Go Brazil!

I support Brazil in the World Cup. GO BRAZILLL!!!

Wing woman or...?

What would you do if your boyfriend travelled to another country to attend a wedding? Sounds pretty innocent... Everyone gets invited to weddings, especially if you have a large extended family and your countless cousins start getting married almost every month.

Now what would happen if you asked him who he was going with and he'd uncomfortably say he hadn't thought about it yet... Fishy, right?

So you start to dig deeper and he confesses he's asked his friend Salma to come. And another friend as well. Then it becomes clear that only Salma is coming. He explains that he doesn't want to go alone and he doesn't know many single friends in town any more and that she is his "wing woman", someone to go out with. Just a friend.

To be clear, as trustful as I am, one thought comes to mind - if a guy has no interest in a girl, he doesn't bring her anywhere. What also comes to mind is why lie if you are only inviting her as a friend? He said he lied because he didn't want to have an argument knowing how sensitive I was... To me that sounds "guilty as charged".

Or could it be that he had no interest in her other than company for a wedding?

A strange affair

This story is a caution to women everywhere.

About a year ago, I began to have an affair. It wasn't too intense at first. We would see each other during work days but would never dare to be together in the evenings or on weekends.

As unusual as it may seem, I met my fling in the mall. I found him to be rather dull and somewhat square in nature. He didn't say much either, though I quickly observed that we were good together. I had always liked to get a rise out of people by pushing their buttons and he was a willing and responsive participant.

And while I was feeling guilty of the new arrangement, I accepted it. What else could I do? But as weeks crept into months, I started to make him take a more active role in my day-to-day life and even my friends started to resent him.

Whether it be running errands, watching television or eating dinner, he was omnipresent. It was as though he was joined to my hip.

My friends attempted many times to talk to me about it but I no longer had their ear — only he did. If we were at a large gathering of any kind, they needed only look to a quiet corner and find us together — he pressed tight to my ear, whispering sweet nothings; me gently touching him, listening attentively.

I've now come to the painful conclusion that there is little hope that I will end the affair anytime soon. But I don't want other women to have to go through this nightmare, so I implore you to heed the following advice:

If a store clerk, friend, boss, relative or co-worker ever offers to introduce you to a man named Mr. BlackBerry, firmly say no!

** Adaptation from the story by Rose Cairney "That's life: a strange affair" published in Gulf News on May 1, 2010, http://gulfnews.com/life-style/people/that-s-life-a-strange-affair-1.620031

Back with your ex?

Catherine is a self-sufficient mother of one. She is a total workaholic. She dumped her partner while she was pregnant because she couldn't take his rudeness and moody attitude any more. Her cute 5 year-old girl now commutes to Qatar to see her dad from time to time.

Catherine struggled to find a new partner in Dubai over these years. But last week, out of the blue, her ex Jacques had asked her to try it together again. She went to Qatar for the weekend and it felt so nice to play with their girl together as a family.

However, she can't help but wonder: what if their newly discovered romance won't last again?

Gaydar

What do you do when you discover that your husband's best friend is gay and that your husband spends every free minute with him?

Jessica is Sonja's friend and a former colleague at one of the well-known international banks. Three kids later she just discovered a text message from her husband's best friend Tom inviting her husband for a swim at his private pool. Tom is gay.

Jessica has lost her sleep and can't help but wonder: is this a sign her husband could be secretly gay?

Would a straight guy spend so much time with another guy knowing he is gay? Would a straight guy go swimming with his gay friend at a private pool? Didn't think so...

Should gays be allowed to con women into marriage and kids like that??

It's a draw

Carla's interference had quite the opposite effect - Sonja was head over hills with Matt.

Matt's exciting messages and pictures of his hot body worked like magic. Sonja became completely blinded by her feelings and didn't wanted to see Alex any more. She did not care about her best friend Carla's feelings for Matt either.

