tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623483294594610881.post2577031355220301637..comments2024-03-21T21:39:26.324-07:00Comments on A Canadian in Abu Dhabi, UAE: Overheard at the gym: The "Oh really?/beg to differ"/awful white expat editionAnn Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794550687631644019noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623483294594610881.post-31568081928653516262012-05-24T09:14:23.178-07:002012-05-24T09:14:23.178-07:00You're right. It was a stupid, racist, narcis...You're right. It was a stupid, racist, narcissistic thing to say.<br /><br />Sadly, it was also, from one angle, true. The UAE has created a country that essentially requires a cadre of professional-class foreigners, both to keep many aspects of the society running, but also to sustain the exploding real-estate market and the consumer economy. At the same time, it's becoming increasingly less attractive for just those people to live here.<br /><br />It's a funny balance. Those invaluable Indians do indeed have their own critical role - but they're not the ones renting flats at Al Bandar, shopping at Ikea, or eating at Jones the Grocer.<br /><br />Like it or not, the UAE does need your friend from the gym, and all the rest of us (who may be somewhat more circumspect about the oddities of living here). The unnerving truth is that, in the end, we are really, at the end of the day, as expendable as the six-to-a-room crowd...Muscatohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04657061324487851341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623483294594610881.post-72658082732528519012012-05-24T03:57:13.821-07:002012-05-24T03:57:13.821-07:00It was a man!It was a man!Ann Mariehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07794550687631644019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623483294594610881.post-54871853205896066592012-05-24T03:44:04.278-07:002012-05-24T03:44:04.278-07:00I'm surprised she (I'm assuming its a '...I'm surprised she (I'm assuming its a 'she' because the gyms aren't mixed) could get her head out of the gym door.Jaynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06546956519928584352noreply@blogger.com