t_maia

Funny or not:

Why was toilet paper in the USSR so rough? So that even the last arse would be red.

Not the OP, but a common joke from the early 80s ran like this:

Arafat dies and goes to Heaven, at the Gates he meets the Angels. They don't want to let him in, since he is carrying a gun. He peeks through the gates and sees a guy with a long beard holding a Kalashnikov. "What about him? He has got a gun!" "That is just Karl Marx waiting for Lenin."

Care to comment on this adventure:

I knew something was wrong when a sales rep [at VS] measured me and told me i wasn't a real size. Um, no! My boobs are real so there must be a size for them.

http://www.reddit.com/r/bigboobproblems/comments/15klch/visited_vs_a_month_ago_when_i_went_to_the_us/c7nbqb2

The woman who made that comment wears a 32GG.

I did not grow up in the USSR, but in another bloc country.

The impression is greatly exaggerated.

If you persistently made such remarks (especially in public) you would not head straight to Siberia, but depending upon your situation somebody might sit down with you to "talk reason". Essentially you'd be told to "tone it down or..."

Since the whole system was connected and the state had authority over almost everything, you might loose your job, get into trouble at school, get kicked out of university and your friends and family would be affected too. Your children might not be allowed to go to college or your brother might be asked to move to another city to distance himself from you.

One of the worst things the government in my country did was to take the children away from people who were openly against the system and put them up for adoption.

The threat was subtle, but always there. Plus they could do quite a lot to wreak havoc on your life. Growing up, you quickly learned what to say when or when to keep your mouth shut. Funnily, it is a bit like learning on how to be tactful. You just did not do certain things and one of them was openly critizising the government.

I think a good way to compare it with is working under an inept psychopatic boss who cannot handle criticism with nasty colleagues who love intrigue at a time when economy is bad. You need that job, but you do not dare open your mouth about all the things that are wrong in the company for fear of getting backstabbed by somebody out there for your job. So you suck it up, play three wise monkeys and worry about your own shit.

How much time do you spend in Dubai? With your line of work you probably are away alot of the time. How often do you get to stay overnight in other cities? Any particular places you like travelling to?

How do you like Dubai? I think it must be quite a change compared to the US. Did you know what to expect? What were the pleasant and unpleasant surprises?

Sorry for asking so much, but I am really interested in life in Dubai. Wish I could move there myself. :)