Good Morning?

I woke up yesterday in my bedroom with a feeling that I had awaken from a beautiful dream. Like I never left my bed in the first place and 6 months in Spain were a figment of my imagination. Thank goodness for the pictures and thanks to the guys who emailed me. I needed the proof.

Went to have a drink with my best friend yesterday, to the same places we have been frequenting for over 4 years. Had the same drink, bumped into the same people. Again needed a pinch to realise that I had been away. Somethings don't change. They never will.

Malls still stink of expensive perfumes, the newspapers still write the same rubbish with aim to continue brainwashing all readers how hot and happening Dubai is. The drivers on the roads are still assholes, the prices are still going up, new clubs are still opening. The air is still too polluted to breathe in, the weather is still to hot to be outside. Arabs are still complaining about the Malbaris, the English are still dating the Filipinos. Everyone is still working their ass off. Everyone still wants to be a millionaire.

Dubai as a city is the contrary though. It's a place that will only stop changing when white elephants conquer the world.

Buildings seem to have popped up from nowhere. One of the 3 bridges has disappeared - or perhaps I just got lost amidst all the mierda construction happening around. Lanes have been added, cars on the road have trippled, new roundabouts, more Starbuckses, more people in malls, more malls, no parking. The parking lot outside my house has turned into a mosque; I hope I'm out of Dubai before it opens.

I thought I'd feel all nostalgic, warm and tingly to be back seeing family and friends. Sure it is great to see people you care about but I can't help feeling that I have left a large part of me behind.

The familiarity and sense of belonging I felt in Spain within living there for 6 months, I have never felt having lived in Dubai 8 years. Que fuerte!

Anyways. I'm here for a month, then I go to India for a bit. Hope to be back in Spain early next year.

Have books to read, went and got some Spanish language CD's today. Will spend this month trying to get published and keeping up with the Spanish. Vamos a ver.