It is Eid al Fitr - the celebration of the end of the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan.  It's a nice time to be here with an atmosphere of peace and goodwill to all men, focus on family and some serious shopping.  Not unlike Xmas in the Christian world.

The use of the lunar calendar is a bit of a pain for those of us who grew up with a fixed solar calendar.  Dates move by about 11 days every year relative to our western calendar and the need for a physical moon sighting makes planning a bit of a hit or miss affair.

I had meetings planned for today because I wasn't expecting Eid till tomorrow.  but the holiday was declared at the last minute yesterday and so now I'm here sipping coffee and contemplating going for an afternoon nap instead. 

In practice this uncertainty is no problem.  You get used to it in time and adjust to a different way of doing things.  At least you do if you stay.  A lot of western expats fail to adjust and their sojourn in the region becomes a nightmare of missed deadlines, flexible timings, and a general attitude of things taking their own sweet time.  It drives western schedule driven business people crazy.  Because we have a fundamentally different relationship with time here.

Partially it's driven by the flexibility inherent in the calendar.  Partly it's driven by a fatalistic approach to life in general that is belief driven.  Partly it's driven by the climate which makes the idea of hurry anathema - not to mention sweaty and smelly.

Superficially our culture here is heavily westernised.  Everyone speaks English most of the time.  The city looks like any other big city with its skyscrapers and freeways and metro and restaurants and bars and shops.  But our real culture is still here and  going strong.

It's a Muslim culture above all but you mix in general Arab values, Bedu ideals and Indian philosophy and Filipino peronalities among myriad others and you have an 'eastern' ambience and value set quite different from the US and western Europe.

If you cannot adapt to that and insist on maintaining your western mindset you will hate it here.  I am always surprised by how many do hate it here and never get their minds around leting go and joining in.

We talk about learning the corporate culture all the time in business.  Of understanding and fitting in and so on.  We know about Vision and Mission and Shared Values and teach courses endlessly on the subject.  It's no different for a society as a whole.

I just wish more expats would learn to drop their 'it's better at home' mindset

Today I was going to my favourite client using the Metro here in Dubai.  It was busy being the end of the rush hour.  The train pulled in and on the arrivals platform the mass rushed the door as usual.  Of course being the rush hour there were also a whole heap of people who wanted to get off.

So gridlock ensues.  People can't get in or out. Everyone just stands there like selfish lemons going nowhere.

Except for the elderly Indian lady near the back of the morass trying to get off.   Elbows swinging and handbag swaying she plows through the inside mob and berates the idiots outside till they cower back a little to let her and a handful of others off.  And she held them just long enough for the policeman to arrive and clear the mob and let a few more people off.  Well most of them.

It's an automatic driverless system.  The doors closed.  Not everyone got off who wanted to.  No one at all got on at that doorway.  Including me.

I left the very annoyed Indian lady making her way down the escalator and the even more annoyed policeman handing out tickets.  I got on the next train.  When milder versions of the foregoing played themselves out again at every carriage.

I wonder why so many over here don't understand that sometimes self-interest dictates giving way to the other side?  It never ever happens in this culture.  Not in business; certainly not on the roads; and nor apparently on the Metro.

Bah...humanity.