On Fiery Banks of Sand…

October 13, 2015October 16, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha71 Comments

My view from a 45th floor at Dubai Marina

Though Dubai may sound like Mumbai,

In influence as well as affluence, different they are!

On feisty banks of fiery dynastic sands,

Mighty men bank dynastic dreams and hold their hands!

Where waves of heat, rolls down in sweat,

Here baked in the sand and down your hands!

Built on incessant backs of hardworking peasants,

Who faced from afar seem hard-paced and unpleasant!

Yet behind shrouds of bright coloured rags,

Are found bright eyes like yours and I!

Gigantic, architectural feats dots skyline for miles,

Every mile and feet spots your face in awe and smiles!

Houses are like daring sprouts, hugging the clouds with a lot of clout,

A twinkling feat and an attempt at tickling an Angels feet!

They flower so fast these beaming towers of concrete,

With crescents of moon carved into very fluorescent beam!

Beneath emissions of incandescent beauty,

Belies penchant for pedantic duty!

Flowing robes and thobes of white,

Slack beguiling robes of black and black,

Dots every spot, every crook and nook!

Dazzles and sparkles of gold to be sold

Beckon to you to come and behold!

A mix of the saintly saints and the saintly sinners,

The stoic-faced faces and the sunny-side faces,

A potpourri of cosmopolitan, metropolitan lifestyles

Mingle in this restless, sleepless city for miles and miles,

Resplendent in the banks of feisty, fiery miles of sand!

In fulfillment of Writing 201 Poetry – Day 7: Neighborhood, Ballad, Assonance

Random pictures in Dubai

A local dhow/boat cruising Dubai waters at night.

An Irish pub, McGettigans at Dubai Marina

Musings · Writing

Come On Over, I’ll Get The Mugs…

September 18, 2015September 18, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha45 Comments

At long last, I get an opportunity to ask you to come over for a cuppa coffee. We need to catch up on a lot of stuff.

You and I know that I take coffee in spare quantities. That I am an Iced-Tea babe or a sinful Caramel Macchiato chick. It gets me to loosen up and share every delightful morsel of gist that I have been saving up to share with you..

If you were to come over for a cup of coffee, I reckon we wouldn’t settle for the living room; there would be too much distraction with the children and the husband underfoot. We would probably go to a spot that I discovered by Dubai Marina where we would imbibe in several cups over laughter and enjoy watching the scenes of the Marina dotted with expensive yachts.

Alternatively, we could opt for Starbucks at one of the Malls (The Village at Dubai Mall is my favorite) where we catch up with gossip and people watch too. We could equally feast our eyes with window shopping until they glazed over with all the beautiful over priced goodies beckoning to us. Sounds like a good deal right?

Of course, you know that we won’t have just a cup of coffee without something chewy to go with it. All the lovely smell of baked goods would cause some rumbling in the tummy and I bet my last dirham that we would convince each other to add a slice of something nice. We might settle on a carrot cake and red velvet or anything that appears decadent…we can always walk it off together, tomorrow 😉

Settled down in a vantage position for people watching, I would listen to you regale me with tidbits of the current goings-on in your life and I would interject with an aah, ooh, or you don’t say! It would all depend on the expression that fits the moment.

If we were having a cup of coffee right now, we would cluck over the abysmal situation of migrants and the sorry state of affairs of the World, and possibly end on an optimistic, philosophical note that things would hopefully look up soon.

Over that warm mug of drink, I would share tales from my last visit back home and my experience so far in moving from Houston to Dubai. I would tell you how the search for a new abode went and how expensive living spaces are over here.

I would tell you about my fascination for the new culture that I am experiencing and my plans to immerse myself in learning Arabic language whilst I am here, so that the snippets of conversation shared by passers-by would make meaning to me.

I would tell you fascinating tales of the places (like the Underground pub, the Gold Souk, the Safari) that we have been to and would urge you to come for a visit longer than a quick cup of coffee so that we would share a memory.

About how at odds I feel having my Sundays as a work/school day and today, Friday is a weekend – I am still struggling to adjust to the change. It’s only been six weeks anyway!

