In preparation for my impending departure, I am trying to finish up food items in the fridge and I've managed to come up with some strange concoctions. Today, around 11, I had ice cream with whipped cream topping for breakfast... except, the whipped cream turned out to be labneh :P blech.
I took the bus to Madinat Zayed Shopping Center around 2:30pm. It was rather deserted for a Saturday afternoon except for the usual crowd of expat men who have nothing to do on weekends. In winter, they congregate at the Corniche but since it's boiling outside now, they hang out at the air-conditioned shopping centers and ogle at women. There was sale at Ninewest and Charles and Keith but it turned out to be a hoax- they jacked up the prices and after discount, the prices were more or less the same as before :p.
I bought a heavily embroidered table runner for my mom from a handicrafts store. The shopkeeper turned out to be Pakistani but he continued speaking to me in English... In situations like these, I'm always confused. Do I talk in Urdu? Do I appear arrogant/sound like I'm trying too hard to be "western" if I speak in English? Plus, I can't always tell whether a person speaks Urdu/Hindi or Tamil/Malayalam or some other language just by looking at him... some Arabs take offense if someone mistakes them for an Indian; it's quite a dilemma sometimes!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
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like I'm trying too hard to be "western" if I speak in English?
ReplyDeleteinteresting bit :P
i used to talk in heavy english and an urdu combo to shut these peeps up :D
ReplyDeleteor use an english accent... lol :D
i once used some yogurt when i wanted to put mayo on somthin... but thats the closest mistake i hav eva made.. n it wasn THAT bad :D
@Somebody... you know what I mean! It's annoying when someone comes back after a year in the US/UK/Canada/random English-speaking country and forgets how to talk in Urdu :p (I try not to be like that)
ReplyDelete@AS... yes, but how do you know the other guy understands Urdu (or even worse, what if he's Khaleeji/Saudi/Egyptian and takes offense?!). Trust me, yogurt instead of mayo is not bad at all!