Have you ever worked / lived in the Middle East ?

[Lorenzo]

Have you ever worked / lived in the Middle East ?

[islander]

yes, i've lived in dubai for 3 and a half years.  no, i didn't work there.  5 things that i cherish about living there:

1.  great place, great people, great culture
2.  cultural and traditional kindness to animals is very pronounced
3.  locals (i.e., emiratis who are arabs) are formal and distant with strangers, but they suddenly smile broadly when they see me feed stray cats
4.  indians, who are the majority, are way friendlier than fellow filipinos, i don't know why
5.  gulf news, my favorite broadsheet; real good writing, great choice of topics and articles; helmed by british writers, staffed by filipino and indian writers, owned by emiratis naturally; i miss this kind of newspaper, honest

[vrglguapo]

Indians are friendly people  walang plastic nga batasan.

[Lorenzo]

that and they cook really good spicy food.

[Lorenzo]

my dad worked in riyadh, kingdom of saudi arabia for 12 years. when i asked him about his tenure there as a civil engineer , he said to me that his experience was, overall, very good.

this summer i took my father to a middle eastern restaurant in chicago. i was surprised he still knew the names of the dishes, and spoke to the server in almost-perfect arabic.

bwahaha.

[Lorenzo]

my papa at 28. taken in some highway outside the city of Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
this picture was back in 1986.

[Lorenzo]

dad again on the left. nagpa macho macho lageh.

[Lorenzo]

fully bearded.

[islander]

fully bearded.

fashionable in the middle east.  the beard, i mean.  he did right.

something about him looks like you.  the aura?  the effect?  whatever, he is really the son's father.

[Lorenzo]

hahaha. nowadays my dad doesn't sport the beard. he said that it was a necessity to wear kono in the region at the time. religious police used to hound him on wearing a beard and all since he used to inspect new buildings , many of which were mosques.

at present, he's sporting the mustache look.