Right now, many expats are returning to the UAE after their annual holidays home. For many, summers are often reserved for trips to see parents, siblings and grandparents who seem to age exponentially in the year we’ve been away.
We all go to our own corner of the world on these holidays, but we’re all after the same thing. We crave the familiarity and the comfort of the country, the city, the street we call home. We know our holiday will go by too fast. We know we need to pack in as many memories as possible while we’re there. And many of us go with a list of essential items to bring back. It’s interesting to hear what that list entails, what people deem important enough to take the time to find (and buy) during an already too-short trip.
This summer, I'm bringing back an assortment of goods. Among them: food-colouring paste in a range of 24 colours so I can properly decorate my kids' birthday cakes; clear vanilla extract so I can keep white icing on those cakes perfectly white; my favourite taco seasoning; my favourite ranch-dressing powder; the latest version of America's Test Kitchen cookbook; and cheese curd (a delicacy in the upstate New York town where I grew up).
There are many more things on my list and not one of them is necessary. Not one is essential for a productive, happy life. So why do I – why do we all – make a point of stuffing our suitcases full of such trivial things?
Because we need them. Not to survive, but to feel connected. For me, these tastes of home remind me of the people I love, the people I’ve left behind, the people I’ve shared that food with. There are so many things I can’t bring back with me – I just simply need something tangible to hold on to.
I can’t pack the way it feels when my mum hugs me hello. I can’t pack the way her hands feel or the smell of her as she walks past. I can’t pack the tender sweetcorn or the taste of the fresh strawberries that grow in my dad’s garden. I can’t pack the everyday moments with my siblings that are what my best memories are made of. And every time I leave, I worry it’s the last time I’ll see my 93-year-old grandmother.
So what do I have? Ranch-dressing powder to make my mum’s favourite pasta salad; the same food colouring my mum used when making my childhood birthday cakes; an American cookbook to recreate the meals I’ve shared with family; cheese curd for a familiar taste of my small, comfortable hometown. I don’t need these things, but I do need the way they make me feel.
I love the UAE. It’s a beautiful country and it’s filled with opportunities and a sense of security that my family might not have had if we had stayed in the United States. But we all need to feel like we’re in a place we belong, a place where we’re important. My mum’s house will always be that place for me.
I may not be able to zip mum up in my suitcase and bring her back here, but this year I do plan to make it back with a scarf or a shirt that carries her smell – for the times when I miss her and need home the most.
sjohnson@thenational.ae
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Opening weekend Premier League fixtures
Weekend of August 10-13
Arsenal v Manchester City
Bournemouth v Cardiff City
Fulham v Crystal Palace
Huddersfield Town v Chelsea
Liverpool v West Ham United
Manchester United v Leicester City
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton v Burnley
Watford v Brighton & Hove Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Everton
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Company%20profile
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Match info
Manchester United 1 (Van de Beek 80') Crystal Palace 3 (Townsend 7', Zaha pen 74' & 85')
Man of the match Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Korean Film Festival 2019 line-up
Innocent Witness, June 26 at 7pm
On Your Wedding Day, June 27 at 7pm
The Great Battle, June 27 at 9pm
The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion, June 28 at 4pm
Romang, June 28 at 6pm
Mal Mo E: The Secret Mission, June 28 at 8pm
Underdog, June 29 at 2pm
Nearby Sky, June 29 at 4pm
A Resistance, June 29 at 6pm
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
PRESIDENTS CUP
Draw for Presidents Cup fourball matches on Thursday (Internationals first mention). All times UAE:
02.32am (Thursday): Marc Leishman/Joaquin Niemann v Tiger Woods/Justin Thomas
02.47am (Thursday): Adam Hadwin/Im Sung-jae v Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay
03.02am (Thursday): Adam Scott/An Byeong-hun v Bryson DeChambeau/Tony Finau
03.17am (Thursday): Hideki Matsuyama/CT Pan v Webb Simpson/Patrick Reed
03.32am (Thursday): Abraham Ancer/Louis Oosthuizen v Dustin Johnson/Gary Woodland
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets