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United Arab Emirates: Dubai

09 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by marie in dear apples, journal, Lebanon, travel, Uncategorized

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dear Apples,

When time expands the distance between then and now, remind me not to forget the sweet surprises of these weeks.  Remind me not to forget the last day in Dubai: the warmth of the sun, the blue of the sea from under the soft lapping waves, and its remote expanses around my bobbing floating body drifting further and further out from shore, the soft glowing evening and dinner looking out at the fountains rising and dancing to the ebullient music, the magnitude of Burj Khalifa, the hidden halls of Dubai mall with their stunning tiles and arcs, and the whirling dervish that we happened upon as he spun himself into a spiraling trance, and how it felt like the world went out of its way to perform for us, the long walk to and from the metro, the goat milk ice-cream and mint tea in the old turkish tea house with the quiet fountains and cushioned chairs.  Remind me about how reassuring it felt to be away from home but still have my home in the person alongside me.  And also how very glad I was to land back in Lebanon, and pick up the lovely rhythm of my days again with a far more heightened sense of belonging and gratitude for the routine and simplicity of my place here.

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Dubai in Towers

09 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by marie in dear apples, journal, travel, Uncategorized

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Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

Words for Dubai:

climbing, reaching, fast, desert, luxury, comfort, fulgent, ease, lonely, dynamic, dazzling, lights, larger-than-life, alive, sand, prosperity, international, air conditioned, ethnic, spurious, malls, shopping, novelty, sky scrapers, dramatic, soaring, touristic, luminous, competition, young, stimulating, ostentatious, ultra progressive, ultra conservative, expatsIMG_5107

Marina walkIMG_5105

Creativity in urban architecture: spiraled skyscraper

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Blue skies, blue windows.  Made me jealous of the window washers propelling down the sides of these towers with their squeegees and buckets of suds

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The Great Burj

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Burj Khalifa showing his dreamy side

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How others compare to him

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…But when he is not in their periphery, they’re kind of lovelyIMG_5209

The Burj being modest and making himself look small next to C’s finger

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View of Dubai as seen from Floor 124, after a ride up the world’s fastest elevator #poppingears and an Indian man reading each floor out loud as we went….basically counting from 1-124 in a very loud, very fast voice while his wife looked mortified and tried to shush him.

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…But even from Floor 124, there’s still a few skyscrapers’ height above us

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Burj Khalifa is truly magnificent.  The project, the team, the timeframe, the architecture, the innovative experiments, the imagination required to create this breath-taking tower is quite mind-blowing.  It was good to see that these kind of immense undertakings that demand so many hands and brains and skills still take place.

A couple of months ago I took a walk through Central Park with a friend, and we were discussing the making of Central Park and the wonderful detail of it and the solidarity required for such a collective project.  I remember feeling sad afterwards and writing to C about what a project it was to create that, and how perhaps capitalism has highlighted functionality and individuality and competition over everything else, so there’s no room for those types of cultural initiatives that require so many people working together. I mean, wow!! In Bethesda Terrace, the staircase is divided into four sections that represent the four seasons, and all the stonework reflects the celebration
of the seasons. In the wall overlooking the fountains below, there are
little orbs set into the stone, and each have a different design because Olmstead (the architect of Central Park) allowed each of the commissioned Irish stoneworkers to leave their signature in the stone by creating whatever design they wanted in those little circles. The production!! I remember asking C if we still have such huge endeavors that involve so many people working together to create something that’s simply beautiful and there for purely aesthetic purposes.  Perhaps I am ill-informed, but I don’t really see it anymore.

But seeing Burj Khalifa was really stunning in that regard. It gave me goosebumps to emerge from the elevator after descending the tower, to walk down a hall lined with huge photos of many of the architects, project directors, plumbers, electricians, engineers, cleaners, designers, foremen, etc who had each played a crucial role in the building process.  An aerial view of Burj Khalifa shows how it resembles a flower from above, with many pedals spread out around the stem.  From below, you only see the multi-leveled stems leaping up from the base and growing gradually taller and taller until they drop off and the center juts upward, and when it cannot go further it is completed by a 200 meter spire.

Although the pace and dazzle of the city overwhelmed and estranged me, I suspended my own preferences as best I could, and marveled to see such proof that we humans are still moving forward and struggling to see our hopes and dreams materialize in tangible and remarkable audacity.

 

 

Dubai in Colors

08 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by marie in dear apples, journal, travel

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Dubai

 

Dear Apples,

I’m finally back in Lebanon and experience of Dubai is still settling itself in my memory; here and there in impressions of image, sound, color, and emotion.IMG_5179

Red sandals, perfect sea, sky, sand

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Balcony blooms

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The Great Burj

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Mezza always

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IMG_5089The Middle East wins in tiling and geometry

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Global Village; Afghani cushions

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The place was so alive!  Pulsing with a constant ebb and flow of crowds, poppy music, Arabic music, African music, dancing, fountain shows, colors everywhere, food stands with all the tastes you could imagine

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Our Global Market finds: Indian sheets, Afghani blanket, Yemeni (aphrodisiac) honey, and our new African seer.

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The Old City section of Dubai where we stayed on the weekdays is now the New New Delhi.  Curry and Sari’s for miles.

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Beach rainbows

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Amazing and terrifying plane show on the beach

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Fruits and veggies at the market and in juice shops on street corners.  Popular on the shelves: dozens of squash variations, rambutens, coconuts, dragon fruit, passion fruit, physalis, litchis, beets, snow peas, white sweet potatoes, chayote…

IMG_5092Open roof cafe serving lots of tea, fresh juices and, of course, shisha.  All of Dubai has a fragrance of sweet wafting shisha smoke and deep incensey perfume.

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Marina reds.

IMG_5150The time in Dubai felt much longer than it actually was, and the experience of it seems cut up into very different pieces.  It was good and full and dazzling, but it also felt oh so wonderful to descend back into Lebanon in a free-for-all flight of loud Lebanese passengers anticipating their return.  Deep relief upon landing; it was the familiarity of arriving home to familiar mountains, familiar faces and a welcoming space.

 

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