Living In Dubai Under Iran Attack Explained

Am I living in a war zone? Let's get into it. All right, so I know you guys have seen the news for the past 48 hours. Yeah, because this is the second of March that I'm recording this and everything started the 28th of February. Over two days of constant missiles being intercepted over our heads. How do I feel about this? Because you gotta understand I've never been in this type of situation. But also, is it really any different from situations I have been in before? Because I thought about it. I was constantly getting questions and just, you know, concerns, text messages, calls, people like from family and friends and just supporters and followers and subscribers like, yo, are you okay? I see what's going on. Is this another one? No, I think this is a jet. I see what's going on on the news. Like, I'm scared for you. Get out. I did get some DMs. I said, girl, get out. I'm looking like I can't because the airways are closed. But I guess, you know, that's people's natural reaction. Like, are you safe? Get out as soon as possible. But it's like, you got to understand Dubai is what 80% expats? Probably 80 plus now. If I need to get out, so many of us needs to get out. You understand? So I'm very grateful with a concern. A lot of you guys have been following me since the beginning to where I've been vlogging and just showing different aspects of my life. It wasn't until recently that I moved to Dubai. If you guys don't know, I've been in Dubai for four years now. January made it four years. And it wasn't until recently that I became more low key and it has nothing to do with freedom of speech in Dubai and all of that. It has everything to do with the original reason I moved to Dubai, which was I wanted a peace and quiet. I just I don't I didn't want the the highlight that a lot of people like where you're going to events you're you're doing this as a content creator, you're doing that. I was getting older. And I was, I was like, you know what, I don't care for any of that. I just happened to become a an influencer, social media content creator. And I took advantage of it advantage of it at that time. And I just wanted a slower, more luxe, more chill, more subdued type of lifestyle. And I found out here in Dubai. So I've been here for a minute. Am I in a war zone? And how is this different from any experiences that I've experienced, rather than travel or in my national state, or national country of USA? Technically, I am in a war zone, right? You have missiles flying over my head, you know, being hit, sometimes actually hitting ground depending on where I don't know if they hit ground in the UAE, but it's all over GCC, the Middle East, all of that. So technically, I am this is my first time being in a situation like this. But at the same time, I feel as though because I'm in the country I'm in, in the UAE, it's kind of not as hysterical, not as dramatic as I thought it would be. Granted, I never sat here and thought, okay, what if we go into war? You know, in the US, we always have that mindset, war, war, war, we got to look at every corner, in order for us to make sure we stay protected. I never really had that thought when it comes to UAE. But also my guards were never always completely down. Because at the end of the day, even though it is a very safe country, it's still on earth. We still are dealing with conflict, we still are dealing with people with bad intentions, we still are dealing with people who don't want to see other people live. You understand? And that does not exclusively mean here in the UAE. Everywhere, we're still on earth. This is not heaven on earth. Anywhere. I never travel anywhere and think I'm always protected because that's not the case. Always have my head on a swivel. So to be in this type of environment, in my mind, I'm thinking of course this can happen. Now I have friends in the UAE who are like, oh my goodness, I can't believe this is happening. And for some reason, for me, I'm such a realist. I'm like, yeah, this is possible. Why don't you think it can happen? Everybody have enemies, everybody have bad, not everybody have bad intentions. But there are a lot of people who have bad intentions toward people, whether you know them or you don't. It's just a part of life. So I'm such a realist where when this situation started to occur, I'm over here looking like, oh yeah, it's a possibility. I'm not in La La Land. I'm not naive. I'm not delusional. It's always a possibility. And it's funny because I still feel as though I'm safer here in Dubai than I would be in the And I say this to say, I have been in situations when I was in Atlanta where I was actually scared for my life for a moment in time. And at that time, I know for sure things could have gone left real quick compared to here. You have to understand UAE takes pride when it comes to protecting its residents and citizens as much as possible, as much as it can. Does things slip through the cracks? Sorry, I had a very long break because I had to charge this battery. But let's get back into it. Like I was saying, does things fall through the cracks when it comes to violence, when it comes to criminal activities and whatnot? Duh. I can't break another long pause. I'm pretty sure I'll be back. All right, guys, let me go ahead and wrap this up because I've been trying to record this video for the past seven hours and I keep on getting interrupted with people asking me and calling me and seeing me trying to figure out if I'm good. Thank you so much for all the I guess not well wishes. What's it called? Thank you for all the concerns and the reach out of trying to figure out if I'm OK. Yes, I am doing well. So like I was saying, from my experience here compared to in the States, I honestly could say it is drastically different where in the States I can not only me, but we are trained to think that we are ultimately safe when a lot of the times a lot of the threat is not even external is within when it comes to everybody is able to have a gun and everybody is able to do a lot of things and not really get and actually get away with a lot. To be honest, even though I've never been in a war zone area, I thank God my 32 years of living. But I can honestly say so far for the past 72 hours now, because it's like 1 a.m. now in the UAE, I'm not saying anywhere else in other countries, everywhere else has their own experience. I can honestly say I did not expect this experience for me to be as chill as I am. Just knowing the government is actually actually doing its best in order to keep