Ahhhh, Dubai....the name conjures up images of incredibly sleek modern skyscrapers reaching up into blue skies. Palm tree created islands dotting turquoise waters and an increasingly developed country built on oil and tourism. Yet supported by the backbreaking labor of Indians brought in to provide most of the manual labor needed for the tremendous growth in infrastructure. It also painfully, yet hilariously, reminds me of how remote and insular the natives (as I like to call them) are in my new hood.
You have to understand, I was born and raised in New York. Except for a couple of years in my early childhood when we lived abroad for my father's work, I've spent all my time in New York. Sure I went away to college, Massachusetts to be exact. For my high school graduating class, you went to the best college you got into, regardless of where it was located. I just happened to be going to Massachusetts and I was very happy with my choice. I spent my four years there and returned right after graduation to New York and my job search. I than spent my graduation school days in New York, met my husband there, had a couple of kids, and shopped to my heart's content all within the 300 or so square miles encompassing Manhattan. I was very happy. Every year I made a trip abroad to visit friends from college, traveled with my family and friends, and tried to experience as much of the outside world as possible. I loved reading the Times, and the FT when I was working. But that all changed when I moved out West.
My current domicile is a small upper/middle class neighborhood about an hour away from LA. We're not technically a suburb (in my opinion) but more like a satellite village. A lot of the people who live here either grew up in the area and never left, or grew up in the area, left and came back. So it's a somewhat incestuous village. I'm not talking about six degrees of separation, more like two. So with my innate bitchiness I've got to be careful with my snark. People here don't understand it and seem to be a little too "nice" in my opinion. So I tend to keep these things to myself.
Anyway, back to Dubai. Now why would Dubai come up in this little hick town? Well, I was walking to school with Little Man one day when I happened to hear two dads in front of me talking. One, who was dressed in a dress shirt and slacks (I like to call him Professional Dad) was talking to another one who was dressed in a tee shirt and sweatpants (I like to call him Stay at Home Dad). Professional Dad was talking about how he would be traveling soon, and so Stay at Home Dad asks him where he's going. Dubai was the answer. I'm thinking, "Gee, that sounds like fun. I'd like to visit Dubai one day and see that hotel with the helipad that Tiger Woods hit golf balls off of for $1 million." Stay at Home Dad decided to show off his knowledge (because after his answer I don't think he wanted to show off his ignorance) and said, "Oh, isn't that in South America?" I almost bust out laughing, but I didn't want to seem like a rude eavesdropping bitch. Seriously?? South America?? Didn't we learn about the various countries that make up South and Central America in middle school? And Dubai has been in the news so much these last few years for its rapid development and wealth, due to OIL which usually is found in the MIDDLE EAST. If you don't know where Dubai is, ask. You have a mouth you can use besides flapping off erroneous assumptions and making yourself look like a bigger ass. Or just nod and pretend you know. Why show someone, besides your friend or family member who already knows you're not that geographically inclined, that you're a hick. That was just ridiculously sad, yet funny at the same time.
I love telling that story to my friends back home. I even tell my old SAs at Bergdorf so they can fully understand I'm in bizarro land. They all get a good laugh out of it, and some people even ask me if Stay at Home Dad was joking. Hell no, he was serious. And that's what makes it all the more painfully funny.
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