Emiratos Arabes?, Donde queda? (United Arab Emirates?, Where is it?)

(English version below)

Emiratos Arabes que?, quieres decir Saudia Arabia?, donde queda?, que peligro!!!, el medio oriente?, seras oprimida por ser mujer!, tendras que usar el manto!, no podras manejar, petrodolares....

Estas y muchas mas son las frases que escuche cuando dije me iria a vivir a Emiratos Arabes. Pero como persona precavida que soy, hize mi buena investigacion y esto fue lo que encontre:

Emiratos Arabes Unidos es un pais conformado por siete emiratos, entre ellos Abu Dhabi que sera donde vivire y es la capital, y el famosisimo Dubai, ciudad del unico Hotel siete estrellas en el mundo Burj Al Arab y de la Isla de Palma (Palm Island) y en un futuro no muy lejano la ciudad del edificio mas alto del mundo Burj Dubai, del unico hotel acuatico en el mundo Hydropolis, en fin la lista continua...

Donde queda? . Si cerca a Arabia Saudita, pero no con las mismas represiones. Si, en el medio Oriente, pero no el sitio del conflicto, es en realidad uno de los paises mas seguros del mundo, escuche es el unico pais en el mundo donde nunca ha explotado una bomba.

Si, es un pais arabe, no una democracia. Sin embargo, es una pais muy moderno y occidentalizado. Solo el 20% de la poblacion son locales, 23% de otros paises arabes, 50 % del sur de Asia (India,Pakistan) , y 8% del resto de mundo (incluyendo muchos ingleses).

La religion predominante es la musulman, seguida por cristianismo. Afortunadamente hay libertad de religiones y el mismo gobierno patrocina la construccion de iglesias, particularmente catolicas.

El idioma oficial es arabe, pero ingles es el idioma predominante en los negocios, muy pocas personas extranjeras saben algo de arabe ya que es muy dificil de aprender. En realidad es mas importante saber hablar Urdu, Hindi o aun Malayalam (el idioma de Mithun), lenguas de India y Pakistan ya que ellos conforman el 50% de la poblacion.

El clima es seco, por supuesto es una tierra de desierto. Las temperaturas varian entre 15-20 grados en el invierno, y hasta 50 en el verano. Llueve muy poco, pueden pasar anos sin llover.

En cuanto a la cultura, el pais es muy occidentalizado. Existen las mismas libertades que en cualquier pais de Europa o USA, sin embargo hay restricciones en la venta de alcohol, la pornografia y los desnudos en revistas y peliculas son vetados. Tambien muchos sitios en internet son bloqueados (como myspace.com que no creo pueda acceder mas). En cuanto a la ropa he escuchado que desde que no se revele mucha piel no hay problema(eso lo comprobare luego).

Espero haber dado una breve idea de Emiratos Arabes. En mis proximos blogs les dare una mejor perspectiva del pais, y de la ciudad Abu Dhabi, que espero conocer muy pronto...

English Version

United Arab Emirates, do you mean Saudi Arabia? Where is it? The Middle East?. Too dangerous!!, you would be oppressed for being a woman. You would have to cover yourself, you won’t be able to drive, petrodollars?

These are some of the comments I used to get when I told people I was moving to UAE. However, I did my research and this is what I found:

UAE is a federation of seven Emirates, among them Abu Dhabi which is where I will live, and the capital. The famous Dubai is another emirate. Dubai is the city host of the only seven star hotel in the world the Burj Al Arab and the Palm Island. Also in a near future it would be the city with the world's tallest building Burj Dubai, the world's only aquatic hotel Hydropolis, and many more interesting and unique projects.

Where is it located?. It’s close to Saudi Arabia, but it does not have the same restrictions. It is in the Middle East, but not where the war or violence takes place. It is actually one of the safest countries in the world. I actually heard it is the only country where no bombs have ever detonated.

It is an Arab country, it is a dictatorship. However, the country is very modern and westernalized. Only 20% of the population are locals, 23% come from other Arab countries, 50% from South Asia (India, Pakistan), and 8% from the rest of the world (including many Europeans).

The main religion is Islamism, followed by the Christianism. Fortunately, there is freedom of religions. The government even sponsors the construction of churches, especially Catholic.

The official language is Arabic, but English is the business language and it is widely spoken. Very few non-Arab expatriates actually know Arabic, since it is very difficult to learn. It is actually more important to learn Urdu, Hindi or even Malayalam (Mithun’s mother tongue), these are languages from India and Pakistan and they make up 50% of the population.

The weather is dried, of course being a desert land. The temperatures fluctuate between 15-20 Celsius in winter up to 50 Celsius in summer. It rains very infrequent. Sometimes there are years when it never rains.

It is a very westernalized country. There are the same freedoms as in any European country or even the USA. However, there are restrictions in the sale of alcohol, pornography and nudism on magazines and movies. There are also many internet sites blocked. About the clothing, I heard that as long as not much skin is shown there is not problem (that I will confirm it later).
I hope I was able to give a small idea of the UAE. On my next blogs, I hope to give a better picture of the country, and the city Abu Dhabi, that I hope to visit very soon.