Carla started to feel increasingly frustrated with Sonja's aggressive approach to dating. Sonja wanted to take everything she fancied. It reminded Carla of her own dark side of which she wasn't particularly proud. Reasoning didn't help her either.

- 'Matt is not good for you' - said Carla one evening while they were having a drink at a local pub. - 'Why, are you jealous?' answered Sonja looking straight in Carla's eyes.

Both couldn't be more right.

Breaking up without breaking up

Carla wasn't happy about Sonja's latest hookup.

Sonja had a gut feeling Carla fancied Matt. She knew they kissed back in the days but Matt didn't follow up on the opportunity.

During Sonja's latest visit to London Carla has been inviting Sonja's current boyfriend Alex everywhere with Matt which made Sonja highly uncomfortable. Sonja had been trying to avoid the "hard talk" with Alex and was hoping to just phase him out of her life.

Phasing London-based Alex out made sense as Sonja still lives in Dubai. Long distance could easily drift them apart without being at each other's throats after breakup.

Things were not working her way.

On the video phone

Sonja sounded unusually upset. Her best friend Carla has not been herself lately. During her last visit to London Sonja hooked up with Carla's colleague Matt, a hunk with perfect body of an adult movie star. Oh wait a minute... he WAS an adult movie star!

Carla and Matt both work for an adult video production company. Carla is responsible for the set design, distribution and marketing.

She is not a p- o-r- n material. Knowing her a little, she wouldn't have minded becoming a movie start. Carla has always been on the crazy side and it showed.

It is not clear what exactly Matt does for the video production company. Let's just assume he is a camera guy.

He likes to send mobile pictures of his hot torso to Sonja. Here's a little preview: Matt half naked on the bed with the message saying: 'Come over here, I'm warming the bed up for you' or Matt's hot torso saying: 'Come and taste it.'

Cheesy? Yes! But it made Sonja drool over it like there was no tomorrow... and it also made Sonja forget about her boyfriend Alex.

Alex lives in London and is crazy about Sonja. He has already told her not once that he wanted to marry her.

Has Sonja lost her mind?

* the picture is for illustration purposes only

Flight attendant

Helena is a skinny green-eyed blonde barbie doll from the UK. She's been living in Dubai for more than 10 years. First working as an air hostess, then making her way up to work for one of the prominent local businesses.

She gave up her job when she met John...he offered her the rich life she always longed for. Helena loved to indulge in luxury. Shopping in Harvey Nichols, splashing out on Moet bottles in clubs, holidaying in style in the South of France.

John always told her to be patient and all good things would come to her. He was away on business most of the time. After a few years Helena started to feel she might be wasting her time. John reassured her everything was on the right track.

Then boom! the financial crisis and subsequently a new girlfriend who is not so high-maintenance. John could not afford Helena's lifestyle any more.

Helena took it better than any other girl with no means to support herself would. She moved to Sabrina's house for a while and started networking to see if she could get herself back on the job market. After a few months of desperate search she found a job in Kuwait.

Of all the most boring places in the Middle East to live in, Kuwait is second to Saudi. Kuwait is a dry country, consequently there are no bars/expats/fun places to go to...

Helena had to close this page and start a new chapter. From scratch.

On the palm of your hand

Sonja called this morning and sounded devastated. Tall brunette, she was a scandinavian amazon and a "been-there-seen-that" type of girl.

It would seem that nothing could make her new double D implants worry more than her friend Helena's old ones. Helena's boyfriend had just kicked her out of his luxurious villa on the Palm where she had happily hosted parties for her friends for years. New girlfriend! So "move bitch,

move..." just like in 50 cent's songs.

He even brought the new girl over before Helena had a chance to move out. Helena thought she must have tricked him and gotten herself pregnant. Why else would he be acting like a total jackass?! The the rumor was going around that he lost all his money and couldn't pay the rent any more. 10,000 dollars a month he used to give her just for fun and shopping required some serious economy boom going on for long enough to sustain. Dubai followed the rest of the world and went into recession.

So did Helena's dreams of having it all at the same time.