If you
do any one of these things, then you’ve definitely earned your “Arab expat in
Dubai” badge

1. When you think it’s so cool that your kids don’t speak Arabic…

“My daughter only
speaks English and French and some Filipino”.

2. When you also think it’s so cool that your kids can speak a little Arabic

“We started
speaking to them in Arabic… they sound hilarious when then say baba
instead of papa”

3. When you use the word “Inshallah” to answer all the difficult questions in life

• Can you please
  see who’s at the door?
• Inshallah

4. You get super excited when a branch of your favorite shawarma shop from back home opens in Dubai

Then you immediately Instagram a photo of it with the hashtags: #HomeSick
#ChildhoodMemories #BestShawarmaEver

5. When you visit home and get shocked when you realize that you have to park your own car

What do you mean you
don’t have valet parking?! What is this?!

6. When you lose your own accent and slowly start sounding more and more Lebanese

What do you mean you
are Egyptian?!

7. When you can’t wait to tell your friends back home that you rent a place in Marina

“And I’m not
even sharing!!”

8. When you go to Sharjah supermarkets or Global Village to stock up on your vine leaves, spices and Makdoos

And then you call
your mum back home to ask her how to store them correctly

9. When you never get bored of discussing the best way to cook “Molokhia”

But whether it’s
cooked the Syrian, Egyptian or Palestinian way… you’ll still eat it

10. When you get a sense of accomplishment for having a conversation “in Arabic” with Moroccans… and actually understand everything

Or if you are a
Moroccan and feel awesome when you fool everybody with your fake
Emirati accent

11. When you break into a “Dabkeh” dance on a Justin Timberlake song to impress your European friends

“So you think you can dance? Wait till I bust out those Dabkeh moves”

12. When you visit Tchibo store to buy all sorts of gifts for your family before you visit home

Don’t even pretend
you don’t love that store!

13. When you tell your friends back home you bumped into Will Smith or Tom Cruise in the Dubai Mall but they don’t believe you

“I swear! I
photobombed Jackie Chan!”

14. When you ask your friends who are flying back home to deliver a bag to your family

“Oh it’s just a
small light bag… *cough* about 30KGs I think…”

15. When you think it’s perfectly normal to fly to Beirut or Amman for the weekend

Flydubai and Al
Arabia do pretty cheap flights…

16. When you become very good at mental math

Because you are constantly converting currencies in your head

17. When you feel excited about describing the interiors, colors, and butler service at Burj al Arab to your family back home

They have fountains…
inside the hotel!