by yaakov kirschen - the jerusalem post, dry bones

phapaya from thailand got a job in dubai

When you have read the story from last week, about me working twelve hours a day many days a week, you might think I have a pretty tough life here in Dubai. But really I’m doing fine! I believe that I won’t be leading this kind of life forever. I’m just working for a better future and all this will help me to achieve this better future. Well, I’m still trying to look at the bright side again, being an extremely positive person! Seriously, I am glad that I am who I am. And I’m quite happy where I am right now.
Every time I look back on my life and see how far I’ve come, I always smile. I was born in the countryside in a poor family in a small province in Thailand, not far from the border with Cambodia. My mom and dad are farmers and they had planned to have two kids. They had my older sister and my older brother. Things seemed to be perfect.
But then when my sister was nearly ten years old, she came home one day with a bruise on her legs, because the teacher had hit her. My dad was furious and went to school next day to ask why. The teacher said my sister couldn’t read the words he had written on the black board.
My father couldn’t believe it, because my sister is a very bright girl. My dad returned home and asked his eldest daugther. She then told dad that she could read every word in Thai language for years already but that she actually couldn’t see what the teacher had written on the black board, whilst the teacher thought she couldn’t read the words. But she was to shy to say so…

Phapaya

phapaya from thailand got a job in dubai

As far as the lifestyle here in Dubai concerned, the rich are extremely rich and the poor are extremely poor. You can see the most expensive cars drive past Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or African people sitting in the street waiting for someone to hire them to carry heavy stuff just for a small amount of money.
My boss is a HR Manager and the other, even bigger, boss is Senior HR manager. None of them is from Dubai. Both of them told me not to expect any luxury lifestyle here, because we are all here to work for the money. He advised me to save as much money as I can, so as to continue my studies or to do whatever I want to do back home, not here.
So here goes a description of my life here in Dubai:
My accommodation is shared with another seven Thai and Philippine girls. I walk to work and bring my own lunch every working day. I never did this in Thailand but here ninety percent of the people who work in my office do. That is to say, all the staff apart from the managers. I have one day off a week, which is Friday. But then most Fridays I work overtime. Working till late at night is a regular circumstance anywhay. There are many days in a week that I work twelve hours or more. That is also the reason I cannot comment so much on drasties and why it is difficult for me to respond right away to people who have read my story. Of course at work I cannot use a computer for personal use ever.
However, I still have just a little time for myself. I go out with friends, I go jogging so that I can exercise and at the same time get to know the place a bit better, and I watch DVD movies. Shopping is not prohibited but I should not do that so much. I mainly shop for food. No, it’s even worse: I only shop for food, this must be the worse part of my life in Dubai!

Phapaya

phapaya from thailand got a job in dubai

Most of the office workers here in Dubai are Philippine.
Most of the people working in restaurants are Philippines. Dubai rules are that local people come first no matter what, then come the rich, then come the ordinary people like you and me. But they are pretty respectful to ladies. I was surprised to see that when I was in a queue at immigration on entering Dubai, ladies would be helped first no matter how long the queue was. On my second day, I wanted to take a bus and I was the last one in the queue but all those men opened the way for me. That’s nice, it makes me feel like princess and I love it. Even though I can’t imagine a real princess ever taking a public bus, it’s fine for me!
Another time, when I was on the last one of the queue in the bank, the bank clerk asked me to get to the front to take care of my transfer bill. I felt good, yet a little embarrassed because all those people had been waiting a lot longer than me, but me being a woman, I got to go first. Hopefully I will not get too used to this, I will have to go back to Thailand once.
However, it’s not all ‘nice’ in this Peaceful Muslim society. Behind the veil there are still bad things going on. I talked to one of the locals, who is quite nice and he told me that many Asian ladies come to Dubai looking for a rich local man to marry. They haven’t got a clue of what Muslim life is all about, but as soon as they meet a local, they will try to be ‘the one’ for him. Unfortunately there is usually no ‘Happy End’. Some girls get pregnant, have an illegal abortion and die because of complications. Not all Muslims are nice guys. Most of the girls were cheated. Once you sleep with one of them, there is nothing exciting about you anymore for this man. I think this story makes sense and not only for Muslims; I  would say it could happen anywhere on earth.
I myself think it’s unpleasant to have to share your husband with another 4 or even 7 other ladies (may be more), but that’s the Muslim way of life. I do respect that, but I would never ever follow that rule myself, unless a new rule is established that if a man can have 4 up to 7 wives, then a woman can also have 4 up to 7 husbands. Then I might be willing to reconsider. I think this would be the death of me if I dared to say this out loud in the presence of a Muslim…

