My short stay experience in Dubai

Hi people, I just thought it's about time I shared my short stay experience in Dubai. I have always have this high expectation about the city and the beautiful things around it. After spending about 3 years as a student in one of the transcontinental European countries, I decided to switch to UAE where I thought I would find a job to greener pasture. 

It all started in 2013 when a room mate of mine then, told me she had an agent who could help for the visa application process. I got the contact from her and decided to reach Him (the agent) after concluding with my parent on such decision. After the long and well sounded talk with the agent, I concluded to give a try as I was assured of  getting a job. 

Thank God for my lovely parents who supported me with the fund to cover my trip. May God continue to bless and keep them both. I sincerely owe them a lot, such a caring and supporting parent. The employment visa fee + agency fee cost nothing less than three hundred and seventy thousand Naira  (370000N) which is now equivalent to 1000 USD approximately, I cant remember the exchange rate for it as at then.  It was such a huge amount of money. But since I was told it was an employment visa and a contract for 1 or 2 years, cant remember vividly, I felt it was nothing to worry about.

So, as the process begun, not up to  three weeks I think, the visa was out, but unfortunately it was a tourist visa for two months. This made me had a big fight with the agent for breach of agreement. The agent apologized and assure me that I would get a job on arrival, that he had made necessary preparation for me. He narrated a process to me which sounded horrible, that I would  have to exit the country UAE to a near by country (Oman) before the full employment visa would be out. To cut the long story short, all plans turned out void. 

However, since I don't want to waste my parent's money, I had to go on that tourist visit. I got my connections, made plans for my trip, accommodation, got a flight ticket and on August 2013, off I went.

Woo, on getting to Dubai International Airport in the night, It wasn't like I was happy nor sad, I was just neutral, naïve, not like I was a travel novice, I already had years of travel experience away from my home-Nigeria. Indeed it is a beautiful and big airport. Walking down to the passport control took awhile. on getting there, the cue was as though I was going heaven. It took almost an hour to my turn for Visa/ passport check. 

Finally I got checked, but one thing I must confuse is the cuteness of the guys at the immigration section, Menhhh theses guys are so cute😁 on their Arab attire. I admire them! So then I got out of the airport, feeling a very hot weather as if there was a heating factory around the airport. Guys it was damn hot, my skin was as though it was burning, hotter than Nigeria. Remember I left Nigeria three years ago, so the hotness was strange. 

I quickly picked up a taxi with a friend who made an accommodation arrangement and went down to my apartment. It was already late at night, I took my warm shower and slept off till morning.  Now I would highlight some experiences I had.

• Weather; Dubai has a very bad weather for me. The weather was so bad that I couldn't bear it. This was one of the reasons I fled from the country. It was so hot to the extent that, we had to save our bathing water so it could get cool over the night, water from the tap was naturally hot. And surely you cant survive without an Air Conditioning in either your house or car.

• Umbrella; I had a new friend called 'umbrella'. you 'all know umbrella, I couldn't go out without my umbrella to cover and give me shade. it was so awkward. I could sweat in just 5mins of getting out.
  

• Beautiful City; Dubai is such a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L city I have ever been. Almost all buildings look similar and tall. It was so funny that I even got lost the first time I went out. I couldn't locate my building anymore, had to call my roomy for road direction😏

• Sharia Law; You know UAE is an Arab country so its govern around sharia law. To my surprise, so many things are distinct from the other, gender wise. For instance, I went to a city called Sharjah, there, as a man you cant go into a female salon even with your wife, and like wise. you cant walk around doing an unnecessary PDA-Public Display of Affection else you would be caught and fined as the case may be. So many Sharia laws, incase you have it in mind to visit, you have to watch out

• Immoral Acts; one other experience was an immoral act I noticed and experience. Just in the search of job, I paid a job recruiting agency for a sales rep. position. Interesting I got the job, did an interview and training. On the first day at work, I got called by my boss who was a Pakistan man, to come to his office. Feeling Nervous of what the call was for, got there and this man was almost trying to harass me. I shunned him, and he told me I would loose my job if I don't comply. He went ahead to telling me that almost all the workers complied before they got the job. I felt so bad in my spirit and told him I am different. That was how he walked me out of his office and that was the end of my job. 

It's so sad, how people sell off their dignity in exchange for money. And sexual harassment at work-place is an issue that must be dealt with. Truly, that's how so many people live their lives in Dubai and other countries in quest for money.

29/10/2013 I left Dubai and flew back home. But over all, I would say it was a beautiful life and travel experience and would love to visit again but this time, when the weather is better.