Judging by the amount of texts and emails I’ve had in recent weeks, everyone in the UK has heard about a young lady called Michelle and an, ahem, indiscretion on a Dubai beach. As I’ve had virtually no free time since I’ve been here to keep up with news in the UK, this article came as a bit of a shock to me when I finally got on-line to see what’s been going on back home.
I have to say this Daily Mail article in particularly (why am I surprised) had me in total shock. I fit a lot of their generalizations – I’m early thirties, work in pr, new to Dubai. But I can honestly say that my life is nothing like the one that is described here – nor is that typical of anyone that I work with or have met so far in the six weeks since I arrived. I’ve been for a couple of these infamous brunches but they have been civilized affairs and more about catching up with people after a very long working week (I worked a 70 hour week last week) and relaxing. Not a binge/booze frenzy at all.
In the main I don’t go out much here nearly as much as I might like, or used to in Manchester – I’m working so much I have no time to and am too exhausted for most of the week.
And in terms of ex-pats not immersing themselves in the culture here, everyone I know has been to visit the Jumeirah mosque which explains more about Islam and it’s background and belief system. I love the melting pot of all cultures here – the advance of Ramadan in September is completely fascinating.
This very sensationalized view no doubt sells papers – much moreso than: ‘well there are some people who over-do it but they are a small minority’, but I still think this is very sad and sloppy journalism. Shame on you Daily Mail.
1 comment:
Hi there - loving your blog btw. Am also new to Dubai and also read the Daily Mail in horror. Yes, there are some people here who really should be in Ibiza, but the other 99% of us are respectful and very culturally aware.
Well said!
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