I would tell you how much I minded having my status classified as ‘house-wife‘ instead of ‘writer‘ because my resident permit comes under my husbands own and you know how things are in this part of the World.

I would share the thoughts warring in my head about diligently seeking full-time employment over here or should I focus on my writing and the little things that I do to earn some income? What do you think?

If we were to have a cup of coffee right now, there would be so much to share. So what do you say? Are you coming over?

Lest I forget, I would tell you of the blogging ideas bouncing around in my head, then I would share this link: A little pick me up with you as well as little bits about the fascinating people that I have met so far in the virtual World and how husband has grown used to my bursts and cackles of laughter….

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

In response to Writing 101 – Day 10: Update your readers over a cup of coffee

Creative Writing · Musings

Let’s get a little lost shall we?

July 4, 2015July 5, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha12 Comments

In a lighter mood:

Did someone say that Houston is hot or hawt during Summer? They should try Dubai. There is the Sun, then Planet Dubai next to the sun, and Planet Earth with every other city a million miles away.

We arrived Dubai/UAE after 16 hours flight across continents from the US, so thankful for a safe flight. These days when you take off to somewhere, you simply hope that the pilot/co-pilot does not have any form of meltdown.

As we head out in search of our rental. The heat slapped us in the face with a punch thrown in too! Yet, it was sundown!
No matter. We loaded up and set off to town, ready to settle down.

It’s Ramadan (no public eating until iftar).
It’s blazing hot.
We are hungry, jet-lagged and cranky.

Traveling with family can be a whole lot of fun when you get past the hectic leg of things and to make things easier, we always take a car rental armed with our GPS and generally try to find our square roots.

Taking the metro or taxi, with children in tow, does not really cut it for me. I don’t enjoy staring through the windows with my nose pressed to the glass, watching the city scape zip past as we zoom by. With a rental at your liberty, you can immerse yourself just a little bit more.

Luckily the fast had just been broken for the day, so we located the closest mall and delightfully found a Five Guys fast food, where we tucked into some real greasy burgers and fries à l’américaine.

You would think that with the blazing heat and Ramadan, that the city would be slow and empty. Not at all! The mall park was filled to the brim. Human traffic from all walks of life flowed in pairs and little groups and for a people watcher like me, (is there a hobby with that title yet)? Its simply a delight to my imagery senses.

A full tummy, peppered with jet lag and heat equals to potent sleeping pill. Off we go to find our new abode for weeks to come.
The pilot (dear husband) sets off confidently, whilst I settled beside him to admire the shiny buildings of architectural delight, but soon enough my eyelids droop from gravity of sleep.

Half an hour later, I crank open my eyes and we were nowhere near our destination. Our poor GPS – which by the way, we had used on a previous visit – was thoroughly confused and was not updated due to the massive construction and upgrades going on in the city. It is a city of consistent newness and growth; getting ready to host Expo 2020. Familiar routes become a maze of metro networks, new hotels/buildings, road expansions and deep excavations.

“What’s up?” I asked in a croaky voice.

“I am trying to locate our hotel, but the GPS is not picking up the proper directions”, he responds.

“Okay”. “I have a map, lets see if that can help”, I offer. Mind you, I am not sure that I will make the Worlds list of cartographers or map readers – but at least I can try 🙂

Me: Map reader

Pilot: Husband

And we manage to circle an area a couple of times until in exasperation I suggested that we should simply stop by a metro station and get one of the empty cabs to direct us, otherwise we just might find ourselves in Kuwait before we know it.

My suggestion is met with silence. A cue for me to fold my map and snatch a few minutes of shut eye. I knew we would get there anyhow.

What is it with men and asking for directions?

Is it in their genetic make-up not to ask?

We ran around a little more, and eventually we were adopted by a taxi escort, that drove in front of our vehicle until we got to our destination, and in the spirit of Ramadan, I guess, he did not collect even 1 dirham from us, waving a cheerful goodbye as he left.

Wilted like two day old vegetables, we gladly hopped into our beds after all protocol and for the next several weeks or more, we shall be calling this shiny place, Home.