Phapaya

phapaya from thailand got a job in dubai

You might say I am a Thai woman on my way to building my very own career.
Not just because of the job but also because I get to travel a lot and meet so many different people. I don’t expect to be a rich woman once I finish this one year working in Dubai. All I hope to get out of this experience is exactly that: ‘experience’.
Of course I do need the money as well; I’d love to have more for my old mom, my old dad and my blind sister and for paying off my own debt, but I have only just started.  So far there is nothing much to complain about.
I always try to look at the bright side of it all, because working on an international assignment means that I am away from home and that’s something that I’m not happy about. Some friends said that it’s sad to have to be so far away from home, just to get a little bit more money, but I don’t feel sad; in fact I feel smart.
Let’s talk about Dubai. I always imagined that Dubai was a quiet, peaceful place, where most of the people came only for business. A Muslim country, so everyone, especially women, always had to cover themselves, etc.
When I arrived I found that Dubai was nice, not as nice as I imagined, but nice. And its culture is open; if you’re not a Muslim, you don’t have to follow the rules of covering yourself, even as a lady. You just have to respect their culture.
I’ve looked at the Code of Conduct that has been given me and I have to say it is not that different from real life in Thailand. That is, life away from the tourist places.
Frankly I don’t feel like I am abroad, I almost feel like I am in Thailand with the only difference that I have to speak English, that’s all.

Phapaya

Onze Phapaya uit Thailand, die vanuit Dubai wekelijks bericht over het leven van een expat daar, wijst er vandaag op: de nieuwe Code of Conduct die sinds maart in Dubai van kracht is. Dit zijn dus de normen & waarden waar Phapaya zich aan heeft te houden. Wij lichten er even uit wat voor toeristen en de op dit moment ietwat eenzame Phapaya van belang is. 
Public display of affection: Warning or fine, in case of severe affection breach can lead to jail and/or deportation (1.4). 
Dancing is forbidden in public places (1.5).
Hier volgt een samenvatting van de overtredingen en de straffen. Verderop een toelichting. 

Appendix I: Offence and penalty table:
Public display of affection: Warning or fine, in case of severe breach jail a/o deportation.
Alcohol consumption outside designated areas: Fine or jail.
Buying alcohol without,an alcohol ficence: Fine or jail.
Drive under the effect of alcohol/drugs: Fine, jail a/o deportation, car confiscation.
Drug consumption or possession: Fine, jail and deportation.
Lack of respect for Islam’s customs and symbols: Fine, jail and deportation.
Lack of respect for other religions’ customs and symbols: Fine or jail.
Vulgar language: Fine or jail.
Littering and spitting: Warning or fine.
Pet fouling public areas: Warning or fine.
Damaging public facilities: fine.
Disrespect for environment: Warning or fine.

The Dubai Code of Conduct.
A new Code of Conduct for citizens, residents and vistors to Dubai has been issued by the Executive Committee under the guidance of Sheikh Hamdan (Sheikh Mohammed’s son). This is not a definitive summary, just a few high (and low) lights:
1. Social Ethics.
1.4 - Displays of public affection among couples - whether married or not - in public places does not fit the local customs and culture. Holding hands for a married couple is tolerated but kissing and petting are considered an offence to public decency. Public displays of affection, as well as sexual harassment or randomly addressing women in public places is liable to be punishable by imprisonment or deportation. There are also new clothing rules and a person can be refused entry to a government building if their clothing is considered immodest.
1.5 - Dancing is forbidden in public places.
read on here>> (more…)

phapaya from thailand got a job in dubai

I’ve been in Dubai for one and a half month now and time’s passed in a wink.
As the saying goes: time flies when you’re having fun! In my case, it’s not a matter of fun, merely of pieces falling into place.
The fact that I left my country Thailand is not the main issue here; I have travelled a lot and studied abroad. This time the reason for leaving was a job, which is an entirely different ballgame.
The first thing my boss told me is that my job is complicated. I found out quite soon that the job isn’t that hard to do, but great care is required because I’m dealing with the company’s money. At the moment, I’m also doing a senior’s job, she’s on holiday, but I will have to continue doing her job even after she returns. Big Bosses love to look at reports because they don’t really have to do any of the work themselves; they just make decisions and demand reports, more reports and then some more reports. I hope that the reports are OK for now, because I’m exhausted.
Then again my boss asked me how fluent my Chinese is; he wants me to act as an interpreter for the Chinese contractor. This job expansion also includes written Chinese translations. Actually my Chinese is not of an advanced level but I’m giving it my best shot, can’t do much more than that, can I?
I’m just sorry that there are only 24 hours in a day. However, if and when I get through the first year alive, it will be the best work experience ever…

Phapaya