its citizens and its residents safe as much as possible. Now, do I think Iran is deliberately attacking UAE residents? No. And I say this because out of the drones and the strikes that have been shot in the air is not many that actually hit ground. I feel like if Iran really wanted to harm, it would have had the capability to. I don't think it really wanted to. I just think it wanted to send a warning to UAE officials to be like, yo, we really don't like what's going on with Israel and U.S. and U.S. bases where y'all at. It's not like I said, it's not only the UAE, it's Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia. It's been a lot of different countries that have been bombed or shot at. So I do feel as though they are hitting a little bit close to the home to scare the UAE officials a little bit more to show that they are not happy with how everything played out on the Israel and U.S. side, which is understandable. Coming back and blindsiding us when we're supposed to have a conversation after the weekend is understandable. But at the end of the day, I'm not here to go back and forth with anybody political wise. I am here to just say my experience at this point in a predicament I've never been in and how I feel. I did want to document this to see, Melinda, like, how do you really feel? How do you really feel about this? And to be honest, my community has been very relaxed, to be honest. I think their confidence in how it has played out as of now when it comes to safety wise in the UAE, my community has been extremely chilled, to be honest. There are some people here and there who have been very hysterical because this is not something they're used to, which is understandable. And then some people just don't know how to navigate stress, you know, new environment, new situations, circumstances, which is understandable because not everybody are the same. But at the same time, it's been way more community based, right? Because we do have a building group chat that I tap in here and there to see what's going on. And that's where I've gotten my information on what's going on out there because I really don't listen to local news, to be honest. So seeing what is going on in my community or what outside of my community as well as just being informed via there in real time is way more assuring than me that I guess waiting for the news to say something, you know, people are like, OK, did you hear that boom? You know, I think that all just died down, the anxiety of what's going on, especially being somebody who's never been in this type of situation before having other people who are in this situation with you and just navigating everything is just trying to calm everybody down, trying to give encouragement, try to give tips on what to do next preparation and all of that embassy, all of that was reassuring for me, for sure. So I guess from my aspect as a resident, I didn't think it was going to be as calm. I mean, I honestly I didn't I never thought I would have been in this situation. This is not something that I was like, OK, this is going to happen in the first place. But I didn't think it's going to be as calm as it is now. Now, this is my experience, not saying somebody else's experience is the same at all. From my experience, I didn't think it would be as calm, to be honest, because I've been in situations in the States where the situation is not at all. And I would rather be in this situation, even though it seems very dramatic to the outside world. I would rather be in this situation right now in Dubai, navigating whatever is going on out there than be in the States trying to navigate, I guess, day to day life where it comes to like, I don't get a shot at or something. Yeah. But yeah, basically, this is just my I guess one of my journal or I don't know if I'm going to do an update or anything. You guys know, I don't like to dramatize, dramatize, dramatize. I feel like that's the right word. Things that doesn't need to be dramatized. Dramatized? Oh, dramatized. Things that don't need to be dramatized. I don't like dramatizing because at a point I will have to dramatize something because it's necessary to be dramatized. So that's why we use that energy to dramatize it. You understand what I'm saying? But I've seen some or I haven't even seen I've heard some friends who were telling me, oh, my goodness, girl, like, is it going is it OK over there? And I'm like, yeah, so far, I can't complain. Like, I'm safe. I'm good. Like, nothing has happened. And then they're like, oh, because I saw so-and-so post like they're scared for their life. And it's just like they're hiding and this and this. I'm like to each their own when it comes to their experiences, but take everything with a grain of salt. You understand? I'm not going to sit here and try to do things in order to get clicks, in order to make things bigger than it is when things get bigger than it is. And I need to panic. Let's see if I will do that until then. I'm not going to sit here and do it. I don't need it if I don't need to. So that's that. What else did I want to say about this situation? I think because it's getting late and it's past my bedtime, I'm over here looking like, OK, I need to go to sleep. I need to shut all of this down and go to sleep. But I never thought I would actually make a video on here about this. But why not? Why not? It's something that I'm experiencing in real time. And this is almost like a journal for me to be like, oh, yeah, I did go through that. I did. If there are any questions, comments, concerns, please go ahead and leave them down below. If you are here to give me a headache like you guys tried to give me on my Instagram post when it comes to political views. I'm not about that. I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted. Everybody knows who's in the right. Everybody knows who's in the wrong. If we're all getting propaganda from left and right, then it is what it is. We're all misinformed. Let's keep it above. But please keep the comments very respectful. I love constructive criticism. I love a debate between different perspectives. I love that. I love the fact that we all are different, that we all have our own perks, perks, quirks, that we all have our own point of view. But I don't like disrespect and belittling on socials when no one really knows the ultimate truth. You understand? We're all just trying to figure it out. We're all just trying to figure this out. Right. Right. With that being said, I thank you guys so much for watching. I will see you guys in the next one. Inshallah.