Boyfriend? No..Friend who's a Boy..Yes

I was checking my photos recently, and noticed a HUGE decline in the number of photos I have, last ones being the New Years 2010 party pics, and the class reunion pics I had sometime in Jan. What happened since then, why aren't I taking much pics when I carry my 2 cell phones & camera in tow ALL THE TIME?

I'll tell you why...no boy friend

And no, I don't mean "boyfriend"..what I mean is that trusty male platonic friend that willingly takes pics of you while u pose away.


Unlike so many non-Emaratis in the UAE, I've been lucky to have several Emarati girlfriends. But seeing girls together and never mingling with guys is disheartening. There is hardly any opportunities for an Emarati woman to meet an Emarati guy in a clean, non-sleazy way. When I look around at different Arab groups, you see groups of guys and girls hanging out all together, and it's clean, good fun. Take an Emarati girl and put her in close proximity to an Emarati guy, and dodgy is the word of the day.

One Emarati girl I know, attended the American University of Dubai (AUD). During her years there, it was unheard of that an Emarati girl could casually chat with an Emarati guy without everyone gossiping that the pair is dating, unless both were taking the same course. Course over, conversation over. In Dec 2009, that same girl and I went to AUD to attend the UAE National Day celebration there, and saw plenty of Emarati girls and guys talking to each other in a great and friendly way. They were also standing side by side at the stands showing their entrepreneurial side and selling products they've made or sourced for the UAE celebration. I loved it, but will this keep going after graduation?

I really hope this kind of platonic friendship flourishes. It's such a great thing to have male and female friends. Speaking out of my personal experience, I've had male friends throughout my life and it's been nothing but great. In school, I was one of the very few girls in class who would get the jokes the guys were cracking. I would hang out with the guys, give advise and just be myself, they were the same. No one was impressing no one. We were just having a great time. One of my best memories was the summers in uni when a whole bunch of my friends had our summer barbecues. We prepared food together, played Frisbee, sat together where one guy played the guitar and another guy sang, spent the evening cracking jokes. I've never viewed guys as an encrypted code that needed to be cracked, in fact I appreciate how clear they are in the way they speak and what they say and do. It's like reading an open book. Oh, how I wish many girls would see what I see.

I'll give you an example..Exhibit A.

My girlfriend spent EIGHT (8) months deciphering the behavior of a guy who threw compliments her way and left her pondering day and night as to what the compliments meant....does he like me? I think he does...why would he ever say something like that if he didn't...you should've seen HOW he said the compliment...he said it while he looked at me at a 45 degree angle...I mean if that doesn't say something, I don't know what does.
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I have a dream...a dream that a group of Emarati guys and girls can hang out at a coffee shop and chat together in a friendly way. Where the guy acts like himself and isn't flashing a watch the size of his head, and the girl doesn't act like a director is facing her yelling "lights, cameras, ACTION". Wouldn't that be amazing?

Plus think of all the great photos you'll have.