Tales from the Desert

Taxi!

No, no you don’t understand, the address is L A R I V I E R A,
I say spelling it out slowly, you know, like ‘river’, but in Spanish?
I’m busy explaining my address to the taxi company. There is a
zero-tolerance drinking and driving policy in Dubai. If you’re caught,
you go to jail for a month, no questions asked.

So, 30 minutes later, I have been waiting at reception for longer
than I should have. I’ve spoken to the taxi driver a total of 3 times.
He has phoned me, I’ve phoned him. The Pakistani security guard
even gave it a shot, after which he shrugged and said, he speaks
Arabic, madam. Fair enough. And I speak English.I don’t understand,
he doesn’t understand, but hopefully he will find the way.
Eventually.

So Hasem, we’re on first-name basis by the time he arrives,
explains in broken English, that his English is not so good and
that frankly, he did not get half of what I said to him.
It’s ok, just take me to the Irish Village please.

On the journey there, I discover that Hasem, who is Egyptian,
is getting married in October, to a lovely girl called Sara.
I know she’s lovely, because he showes me her picture,
digging it out of his back pocket, while we’re hurtling along
at 120km an hour on Sheikh Zayed road.

He tells of hard working conditions, low wages, and that he
would like to do something other than drive a taxi. But his English
is not good enough, and he doesn’t have the time to study anyway.
In a sudden flash of inspiration, and possibly because I grew up
in a house where my mother was a teacher, I say to him, listen Hasem,
all you need to do is read more. So do yourself a favour,
buy a newspaper every day, keep an English/Arabic dictionary
in your car, and start reading. If you don’t understand something,
just ask, goodness knows, you certainly have enough of a
captive audience for most of the day.

I arrive at my destination, and Hasem is all smiles.
Hell, even I am feeling great at this point. Mabrouk on
getting married (congratulations) and Shukran (thank you)
I say in my own feeble attempt at bridging the language barrier.