More from Dubai
Still at the Dubai Airport and still have not found wifi. So more random blabbering from me. I did get today’s New York times downloaded, which is something I suppose….yes, the Kindle’s world 3G really is world wide. I’m at the gate waiting for my flight now, this was a much more pain-less checkin than in SF, primarily because I was already checked in. My luggage (hopefully) went straight through to South Africa.
I had a really interesting conversation with a woman from New Zealand who is on her way home from Afghanistan. She had spent the last 4 months there as a relief worker, and was on the 12th hour of her layover. Some random facts she told me about: no smoking anywhere in public during Ramadan, the Irish pub at the airport here is the only place that serves alcohol during the holiday and they have free wifi (will check it out on my return, I’ll have four hours to kill), shopping here is out of control – the time to come is the first two weeks in January, but duty free isn’t bad here end either. She definitely convinced me to take a longer layover if I’m ever here again – i would love to explore.
What else. Burkas are omnipresent here, but not so much so in rural Afghanistan, near Iran. Women there do not wear the full deal, some of them may wear the head piece, but she made a point of saying its personal choice. It’s not quite as required as it may be elsewhere. Of course, that said – no shorts, no skirts unless they hit the floor. No short sleeves, no cleavage. Strangely enough, heavy, heavy makeup is ok – its strange to me to see these gorgeous women wearing pounds of makeup covered from head to toe. All you see are smoky eyes. She pointed out a woman wearing a tank top and said that someone was going to ask her to please “cover herself for decency.”
I suspect I will have a lot more to say about the gender stuff once I’m not quite so sleep deprivand have had time to process. It has definitely been an experience. Nothing bad, though, I want to emphasize that.
Ok, I think we’re boarding soon. Next stop Cape Town, where although it is winter, there is nothing wrong with a woman in a tank top.

