Duabi - a personal experince from 15year old Eluar Fuchs
Dubai is a modern and now international city with approx. 200 nationalities; 85% of the population are foreigners and the tendency is rising. It is very nice to see so many different faces when one is on the street, or at school. N my school there are nearly 90 different nationalities. Every year my school holds an “International Day”. On this day every nationality organises a stand and give samples of their particular food and other small things for free. They also make poster of each country and at the end of the day we have a “Parade of the Nations” where a child from each nation is walking once round the sporting field holding its flag. Everyone is allowed to wear their traditional clothes form their country, for example lederhosen, or other trational clothing.
Dubai is a very rich city.
According to the World Wealth Report (2005) there are more than 70,000 US Dollar millionaires. I myself have many friends that are really rich and live in huge palaces. The rich Arabs have everything from cinemas to lifts in their homes, as well as many servants, gardeners, drivers, and whatever, that are working in their homes.
The ruler of Dubai is Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who is also the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE.
The history of Dubai:
Already for a long time existed a small community of pearl divers at the estuary of Dubai creek. In 1833 the rule of the Maktoums began. The harbor of Dubai developed into an important trading centre in the golf region during the 19th century. Even though in 1933 the pearl diving industry collapsed, the general impact was not as disastrous as it was in the neighboring emirates due to the income from their maritime trade. The petroleum industry started to develop 1966 when the first oil was found.
The official language of Dubai is Arabic, but English is widespread as the every day speech.
All people speak English with each other, except the Arabic people when they speak within their own. The weekend in Dubai and in the UAE is Friday and Saturday. Dubai has many different faces; there is the very rich and modern face with the many sky scrapers where many Europeans and Arabs are living; then there is the more historical and quiet Arabic face, which is further out of Dubai; or the mountains of Hatta, which is about an hour from Dubai. The poorer areas are the so called “labour camps” where all workers coming from South Asia are living that work on building sites. From these sites they are picked up every morning in buses and returned there after their shifts are ended.
Traffic in Dubai is rather chaotic and dangerous.
One can use one of the many taxis that are cheap, or one can use the bus. Most people take taxis. I enjoy taxi rides because I can chat with taxi drivers from all over the world, and they tell me their opinions about Dubai. Most taxi drivers are from India or Pakistan and their opinions are really diverse. Some like Dubai because they are being paid better than in their own countries. Others dislike Dubai because they have to work long hours, and because they need to send the lion share of their income back home to their families.
The weather in Dubai is hot and very humid in summer – is reaches 47 degrees Celsius; from autumn until March the weather is very pleasant (20-30 °). It rains very seldom in Dubai and if it does it is a true spectacle for all people, especially for the small Arabic children.
Dubai is known for its extraordinary building projects like the palms in the sea or the so called “World”; these are artificially built islands approx. 4 kilometers away from the main land and all of them together form the world.
Dubai is a city that never sleeps because they are building day and night. All buildings are built at an incredible speed. I experienced the building of the highest tower in the world, the Burj Dubai. Now the Burj Dubai is the largest free standing building in the world – it should reach a height of 800 meters. Huge shopping malls are built in record time, for example the Mall of the Emirates, which is one of the most popular ones.
The Burj al Arab is one of the most expensive and luxurious hotels in the world. It is with its 321 meters higher than the Eiffel tower in Paris. It has 7 stars and 202 suites, the smallest of it is 180 m2 and the largest is 800 m2. It is a spectacular building with a very beautiful architecture. The interior is one of a kind, they used 10,000 m2 gold foil for decorations – and the lobby goes all the way to the ceiling.
Every year there is „Ramadan“ – an Islamic tradition where people fast from 5.00 am until 7.00 pm each day for a month. They pray 5 times a day. Even if you are not a Muslim, during the month of Ramadan you are also not drinking or eating in public out of represent to the people that are fasting. Restaurants are closed during the day and only open after evening prayer and when the sun is down.
My personal thoughts and experiences about Dubai are positive ones until now. I am happy in Dubai. It is interesting to talk to people from so many countries and to make friends with so many different people. It is also nice to learn other languages. I am speaking English at school and I am also learning French and Arabic. At home I am speaking Spanish with my mother and with my father and my sister I am speaking German. I really like my school, but what I and my friends really do not like is that every year many of them are moving on again – but that is part of it.
I would like to learn as much as possible and enjoy Dubai.
Eluar Fuchs
