It was quite amazing... I could see the Palm Jumeirah as I left Dubai and all that I could think of was that this was, for good or bad, a really Brave New World... it all felt a lot like Blade Runner, or Total Recall,...

Tower of Babel...

My first sighting of Dubai was, of course, the Burj Dubai. Expected to be completed sometime next year, it will be the tallest building in the world by far. After hearing all the talk, it was even more than what I expected... it was rather awesome... otherworldly... unreal... kind of heavenly, but at the same time, something sinister... like this brave new world was somehow trying to defy the laws of gravity... 'defying the gods' one might even say and I thought right away of the Tower of Babel.

The exhibition opening at the Opera Gallery DUBAI was almost equally awesome! I came to Dubai to check it out for an exhibition that we hope to put together in the next few months... this could really be an excellent opportunity...

first day of school...

What struck me the most about the first day of classes was all of the students showing up in brand new Hummers and SUV's or being dropped off by their drivers.

The students seemed nice enough, although it is odd having only women in one class, only men in another. I've heard from studies that while this is actually good academically for women, the men tend to suffer.

You can see that the students dress in all different ways- some in traditional Arabic clothing, some very casual, some in the latest Western fashions, many with expensive brand names. I've seen more authentic* Louis Vuitton luxury goods today than ever before in my life.

*I've seen a lot of Louis Vuitton goods before while traveling in China, but they were all fakes...

to the english mosque...

Some of my new friends wanted to take me to the Friday services at a mosque here that preaches in English.

It was interested, although I would say that it was not really that different than attending Catholic mass, which I did faithfully at least once a week for the first 21 years of my life, sometimes more, since I also spent the 1st-8th grade attending Catholic school.

Be good to thy neighbor was the basic message, lots of prostrating and praying, many passages in Arabic, similar to the old Catholic mass with a lot in Latin which not many understood but it lent an air of mystery as well as authenticity. I’ve heard the same from some of my non-Arab Muslim friends here. They can pronounce the Arabic from the Holy Qur'an, and can even say many passages by heart in Arabic, but they really do not know what the Arabic words actually mean. Lot's of praise to God though and repetitions of how unworthy we are in his presence.

Different of course was that women were completely not seen by us men in the mosque. They were upstairs, in the back, in a separate room, hidden away.

to the souk...

buying a dishdasha...

buying some dates...