Day D4: Top of the World

July 20, 2024

Time for a shift of focus and do the tourist thing. It didn't last long as the whole thing is overpriced and exhausting, but it would only be fair to see the world's tallest building anyway. If only for the fact that Burj Khalifa is over 145 floors high and 830 meters in elevation. But to get to the top most floor you're paying over 1000 dirhams. Fuck that. That was the only option available in the evening when I first inquired then booked something the next day for a lower level floor (level 124) for a more reasonable 170 dirhams.

Well you get what you pay for I suppose. They herded us along and there was nowhere to sit down and chill on the observation deck. I lingered for about an hour, took a bunch of pictures, and bounced. When you're forced to stand for long periods of time in crowded areas and exhausted after doing a fitness class, it just saps all the energy out of you. But the pictures were worth it.

Before all that, the fitness class was the best one yet. We were taught by the head coach this time. I'll call her the leading catwoman, she showed us no mercy. The preamble to the class involved her telling us we would do a pushup relay. She was screaming at the whole group to do pushups in a military style. The guy beside me was also super fit and I saw him gently kick the other guy beside him when the pushups were delayed.

Later on I struck up a conversation with this fit guy and it turns out his Dad is the head of schools, basically a superintendent for many schools. He told me "Just give me your email address, I'll fire off an email to you and your can shoot me your CV"

Obviously I told him I was interested in jobs and while he said that most schools already finished hiring for this coming August, he suggested to apply earlier, get a contract, then make June 2025 the last month in China. Sounds like a plan to me. So maybe this midlife crisis wasn't so hard after all.

At any rate, it was becoming clear that Dubai was one of the most happening spots in the world. Just this short recon trip showed how easy it was to network and I got a sense from the vibes how cool and open people are around here. I was already proving to be popular at the fitness clubs and with the ladies. The place is overall 80% expats or more and there is food and influence from all over the world. Salaries may or may not compare with China but then it doesn't really matter, it is easy to find tutoring opportunities to beef up a teaching package as well as of course doing stock trading. A not so fun fact is that China banned part time tutoring several years ago among many other things.

I asked my contact about this and he said "For sure there is constant flow back and forth between here and China. Many people like yourself get fed up with the politics and come here but there is also flow the other way for those who want to make the big bucks." I told him the money isn't worth it because the pressure over time will do severe damage to your mental health. And so yes you can make an absolute fortune teaching in China but you'll be tied to that one employer and certainly you won't find such open and friendly people to mix with in social circles. They are incredibly closed off and look at you from outer space if you try to break into their sacred groups.

As I also quickly discovered, the United Arab Emirates was not exactly a democracy. No wonder there was such flow and connections between here and China and I'm absolutely certain on a political level that the cooperation is the same. But then contrary to what most people think I'm not one of those guys who says the political system must be a democracy or else. There actually can be freedom in authoritarian states if you're willing to overlook the politics, not really talk about it, and simply focus on making money and enjoying life. UAE with the leaders serving 5-year term limits seemed to closely resemble the political system of China when reforms began, certainly a huge mess but also a land of opportunity.

Then again the million dollar question had to be asked if at some point a hardliner were to come in down the road, manipulate the political system, eliminate all his rivals and create a one-man rule. That is always the risk with authoritarian states where they don't have external checks and balances and are vulnerable to hardliners taking over. The gamble is that if something like that were to happen it would be after I made my money and left.

In the back of my mind I always knew and was afraid that someone like Xi could come in and do what he did, basically like Mao 2.0. It's just that for some reason I didn't know he could do it so quickly and was naive to it all happening.

But then maybe there's no reason to worry. These leaders in the UAE have multiple wives and it's legal to do so.

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