Since I work on the ground rather than in the air, and in one location, I see the same people most days/nights at work and about half of them are locals. A few are Indian and Pakistani and the other almost half are a mix of western nationalities. I can say in all honesty that I enjoy the company of the majority of locals at work. They are generally very interested in what I know of foreign lands, and they seem to appreciate small gestures made to learn something of their culture. Almost to a man (and woman - there are some at work!) they love to laugh and have a great sense of humour.
MY initial post, along with most of the earlier ones in this thread before the creep set in, was about the pros and cons of living in the Middle East and NOT the pros and cons of Arabs as people. Yes, there is a connection or at least a connection to decisions made by the government which is, by definition in the UAE, made up of Arabs. One of the biggest problems is the fact that the laws made by the government do not always appear to apply equally to all people.
I don't think I'm alone in finding the company of local people, whether in the UAE, the USA or any other country, depends entirely on the personality of one's company! In most countries, especially those which don't share our native language, being in a crowd of locals is much less pleasant than being in the company of a small number who speak our language.
Other observations? It looks like the average 24-year old, Pakistani Christian can punctuate and spell rather better in English than the average Brit/Yank/Kiwi/Canuck/Seth Efrican/Ozzieb*stard of any age.
