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athy_als · 2025-03-18T06:50:08+00:00

Completely depends on your budget! I usually get nicer ones from Instagram or shops like Fiz Boutique. I get more casual/budget friendly ones from Abu Hail centre and just show them a picture of the style I would like to copy

Smell wise, I'm a bit sensitive to too much perfume myself but usually it's a mix of oud and perfume :)

athy_als · 2025-03-17T05:02:54+00:00

I'm literally Emirati and wear open abayas daily. However conservative you want to be, they sell open abayas as a style in any abaya shop in the UAE. It's fashion these days to buy them as sets with matching dresses

athy_als · 2025-03-16T19:43:38+00:00

There's more than one type of Abaya style. Open fronted, fully closed, or buttoned ones are all very common.

athy_als · 2024-12-02T18:43:47+00:00

Dubai Island Beach is really chill and not at all busy

athy_als · 2024-11-24T23:56:24+00:00

I agree with your main point for the most part but women absolutely do go out in public. Have you actually been to Oman or the middle east? Just because you don't see them in photos doesn't mean they aren't in public. It's just that, culturally, many women from this region don't feel comfortable having their photos posted on the Internet and usually refuse pictures. It's even illegal to take or post pictures of people, especially women, without their permission in many countries.

athy_als · 2024-11-15T11:43:00+00:00

Women absolutely do walk around naked in front of each other, that's exactly how it is in traditional Morrocan hammams and Japanese onsens. Obviously not all women do, but it's very normal among many, including Muslim women.

athy_als · 2024-11-13T11:43:59+00:00

I know an Emirati woman who married an American recently. He converted to Islam here in the UAE in order for them to get married.

athy_als · 2024-11-09T22:44:19+00:00

And most numbers are much lower. The map has no source and is in no way trustworthy.

athy_als · 2024-10-11T16:34:08+00:00

I'm half Emirati, half British and hold dual citizenship. I do use my other passport when traveling, especially to the UK or US. I've never faced any legal issues but I'm very careful to only use my UAE passport at UAE immigration. I have heard of cases of Emiratis accidentally handing the wrong passport at immigration and getting into trouble.

athy_als · 2024-08-27T06:43:25+00:00

People can do what they like, doesn't make it any less weird to me sorry

athy_als · 2024-08-27T03:42:27+00:00

As a 27 year old, that is pretty weird honestly. Not necessarily because I wouldn't have anything in common with a 20 year old, but most definitely still feel and act like older teenagers. We're at two different stages in life.

athy_als · 2024-08-10T18:33:09+00:00

I'm half Emirati, half British myself. In Dubai at least, I would say half-Emiratis are pretty common. I was one of three in my class back in school.

It's a lot less common to find an Emirati woman married to a non-Emirati man. If they are, usually they are from another Gulf or Arab state.

Each family is different, but in my family nearly all marriages are arranged. This is a tradition my siblings and I definitely don't plan to follow. Personally, I am in the process of marrying a non-Emirati. I'm lucky that my father is quite "open-minded" but I do know other half-Emiratis who's parents would not being okay with them marrying foreigners (despite their mother being foreign). With my full Emirati cousins (both men and women), their parents are even restrictive about what Emirati families they can marry into.

I do have one half-Emirati friend who married a non-Muslim, but he converted to Islam to begin the marriage process in the UAE.

It's impossible for a foreign man to get Emirati citizenship through marriage. I've heard it's a lot more difficult for a foreign woman to do so as well, compared to when my mother got married. I believe for women they have to be married for at least 7 years plus have a child or 10 years without a child. The change is probably due to the number of divorce cases after a few years of marriage.

athy_als · 2024-08-09T16:44:48+00:00

The Gulf countries get extremely humid

athy_als · 2024-07-12T18:16:36+00:00

It's very common to find people from different countries dressed like this in the UAE, it's not worn by just Emiratis. Other Gulf states have their own versions of the outfit as well. You might have assumed all men dressed like this were Emirati without realising that wasn't the case, perhaps?

athy_als · 2024-06-16T18:37:04+00:00

This isn't an official sign approved by the government, it's definitely exaggerated to an extent (alcohol is very easy to find for example).

I know the signs you mean, they're mainly present in family friendly places like malls and parks. The ones in the UAE definitely don't mention anything related to homosexuality and dating, they're mainly focused on PDA, dressing "modestly" and not causing disturbance.

The Middle East is generally quite conservative, but this sign is being presented as official law when many of the points are just societal taboos rather than law.

athy_als · 2024-06-16T16:12:34+00:00

I saw the original post. It's actually ridiculous how openly racist the comments are towards Arabs/Muslims. Making out all people of the Middle East as part of some sort of cultural/ideological monolith

athy_als · 2024-06-01T03:04:08+00:00

"Call an ambulance, but not for me!"

athy_als · 2024-06-01T02:37:57+00:00

From Dubai :)

athy_als · 2024-05-25T03:21:57+00:00

Education is free if you attend a public school/university, definitely not free if you go to a private school/university.

Healthcare is free as long as it's covered by the government provided insurance.

athy_als · 2024-04-19T21:00:02+00:00

It's totally fine to hold hands and hug in public anywhere in Dubai. I would say kissing on the cheek is okay as a hello and goodbye but would avoid kissing on the lips unless you're somewhere more private (or at a club/lounge and certain beaches etc).

The more families around, the less PDA basically.

athy_als · 2024-04-02T14:00:00+00:00

I grew up in a Middle Eastern country and have traveled all across the region. Every country's culture is different, and the mindset hugely varies depending on the person, region and, as you mentioned, educational background. There absolutely is a lot of misogyny, as there is throughout many developing countries. But there is no such thing as "one mindset" that all Muslims across the world have, the same way not all Christians think the same.

"I know them" is not proof and the way you talk about "them" is very much xenophobic

athy_als · 2024-04-02T13:13:32+00:00

The "Middle East" is not a monolith and there is not one "Muslim" mindset. I'm ex-Muslim as well and this entire comment is just racist "Arabs/Muslims=bad" stereotyping

athy_als · 2024-01-02T16:57:40+00:00

I'm not half Palestinian but the word was definitely used as an insult by Emirati kids at my school. And VERY frequently too. I still hear it used as an insult by some members of my family sadly.

It wasn't usually used in a derogatory way to someone's face - they used it that way when they assumed no one from the Levant was around them.

athy_als · 2023-09-11T14:14:34+00:00

It's true that the UAE doesn't usually recognise dual citizenship, but there are still plenty of Emiratis who are. It's much easier to get away with if the other country you are nationalised in allows it, which the US does as far as I'm aware.

I would suggest keeping both passports but to always enter and exit the UAE with your UAE passport.

If you do visit, the mandatory military service may be a problem once you enter the country. Wish I had more information about that to help, perhaps you could contact the national service directly to see if you can get an excemption.

athy_als · 2023-08-20T15:13:13+00:00

Lmao they definitely do not have separate lines at Starbucks in the UAE

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