Dubai Flipside

TRAFFIC

Internet traffic, that is.

Now that fellow bloggers here in the UAE brought some interesting snippets on the report of sitemeters on their respective blogs, I have quite my own to share. My own site meter's traffic report resembles a UN-like mini-convention judging from the varied countries of the blog's visitors' locations.

The interest in the blog has grown further with the linkage with Secret Dubai's blog (- thanks by the way, SD!) in a little more than a couple of weeks' time since the inception and since joining the fastest growing UAE blog forum: the UAE Community the Blog (--another thank you!)

Then a sudden realization hits me, ala-Peter Parker "with great power comes great responsibility", I felt a bit embarassed how long it took me to update this personal web space and somehow lose its appeal to my readers. And it would be interesting to note the reactions and comments that come with entirely different cultural perspectives....

And my own views about Dubai...

Coming here to Dubai has greatly changed my initial perception about Middle East. Back in the Philippines, and to some extent in most countries as well, Middle East is Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Palestine/Israel, depending on which decade you talk about and your political/religious convictions. First and foremost was the safety concern, and then the scourging climate. On the first count, I was rightfully wrong. West Bank and Gaza strip is not Middle East, just as the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan is not the whole Philippines, or even Mindanao for that matter. The second account is indeed true and true. The summer heat in Dubai can be really furious not only to your skin, but can dehydrate you to death if you're not careful. However, I find the drastic changes in humidity in a single week to be fascinating. Some hot days can be bearable and some less hot days can make you sweat as soon as you step out of the building.

Reading the blogs written by nationals or with roots in Mideast (Alhamedi, Twisted, Emirati's Thought) has further accelerated the change in my view as it become the closest interaction I could get to people of Arab (and yes, Northeast African ) origin. Some stereotype images are still hard to shake off too and in few cases, continue to persist no thanks to "horror" and frustrating stories (both documented and rumored) reported in newspapers, online news and again, blogs.

But then, where can you find a perfect society? Watching our own TV Patrol news over the internet hardly exonerates Flips (-- an American misnomer to Filipinos during the Commonwealth Era) for supposedly being the only Christian nation in Asia. And even as my heart pours out to the victims of Hurrican Katrina in the US, I am similarly appalled as to how some desperate survivors in New Orleans behaved to exploit the situation and the seemingly inability of the government to act quickly on addressing the needs of the victims.

But living in Dubai can be an exhilarating experience, much more working in a highly multicultural environment. I feel that every move or conversation you make, you always cannot help but think aloud first:

Will I get deported for this?

posted by YelJay @ 5:45 PM