Back in the DXB

*I'm restarting this blog with a newfound fervor after running into an anonymous reader while Stateside. S/he asked for further reporting on the anomalies that are daily life in the Arabian Gulf. I am happy to oblige.

After nearly two weeks back in DC, seeing friends and family on and off the Hilltop,

I'm back in Dubai. It felt like a dream for the first few days, being back here in this land of unreality, until I spent Friday afternoon at Mall of the Emirates stocking up on supplies. Dubai boasts some 194 nationalities among its expat population. All of them were in front of me at the checkout line at Carrefour.

I forgot that amidst the high-rises, man-made islands and new squadrons of helicopters transporting sheikhs around town, Dubai is a city like any other, full of people just trying to make a living. Some people earn this living by suffering slave-like working hours in the summer heat, and others by siphoning off the never-ending flow of oil from Abu Dhabi.

Yup, from the look of things, my future posts are going to be more orientalist than my past ones.

{That beautiful shot of Healy rising out of the tulip bed is courtesy of Taylor Burkholder's photographic genius}