Adventures everywhere!

What a city! There are simply adventures everywhere, even in the seemingly small things, where you don't expect them - such as when you finally convince yourself you have to refuel your car.

After some time in Dubai now, I'm now pretty comfortable with the daily ride between my hotel and the office - even though changing lanes can still be challenging in the traffic here. But I've hesitated to venture from that beaten track by car so far. So I was glad to know there's a gas station near my office, when I could no longer ignore the decreasing gas level. But upon getting to the gas station, I learned they only accept cash. So I drove to the next one. The same there. So I decided to go to a place where I knew I'd find ATMs. The only thing I thought when I missed the right highway exit was "No good" - as the gas level was well outside my comfort zone already and I felt this was not a good time to be lost in Dubai's streets. You can imagine my relief when I found the ATM and had finally managed to zigzag back to the station.

Actually, I then carried more than the amount of cash I needed. Because gas is, as you will have expected, much cheaper here than in Europe - which is why people often just keep their car running when they wait or leave it for a moment. I've even seen stopped taxis outside of a mosque with running engine while their drivers had gone inside for prayer. It took me only 45 Dirhams (about 10 Euros) to fill up the tank. I really can't say into how many litres of fuel that translates - but there's a guy who did some calculating on that topic.

The fueling is all full service - which means there's a bunch of darker-skinned men on standby between the filling pumps, rushing towards your car the moment you stop. This is quite in line with what I noticed in other areas of public life: In any service-related area, there are so many people employed that would be eliminated instantly by even the most junior management consultant - but who somehow also make you feel welcome and special, up to the point where I even feel a bit uneasy because it can sometimes have a master-and-servant-like quality which I struggle to consolidate with my worldview.

In a tiny shop, I recently saw seven people ready to help customers; in supermarkets, you will not only find a person who's responsible for weighing your vegetables, but also one behind each checkout packing your stuff into bags for you. At a club recently, there was even a man handing you paper towels for drying your hands in the restroom. I have no knowledge about this, but I think this may have a very sober social aspect: I would expect that labor here is really cheap, especially that from the foreigners working in the lower service areas. Maybe some are glad to have just any job - and with that, the permission to stay in Dubai?

It would sound good if I wrote that I was pondering these things while waiting for my car to be washed, but actually my mind was too occupied at that point by the sighting of fresh doughnuts - in Germany, I have never found good ones so far, so my memories of Krispy Kremes in the US have already started to get a legendary quality. Looking forward to devouring the nice pair of plain sugared doughnuts, and with a sense of a small achievement, I drove my refueled and clean car back to the hotel.

I don't know many places where just fueling your car can give you something to write about. See - adventures everywhere! Point proven.