Get ready for take off!

Hi there! Thanks for reading this. One word of warning before you read on: This blog may turn out to be totally pointless. Or boring. Or both. I have never kept a diary, so we will see if I feel like keeping this up after a first few tries.

I'm Daniel, and I'm a PR Consultant from Germany. The reason I'm starting this: On February 15, 2009, I'll temporarily move to Dubai to work from there for three months for my company, Burson-Marsteller (internal exchange program! The Dubai office is here if I got the address right in Google Maps). And maybe this is a good way to keep those posted who want to know about what I see and experience.

So February 15 is - in three days. I'm quite excited about this, as I have never been in the Arab world so far, and I'm curious to experience the "can do" spirit of Dubai myself and explore what is behind the glitter surface we usually hear about - the skyscrapers, the artificial islands, the indoor skiing, huge shopping malls. I've done a bit of reading, and it seems there could be a lot - religion, a special sense of heritage, how people live and work together, modernity based on and mixed with tradition... Professionally, I can hardly begin to imagine how PR really looks like in the country of "wasda" - the value of good relationships - and a media landscape I know very little about so far, there in a place of trade and tourism right between three continents... How similar and how different will PR in the Emirates be from what I know from Germany or the UK? I'm determined to learn as much as possible, and also to have a good deal of fun on the way!

Good I learned today about the place I'll be staying at and a few other useful things. Such as: getting a visa when entering Dubai may cost me zero US-Dollar. Or 300 US-Dollar. Depending on the officers on duty at the precise time I'm trying to get into the country. And I have to leave the country after some time and re-enter to get a new visa. It is clear the culture is very different from the one in Germany, everything from society to how you do business. A supposedly important saying: "God invented time. He said nothing of haste." And I also like this one: "Grass doesn't grow any faster if you pull at it."

Departure time is Sunday at about 3pm, which brings me to Dubai at half past eleven at night. Good I don't have to be in the office until 3pm the next day... And luckily somebody will pick me up at the airport and drop me off at my hotel. Thanks, guys from our Dubai office! This is definitely one thing I have learned about them - they are extremely nice and helpful. I think it will be a pleasure to work with them.

But now it's time to log off - after all, there is still a lot to do tomorrow. Good night. And write to you soon.