The Emirati guys are very discreet and careful about approaching foreigners. Dating Muslims is not really allowed... although they all do it.
Emma and I were invited to dinner the other night by some top dog in the government (can't disclose). So we decided to dress very prim and proper, hair severly tied back in a pony tail, high cut blouse etc etc. , prepared notes and things of our plans, and off we went.
We were correct in our assessment... the guy had seen our article and photos in the
EDA magazine, thought "cor i'd like a bit of that" - and got a dinner with us set up. It seemed initially had his eyes on Emma (as she is famous superstar freediver and good looking, so more of a catch
) and when she stood up in the hotel reception, she towered over him by about 4 feet rofl rofl
He stammered and said "oh! you didn't look so tall in your photo" rofl
He then decided to turn his attentions towards me as i was more his height rofl It was plainly OBVIOUS that his original intention was not of a business venture at all!
Oh well, free meal in an Argentinian restuarant, we put the briefcase of ideas away as it seemed that we would not get anywhere with them, ate, chatted and went home
As soon as we got outside of ears reach after the dinner we burst into giggles and realised that the whole idea of the dinner was almost like "magazine dating" rofl
Back also to the topic. Some of our students requested that we wear hoods and gloves, so that they didn't have to touch our skin during training. (Not allowed). Emma sweated profusely in the pool training with all this gear on, but we respected local custom and beliefs. However, those beliefs were not reciprocated as the guys were staring pointedly at us in our bikinis, particularly we thought at me for obvious larger reasons rofl - it got very uncomfortable in the end and we discussed it together at length. We didnt walk around in bikinis, it was just in the communal outside showers where everyone took off their wetsuits. There was no other place to go.
Our conclusion was, fine, we will wear what ever we need to, to conduct dive training close up to people, however, kindly do not look at us... EVER!!! (we didnt actually say that though) :vangry
