Why Dubai feels like home: American expat reveals the ‘quiet kindness’ of UAE community life

Dubai: At 1am, a couple of months ago, Laura Krajewski Erk found herself in a tricky situation - record rainfalls that hit the UAE meant that her home was suddenly getting flooded. Within minutes, though, neighbours began showing up, with buckets, mops and offers to help.

Some of these neighbours were those she'd met for the first time, but the incident became another reminder for the 33-year-old American of what she believes truly makes Dubai special: the community.

For Laura, moments like these have quietly defined her two-and-a-half years in Dubai. The American expat moved to Dubai with her husband, having previously lived in New York and Singapore. Her husband, Tarik Erk, had family ties to the UAE and had visited Dubai as a child, so the pair always imagined they might spend some time here eventually.

What they didn't expect was how quickly Dubai would begin to feel like home.

“We found our place really fast, which was such a pleasant surprise,” she said.

One of the moments that stayed with her most was returning to her unlocked car to discover that someone had carefully placed her keys on the hood instead of taking them. Her video documenting that experience went viral, receiving a 'like' from His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai as well.

“That’s the thing about Dubai,” she said. “People just show up.”

She says the same sense of community followed her while opening her beauty business in Dubai. There were delays with fit-outs and the usual pressures that come with launching something new, but instead of feeling isolated, she found herself surrounded by support.

“People would say, ‘If you need anything, let me know. I’ll send my friends,’” she said. “Someone even said, ‘I’ll send my mum.’”

She laughs remembering it, but says the sentiment stayed with her because it felt genuine.

“In other big cities we’ve lived in, relationships can sometimes feel transactional,” she said. “But here, it feels like a real community where people genuinely want to help without asking what they get in return.”

The couple, who married in New York in 2022, came to Dubai at the end of 2023, with their dog Piper. Since then, they also adopted Luna, a Pomeranian-corgi from the RAK Animal Welfare Centre.

Now, Laura says the future they imagine is firmly rooted in Dubai.

“We’ll be here long term,” she said. “We see ourselves having kids here, growing a family here, scaling the business and really settling here.

“There’s nowhere else, really, that compares to Dubai, where you can have this quality of life and this kind of community at the same time.”