I know it's been a ridiculously long time since I created a blog entry, but I'm now on vacation and I have the time (and most importantly, the peace of mind) to write an entry!
So I'm in London, been here for two days, and it's FREEZING! I'm from the desert! People with camel fat pads on their feet can walk on burning sand, and not on rain (even when in boots)!
I decided to come to London for two reasons: 1) My childhood best friend (Nicole) and university best friend (Hala), and childhood neighbor (Alaa) are here (all are from Dubai too, by the way) 2) I wanted to go to a new destination.
The day started off quite badly. Hala only yesterday asked Nicole, who's been here for a month and a half only, if she had been stolen yet. Nicole was super happy that she hadn't been..........Yet. It only took 24 hours for that fact to change. Today Hala, Nicole, Alaa and I were at H&M on Regent street, and what do you know? Nicole's iPhone was stolen! The girl بالغربة flipped out! She started mourning her parents' pictures and Whatsapp messages! We had a five minute fit while comparing بلاد الأجانب to Dubai, where you can just leave your phone on the table and come an hour later and find it there (that actually happened to me). You know, the very Arab thing to do. So anyway, Nicole was beyond being in a bad mood, so she decided to head home, while Hala, Alaa, and I decided to go eat as Nicole gets her space so she mourns her phone in peace.
Alaa has a friend named Jalal from university back in Dubai, who's also visiting, and decided that he should come along for lunch/dinner, and he did. We went to get Thai food. So everything was going great, and chatter and laughter were arising. I don't know how the topic of carpets came along, but speaking of carpets, Alaa switched the subject to Sedar Al Emarat and how uncreative their ads are (Click here to get a taste of their ads). Every household in The United Arab Emirates, has been subjected to their atrocities after Iftar in Ramadan. So Hala and I just went on and on and on and on about how hideous they are, and cracking jokes about how low budget they are. "I can't belieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeve they had an executive meeting and someone got an epiphany that a dubbed Japanese woman is actually a good idea in an ad, and people agreed and walked out of the meeting feeling good about it" I said at some point after the ad they released this Ramadan (I can't find the exact ad, but it was an ad for the same collection as this one). And Hala was laughing until she started crying from laughter. So then Alaa says: "You guys wanna know what's funnier?"... We go like: "What?".... "Jalal's family owns Sedar"... And Hala and I start laughing even more from embarrassment!!! "We're so sorry" we say... "but these ads are just HORRIBLE" I add so inconsiderately. I really didn't mean to say that.. But they reallllly realllly are! Anyway, he was a good sport about it and actually agreed that they are quite hideous, but apparently their targeted audience were actually pleased with the ads. So doesn't matter what our generation says about them!
So yeah. All in all, that was a funny anecdote from today that I thought I would share before I forget it forever.
On a side note, I think London without the cold is pretty interesting. And just like Dubai, it has more people from all over the world than English people. I've heard Spanish, German, French, Indian, more than I've heard English. I also LOVE the tube! It's so efficient.
Oh and apparently they have self checkout at Tesco, which is a local supermarket. I was SO amused. I'm sorry I come from the third world, okay?
I'll try to include pictures for the next blog. Until then, good night/day m'dears.
So I'm in London, been here for two days, and it's FREEZING! I'm from the desert! People with camel fat pads on their feet can walk on burning sand, and not on rain (even when in boots)!
I decided to come to London for two reasons: 1) My childhood best friend (Nicole) and university best friend (Hala), and childhood neighbor (Alaa) are here (all are from Dubai too, by the way) 2) I wanted to go to a new destination.
The day started off quite badly. Hala only yesterday asked Nicole, who's been here for a month and a half only, if she had been stolen yet. Nicole was super happy that she hadn't been..........Yet. It only took 24 hours for that fact to change. Today Hala, Nicole, Alaa and I were at H&M on Regent street, and what do you know? Nicole's iPhone was stolen! The girl بالغربة flipped out! She started mourning her parents' pictures and Whatsapp messages! We had a five minute fit while comparing بلاد الأجانب to Dubai, where you can just leave your phone on the table and come an hour later and find it there (that actually happened to me). You know, the very Arab thing to do. So anyway, Nicole was beyond being in a bad mood, so she decided to head home, while Hala, Alaa, and I decided to go eat as Nicole gets her space so she mourns her phone in peace.
Alaa has a friend named Jalal from university back in Dubai, who's also visiting, and decided that he should come along for lunch/dinner, and he did. We went to get Thai food. So everything was going great, and chatter and laughter were arising. I don't know how the topic of carpets came along, but speaking of carpets, Alaa switched the subject to Sedar Al Emarat and how uncreative their ads are (Click here to get a taste of their ads). Every household in The United Arab Emirates, has been subjected to their atrocities after Iftar in Ramadan. So Hala and I just went on and on and on and on about how hideous they are, and cracking jokes about how low budget they are. "I can't belieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeve they had an executive meeting and someone got an epiphany that a dubbed Japanese woman is actually a good idea in an ad, and people agreed and walked out of the meeting feeling good about it" I said at some point after the ad they released this Ramadan (I can't find the exact ad, but it was an ad for the same collection as this one). And Hala was laughing until she started crying from laughter. So then Alaa says: "You guys wanna know what's funnier?"... We go like: "What?".... "Jalal's family owns Sedar"... And Hala and I start laughing even more from embarrassment!!! "We're so sorry" we say... "but these ads are just HORRIBLE" I add so inconsiderately. I really didn't mean to say that.. But they reallllly realllly are! Anyway, he was a good sport about it and actually agreed that they are quite hideous, but apparently their targeted audience were actually pleased with the ads. So doesn't matter what our generation says about them!
So yeah. All in all, that was a funny anecdote from today that I thought I would share before I forget it forever.
On a side note, I think London without the cold is pretty interesting. And just like Dubai, it has more people from all over the world than English people. I've heard Spanish, German, French, Indian, more than I've heard English. I also LOVE the tube! It's so efficient.
Oh and apparently they have self checkout at Tesco, which is a local supermarket. I was SO amused. I'm sorry I come from the third world, okay?
I'll try to include pictures for the next blog. Until then, good night/day m'dears.
