“Because that’s what we do always! You come to Dubai just to buy! Just do buy! Hahaha!”

It was one hot-killing-humid summer. Our family had to wake up in the middle of the night because we were sweating so much on the bed even though the air conditional was on. Thankfully, we went back to sleep after taking a cold shower to cool ourselves down. However, since the weather was too hot, the cold shower was really not a cold shower. For the first time in my life that day, to shower with real cold water became my dream. After going through a rough night, our family woke up and just stayed in awe of the hotness of Dubai.

The main reason we went to Dubai was because my dad had a conference in there. And he didn’t like going alone so we went with him. Starting from the huge-mega airport in Dubai, as soon we got off of the stinky plane and walked in a bridge that connects the plane and the airport building, we were already sweating and our shirts were all wet. Felt like a meat that is slowly getting roasted in a sauna. Also, because we were not used to this scorching hot weather, it even made us hard to breathe.

We were planning to stay in Dubai for two weeks. First week was for my dad’s conference and the rest was for our family time. And during the first week, because we didn’t know Dubai that well and since dad was busy, the rest of the family just had to stay in the hotel playing boring card games and watch weird TV channels in an alien language. For sure it was boring but at the same time, it was exciting and fun to just think about the fact that we were in Dubai. Finally, the boring but fun first week past and now it was our turn to shine like the sun in Dubai.

After doing numerous times of tug-of-war with the Dubai’s hotness every night, our family got tired. So we decided to go to the indoor ski place in Dubai and have some “cooling” time the next day. While my dad was researching tickets and stuffs, he found a tour guy that was willing to tour us around the Dubai. And not just only the indoor ski place but also the 7star hotel, tallest building in the world, biggest mall in the world, and etc, amazing places were included in the tour course. Even though the price was expansive, it was only a one time chance in our life. So we called the tour guy and met him the next day.

The first 17 places were fun and exciting to tour but as the number of ‘places to visit’ increased, our family started to get tired. By the time the number got up to 25, my sister started to whine like a little girl in a supermarket, begging to parents to buy a useless toy. But because the next place was the biggest mall in the world to visit, my mom encouraged my sister by making a promise that she will buy her a present. As soon as we got inside of the mall, our jaws were dropped and were not able to close it for the next ten minutes. It was literally like a heaven. They had every brand of everything starting from make-up, electronics, clothes, food, and etc. They even had a miniaturized museum, aquarium, movie theaters, and just mind blowing things. It was really hard to choose where to start from.

After being shocked more than being amazed, we finally heard our stomach’s crying. So we went to the food court place and again it was mind blowing because there were more than 65 brands of fast foods and about millions of people were eating there. We barely claimed our table and were trying to order our food when the tour guy did not want us to eat but buy souvenirs and shop first. We said to the guy that we were hungry and that we should take a break. However, because he was afraid that we were not going to spend our money, he wanted us to shop first. Maybe because my dad was tired and hungry, or realized the real side of the tour guy, all of a sudden he got emotional and was starting to make a serious-angry Thor face. The tour guy, still not sensing my dad’s seriousness, said with a teasing tone, “You have to buy things first! Because that’s what we do always! You come to Dubai just to buy! Just do buy! Hahaha!”

Ten minutes later, the tour guy was gone, and we decided to spend the rest of the time freely. We paid the tour guy the price and basically fired him. After that, we spent hours in the mall looking around and went back to hotel around midnight. As we were getting ready to sleep and battle with the weather again, we each took a turn to speak how the tour was and what we felt or learned. When it was my turn, I said, “I learned that shopping comes first than the food because we are in Dubai. Just do buy! Hahahaha~!” And as soon as I finished my fun-but-buttery joke, my dad’s face got serious again like a blue-cold-hardy stone and a second later, there was total blackness and a scary hulk voice saying, “go to sleep.”