A portrait of Mariana Missakian, whose move from Beirut to Dubai led her to write 'That Surburbia Lady'. Waleed Shah
A portrait of Mariana Missakian, whose move from Beirut to Dubai led her to write 'That Surburbia Lady'. Waleed Shah
A portrait of Mariana Missakian, whose move from Beirut to Dubai led her to write 'That Surburbia Lady'. Waleed Shah
A portrait of Mariana Missakian, whose move from Beirut to Dubai led her to write 'That Surburbia Lady'. Waleed Shah

'That Suburbia Lady': a heartfelt and hilarious tale of finding yourself in Dubai


  • English
  • Arabic

In an impulse decision in 2019, Mariana Missakian signed up for a writing workshop with author and communication trainer Kim Page at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. “I don’t know why I did it ... I was trying out new things," says Missakian, who ended up writing the first 100 words of her new book, That Suburbia Lady: A Tale of a City, a Suburbia and a Leaning Bun of Mum, during that two-hour workshop. “Words started flowing, and my hand started moving – and it hasn’t stopped ever since,” she says.

That Suburbia Lady is Missakian’s debut, self-published satirical memoir, which became available in paperback on Amazon and on Kindle in October. It chronicles her emotional transition from downtown city life to the suburbs – specifically, Dubai’s Jumeirah Park residential community. Relocating from the hustle and bustle of the city was an uprooting experience for Missakian, who is Armenian but was born and raised in Lebanon. When she was 18, she eloped with her partner and the two started their lives afresh in the UAE. She has called Dubai home ever since.

Now 39 and the mother of a six-year-old son, Missakian describes the culture shock of the move to the suburbs in a collection of witty short stories that delve into the emotional toll of making the big switch from a “boss lady” working in corporate communications to a full-time mother. “I built my career by telling companies’, brands’ and entrepreneurs’ stories and, ironically, never thought that one day I would be telling my own story,” she tells The National. “I started by just simply collecting words and capturing thoughts: writing down on my phone the conversations I would have, expressions I would overhear and situations I would find myself in – all of that crazy, silly, gloomy and happy.”

Missakian's descriptions of her past city life are nostalgic and impassioned. “I lived my life mirroring the city’s growth, swinging to her rhythm, swaying with her drive, and stretching higher and further with her determination. The city encourages you, inspires you and allows you to rise with her,” she writes. She makes it clear early on that she fears how suburbia will affect the woman she has worked hard to become.

Lebanese-Armenian author Mariana Missakian wrote 'That Suburbia Lady' after signing up for a writing workshop. Mariana Missakian
Lebanese-Armenian author Mariana Missakian wrote 'That Suburbia Lady' after signing up for a writing workshop. Mariana Missakian

She expertly illustrates the stark contrasts between the two lifestyles, and frequently juxtaposes “Downtown Debbie”, who wears designer shoes and tailored suits, drives a convertible and eats truffle risotto for lunch, with “Suburbia Sally”, whose outfits consist of Lululemon leggings and Havaianas flip-flops, completed with an eco-friendly shopping tote. She uses terms such as “Suburbia school” and “Suburbia committee” to spin the experience of being initiated into this new community as an elaborate challenge of unlearning and relearning new norms.

That Suburbia Lady isn’t your typical, chronological memoir – rather, it’s made up of short essay-style stories that describe specific encounters and moments with other women, her therapist, her husband and her son. While her writing style is diary-like, there’s a captivating sophistication to it. Crafty literary tools are woven into her prose with more colloquial hashtags and unheard-of abbreviations. “BWP” for instance, stands for “busy with Pinterest” in the author’s new Suburbia life.

Writing the book was akin to reflective journaling for Missakian, who says that she wasn’t in any rush to finish it. “It was very important for me to let life happen as I was writing my book,” she says. “I was writing the life I was living.”

The result was therapeutic, and allowed Missakian to make sense of her emotions during this transformative period. “The process was extremely liberating because by registering my thoughts and feelings on paper I was starting to validate my feelings, to acknowledge them, to name them and to figure out what to do about them in the real world. I was releasing them and setting myself free, debunking the idealised version of what my life should be, what I was supposed to do and who I was supposed to be,” she explains.

The scenes Missakian brings to life are at times hilarious and at others, submerged in self-pity – but the relatable sort that women in similar situations can empathise with. For although her stories describe her personal situations, scenarios and sentiments adjusting to Suburbia, she believes that her book will resonate with any woman who is at an intersection in her life, and is grappling with questions of identity and belonging.

