England V Canada...
I apologize for a certain Facebook status. It was meant to
get your attention, but not cause worry. On the contrary, I don’t think I’ve
laughed this much in a long time. From a few comments, I knew some of you are
on the same crazy wavelength as I am sometimes!
Ok, first…how did I end up touring a stranger around Abu
Dhabi? When you get to an international hub like Abu Dhabi, the majority of the
people you meet were not born here. In fact, 80% of the population are expats
like me who came here from somewhere else. Anyways, one of my good friends here
is of Pakistani descent, but was born and raised in the UK. I’ve mentioned him
before in the blogs, and again, thank goodness that I have his permission, but
I’ll leave his name out of things to protect the innocent…and perhaps the
guilty? (LOL). I don’t mean to sound
presumptuous, but when a friend of his from the UK rang him up and asked if he
could take his wife’s nephew out on the town while he was here in town on a 15
hour layover from Pakistan, somehow I wasn’t surprised. Families, relationships, even if it is with people you haven’t
met before are acceptable to just meet up with. We had a great time going to a
mall, shisha at the Corniche and talking about our experiences in Abu Dhabi so
far.
So, how did we get pulled over by the police? Don’t worry
mom and dad…I wasn’t driving. In the car were both of my Pakistani-Brit friends
(including the one on the 15 hour layover). I was in the back, the guys were in
the front. I have a few thoughts on this one as to why we were pulled over. The
obvious, is that a certain person who was driving forgot to put his lights on.
It was at night, and driving without your lights is dangerous no matter where
you are. Abu Dhabi is so lit up at night; it would have been easy to miss to
put your lights on. While driving however, if someone doesn’t see you…yikes.
People cut each other off left and right here. If this is why they pulled us
over, than I am thankful to the Abu Dhabi police on patrol that night. My other
thought is that it just may have had to do with the ‘race card’…a white girl in
the back of a car with 2 brown guys? Better check this out. When we heard the
siren and saw the flashing lights, we immediately pulled over. He instructed us
to keep going so that we were in the next divot in the road where the taxis and
buses go. We waited for the officer (that’s what we do back home, right? We dare
not get out of the car?) He instructed the driver to get out of the car and
then go to him! Bringing his licence and rental registration with him, the cop
looked at him and said, “hmmm….you Pakistani?”
“No, sir. I am British. Here is
my license from England”.
“You look Pakistani to me”.
He let us off with a
warning to put our lights back on. I am sure if we had been here much longer
and we showed our Emirates ID (which will hopefully be in any day now), we
likely would have been fined. Regardless if why we were pulled over, I rest
knowing that our police are on the job and alert despite the crazy driving
skills I’ve been witness to!
Hmm…so where does that leave us? Ah, the police report. My
poor Pakistani-Brit friend! There may be multiple versions of this one. The
short story is that his car had been hit and scratched from bumper to bumper
while parked. The car was rented, so he contacted Hertz and let them know. On
the advice of one of our friends, he brought me along (female), to hopefully
soften the blow when talking to the police behind the desk at the headquarters.
When we went to get the car, the police officer asked, “Where
is your car?”
Down there, sir”.
“Good, you go bring
it to me and I take photos.”
Whether he wanted a
smoke break in the meantime or whatnot, we were just taken away again to go TO
the police rather than have them come and escort you. I think we got to the
police station at around 7 and they closed at 8. They were all ready to go home
anyways and I don’t think it mattered much what we said or if I was there in
this instance, they just wanted to get out of there as much as we did.
What else? Ah yes, on one of these other crazy nights, we
made our way down to the post office to see if our Emirates ID was in. Walking
in, we were instructed to take separate numbers and to have a seat. I sat where
I thought I was instructed to. I sat beside a gentleman and I felt eyes on me. “Psssssst!”
My friend tried to get my attention from where he was sitting, but I must have
been in my own little world.
He walked across the room, “CARA!”
“What!?”
*sigh*, “Cara, get over there to the back. You’re sitting in
the mens’ section!”
Ugh. My face went red
and I literally had to go and find my place beside the other women waiting to
be served in a public office. It would have been worth the trip had our IDs
been in. Maybe next time. Our passports are finally in that will be picked up
next week. It will be nice to have that particular document back again!
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