3 wives and I share a view

Returning from the A&E (the alcohol store) and having trekked 6 km in the hot sun (it's over 100 degrees), I walked up to the elevators in the intercon behind an emirati and his three wives. I had 2 bottles of wine in my beach bag covered up with my dry cleaning, and I was wearing a sleeveless shirt because I'm kind of over the whole cover the shoulders thing in this heat (never would have dared to go out like that 3 months ago). I was feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Emiratis don't mingle with us westerners really. Most of the time I get dirty looks in the intercon because I'm not wearing designer clothes and my hair is a mess. Most of the emirati women here are so contemptuous of me that they won't ride in the same elevator (don't blame them really, I'm normally sweating from the gym or from walking around here in the heat).

But this guy invited me into the elevator with him and his three wives. He held the elevator door until I got in. I was holding my bag really tight trying to keep the bottles from clinking too much.

It turns out they are staying on the same floor as me. As we rode up I stared at the floor and hoped they wouldn't notice the shape of the bottles through the canvas of my beach bag. I tried not to move so they wouldn't clink around, but accidentally when the elevator stopped on the floor they clinked. The emirati man was not talking to me, but he was talking to his wives in english giving them their keys (adjoining rooms, the young skinny one with him the two older ones next door). They normally don't speak english so I felt, in a way, that he was somehow, I don't know, trying to make me feel comfortable around them.

As we walked out of the elevator he saw the view of the marina from our floor, which is spectacular. He got so excited he pointed out the window and then said to me "Look! Ships!" I smiled and said "It's pretty amazing". Then he said "sandbar!" pointing to a small sandy island. "You like view? It's a very good view! With many ships in this view!"

I concurred on the view and walked to my room. The emiratis followed me and stood in the hallway outside my door looking uncertainly down the hallway. I told them that their rooms were on the other side of the elevator banks, and then walked them there. The guy asked how I knew where they were (admittedly, the room numbering scheme here is confusing) and I said "because I live here". Then he said "It's very nice for you. Very nice indeed!"

I don't know why but I was flattered he talked to me. I've only spoken with one other emirati outside of work. It made me feel good that I wasn't even following the dress code and this guy obviously wanted me to feel comfortable (not realizing, I hope, that the main source of my discomfort was the alcohol I was carrying) around him and his wives. It was nice to share the great view from our floor with them because they felt the same way I did when I first got to the hotel and came up to my floor and saw the marina at night with all the lights on the boats.

It's the little connections in life that make life bearable and even joyful.