Many of her short stories reveal the inner dilemmas she faces when asked the common question: “What do you do?” It was an easy one for her to answer before: “If you live in the city, you understand that it’s not about who you are, it’s about what you do, and extraordinary success is what you do,” she writes in one chapter. In another, she states: “My pause happened when I became a full-time mom and moved to Suburbia, and I could no longer explain what I did with a business card.

Business cards however, are bound by a few inches, and can’t always contain complex and ever-evolving answers. In Suburbia, Missakian feels both restricted and overwhelmed by the simplicity of the question, “What do you do?” Motherhood after all, is a multifaceted job in itself, but mothers are more than “just” mothers. The writer whom we journey with throughout That Suburbia Lady feels misplaced, disoriented and insecure as she embarks on a new chapter of life, in an unfamiliar role and environment. But writing and publishing her book helped her achieve clarity and confidence, and Missakian admits, “I now can’t wait for someone to ask me that question.”

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Alaan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Parthi%20Duraisamy%20and%20Karun%20Kurien%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%247%20million%20raised%20in%20total%20%E2%80%94%20%242.5%20million%20in%20a%20seed%20round%20and%20%244.5%20million%20in%20a%20pre-series%20A%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Infiniti QX80 specs

Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6

Power: 450hp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000

Available: Now

The five pillars of Islam
How to come clean about financial infidelity
  • Be honest and transparent: It is always better to own up than be found out. Tell your partner everything they want to know. Show remorse. Inform them of the extent of the situation so they know what they are dealing with.
  • Work on yourself: Be honest with yourself and your partner and figure out why you did it. Don’t be ashamed to ask for professional help. 
  • Give it time: Like any breach of trust, it requires time to rebuild. So be consistent, communicate often and be patient with your partner and yourself.
  • Discuss your financial situation regularly: Ensure your spouse is involved in financial matters and decisions. Your ability to consistently follow through with what you say you are going to do when it comes to money can make all the difference in your partner’s willingness to trust you again.
  • Work on a plan to resolve the problem together: If there is a lot of debt, for example, create a budget and financial plan together and ensure your partner is fully informed, involved and supported. 

Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

Key changes

Commission caps

For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:

• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term). 

• On the protection component, there is a cap  of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated. 

• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.

• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.

Disclosure

Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.

“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”

Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.

Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.

“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.

Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.

How much of your income do you need to save?

The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.

In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)

Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.

 

Contracted list

Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

DUNGEONS%20%26%20DRAGONS%3A%20HONOR%20AMONG%20THIEVES
%3Cp%3EDirectors%3A%20John%20Francis%20Daley%20and%20Jonathan%20Goldstein%3Cbr%3EStars%3A%20Chris%20Pine%2C%20Michelle%20Rodriguez%2C%20Rege-Jean%20Page%2C%20Justice%20Smith%2C%20Sophia%20Lillis%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

How to get there

Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
 

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA

Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi

Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser

Rating: 4.5/5

Results:

Men's 100m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 15 sec; 2. Rheed McCracken (AUS) 15.40; 3. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 15.75. Men's 400m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 50.56; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 50.94; 3. Henry Manni (FIN) 52.24.

SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202-litre%204-cylinder%20turbo%20and%203.6-litre%20V6%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20automatic%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20235hp%20and%20310hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E258Nm%20and%20271Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh185%2C100%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
HAJJAN
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Abu%20Bakr%20Shawky%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3EStarring%3A%20Omar%20Alatawi%2C%20Tulin%20Essam%2C%20Ibrahim%20Al-Hasawi%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
While you're here
Fixtures (all times UAE)

Saturday
Brescia v Atalanta (6pm)
Genoa v Torino (9pm)
Fiorentina v Lecce (11.45pm)

Sunday
Juventus v Sassuolo (3.30pm)
Inter Milan v SPAL (6pm)
Lazio v Udinese (6pm)
Parma v AC Milan (6pm)
Napoli v Bologna (9pm)
Verona v AS Roma (11.45pm)

Monday
Cagliari v Sampdoria (11.45pm)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Info

What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship

When: December 27-29, 2018

Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823

How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries

• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.

• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.

• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.

• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.

• For more information visit the library network's website.

Updated: November 15, 2021, 7:05 AM`